About Me

My photo
My husband and I, the Dynamic Duo, have been married since 2003. We've weathered the storm of chronic disease (diagnosis 2006), infertility (diagnosis 2007), turning 30 (2006/2007 respectively) a first adoption (2009) of a tender hearted, compassionate Ukrainian BIG boy (born 2006), who has told us he'd like a baby sister, baby brother, big brother, and REALLY big sister. We recently completed our second Ukrainian adoption journey, which brought us a daughter (born 2005). We'll see what else God brings our way!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Our Disney Adventure

We traveled to Disney World in Orlando, FL mid November.  We drove 19 hours one way.  Our directions?  Get on 75 South.  Ta Da, you're there!  On the way there, we stopped somewhere in Tennessee, but we drove straight through on the way back.  Of the almost 40 hours, I drove a whopping 4.  This picture is Eli enjoying the hotel in TN.  He was such a great traveler!  I had prizes for him that I picked up at the dollar store, and gave them to him throughout the trip.  And we had our DVD player and 5 movies Eli picked out before we left.  We only watched 2 movies per travel day, so he did pretty stinkin' good entertaining himself!

We went to Disney with my sister in law and her family, my mother in law and her boyfriend, my husband's aunt and her family.  We also met up with family in FL.  We rented two 7 bedroom houses next door to each other only about 10 minutes away from Disney.  Our first trip to Disney was the day after we all gathered in FL.  We had such a blast!

Walkin in.  We knew eventually we'd get to Magic Kingdom, but we weren't sure when...it took us almost an hour from the time we parked!!  That's just crazy!

Aw, what a great bunch of people :)

Great family photo for the albums 

Uncle Tony and cousin Sam

Eli loved riding on Papa's shoulders, but his legs fell asleep every time.

Love these gals...one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

The three amigos

Trying to get Eli to dance with me during a parade.  It was Veterans Day so they had a shout out to the vets in the audience.  Eli was mesmerized by the tall guys.  He couldn't figure out how they were walking.

CJ and Sam locked up...

And of course, Eli had to have a turn!

Sam...what a dramatic fella..I love it!

Oh, ya, just try to keep me locked up!


On It's a Small World


Eli wore his Mickey Ears and insisted we call him Eli Mickey.  Too cute!

The reason we all gathered was to celebrate my mother in law's birthday.  As you can see by the lovely decorations around her neck she turned 60!

My sister in law and her attachment, cousin Molly...the goof next to them is my husband.  And he wonders why Eli's so silly!

Happy Birthday Grandma Karl!

Her gift from her children is a nice snow blower.  She gave a "what did you do" glare in the picture just before this.  No gifts?  Paleez, Grandma Karl.  We couldn't refrain from splurging on you!

Eli LOVES his Grandma Karl 

We drove down Tuesday and Wed, went to Disney Thursday for the day, spent Friday at the house in the pool, Friday night was the Christmas parade (amazing!), Saturday was the birthday party and more pool time, and then we drove back Sat and arrived home Sunday at 4am.  Eli rode his first roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain, complete with hysterical laughing and putting his hands up.  The highlight of the entire event was when Eli got to meet Tigger and Pooh.  I wasn't sure how he was going to react, but once we found them he told us he wanted to meet them.  So we stood in line for about 10mins.  When it was our turn Eli bolted from beside us and gave Tigger the biggest hug you could imagine from a child that small.  Then he hugged Pooh.  He proudly walked away like he was the king of the world.  We made him go back so I could capture the moment on my phone, since we forgot our camera...Oops!  From then on he has insisted that Pooh and Tigger and Mickey are all his friends.  I've been to Disney a few times and I always remember it being fun, but this was the best trip ever.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Halloween Pictures

We went to my parents house for Halloween.  We went to a few trunk or treat type things...the first one we didn't have a costume for...or a bag. So we took Eli's hat and used it!  He was LOVING all the candy.

There was a cute hay maze.  I think he went through it 20 times the first night.

On the hay ride he got cold.  So he put his hat all the way down...what a clown!

We went to Walmart and Grandma bought him a Lightning McQueen Pit Crew costume that came with a hat and a headset (you need to chat with the driver, ya know!).


Hay Ride day two.  My goofy kid!

Grandpa Stobie and Bop (Grandma Stobie)

Friday, November 5, 2010

Pictures of Growth

Eli dresses himself.  On this day he decided to wear his "short" shorts!  LOL  And, yes, I did let him go to school like this :)


 Papa gave Eli some glasses to wear while he's helping in the garage...what a tool boy.
Proof that Eli loves his Papa...Eli had to put his drill driver on the ledge right next to Papas.  How cute is that.

We are a seriously goofy family!

Eli doing a craft during his class Halloween party.  He was a race car driver!



 Playing in the leaves...it was a HUGE pile.  And a few days later Eli spent an hour raking and helping me put the leaves in 8 bags.

Some new developments in Eli's independence...he now pours his milk, water, and juice with no spills.  He also decided he wanted to start making his own sandwiches.  So he got out all the fixin's for a turkey sandwich.  He cut a piece of bread in half, put some meat on it, and started eating.  Good job Eli!  He can also count to 20, write his name pretty legibly, and has started to ask what words start with the letter "_" and goes through the alphabet.  He prays for most of our meals, and is starting to color without going outside the lines.  He can cut circles, is starting to put on his jackets by himself, and can buckle his buckle in the car (YESSSSSS!).  I know there's more I'm missing, but I think I'm done for now!