Happy Birthday Lucy Vy!!!

Thanks for the present mom. I think I'll take it from here.
What exactly am I supposed to do with this cake?
Taking a walk with her babies


Here are a few birthday pictures of Lucy. She is officially two in many ways. First, she threw a whopper of a tantrum the afternoon of her birthday-- on the floor kicking her legs, screaming fit! Believe it or not, I love it. I love that she has strong opinions and will let us know. Now, that doesn't mean that the fit works, just that I like that she can do it :)
Secondly, she recently got her "shmos"-- the braces for her ankles and feet and is becoming more stable and mobile. The PTs seem to think that with this extra stability that she will be off and running in no time. Hummm, running? I'd really settle for walking, strolling, meandering, moseying.... She is also in a gymnastics class for kids with motor delay. The PTs said to warn us, "Now, some kids take some time to warm up, may cry, etc." Not Lucy! She loved it! Jumping on the trampoline with mom, "climbing" on stuff, doing rolls, riding on the parachute, crawling through tunnels... This is her thing, no doubt. Hopefully it will lead her to a new comfort level where she feels comfortable enough to walk independently.
We love you Lucy!

Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas

Ok, so much for my good intentions. Things have been busy-- but whose life isn't so it's not an excuse for not posting. We are doing well. Thought I'd share what we've been up to and some pictures. Halloween was fun. Cooper was High King Peter of Narnia and Lucy was a monkey. Lucy went around saying Trick or Treat (or a close variation) but only when we weren't at someone's house. Cooper ran into several friends from school.
We had a great Thanksgiving with our bestest of friends, Pam and Phil. They stayed for a week at a great hotel/casino that had a pool, arcade etc. so the kids had lots of fun. We showed them all the real Reno area sights, which are NOT casinos! Yes, we have them and they can be fun, but we also have the Truckee river running through the city, Lake Tahoe 30 minutes away, great restaurants (a Vietnamese one that is as good as actually in Vietnam), and on and on.
Now we are in Advent preparing for Christmas. Quite a busy time around a priest's house. The church had a float in our Christmas parade. It was joy to the world with a giant bottle of joy dishwashing liquid. It was great! I only get one day off of work-- The state of Nevada is Scrooge. Next year I will have annual leave and be able to take some time. The downer of everything is that we are so far from so many people we love. We miss everyone and hope that you all have a great Christmas!

two posts in one day

Thought I'd add a few recent pictures of the kids...

Lucy Swinging

breakfast




Cooper playing t-ball
Very serious stuff!

snow!!!!!

Here are some pictures of when it first started snowing



So we are definately not in Oklahoma anymore. Friday we had snow! It was beautiful and it made me twirl around with a big ol' grin on my face. I had to really rein myself in not to stick out my tongue to catch a few in front of a co-worker.
Snow is how we convinced Cooper that it would be ok for us to move to Nevada. With Tahoe 30 minutes away we will be spending every Saturday in Jan and Feb on the mountain. Kirk and I will be volunteer ski instructors (we will be trained by the pros) and Cooper will be taking lessons. There is a great program in this area where parents have to volunteer in some capacity (Kirk and I were planning on being bus monitors, but when we were signing up they asked if we skied and well, here we are) and kids get cheap good lessons. No kid is turned away for financial or physical limitations. They have a terrific adaptive ski program as well.
When my father heard that we would be doing this he reminded me that my goal as a teenager was to be a snow bum. I guess this isn't too far off!

Tahoe

One of the great things about our new digs is that we are soooo close to Lake Tahoe. Cooper will be taking skiing lessons every Saturday this winter and in the summer... well, you can see what we've been doing there.
Lucy is doing well. She has retroactively decided to crawl. She started this really last month although she is walking with just a little help from our pinkies. She could be doing this herself of course, but just doesn't like for her skinny little bottom to plop on the ground when she falls. I can't blame her for that. I have always had enough padding to make it pretty easy (see the pictures of the thighs behind Lucy for evidence of this) :) We have an Early Intervention appt. scheduled to get her back on PT. Hopefully they can get to it soon.
We are really enjoying this area, but we miss our Oklahoma friends!

Happy Happy Gotcha Day!!!!

One year ago today Lucy became our daughter-- officially that is. What a wonderful day in the span of a lifetime with our daughter. We love you Lucy and are privileged to have you as our sweet little Lulubelle.

home sweet home

Well, we've made it! Things are still not completely organized; ok that is definitely an understatement. But, we're getting there. We like it here. The kids have their good days and bad. There are great things to do as a family, and we are trying to take as much initiative to do those things as possible. We like Cooper's school--yes he has already started. They have year round schools, and he's at one. Lucy was pretty clingy at first, but as she comes to see this as home she's losening up some.
We are planning on contacting early intervention for Lucy. When we were in Muskogee she had a great physical therapist and we want to make sure that she continues to improve. She is now walking with holding one finger for support. She has taken a couple of steps by herself (the first ones on the day we left for Nevada) but hates to fall and therefore doesn't have a lot of desire to let go. I know that she'll reach this milestone soon though.

officially lucy

YEA!!! Yesterday Kirk mailed off all the paperwork for Lucy's American birth certificate. She was legally ours when we had the giving and receiving ceremony in Vietnam, but she was not Lucy officially until we filed our petition for recognition of foreign adoption. Everything is filed and done. The last step of all the paperwork...finally!!!!