Merry Christmas!

We have had the pleasure of watching Avery grow and be fascinated by how much she has changed during this past year. She is finally deciding that walking on her knees (not crawling…only on her knees) is starting to get old and is walking most of the time. She concentrates very hard while doing it and that in itself is fun to watch. Both of her hands are stuck straight out and her hands and fingers are moving all over the place while she’s walking. I’m sure this won’t last long as she gets steadier on her feet but I love it. I miss her being a little baby and the way she used to turn her hand completely upside down and suck on her ring and pinky fingers. It’s something that I thought she would do for a long time. Danny and I love that she gets so excited when she sees Nana and Papa. Last week, while Melissa and Gavin were without power, Avery slept in her Pack n Play downstairs in my room. Even though she woke up earlier than I normally would have, I enjoyed getting up and putting her back in our bed. She loved the fact that the dogs were also in the bed with us…..especially Awwewa (Ella). She could watch herself on video (seen in an earlier post of her bouncing to music) over and over. It’s what I do when she’s unhappy. I show her the video and it’s an instant smile. She has learned so many new words over the past few months and it amazes me at how quickly she picks new words up. I could just sit and watch her for hours.She has brought so much love and joy into our lives. I cannot imagine life before her. We love her so much!

Petros Bekele Engelhardt has brought so much to our lives in just the few months that it’s hard to explain. We were not sure how long it would take for him to adjust to such a drastically different life, here in the United States but WOW has he ever surprised us! He is such a perfect fit for Dan and Tiffany. He’s sensitive and very loving. He is always paying attention to other people’s feelings. He gets upset if he thinks he’s disappointed you in any way and tries to make it better. I love to talk to him on the phone when he’s just trying to make small talk. If I ask him what he’s doing, he finishes telling me and then will ask “Whaya doin...you?” I have to tell him exactly what I’m doing at that point and then he’ll drill me further……”Wha bout Papa?” I’ll tell him Danny’s status at that point. In the beginning, I was calling him on my way to work in the morning to sing him a song on the answering machine before he woke up in the morning, which he found pretty fascinating. I started running out of songs and then there was always the danger of singing BINGO (one of his favorites) and trying to get all of the claps in while taking my hands off the steering wheel. Now, once in a while, he’ll ask me to leave him a message the next day. I’ve really got to brush up on kid’s songs again….it’s been a long time and I find myself forgetting the words.

I know that I sound corny but I can tell you that these two kids have made such a tremendous difference on the way I look at life. People used to try to tell me how much I would love them and how wonderful it would be. I know I’ve said it before but you just don’t know until you get there. I have so much more patience than I did with my own kids and I can always find an excuse for them when their parents do not approve of something that they’ve done.

As everyone knows, the economy is probably the worst that I can remember right now. My family is not exempt from the job cuts that are going on in many companies. 2009 is going to start out pretty rough but we are all hopeful that things will get better for our country. We know that there will be rough times ahead but we’ve already been through worse and we survived it. We will also survive it this time! I truly believe that everything in life happens for a reason and that it’s meant to teach us other things about life (even though sometimes I don’t want to learn anymore!). I try to keep it in my head that the issues we have are all meant to be lessons and to stay positive. Although it’s difficult at times, we continue to try to maintain a positive outlook for the future.

Happy Birthday to My Brother

Today, Saturday, December 6th would have been my brother Darryl's 41st birthday. It seems unimaginable to me that he has been gone for almost 15 years now. It just doesn't seem like it's been that long. I remember the last time I saw him. It was on Christmas day which was about 3 weeks before he died. When I think about it, I can picture his face very clearly opening a gift that my mother had given him.

I also replay the day that he died over and over in my mind. I remember every detail of that day leading up to the call telling me that my brother was dead. Numb is how I would describe the days following that day.....numb....for a long time after.

I think of him a lot. Whenever I see a really large and tall dark haired man, I still have to catch myself to remember that he couldn't be my brother. Songs by Lionel Richie remind me of him. The song Friends in Low Places reminds me of him and Dana singing karaoke and how happy they both were that night.

