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!