Newborn picture taken by another family 7 days after Shane arrived at Que Son orphanage.

Shane’s referral photo:

Pictures of Shane we received while awaiting travel:

This one totally cracks us up:

The first day we met Shane in Vietnam:

Such a sweetie from day 1:

Que Son orphanage - December, 2007

After G&R in Vietnam, January, 2008

Winter at home in Colorado, 2008

Spring, 2008

Summer, 2008

Fall, 2008

Winter, 2008

Spring, 2009

Summer, 2009

As most of you know, Shane went from 0 – 50ish words in the last 4 weeks.  Before 23 months old, we’d barely heard a babble out of him and he didn’t even say mama or dada.  He’s now saying tons of words, both spontaneously and in imitation.  Here are some tidbits about Shane at 2 years old:

• He’s an awesome eater, but he consumes about 75% of his daily intake before 10am.  I have no idea why, but his morning appetite is almost insatiable.  Although he eats a TON, it is hard to get veggies down this boy.  He’s a meat and pasta kinda kid with an exceptional sweet tooth.
• LOVES bugs
• Is an incredible little climber.  He’s been scaling baby gates & his crib lately, making him near impossible to confine!  This makes naptime and bedtime challenging!
• He started climbing out of his crib ~20 months old…FAR before he was mature enough to regulate his own sleep.  He’d climb out of his bed over and over, requiring us to check on him and return him to his bed every 10 minutes for the first 2-3 hours of the night.  He’d get to the point where he was delirious and still climbing out of his crib.  He had several injuries related to doing that!  I walked in and found him with a bloody nose, half asleep while balancing on the top of his crib a couple times.  We’d go in to check on him in the middle of the night and find him asleep on the floor, or asleep with Jack in Jack’s bed.  We would have just tucked him in with Jack every night except that Jack would wake up crying because Shane was climbing on top of him and waking him up in the middle of the night!  Jack begged us to sleep in our room every night so that Shane wouldn’t bother him while he was trying to sleep!  Thankfully, Shane has realized that just because you CAN do something, it doesn’t mean you always SHOULD.  So lately, he’s been staying in his own bed, catching up on sleep he missed out on the past couple months (sleep the rest of us will never get back;).
• Loves to sit on the potty (diaper on) and grunt, then stand up looking proud as if he did something in there!
• Does this adorable little bouncy walk up on his tiptoes when he gets excited
• Jumps 2-3 times and then plops down when he tantrums
• Loves shoes.  If it were up to him, he’d spend all day everyday just trying on all the pairs of shoes in our closet.
• Favorite toys: balls and trucks
• Does a GREAT siren impression and is always the first to point out airplanes flying overhead
• Is such a love-bug.  He snuggles in close when we pick him up and is always quick to lay his head down on our shoulders and just hold on tight.
• Makes friends easily and does great with other kids.  He’s one of those rare 2 year olds who will actually share something if you ask him to.
• HATES my camera.  As you can see, he pretty much sees it come out and immediately tucks his head down and shakes it violently back and forth (“NO!”).  If I ask him to smile, I get an irritated grunt!
• Likes to feel dizzy so he shakes his head and spins around a lot
• Is VERY ticklish
• Still sleeps with a binky (passifier)
• Is obsessed with buckles and would rather sit in the stroller buckling and unbuckling the straps than actually get out and play sometimes
• Could swing for hours and has fallen asleep while swinging on several occasions
• Studies things and people very intensely
• Does this HYSTERICAL, totally irresistible little pouty face:

• Sometimes even his smile looks like an adorable Grandpa face (this is one of my favorite Shanie pics!):

• Has the most expressive eyebrows of anyone I’ve ever known
• Has the unusual trait of floppy cartilage in his ears and nose, such that if we were to put a winter wooly hat on his head and his ear got folded over, it would stay that way for awhile even after we took the hat back off! 
• Loves to give high fives!
• ADORES his brother and is incredibly tolerant of his pain-in-the-rear precocious little sister.
• Loves to have me pretend to dry his hair with my hairdryer, loves to brush his teeth, and enjoys putting lotion on!
• Adores trains and makes the cutest “choo-choo” sound in this really high pitched voice
• HATES to have his hands dirty.  In fact, he’s paralyzed by messy hands.  This drives me nuts!  He’ll only eat, play in the dirt, or color until his hands get something on them, at which point he screams and holds his hands up until I come wipe them off! 
• Has nearly flawless skin.  It is absolutely beautiful.
• He’s such an emotionally expressive child – when he’s happy, he’s humming, bouncing, and making it known that he’s happy!  It’s precious.  When he’s grumpy, we are all acutely aware of the fact that he’s not happy.  He’s stomping, moaning, groaning, grouching, and letting his protests be known! 
• Since he has begun talking, he has also been babbling a ton lately too.  His babble involves a variety of tones that sound a lot like Vietnamese to our ears!!  It’s really cute.  He also LOVES to make pretend phones calls on toy phones and will babble 1000 miles a minute (in pretend Vietnamese;).
• Favorite movies: Madagascar 2 and Cars.  Shane is HILARIOUS to watch these movies with because every time the Madagascar Penguins or Mater come onto the screen, Shane does this hysterical fake laugh that makes us all crack up.  He LOVES those characters. 

