Favorite kid quotes from our trip

We had a great trip. More to come on our visit to Toronto to see Naing's family. I wanted to write down some of the kids quotes before I forget them.

Haven to me upon seeing her second cousin..."OH baby, I pet him."
Alec chanting his 3 year old cousin's name, but pronouncing it Oviler, Oviler, Oviler.
Haven trying to get her uncle to come to the piano and play music for her..."Come on Come on, Music NOW" she doesn't mince words.
Haven seeing her cousin's wedding dress that is 100 years old and has a lot of beading..."oh sparkles"
Haven as we are landing in Portland finally home..."Yeah home, finished plane, bye, bye plane."

Toukoul Reunion

This past weekend was the reunion for families that have adopted from the Toukoul orphanage. It was our first reunion and we were lucky enough to hold it in Portland. I had hoped for a bigger turnout since there are so many families here in the Portland area that have adopted from Toukoul, but it turned out to be just the right size to get to know people. There were 4 families from outside the Portland area.
Friday night was our meet and greet. The children ran wild in the little waiting area outside the banquet room. Good times had by all except the people in the restaurant that were being visited by our children...some were not too happy about the interruptions. Grumpy people...how can you not be happy to have a cutie pie come up and say hi to you.

You are as cute as I am.

Saturday am we met at the zoo. Everyone kinda went their own way, but it was still a fun time. Naing took the kids home to nap and I went on to the hair care class. OK this was our celebrity for the event. Katie from Happy Girl Hair blog did a class for us. It was GREAT!!!! I learned so much, somethings I was doing wrong with Haven's hair. But also so much more I can do to help keep it healthy and styling tips. Now I just need to practice on the girls head more....:)

Saturday pm we all went out to Jarra for an Ethiopian dinner. Again the kids were running amok, but the owners of the restaurant did not mind. The few other customers having dinner enjoyed the entertainment of our children for free.  Let me just say, Miss Haven loves Ethiopian food and couldn't get enough and as you know Mr. Picky himself just ate the enjeria.

Sunday we had a farewell picnic at Washington Park. Good times had by all. It was wonderful to meet some new families, some I knew of, others I did not. Next year the reunion will be in Chicago. I hope we can go.

This was as good as it got

Ever had this type of friend..

I have a friend that is one of my best friends. We have been through thick and thin together but she moved to Pennsylvania 10 years ago for the man that she would end up marrying. I miss having her in my day to day life. Even though we keep up via email...she wasn't able to be at my wedding and hadn't met my children yet.

Well this week she came out with her daughter and husband to see her family. It was so wonderful to see her..it had been way too long- 3 or 4 years we can't remember exactly. But it was just like old times seeing her.
I took the kids out to her parents' house. This was my home away from home. I would spend my holidays there if I did not go back to Texas. I was just another daughter to her parents. Her parent's house isn't baby proofed any more so my kids were creating a little bit of a mess. But we found Earl's fishing boots and that was enough to keep us out of trouble for a bit.

I have such fond memories of our trips together and time spent discussing lifes challenges and men. She was always my sounding board for the big problems/decisions in my life. Even now when things are rough I turn to her for guidance.

Now they got to meet my children. It was a little weird walking into that house as a Mom. The kids had a wonderful time and it was so great to visit, even though I was there for 4 hours it just flew by and felt so short.  Haven and Alec loved playing with Sue's daughter Isabelle. They enoyed all the special attention and best of all there were lots    tons of rocks to play with on her parent's land. So guess what we did...we talked while they played with the rocks. My how life changes.

Alec acting silly.

Yep there are rocks in the bowl.


Love you Sue, thanks for always being a real friend and never judging. You are so special to me. Now move back here dammit!! So my children can have you in their life daily. Lord knows I'm going to need your guidance with my daughter.

I'm so happy I got to spend some time with you and share my beautiful children with you.

First Haircut

Alec is 19 months now and his hair was becoming a dirt trap. It didn't help that he likes to rub dirt and rocks in his hair. So I made an appointment for him to get his first haircut while I was having my hair done.
He was a little unsure about the whole thing, but was very brave. No crying or wiggling. He sat on my lap and held pretty still for CJ to shave his head. At first he thought it was kinda funny, but when he saw the hair coming off, his eyes got big.

All his curls on the floor, except the little piece I saved.

So Handsome!

He looks so grown up now, even though he will forever be my BABY.  And yes that is Elmo, he came along for moral support.  ")