Referral Day 3 Year Anniversary

I am still in awe at how far she has come!

We bought her a small rose plant today.

I told her not to smile so she could look like she did in her referral picture and she kept laughing, here is one that worked!

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of receiving Myah's referral. I will never forget how elated we were that day, it was incredible to see the face of the little girl who we would be traveling across the world to meet and welcome into our lives. She became our daughter at that very moment. The moment that Mary opened the envelope and pushed the little pictures across the table. We knew when we saw a picture of her on a police car that she was always meant to be ours. I remember distinctly just staring at her pictures, I carried them with me everywhere and went to bed with them on my nightstand. I was trying to encrypt her face into my mind. I feel like such a heel, I thought that her referral day was tomorrow, I don't know how I got confused. Thanks to my good buddy Sheri for calling me and reminding me that it was today. We always spend it together, life has just got busy for us and hopefully soon we celebrate in person. Referral day would never have been as special if it weren't for those wonderful families that we got to share it with. We did manage to squeeze in a Chinese dinner tonight along with a little cake and flowers! Myah looked at photo albums today of when we were in China and she was full of questions and very intrigued! I can't wait till she can understand it all. Someday.

Happy Referral Day sweet girl, we love you more than we could have every expected!

Busy, busy, busy!

Here is a sneak peak of Myah in her dance costume as "Little Red Rappin' Hood".
Here is the bus carrying Dayton to D.C.!

There they go!

Myah and Dayton before leaving, she was off to soccer.

One last parting shot before Dayton left.

I thought I had better catch up on here a little bit before I fall really behind. This is such a busy time for us. Dayton is playing baseball again, his first game was supposed to be on Tues. but it got rained/cold out. Myah's dance class is getting down to the last 2 weeks and her recital is May 16th! She had dance pictures on Saturday and I snapped a few pics before I left quickly. She looked so cute and is getting really excited to perform. I am really amazed at how much she learned this year. She is going to be "Little Red Rappin' Hood", the routine is very cute. She also started playing on an instructional soccer team last night. She loved it and it is perfect for her aggressive personality! I didn't get to go with her last night, Mark took her because I had to take Dayton to the school so he could leave on his trip to Washington D.C with his 8th grade class. Boo Hoo! This is the farthest he has ever been away from us on his own. He will be back Sunday morning at 5:45 am! I tried to call him this morning and he texted me and said he was at the Liberty Bell, they went to Philadelphia first and ate breakfast at Hard Rock Cafe. They will be in D.C. this afternoon. I am sure he is having a blast! Last night they had to sleep all night on the bus! They took 4 charter buses and my friends and I stood and waved to the buses on their way out of town, it was cute, they honked at us and waved! Such a strange feeling seeing all of our kids leaving town. Myah is missing him already as am I. Mark only has 3 more midnights to work and he will be on days again, I do feel more secure when Dayton is home at night with me, oddly enough, he is becoming a young man and he could probably protect us better than I could ;) , so it was strange just having Myah and I here last night. The good news is that our neighbors Ken and Pam made it back home after being snow birds in Florida for the winter. I was so happy to see lights on again at their house.

I have not been myself lately at all. I thought I was just exhausted from losing dad and all. I have had no energy, any little activity has my pulse just racing! I have not been able to do the laundry or climb the stairs without completely being out of breath. I have had a strange episode with seeing weird lights in my eyes so I went to the ER for that. I have been going to the doctor weekly. I have had tests done on my heart and thankfully got good results from that. After lots of bloodwork the doctor called and told me on Tuesday that I am severely anemic. So I have started taking iron and I have a few more doctors appts. to get the root of the problem so hopefully I will be back to my "normal" self soon. This is no fun! Say a little prayer for me if you would! I am so glad that the warm weather is on its way, the sunshine will do me some good! We might even put the boat in this weekend!

Dayton's birthday is next Friday, he will be 14! He is also busy doing his huge 8th grade portfolio and gathering lots of family information. It was fun doing our family tree, I actually traced some of my family back to the 1600's! Mark's aunts were so helpful in filling in the blanks on his side. I have always been interested in our heritage and this was a great project for us to do together. I loved sitting down with my Grandpa F. and Grandma A. and writing down their life stories. I wish I would have done this with all of our Grandparents while they were alive. I had to write Dayton a letter about his life and give him words of wisdom, mine ended up being the longest he said! But I did make Mark tear up when he read it so I figured it must have been good! They have a huge 8th grade banquet at the end of the year with a nice dinner and an awards ceremony and the portfolios will all be on display. I had to laugh when he asked me to take him to the scrapbook store ! Music to my ears! He said they have no good decorative papers at school to use for his cover.