Happy 2nd birthday to our one and only Shane-Bug.  We love you and we are so proud of you!

We are back from the most incredible road trip!  The kids. were. awesome.  Really and truly, and Travis & I had a blast. This was our route with the places we stopped:

Denver – Jackson – Grand Teton National Park – Old Faithful (Yellowstone National Park) – Cody – Thermopolis – Cheyenne – Denver

Jackson, Wyoming (known best for its ski resort, Jackson Hole), was the cutest town set in the most gorgeous valley surrounded by lush green mountains, snow capped peaks, shimmering creek beds, whitewater rapids, and pristine blue lakes.  Our only complaint was that there were so many other people to share the town with, making the restaurants and streets a little crowded at times.  Hard to get to, but not undiscovered, Jackson is a town with a ton of charm, fantastic food, and a great microbrewery called Snake River Brewery.  Here are some pictures from our time in Jackson, WY:

Just North from Jackson is Grand Teton National Park, which is the MOST amazingly beautiful place.  There is 1 hike in particular that we did there that probably tops any other hike we’ve ever done in the US.  It’s through the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, right at the start of Grand Teton NP.  They limit parking to 50 cars, so the trails are never crowded and we only ran into a handful of other hikers the whole day.  Jack “hiked” (I put quotes because he was running the entire time) 2 consecutive miles before we took our lunch break!  Our hike ended with a little dunk in a waterfall, and then we headed towards String Lake, in Grand Teton NP, for a little swim.  Here are our pictures from the hike and the chilly swim afterwards:

After 2 nights in Jackson, we headed through Grand Teton NP into Yellowstone.  We took a little side trip on the way to Cody, WY to see Old Faithful, which I must admit, was probably the most underwhelming part of our vacation.  That sounds ridiculous because, c’mon, it’s Old Faithful!  But honestly, it was hot, there wasn’t any shade, our kids melted down, and there were HUNDREDS upon hundreds of people seated all over awaiting the next eruption alongside us.  Sounds snobby, but that took something away from the experience for me.  Still, a pretty incredible natural phenomenon:

This was a buffalo that had apparently just given birth.  We saw it in Yellowstone and stopped to take a picture, which is when we noticed the tiny brown baby buffalo behind its mom, laying in the clearing she’d dug in which to delivery her baby (presumably).

We spent our next night in Cody, Wyoming.  It’s a true Old West town, named after Buffalo Bill Cody, and is proudly the "Rodeo Capital of the World.”  We took the kids to a rodeo and they absolutely LOVED the action.  We got a kick out of the fact that almost every cowboy or his horse was named Travis, Shane, Jackson, or the name that we’ll use IF we ever have a #4…no plans of that at present, but we love playing the baby name game even if we don’t have any kids to give the names we pick.  Here are some pictures from the drive out of Yellowstone, through Shoshone National Forest and Wapiti, to Cody, WY and then a few pictures from the rodeo there:

On our way back down through Wyoming, we stopped in a town called Thermopolis.  The name cracked us up, but the town was super cool.  It’s built around the largest mineral hot springs in the world, and there are a few pools full of hot spring water that was a tad on the warm side for a 90 degree day;)  Still, it was a blast and the kids got a huge kick out of the waterslides (Jack was a maniac, pushing past hesitant adults to go down the huge one).  No one drowned and the kids wore themselves out so much they slept the next few hours in the car, so we called that side trip a whopping success!!

Here’s a little video with some clips from our trip (swimming in String Lake in Grand Teton NP, a random little dance-off between Jack and Finley, and a snippet of the rodeo in Cody):

ME (the fat pumpkin):

HIM:

HER…whatdaya think?

She’s making a face in the next picture as if she smells a dirty diaper or something (flaring her nostrils).  I don’t remember what that was about, but look at her eyes.  JUST. LIKE. HER DAD’S! 

