7 and 5 year Pictures

Tanner and Anna had their 7 and 5 years pictures done recently.  I am not as strict for their pictures as I used to be.  Before, I wanted them to be "just perfect!"  Now, as long as I get at least 1 good one, the rest can be silly and show their personalities.  Tanner is very photogenic so all his pictures turn out great.  Anna, on the other hand, not so much!!  She almost tries to hard sometimes!  Here are some of the favorites.

On the adoption front, our home study is complete!  Wahoo!!  I have mailed all of the documents today to AAC and should receive our fingerprinting appointment soon.  After that, we will have everything we need to turn into China and wait for our baby boy.

Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather!
Becky

And we are off......

Well....it's official!!  We are going back to China!!  We are requesting a baby boy 0-18 months with minor, correctable special needs.  

I am busy collecting all of our documents for the home study and dossier that will be sent to China.  We chose AAC this time around due to the fact that they have just partnered with several new orphanages.  That will give us better odds to get matched sooner, rather than later. 

And on to the rest of the summer....

The kids just finished with swimming lessons.  They now feel more confident in the water but I don't feel that they can actually "swim" yet!  

We are anxiously awaiting our vacation to Destin, Fl.  My parents have rented a condo for my whole family to stay together.  We did that a couple years ago in Gulf Shores and it was a lot of fun.  

We just celebrated Tanner's 6th Gotcha Day a couple weeks ago.  He likes to go to Holiday World for his Gotcha Day.  We couldn't have asked for a better day this year.  There was a threat of rain throughout the day so I think that kept the crowds away.  It only down poured for about 15 minutes and it stayed cloudy so we didn't get hot.  Plus, there were no lines!!  The kids didn't even have to get off some of the rides....they just started them going again!  I think this is the first time that we were able to ride everything they wanted plus some of them multiple times.  

I am sooooo excited to be at Holiday World!!!!

On the train!

He looks so little in this picture!

Chad wasn't able to get off work so Papa went.  He was a trooper!!

That was awesome!!!!!

I will definitely keep you all updated on the progress going forward!  Thanks for stopping by!

Becky

SNOW!!!!!

The weather outside is frightful!!!!  4 days ago it was close to 70 degrees and now we have snow on top of ice.  Yikes!!  Tanner had is first official snow day yesterday and was so excited!  Of course, I was scheduled to work so he got to spend all day with Nana, Papa, and Anna.

This morning, they couldn't wait to go out to play.  So we bundled up and away we went!

The kids had never actually eaten the snow before.  Anna mentioned it so I told them it would be okay but watch out for yellow snow.  So, before the ate it, every time they asked if it was yellow!  :)

This wasn't a "good" snow because it wasn't very wet.  We weren't able to build a snowman or really go sledding.  We were able to sled a little but weren't able to make a long track to go really fast.  Not too impressive for my sensory kid but fun nonetheless!

After we warmed up and ate lunch, I decided to make some snow ice cream.  This was a first for us as well.  It was yummy!!!!!

Hope everyone is staying warm!
Becky

Where do I even begin?!?!

This blogging stuff is hard!!!  It never crosses my mind to get on here and actually do an update.  So...almost 5 months later...we are still here and going strong!  Tanner is acing kindergarten.  He loves it and is having so much fun.  I can tell his brain is just soaking up everything!

Anna started preschool in September.  She loves it and is so excited to finally go to school also.  She is going to Friends Forever and has the same teacher that Tanner had, so it made for a smooth transition.  Anna was already comfortable there and didn't have any problems making the adjustment.

In October, we flew to Miami for a nice relaxing vacation.  We didn't do much but it was nice to just get away for awhile.  Plus, we had never been that far south so it was neat to go and experience a different area.  We went to the Miami zoo and went on an airboat out on the everglades.

Tanner and the Koala Bear

We are gearing up for the holidays.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and please remember the Real Reason for the Season!!
Becky

FTIA Reunion

A week ago was the FTIA (our adoption agency) annual reunion.  We are lucky enough to live in the same city as the agency so are able to go to the reunions.  This year it was at Holiday World, which is a theme park in Southern Indiana.  Tanner loves theme parks and we always go for his gotcha day.  It was perfect that the picnic fell three days before his gotcha day!!

Tanner looks SO grown up in this picture!

I can't believe I actually got a pic of both of them waving and smiling at the camera!!

This picture says it all!!!!!

Anna and her buddy

Waiting to drive the old cars

Yikes!!!!!!!!

Happy Father's Day!

We are back and at a new address!

I have missed updating a blog, but after everything going on in Russia, I had decided to disable our previous blog due to the fact it was Tanner's full name!!  So I have changed it around a little and hopefully will be able to keep it more up to date!

So here is a family update:

Tanner

Tanner graduated Pre-K!  He is officially a kindergartener!

And Tanner turned 6!!

Tanner has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder (SPD) and is currently in occupational therapy for that.  He is showing improvement and can't wait to see how well he does in Kindergarten (well....I kind of can wait!)

Anna

Anna turned 4!!

Anna had her four year check up and didn't pass the eye test.  So we went to the eye doctor and she is indeed near sighted plus has astigmatism.  So she got a brand new pair of pink glasses!  I don't have a current picture on the computer yet of her but will post one soon.  Daddy says she looks like a "nerdy Chinese girl!"

If you read the "about us" section, you may have noticed that I mentioned that we are gearing up to add another prince to the family.  We have decided to adopt a prince from China and are going to start the process in the beginning of 2014.  We are getting excited for this next venture!