I often wonder what his life would have been like if he had grown older with the rest of his brothers and sisters. Would he have had children of his own? So many changes have taken place in our lives since, it's hard to imagine what could have been but it never stops me from thinking about it.

I love and miss him so much.

I'm Going Private.......

For those of you who read my blog a lot or only every once in a while, please email me at cheryl_engelhardt@hotmail.com if you want to keep reading. I've decided to go private. It will only allow people who I allow to view my blog.

Once Upon A Time, There Was a Pumpkin & a Flower...........and a Chicken!

Avery & Petros had so much fun on Halloween. As you can see, Avery was a flower. It was one of her first words and now almost everything is a flower (even though she knows many other words) so how appropriate that she dressed up as a flower on Halloween!

Petros was originally caught up between being a telephone (his first fascination in America) and a pumkin. We just happened to find a cute pumkin costume that he really loved so a pumkin he was!

It was so much fun to see them all excited about being in their costumes. Petros practiced saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" during the week and did a really good job going door to door. Avery was just as excited but probably didn't really understand what was going on anyway. I stayed back at Melissa's house and handed out candy while Dan, Tiffany & Melissa (poor Gavin was working again!) went around Melissa's neighborhood with Petros and Avery. They came back with their buckets full of candy. Since Avery is too little to have most of what she got (but ate the Teddy Grahams) and Petros doesn't like candy (but enjoyed having Tiffany try a little bit of everything), Avery just enjoyed putting her hands into the bucket and throwing the candy out. Petros tasted a few things and finally settled on a lollypop. Next year should be even more fun! We even had a visit from Sofia the Chicken!

Now comes the holiday season...........Woo Hoo!!! I've got to get busy!! Bring on the Christmas music!

Facebook

My whole family now has Facebook accounts! I'm not really sure what started all of this but each day, one more of us joins. We're all connecting with people that we haven't heard from in a long time and we're having some fun with each other too. There are bumper stickers, games, pins and many other activities that keeps it interesting. I guess it's probably just a change of pace. I prefer my good ole blog but it's fun to aggrevate the kids by sending them stickers and other silly things like kidnap requests. I know it drives them nuts so I do it more for fun than anything. If you don't have a Facebook account and you're reading this, get one and look me up!!

Another One:

Happy Birthday To My Favorite HUSBAND!!

My husband turns 47 today!! I cannot believe how quickly time flies…..now we have a 29 year old son, a 27 year old daughter and two grandchildren! The bad part about Dan turning 47 is that my turn is coming up next.
Dan has managed to live a very active life and as you all know, does not know what it’s like to sit still! He’s lived such a full life already. He has been to many places and seen many things in his life. So many in fact, that I don’t think most people would be able to say that they’ve been to as many countries and cities when they are in their 90’s. He’s a great father and a fantastic grandfather. I might also add that he’s aged pretty well! Happy Birthday to the same best friend I’ve had for the last 30 years! I love him!

Happy Birthday To My Favorite Son!!

Guess who turns 29 years old today? I cannot believe it! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday when I was a very young mother wondering how on earth I was going to be able to raise a child. He has turned out to be everything I could have ever wanted him to be and more. I would describe him as smart, caring, loyal, family oriented, sensitive and loving. All of these are traits that I would admire in any person. I continue to be impressed every day with him when it comes to being a father to Petros. He is the kind of father that I always knew he would be and I could not be prouder of him. I love you honey! Happy Birthday!

Fryeburg Fair & Apple Picking!!

Danny and I had a great weekend with family and friends. We both took Friday off from work. Danny and I took Avery for the day and went and picked up Dan and Petros to head off to the Fryeburg Fair for the day. It didn't take Petros very long at all to catch on to all of the activities! We saw lots of animals and Petros and Avery went on the merry go round and rode ponies. Petros went on some more adventurous rides too and couldn't get enough. Daddy told him one more ride and then we'd have to leave. He tried to bargain with him and get two more rides. Petros won. He got to ride on the bears (which is actually a kid version of a tilt-a-whirl) before we left and had another ride on the merry go round.

