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!