The second CUTEST!

There was a picture contest at the consignment store that I take things into and love to spend all Bart's money at, for valentime's day. I entered this picture of Lucy. I also entered the bottom picture shown of Stone. I really did it because it was 4 and under and did want to leave him out. So, guess who got second!
STONE!
And the first place winner, was said to be an ordinary baby, by the owner. She called me up on the phone special just to let me know that Stone got the second highest votes. I think she is partial to him. She has a 8 year old that special in all the same ways Stone is. She is the one who told me to get The Out-of-Sync-Child. The costumers voted and I told no one about it. So they just really liked HIM!!! I'm sure the first place winner, had everyone they know go in and vote for their kid. I guess next year I will need to start campaigning for Lucy in late January.

Stone, Bart, and a Monkey.

Stone went to see a movie on the big screen for the first time yesterday. This was a huge deal. We have waited years for this moment. And can you believe I was crazy enough to tell Bart he should take him. They had a great time. Stone (as I was told, remember I was not there!) had huge eyes and only ran up and down the isle a couple times in the "boring" parts. I was also told that he told every person at the theatre that he was going to see Curious George. I can only image how CUTE it must have been (since I was not there). He has the tendency to steal hearts with his sweet voice. I was also told (once I again, I was not there to witness it myself) that he clapped and cheered as the man with the yellow hat saved George at the end of the movie.
I am so glad Bart was able to experience such a neat "first" in Stone's life. And for those of you who know how much of a control freak I am, go ahead and laugh at my pain! It tears me up to let someone else (yes, I called my husband a someone else) have a first that I did not. I am proud that I was able to step back and let them have it. But I don't see this becoming a habit. It was a lot harder then I thought! I guess I will just have to be the "first" to see it on DVD with him!

Ogres (and Stone) are like onions!

Again, when I get a picture this good I fail to come up with some witty, cute, funny.....saying. It really needs none. It describes STONE perfectly. He loves this Shrek play-doh set. Of course I have just as much fun making each and every tooth for him to put into Shrek's mouth. Bart HATES play-doh. He has little patience.

Redbirds........future teller?????!!!!!

Here is Lucy's new favorite toy. (Besides the pacifer, I once said was not a habit, HA!) See the ball?! This is a signed ball by Scott Spiezio. Each of the boys have one. He went to school a few years ahead of me with my cousin. She has slept with it, everynight for over two weeks now.

Big deal, you might say. YES! He just signed on with the Cardinals minor league and is trying out for the majors. Unfortunately, in our eyes (and I know it is not good to judge), Scott's personal life choices have not been good. In fact they have sucked! But, a Cardinal he is, so I must support him professionally.

Lucy just proved she is a die-hard Cardinal fan just like her Daddy! Knowing the ins and outs of our extended (Cardinal) family before it even happens.

Spring training is underway, and we all want to jump in the car and head to Florida....Hint, Hint, to my loving husband!


In case you want to read and be entertained by the personality of the newest Cardianal....
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060221&content_id=1318536&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

We'd like to introduce our new baby.... So, would this be the "two" house?

This might not be as "cute" as our humans, but our real estate "baby" is show worthy all the same. We are proud of every detail. If only we could share it with two loving families....
Utility/laundry room is large and has shelves for convience.

The kitchen is awesome with oak cabinets, Kenmoore appliances, and island, all open to the dining/living room.

There is a second bedroom and a full bath.

Masterbedroom has a walk in closet, vanity and bathroom.
Two car garage with garage door opener.
Back porch off living room/dining room.

The view from the back of the duplex.












For some other info on it go to http://www.houseviewonline.com/49604.html

....first there's none and then the lotto!

Ketchup for dinner again???????????????????

Lucy looks on at the upside down bottle, and knows this can't be a good thing.

WE are the CHAMPIONS!!!!!!

