My baby girl is 2!!!

I can hardly believe it.... Rachel is 2 years old today.. Where in the world did the time go.. I remember this time 2 years ago when I was gathering all of my paperwork, dealing with the morons at my home study agency trying to get everything sent to Carol & waiting on pins & needles for a referral... those feelings are still so vivid in my mind. They say after time you forget all the stress & anticipation, but I can still feel it. I cant imagime my life without my sweet chunko Rachel..
I would post pics but my computer at work wont allow me to do it ... BUMMER!!!
HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY SWEET BABY GIRL!!!!!

What a great weekend I had with Kristi, Elli & her frind Lou Ann visiting..She was only here for a few days so we were running all weekend, & it was FANTASIC!!!. I havent seen her in almost 2 years, since we visited the girls in Guatemala.
Our weekend went something like this... They arrived Thurs afternoon, they checked in to the hotel & off to my house to let the girls play & we ate & ate.. After dinner we went to visit sam at the firehouse & off to Tartufo for dessert & cappucino.
Friday morning.. off to Taget for pics of the girls & they were both B-R-A-T-S!!!! to say the least, but we got 2 or 3 decent ones so WHATEVER!!!..
After the pics, my mom took both girls & the three ladies were off to NYC for the day. We did a guided tour (the best way to see the most stuff)after the tour we spend a bit of time in Times Square.. seeing it all lit up is so cool, especially seeing it with someone who has never been there..
Sat morning I picked Kristi up at 730 to head to Hoboken to Carlo's Bakery where the show, the cake boss is filmed.. I dont watch the show but Kristi does & she was soooo excited. She has pics with the staff & an autograph & pics with Buddy (he's the main guy).
Then we all headed in the minivan to Annette's house for the day..like Ive said before.. we all had a blast... Its really hard to put into words how wonderful the day really was. This has got to be an annual event, which means Kristi will just have to come back next year... We also found out that Maria, our Guatemalan laywer may be joining us a next year's event.. How cool would that be???
All the kids got a long so well, only a few little issues & one meltdown, hey thats ok.. there were 8 kids all under 3 yrs old & not one of them had a nap.. so I think all in all it was the PERFECT DAY!!! Sam did have a little accident though.. goes something like this.. I was sitting in the house & all of a sudden I see sam jumping in the bounce house, & the first thing I said was " by the time he gets out he'll be hurt" I was sooo right. When he dove in the house he caught his hand on the net & it bent backwards & so it goes.. big kid!!!! I do regret not getting any pics of the guys.. they were all huddled around the grill watching Tim work...
After we got home we just hung out at my house for a while, then I took the girls to a few Sopranos shoot locations so Kristi could take pics for her husband & off to pack they went..
Sunday morning, I dropped them off at the airport & had to say goodbye... that stunk, but the memories & pics I have our weekend will last a lifetime..

Make a Smilebox slideshow

"THE GET TOGETHER AT ANNETTE"S HOUSE"

What a day!!!! I cant even begin to put into words what a FABULOUS day we had at the Maron's house.. She is definetly the hostess with the mostest, she surprised us all with a bounce house for the kids,notice I say kids... you'll see a few pics down why the kids had to be stressed in that sentence ... i want to thank her again for having us all over.. for me.. the best party is just chillin & relaxing.. no pressure just a great time. Everyone brought somwthing & we just wung it... I still cant believe that there were 7 of Carol's kids in one house at the same time.. they all looked so adorable sporting their shirts that said.. I am a Guatemalan Miracle, in honor of Carol....
WOW.. I am still in shock.. but here are a few pics ofthe day.. I had such a great weekend with Kristi visitng. Its a weird but awesome feeling to be with someone visiting times square for the first time even though I was viciously ill ( thats a story for another day )I hope she had as much fun as I did.. I'll post pics of that tomorrow..

& in other rach news.. on thursday 8/20/09 rach did pee pee on the potty for the 1st time.. probably just a fluke but we have to start somewhere right?

Rachel & Chloe

Sam & Elli

This was Sam on sunday.... after he decided to play in the bounce house like a big kid... he said that he didnt care that he got hurt b/c he had fun doing it

Kennedy

Rachel & Lallie

Reagan munching on her popcorn

Monica & Elianna

Annette surprised us with a bounce house.. it was a HIT!!!

