Merry Christmas!

This is Christmas Eve, my niece Eryn with the boys!

This is day, Christmas Day. Cameron is in the red pj's, with Rylan in the middle, then their cousin Lane on the right!
So CUTE!
Lots of sweetness here.... or little devils in disguise!

Rylan licking uncle Dan's head!

Random Cuteness!

I got the Christmas picture to enlarge... so check out the previous post for a closer glimpse of the boys with Santa!!!! Just found some pics that I thought I would share that were cute.

Here is a picture of John with Rylan just 9 days after we got home in March 2008. It was at his brother's wedding where Rylan was the hit of the show!

Here is Cameron (on the right) with his cousin Lane. This was outside the church and I must say... two handsome looking fellows! They look so grown up!

Here is a picture of Cameron at his birthday party in April 2008!

And I love this one with his Thomas the Train cake! It was SO cute but way too heavy. It started getting lop-sided!

Here is Rylan at his great-aunts birthday party! He's cute even with a dirty face!!!!
And another of Rylan. Not sure where this was, but it's cute!

Professional Pictures

Boy, I swear there is just rarely a quiet moment in this house. Let me start out with my first aggrivation which has continued now for months. I've been trying like crazy to get a professional photo of the boys. Doesn't seem like it would be hard, yet Rylan's will be home 10 months in January!

Attempt #1 - The day started perfectly. Bath for the kids. Managed to keep them clean. We got to the portrait studio and were just outside the door when Rylan decided to dive for an electrical outlet on the floor! I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him up... and at that same time he knew I was coming for him, so he jerked away. We lost the hold on each others hands and down he went. Face first into the tile floor! I scooped him up and his mouth and nose were bleeding, and he has a goose egg the size of silver dollar forming on his forehead. So needless to say that visit didn't end well. Thankfully after a few minutues he seemed fine. Cameron said "mom, you can still do my pictures". I felt horrible but tried to explain we'd reschedule.

Attempt #2 - This time we didn't even make it the studio. Rylan woke with earache and Cameron had a bad cough. I was bummed, but called to cancel. No point in even trying!

Attempt #3 - This was just about a month ago. We made back to back appts with Sean, Sonja, and Kayla. We had "big" plans to meet at the portrait studio and they would do their pictures first. Then we'd bet some of Rylan and Kayla together, then we'd do our pictures. Sounds good, right? Well, Rylan the night before was horribly crabby. He was pointing in his mouth and saying "OWE". And doing the same to his fingers too. I thought he had a mouth sore or 2-year molars coming in. Wasn't sure about the hands though as I couldn't see anything. The next morning we attempted the appointment and he was SO unusually crabby. He got excited to see Kayla, but after that it went downhill. We got him in the studio, then he screamed. He screamed so much that we had to leave the studio! I couldn't figure it out. He was miserable. Well, later that night little blisters started showing up on his hands and bottom. AHHH, I remembered hearing about this. Hand, foot , and mouth disease. A viral things that makes kids miserable... blisters break out all over the place. His mouth was FULL. No eating, no drinking, no sleeping, nothing but lots of crying. Poor kid.

Attempt #5 - Well, the next weekend we all got up. Everyone was healthy, happy, and ready to go! I threw the kids Christmas sweaters on and off to the mall we go. I was determined this time we would come away with something. Even if I had to fork over $15.00 for a 4-6 print! We pumped the kids up for the visit. Cameron I knew was excited and would be no problem. Rylan, I was not sure of. Well, we got there and he "appeared" excited! He was ready to budge to the front of the short line we were in. It was soon our turn. Cameron proudly walked up and hoisted himself on Santa's lap. Rylan, he turned and ran screaming! John took off running after him and brought him back, screaming louder! Me (in a not so proud moment), threw the stroller aside, grabbed Rylan and tossed him on Santa's lap, shoved John out of the way, told Santa not to let go, turned to the photographer and said "take the picture FAST".

