North Carolina 2011

We had another FABULOUS trip to North Carolina! We spent a week with family, and it was a perfect trip! Max had a fun over night with Grandma and Grandpa and we enjoyed a super fun day at Tweetsie Railroad (a super cute amusement park with an old time steam engine that Max loved!) The weather was perfect and it was great to have us all together! With Stephen's sister and brother-in-law living in NYC, his folks in North Carolina and us in Illinois, we really treasure these times when all seven of us can be together! We also took the opportunity to celebrate Max's upcoming 4th birthday! He understands that the big day isn't until August 29th....but he also understands that its VERY fun to take every chance he can to celebrate! He got a slip-n-slide (which he's already mastered the perfect technique for!), a microphone with stand (seriously the PERFECT gift for him!!) and karaoke machine (another PERFECT fit!) some Thomas the Train toys, a couple new books, a wooden train to sit on his book shelf and so many other things I can't even remember! He had such a great time....I think he thought it was Christmas again! Speaking of Christmas, that's when we'll all be together again...and we're super excited about it!!! Hope you enjoy all the pictures!!

A weekend of firsts!!

Oh what a fun weekend we had! This weekend was the Bagelfest in our small town (Lender's Bagels is headquartered here and sponsor's our fair each summer) and we had a great time! We took Max to his first good ol' fashion parade and he scored more candy than most kids do on Halloween! Its was so stinkin' hot outside, but he didn't seem to mind.

Later that night, we finally broke out the sparklers we had bought around the fourth of July but never got around to using. Max was in total awe. After a round of safety instructions, we let him hold them as they burned down, and I think he thought he was the coolest kid on the block! I love that about Max, he finds the joy in the smallest things! And, I love getting to experience all these first with him!

We are gearing up for a week long trip to North Carolina to visit Grandma and Grandpa (Stephen's folks) Aunt 'Ginia and Uncle Ryan and we are all SO excited! I'll have lots of pictures to share after our trip!

Summer fun!

I know its been forever since I've posted. We've been super busy this summer....and its been great! We've been traveling a ton....spending lots of time in the pool....and enjoying play dates with all our friends from church. Its been a blast...and Max has been loving every minute of it! Max is also LOVING baseball these days! He and Stephen are out there playing almost everyday after he gets home from work. And, he's getting pretty good. He'll be old enough to play t-ball next year, and he can't wait! Enjoy the pictures...and enjoy your summer!!!

Let's Party

Sorry for the delay...we've been busy, busy, busy. But, I wanted to be sure to post lots of pictures from our super fun weekend following our court date. We had a blast! Family came into town, and we had a great party! The pictures (all 500 of them!) pretty much tell the story themselves. Max had a great day, and that's exactly what we were going for! We wanted him to know how special he is, and how much we all love him, and I know we felt that! We also spent a day at Rockome Gardens with Grandma after everyone else had left. It a small place, just a town or two over, but we'd never been and wanted to check it out. It was so pretty! The weather was perfect, and it was a great day! Alright, now onto the TONS of pictures. Enjoy!

Finalization Day!

"I want to stay with Daddy and Mommy for eba and eba!!" Those were my sweet boys words to me this morning as we got ready to head to the court house. We've been talking this week about what this court hearing means, and explaining to Max how happy Stephen and I are to tell to the judge that we are so in love with our little boy, and we can't wait to once and for all make it 100% official! Well, Max wanted to make sure that his opinion was heard too!

This morning could not have gone smoother. Although, I will say, the whole thing was a lot more "official" than I thought it would be. Both Stephen and I were called to "testify" and I was beyond nervous. Not that we had any reason to believe that anyone would see us as anything other than what we are, a family, formed by our AWESOME Father, happy and healthy....but we had encountered so many stumbling blocks and hiccups on the road to actually bringing Max home, that it felt as if at any moment the judge would notice a piece of paper was out of order, or a document was missing. But.......everything was great, and the judge was lovely and so kind, and I cried way more than I anticipated, and I fell in love with my husband even more than before. Our lawyer asked us as we were walking in "Who wants to do most of the talking." Stephen looks at me with a wink and says "I got this." She called him to the stand first, and I don't know what it was exactly, but something in the way he answered her simple questions, and the confidence in his voice as he assured the judge that our love for Max is unfailing.....oh how I love that man!!!

We gave Max the choice on how to spend the afternoon. And he wanted to go the movies. We chose to see Kung Fu Panda II, and little did we know it had such a strong adoption theme.....perfect movie for today!!! Max had a blast and ate WAY too much popcorn!

We're gearing up for a party this Saturday with friends and family and Max is super pumped. Max's favorite question to ask anyone who will listen these days....."Are you coming to my party?!" Silly kid!

Great day....Incredible boy.....man we are BLESSED!!!

Heading into the courthouse!


The judge said "Hello Max!" and Max said "Nice to meet you!" She got a kick out of that!



Its really dark and I kinda chopped Max's head off, but the movie was about to start and it was the best I could get!

One blessed Mommy!!!!

What a great Mother's Day this has been! For the past couple of years, as we've journeyed to bring Max home, Stephen has done an amazing job of making Mother's Day special, but there's nothing that can compare to having my little guy march up the stairs this morning with his home made card Daddy helped him make and hear him declare "Happy mudder's day!!!!" I seriously teared up!!! The boys got me beautiful flowers, we went to church together, ordered pizza for lunch, had a family nap, and now we're headed out to play some basketball in the driveway (Max's new favorite sport and check out the picture of him in his Daddy's old t-ball t-shirt! I love that he can wear that!!). Its really been a perfect day with my boys, just the way I'd want it! I'm so blessed by these two guys!! Oh, and I got a wonderful surprise yesterday! My mother-in-law sent me a beautiful plant to put out on our porch! Such a sweet gift, and I'm so excited about it! Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! My own fabulous mother is in Hawaii right now (sooo jealous!!!) celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary to the love of her life (who just happens to also by my dad!!) Love you both!