Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Back to Jump N Jungle

We went back to Jump N Jungle with Grammy &Pop and had a jumpin good time! (Jason missed out - he was at work.) By the end, Noah fell asleep bouncing with Grammy.













Christmas Came Early This Year!

Shannon's parents decided to bring Christmas early to our house. We are planning to go to their house right after Christmas, but we are not sure how much space we will have in our van for gifts. (That will be the first big trip for us as a family of five.) Grammy & Pop got a big item for each of the kids for Christmas, so they decided to come and deliver them. They got here on Noah's birthday and stayed about a week. So, one morning while they were here we had "Christmas morning." The kids were all in their Christmas jammies and got to open their gifts. (Shannon's sister gave the kids their jammies last Christmas before Hannah and Noah were even home.) We had a good time.





Joel's gift-

a workbench:


Hannah's gift-


a shopping cart:

Noah's gift-

a ride-on car:

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Birthday, Noah!

A week ago Sunday, November 16th, was Noah's first birthday! We have had company since then, so we are just now posting about it. We are so thankful for Noah and the bundle of energy and joy that he is. We had a small party on Monday night with Shannon's parents (Grammy & Pop), Jason's parents (Grandpa & Grandma), and Jason's sister. We opened gifts, had dinner, and ate cake and ice cream. He loves balls, so we went with the ball theme. Noah had his own little cake. He was a little slow starting in, but then he was able to make a big mess and eat a little cake. It is hard to believe he has been home for over 6 months now. Noah has now been home with us longer than he was in Guatemala. He runs all over the place and is always checking everything out. If a cabinet is left unlatched or a door is left open he is there in a hurry. He is also full of smiles and personality. Here are some pictures from his party.

Opening gifts:





Football cake:



Monday, November 3, 2008

Fall Leaves

Some of our leaves have started to fall so Jason blew them into a pile for the kids to play in. Here are some pictures:

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Our Munchkins

Last night we took the kids out to trick-or-treat around our house. We had a good time and a couple of neighbors invited us in their houses for a few minutes. It took Joel a few houses to warm up, then he liked to get candy. He was anxious to get home to eat it. Noah was the first to walk up to the door and he walked part of the way between houses holding our hands. Hannah was happy to just have Daddy carry her. Here are some pictures:


Here is Dorothy (this was Shannon's dress when she was little):


And the Scarecrow:


And the Lion:


We tried for a good pictures of all 3, but this is the best we could do (we may try again today):

Friday, October 17, 2008

Hannah's Referralversary

It was 1 year ago today that we received the referral for Hannah. We knew that we were near the top of the list and that they had not given out any referrals in a couple of weeks. We heard they had several to give out, so we had been waiting anxiously. The reason they had not given out any referrals in a couple of weeks was because of some turmoil in Guatemala. They were on hold. We got the call around 8:00pm. They asked to talk to both of us. Shortly after that we received several emails with pictures and information about Hannah. We left for Guatemala about 11:00am the next day. Here are some pictures we got with our referral (the pictures were taken when she was 1 day old) and a couple of pictures from today.