Better late than never! (HUGE, combined post!)

For starters, I apologize to my loyal blog readers for not getting on here and posting much lately. It's been a CRAZY month.

First of all, our family suffered a great loss in February. Dustin's Mom passed away unexpectadly Feb. 25th. She will always be remembered for her kindness, loyalty, her gardening skills, knitted slippers (we're all going to have to deal with cold feed now!) and her special baked beans that we all loved so dearly! Holidays won't be the same without them. (amongst MANY other things that she will be remembered for!) I LOVED watching her with my daughter. They cherished one another. She enjoyed showing Adriana all about the outside world. The plants. The trees. The bugs (that Adriana hated, but Grandma was determined to help her get over her fears). The frogs. The dog. The puddles. Picking/eating fresh fruits and veggies from the garden. Running up and down the "mountain" (as Adriana called it) out behind their house. Making homeade apple cider and the blueberry pancakes with Grandma's "special flour" (some gluten free stuff). They really had a great time when they were together. She will forever be missed. She left very impressive marks on all of our hearts and will never be forgotten. RIP Ma! We love you and miss you LOTS! Below is a goofy photo of her, But Adriana took it (all by herself!) so that's enough to make me post it here with all of you. On to other things: My niece Lyllie turned 2 a few weeks ago. This is a picture of Adriana and Lyllie on the horse at Caesarland! :) FUN times! Happy Birthday Lyllie! We love you!

My beautiful blossoming Spring flower!

Time to dye some eggs!!! Adriana was "SOAK excited"

CHEESE! She was SO proud!

The Easter Bunny CAME!

He brought Adriana some bubbles, a "Princess Moon Sand" kit, 2 tshirts, sunglesses, the fishing game, a little bit of candy AND...her PRINCESS UMBRELLA! (That's what she told EVERYONE that she wanted the bunny to bring her.)

Showing off her sweet "prizes" to Daddy

She LOVES her new Princess Umbrella!

...and her cool sunglasses!

Hey LOOK....the Easter Bunny "hided" eggs over here....Let's go find them!

(And P.S. YES, my kid is wearing stained Christmas jammies! LOL) Hey, she picked them out herself, atleast they match! :)

Off on her egg hunt...

She found ALL of them!

So happy with all of these goodies...spoiled rotten!

EGGSTRA CUTE!

She loved her "egg socks" too!

We hope that you all had a blessed Easter.

Love,

Shawna & Adriana

Just a little late...

Here's a couple of photos of Adriana in her Valentine's Day duds! :) Her shirt reads "Mommys little heart breaker"

Proud Moment

Not a real update, just a couple of pictures to share. This is Adriana and Symiah Matison. Symiah was born on 2/8 and is my best friend's new baby girl. Adriana was in complete aww over the baby. She couldn't take her eyes off of her. Secondly...This is my Proud Mama Moment! Adriana wrote her name, all by herself, tonight! I was so proud of my big girl! She did it with some help (of me telling her which letter comes next) and then wrote them out, by herself. :) As she says "Mama...I'm a big girl. I'm soak excited to write my name" (soak excited=SO excited!)
Hugs to you all!
Shawna & AnaBean

A case of the sillies!

She was cracking herself UP! :) Gotta love that laugh and those dimples & smile!

Being really GOOFY!

On the run....again!

Going post crazy...

Here's a few more pictures of my princess.

She LOVES this work bench and all of the tools that Mama got (Free!) from the wonderful ladies at work! (Thanks Sue!!)

Cupcake CUTIE:
She was loving the little cupcakes on her pants and was wanting me to take her picture WITH them. :)

I have a few more pictures, I'll try to upload them this weekend or something!
I'm also going to work on spicing this blog up as much as I can (haha). I've already added the song playlist on the side. Some of those songs really bring on the tears! :*) Happy ones!

