Harvest time

Our first grape harvest. It may not be Napa Valley but we are hoping the wine tastes good. The vines are 3 years old and Jims put alot of work into them pruning and trying to reduce the Japanese Beetle attacks. The wine wont be ready until next spring so we wont know much before then if the wet spring and dry summer affected them badly or not.

1 pony, 2 pony, 3 pony, please Mom no more!

Her hair is long in some spots, short in others so I decided to experiment today. Moms not so good at doing girly hair.
Heres the Pebbles look.

The piggies.

Call this the alien sprout look.

So whats your favorite? :)

Back from Disney

Tropical Storm Fay made it rain most of the time but we had fun anyways. Nora was in awe of everything. Its a Small World was her favorite ride I think. She just stared and pointed saying "doll" (or her version of pronounciation).:) She loved the costumed characters but wasnt too sure of the real princesses.
Evan was the total ride kid this trip. He was so young on his first 2 trips it was almost like a new experience for him this time. He got to ride lots of new stuff. Hes brave but if he doesnt like something he will tell you hes not riding it again but didnt freak or cry. He didnt like Big Thunder Mountain but Splash Mountain was okay. Test Track was as he said "totally awesome". Both boys got to ride in the front of the monorail and see how the pilot drives.
One of Ry's favorite things was actually eating at Teppen Edo which is in the Japan pavilion at Epcot. They do hibachi and he loves watching them chop and cook. He also loved the new Toy Story Mania ride. Its a cute 3D moving carnival ride of sorts and we rode it twice. We also went on Mission Space (green version which is the non spinning one) and he thought that was really cool. Ry got to be the "driver" of the boat during the Jungle Cruise and even though he had a huge smile on his face when he was done he said he was "embarrassed".
I have a ton of photos but heres a sampling.

Readoption day

Today was our appt at the courthouse. Although shes legally ours this is what we had to do in order to get a Wisconsin issued birth certificate vs just the one from Guatemala. This also legally changes her first name and adds her middle name. It was short and quick. There was another Guate baby girl there too for her readoption. I decided to put her in her dress she wore for Embassy day in Guatemala. The boys behaved really well. What better way to celebrate than going to Disney World for a week. :)
We met up with my aunt and uncle he had not seen in years last weekend.

State Fair was fun. Nora loves to watch people. She liked the cream puffs. She takes dainty bites while Ry drives right in.


One morning Nora decided to crawl up onto Evans bed and wake him up. She thinks shes big stuff being able to climb up the stepstool he has. Shes doing better walking the last few days too. Its starting to be her primary way of getting around.

The first time we saw her face

One year ago we "met" our daughter for the first time. We had been anxiously awaiting a referral and I just knew it would happen that day. Our agency called us shortly after 9pm and while on the phone emailed her photos and medical info. Jim and I looked at them together and both decided the same thing, she was cute and she was ours. We got several photos that night. Heres just one of them. We were so glad to see her so alert.
Shes growing so fast. She was under 5 lbs in the first photos and now weighs 20lbs.
And a picture from today. Happy after her nap and practicing walking.

And shes off!!!

We have a walker. Finally. Kids were playing tonite before bed. I turn around and Nora lets go of her push toy and starts walking across the living room with a big smile on her face. You can tell shes so proud of herself.

Service with a smile

No I dont make him scrub the toilets but he felt like helping today. Dont I have a cute housekeeper?
Evan is always funny. Nora got a little white baby doll from Grandma Judy for her birthday. Well Evan decided the other day that the babys name should be Sacajawea. Ok buddy, the doll looks nothing like her but alright! (His favorite movie is Night at the Museum and shes a character in the movie).
Heres Nora sporting more birthday gifts. Ry and Evan picked out these Wall-E jammies. I took them to see the movie last week and they loved it. Evan said it was the "best movie hes seen in his whole life" but he says that about every movie. :)

We went to a Guate kids party not long ago. Someone from our agency has a party at their house. The kids had a blast. It was alot of fun to see all these cute kids.
Nora thinks her brothers are loco (crazy).

Pretty girl (still isnt walking)

They had a great blowup slip and slide Ry thought was awesome.

Ry was trying to hide from Angie's camera (she hosted the party) but she got a cute shot anyways. :)

We got Nora a Cabbage Patch Doll for her birthday. Her hair changes color. Nora loves baby Rosa.