Our Son's 8th Birthday!

Juan turned eight years old on Friday, and it is hard to believe he is growing up so fast.  Like Ingrid, he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday.  Everyone in our family gets to pick out a sugar cereal for their birthday breakfast.  Juan chose Fruit Loops with marshmellows.  He enjoyed a healthy breakfast of sugar cereal and chocolate milk, a hamburger and play time at Burger King for lunch, and pizza  for dinner.  The kids play with friends at a homeschool group at our church on Friday, so Juan helped make cupcakes for everyone. 

 

 

 He also knew exactly what he wanted for his special day.  Although he received other special gifts, he asked for a transformer and a cake with sea creaters on it.  The highlight of the cake for Juan was the star fish in the middle of the cake.  Although he is growing up, the simple things are the ones that matter the most.  Juan is very small and young for his age.  He will be the first to jump in our lap and can never get enough hugs.  Above any frustrations we may have throughout a day, we treasure and hold on to these special moments. 

 

Our First Anniversary of Being Home

We celebrated our one year anniversary of coming home from Colombia this week.  These pictures are of the kids at the airport and when they first got home.  Grandma and Grandpa greeted the kids at the airport with their own big teddy bear holding the American flag.  They still sleep with their teddy bears everynight!  When we reflect on the past year, we have come so far in our bonding and relationship with the kids.  As compared to our time in Colombia, there is an abundance of hugs and I Love You everyday.  Everyone told us when we were in Colombia that we would be a closer family when we got settled in at home, and they were right.

 

 

Swim Team!

The kids were on a swim team at the YMCA this summer and really liked it.  They had swimming lessons last year when we got home, and it was the first time they had been in a pool.  They love the water!  The kids swam four days a week for an hour each day with the swim team and really improved.  They can now all safely swim without their life jackets.  The YMCA has a non-competitive swim team that practices twice a week that we hope to look into this fall.

Our Re-Adoption in Arizona

Our kids were officially adopted in Colombia.  However, many families who adopt internationally go through a re-adoption process here in the United States.  This allows the kids to get a birth certificate registered in AZ.  Right now, we have birth certificates for the kids in Spanish and translated to English that were issued in Colombia.  If they ever want additional copies, they would have to write to Colombia to get them.  The process was very easy, and we were with the judge for only a few minutes.  The process was so much easier here at home!  We would encourage anyone who is adopting internationally to go through this process.

Happy 10th Birthday Ingrid!

Ingrid turned 10 years old this week and is growing up so fast!  She had a great birthday and was a princess all day.  She loves to play dress-up!  When she is happy, her whole face lights up, and it makes us all smile.  She is a great joy to our family and very loving.  After a fun day at home just playing, we surprised Ingrid with a birthday dinner at Chuck E. Cheese.  All of the kids were so excited and had never seen anything like it..  Since it was her birthday, we got front row seating for her birthday show with Chuck E. Cheese and lots of tokens to play games. 

After eating lots of pizza and cake and running around playing games, we went home to open presents.  She received a Barbie pool, one of her favorites, a new playdough set, books, and a very special bunny rabbit to sleep with at night.  Happy Birthday sweet Ingrid!

Choo Choo!

The kids love putting together a train set all around their play room.  They have started making houses out of legos to set up a whole town.  They really play well together and have a lot of fun.  Our daily schedule is usually showers, breakfast, chores, school time, lunch, and then play time throughout the afternoon.

Dainis's Second Father's Day

For those who have been following our blog, thank you so much for your support and interest in all of the activities of our new family!  We are very sorry we haven't written in awhile.  Dainis had a great Father's Day, and we were all so glad to be home this time.  Last year, we were in Colombia still.  We had presents waiting for him at home, but I remember running around Bogota trying to find a Father's Day card, which were all in Spanish.  This is a picture from last year from our hotel.  The kids are growing up so fast and changed so much!  Although they look happy in this picture from last year, as we look back, there were so many challenges everyday, as the kids made the transition into their new family.  They are so loving now and a great blessing to us all.

The kids surprised Dainis with a cake that they helped pick out and three presents from each of them.  Each child got $3 to buy presents at the dollar store and they were all well thought out gifts.  He got candy, razor blades for cutting things, soap, a new hat for working outside, just to name a few.  Thank you Dainis for all you do for our family.  You are so loved!!