Happy 5th birthday, Wesley

Wesley turned 5 today! 

We had a little swimming party at the YMCA and a family party before that. Talk about a long day!! Mom & Dad are exhausted, but so is Wes, so it works out. I haven't uploaded all our pictures yet, but I will soon. {Now I know I always say that, but I'm having my tonsils out in two weeks, so I'm serious when I say I'll have some free time. How I'll feel is another story...} 


Please pray for Wes as he's been having a difficult time at school, which so far ranks as the understatement of the year. We're working hard to get answers and find out solutions that work for all parties involved. Please pray for me as work has been rough {another understatement}, and please pray for Damon as he's been working very hard to eat better and has been losing weight like a fiend. And of course the ol' stand-by prayer - for our daughter in Moldova. We haven't given up hope that this year is our year to bring her home!! 

we're still here (& some good news)

We survived the ice storm here in Ohio. It wasn't nearly as bad as the forecasters made it sound, but I was unable to get up our hill of a driveway in my car. I parked on the street though and stomped through the yard (I had to stomp to break through the ice on the snow). I was glad the next day though when my car was outside because our power went out, so I didn't have to worry about how I would get my car out of the garage. Here are a few shots of the ice taken the night of the storm:

This picture has nothing to do with the storm, but I  took it the same night.

And here's some good news...we got our I-800A approval in the mail!!!! It took less than four weeks from our fingerprint appointment. Truthfully, closer to three weeks. Our dossier has been sent to our agency, save this last paper. I am going to head on up to Columbus next week and get it apostilled.

Now for some most unpleasant news (at least for me it is)....I fractured a small bone in my ankle, and I have to wear the walking boot for what will seem like an eternity. I was lucky enough to "get the boot" (HA HA) two years ago when I had a stress fracture in the same foot!! I am praying that this time I don't have to wear the boot for eight weeks.

Now for Wesley's 4th birthday!!

I bought this awesome cake pan to make a train cake. The first two times I made the cake, it fell right out of the pan. What do you know...the one time it matters I cannot scrape the cake out of the pan!!

Damon saved the day by running to Sam's Club and picking up a cake!

A kitty cat from Doda and Pawpaw!

blowing out candles

Can't you see the excitement as Wes is about to enjoy cake?

ANOTHER kitty cat!! What a great birthday! Almost made eating cake worth it...

Wesley with Doda and Pawpaw

Wesley with Grandma

now with Mommy and Daddy

Happy 4th birthday, sweet Wesley! Time sure does fly...

Happy birthday, Doda!!

Today is my sweet Mom's birthday! I won't post how old she is today because I'm not looking for trouble...  :) At this point in his life, Wesley has almost learned the birthday song, but we're working on it. I practiced with him earlier today and spent a long time explaining the difference between "dear" and "deer." He kept telling me that Doda (his name for Grandma) "is not a deer, she is a girl" and that "Doda does not pull Santa's sleigh." Thank you, Wesley, I was confused. When he sang the song to her on the phone, he sang

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to my Doda, dear Doda  

Happy birthday to you

So happy birthday, DEAR Doda!! You're the best & we love you!!!

Happy Birthday, Damon!

I would like to start off by saying happy birthday to my wonderful husband Damon! I won't tell you how old he is, but he is a few years older than me :) 

Saying that though, anyone who knows us knows that in many ways I am the older one. Just Friday night when we were walking through a parking lot to meet my parents for Damon's bday dinner, I was carrying Wes like a baby (not an easy feat, mind you). We were kidding around, and me not being all that graceful, I stepped in a huge hole and lost my footing. Of course we both went down, but somehow I managed to keep Wes from even hitting the ground. That means that I took the whole brunt of the fall, and I am still physically paying for it . I landed on my knees (quite bruised,making it tough to walk), my left elbow hit fairly hard (I had Wesley's head in that arm and no one wants to fall on their kid whilst dropping him on pavement head first - imagine explaining that to the police), then my right forearm hit (also bruised). Somehow in the whole ruckus, I hurt my right foot (bruised and swollen) and my right hand is bruised. The good news though is that Wesley wasn't hurt at all. Of course he cried, but it was definitely not because he got hurt. The bad news is that I have apparently entered the phase of my life where I fall and get hurt. At least its just bruising and not broken bones...yet!

A relaxing Sunday afternoon...I was watching the Bengals struggle against the Colts, but at least they picked up the pace (too bad they lost...again). Thankfully Carson Palmer has begun throwing the ball to his teammates instead of his opponents. At one point he was 2/4 with two interceptions (this means that two throws were caught by Bengals and two by the Colts). YIKES! Now I do like Peyton Manning, but I would have liked him to lose today.

So you can see I've been working on a Christmas background. It's not exactly what I want, but I'll keep it up until I make one I like better. I've also been working on making our Christmas cards for this year. The banner above is a simplied one that I made, but again...not exactly what I'm looking for. Why is it that when you make something by hand it is difficult to be pleased with it? I could spend hours remaking and redoing things I make by hand, but I won't.

I bought this super-cute necklace on etsy.com from "your charmed life." I love it! Once we accept our referral, I will order charms for Wesley and his sister. I would have gotten Wes one now, but I decided to wait until I was able to order them for all my kids :)

happy birthday, Grandma

Happy birthday, Grandma!

I hope you have a good day - make Dad take you out to dinner. He loves when the wait staff sings too :) HA HA

Here's a little video Wesley made for you. I thought he knew the happy birthday song, apparently not. It's still pretty cute if I say so myself.

another one bites the dust...another year that is

I hit the big 32 last weekend. And for my birthday I got a sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection - fun times! I slept ALL day on Saturday sleeping, and by all day I mean all but the two hours at urgent care and one hour for dinner. I woke up Sunday and felt better, but not quite like myself. Honestly its Thursday and I still don't feel like myself. I have a runny nose, stuffy head, and a smoker's cough (you know the kind that comes from deep in your chest). I've finished my antibiotics, but I think I've acquired a cold now (of course). So I've welcomed in my 33rd year of life feeling much older than I actually am.

I would love to be able to post a great family picture from the weekend, such as when I had my 30th birthday and we had just returned from Ukraine. (Oh my goodness - look how teeny, tiny Wesley was!! I often forget this sheer smallness upon becoming a US citizen)

Here are the pictures from worst to the best from Sunday...

SLOWLY getting better 

best picture from Mom's camera

as good as it gets

So I think we'll just have to take another picture and say its from my birthday. Or maybe the professional family pictures we are having taken in a few weeks will replace these as the "official" birthday shots. I wonder how that woman is ever going to get decent pictures...I guess we're paying her to figure that out :)