Senior Prom 2010

Group of Nicole's friends who came over for dinner before prom! Made them pose and smile pretty!

Mom, Nicole, & Dad

Nicole and Matt.

Isn't she just beautiful!

Happy 10th Birthday Ricky!

Hard to believe...but Ricky turned 10 today!

What a busy week and weekend we have had of baseball and birthday celebrations! Last Sunday, Ricky celebrated his birthday at the zoo with his birth family. This weekend was a baseball tournament and tomorrow is our 5th game in a row...we are exhausted! Between games we have had a few celebrations. Last Saturday Rob's family helped Ricky celebrate the beginning of the birthday week at LaCostita...his favorite restaurant. We had a family dinner on Friday night and yesterday he had several friends over. We had a Mexican themed party with Mexican candies and nuts...I even made a sombrero cake and we had a lot of fun with the pinata! Today Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kelli, and the Eric Moffat family joined us for pizza at Abby's. We had cake too! Sam & Maggie even helped Ricky put together one of his new Lego's. In the one photo you will notice Ricky is sporting his new Paul Frank pj's and a sombrero! (This photo is for you Leah!)
Ricky we love you and are very proud of how far you have come in the last 19 months we have known you...Thanks for letting us be your forever family! <3

Easter 2010!

One of the only holidays that we spend as a family, just the 5 of us! We had a fabulous day. Church together in the morning, followed by a wonderful dinner of steak, ribs & pork chops on the BBQ, steamed asparagus, leftsa (a German dish similar to tortillas, but made out of mashed potatoes, and home made fresh pineapple upside down cake! Yummy! We did some Easter egg dying too! And of course, everyone got a basket of goodies. It was a wonderful day together. He is Risen Indeed!

Maui - Spring Break 2010!

Maui...need I say more! Here are just a few of my photos...the girls have many more. Fresh pineapple, "Cool Cats Diner", "Burgers in Paradise", Sun, Sand, Snorkeling, Whale Watching Excursion, Swimming, laying in the sun, shopping, lei making & hula dancing classes, fresh farmers markets, pearls...all this plus much more equals so much fun. I was extremely lucky to be able to take my two daughters away for 6 days to Maui. We had a fabulous time together. Laughing, talking, "bonding"! It was an absolutely priceless moment I will never forget!

Amanda Turns 15!

My baby girl turned 15 on March 15th! There was a lot of 15 things... We had several celebrations. We had dinner with Grandma & Grandpa & Aunt Kelli, Uncle Gary & Aunt Sharon and Amy came. We had the usual embarrassment at Red Robin as a family. We also had dinner with Rob's family at his sister's house. Amanda got a lap top from Grandma & Grandpa...you should have seen the excitement there! Of course we had to show off our fabulous toes in our new Nike sandals.

Probably Amanda's happiest moment was when she got her permit! On her FIRST (1st) try! She had to rub that into her sister a little!

We love you Fritze and are so proud of you. You are beautiful on the inside and the outside!

Vegas Baby!

A lot has happened since my last post...so there will be much to come! The first thing was Rob & I celebrated my birthday in Vegas! Rob met Elvis, I "saw" Donny & Marie, the lions at the MGM were beautiful, The Bellagio was breath taking, The Venetian was gorgeous, wonderful food...and some great shows! We had a marvelous time. Thanks to Nicole for being the "mother" while we were gone. <3

The Other thing that has kept us so busy...Ricky!

Many of you have been asking about Ricky also, Here is what we know for sure.
Ricky's birth mom received her rights back in late November.
Therefore he is no longer able to be adopted.
Ricky's mom is having some testing done in the coming months, as well as Ricky. The court will meet again at the end of April to decide where Ricky should live.
The good news thus far is that Ricky is with us until the end of April. The judge did not allow any additional visitation or anything until we have some sort of a plan.
So, now we wait until at least the end of April to see what the next step of the plan is.
Meanwhile, we are signed up for after school basketball and science club and he has tryouts for baseball in a couple of weeks.