INTENSE! I am in for a long long road of intense sports when it comes to DANTE. The boys before the game were complete goofs, and hamming up the fun of the game. The fans were even given the treat of watching one of the players do "the worm" at the half court line. Bart was very impressed. Coach Don "wanted them to be loose". The highschool gym was so cold no one took off thier coats, hats, gloves... guess someone forgot to turn on the heat. The first half consisted of little Adam, scrapping. He is the smallest, sneakiest little go getter I have ever seen. It gave us all a good chuckle. Dante runs really fast down the court into postion. There were a few questionable plays and so goes the game of 3rd grade basketball. But 3rd quarter ended and we had a 3 point lead. Dante had a chance earlier to make a couple freethrows to no avail. He did pull through in the 4th quarter and hit 1-2. I rallied a gimme a H- E-A-T with only a few seconds left at a time out, but that did not give us an points. So when the score was tied at the end of the game, you can image the chills, thrills, and a loud group of parents on both sides. It was nice we were sitting across from the other team's fans. There were not as many hurt feelings of any yelling things we shouldn't have. And yes I said WE. US , oh and ME included. IT was CHAMPIONSHIP game!!! When that point guard walked with the ball on the other team, I was not alone when I screamed WALK! I was alone in a few other instances of shoot, move your feet, throw the ball, are you nuts... Just kidding about the are you nuts, but I thought it. I just can't wait to hear it all on video. Bart taped so I could yell at free will. The HEAT came through in the OT 3 minutes to pass and shoot as a team and took the championship from the undeafeted Knicks 7-11. Coach Don when asked what was next after the game said, "I don't know... I'm going to Disneyland". We all settled for Dairy Queen.
They had fun, played together and came out winners. The coaches were amazing, and worked perfectly together! It really does matter and I am grateful for their time and patience with this group of boys. Dante was great. His rebounding is really good, and he did not seems afraid to take a shot when he had a chance. He did not however smile as much running up and down the highschool gym floor. I think he was sad that it was the last game. But his trophy is proudly placed on the entertainment center for all to see, (because we have so much company here). It was a good day. 

Heat are in the Finals!!!!

The HEAT made it to the finals and WOW what a ride it was! With only 5 teams it makes a tournament short. We played the 3rd seated Magic. We were second seated. This was a team we both won and lost to. Last weeks game was a hard loss. We are so fortunate to have 7 great kids and players on our time. I have said before they all play their hearts out, have a great time, and are good team players! We are also blessed with parents who are in the same category. The team we played unfortunately does not. The parents set the mood for the entire game and it was down right mean and way to aggressive for little league ball. The insides of me just shook from anger, fustration, pity, and sorrow for our boys. This game taught them nothing about sportsmanship. The poor refs were yelled at and they are only highschool kids, themselves. It was really hard not to stoop to that level and join in about bad calls and inapproprate aggressive fouls and so on. But I did manage to keep fairly quiet. (imagine that). and even gave a good play credit to either side. They are only boys!!! I was so proud of each and every one of the boys on the HEAT for playing a good clean game. Of course, there are some boys on the other team who played well and clean. I felt for each and every one of their sad faces, as they were eleminated from the tournament (of 5 teams remember). Did I mention the score was 13 to 14! But deep deep down in my heart I couldn't help but think the "best" team did win. I pray these boys will always play this good on the court and off!
SO, GOOOOO HEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow championship game, and as you can see by this picture Dante always has his game face on! What a cutie, my boy's growing up! 

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Happy Birthday Gramma Sandy!

We all hope your day is super! You don't have to be told to have fun, or break a few rules on your birthday! You seem to do that any and everyday.
Just take this picture for example...
NO SMOKING???

WE LOVE YOU! 

A Valentine's Day recap.

Valentine's day is over. Two great parties were had by Stone and Dante! You have never been to a party if you've never been to a 2 hour party with 10 "special" kids.

Stone strung a bead necklace, played a ring toss candy game, and did the cake walk where everyone is a winner. He and his friends also had a lot of fun outside.

Check this out---He is drinking blue. I am sure this is a golden picture and the only non-white drink he has had in a long time. I also bet the rest, after this one sip was tossed in the trash.

This is his "twin" friend Noah. They have been friends from daycare since they were 2! I told them to look at me and say cheese. They both looked away (as you see) and said cheese. Funny how the same little quirks can be seen in the kids in his class!

Lucy acts like she is part of the class. She has a great time trying to be big! She liked my ice cream cone cup cakes.

Dante's party was a little more low key. She has those kids in order. They all chipped in and got PIZZA! How fun! Stone and Lucy love to sit by big brother for the first minute, then it is off they go!

We left a little early, once I took the juice box Lucy was holding (since it was being squeezed, producing a fountain effect), she screamed her spoiled scream. I wanted Dante and his classmates to enjoy their party.

Stone was also complaining of the pizza not being HOT. A new thing, everything that sits for more then 10 seconds is not hot and must be reheated. It takes patience to reheat a grilled cheese (tubby toast with cheese to him) 5-6 times before it is gone!

I hope you enjoyed Valentine's Day. I bet it was nothing like ours!

Beans for Valentine's?!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!
What do you eat for breakfast on Valentine's Day?
You have Skittles! Or if you live in the ONE house they are called Beans!

I hope your Valentine's Day starts and ends as sweet as ours!
Love to you all!

oh so, quiet!

I mentioned before, Lucy is bottle free! I even pitched all bottle related items! NO going back after that!

So look what she found! There are a few of these in toy boxes and one in her bath tub toys. She walks into the room like she has always used a pacifer. I found out she is QUIET during these pacifying times.

