Merry Christmas!

Happy 2nd Birthday Andria!

Andria had a great second birthday party. We made her a cake that had Oreos all over it, because that's her favorite food. She constantly asks for cookies. We had family and friends over to celebrate her becoming an official toddler.

Andria has become quite the girly girl. When we are at a store that sells toys and she sees baby dolls she immediately asks for a "baby" and then she has a fit when she doesn't get one. At home she constantly has a baby doll with her. One of her gifts from a family member was a baby care center where her baby can sleep or eat. It also has a sink and a little storage area. That was her very favorite present. She also loves clothes and anything pink or purple. Her Aunt gave her several Disney Princess shirts and she wanted to put them all on at once. We stopped her at two extra shirts.

She says lots of words and she's picking more up much more frequently now. It's so fun to see her little personality develop. She is full of both smiles and fits and she's always hilarious. She has recently started singing to herself at random times. She even closes her eyes when she sings sometimes. She's so cute! She still has her momma hold her A LOT but we think she's always going to be that way, which is just fine with us. She's just sweet like that. She has learned that kisses fix all of the hurts and that hugs are good too. She won't go to sleep until everyone in the family has kissed her goodnight. We love this little girl so much! We thank Heaven for Andria and for her birth parents every day.

Summertime Fun

Andria has been developing some new Summertime favorites. She looooves popsicles. We found some tiny ones that melt slowly and it takes her about 15 minutes to eat one, but she's happy to sit there and lick away at it. She loves her little outdoor chair. She also loves to swing on the swing set. She gets mad when we take her out of the baby seat, even if she is falling asleep. And she doesn't care how hot it is outside, she asks to swing every time we go in the back yard. Andria loves to wear dresses. I have had fun dressing her in all of the fun Summer dresses that have been made for her by her Aunt, her Grandma, and me.

Andria loves going to Nursery at church, as long as her daddy takes her. If I take her then she cries and cries to stay with me. So I pretty much never take her, since she needs to learn to play without sitting on my lap the whole time. Instead, she sits on the Nursery leader's laps the whole time she is in there while she plays with different toys. She's quite cuddly girl.

Andria loves her big brother. She likes to go in and wake Jacob up in the morning. If she ever disappears during the day we know that the first place we should look for her is in his room. For some reason Jacob's things are more interesting than her toys. They play together so well and she has a special laugh just for him. He is very good about watching out for her and he loves to help us with whatever she needs. He never complains about helping her, which is awesome. They are pretty silly together.

Andria has been talking a lot more lately. She says a lot of short sentences, mostly starting with "I want". Like; "I want to sit" and "I want some". She also asks for her babies and her blanket and all sorts of other things. She's talking more clearly now and she has the cutest little voice. She is also a very loud little girl. We joke that she's trying to make up for her tiny size (she's still in the 5th to 10th percentiles). She and Jacob like to see who can be louder and one of the funnest games for them is for Jacob to tell her to scream and then she does and then they both laugh.

Father's Day 2011

I have to say that Shane is such a great Father to our children. He is patient, kind, and puts them first in his life. He has had many opportunities to take different jobs with more pay but in the end he always decides to turn them down because they would mean that he was away from home more and he'd rather be home with us. Every decision he makes for our family is with the children in mind. He is a great example to all of us. He serves Heavenly Father through doing his many callings and he serves us by loving us. Without him and his willingness to provide for our family I wouldn't be able to stay home with our children. He is honest, sincere, and loving. Jacob already wants to be like him in every way. Both of our children's first words were "Dada". I'm so grateful to be sealed to such an amazing man for all of eternity. He has every characteristic I had hoped for when I dreamed up the perfect guy.

I'm so grateful for Shane's father and his example of what a father should be. He and Shane's mother raised a great man. I'm grateful for all of the fathers in our lives and I'm grateful for our children's birth fathers. Without all of them we wouldn't be the parents that we are today.

We are humbled to be parents. We love our children so very much. We're so grateful that we're an eternal family and that our children are sealed to us forever, as if they were born to us. We know they were meant to come to our family and we're grateful for the selflessness and sacrifices that were made so that they can be with us forever. We think of their birthparents often and pray for their happiness every day. They have made us the happiest people ever and have been a part in answering our earnest prayers to become a family.

Happy Father's Day!

Mother's Day 2011

I'm so grateful for all of the mothers in my life; my own mother, my mother-in-law, my sister, all of my friends and family members who are mothers, and most of all my children's birthmothers because without them I wouldn't get to be a mother.

I believe that this is a day where we should look at all of the mothers in our lives and see the influence for good that they have made in our lives. I'm truly blessed to have so many wonderful examples of motherhood in my life and I'm grateful for these amazing women and for the love that they show me and my family.

Happy Mother's Day!

18 Months Old

Andria seems like such a big girl now that she sleeps in a toddler bed and is walking/running around. She loves baby dolls and she drags her blanket with her all over the house. She is definitely a morning person, waking up at 6am most days. She is already such an obedient little girl. When we ask her to do things she gets right up and does them. She still doesn't talk very much, she says 6 words; Dada, Mama, Hi, Night Night, Nana (banana), and NO (which is her favorite). But she's obviously very smart because she does understand and act on what we tell her to do. She loves to follow her brother around and she is very silly. She already understands that if she smiles really big she gets away with more stuff. Funny girl! She will start going to Nursery at church this Sunday. I can hardly believe that she's already this big! She seems like a walking baby doll compared to the other children her age since she's still so small. She has taught me the meaning of "under foot" since she's always doing things right next to me. Sometimes she sits on my feet while I cook dinner at the stove. It cracks me up! We're so happy to have her in our lives. She has quite the personality!

Happy Easter 2011

Andria was so cute while she was looking for eggs during our Easter egg hunt last Saturday. She was looking intently at the ground for the eggs and she had the funniest look on her face! Her little nose was squished up and she puckered her lips the whole time.Once she understood that she was supposed to pick the eggs up and put them in her basket, she wouldn't let anyone pick them up for her. It was so fun to watch her toddle around at her Grandparent's farm, hunting for those eggs. Her brother and cousin made sure that they left some eggs in obvious places for her to find. Those little boys are so sweet to look out for her.

Big Girl Bed

We got Jacob a toddler bed when he was about the same age as Andria is now so we decided it was her turn to be given a little bit of independence. She loves her new little bed!

Andria Loves Jacob

Almost every time I take a picture of the kids together, Andria turns to look at Jacob. She is totally entertained by him and it makes me laugh every time!

Silly Andria!

Great Adoption Article

There are several articles on adoption that I love. This is one of them.

17 Months Old

Andria finally got the hang of walking about a month ago a now she walks all the time. Woohoo! Finally - no more dirty hands and knees. She has several teeth now and has been eating a lot more regular food. Her favorite funny food is black olives. We went to California this month and played in the ocean. Andria didn't like the sand on her hands but I'm sure she'll love it like her brother did the next time we go.

"Hi Dada!"

Today Andi Grace was playing on the floor in our room when Shane walked in and Andi looked up at him and smiled really big and said,

"Hi Dada!!" She's so cute!!!