Our Hilton Head Vacation

We spent last week visiting Chris' dad and his wife at their home on Hilton Head Island. It had been 3 1/2 years since we had been there as we have met them in Orlando the past few winters. We drove through the night on the way down, which worked out pretty well and got us there on Saturday morning!
It was wonderful to enjoy being outside. We went swimming at the club, and took some bike rides. On the ride below we saw lots of alligators and stopped to see the baby horses at the stables.

A major highlight for all of us was the beach! The temps were unseasonably high (high 70's and low 80's) - so we had several opportunities to enjoy the beach. The boys loved playing at the edge of the water (it was still pretty cold) and digging in the sand. They built a big trench with Grandpa. Rebecca LOVED the beach - both the water and the sand. She was covered head to toe (and some in her mouth) and she wasn't bothered one bit. She cried when we took her home every time!

Chris and Rebecca and I took an overnight trip to Charleston during our stay. The agency that we used to bring Rebecca home is in Charleston. We were able to visit there and meet all the staff they we only knew from phone calls and emails. They were all very happy to meet Rebecca in person. On the way back from Charleston we had lunch in Beaufort - another beautiful South Carolina coastal town.

One of the highlights for me was seeing all the azaleas in bloom! I couldn't resist taking a picture of Rebecca in front of the flowers.

Here is David enjoying a ride in Grandpa's convertible thunderbird!

Here is the best family shot we were able to get.

It was truly a great vacation and we are so thankful to Mike & Sheila for their wonderful southern hospitality!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon and it snowed this morning! Thankfully spring is on the way!

Making new friends

The kids and I met up with a group of moms with children from Guatemala yesterday. Many of them I have met online and a few at other events. It was a really fun outing and both the boys made some new friends and got some exercise! Here are some pictures from our day.
Steven told me he missed his new friend as soon as we got in the van!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is one of my sweethearts to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. She is wearing her special Valentine attire from Tio and Tia Jessica.

David is 6

I can hardly believe my" little" David is 6 years old. I know everyone says it, but each year seems to go by faster. David is such a great son! He is clever, funny and loves to snuggle. He is a great conversationalist and has a heart for learning new things.

We celebrated a week ago with the Moreno cousins at a "paint your own pottery" place in Royal Oak. Here are a few pictures from that event.








Then this past weekend we had the family over on David's birthday for a "rocket ship" party! Grammy made him an awesome rocket cake.



David received quite a few more Thomas items for his track. He has become quite the track designer.

David's week!

David had some fun happenings this week. He was the kindergarten "Person of the Week" - he and I made a posterboard about him that was displayed at the "big school" all week long. Here is a picture of David in front of his poster.



David's class had a surprise baby shower for his teacher. Unfortunately (for us) she is moving to Minnesota to be near family and next week will be her last week as David's teacher. She has been fabulous and we will really miss her!

More milestones for Rebecca!

It's been quite a week around here for Rebecca! On Friday she officially became a US citizen! We had less than 3 days notice to report to the immigration office in Detroit, but we pulled it off! Here is Rebecca with her Certificate of Citizenship.



Then to top it off she took her first steps yesterday! Here is the link to see the video!
http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/calgarvey/?action=view&current=Beccasfirststeps.flv

More of the rest of the family soon!

A Year Ago Today...

We were at my dad's house in Florida. Right about this time I was about to go out of my skin - I was getting so anxious waiting for this phone call to come and let us know who our daughter would be. Our case worker had told me the week before that we should hear from them "early next week". Which to me meant, Monday or Tuesday - and now it was getting into the afternoon on Wednesday and that phone was not ringing. My wonderful husband sensing that I could not take anymore, called our home phone to check the messages. Even though we had left explicit instructions that we would not be home, but in Florida, lo and behold, there was a message for us from the agency. I called them immediately and got voicemail (AUGH!!). They called back about 10 mintues later and we were told we had been matched with our daughter! A few minutes later, at the computer, the email came through with her pictures. It was love at first sight! How could we not fall in love with these bright eyes.

We stared at her for a bit and then my dad and Jane came back from a walk with the boys. Steven had fallen asleep, so he wasn't quite in the spirit of things. David "oohed and ahhed" and said she was cute. My dad and Jane immediately printed out all the pictures and we continued to stare. I made several phone calls and we sent her pictures out to our friends and family who were waiting so long with us. We went out to dinner that night to celebrate and we told the waiter what we were celebrating. He said that he was adopted and thought it was great that we were adopting.

So much has happened in this past year. We are so thankful that we were able to bring Rebecca home at such a young age. Every day we all fall more in love with her. Here she is today, smiling and dancing and filling our home with sunshine!

Just keeping on

Not to much to tell about, but I don't want to disappoint those coming to see what we are up to!

We've actually had a fairly busy January so far - as Januarys go. We've had some company and extra things on the schedule. I haven't had the camera out much as we seem to need to recover from all the photos we take during the holidays.

These pictures are compliments of Gams (Aunt Susan). The first one was taken when Rebecca spent the night there for New Years Eve. (The boys stayed at Grammy's so Chris and I actually went out for New Years!) I think this is just the funniest picture!

The following 2 pictures and David & Steven decorating gingerbread houses last week- also at Gup and Gams house.

The PARTY!