Grandparents

I wanted to take a moment to share some photos of the most precious people in our lives (in addition to my "year in review" post below These two photos are from Spring '07). The first pictures is Adriana and her "great" grandparents. (My Gramps & Gram). The bond and attachment that I share with these people is one of the most amazing in my life. I always had a great time with my Gramps and Gram growing up. I'm so thankful for them and all that they've done for me. I really hope to be 1/4 of the person that they are. (I'd still be one hell of a person! I'm telling you, they're two of the most AMAZING people you'd ever meet in your life!) We miss them like crazy right now (they're in Florida for the winter...) I'm just so thrilled that they're around to enjoy my daughter. I know that she'll cherish them as much as I do. I hope that I can live up to their expectations as a Mother. (Yes, their approval means something, a lot actually, to me.) We love you two, LOTS! Here's another set of special people to Adriana and I. My parents. Adriana's Nana & Papa. Without them, I don't know where I'd be. The love and support that they've always given me, I'm thankful beyond words. I consider my Mom to be my best friend (other than Chasity of course, haha, Love ya Mom!). We do have "issues" sometimes, but I really wouldn't trade MY Mom for anything (even her kissing and "leaching"..inside joke and for those that know my Mom, will know what I'm talking about). And My Dad? What can I say. He's done SO much for me in my life. Just taking me in and raising me as his own.....Wow! It takes a special man to be my Daddy and he's done it. He's done more than "step up to the plate". He hit a HOME RUN!! He's been there for me, thru everything! I never knew how someone could love a child so much that wasn't "biologically" theirs. (Yes, I questioned how he could love me if I "wasn't his" even though I knew he loved me!) But...after adopting, I now know. Adriana IS my daughter. Just like I am my Dad's daughter. Children are Gods gift to us, no matter how we become parents. Genetics does not create the bond. Love and happiness does. When I got married and my Dad "gave me away" (I knew I'd always be "Daddy's Girl" though, married or not!) I often dreamt of the day that I could hand them MY child, their first (or I was hoping I'd beat my brother to the punch anyway! LOL) grand child. That dream came true in June 2005. Watching them with Adriana, and seeing the way her eyes light up when she's with them, it makes my heart warm. (Yes, I know, some of you have questioned if I even HAD/HAVE a heart in there when I was growing up..but its there. My daughter has brought that joy out in me). I really hope that Adriana can develop as great of a bond with them that I had with my Grandparents growing up. She loves her Nana & Papa SO much!

Adriana has brought joy into the lives of everyone that knows her. She's such a beautiful little princess. NONE of us could imagine our lives without her in it. The smile on her face, the laughter in her belly, twinkle in her eye...right down to her "hitch hiker" toe (another inside joke!). She's perfect. I am so lucky to be called HER Mama! I love you Bean. We have many more fun years ahead of us and I look forward to our life together.

I don't say it enough but, Gramps and Gram & Mom and Dad...THANK YOU for everything!

Hugs!

WE love you ALL!

Shawna & AnaBean

2007 in review!

Laurie had a great blogger idea, so I thought I'd steal it. It's basically "2007 in review"! I've posted pictures of my little princess throught the year of 2007. It was so fun to flip back thru all of the years photos and relive those sweet memories and silly times. I did shed a few tears thinking (and seeing) about how quickly the time is passing (but they were HAPPY tears). The days FLY by....now that I'm a Mama! It's hard to believe that 2007 is behind us. Wonder what 2008 has in store?!

Anyway, Here's the photos!

January: Those silly pictures had her laughing SO hard!

The Diva in February:
March (on Easter)
She definitely is THE "Guatemalan Princess" as her shirt claims!

Mama's Princess. How could one resist those dimples?!

May: (Happy Birthday Mama!)

June:

July: Summer fun, days filled with popsicle eating at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Here, cousin Carter is sharing her flip flop :) (She didn't look as thrilled about it as he did though!)

August: Fair + PONY rides=1 VERY happy little lady!

September: So silly. Daddy's work boots are HEAVY!

October

November: The joys of a card board box. She plays in here for hours! :)

December: (Happy 3rd Birthday My Sweet Daughter)

Mama & Daddy love you, so very much!

We are so blessed to be able to call this little miracle OUR daughter. She truly is amazing (beyond words!) and we thank the Lord for letting us share our hearts and love with her, daily.

Even with all of the negative press these days, Guatemalan Adoptions can (and hopefully continue to) stay open and bless many parents with the love of a child, much like what we share with our precious Adriana.