Here is what we got!

For the life of me, I can't get it bigger without it being blurry (it's scanned) but maybe if you double click on it, you can? ... anyway you could count the teeth in Rylan's mouth... he was NOT happy! For those of you who think this is terribly cruel.... This was 5-10 seconds of a "not so comfortable moment". Rylan jumped off his lap, the tears were immediately turned off, and turned to Santa and held his hand out for candy! Then the lady showed me our picture and I laughed, and bought it anyway. I showed it to Rylan and said "look at you crying on Santa's lap". He pulled the picture from my hand and marched right up to Santa and holding it out just as the photographer was in the middle of working with another family. I'm not so sure they were happy to have Rylan in their picture! Retake for them, a quick exit from the mall for us.

**Part 2 of this saga continues, as the fun doesn't stop here... oh no, not in our house!**

Sean, Sonja, and Kayla

The family that we have grown so close to throughout the course of our adoption was just featured on a local news station! In the spirit of adoption in the month of November (since that is National Adoption Month) they wanted to meet a family with a "unique twist to their adoption". Well, this family would be it! Their journey began not just at the adoption of Kayla, but long before that. Those years just led up to Kayla being the miracle that they were waiting for! Please enjoy a few pictures, and click on the links (or copy and paste them into your web bar) to see just a brief look at their journey. Warning, have a box of tissues handy!!!! By the way, what normally is a 5 minute segment with our local station, turned into a 3 part series. I swear, any one of us could have had our journey's made into a lifetime movie! Although this is very, very good.... there is so much more that happened that there just wasn't enough time for I'm sure. I LOVE this picture of Kayla. She just looks like a little princess!!!!
Here is mine and Sonja's 2nd visit trip to see our kids, and the first time Sean met his daughter. This was December 2007!
It's a little hard to see, but here Kayla is having Rylan comb her hair! She knows how to put the men to work right away!!!!
And Sean with his little girl... no more words needed, the picture says it all.

Another one of my favorites! We were out by the pool at the Marriott. I just love this little girl!

http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9391636

http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9463583

http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9509825

Abbie is OUT!!!!!

***Edited***I had to post this picture on this blog entry. Terri and her husband were traveling to Guatemala for a visit trip with Abbie. She SO graciously took a package for me to give to Rylan and his foster family being I knew I would not make it back there for his birthday. I had just had a visit trip in May 2007 when I met him for the first time. I was so sad that I wasn't going to hold him for his first birthday in July 2007. So not only did Terri take the package, she helped me arrange for our foster family to come to the hotel they were staying at and get the package (instead of having it delivered or leaving at the front desk for them)!!! When our foster family came, they took some great pictures that I will always treasure. This one is obviously of Terri, Abbie and Rylan. PRICELESS! Now that my son has met the two of them, I hope one day we can all meet one another in the USA!***

Oh my GOD, I have to give a HUGE shout out to Terri!!!! Her link in on my blog and if any of you have kept up with her adoption, you'll be pleased to hear that her daughter Abbie is OUT of PGN and coming home! Terri and I shared the same agency and that is how we met nearly 2 yrs ago. She was a huge source of support to me throughout our entire process. She signed the contracts to adopt her daughter a month before us, and Abbie has yet to come home. The lengths this family has traveled to pursue Abbie are unbelievable. No family should have had to experience what they did. No child should have had to go through what Abbie has. There has been incredible heartbreak, roadblocks, disappointments, and the list goes on and on. But the one thing they DID have was faith and determination and unmeasurable love. Abbie is so blessed to be going home to her family, finally. They have loved this child so much. Congratulations Terri, we've been praying for you all non-stop. If there was anyone who could do this, it was you girl!

More Of Cameron's Handy Work!

