Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

Looks like Santa's a no-go

We were at the Jordan Creek shopping center in Des Moines last weekend and thought we'd give Marley one more opportunity to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.  Just as suspected, Santa's a no-go.  It's funny, she likes to talk about Santa, Ho-Ho-Ho like Santa, and find all the Santa decorations on our tree but once she hits that knee, LOOK OUT!  This was one of those arched-back, feet/arm-flailing, head-banging fits.  She wasn't on his knee long enough for the photographer to get a pic.  Luckily we were able to snap a quick, albeit blurry photo before Santa gave her up.  Judging by Santa's expression, I don't think this was the first fit he had seen that day.  LOL!



It works!!!

Just got our confirmation email from Shutterfly regarding the $25 promo code if you post your card projects on your blogs.  Big thanks to Anne, we didn't know anything about it till she pointed it out.  Here's the email we just received: Thank you for your participation in the Shutterfly share project promotion.  "We’ve confirmed your entry and are pleased to provide you with a discount code for $25 off your next order at Shutterfly.com. Please note this discount code expires February 15th, 2011. We look forward to seeing you again soon!  Your redemption code is:"

New Heart in Africa Ornament!

Just got our newest Heart in Africa Ornament from etsy.  It's really cool!  You can get your own HERE.



Marley checkin' out her new ornament

Happy (early) Holidays!

Bright Red Filmstrip Christmas

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Hey guys, sorry for the double post but big thanks to Anne for sharing her knowledge of the $25 Shutterfly promo/blogger deal.  Supposedly if you embed your photocard project on your blog you will get a $25 promo code for future purchases.  Guess we'll see if it works.  Thank you Anne!  So now, if anyone out there in Blogger Land has shutterfly photo projects and wants a free $25, check out this link to see how:  http://freebies4mom.com/2010/11/25/bloggers-get-free-25-gift-certificate-from-shutterfly/

Happy (early) Holidays!

Just ordered our first Christmas cards on Shutterfly.  Happy (early) Holidays!



Drawn from Water...

What a touching organization!  Check out this powerful story and wonderful organization.  Thanks to Elisa Hyman for sharing this on Facebook.

If you have problems viewing the video, check out their website http://www.drawnfromwater.org/ and try viewing it from there.  Take care!

"It Began with Bale" from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

The Vivolo's article...

Check out the article that one of our Ethiopia travel buddies wrote regarding their adoption in honor of Nat'l Adoption Month.  We spent a lot of time with these guys while in Addis including a much needed trip to the Hilton for a little "westernization" and break from Ethiopian cuisine :)  Click HERE to read their article.

The really, really, reeeeeeeally overdue post...

Mar-Mar's 1st B-Day:
I know, I know...It's been forever since we've posted an update.  Is anyone still out there?  We used to get agitated at those families whose blogs we followed during our wait, when they would quit posting for months on end and here we are...GUILTY AS CHARGED!  It's amazing just how little time you have for blogging once those little ones get here.  I LOVE IT!  So much to post about but where to begin?  Ahhh yes, Mar-Mar's big 1 year birthday party!  Had a blast with tons of family and friends who helped celebrate our special day.  Let me tell you, this little girl raked it in too.  Lots and lots of clothes and toys.  Her momma and I got her a Cozy Coupe for her birthday and her reaction was priceless!  We saved it for last and once we rolled it out she let out this very shrill shreak, you know, the kind that can shatter glass.  She ran/hobbled over to it as fast as she could and wanted in immediately.  It was GREAT!  Judging by that last photo, I think we should have gotten a family pic BEFORE the party!  So without further adieu, here's some shots from her birthday.

Our first Halloween!

