The Mighty Mighty Bike Team

Yesterday we rode on our 4th annual Mighty Mighty Bike Team ride. When Jason's Dad Dennis passed away 5 years ago we spent quite a few weekends of that summer biking around Jason's hometown. Every year since we have gone on a big family bike ride Memorial Day weekend to spend time as a family and to remember Dennis. The name came from my niece Ellie singing "We are the bike team the mighty mighty bike team. Every where we go, people want to know who we are, so we tell them...." You get the idea. The name has stuck and we still sing it every year. I am pretty sure we scare all of the animals and possibly some people away with our singing but we have a great time doing it. We went to a really great nature preserve this year that had beautiful trails along a little lake.

This was on a bench along the trail. So true.

Isaac's Baptism

We celebrated Isaac Christoper's Baptism yesterday and were honored to be chosen as God-Parents. We are so happy that this sweet little boy is a part of our lives. Jason's Cousin Christoper, Sara, Ellie and Isaac.

Henry pretty much thinks little Ellie is the best thing ever. He was her little shadow.

The best part of the day for Henry had to be the cake! Henry is still talking about cake and making cakes in his little kitchen.

Wordless Wednesday

Old McBill's Farm

Old McBill had a farm e-i-e-i-o

And on that farm he had a puddle e-i-e-i-o

With a splish splish here
and a splish splash there

here a splish

there a splash

Everywhere a splish splash

Old McBill had a farm

E-I-E-I-O

2 going on 16

Henry and I went to a baby shower yesterday. We decided to try a new hairstyle and gelled the front up a bit. Henry woke up from his nap with CrAzY bed head so instead of trying to tame it down we just rolled with it and added some gel. I was shocked when I looked at the pictures I snapped right before we left. He looks like such a big boy. He is no longer a baby, he really does not look like a toddler anymore, he is a boy. I am loving this age and everything that comes with it but how did my baby all of a sudden become a big boy?? I feel a bit as though I am going to blink and he will be driving soon. Trying to be casual while sneaking down the hill.

Just one more picture.

At the end of the day though he is still just a mamas boy who likes to cuddle and I will treasure those hugs as long as I can.

little sister, big brother

When I saw this posted on face.book I new immediately that I had to have it. I was in LOVE!!!! I love everything that she makes and have been debating for a while which ones should come and grace our walls. There are so many to choose from and I loved them all so it was easier to just not make a decision. That was until I saw this. I logged on to ets.y and made my purchase within minutes. It is perfect and I am so excited to have our first kil.sook hanging on our wall.

Potting Flowers

Henry and I decided that we are ready for spring and we were going to plant our flower pots! We have had enough of all this rainy cold weather. Henry was very excited to be my little "helper" potting all of the flowers.

My little helper!

One by one Henry carefully unloaded all of the flowers from the car.

I realize that this is EXTREMELY blurry but I had to put it on to show just how hard Henry worked to get the flowers out of the trunk. The last few were a little to far back so he hoisted himself up to reach them. Jason tried to help but was told "no, no, no, no" and he unloaded them all by himself.

Making a few last minute adjustments.

Cinco de Hunter

Happy 5th Birthday to my hilarious little nephew Hunter!

Monkey Jumping in the Crib

Last week while Henry was quietly playing in his room I was folding laundry in our room. Through the monitor I started to hear some funny noises. It sounded like Henry was jumping in his crib. I made the short trek down the hall and sure enough Henry was jumping in his crib. He had climbed into his crib so he could jump and then as I walked in he climbed right back out. We know that he has been physically capable of doing this for a while now but have really been hoping that he would never realize that he could actually do it. I have been secretly hoping to keep him contained in his crib at night until college. We took the front of his crib off and bought a rail for the side of it. Last night was the first night of him sleeping in his new big boy crib and it went really well! He did not get out once!!! Henry is a really busy guy so I figured that we would be in and out of his room putting him back to bed for hours. He has surprised us yet again. He was ready for the change and is doing great. I just laid him down for a nap and I could hear him talking in there and when I peeked in I imagined him sitting and playing with toys but he was just laying in his bed talking himself to sleep. He is growing up so fast. I think he was ready for this change long before we were. The next step is figuring out where to buy a twin mattress and box spring. Oh and new bedding... yay!