Well, found a few more pictures that Cameron took with my camera! These were from Como Park and Zoo in Minneapolis, MN. We were going to the Twin Cities to visit John's aunt and cousins and decided to make a pit stop in the morning when they opened here. It's one of my favorite places actually. They have a new renovated area called Como Town filled with just enough rides to entertain the young kids. The Zoo is FREE, but of course welcomes donations. They've d one a great job remodeling and making the enclosures larger for the animals. Anyway, enjoy the pics, I did! Here is my nephew Lane (it would John's sister son)..... He is SO adorable!!!! He and Cameron are the best buddies ever!

Ok, here's Rylan eating something. I'm sure he will be thrilled with this picture when we present it at his high school graduation ; )
Apparently Cameron wasn't quite done with Rylan. He had to get him with the food in his mouth trying to say "CHEESE"!

Here's me. I saw him with my camera so I at least had a chance to try to look half way descent... minus the fact that it was VERY hot and I wore black! Heeeeellllooooo???

And here I present my husband, I am SO proud! I guess it could have been worse. Cameron and Rylan have been known to pick a few bad habbits up from him!!!
This is John's sister Carol. She was obviously unaware of the fact that her nephew Cameron was lurking beneath her to capture this fabulous picture!!!Here's Uncle Dan in his glory giving Cameron just the shot he wanted!!!Here's our little monkey Rylan scaling a climbing wall. Great picture Cameron and terrific job Rylan!And our little photographer decided to turn the Camera on himself to a nostril shot! Notice the little freckle on the tip of his nose! I LOVE IT!
And here our troop is passed out in the car on the way home. Of course they stayed awake the entire first 2 1/2 hrs home and fell asleep the last 30 minutes! Just our luck.
Don't wake sleeping babies.... that applies to toddlers and preschoolers too!!!

Hope you enjoyed another custom photo session!

Random Photo's

Just thought I would post a few random photos while at my mom's house of her pets!!! I have to admit, they are pretty cute! Do they get you in the Christmas Spirit? HA!

These might be hard to see, but look at the faces the kids are making (Cameron, my god-daughter Makayla, and Rylan) as Ian (Makayla's dad) comes at them dressed in his Halloween costume! And lastly, one of John and boys! I was so glad he quit field work early that evening to go with us trick or treating. We need to enjoy these years when the kids actually want us with! A day will come where Halloween will be spend with their friends and mom and dad will be home veggin out on the couch!

Sorry these pictures are coming across in a weird order. For some reason this computer won't let me put them side by side. Go figure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I couldn't let the night slip away without posting to all! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! What a great day! I'm exhausted though. I hosted at our home with about 16 adults and 4 kids. Thankfully everyone pitched in on the meal and it couldn't have been nicer. Yummy food & family, two of my favorite things ; ) Many times throughout the day my mind wandered to how thankful I am that Rylan was finally home this year to be a part of it! His 1st Thanksgiving!!! We all have so much to be thankful for!
Although I'm sad to say I won't be posting pics tonight : ( My dialup takes SO long and I've got to get to bed. I'm a Black Friday shopper so I'm hitting the sales very early!
I also wanted to offer my apologies that I've been lagging in postings. I spent every lunch hour last week uploading and developing pictures to send to Guatemala! There is a group of mom's going back in 10 days for a mission trip. Part of the fundraising their doing is taking envelopes on behalf of adoptive families. I was able to send to one of the moms a flat manilla envelope stuffed full of pics! For a small donation our envelopes will be delivered the 1st week of December to our foster families! So I've been putting together one for Rylan's foster mom, Corelli! I finally got it in the mail yesterday. The deadline to get it to them is December 1st so I had no time to waste. I'm happy to say that I'll have a posting this week full of pictures!!!
So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Cameron's Photo Studio

Cameron loves to get his hands on a camera! I never know exactly what I'll find when I download them. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing a fee shots of the ones I found on my camera after Rylan's birthday party!
Here is my dad! Quite unsuspecting as you can see and not too terribly impressed at the little photographer!
And yes, my son photographs beer cans! I am assuming this is my dad's (I can tell by the bigger 16oz size)!Someone's feet. Very nice. Maybe he thought I would like the flip flops?
My mother! Again, not to impressed to see her grandson snapping away pictures when she least expects it!
My best friend, Patty! She is quite the comedian! She has a specific pose you'll see in most pictures and this isn't it ; )

Things that Happen to Us!