We had a special birthday party for Chris and Rebecca at Grammy's house today!
Here is Rebecca in her party dress.

We were joined by Aunt Susan, Uncle Troy and Aidan, Gup and Gams and Nana and Papa. Everyone joined in the present opening.

I think we now officially own every toy that plays music and talks! Rebecca loves them - she spent the whole evening going from one toy to the other and pushing all the buttons.
And of course, here is the cake picture!

Two special birthdays!

As if Christmas isn't enough - we have also celebrated two birthdays this week!
The first one was Chris' on the 26th. Chris is a wonderful husband and an amazing father! I am so thankful to be his wife and to be on this incredible journey of life alongside him!
Here is a picture of Chris with the three kids on Father's Day - (maybe it's time to get a more recent one).

And then today is Rebecca's birthday. I cannot adequately express how blessed we are to have Rebecca in our family! She is such a joy and light to all of us.
Her brothers think she is pretty special too!

Here she is tonight showing off her great musical skills - two instruments at once! This girl has talent!

Christmas as a quintet!

Wow - what a full few days we have had!
It all started on Saturday when we had Garvey side Christmas at Aunt Susan, Uncle Troy and Aidan's house. We were joined by Grammy, Gup and Gams and Mr. & Mrs. Baker. We all had a great day and we found that Rebecca was much more interested in the packaging than the contents!
Here is a picture of most of the gang -

Then on Sunday we went to morning service and then an evening - Candlelights and Carols service where the kids sang. David and Steven were dressed as shepherds (with a huge thanks to Grammy the costume guru!) and Rebecca wore her special Christmas outfit.


We opened our stockings and presents from Santa (and Grandpa Mike & Grandma Sheila) on Christmas morning. The boys were up at 6:30 raring to go - it is so much fun to watch them enjoy the wonder of it all!


The rest of Christmas day was spent at the Jones' house (Laura's sister). The cousins had a great time opening gifts and then running all over the house together. We all enjoyed some yummy mexican cuisine for dinner.
Here are the 7 grandchildren -

Here is Rebecca with her new piano after we returned home last night!
You could say that Mama enjoyed putting Rebecca in her pretty Christmas outfits!

It was a great Christmas! We are so thankful for our family both immediate and extended!
Today is Chris' birthday and the 28th is Rebecca's birthday - we will have a celebration for both on Saturday! Stay tuned...

Got TOYS????

I sometimes suggest that the boys can give Rebecca a few toys to keep her entertained in her exersaucer. I left the room for a few minutes and found out that Steven decided to give her EVERY toy on the main floor! She didn't seem to mind too much!

Family Vacation

Hopefully you all haven't given up on us since I haven't posted in over a month! Most of November was fairly quiet and there wasn't much to report! On the 25th we left at 4:00am and drove to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Laura's dad and his wife, Pop and Grandma Jane, drove up from Florida. We rented a house in the mountains and stayed for a week.
Here is the house (notice the VERY steep driveway).

Laura and David took a long walk up the mountain and back. We clocked it by car the next day and it was 2 1/2 miles - 1/2 of which was uphill! We have quite the hiker on our hands. Here is David at the top of the mountain.

We spent a day in Asheville. We went to see a Gingerbread House Display at the Grove Park Inn - absolutely beautiful site - this is Laura and Rebecca on the patio of the inn.

We also spent a day in Gatlinburg, TN. We drove through the Smoky Mountain National Park to arrive there and it was beautiful. We even saw a bear in the forest. We went to the aquarium there and walked through the shops.

We had a great week enjoying the area and the company! All the kids had lots of fun with Pop and Grandma Jane!

Halloween night!

The kids had a great time on Halloween- it was a bit on the cold side, but at least it wasn't raining! The boys both had parties at school, so they were quite wound up by the evening. Check the entry below to see us all as a family.
Here are the 3 kids together.

Here is David as Goofy -

Steven as Mickey Mouse -

And Rebecca as Minnie -



Now we all (except Chris) have various stages of a cold - but hopefully we'll all be well by the weekend.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We had our Harvest Party at church last night! Here we are as a whole family!
I'll post more pictures of the kids after Tuesday night!

ARE YOU READY FOR THE COLD????

REBECCA IS!

We had a few days last week where we had to get into "full winter gear" to walk to school! But hopefully winter is still a ways off.
Rebecca likes to clap & dance and really seems to respond to music. We better start saving up for those dance classes. Steven has been calling her "Becca ballerina".
We've had birthday parties this month with both sides of the family - there are seven October birthdays in our family. And of course, the kids are getting excited about Halloween - check in next week to see them in costume!
And I can't forget to say GO TIGERS! We are eagerly anticipating the start of the World Series tomorrow!

And She's OFF!!!!!!!

Yes that's right - Rebecca is officially MOBILE!!!!!!
She has mastered getting up the stair from the family room to the kitchen this week and she is also pulling up on things she can reach! So now we are having to make sure the basement and bathroom doors are closed and keep the entire main floor baby-proofed at all times!




The boys are doing well too! We all have a bit of a cold this week! Steven missed school on Tuesday (had a fever too) and then yesterday we went on a field trip to the Wayne Police Station with his pre-school class.
Today is Spirit Day at David's school - so I bet you can guess how he was dressed!
We are also rooting like crazy for the Tigers!!!!!