Avery was such a good girl that day (she is every day!) and was happy hanging out and watching everybody walking around. She loved riding the pony and loved the doddies (which is doggies......every animal was a dog that day).

On Saturday, we met up with Deidre and Dave along with Nicole, Dan and Callahan and went apple picking. Dan and Tiff led us to this place in Cornish a few years ago and we love it there. They have lots of activities there for kids. They have an apple sling shot. You put the apple into the sling shot and try to aim it across the pond at a target with a hole in it. You'll see Petros doing this in some of the pictures below. They also have an apple crate maze that Petros and Tiffany went into. Melissa and Tiffany discovered a shed that held a bale of hay, scissors, string and lots of clothing where you can make your own scarecrow. I think Melissa and Tiffany were more excited than the kids to make the scarecrow. We ended up getting him a pumpkin head that Petros, Dan and Tiffany will make a face for and put on their front steps.

On Sunday, Melissa and I took Sofia for the day and went out to lunch and then went shopping. It helped to remind me of how young I was when I had my kids!! I was exhausted and didn't manage to get many of my errands done this weekend.

Life is......crazy.....insane......tiring.......exhausting & busy these days...........BUT..............I LOVE IT!!!!

Happy Birthday Avery!

Today is Avery’s first birthday. I cannot believe how quickly time has gone by and how much she has changed. She has been such a joy to have in our lives. We cannot imagine what life would be without her. I never can get enough of her. Being a grandparent has been the most rewarding thing that has ever happened to us. We are totally in love with this girl! Now if we could just get time to slow down!

I Lub You Dahlin....

Avery adores Petros. She is all smiles whenever she is around him.

A kiss for Mama (please take note of that ponytail!)

Daddy and his boy.

and

FINALLY.........

Be sure to watch the video until the end. You'll then understand how I got the title for this blog. (please ignore my singing!)

We are LUCKY!!

Bust It Baby!

Petros sings........Bust It Baby.......BABY!!!

Petros is really coming out of his shell lately. Although we know that he can be quite entertaining at home, he's usually shy when it comes to a video camera. He got a big kick out of watching himself perform on Nana's camera after this. This was actually 1 of 6 videos that we did but because he was so into it, I thought it was the cutest. We also did "If You're Happy and You Know It" - I'll save that one for my next blog.

Sofia eating her birthday cake - chocolate cake with chocolate and pink frosting!

Today was Sofia's 1st birthday. I cannot believe that she is 1 already! She just started walking last week so I guess we can officially say that she walked before her 1st birthday. She had a great time and loved all of her gifts. A few of her gifts brought squeals from her. She got a big stuffed dog, a wagon, a push car, lots of books, clothes and other toys.

Avery got to take a little spin in Sofia's new car.......as you can see in the picture below, she loves the car. It has a push handle in the back so it looks like Miss Avery may just be getting one for her birthday in a couple of weeks. She's getting to be such a big girl and although she's not walking (Melissa and Gavin aren't rushing it!) she's a VERY fast crawler and still manages to beat Nana to the dog food dish!

Nana's beautiful girl

nnnnnnnnn

Look at how big we're getting!

Avery, Jaden, Petros & Sofia

nnnnnnnnn

I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that I'm not a consistent blogger and it's okay. I'm a busy person!

We've had a great summer so far! The weather has finally decided to cooperate and we've been able to get out and stretch our legs. Our biggest summer event was of course the arrival of Petros. He fits into our family so well and we all loved him instantly. He continues to amaze us daily with all that he knows and has learned. He is adjusting well and getting a bit more used to all of the new faces he sees because we have such a big family. His favorite game is Memory which is a game with several cards that you turn over two at a time to try and find a match. It's really good for him because all of the cards have different pictures and he names what is on each card as he turns it over. He can literally play this game for hours on end. He is really good at remembering where the "matches" are and sometimes will try to trick you into picking the wrong card so that he can take his turn and get a match! Rather than Dan and Tiff carrying "Match" around with them, I think Nana will go out and buy one to keep here.

