Nelson Adoption Journey

My "Idaho Mom" was into town to watch my nieces for the weekend, so naturally, we had to go playyyyyyy.  We went to "The Museum of Curiosity" together and we had a blast!  They have all kinds of things to climb on and play around with, that the kids just love it!  There is nothing better in this world than GRANDMAS!  And Ellie is so lucky to have 4 of them.  Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for lunch and it was delicious.  It was such a fun day!! Feeding the fish. Zip-lining! Climbing everywhere! Gigantic slides! Rope bridges! Way high above everything else! And I am afraid of heights! The water station! They got soaked! Wind tunnel! Making music room! Olive Garden! Yum!

We scored big time this weekend!  Dave's brother, Andrew gave us their "clubhouse" and swing set because their kids have grown out of it.  Ellie woke up from her nap and there it was!  She was so excited that we had to bribe her out of it just so we could go eat dinner.  She was so in-love with it that she'd keep checking out the back window every few minutes to make sure it was still there!  We are beyond blessed!  Thank you Andrew and Jessica!

My "Texas Mom" (Mimi) came into town and it was so magical to see her!  She is a flight attendant and has had a really hard time with her schedule lately, so it was soooooo good to finally get to see her again.  She totally gets down on Ellie's level and has such a amazing bond with her.  They laugh and laugh over nothing at all and it is so wonderful!  We love when Mimi comes! We went swimming at a water park. They watched movies together and wrestled around. We went on a walk together at our favorite park. We love this place! We played at the park. And just enjoyed time with Mimi!

Well, Ellie is 3 years old now!  Such a big girl!  We had a Little Mermaid themed birthday party and for the first time, had her friends and their families come over.  It was simple but so much fun.  My sister and her daughterAcelee also came, and we all had a really good time.  All of the kids in our neighborhood that are Ellie's age are all BOYS, so it was a wild party at some points!  Ha-ha, but we loved it.  We did a pull-string pinata, which was much safer than handing a bunch of 3 year old boys a bat!  And then did cake and presents and just socialized, while the kids played.  It was a great night :) The secret is balloons! It fills the room with color and they are cheap :) Just pull the right string and the bottom comes out! Cousins! Love me some Baby Acelee cuddles!

Every few months, we get lucky enough to see Dayana.  She will come spend the night and we will catch up on all the things going on in her life.  After every visit, I feel uplifted, that life is good, and that I can be stronger like Dayana.  She inspires me and I'm grateful every time stops by.  Dayana and Ellie are best buds, too!  She is great with kids.  She will graduate from college soon, which will be such a big accomplishment for her and her family.  She is doing so well!  She has come such a long way!  We love Dayana!

I have always wanted to do a themed photo shoot with my kids and make it all cutesy.  I really love the newborn photo shoots the most, but regrettably I did not do one with Ellie (first time mom mistake, but we'll get it, hopefully, with our next child), so I had to make up for it.  Ellie turned 3, so we took some of these pics with her, and I love how they turned out!  It was so much fun!

We completed our 10 hours of "Adoption Training" this weekend and we learned so much!  My brain hurt afterwards, for sure!  But I am so grateful we got to meet some great people and get lots of ideas.  My favorite part was the "Birth Parent Panel."  I bawled my eyes out!  Good thing they had tissues :)  Those birth parents were truly amazing!  It gave me so much perspective and understanding that I didn't have before.  It was such a great experience!

We were on the waiting list for a preschool, but I hadn't heard anything....that is, until the day before it started.  I barely had time to prepare my mommy mind for it because it all happened so fast!  But there you have it!  We officially have a preschooler!  She was so excited!!