2nd Anniversary of Jace's Gotcha Day

Two years ago, Rob and I were in China anxiously awaiting the phone to ring.  The sound of the phone put us on our feet...only to find out that the adoption agency was running late and instead of 10:00am, they wouldn't be to the hotel until noon...urgh!  Looking back, those two hours really don't add up to much, but at the time it was everything to contain the excitment of meeting our little man. 

The time came.  The. phone.rang. Our hearts were beating frantically just knowing our little guy was downstairs in the lobby.  Would he come to us naturally like Eli? Would he be shy and reserved?  Oh, the thoughts that go through your head as you walk down the hallway, take the elevator to the lobby, walk through the halls of the lobby to the special room that was reserved just for this occasion.  The above picture tells it all...he was so nervous as to what was going on.

However, it didn't take long for Pan Yu to welcome us  his daddy into his world.  For me, it took a few days.  I couldn't even lift him out of his crib.  He was extremely attached to his daddy!

Moving forward two years...he is quite the ham!  He loves to make people smile.  He can also be a little pout, pout fish.  As a matter of fact, I even found a book titled The Pout, Pout Fish.  He hates to have it read to him when he is being a grump!   He loves his brother Eli to the moon and back!  He is still working on a lot of his speech sounds.  (We can usually understand what he is saying but hard for strangers to tell what he is saying).  He has another year at Stride and the Language Clinic.  Hoping by next year, his speech will improve so he is able to go to kindergarten. He loves to play outside.  This summer, he has taken a huge love for the water...hint, hint...hopefully we can get a pool next summer!  He is mommy's little side kick :)

Fall Fun in Denver

Brothers!

Lake Michigan...so cool!

Kinder Graduation and Michigan!

Eli with his award.

Eli's favorite person at his school (the nurse...we love her!)

On our way to Saginaw, Michigan...the boys thought the plane was a tad loud!

Best Store....Ever!!

The graduate and her family (Aunt Lynda, Kelsey, Kennedy, and Mike)

My parents and the boys by the old barn at my grandparents.

Lake Michigan....Eli asked if it was desert sand...not quite!

Trip to Bronners...Christmas super store!

Another family member will attend the great Central Michigan University...Kelsey!

My family...minus Rob (boo!)

Pickeral Lake with Noah, Eli, Luke, and Anna...love this place!

Statue made with numbers...Fred Meijer Gardens

Steph, Lili, Eli, and Jace at Saginaw Zoo

A future doctor in the house????

Gotta love our trip back to Michigan...however, it was a bummer with Rob being at the police academy he was unable to go!!  We missed him like crazy!!  My oldest niece graduated from Swan Valley High School.  We had plenty to do to prepare for the festivities.  On our down time, we headed to the casino for the day.  The boys had their first experience at Kids Quest....its fair to say they weren't in a hurry to leave :)  

Hiking



My brother and niece

My sweets and I



Kennedy working on climbing some rocks.



Just one of the beautiful things you can find while hiking.

Easter Egg Hunt, Easter, and Bowling....Quite the Busy Week!

 

My mama and I

 

Take a kid bowling and he plays on the ball chute...oh yeah!

Mohawk time for Uncle Joe

 

Easter Egg, Easter Egg...where are you!

 

Eli got ahold of my camera...I cracked up with I flipped through my pictures and found this one!

Spring Break Excitement

Eli tested for his yellow belt..he was very excited to pass his test!

 Gotta love the Children's Garden!

 Eli "walking" the dog.

 Can you find the fish?

 Jace lovin on his cousin Kennedy.

 Love this picture!!

  Downtown boot tour

 My boys love statues!

We had a blast during Spring Break!  Nana and Papa arrived (the boys were insanely crazy with excitement).  Eli had to know what states Papa drove through to get to Wyoming.  He can still recite all the states too (funny thing is that Papa left our Arkansas, so Eli had to rework his order of states).  A couple of days later, Uncle Joe drove out...another wild crazy excitement for the boys!  A few days later, Uncle Mike and Kennedy came to visit.  We had a blast with everyone!!

Camping in Texas

Before kids, Rob and I used to participate in spur of the moment adventures. When I asked Rob what he wanted to do for his birthday, I wasn't surprised when he came up with taking our first camping trip of the 2012 season.  It was his responsibility to come up with someplace to go....so he looked on the computer to see where the first place was that averaged 80 degrees or higher!  We really didn't have any other reason to go to Lubbock, Texas except to get away from the wind of Wyoming.

The boys were in heaven as the playground was right across from our camp site (kudos for Rob for setting this up!).  We could enjoy our camp site while the boys played and played.  Needless to say, the boys were exhausted each night.  Eli loves to make new friends wherever he goes...there wasn't a short fall of kids to hang out with.  There was even a gun "fight" a time or two.  One of the greatest events took place in the pool.  Eli is NOT a fan of the water, however, he was the last one to get out of the pool....I actually had to beg him to get out!  YEAH, Eli!!!

Eli gets so excited to put a sticker on the states that we have camped at.  You see, on our camper, we have a map of the United States.  We were able to add Texas and New Mexico on this camping trip.  He was hoping to put Oklahoma on the map as well but we didn't spend the night there.