Miss Avery is growing like a weed and has FINALLY decided to sprout some teeth. We discovered today that she has 4 coming all at once! At least they'll be here in time for her first birthday in a few weeks. We were thinking that she might not have any.... :-) She is crawling everywhere and likes to be chased. She stayed over with Nana and Papa on Friday night and woke me up at 5:00 am.....I didn't mind at all but brought her to bed with Danny and I and when I woke up, she was leaning over and giving Papa a kiss while he was sleeping. I would have given anything for a camera! She also loves her new cousin Petros. When we tell her to give Petros a kiss, she gets very quiet and gives him nice kisses.

Petros & Avery

Danny and I feel so lucky to have our grandchildren. It has changed our whole lives. We love every second that they are here and never get tired of playing or just watching them. They are truly the loves of our lives.......(our kids aren't so bad either!)

As you can see, I'm using a new blog design created for me but have not been able to figure out how to keep my font small...........I'll keep trying!

This Boy…….. Petros is such an amazing little boy! It is so surprising to us how much we love him already. He has such a friendly personality and is not very shy at all. He’s done so well so far since coming to America. I think we were all prepared for a tough haul but so far he has proven us wrong. I’m sure that at some point he’ll figure out that he’s staying here with Mommy and Daddy and might have some reaction but he loves them so much and has been waking his Daddy up at 5:30 am by tickling him. Welcome to parenthood Dan and Tiff!!
It’s so good to see Dan and Tiffany as parents! They have such a sparkle in their eyes and are truly in love with their new son. This could not be a more perfect match!

Petros had his first swim in the pool with Daddy and is absolutely fearless! He loved the water and did not want his Daddy to hold on to him. He hasn’t quite figured out that he cannot touch the bottom yet! He also had some play interaction with Avery. I think that Avery senses that he is here to stay. Nana was giving Petros lots of attention and Avery got very clingy to me all of a sudden. I now have Nana’s favorite girl and Nana’s favorite boy. Oh boy…..Christmas is going to be fun this year!!!

More pictures coming soon!!!

Our New Boy....

Hello! I know I know….it’s been a long time. I’m a pretty busy person. I’ve started a new job and it’s keeping me much busier than my previous job. In addition, it’s summer time and I tend to stay even busier in the summer.
We have very good news….GREAT NEWS actually. Dan and Tiffany are going to Ethiopia on Friday, July 25th to bring the newest member of our family, Bennett Petros Bekele Engelhardt, home! This has been a pretty long process but totally worth the wait. We are now in the home stretch! There will be many adjustments for Bennett as well as Dan and Tiffany, but I’m willing to bet that Bennett will have much more to adjust to.
We could not be happier! After planning their shower (which was scheduled for July 27th) and getting the news that they would not be here, we decided to postpone it until Bennett has had a little bit of time to adjust to a new life and bond with his parents.
I cannot express how grateful we are for everybody’s good wishes and support throughout this process. We continue to learn a lot about life and how important family and friends will always be. We love him so much already and cannot wait to FINALLY meet him, touch him, play with him and have him in our lives! He's a very lucky boy to have such great parents too. Please take some time to watch their video introduction of their son and our newest grandchild:
http://theengelhardts.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, Miss Avery has been pretty busy herself since my last blog. She is growing so fast……I look at her and wonder where the time has gone already. She is now crawling and has started dancing which is the cutest thing in the world to me right now. Check her out:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Finally!

It's finally going to happen! It seems like it's been forever since Dan and Tiffany started this process. I am elated that we are going to have a little boy in our family. He is 3 years old and is already so loved by all of us. We cannot wait to meet him. Come on travel groups......let's have a date!! In the meantime, Dan and Tiffany will be getting ready to travel to Ethiopia probably toward the end of the summer to go and get him. Hopefully, that keeps all of us pre-occupied while we wait to see him and learn much more than we've already learned so far.