I also just joined Face*book, so many of our family members are on there and it has been so much fun catching up with those that I don't ever get to see. I even found my sweet roommate from college who lives in Colorado! I am keeping it to just the people I know and love, so it is a fun place for me to "hang out" after the kids have gone to bed!

Well, I am off to enjoy the nice weather with Myah and Mark! Thanks for checking in on us!

Easter Photos

Mel's beautiful Easter table
Dad and Dayton (who had helmet hair because the guys were playing baseball in the field)

He is officially taller than me now! Boo Hoo! He'll always be my little boy!

Mom and I, she just got back from her Florida vacation.

Annabelle, Myah and Chloe

The egg hunt is on!

I love this picture of Myah, she was so proud of her eggs.

Grandma and the girls.

Happy Easter

Myah's official Easter photo 2009, she gave the Easter bunny a plastic egg and he filled it with a few pieces of candy and gave it back to her.

This was Grandpa making it rain Easter grass for the girls last Easter, Myah has just had her tonsils out that week and we decided at the very last minute to drive up north for dinner, I am so thankful we did.

My Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kris and my mom (behind Kris), trying to figure out who the crazy lady was in front of them taking their picture! It was so fun to surprise them! This was around 10:15 pm!

We are big "you might be a redneck if..." fans and when we saw this today we just had to take a picture of it! Mark said " well, that is an interesting way to haul your boat" and I looked up and cracked up! How did they get it on top of the truck, and how are they going to get it down? So funny!

We took Myah to see the Easter Bunny today in Toledo, she was so excited and kept waving at him while she stood in line. It is so fun to get to do these things again, it doesn't seem that long ago that Dayton was that little. We also took Dayton shopping for some new clothes because he has outgrown everything, we surely do not have the same taste in clothing, not that he has bad taste, he thinks we do, and apparently, we should not talk to him in public while shopping either. O...Kay. This is spring break week and we have done nothing.... do you hear the crickets. Boring! But I have to say I am not sure I would have been up to travleing anyhow, I have had a few health issues to deal with lately, so maybe it was best that we stayed home. However, I am so ready for warm weather, I am boucing off of the walls and so are the kids. We did have fun last night, we surprised my mom at the airport as she arrived home from her first trip to Florida with my Uncle Mike and his family and my Grandma. We were there to help with luggage, they said we were a sight for sore eyes, it was fun to see them too. Marks mom Phyllis is now home too, she has been gone since the day after Christmas so we look forward to seeing her and Lon this weekend. Sadly though it is very apparent that my Dad is no longer with us. This is our first Easter without Dad to call and act like the Easter Bunny to the girls. Last year he made is "snow" easter grass for the girls with their new umbrellas. He made the holidays fun, we knew he would make us laugh. He loved watching the little girls play, he was always video taping the kids. He also loved sitting with the guys, especially Dayton and talking about sports and the upcoming fishing season. We always knew when the bluegills were biting, he would call and tell us to get Dayton up there, stop by the bait shop first and get his pole in the water. Dad would usually sit in the house the last few years because of the cold and watch Dayton on the dock and if Dayton got one he would always run it up to the house to show Grandpa. Oh how different it is now. I would never wish him back in the condition he was in but I would love to hear his voice again, get a kiss from his scratchy beard and listen to his stories. I miss him.... bad. We all do.

I am slowing everything down lately and letting stuff "go". I want to enjoy my family, we have been spending more quality time together. I loved making little baskets for my nieces this week, and assisting the Easter bunny for my own kids. We colored eggs yesterday and in Grandma S's tradition, we wrote our names on our eggs before dipping them. Myah even put Papa's name on one.

Spring is here, I am so thankful. I need the change that is for sure! Happy Easter!

Lion King, Snow Joke and Go Spartans

Yesterday Myah and I joined my sister and the girls at the Lion King Broadway production. Mel had bought us the tickets for Christmas. It was so beautiful and we had a super nice time. We cracked up when Mel took the girls to the potty during the show and as soon as she got up a huge "heard" of animals came running down the aisles so she had to duck into an aisle and almost into a womans lap. And we also lost our cars in the parking ramp, literally. We were like the last people to find our cars. But we were on the campus of MSU so it was exciting being there! Thanks Mel for the best gift!