Last Friday afternoon I had off work. John and I took the boys to LaCrosse. John had a doctor appt, and I had schedule flu vaccines for the boys. Rylan was due for his 2nd shot (required) and Cameron was going to try the Flu Mist this year. John was to pick Cameron up and meet me and Rylan in Winona. Well, as luck would have it, he got busy and was running late. Cameron began to not feel well and I'm sure his "hurried" driving didn't help. We ran about 10 min late but thankfully the clinic was understanding. I dropped John at his appt and I stayed in the car with the kids who were sleeping! Ahhhh... well, that is until I parked the car. Cameron woke up. About 20 min later, Rylan was up. We ventured in the clinic and waited for John at his appt. After that, he had to go to the lab to give blood. We waited again. Kids, not so good at that. When we were done we went all the way across town to Pediatrics where the flu vaccinations were to happen, and we had an appt since it was the "flu clinic". Low and behold, the line is a mile long! Appts, don't matter that day. They are short staffed, go figure! So we wait some more. Finally, our turn. The nurse comes in tells me they are out of flu mist... would Cameron consider a shot? By the look on his face, I didn't even have to reply. She went out the door in hunt to find one last dose somewhere! And that was before consulting with us... So we waited. About 20 min later she returned only to refuse to give it to Cameron because he sounded like he had a head cold! I understood, it is a live virus, but we could have skipped the waiting for nothing part. So, Rylan gets his shot (not a happy boy) and out we go. Just to be on the safe side I had them do a throat culture on Cameron for strep throat. It was negative, but I thought why risk going all the way back home (50 min) just to have to come back.
This brings us to the next night, Saturday. We went with my parents to Prairie du Chien and got there around 2pm or so. Cameron was seeming ok, but didn't look 100%. We decided to eat supper around 4pm. Sure enough in the middle of dinner Cameron starts complaining about his ear hurting. We hurried to finish eating and enroute back to home I called the Clinic in La Crosse to see what time Urgent Care was open until. We had to go through that city to get home, figured we might as well nip this in the bud (kind of like I tried to do the night before). Well, Urgent Care closed at 5pm. We got to La Crosse at 5:20pm. It was a choice between once again go all the way home or take him in the ER to have him looked at. At this point he was wanting to go to the dr. So, off we go. I parked the car (with John, Rylan, and my parents in it). I went in and told them the story. By this time Cameron's eyes were looking pink and icky. The girl in admitting told me they weren't busy, so it shouldn't be long. Thank goodness, my family was waiting! We had a seat in the waiting room. We were called shortly to meet with a nurse. She observed Cameron and said "oh, he looks like he's got pink eye too". After she asked Cameron his pain level on a chart. It had a row of faces ranging from happy to very unhappy. He of course pointed to happy.... unhappy might mean a shot. I laughed and said if he was a happy we wouldn't be here! So, after that we go back to the waiting room to be called. We waited 30 min, then we were at 1 hr, then about 1hr 15 min later John called me on me cell to find out what was going on. At this point I was asking that very question. Every single person who came in after us was getting called! So then it's 2hrs later and my blood is boiling! A nurse came out to give Cameron a cracker and apple juice. John called to say Rylan was having an absolute meltdown in the car. I would have walked out of there except you know you keep thinking 10 more min and we have to get called! Finally 2hrs and 20min later were called in... only to be stuck in another room! After waiting nearly a total of 3hrs, I lost it! I pushed the buzzer for a nurse and went off. I told them in a dr wasn't in there in 5 min, we were leaving and filing a report! Well, the dr came. What did he do? NOTHING! He was in the room for about 2 min. He gave a prescription to get filled and told me his eyes were just part of a viral cold. That was it. I could have screamed! Well, I did actually.
Let me tell you what's happened since then. I did call the clinic 4 days later on Wednesday to report the incident. I figured if they don't know, they can't do anything.
The prescription the dr gave us was what they would give an adult! The dose and the size of pills. Cameron couldn't swallow them.
And to top it all off, he did have pink eye! How do I know? My mom woke up the next day with her eyes stuck shut! Rylan had it in one eye this past Friday, then Saturday in both eyes. And the cycle is yet to stop!
Sorry, normally I don't use the blog to vent. But I tell you, I was so disappointed in this clinic. I had better NOT get a whopper bill for that visit or I will go balistic!

