A magical time at Disney!

We spent last weekend at Disney!!  We hit Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party Friday night and spent the day at Downtown Disney on Saturday.  Over the years, I have imagined what it would be like to take our children to Disney World and see the joy on their little faces.  My family heads to Disney each year and last year we decided it wasn't a priority, because we were in the middle of our adoption with Ethan.   Let's be real, in any adoption, any extra money goes to that baby.   So, I had faith that this year we would be taking not one, but two boys on their first Disney trip.    It was everything I hoped it would be and more!!  Ethan loved the parade and even got a kiss from Ariel.  Aiden was practically skipping the entire weekend and loved, loved, loved the Tea Cups.

My favorite part, aside from being with my family & our wonderful friends, was the free hot cocoa and sugar cookies throughout the park!!  It's was chilly for us Florida folks, so I enjoy many cups of hot cocoa.   Aiden and I  picked out our 1st family of four ornament at the Disney Christmas store.  Everything about the weekend was sweet and perfect.   

Getting ready to have fun!!

Daddy & Aiden

Free hot cocoa and cookies throughout the park! Yum!

Aiden & Donald Duck!

Ethan rockin' his cool hat!

Bring on the Holidays!

I absolutely love the holidays and the fun has already begun!!  This season I have two little miracles in my life to celebrate with.  I continue to have moments where I am overwhelmed about how blessed I am to be Aiden and Ethan's mommy.   

As we begin this Holiday Season there will be times to be frazzled and moments of craziness, but I encourage you to seize each day with your children, spouse, and all your other crazy relatives! Choose joy and remain in it!   As for me, this holiday season, I want to see it through the eyes of my boys.  Sometimes we forget the magic of the season, because we focus on parties or that perfect gift.  Allow yourself to get lost in everything that this wonderful time of year has to offer.   

One year with Aiden!

Today marks our one year anniversary with Aiden.  It's hard to fathom that one year ago today we  became parents to a 5 1/2 year old and now, we have two boys.  I am in love with my boys.  Parenting has it's challenges, but I can't imagine life without these little guys.  In fact, being a parent is one of the hardest things I have ever done! 

Aiden has grown so much in the last year.  His speech has improved, he passed Kindergarten, he is more confident, and I truly believe he understands that this is forever.  His foster parents, Mike and Deena, were here over the summer for a short visit and it was good for Aiden to reconnect with them.  Hidden Treasures Home was a very positive time in Aiden's life and he needed to rekindle some of those very wonderful memories.   His foster parents are some of our greatest friends and will always be apart of Aiden's life. 

Over the years of pushing forward to start our family, we have had many opportunities that have changed us forever.  We pushed on many doors for adoption and tried for years to get pregnant.  We had a failed adoption in China, which broke my heart.  We kept getting pushed off the list for Korea, because of finances.  But we persevered and I am overwhelmed at times thinking about how God has poured out such a blessing of children in our family.  


Tomorrow night we are going to celebrate and Aiden got to pick what we are having for dinner.  You guessed it, Chinese food!!

First time holding our baby boy, Ethan Matthew

Boys meeting each other for the first time.

God's blessings!

Quickly becoming a Florida boy!

Ethan

Time....where does it all really go?

It has been six weeks since we came home with Ethan from Taiwan.  I am in disbelief of how the weeks have gone by so fast.  Ethan is doing fabulous, just absolutely wonderful!  He is my sweetness and I could not imagine life without him.  He is truly a gift from God.  He turned 8 months on Monday.  When he came home he was not sitting or crawling, because his muscles were tight from little use.  Now, he is crawling, sitting, and trying to stand up wherever and whenever possible. Can't he just stay small and tiny for me? ...please?  I love, love, love him!!

Aiden is doing well as a new big brother.  There's a big age difference between the boys, so I look at that as a factor with Aiden, but all in all he's adjusted well with our new little addition.  Bringing Aiden home in August and Ethan home in May has totally rocked our world for the best!  Don't get me wrong, this Mama could use a break right about now, but I'm strong I can take it.  Haha!

This is just a little tiny update from all that has happened in the last six weeks.  We are good and lovin' life!!  Please pray for us as it looks like we might be getting closer to finalizing Aiden's adoption!