Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A surprise baby room for a friend!




A couple of friends from church and I got together and decided that we wanted to do something special for another friend of ours. Unfortunately, last year, our friend had lost a little boy soon after he was born. She got pregnant this year and found out she was having a little girl so we wanted to do something special for her. She has another daughter and so I put together the 'My Sister' frame to add a fun picture of the girls together once the baby is born. We all helped paint the room pink, I painted the flowers and added the bling, and my friend, Trudi, put together the flower patterns and the sweet little bird family. The little boy bird flying in the air symbolizes their son in heaven. Our friend was thrilled about the room and we were honored to be a part of giving her such a wonderful gift. We are looking forward to meeting the baby soon!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Fun at the lake!




With a Papa and Grandma who LOVE to camp, we LOVE to tag along whenever we can! We met Dan and Marsha at Melvern Lake on Saturday afternoon, July 17, while they were there with their camper and a group of friends. We enjoyed the beautiful (and very hot and humid) day by playing at the beach, playing with Maverick, eating amazing food, and enjoying great company. Unfortunately, we could not stay the night, but we were thankful for being able to meet up with everyone.

We left pretty late and about halfway home we were pulled over. We were a little confused as to why we had been pulled over because Jeremy didn't think he was speeding. Since we got pulled over on the highway, the cop came up on the passenger side. Well, our passenger side window does not roll down so the cop ended up at Nate's window. When Jeremy rolled that window down, Nate said hi to the police officer as well as, "My daddy can't drive." The cop told us that he had actually pulled us over because our tag light was out and we all started laughing! Nate cracks us up on a daily basis. :)

Nate's ROCK STAR birthday!




We had a super fun 3rd birthday party at MY GYM for the rock star! Everyone had a blast and Nate had A LOT of 'fans' show up! He was all decked out in his Superstar red spike, a rockin' shirt, and even a couple of tattoos! It was a ROCKIN' good time!

Time to PARTY!!!!

Nate with Uncle Scott

Posing with Nate and his adoption cake!

Jeremy showing off the 'baby boy' cigars that he bought at the hospital!
I may not have given birth but he was a NEW DADDY nonetheless!!!!



Jamming with Uncle Scott...they put on quite a concert!


Once the adoption was finalized, it was time to PARTY!!!!! We had an Open House at our place and enjoyed the continued celebration with friends and family who stopped by to see all of us through the evening. Since his adoption party (and birthday party) had a ROCK STAR theme, I spray painted his hair red and he enjoyed jamming with his new guitar that Grandma DeeDee bought him. We were grateful for all the family that came into town for this special occasion and for all of the friends that stopped by our house to congratulate us.

NATE'S ADOPTION DAY!!!!

Kissing Nate before heading to the courthouse

Taking a picture with Judge Sloan after finalizing the adoption

Showing off his new shirt!

WE ARE OFFICIAL PARENTS!

The one word that comes to mind when I think of July 9th is...BLESSED. We were very blessed with an amazing, special, and perfect day with Nate and our immediate friends and family. The adoption hearing was set for 1:00 and I joked that my 'labor and delivery' only lasted 15 minutes! It did not take long for the judge to sign off on Nate's adoption and start showering us with kind words, hugs, a few tears, and lots of smiles. We had balloons for Nate symbolizing every person that was there to support him, the Judge gave Nate a book and allowed him to pick 2 stuffed animals in her chambers, and we had professional photographer to help us remember these wonderful moments.

A year and a half ago, we had no idea what the future was going to hold. This was an emotional situation for every person involved and we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into. On February 1, 2009, we opened up our home and hearts to Nate as his Aunt and Uncle and we could not have imagined that he would call us Mommy and Daddy and that we would become his legal parents 18 months later. There is NO doubt that God has had his hand on this entire case from the very beginning to this point in time. We feel very blessed to be entrusted with this wonderful child and to be his forever family. We are so thankful for all of the amazing people in our lives who have been huge supports in Nate's case and who kept his best interest at the forefront.


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Independence Day!

Nate getting ready for the big parade!
Nate helping me make Papa's cupcake cake!
The whole family! From left to right...Jessica (Branden's girlfriend), Branden, Nater, me, Jeremy, Marsha, and Dan!
Papa and Nate in front of the cupcake cake I made!

***JULY 4th WEEKEND!!!!***

The holiday weekend started with a fun neighborhood parade on Saturday morning that Nate and I participated in! I decorated his tyke bike up and we followed a fire truck through the neighborhood with other families on our street. It was super fun and Nate enjoyed checking out the fire truck after we were done! The next day we were very blessed to spend a wonderful day filled with lots of family! We headed down to Garnett to my in-laws house for a small family reunion and a birthday celebration for my father-in-law, Dan. Marsha had made contact through Facebook with some cousins that she had not seen in many, many years, and they came into town for the Fourth of July weekend! We shared a lot of memories, food, and laughs and enjoyed spending time with family that we don't get to see as often as we would like.