New Member of the Family!

What is harder to get to sit still than two kids when you try to take a picture... how about a FISH! That's right. The newest member of the family is a fish that Cameron somehow talked me into. See the blur in the lower left corner? Oh yes, the guilt trip of "mom, but he's in such a small house now" got me. He was right, those little tiny bowls that they sell betta fish in are enough to make you want to buy them all! After he checked them all out, he selected this one. He's very pretty! We picked out a bowl and of course had to have a sunken pirate ship. Funny story behind that. The sunken pirate ship doesn't fit so well in the bowl. It left room for the fish to get underneath so I had to put enough marble in so that it couldn't wedge itself and get stuck. Well, we let the bowl sit with water for a couple days like your supposed too after getting everything in it just right. We then started slowly mixing the "new" water with the water in the dish the betta was in... so as not to shock him too bad. As the day came to let him free in his new home, I had 3 guys standing behind me and I heard Cameron say to John "I hope mom doesn't kill him". Hmmm, no faith in me! So the next day the fish is great. Third day we come home and I went to the bowl and couldn't find him! I started twirling the bowl, shaking the ship inside, looking under the rock, then I worried maybe he jumped out to his death! I checked the counter, the floor, and heaven forbid the stove! Nothing. Just as Cameron came around the corner to feed him, he slowly swam out of the pirate ship where he must have been taking a leisurely nap! Little does the fish know he cost me a few more gray hairs!

Halloween!

What did I say, are they not the cutest Harry Potter and Skunk you've every seen? Well, that is of course unless one of your kids dressed as one of these too I guess : )

With weather at 70 degrees in Wisconsin, we loved every minute of trick or treating outside! I'm a traditional person and the only way we'd be indoors is if it were bad weather. I've never actually done that. We've frozen our rears off some years... and oh yes, some years it's snowed! But that is what it is all about. Walking in the crisp, cool night. Hearing all the laughter from the kids as they run door to door! LOVE IT!!!

Here is my unsuspecting little skunk checking out the spooky yard! It was only our 2nd stop and he was still trying to figure everything out. He'd been noticing this house across the street from my mom and dad's... but he needed a closer look. Notice the man walking towards him in the back? This yard had live "gooblins" throughout. It was by far the coolest house in town!Well, it appeared after the goblin tapped Rylan on the back it took him 1.2 seconds to run and scream! See the pumpkin in Rylans left hand. He was in mid toss pitching it right into the guys stomach! The pumpkin and all Rylan's candy was rolling across the yard, he was so outta there!After Rylan made his abrupt exit and daddy calmed him down, he became friends with the only "woman" dressed up in that yard! She was a spooky witch, but he liked her. The minute any of the others would come towards him, he took off down the sidewalk!

We started trick or treating about 5pm down by my mom and dad's. My dad always stays home to hand out candy. So me, John, the boys, my sister and neice, and my mom trucked off with the kids. We walked the entire time and got back to their house around 8:30pm! We had a blast! The kids did fantastic and had such a good time.

And here I am with the boys just before we got started! I cherish these days... I really do. It's so much fun to see them excited and to get to be a part of their lives! They are growing so quickly in so many ways.