They’re sort of greenish, brownish, hazelish, which she got from her dad.  The color is sort of mottled, making them very intriguing when you try to figure out her eye color.  As Travis has gotten older, his eyes have turned more green. 

Well, Finley is 15 months old.  Can you believe it?  If you knew her sleeping habits, you DEFINITELY wouldn’t believe it;)  I am SO tired (thankyouvery much Miss Finley) and don’t have it in me to write out an organized update, so here’s every quirky thing I can think of about here in bullet form, just so I remember this age when I look back on these posts later.

• TEMPER, temper, temper!!  Finley still has some, um, aggressive issues?!  By that, I mean Shane still needs to be decked out in body armor and we have to make sure his tetanus and rabies shots are up to date!  No, but seriously, when the Littles get into it, the Littlest bites.  And she can throw a traffic-stopping tantrum with the worst of the 2 year olds!  She throws herself down on her back, then scooches all over the ground on her back while yelling and howling so everyone can hear her protests!  She did this at the Children’s Museum yesterday and drew an audience of laughing onlookers who thought her that kind of display from a 17 pound twerp was valiant, spunky, and precious…as did we!
• Is VERY outgoing.  Every park, museum, etc. we go to, Finley just walks right up to strangers to see what they’re up to.  She’s so nosey, but so darn cute and tiny that people almost always stop to indulge her.  She LOVES being the center of attention.
• She’s still breastfeeding.  We are slowly trying to decrease the number of daytime feedings because it greatly impacts her eating and she usually prefers to just nurse.  Right now, we’re down to maybe 3 daytime feedings (though that’ll have to change when I start work in a week), and 2-3 overnight.  I am getting to the point where I just really want more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep.  She is 15 months old!!  Still, I LOVE breastfeeding.  I never thought I’d be one of those women, but I totally am.  My goal was to get her through 1 year, but I have loved that relationship so much I haven’t wanted to stop.  Finley certainly shows no signs of becoming disinterested either.  We’ll see what happens when I start working though.
• Hates swings still, but LOVES to go down slides she has NO business going down.  She’ll fly off the end and just expect to be caught in mid-air (we’ve only missed a few times;)
• Loves bath time and asks to be bathed a few times a day.  Also likes to brush her teeth…this gives me hope that her personal hygiene will be more similar to mine than her dad’s!  jk, sorta.
• Likes coloring, but likes eating crayons more.  Oh, and I once had to call poison control while doing an arts & crafts project with stamps because I took my eyes off her to change Shane’s diaper and by the time I’d come back, she sucked down the ink pad.  Turns out it was non-toxic…phew! 
• Loves to dance and jump
• Can do the fastest walk you’ve ever seen!!  She’s also extremely coordinated and is told all the time by people at the park how athletic she is, which makes her daddy proud.
• Almost always has a scraped up knee, but never seems to feel pain or be deterred by the very real likelihood of an injury.
• Also almost always has a busted lip.
• Loves to climb onto the back of the couch, and from there onto the window sill to look out at the street and watch for dogs passing by.  She lets us know if there’s anything interesting going on out there, in which case her brothers join her in her lookout.  I think the love for people-watching must be genetic (right Yiayia;).
• Signs a ton, is very verbal
• LOVES teddy bears and baby dolls, but also plays with cars and trucks (which also makes her daddy proud)
• Favorite books: Good Dog Carl, Goodnight Gorilla, 8 Silly Monkeys, and any book that has dogs, pop-ups, or textures!
• LOVES the game Crocodile Dentist.  She and Shane play it almost everyday.
• Enjoys the misery she can cause Jack by wrecking his lego towers and trains
• Is a snuggle-bug.  She is the most affectionate little thing and will give hugs & kisses spontaneously all the time.
• Is a TOTAL daddy’s girl.  I don’t know what it is about men in general, but she LOVES almost all men.  If she meets a hetero couple, it’s about 100% guaranteed that she’ll show little to no interest in the woman, but will be ALL OVER the man.  Travis says it’s because she’s had such incredible male role model in her life;)
• Is NO vegetarian.  She likes her meat right off the bone (ribs, chicken, etc.)
• Fave foods: cottage cheese, meat, beans, shredded wheat (my cereal), general tso’s chicken, pasta, smoked salmon, cream cheese, guacamole
• Twirls her hair when she’s tired, pulls her hair when she’s pissed
• Flashes this IRRESISTABLE dimply, flirtatious smile with her huge eyes as wide open as can be and her adorable little mouth all puckered up, like she’s sucking in her cheeks to keep from smiling, pretending to be shy – does this to get our attention or woo a new fan
• Says “bye guys,” and waves to the monkeys hanging from the vines on her ceiling (she’s in Jack’s former nursery) when she wakes up.  It’s her way of saying “peace out suckas” when someone has come to rescue her from her crib and bedroom.
• Loves to do things she’s not supposed to RIGHT in our faces and then flash her coy smile, shake her little pointer finger at us, and say “don’t touch!” 
• Signs “sleep” every time Shane cries or whines, and follows it up with “bye guys,” meaning “he’s tired, put him to bed.”
• Loves to have her face tickled / gently touched as she’s nursing and drifting off to sleep
• Loves to have her toes tickled.  Also loves when we pretend to smell her feet and say “peeuuuuwww!”  It’s gotten to the point where she sticks her feet in my face while she’s nursing. 
• HATES sunscreen.  Too bad she fries like a little piggie in 15 minutes without it!  As soon as she sees us coming at her with the tube, she races for the farthest corner of the room and backs herself up against it and tries to fend us off.  Then she just repeats “all-done, all-done, all-done” until we stop.
• Loves to walk on her tippie toes for fun and can really get up there and balance on the balls of her feet.
• Says “bonk bonk” and bops her self on the head with her palm each time someone goes out the back door.  This is because she’s warning everyone around her (and reminding herself) not to stand near the door because it opens inward and always whacks her in the head when she waits by it!
• Has ~40 something words / signs, but NONE of them is mom, mama, or mommy.  That’s right.  She calls me “milk” and my name sign happens to be, ahem, milk (squeezing her hands open and shut).  She calls Travis Dada, and because of all the times he’s gone out the back door, his name sign is the “bonk bonk” sign (hits her head with her flat palm)!  He’s heartbroken by that.  I don’t mind being called “milk” for now, I know she means it as a compliment;)
• Calls Shane something that sounds like “cheese,” which is hilarious.  It’s a hard name for a baby to say!
• Can go up & down stairs by herself with no trouble.

