Princess this, Princess that..

Brian stayed home from work today because I'm feeling sickly.

He put blue food coloring in Aimee's White Cheddar Mac and Cheese and told her it was
Royal Macaroni.

Also, we've been watching Sense and Sensibility each morning.

Family FunDay!

It was pretty high!



The girls wanted to make sure she won.


These are some pictures from today. The first is a pic of Daniel that Brian took while I was laying in the hammock with Danny.

The rest are from a huge party that we went to today. It was amazing!

So about the party:

There is a young couple at our church that is in the process of adopting their first child from Vietnam. International adoption is crazy expensive. Like $30,000 for the whole deal. About half of that money goes to the orphanage and the rest is in travel, documents, fees, lawyers, ect. The couple has been raising the money through a series of fundraisers and this was (hopefully) the last one.

The party was held at a beautiful farm that is owned by a family friend of theirs. The theme was a western party and they had a ton of cute carnival style games designed for the under 8 crowd. They also had 3 bouncy houses. One for toddlers, another for the pre-school/kindergarten crowd, and one of the big kids. As you will see in the pics, Aimee quickly graduated to the big kid bouncy house that included a rope wall that she climbed at least 30 times. They also had face painting, water games, hay rides (which Aimee refused to go on), a Starbucks lounge and chocolate fountain with Wii Rock Band, a silent auction, a professional photographer took western themed family portraits, and the cleanest port-a-potty I've ever seen. Most of the things were donated by sponsors and everything was free to the guests. Another friend of ours, who had two daughters that are adopted from Vietnam, spoke about his experience during dinner and asked the guests to donate whatever we could. It was really emotional and Brian and I were practically doing breathing excersizes to keep it togather.

It is really an amazing thing to be able to be a part of this experience. Brian and I have a heart for children, and it is our Christian call to care for the widows and the orphans, but we don't know if we will ever be able to adopt for ourselves, so it is such a priviledge to be a part, however small, of someone else's journey.

More Pics!

Aimee got to feed the horse grass. It was a riot!


This was her first look at the pretty strawberry painted on her face.

Pretty sunset.

The welcome sign was provided by my father in law. It looked great!

Aimee had a fantastic time. The youth group girls from our church are so generous with their attention to the young kids. They spent so much time today holding Aimee's hand and walking her from game to game, rigging them so that she would win no matter what, and letting her pick which ever prize she wanted. They fawned over her and complimented the pretty strawberry painted on her cheek to match her shirt. At the Starbucks lounge, one of the girls made sure that Aimee got one of the last strawberries and helped her dip it into the chocolate fountain.

Another thing that makes me so proud and happy is that she didn't have any accidents! I can almost say that she is potty trained! Hip! Hip! Hooray! I say "almost" because we still have to figure out how to stay dry during sleepy times. I'm sure it will come with time.

Danny was a perfect little angel. He spent most of the day with Brian and was content to be held and admired. We stayed until the sun went down and then called it a day.

I Love Three

This morning, while Aimee was distracted from the TV, I started flipping through the channels and happened upon the 1940 version of one of my favorite movies and books of all time, Pride and Prejudice. (I happen to be reading the book right now). It had just started and since Aimee was distracted and Blue's Clues was not on her mind, I decided to leave it on for a few minutes. When I went to change the channel, she said, "No! I want to watch that! I want to see the princesses!" Just to be clear, she wanted to watch PRIDE and PREJUDICE. The BLACK AND WHITE 1940's VERSION.

I can't even begin to unpack all of the emotions I felt at that moment. Pride. Joy. Glee. Amazement. Satisfaction.

She watched the entire thing with me.

I love LOVE LOVE three.

Indiana

It was a fantastic few days in Indiana. We are back home now. Aimee got very emotional when she saw Brian. She was so busy with all of the fun things we had going on that I think she actually forgot to miss him. When she saw him, she was flooded with emotion and spent the rest of the evening in tears. I asked her why she was crying and she sobbed and said, "I'm crying because I'm SAD! Where's daddy?" I can't wait until adolesence. If we survive it, I will expect a pat on the back.

We had

3 days of Vacation Bible School.
2 trips to Downtown.
1 first ride on the train. (2 if you count the return trip).
0 temper tantrums.
5 fighter jet sightings (from the Gary Airshow).

I got to read 2 books.

I'll go into more details later.

One more thing:

Brian rode the L.A.T.E. Ride last night.

25 Miles through Chicago and down the lake shore.
1 am - 5 am. Brian rode it in a little over 2 hours.
10,000 riders
1 pair of bunny ears on his helmet
Countless drunks cheering him on.
He said it was the time of his life.

Always have a camera handy...

I woke up Friday morning a little before 7 am. I would have liked to have slept in, but Aimee had other ideas. The phone rang as soon as I walked down the stairs and I immediately wondered who the heck was calling so early, and WHY were they calling so early. It was my neighbor. "Liz, look out your back window!" My immediate thought was that I was finally going to see the 2 dozen bats she swears live in our tree, the ones that according to her, come out every day at dawn and dusk. I have yet to see a single bat.

So I looked out the window and saw one of the most awe-inspiring and exhilarating sights I've ever seen in my life. About 8 hot air balloons landing in the field behind our house.
I yelled up to Brian that he needed to get up RIGHT NOW and look out the window. I ran outside and acted like I was three years old.

The hot air balloons were part of a yearly festival that happens in the suburb one town away called, "Eyes to the Skies". The balloons were participating in some sort of competition. A team of people set up a giant "X" in the field and the people in the balloons dropped small bean bags with a parachute as they drifted past the "X". They landed in the field, then returned back to the festival.

Brian and I ran back in as soon as they landed to get our camera. Our joy was quickly turned to a little bit of frustration as we realized that our nice digital camera has gone missing. It was hard to be too upset, however. The balloons were so beautiful and really kind of magical. It really takes a lot to impress me and make me feel like a little kid again. This did the trick.

The Incredible Hulk

Brian and I went to see this last night. Before I say anything else, let me say that I have no interest in comic books or super heros. My interest in seeing this was based on the really good reviews it received, Edward Norton is in it (he's an amazing actor), and that Get Smart was sold out. GET SMART sold out?

This movie ROCKED my world. If I were a 13 year old boy, I would have clapped at the end, without caring that all my buddies would make fun of me for the rest of my life.

Go see this movie, then call me so we can get all geeky about it togather.