Amazingly Blessed

Not only was Friday, May 29th our 10 year anniversary, but it was also the very first time that Paul & I have had to buy diapers for Nathaniel!

Back in August of 2008, our family threw us an Adoption Shower, and encouraged people to bring size 3 or 4 diapers. We are currently on our last small package of 4's, and still have a package of size 6 in the garage! :-) As you can see, we have decided to go to size 5 since Nathaniel weighs over 30 lbs. We discovered that when his weighs more than 1/2 of the weight limit, the diapers start to be a little tight and don't hold as much. :-)

The Adoption shower was an incredible blessing and and amazing outpouring of love to Paul, me and Nathaniel. We are truly blessed!

Nathaniel and His Best Friend

I know I post about Nathaniel and Chewy alot, but they really are best friends. Nathaniel LOVES Chewy and Chewy loves...uh...tolerates Nathaniel. :-) LOL

Silly Grandma!

We are so blessed to have Paul's mom and Grandma watch Nathaniel every Wednesday. As you can see, they have a wonderful time together!

10 Wonderful Years of My Life...

Today Paul & I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary! I am so blessed and thankful for an incredible husband and an incredible dad for Nathaniel. I love you, honey!

Nathaniel Learns A New Trick!

Yes, you are seeing right. Nathaniel put his goldfish crackers in his hair! Funny kid.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun!

We had a wonderful, fun-filled Memorial Day weekend! Friday night we went to a BBQ at Rusty's house with a bunch of friends. Nathaniel loved the trampoline!

Saturday we had another BBQ with friends at the Sports park in Grants Pass. We had a good time and AMAZING food. I didn't take any pictures that day...I know I am slackin'!

Sunday afternoon we were invited to "Auntie Grandma's" House (AKA Jaye's house). She put a blanket on the grass under a tree and Nathaniel and Chewy played and ran for hours! It was great. Nathaniel also was introduced to the sprinker!

Testing it out

All wet!

He is so adventurous!

Umm...have you seen how big my kid is??? Look at that belly! CUTE!!! (BTW I don't normally let my kid run around with just a diaper on, but it has been VERY hot here - 80s and 90s - and this is a swimming diaper so he can run through the sprinkler...talk about impression management!)

Nathaniel and His New Baby Pool!

Chewy was very curious about the pool, but didn't enjoy getting splashed by Nathaniel.

I joined in and began splashing him with my feet!

All tuckered out!

What Nathaniel Learned Today

Several months ago when Nathaniel was learning to walk, our coffee table was PERFECT for him to hold onto and walk around in a circle. The problem came when he was walking on his own, but was still pretty wobbly. He began falling and hitting his head on the coffee table. After the 2nd split lip, we removed the coffee table...until today....here is what Nathaniel does now with the coffee table:

Just threw this one in cause it was cute and funny! :-)

Nathaniel Has Been A West For 1 Year!

This week marked our 1 year anniversary of Nathaniel officially being our son! On May 13th, 2008 we passed court in Ethiopia! Thank you, Lord, for such a blessing!!!!

Momma's First Mother's Day!

Me and my main baby squeeze!

Wearing his special Mother's Day shirt. So blessed to be Nathaniel's mom...so grateful to the Lord for giving us such a gift!

Nathaniel Goes to the Graduation of Northwest University

Paul, Melisma, Nathaniel and I set out on a "secret" mission this weekend! We took a quick trip north to attend Nick's (our honorary son) college graduation. It was set up by Nick's mom, and was a complete suprise to him! The added bonus was that our friend Abdiel was also graduating with a B.A. and our friend Brooke graduated with her M.A. in Education. Congrats! We are so proud of all 3 of you!

Nathaniel's first experience at the Rainforest Cafe.

Under 21, but way too cute of a photo opportunity to pass up!

Paul and Nick right after the ceremony.

Nick and his prayer-warrior momma!
After the ceremony at Todai

Vacation Chronicles - Part 5

Here are a couple of randomn pictures and videos of our time on vacation.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Tillamook Cheese Factory - Momma's favorite place!

Our footprints on the beach in Seaside

Nathaniel and the boat at Ft Warden State Park, Port Townsend, WA.

My little family of Nike shoes!

We were so excited to find an Ethiopian restaurant in Seattle!

Nathaniel and the "other" Pikes Place pig

Nathaniel feeding Daddy - I LOVE this video!

Vacation Chronicles - Part 4

One day on our vacation, we took the ferry over to Seattle and introduced Nathaniel to the most BEAUTIFUL city in the world! (FYI: For some reason the pictures uploaded out of order.)

Nate and Daddy on the ferry.

Look at that happy face!

Love this picture. Nathaniel loved Pike Place. He said "Hi" and "Bye-bye" to everyone he saw.

My two sons! Nate finally got to meet his "brother", Nick.

Coming into the city of Seattle on the ferry.

Kerry park on Queen Anne Hill. My opinion - the BEST view of the Space Needle.

My kid learned about the good stuff at an early age. :-)

Nathaniel got to sit on the Pikes Place pig, and got to see the fish being thrown around!