Happy 2nd Birthday, HUNTER!!!!!

Hunter is such a blessing in our lives!!! He is pure sweetness and such a joy in our home. He was so fun on his birthday (March 28th) because he had GREAT reactions. Unfortunately, my pictures didn't turn out very well (a lot of them blurred) but I do have some to share.

Hunter was SOOO excited about his new pet fish. : ) Superfish is it's name.

Some things about Hunter...

*Hunter has really embraced his role as older brother. : ) He loves to greet Preston every morning with smiles, kisses and "Hi, hi, hi, hi...." He loves to do patty cake with Preston (rolls his arms even) and get Preston to laugh. He is the pacifier police and makes sure there is always a pacifier handy for Preston.

*Hunter adores his older brother Benjamin and is becoming a more dutiful follower/playmate (much to Benjamin's delight). There is nothing more fun than to watch them chase each other outside and play in the sandbox.

*Hunter loves books and always wants to hold his own book while you read him another.

*His vocabulary is really starting to expand--the words aren't always clear but his expression and intonation is amazing. : ) He's also decided that getting louder ought to help him be understood clearly. : )

*Some of Hunter's favorite things: hats, animals, yogurt, treats, playgrounds, cars, bubbles, and water.

And here is a picture of this beautiful baby boy two years ago. : ) The second picture is with his birth mother April, who we are certainly thinking about at this time of year. We love her and pray that she was blessed with sweet, peaceful thoughts on his special day. She was an absolute rock when he was born!!!

Birthday Celebration...

Our friend Brianna (young woman in our ward) had a birthday last week and we got to celebrate with her. Here's a picture of the boys with her...

Preston's first tooth!

Can you see Preston's first tooth?

Priceless!

Brave Benjamin

This morning Benjamin and I headed out early for a surgery to remove scar tissue under his eye from a chalazion (blocked oil duct). Anyway, he was as BRAVE as a boy can be and sweet to everyone there. They all loved him. And so I loved them. : ) Here is the one picture that I got of him after he woke up-he was mostly just not wanting me to take a picture, then I will post a few pictures of Preston and Benjamin (Hunter was taking a nap.)

Welcome Home, Aunt Lynette!!!!

There is a lot of excitement here because Aunt Lynette has completed her mission in the Cuzco, Peru Mission!!! : ) She is an incredible lady and we are VERY VERY excited because she is spending some time with mom and dad in Lima right now but her FIRST stop in the United States will be in Ohio. YEAH!!! We're counting down the days. In the meantime, it is WONDERFUL to talk to her on the phone. SO, in his excitement today Benjamin, completely on his own went out into the garage and made a sign with scrap wood. Then he painted it blue. He said tomorrow he'll write on it with marker. : ) WE LOVE YOU, Aunt Lynette!!!

(This is the last time we were together, Benjamin and Hunter have grown a lot and she gets to meet Preston. Yeah!) : )

Here is Benjamin, proud of his sign.
And of course Hunter wanted to help. Notice the blue leg.

Preston-being entertained

Mr. Independent

Benjamin has always been an independent soul, and so it was no surprise that he just went out into the garage on Sunday and took the training wheels off of his bike. Yep, and then proceeded to ride around in circles, but never could get going too much because of the limited space. SOOO, we headed to the church parking lot for family home evening on Monday night and the boy just took off with no help before we were even unloaded from the van. : ) Love that independent spirit of his. : )

Thank you to the Iversons!!!!!!!!!!!

A huge blessing in New Mexico was that I was able to connect with some friends from Lafayette who now live in Albuquerque. They were SOOO kind to Preston and I while we were waiting for clearance to come home and I really enjoyed being in their home. They have three darling kiddos who LOVED Preston. : ) Here are a few pictures--mostly for Janeece who would probably enjoy seeing their family. : ) Sorry, I really didn't get a good family picture of them. Really mad about that! I also have some pictures of Preston with the kids, but they didn't turn out. Too bad. Spending time with them was DEFINITELY a tender mercy. : )

Day 1, on the way to New Mexico

The airport/riding on an airplane always makes for an exciting day!

Swimming!

One of the first things we did with Preston was go swimming at the hotel. : )

Welcome, Preston Reginald!

We are grateful and blessed to have another sweet BOY join our family. : ) Preston Reginald is five months old now and is a precious baby boy! He rolls over, smiles a LOT, laughs and "talks" a lot, and is a joy to have in our home. I think a tooth is breaking through on the bottom, too. : ) We all flew to New Mexico on February 29th and David, Benjamin and Hunter came home that weekend. (I stayed a little bit longer until I had clearance to leave the state--legal adoption stuff). We were able to spend some time with Marisol, who has great courage and a LOT of love to give to all of our boys. The experiences with her, and her personal journey, are sacred and we have so much respect for the process that she has gone through. I will be making a BIG effort, for Marisol and our families, to post pictures on here--so check back often. More of the story will unfold, too. (This is about what I have time to do tonight.) : ) We feel so blessed!!!!!!!