Shopping For Mommy's Birthday.....Avery and I took Melissa out shopping for her birthday this past weekend. It seems like Avery always comes out of the mall with more than anyone of us. Melissa didn't find a bathing suit but Avery found a few things! The picture above shows her with my debit card which she should probably keep since she's the one who benefits most from it these days! It was a very long day for all of us but Avery was once again the lucky one and had a place to sleep while we continued to wear ourselves out shopping for the rest of the day. Here she is with her new friend Big Bird!
Happy 27th Birthday to Melissa! GOD, I'm feeling old!!

We are all eagerly awaiting referral news soon!!!!

Happy May!

I think that May is going to bring exiting changes for our family. I'm obviously hoping for a referral for Dan and Tiff any day now, which will change our lives forever. I'm anxious to get that call from them and hope that I can keep it together when they call because I've also accepted a new job and don't want to make a fool of myself if I'm at work when the call comes. I'm going back to work for the company that I used to work for before I left Maine. The job will be somewhat similiar and the pay is much better. It's not really about the pay though....I guess the decision was made mostly because it's time for me to be challenged again. I've kind of been coasting along for quite some time now in my current job and although I love the place and the people that I work with, I felt like I was wasting my knowledge and an opportunity to continue my career and not just have a job that got me by. I'm pretty excited to get back into the swing of things. My first day is on May 12th. I'm sad to be leaving the people that I work with but I am looking forward to the challenges of a new job.


Since I had some vacation time left over, I'm taking advantage of being able to spend some time with one of the greatest loves of my life......Avery Grace. I never get tired of her and wish that I could spend every day with her. She is such a joy to be around.

Ignorance

There was recently a great story in an online newspaper in Connecticut about Ethiopian adoptions: www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ethiopia0422.artapr22,0,7186106.story
This story was trying put a positive message out into the world about adopting and some of the processes people go through. It also follows adoptions through the agency that Dan and Tiff are using and shows what a great job they do with families who want to adopt from Ethiopia or other countries. At the end of this story, there was a link to click so that people could make comments on the story. It was absolutely mind blowing that there are such ignorant people who are still out there in today's society. Some comments were extremely racial and then there were other comments that questioned adopting outside of this country. I was going to post some of the really crude comments on my blog site so that you could all see how ignorant people can be. I cannot get to the comments section of the story now because the newspaper's website actually decided to shut down the comments section for this story because of the racial and extremely negative comments. One of the things that struck me was the fact that some of these people acted like anyone who adopts outside of our country were on different teams: The "United States team" vs. "Any Other Country "team. What about Team "This Whole World"? Why do people think that families who live in the U.S. should only adopt children who are also from the U.S.? Do they realize that it is much more difficult and not to mention waaaayyyy more expensive? It's a much longer wait in most cases too. The obvious thing about the comments that really was irritating are the people out there who are obviously racists. These are the people who are still making it difficult and continuing to add fuel to the fire for people who have a different color skin than they do. This is in part, what is wrong with today's society. WAKE UP..............it's only skin color. Don't label people because of their skin color. White racist's are the people who give all white people a bad name. Some people with a different skin color are the people who give all people with different skin color a bad name.

I know that my grandchildren are and will be very loved by Danny and I. We are so eager for Dan and Tiff to become parents. Most of you already know what fantastic parents they are going to be and that some baby is going to be VERY lucky to have these two as his/her parents. I'm sure that there are people out there who have differing opinions on Dan and Tiff's choice too. This has been an eye opening experience for our family and we are still in the process of learning and will continue to see things in a different light in the coming months. This is a life lesson that I'm happy to have had the chance to experience. I will leave this earth a different person because of it.

Despite the shorter wait times, this process has been long and very hard. We are very grateful for every one's continued encouragement and support. We are now in the home stretch and the wait seems even tougher.

Enough ranting......on to happier things! I hope that my next blog will have referral news on it!

Finally!!

The snow has finally disappeared from our yard and pool area. I know that this is not the case for some of you who read my blog but look on the bright side.....spring is here and hopefully we won't get ANY MORE snow! Danny and I have finally moved into our HUGE new bedroom. I love it! We've got a little work to do on the organization of the main floor upstairs but overall, things look much better. We are as busy as ever lately. Danny with work of course and me with...................well.........................a little of everything. We're looking forward to the warmer weather and getting outside.