They may not all be looking, but all 7 kids are there with their t-shirts that say... We are Guatemalan Miracles

All the moms.. from left to right.. jenny, annette, me, barb, kristi, deb & dani

Jade & Sky

All 7 of the kids playing at the water table

A long overdue post

I know its been a while since my last post, & this time I actually have pictures.. I took Rachel last night for her birthday pics & surprise surprise she didnt cooperate AGAIN... I'm not even sure why it still surprises me. I did get a few decent ones so that will have to do.

A few weeks ago we attended GAFE (guatemalan adoptive family event) right here in nj. Its a bi annual event, & we really enjoyed ourselves. There were over 300 people coming from as far as CA & puerto rico. We met old friends there & made some new friends. We'll definetly go back in 2011. (WOW 2011)...

I was in California with my mom for a few days & we had a BLAST!!! . I miss my friends sooo much.. Every time they move, they get further & further away from NJ.

Tomorrow, Kristi & Elli are coming to town... we will be heading to Ny on friday & to Annett's house on Sat where 7 of Carol's families will be.. I cant wait!!!!!!!!!

Rachel's birthday is almost here & my plan was cake, just cake.. YEAH RITE, that didnt work out so well again!! I am having about 30 people over to celebrate with us. I can hardly believe that she's almost 2... She's talking up a storm, she is a repeating machine & can even put 3 words together.. shes always jibber jabbing about something or another.

Happy Birthday Kristi!!!! & Happy 2nd birthday Lallie!!! she'll be 2 tomorrow...

enjoy the pics...

a quick update

I will apologize in advance for the lack of pics in this post... just a quick update.. Rachel has been doing great with her speech therapy, she says soooo many words that I stopped counting. She can put two words together & has become a parrot.now is when we really have to watch LOL..

In other news, next weekend I am going to a guatot weekend (as I call it) but its a Guatemalan adoptive family event, & its right here in NJ, about 40 minutes from home. There are about 300 people attending & from what ive heard from others, its a gathering worth attending. It must be, b/c there are people from all over the country that come. Kevin from Guataopt will be there & for my nonadoptive friends, he's the guy that if you have any questions about the going's on in Guatemala he's the one to call. (at least thats my opinion)

The last weekend of the month me & my mom are going to California from thurs-sunday. My friends moved out there a few months ago. They are in thousand oaks(outside LA). Rachel will be staying home with sam & grandma Rose. I cant wait to see my friends, I miss them so much...

Other exciting news!!! my friend Kristi her daughter Elli & her friend Luann are coming to visit from Illinois. She is my friend who also adopted a little girl from Guatemala. I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited. I have not seen her since dec 07 when we both took our first visit trip to Guatemala. Ive talked to her just about everyday & cant wait to see her again. We will be taking a tour of Nyc on friday & Sat we'll be heading to Pennsylvania to meet with other Carol families. If all works out there will be 7 carol families in one room... I cant wait to take pictures pictures & more pictures...

& last but not least... my bathroom will be done next week..WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO. Its been a long few weeks. Its the last thing I wanted to do before I get ready to sell. It was yucky pink (pepto bismol) & black. I cant wait to get my house back in order. I kinda stinks at 3am when I have to trek to the basement bathroom when there is one right next door, but it will be worth it in the end. That I will post pics of as soon as its done..

Guat tot get together with the Maron Family

Last weekend Annette, her mom Lorraine, Chloe & Marla (lallie) came to visit us... The weather outside was MISERBLE to say the least but we had such a good time catching up.. we just sat around ate, had coffee & watched the girls.. I cant think of anything better than to spend time with friends & our family.. I cant wait till our next visit, I miss them already... here are a few pics of our day

Guat tot get together with Marissa & her family

I am really behind with posting lately.. Here are a few pictures from our day with the Horner Family at my house. It was actually sunny out, not that we've had many of those days, but the kids played outside & they had so much fun It was nice catching up with Marissa & her mom & dad..Lucky for us we only live about an hour from each other.. I think its great that Rachel will have other Guattots in her life as she grows up, thats something that is very important to me.