He did it!

The EP Quota

We were finally informed this weekend of Korea's Emigration Permit Quota for 2011. The cut off for families to still be able to travel in 2011 is families who received their referral before December 1st 2010. This means that the backlog of families waiting to travel is a year. When we accepted Claire's referral we were told that we would be traveling in 2012. There was always that teeny tiny little sliver of hope that early March referral would squeak though and we would miraculously be traveling in December. In our hearts we knew though that it would be 2012 travel so we were kind of prepared for this announcement. My heart is very heavy right now for the families who have Dec and Jan referrals. The news is devastating and shocking all at the same time. They waited a long time to hear what the quota was going to be. The longer that we did not hear any news the more we hoped that it would not be as drastic as it is. For us to bring Claire home it is looking more like next March or April. So a full year to 13 months of waiting for our travel call. The situation is hard no matter what way you look at it. The good news is that Claire is in a loving foster home. While we miss her and can not wait to bring her home but she is not missing us and will just continue to get the wonderful love and care from her foster family.

We are going to try and make the most of this situation and try and look at some of the positives that come from it. There are many negative things but almost all of the negatives we have no control over. Focusing on those won't help us or change anything. I am going to stay committed to looking toward the positive.
Some positives are-

• Henry has that much longer to be an only child and feel secure in his attachment and his position in our family.



• Henry will be 3 when Claire comes home. I really feel like he will understand everything so much more.



• Henry will be 3 when we travel. Henry is already a great traveler but being just that much older I think will make a big difference and maybe he will remember Korea and the trip a little more. If not he will be able to see the pictures and remember things that way.
  


• We have more time to save money for the trip.



• We have more time for Henry to be potty trained, get rid of his pacifier and be sleeping well in his big boy bed.



• We have more time to get our house ready for two kids and figure just where we are going to put everything and everyone



• We can send more care packages!!



• My mom and dad who are going with us do not have a spring break next year so this way they still get to take a spring break. Plus they get to go with us to Korea so really it is a win win.



• It will be warmer when we travel. No need to bring down coat, hat, scarf, mittens, etc.



• April in Korea= Cherry Blossoms!!!



• We will be stronger people and a stronger family when we come out the other side.
  

There are quite a few positives that we need to focus on and there are some goals that we need to accomplish.

When we were waiting to bring Henry home we were the start of this whole EP quota slow down. We were told that it would be 2.5-3 months to travel. It ended up being 6 months before we received our travel call. At the end of meeting Henry for the first time Jason turned to me and said, "I just love him so much. I would wait another 6 months just to see him again." For Claire we will be waiting the 6 months +6 months. But we know we can do it. It will not always be easy. We may not always be cheerful about it and we will have hard days. We know though that what is on the other side of the wait is so worth all of the heartache and waiting to get there.

Just to end on a more positive note here is our funny little guy posing all on his own and saying "Cheese"

Project Manager

Henry was the project manager on a book shelf assembly project this weekend. He took his job very seriously and did an excellent job. It is a good thing our favorite Swedish retailer does not have words in their directions. Henry was able to figure it out no problem.

Henry found a flag and was flying it proudly. I am thinking this must have been a union job.

Dancing on the shelves.... Check.

Double checking all of daddy's work.... Check.

Where are you spring?

Where are you spring? Henry seems to think that you are hiding up there someplace. Just thought that we would let you know that we are ready and you can come anytime now. Snowflakes in May is not really that funny. We have parks that need to be played in, water tables that need to be splashed in and sand that could use some rearranging. We will welcome you with open arms. I promise we are ready.