We officially have a 3 year old.  He is so proud and has told everyone we’ve passed on the street that today is his birthday!  I don’t have a new slideshow for him this year (here’s the old one with his Adoption Day footage included, if you haven’t seen it already), but I wanted to post a few of my absolute favorite pictures from his last 2.5 years at home with us.  This little boy has blessed us beyond belief.  Everyday with him is different, challenging in some new way, and sweeter than the one before.  I can’t help but think of a woman in Vietnam today, and remind myself how very grateful I am to her. 

{Just as a note – the captions for each of my pictures is above them.  Sorry if that’s confusing; it makes the most sense to my strange mind}

Just after we left the orphanage with Jack in Vietnam- December, 2006

After arriving home to CO with him – January, 2007

Hiking in CO - Spring, 2007

My all-time favorite picture of Jack - Spring, 2007

Peru, where we spent 6 weeks with him (and where we celebrated his 1st birthday) – summer 2007

Fall, 2007

Looking out the window of our new house in CO – fall, 2008

Vietnam, waiting to bring Shanie home – winter, 2007

Hoi An beach, Vietnam – winter, 2008

Que Son orphanage, Vietnam – winter, 2008

Hotel room in Vietnam – winter, 2008

Sapa, Vietnam – winter 2008

Back in CO – spring, 2008

Just before Jack’s 1st haircut – spring, 2008

After Jack’s 1st haircut, before “soccer” – spring, 2008

Florida (Crit’s wedding) – May, 2008

St. Augustine – summer, 2008

Colorado – fall, 2008

Ft. Collins, CO – winter, 2009

Colorado – spring, 2009

Colorado – summer, 2009

Going through old flickr albums to find pictures of Jack at different ages was SO fun.  I just can’t believe how much he’s grown and changed.  I know you’re all sick of hearing how smart we think our kid is, yada yada, so this is a warning that a LOT more is coming (but it’s my blog and I like being able to look back and remember these things)!  Might want to skip the next paragraph if you find my bragging on Jack irritating…

Jack knew his colors and shapes by the time he was 18 months old, could rhyme at 20 months, knew his entire alphabet by 22 months, could count to 10 or beyond in English AND Spanish before he was 2, recognized gender before he was 2.5, learned the sounds all his letters make by 2.5, started learning to tell time at 2.5, began sounding out 3 letter words about several months ago, and started doing addition and subtraction of small numbers a few months ago too.  He loves to tell jokes, hike, color/paint/draw, read books, jump on the beds / couches, and can write most of his letters and draw most of his shapes.  He is still in diapers and, although he’ll reliably pee in the potty, he still doesn’t give a damn if he sits in poop all day long.  He is NOT interested in pooping in the potty or pausing playtime to have his diaper changed, ever. I know he’s a boy and all, but I REALLY hope the urge to potty train grabs hold of him soon because I am TIRED of changing 3 kids diapers day in and day out.  Good thing it’s Trav’s turn…I’m sure Jack will potty train Trav’s 1st full day on the job (which is next week).  That would just be typical!