She laughs and thinks she's cute, so don't worry it is not a habit! 

Books, babies and Grandma

Oh poor grandma, has been loaded down with books, babies and Lucy since she got here. You can tell how horrible it is to her!

Again the "Stoney" book, thank goodness I don't have to read it for the next week! Grandma can! 

Pretty Lucy

Did I ever tell you how much Lucy LOVES Cheetos?

Everything she owns is orange.  

Yummy, Daddy please!!!!!

This is a treat (addiction) I picked up in Germany. I have not been able to find them in any stores here. I do have a website and special order books, but Bart won't let me!!!!

So, Daddy can you please use your grocery powers and look into these special treats for your only daughter?!!! I would rather them not be individually packed, too. But I will take what I can get!

Love you! 

One picture, many stories...

As I said, Lucy loves to do "circles"... She colors on anything if she finds a pen, pencil, lipstick, marker, ... you get it. Well, it was a pencil... left out by me. (I hate not having someone to yell at for breaking the rules!) It was her favorite bear puzzle, handmade by Bumpa that was the target! Also hit by the graffiti artist is a newsletter from our agency with pictures of girls that just came home.

Also represented is a book we got for 95 cents from Scholastic. Lucy has read it a thousand times in a few days. Correction, I have read it a thousand it times in a few days. She calls the little boy in the middle Stone. See and resemblance?

Bart's finacial mind is ticking, therefor the Cashflow Quadrant books have been pulled from the shelves. The adoption is starting to add up and we are not 1/4th into paying for it!

Finally CHINA! A book with tons of pictures from the Library that is there to inspire us to keep patient and get ready. Which takes us back to Cashflow Quadrant.

Who knew one picture could say so much? 

Grandparents (bring your own lunch?!) Day at school.

It was grandparents Day at Dante's school. They had a great McDonald's lunch, thanks to Granppa Harry and Grandma Millie. They changed it this year so everyone had to bring their own lunch. Dante gave them the grand tour of his classroom and they looked over the projects that were hanging in the hallway, before they had to leave so education could continue. Overall, a great time was had by....well at least Dante. I have not heard the grandparents side yet, but I am sure it was the highlight of their day.

Busy, busy, busy..

It sure has been an exciting few days!

Dante's basketball game was intense. There were only 6 team members there for half the game and then there were 5. They played a great game. Neck and neck. It was a trip watching one of his team mates put up a half court shot with over 45 seconds left, just to tie up the game. Unfortunately, the shot did not add any points to our score board, but the many different sounds from the crowd was priceless.










My groundhog saw his shadow as well. He is light sensitive, as you can see. Really this is his, CHEEEESSSEE, picture. The hat he made in school. Which is going better! No poor choice chair for a week now! He stopped telling his teacher NO at clean up time and now is a clean up Helper. I am amazed at the words I use to accomidate to my children's sensitive natures. Poor choice chair, clean up time, helper ????
I sure didn't hear these words growing up. It was more like pick it up NOW or else .... and most of the time, I knew better.










Check out what we look like on bath day. Bart wants everyone to know he is wearing another man's clothes. He seems to be proud of that! This picture has been voted to be entered as a China picture. We have to send 6, of "family life". For me that is not too much of a problem, I think I have them narrowed down to 25 or so now, and with time dragging I keep taking more to add. Once I decide I will include them here.


I have been busy lately with loads of writing and paperwork. I found 5 grants that we are applying for to help with the cost of adoption. I had no idea I would be so consumed. I also have been getting the house in order. The boys are bunking again, so we have a spare room for Bart's Mom to visit us. And Lucy is bottle free!!!!! This is still not fun. Bart asked me this morning if it was normal for a child to wake up screaming everytime. (For her lately 5-6 times a night) It all depends on her dreams, once it was for Daddy and Stone. Then it was for a strawberry poptart and her teddy bear. But each night gets a little easier! I was proud of me. The first night I was calm, and soothing, and reassuring her. All was well, until she bit me. HARD. I said a naughty word.... then went back to being nice again. I was not so nice the next day as I was a little sleep deprived, but I did not bite anyone. Bart came close though!!

So despite forgetting to pick up Dante at school and leaving my wallet in Bart's computer bag (Wal-mart did not find it funny), I have all things under control!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday ,
Happy Birthday to you!

This picure was a Vegas 2005 picture! And sorry, can't tell you anything about it....
What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas! 

Is it time to camp yet?

It is 9:00 pm and 50 degrees but I still am longing for my home away from home at the camper!
This was taken summer 2005.



United States Immigration now has our filing form, homestudy, and other appropriate documents! We get fingerprinted next week! Things are rolling now!