Christmas Pictures 2009

We had Christmas pictures of the kids taken today. Or should I say, we attempted to have Christmas pictures of the kids taken today.

Isaiah looked adorable and smiled great. His dimple just melts my heart.

Addison looked precious and just smiled and smiled. I love her little smile and curly hair.


And Kate just cried and screamed "Mama" the whole time. I even tried to leave the room and hide so that she would maybe stop crying. Needless to say, we have a lot of pictures of Kate crying!

We tried to have her sit on Jason's lap. We were just going to crop him out. That didn't work either.
And once she stopped crying she just started reaching for me.


We did manage to get a couple of pictures of Kate not crying, here is her best picture.

Oh wait, there's a smile, but only because she was jumping off of a stool to me. It's nice to feel loved, but oh how I wish I would have gotten just one good picture of Kate.


And a picture of all three. Forget it, they turned out terrible. All I can do is laugh when I see them. Oh, the memories!




We did manage to get a couple of pictures of just Isaiah and Addison.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope your family pictures (or pictures of just your sweet children) turn out much better than ours!

Until later,

Melissa

National Adoption Day

Saturday was National Adoption Day. It was a day where I, as an adoptive parent, thanked God for the gift he had given us. I'll never forget the day we received Isaiah's referral. We were heading home from church when we received a call from our adoption agency. It was Sept. 4, 2005. They went on to tell us that they had a little boy referral who was a month old and if we would consider adopting him. We said yes, pictures unseen, and then went home to check out all of his information. This is the first picture we ever saw! It was at that moment that my journey as a mother began.

Jason and I visited Guatemala many times, but nothing compares to the first time we saw him or the first time we had to give him back to his foster mother.

Jason and I back in our hotel room right after we met Isaiah.

Having to give Isaiah back to his foster mom after our first visit. You can't really see how red my eyes were. I don't know if I've ever cried so much.


Our adoption journey was full of ups and downs. Isaiah's birth mother was a minor and that made the adoption process a little longer. She had to go through numerous interviews to make sure this was the decision she wanted to make for her child. I think of her often and thank God for her decision. It must have been an incredibly hard decision and her strength is admirable. During the process, Jason and I, or myself and other family members traveled to Guatemala to meet and love on Isaiah. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

I really wanted to just stick him in my suitcase and take him home.

Go Texas!
Aunt Christy meeting Isaiah.

Uncle Bud and Isaiah swimming. The weather in Guatemala is incredible. You can swim all year round, even in December!


Isaiah with his Papaw. They have an incredible bond.

Isaiah arrived home in Texas when he was 8 1/2 months old. We were greeted off the airplane by family who has loved Isaiah as much as we have from the moment they met him. He is a special little boy who has changed our lives forever. We are so thankful that we were chosen to be his forever family!

We love you big man! Thanks for making us a mommy and daddy!


Until later,

Melissa

Dear Sweet Kate

Kate finally started feeling better and is back to her "normal" self. And with Kate that means into everything! So, here is her most recent mess!

And the lesson that I learned, Cheeto Puffs do stain carpet!

Until later,

Melissa

Um...Maybe Not

I decided that this was it, I was finally going to really work on getting off the extra (lots of extra)pounds I put on from infertility treatments and pregnancies. I was going to eat healthier (which I did!) and start walking. I decided to start walking at night after the kids went to bed. We live in a safe neighborhood and I felt comfortable with my decision....until tonight (which was my first night to start this "new me plan".

I'm walking at a brisk pace, pretty proud of myself, listening to sports talk radio. Yes, I know, I am an odd woman. But I love sports talk radio. I always have and I probably always will. Plus, they were talking about college football, which I really love. Anyway, I was heading back up the street when I hear a car alarm go off. I thought to myself, that's weird, but just kept on walking. About 10 seconds later a car zoomed past me going extremely fast. Again, being as naive as I am, I thought it was strange but just kept walking. I was on my second lap when a man stopped to talk to me (from his car). I was extremely hesitant, but he seemed nice enough, plus he stayed back, I'm guessing my facial expression said "Stay Away or I will kick your butt." His car had just been broken into (or attempted to be broken into) and he wanted to know if I saw anything. I told him what I saw, which wasn't much, but enough details that he wanted me there when the police got there to help make the police report. I walked to the man's house, where his girlfriend was waiting, and waited for the police. By the way, the couple was very nice and were very appreciative. I gave my account of what I saw and then started walking home.

Needless to say my 30 minute walk turned into an hour. I asked Jason when I got home if he was worried to which he responded, "I was thinking about getting worried." Thanks babe, I appreciate the concern.

So, maybe this nightly walking thing isn't for me. I could give up on it completely or maybe I'll try to get up early in the morning and try to walk. We'll see what happens in the morning!

Until Later,

Melissa

Halloween Fun

This post is long overdue. Our Internet has not been working right and was so slow that I could never upload pictures. So now that everything is pretty much back to normal, here are some Halloween pictures of the kids.

We had a great Halloween filled with lots of trick or treating, games and fun.

We went trick or treating with Grandma.

Went to the Historical Park and had the best time trick or treating,

Playing carnival games,

Jumping in the bounce house,

Sliding down the bouncy slide,

Playing in a giant sandbox full of prizes (Please ignore Addison's lack of clothing. There was no way she was going to let her tutu get dirty.),

Eating candy,

And getting hugs and kisses from daddy!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Until Later,

Melissa