Oh Happy Day!!

Today marked the end of an almost 5 year road. Five years ago we began our paperwork to bring our daughter home, well before she was even born. Today after countless, COUNTLESS documents, notary's, apostilles, social worker visits, etc., Anna and I mailed off the VERY LAST paperwork we will ever have to do concerning her adoption! Her final 3 year Post Placement report is required by Russia to check on her growth, development and well being. This was a happy day for me, mixed with a twinge of sadness. I have enjoyed being able to share with Russia over the past 3 years how well Anna is doing and how much a child can thrive living in a loving home. Although I will not miss the busy work, I feel like our ties to the people who helped us bring Anna home is now over. We wrote a thank you note to our facilitators that helped us in country, and sent it along with many pictures of our beautiful happy girl. We do plan on bringing Anna to Russia someday to see where she was born and to experience the culture there, but we are several years away from that. Anna wasn't exactly sure what we were celebrating, she was just excited to have her picture taken and get a special treat at our favorite chocolate shop!

Anna Turns 4! (October)

Our sweet baby girl is now 4! We celebrated her day doing a couple of her favorite things...going to the Zoo and having a party!






Her favorite gift by far was her new, pink, big girl bike! She is just like her big brother Brooks, she LOVES to ride :-)

Summer Storm

I just love the Summer storms that seem to happen quite often here in the South. One minute it is hot and humid and the next you see dark clouds rolling overhead and you know that something is about to happen! Our latest storm sent Brooks and Anna rushing outside to play and splash in the rain, laughing at and loving every drop that fell on them:-) I stood safely in the garage snapping pictures of them until they both stopped and seemed to notice at the same time this unbelievable rainbow that was forming right over our house! It was the most beautiful perfectly full rainbow I had ever seen. They were both so excited and were yelling as loud as they could "Thank you Lord for rainbows!!!" I love moments like this!

Our 2nd Gotcha Day!

This month we celebrated Anna being in our family for 2 years! It is special for us to set aside a day to remember and be thankful for our family and the way God knit us all together. Of course He knew Anna would be our little girl when He created her, but when we stop and remember all the details that came together we stand in awe of how He orchestrated it. It is such a perfect match!

Here are a few pictures of how we celebrated. First Ryan gave Anna her present which was a bracelet with a charm inscribed "Daddy's Princess" (it's too big now so she wears it as an anklet) . She loves to show her anklet to everyone she sees and talk about how she is her daddy's princess.





In keeping with tradition we also made a typical Russian meal of borscht soup, stuffed cabbage rolls and bread. Surprisingly, the kids have liked to eat this both years we have made it! It was so cute when Brooks asked Anna "Do you remember this food Anna? Does it taste like Russia to you?"





We love our little one, she is growing up so fast but I still remember everything about our first day with her just two years ago.

Anna is 3!

It is hard to believe that our little baby girl is now 3! Anna has brought so much joy into our family, she is sweet, silly, smart and sassy all rolled into one. Here are some pictures from her birthday party, she looks so grown up to me!

Anna's gaga (Grandma) came to town to help us celebrate with a cupcake themed birthday party along with some of the neighborhood girls who love to play with her. She had a great time playing the games, decorating her own cupcake and of course the presents!

Amy's Birthday

For my birthday this week Ryan surprised me with a sunrise hot air balloon ride! I thought I would be terrified but it was so peaceful and gorgeous with the crisp autumn air, the beautiful changing leaves and rolling green hills that I forgot to be scared! It was a great way to spend the morning and to see the view around our house from the sky!

>My mom flew into town this week to be at the boys school for Grandparents day and to be here for for my birthday. It is a special treat for us when we have family in town, we all love having her!

FUN, FUN, BUSY Summer!!

We were so busy having fun this Summer, there was no time left to blog! Now that the boys are back in school (sigh) I will share what we did in pictures since there is too much to tell in just one post!

Here is a run-down of our time since May:

* My good friend Cammie and her son (Bradey's best buddy) flew in to visit us from WA

* Our family spent a week in Gulf Shores, AL with our friends the Trimbles who we knew from our time together in Holland

* Anna and I flew to California for my cousins wedding and were able to see lots of family. Anna was on the dance floor from the moment the dancing started until the last song ended, she is a dancing fool:-)

This is Anna's Great Grandpa E

* We took a 9 day road trip to Pennsylvania and stayed with our dear friends the Hanna's, then spent some time in D.C. on our way home

* Ryans parents and our nephew Sam visited us for 10 days. We took a road trip to Gattlinburg, TN spent a few nights there and hung out at Dollywood!

* We drove to St. Louis, MO to see some friends and catch a Cardinals b-ball game

Somewhere in between all our travels, we did spend some time hanging out at the pool and playing with neighborhood friends. Here is what our trampoline looks like on most evenings, we love it!!

It was a great summer and we

were so sad

when all the fun had to end for school to

start!