I updated it by myself! :)

Check out the new blog (that I updated all by myself!!) and see an updated picture of our sweet Aaron! :)

Click here

Halloween pictures up!

Still working on getting you guys over to the new site. Head over now to see Allison as a lovely butterfly! :)

click here

I'm still learning my way around iweb, but it sure is fun! Scott has to help me with it every time I want to upload, but soon I'll learn how to do it myself and update all the time like I used to! Yeah!

TAKE NOTE!!!

I know, I said the last post would be THE last post, but I had to write at least one more time on here to tell you that the link to our new website has changed. This change will allow you to make comments, which I'm excited about since comments are so much fun!

SO, just click on the link below and save it to your favorites and then you'll be able to visit AND make comments. Yeah!

I still have a LOT to do to make the site how I want it, but hang in there with me!

Go HERE and see a new post! :)

Have a great rest of the week!
Laurie

The POT IS BOILING!! China here we come!

This will be my final post from this website. We are going to use iweb for our next blog, and I hope you'll all join us over there today for our BIG NEWS!!! I promise to write more later- all I know is that we're hoping to head to China in early December. Praise God! :)

Now, head on over to see pictures of our darling boy Aaron. When you get to the page, click on "Our son Aaron" to open up the page for today! :)

A Watched Pot

Well, I'm tired of watching the pot, so I decided to update the blog with some new Omaha pictures. :) I decided this at 9:00 AM but just remembered that I hadn't actually posted it and it's 5:00 PM. Oops!

I would call Vala's the "mother of all pumpkin patches". In fact, I don't even remember seeing a lot of pumpkins- it was more like a HUGE fall festival of fun. After looking through my pictures I realized that I needed to take a few of the surroundings and not just close ups of my kiddo- sorry. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that it was a really cool place! Or, go to Omaha next fall! :)

I have a lot of pictures from this day, so it'll take me a few days to get through them all.

Happy Thursday, everyone!



Heading out of the hotel and to the pumpkin patch. Daddy always makes the ride fun!



First we visited the park where Daddy played as a child. He couldn't wait to take her up in his favorite rocket, only to find out it had been barred up so you couldn't get in it. Ah, the 70's, where nothing was really safe. I sometimes miss those days! :)



The good witch!



"Here's a flower for YOU!" Is anyone else's child OBSESSED with flower/weed picking????



Reading a sign about the bunnies. Love how her little finger is pointing to the words! The sign told her not to put her hands over the fence because the bunnies might bite. It was cute to see her scared little face after she read the sign.



We spotted Cinderella (not sure what she was doing at the pumpkin patch, but okay), and you can see the anticipation in Allison's face as she waits her turn to say hello.



This is our child's nervousness showing through.



The nerves give way to excitement as she runs to meet Cinderella!



Okay, I'm no Cinderella, but no one's PAYING me to be her either! Allison could care less- she thought she'd met the REAL princess and was happy to have her picture taken.

More Omaha fun!

One thing on our list of things to do in Omaha was to visit Boys' Town. We didn't have time to take the official tour, but we did learn a lot from the kind lady at the gift shop, who told us all about the grounds, the programs, etc. We toured the grounds and supported the mission by purchasing a few things at the shop. :)

On Saturday night we visited our friends Matt and Heather. Their family was in our travel group from 2006, and Heather and I have grown very close over the past couple of years. We turned in our dossiers for our 2nd adoptions on the same day, but they received their referral a month earlier, so they are headed to China THIS WEEK!! If someone came to visit me a week before I went to China I'd be a basket case. Not Heather! Her house was spotless (and I have a feeling it's like that every day, not just when visitors come!), she had prepared a yummy meal, and she had activities for the girls to do. Seriously, this is one organized woman! Claire (their 3 year old) was a bit under the weather, and Allison was a bit cranky from lack of sleep, but they got along great and had a fun time anyway. Thanks to Heather's older kids being fantastic helpers, the adults were actually able to have some nice conversation throughout the evening. We enjoyed their hospitality so much and can't wait to return for some more! :)

My next post (unless something exciting happens tomorrow, PLEASE let something exciting happen tomorrow!!) will be from our awesome time at Vala's, a pumpkin patch in Omaha. I can't really call it a "patch", though. It was more like, well, there's just no way to describe how HUGE and wonderful it was!! We could have spent the weekend there and still not done everything. Stay tuned for pictures!