Life as we know it...
The last couple of months since our last post have been an absolute joy ride.  Marley is sooooo smart!  She knows all of her farm animal sounds and is learning new words daily.  We've even started counting to 3!  And that walking thing?  Forget it...We're into SPEED walking now.  We're getting a wee bit pickier when it comes to eating but we love Bananas (that's "nana's" in Marley-bonics).  Not much of a veggie fan, more of a meat & potatoes kind of girl.  Just like Dadda :)  We love, love, looooove books (particularly Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Our evenings are spent closing doors, taking the dog's bowls (and yes, sometimes the dog's food) away, laughing, rolling, hugs, kisses, tickle-tickles, and reading the same 3 books over, and over again and you know what?  I wouldn't have it any other way.  What did we ever do without our little girl?

It's our Referral-versary today!!!(from Dadda's point of view)
     It was a cold dreary day with a heafty threat of snow in the forecast.  I was very busy helping customers that morning when my cell rang at approximately 10:45 A.M.  I looked down and saw the famous St. Louis area code and my heart sank immediately.  Could this really be THE call?  I answered the phone nervously and it was Ashley (our adoption consultant).  She said, "We have your referral!  Hold on while we get Staci on the other line."  a few seconds pass and the next thing I hear is my wifey sobbing and blubbering on the other end of the line.  Now when I say, blubbering I mean, reeeeeally blubbering.  You know, the kind of blubbering that is almost incoherent.  We both dropper everything and raced each other home to check out our beautiful baby girl for the first time.  Truely the 2nd best day of my life!  It's weird thinking that one year ago tonight, we were filled with a comination of disbelief and joy.  Now here it is, one year later and I just kissed my little girl Night-Night.  Happy Referral-versary Staci and Mar-Mar.  I love you guys!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Melkam Lidet, Mar-Mar!!!

That's "Happy Birthday" in Amharic. I know this post is a day early but we've got a lot going on tomorrow with the birthday party and everything. It's hard to believe that our little girl is getting so BIG! Really 2 big milestones this week. Today marked the day in which Marley has officially been with us longer than she was without it. It's a great feeling knowing that we've been there for the majority of her life.
Tomorrow we are having a cupcake themed party for Mar-Mar and are expecting lots of friends and kiddos. We're pretty excited, especially to see her expression when we wheel out the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe that we got for her 1st b-day. We were over at Brenda and David's the other night and Marley got in Jenna & Jarrett's Cozy Coupe and threw a screamin' fit when we took her out. Made our gift decision pretty easy.
Our last post was a vid of Marley taking her first steps. Since then she's pretty much mastered the art of walking. The girl absolutely refuses to crawl anymore. Her personality is hilarious. She is constantly cracking us up with her antics. Her newest favorite words are "Hi", "Bye", "Bree" (is actually a cross between "book" and "read") and BaBa". The last word actually encompasses many meanings. It means ball, bottle, and MaMa. Yes, we've actually discovered that Marley can fiiiiiiinally say "Mama", it just comes out as "baba". Mama is sooooo happy! Melkam Lidet baby girl!
Until next time, here are some new pics of the lovely and talented Miss Marley.

Hangin' out at Coco Keys in K.C.

Chillin encounter with livestock!

Chillin' w/ dada at the K.C. Zoo

Marley rollin' w/ cousin Jarrett

This is what happens with 3 kiddos and 1 Cozy Coupe :)

1st b-day invitation photo shoot

That's right, you're 1!

Mar-Mar's 1st Steps!

It's official!!!

Marley is a walker!!!  She just took her first steps about 20 minutes ago!  Age: 11 Months and 8 days.  Got some really good video but the memory card decided to bite the big one (figures).  Will try again though.  Stay tuned!

Darn spammers!

Just letting you know that in an effort to thwart those darn spammers from leaving junk comments on our blog, we've changed our settings so that only Followers can leave comments.  So join our blog and keep in touch!  We love hearing from all of our fellow adoption buddies out there.

Happy 11 months Mar-Mar!