Today starts spring break, did you hear me? Spring Break, not winter break and this is what I woke up to 6" of fresh fallen snow! YUK!! I am already having a hard time with not going anywhere warm for the break but pl-ease!
Myah has been wearing her head and wristbands from the final four games since we got it, she puts it on herself so I just had to share her "spirit" wear with all of you! She is really hoping that MSU wins tonight!!

Final Four Festivities!!! Go MSU!!!

Here we are outside of Hoop CityHere is Miss Myah decked out in her head and wristbands with her new basketball.

Building her little baskeball hoop, being ever so careful.
Dayton Myah and me at the huge pep rally.

At the pep rally Sparty or "Smarty" as Myah calls him, is revving up the crowd! Would you believe my cousin is married to a man who actually was "Sparty" at MSU!

On the riverfront, Detroit was very festive!

The Ren Cen was bustling with activity, this is the headquarters for General Motors, it was nice to see happy times here, it surely is a bad time for Motor City.

The big bracket!

On the roof of Chelis the MSU fans had taken over!

Here is Ford Field where they broke a NCAA record last night for game attendance, 75,00 fans packed the stadium, mostly wearing green and white! What a great time to be a Michigander!

Here is the team headed to the stadium, not a very good picture but it is all I could get!

We spent the day in downtown Detroit taking in all the festivities. We never have tickets to get into any of the big events that come to Detroit but we sure enjoy walking around the city and enjoy all of the activities that the events bring in. Yesterday we went to Cobo where "Hoop City" was going on. The kids had a great time and got lots of little trinkets from the NCAA for participating. Myah got to build a really cute little wooden basketball hoop from Lowes, she got to keep her goggles and apron and even as I type, she is wearing them. She also would not take off her Final Four headband and wristbands. The news even taped her on top of Mark's shoulders dancing while MSU was on the stage during the Pep Rally with all of the Final Four teams. The weather was perfect and we walked along the riverfront, it was great to see so many people wearing green and white! The fact that MSU is in the final game for the championship is the cherry on top, being that the games are in Detroit, I kind of felt bad for the other teams because they were swarmed by green and white, ok, I felt bad for like half a second!!! We left just in time to get home to watch the game! Probably the coolest part of the day was as we were leaving Detroit, we were amazed at the amount of traffic backed up trying to get into the city, we were glad we were headed out, we saw several emergency vehicles and noticed that they were escorting three MSU team busses headed to Ford Field for the game! So exciting! We were biting our nails during the game and were so excited that they won! We have a friendly competition going on in our household, we always fill out our brackets when the tournaments begin for March Madness, I being the huge basketball fan (yeah right) that I am always pretty much guess at who is going to win, and to my family's dismay, I usually do pretty good. This year I am dead on, I picked MSU and NC to go into the finals and of course I picked MSU to win! Duh! I blew my boys out of the water! They are cracking up and just roll their eyes when I rub it in a little bit! Hee hee! Mark says I probably could have won some major money if I had entered a pool but I am not a gambling woman so I just settle for the title of the winner in my household! Now tomorrow night is the final game and we are supposed to get snow, yes snow, like 6 inches, hellloooo, it is spring break and we are gettting snow?!!! Yuk!! So hopefully the crowds will still come out to support our Spartans! Mark has a friend with "connections" so he may be getting in to the game, we are not sure just yet but that would be wonderful if he could be there! Go Spartans!!! Go green, go white!!! All the way!

Go Green, Go White!!! Go MSU!!

These two men are like royalty in our family, Magic Johnson and Tom Izzo! To prove it, here is a funny story. When my cousin Mandy was being tested for kindergarten her teacher asked her to draw a picture of her family. She drew four little stick people representing her dad, mom, brother and herself, at the end was this tall, dark stick person, the teacher asked who that was and she replied "Magic Johnson". Yes, she thought he was a member of the family.

Today our beloved Spartans will play in the Final Four game, at Ford Field no less! We are hoping that our hometown advantage will prevail! We are going downtown today to take in the sights and sounds and show our support for MSU!!! I have to believe that my Dad was their "angel in the bleachers" this year, he and my Uncle Cleo were their biggest fans. We still have somewhere in mom and dad's house the video tape from the 1979 Championship game where Magic Johnson played against Larry Bird, it is the 30th anniversary of that game this year. Dad watched it so many times! Let's go MSU!!!!