The Omaha Zoo

We had a ball at the Omaha Zoo on Saturday! We noticed upon our arrival that weather.com was a bit off on its prediction for the day. We were going to be very chilly! Allison was fine, but Scott and I had to purchase jackets right away. :) Our favorite spots at the zoo were the penguins, the really cool aquarium, the tigers and the butterfly house.

Before walking into the butterfly house we were given some rules to follow. One of the rules was to not reach out for the butterflies- you might hurt them. I didn't notice until we were about halfway through the house, but Allison was holding her hands behind her back the whole time. When we got out I asked her about it and she said, "I didn't want to hurt any of the butterflies, so I kept my hands behind my back!" :)




I guess Allison wasn't as excited about our trip? :)



Allison and Mommy enjoying the aquarium



Allison asked us to "act like fish". I really have to give Daddy the prize here for the best fish! :)



Allison is having a talk with the penguins



We're inside the butterfly house. If you look closely you can see Allison in the background with her hands behind her back. :)



Daddy asked us to make scary faces. Grrrr!



Oh my- she sure had fun playing on the lions!



Sweet face, huh?

Allison's first "recital"!

We are back home after a FABULOUS weekend away. Now, you might think fabulous means that we went somewhere exotic. Nope. Fabulous to me means going ANYWHERE, just getting away, spending time together, doing fun things, etc. I am very easy to please. Our getaway this weekend was to.... OMAHA!! No, we didn't just close our eyes and point to the map. :) Scott was born in Omaha, we have friends in Omaha, they have a great zoo in Omaha... the list goes on. We had a blast!! I will be posting about our adventures all week, as soon as I can figure out what's wrong with Scott's camera and why it's not downloading the pictures correctly. Grrr!! So, in the meantime, here are some pictures and videos from Allison's dance "recital" last week. Enjoy!

Taking the Weekend Off!

The other day Scott told me that my blog has been "less than interesting" this past week and that maybe we needed to do something fun so I'd have something to write about. Ha! SO, we are going away for the weekend. Away from computers, away from blogging, away from waiting on news about Aaron- just away!

I promise when I return I'll have ballet pictures and hopefully some new pictures from a fun weekend away. See you then!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

Happy Thursday! We had such a fun morning with our friends, Cat and Morgan. We headed out to a local pumpkin patch we'd heard a lot about. Turns out it's really famous for the activities it has available on the weekends. Oh well- we still had lots of fun with the girls, and with temps in the high 50's, I was in HEAVEN!! After playing at the patch we headed to lunch at St. Louis Bread, or Panera, depending on where you live, and it was oh so yummy, as usual!

I love the story of how Cat and I became friends. She was Allison's first swimming teacher when we took the Mommy and Me class at the Y last year. She taught the class while demonstrating everything on her own daughter, which I thought was really neat. As is so often the case I found myself thinking, she seems like such a neat person, but I have no idea how to become her friend. Making friends was so much easier when I was younger. I didn't have so many insecurities. Or I did but I didn't let them get in the way. Turns out God had a plan for us, as he placed us at the Borders store at the mall on the same morning a few weeks after swim class had ended. We began talking, discovered we were both Christians, and there you go- we became friends. Recently we've gotten our husbands together and they seem to hit it off too, so it's nice. :)

Right now my little angel should be napping or resting, but instead I hear the sweet little pitter patter of feet running back and forth from room to room. Obviously NOT sleeping OR resting. Hmmmm. Tonight is the final ballet/tap class, and parents can watch, take pictures, etc. SO, look for a new post tomorrow with ballerina pictures. Until then!




Getting Allison and Morgan to pose at the same time proved quite difficult, but I tried!



It was tough to get her off the swing to look around some more! This girl and swings- she could go for hours!



How cute is THIS? I told Cat I should be paid for this picture! :)



Allison and Mommy peeking through the bus



How 'bout them pumpkins? :)