Melissa and Gavin have been taking some walks with Avery and she loves to be outside. They have signed her up for swimming lessons that will begin in a couple of weeks. She loves the water so I'm sure she'll do well. It will prepare her for the many hours that we'll spend in the pool this summer. She already has 4 bathing suits so she'll certainly always have a dry one! Her personality is changing pretty quickly these days. She definately prefers to be with her mother and let's you know it. We have conversations on the phone which either consist of Avery babbling to me for several minutes or her being completely silent while Nana makes a complete fool of herself by singing loudly into the phone for her. She is getting to be so much fun and I'm sure the best is yet to come.

Dan and Tiffany (and the rest of us!) are very anxiously waiting for a referral for Marin/Bennett these days. As Dan and Tiffany get closer and closer to the top of the waiting list, it seems like time is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g! I'm looking forward to just finding out if we have a Marin or a Bennett. It doesn't matter to me either way but I've got shopping to do!! This child will need everything so on top of giving them a shower, there will be lots of preparation for this child who we already love so much!! We cannot wait to meet him/her.

We have lots of things coming up. There are baby showers, birthdays, a college graduation, a shower to plan for Dan and Tiff, a 70th surprise birthday party for my father and a trip to New York in the fall with my Tuesday night card crew (and my best friend Deidre!). Dave, Danny, Deidre and I have also discussed a vacation next winter in a warm and sunny tropical place. As you can see, life is never dull. I stay busier than ever!

I've been messing around with different blog layouts lately and after feeling like I finally conquered making them, have decided that I don't have the time and what does it really matter anyway....does anyone really care what my layout looks like?

Possible new things on the horizon for me.........stay tuned!

Time Flies???

Avery turned 5 months old on the 26th of February. It seems like time is flying much more quickly since she has been born. She has lost most of her hair and new lighter hair is coming in. The jury is still out on whether or not she'll be light brown or blonde. Maybe blonde like her Nana! She is a very happy baby who is smiling all of the time now. I talk to her several times a week now on the phone and sing Patty Cake to her and listen to her babble into the phone. She stays attentive for quite a while before trying to play with the buttons on the phone. Here is the latest picture of her taken this past Saturday. It's hard to describe how much I love her!!!

Now, when I say that time seems to be flying by, I mean that only in terms of Avery getting older. Time is not flying by for Dan and Tiffany it seems. When they say that waiting is the hardest part, it's true. Between the long snowy winter that we've had and the fact that the adoption list hasn't moved a whole heck of a lot as of late, they are finding the wait to be extremely hard for them. They are trying to keep themselves busy with various projects and continuing to get more involved with other adoptive families. They have met other families who have either adopted from Ethiopia also and some of those who are also in the waiting stages. I too am having a hard time waiting so I cannot imagine what it's like for them at this point but before we know it, we will have Marin/Bennett here and we'll look back at this and possibly think that the waiting wasn't as bad as we all thought. Right now I can't imagine thinking that way but I guess it's kind of like childbirth.........you tend to forget how bad the pain was after you've got a baby and a little time goes by. Right now though......time is crawling!

Last Sunday we had another family gathering with my kids and Avery, Lisa, Felipe, Sofia, Tia and Jaeden. My mother and aunt Donna also made a surprise guest appearance. For those of you who know my mother, you'll know that this was truly a surprise for us. Here is the latest picture of Sofia. She has grown like a weed and is a wild woman! You know what they say about payback Lisa........

Mr. Jaeden made his first appearance at our gathering. He is such a good baby! Tia really lucked out with him. He's very quiet and at this point is only sleeping, eating, peeing and pooping. Enjoy it while you can Tia! As you can see from the picture below, he hasn't lost an ounce of hair! The fun part right now is trying out different hair styles!

Our bedroom project is almost finished!!! Yahoo!!! The carpet is being installed next week and we'll be moving down there as soon as that is finished. Danny and I went out to get all of the closet racks this weekend and Danny is doing the final painting as I type this. It will be an early spring cleaning for us! It is what I am most looking forward to in the coming weeks...........except the adoption waiting list moving!!

