Puppy Love

Yesterday evening, Nate and I had the opportunity to watch our good friends, Tom and Jenny's son, Aiden (aka, Elyse's future husband). Anyway, we have watched Aiden a few times in the past, but now that him and Elyse are at the same developmental level of walking and talking to one another tonight was really easy and a lot of fun. The children kept each other entertained. They chased one other on the slide for a good 15 minutes, it was way too cute. We captured some of it, it's kind of long but there are a lot of adorable moments. Who knew puppy love started at 1 years old?!

Meeting Sophie

Nate, Elyse and I had the opportunity to go see my stepdad, Gary and mom late this morning to meet their newest baby, Sophie, a 11 week old West Highland Terrier. Elyse never really knows what to do with dogs, but by the time we left she and Sophie were buddies.

It was great seeing you Gary and Mom, and meeting Sophie.

Absolutely Wonderful

Ever since I started dating Nate, I have gotten spoiled many times and today was no exception and here's the reason why:
I woke up this morning to find all these envelops full of poems for me. The first one was a heads up to enjoy my day and get ready for a day of relaxation and being pampered. At 10:20 I discovered that my mom is in on it and comes up to babysit Elyse all day. Babysitting Elyse all day is a gift for mom too :)
Then the 10:30 envelop informs me I need to follow the directions to an unknown appointment I have at 11:30. I get there and find out I get a pedicure and 1 1/2 hour stone rock massage. Oh my goodness, amazing!!!
After I finish being pampered I read the last note and go home to shower and get ready to go out again with Nate.
Now it's 5:00 and Nate and I are off to a beautiful, romantic dinner and finishing the night with shopping.
Seriously, I have an an absolutely wonderful husband! Thank you so much Nate for such a perfect day. I love you so much and will treasure this day always. (A special thanks also to my mom for watching Elyse.)

Biker Babe

My mom/Elyse's Grams got this toy bike for Elyse as a Halloween gift. No exaggeration, she loves it. She is on it at least five times a day. She loves to push her baby around, read books while sitting on it and honk the horn (she doesn't push it hard enough to hear in the video, but you get the idea). Therefore, thanks mom for buying Elyse her first bike and a toy to keep her busy for at least 5 minutes straight a few times a day :)

Thanks November

November is National Adoption month, a month set aside to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care.

I sometimes take for granted what an amazing thing adoption is. After all I would not have been able to become a mother and parent such a beautiful blessing. I thank God daily for her as well as trusting me to parent a child I never gave birth to. So many friends I know have had prayers answered because of adoption. Therefore, thank you November for celebrating an entire month to such a glorious thing in which gave both Nate and I the glorious little girl in the photo below.

Halloween 09

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! Nate, Elyse and I had a fabulous and fun Halloween this year. We started by having my mom, niece and nephew over to play and eat lunch.
Then we ended the day with having all our friends over for a night of fun. After many attempts at getting a solid good picture, I was able to capture a few.

Wouldn't you pay money to go to a zoo that had this many cute animals?
leopard:Mari, elephant:Aiden, ladybug:Willow, monkey:Elyse, dog:Mason

Beautiful Sight

I believe one of the most beautiful sights you can see as a parent is walking in on your child doing nothing but happily reading a book :) Picture was not staged, Elyse pulled her books by her horse to read