Today our big girl turned 11 months old (and daddy turned 32).  Marley celebrated her 11 month birthday by pulling off a 1st.  She was able to stand up out of the tripod position all by herself.  It was hilarious.  We have always said "WOW!" whenever she pulls up alongside a piece of furniture and I was standing in the kitchen fixing her breakfast and I heard "WOW!".  I looked over and there she was standing up by herself in the the middle of the kitchen.  I about died laughing when I figured out what she was saying.  Needless to say, Marley's second word [the first being "dada" (sorry staci, had to throw that in there)] is "WOW!"  We'll try really, really hard to get this new trick on tape.
It was the greatest birthday ever.  I got to spend the whole day with baby girl, just the 2 of us, and listen to her ecstatically say "WOW" and watch another milestone come to pass.  She is growing so quickly and it seems like every day brings new surprises.  We are truely, truely blessed to be Mar-Mar's mommy and daddy.

Rockin' our new $5 pool (I swear it looked bigger on the box)

Having a blast camping w/ Uncle David, Aunt Brenda, Jenna & Jarrett!

Chillaxin in the new wagon Mimi and Papa got her

M's first Dallas Cowboys Game Day!

Hopefully there won't be too much of this happening on Sundays (daddy included)

Did I mention she has this knack for getting into absolutely EVERYTHING?!?!

More pics...I know, I know late again

Believe it or not, these pictures were taken back in March and we just recently got around to picking some out.  So without further adieu :)

Extra, Extra!

Here's a great article on the Davis family's adoption of Nyah.  Well, I guess it's only PART of the article.  I'd post the rest of it but I'm pretty sure there are copyright laws preventing me from doing so.  Congrats again Jim and Dixie!  What a lovely family.

Davis Family Article

Summer Fun!

Alright so I know we haven't been the best bloggers lately. Before we had Marley we read lot's of adoption blogs and hated it when families would get home with their little ones and their new posts got farther and farther apart. Now we totally understand why! You see, just a few weeks ago, Marley figured out how to pull all the way up on her feet. Yup, that's right, we're officially the parents of a full-blown puller-upper and soon to be parents of a full-blown stands-on-our-owner too! Needless to say, large portions of our evenings are spent chasing Miss M around and around, taking things out of her mouth, and trying to convey the meaning of "no,no" to her. And you know what?!?! We wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
     A couple of weeks ago we attended the CHI Reunion in St. Louis. It was such a blast FINALLY getting to meet several of the wonderful people who's blogs we have followed for the past few years. Finally got to meet the Salyers and Hyman families and lovely Ru and (other) Miss Marley :) It was awesome to finally be able to connect face-to-face with these wonderful families. We can't wait to see them again some day!
     While in St. Louis we met up with the Davis' (who just arrived home with their little Nyah about 2 months ago) and to our surprise had adjoining rooms. We had a blast hanging with these guys. There boys, Davin and Delton are a hoot and Nyah was just amazing. We spent Saturday with the Davis clan hanging at the reunion and then we were off to the zoo for the afternoon. It was the perfect weekend! We are truely blessed to have a fellow Ethiopian adoptive family like the Davis' living so close here in rural NW Missouri!
     Other than the reunion, it's been the normal summer stuff here. Marley has officially become a pool rat this summer! We love, love, LOVE kicking, screaming and splashing in the pool (and tub). This last weekend we had both sides of the family over for our first ever weenie roast at our new fire ring we just built. Lot's of weiners, smores, and games. Until next time, more pics!

All ready to meet my Ethiopian gal-pals in St. Louis!

Momma & Marley at the reunion

Finally meeting Missy and Elisa!  Good to see Alida again too!

Marley meets Marley!

Breakfast in bed at the Mariott

Daddy and Marley at the Mariott pool

Momma and Marley doing kissy-faces

Havin' a blast in the tub

Tellin' Aunt Brenda a reeeeeally big campfire story at the weenie roast

Daddy hanging with Marley and Abby at the roast

"Purple Cat, Purple Cat, what do you see?"

For some reason Marley's newest passion is Purple Cat in the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".  Her reactions are priceless everytime finds him.  :)

P.S. Disregard the messy room! For some reason, our house looks like this a lot more often :) Will post more updates soon!

Father's Day Fun

Our first Father's Day!

She is getting sooooo big!