Our New Nephew Has Arrived!!

Jaeden Keith Guerierro has arrived! Tia had a planned C-section and as most of you can probably see, there was no way she was going to push this guy out! He weighed in at 10 lbs. 14 oz and is 21 inches long! He has more hair than I've EVER seen on a baby! This picture doesn't really show just how thick his hair is. He is soooo cute! Congratulations Tia!! Love you!! Here are a few more pictures that I took today:

Size 1 Pampers already!!

Sumo Wrestler

Mommy & Jaeden

The Proud Grandpa

First Blog of 2008!

It seems like it's been forever since I've written a blog. Well, I guess it's been two months actually! The last two months have been extremely busy for us. We have started remodeling our basement. It will eventually become our master bedroom. The closet alone is almost as big as our current bedroom. I'm really looking forward to finally having some space for all of Danny's....umm I mean our clothes! We'll have a seperate sitting area where we can fit two recliners and a television too. This will certainly help to de-clutter my house. It's been a really big adjustment for me (who cleans the house) to go from more room than we needed to not enough room. This will certainly make a huge difference for us. It will make me not want to move ever again! That's big for us, believe me.

Christmas was awesome this year. It was fun to have the babies to buy gifts for. I admit that I went a little (okay a lot) overboard buying things for Avery but hey, I've been waiting to be a grandmother for a long time. Remember I was a mother at an early age so I've waited as long as many other women who are eager to be grandmothers! Next year will be even better. Not only will Avery and Sofia be older but Dan and Tiffany will have their baby too! I'm very happy to know that this past Christmas will be their last one without a child.

Speaking of which....we are counting down to the homecoming of a new grandchild these days. We are hoping that by the end of the summer, Dan and Tiffany will be home with Marin/Bennett. This is what we are all calling their baby until we find out if it's a boy or a girl. It will be Marin for a girl and Bennett for a boy. The middle name will be the baby's Ethiopian given name. For now it's Marin/Bennett to all of us. It's odd for me to think about the fact that he/she is already born and just not with us yet. I'm sure this is proving to be much more difficult for Dan and Tiffany though. He/she will be here before we know it. This is the first part of the "harder" waiting. The second part will be when they get their referral and have to wait a couple of months before they can travel to Ethiopia to bring the baby home. We'll have to keep them busy with getting ready for him/her and hope that time goes by quickly. Meanwhile they are preparing by getting all of the necessary vaccinations needed. Visit their blog for a peek!

Danny and I spent a few days in Florida last week visiting his parents. We spent some time at Siesta Key beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. The sand was like white powder. We also got to finally meet Roy's fiance, Kathy. They took us out sight seeing for the day. We saw some really amazing homes on the coast and went to a few shopping areas. That evening, we went to dinner and saw a really funny comedy show with them. We had a very nice visit and was able to enjoy some warm weather as well. It was a break that we both needed.

Miss Avery Grace is growing like a weed! She is doing all kinds of new things and is such a happy girl! Melissa has gotten her to laugh out loud a few times. It is sooo cute! She is also doing raspberries. Melissa and I have already gotten her a new bathing suit for the pool this summer. I'm looking forward to spending time in the pool with her this year.

Avery was baptized this past Sunday. She wore a gown that has been in Gavin's family for 40 years. She looked so cute! We all agreed that she was the cutest baby in the church!

On Saturday, Deidre and Dave's (who happen to be our best friends)daughter Nicole married her fiance Dan. They are expecting a baby boy in July. The wedding was very nice. Deidre put a lot of thought and hard work into all of the preparations in just a few months. She did a fantastic job! They both looked awesome and everyone had a really good time. I'm very excited for Deidre to become a grandmother. It seems like she's wanted to be a grandmother for as long as I have. It will be great to finally have someone to shop for baby clothes with!

I'm looking forward to another Cousinfest this Sunday. It's been a while since we've all gotten together. It will be nice to see everyone again.

All of the things that we've been doing have made the winter bearable for us this year. We are never without something to do! Hopefully staying busy this winter will allow us to relax more this summer!