A few other Jackisms…

• Has taken on a funny mannerism of speech this week, saying “we musn’t do this, we must do that…”  No clue where he got that.
• He has not yet decided if he’s left or right handed, and considering he has excellent fine motor with both hands (can draw his letters with either), we are wondering if he might be truly ambidextrous.  Probably not, but ya never know. 
• One of his favorite things is to lay down on his tummy with his shirt up, and have me draw letters with my fingers on his back.  He’ll pay attention and guess what letter I traced on his skin.  He’s SHOCKINGLY good at this game! 
• Loves to play “I dee dee, I dee dee, I see something you don’t see…” Our version of “I spy,” and we play it ALL. THE. TIME. 
• Loves to sing about our day and/or narrate what we’re doing in a sing-song way.  We’ll pick the tune to a familiar song and substitute the words to make them reflective of what’s going on in our little world.
• Loves to hold his brother’s hand in the parking lot / street to make sure Shane is safe
• ALWAYS looks out for Shane and Fin – if he gets something (string cheese, etc.), he’ll make sure there’s some for them too, asks where they are if they’ve been napping awhile, is the first to hear anyone crying when they wake up, etc.
• Has been building Lego “trophies” for his dad lately to tell Travis he is the best dad!  He came up with that all on his own, which is so cute.
• Favorite books: Skippyjon Jones series
• Favorite movies: Cars (still!), Madagascar 1 & 2, Toy Story, Ice Age, Finding Nemo
• Favorite food: broccoli (seriously), mac & cheese (homemade), berries (any kind)
• Favorite place: lately it’s the pool!
• Loves Fin & Shane, but they are a pain in his rear quite often…especially when he’s building things.  He “asks” them to go away by saying “shoo fly!” and swatting his hand around. I always end up laughing too hard to tell him that’s not polite.
• Loves to sing “Down by the Bay” and insert his own funny rhymes
• Still struggles socially, but has been improving and has a few new friends we’ve been spending little bits of time with here and there. 
• Is going through a very irritating “phase” (I HOPE) of whining a lot.  Many of his sentences begin with “but I just wanted / needed…”  I tried to ban that phrase, but it hasn’t really worked out for me;)
• Has become a master manipulator!  He’ll say things like “I really want ice cream tonight.”  Then, 5 minutes later, he’ll follow it up with “I’m such a special boy, so I’m going to get a special treat tonight.”  He’s RELENTLESS, but we’ve tried not to give in to his manipulation!  It’s pretty cute though.
• Has added the ending “for sure” to many of his sentences.  Example: “It’s hot out, for sure.”
• Speaks in this oddly rhythmic pattern in which he takes long breaks between words and sentences.  He reminds us of the kid with asthma from Malcolm in the Middle!  LOL!  I think he’s just very thoughtful and careful before he speaks?!
• Is a HUGE wimp.  He nurses even the smallest of injuries and is not exactly the most persistent child when it comes to doing things that don’t come naturally…thankfully though, he has a ton of natural talent and innate gifts. 
• Has become really affectionate as he’s gotten older.  He’ll spontaneously walk up and kiss us, and will also spontaneously come up and say “I love you, mom / dad.” 
• Is obsessed with the mailman and loves getting letters. 
• Unlike Shane and Finley, is not really an animal lover!  He’ll notice a dog that walks up to lick his face, and then he just wants the thing out of his way.  Fin and Shane, meanwhile, go ballistic over dogs.
• Is very sweet and quick to apologize if he thinks we are the least bit disappointed in him for doing something wrong (like “coloring” all over stuff with the juice of his half-eaten nectarine…an example that just quickly came to mind;)
• Loves to help cook – his favorite thing to “help” with, though he loves sweeping too.
• Names EVERYTHING red “Lightning”
• Thinks his sunglasses give his eyes special vision powers;)

Happy 3rd birthday to our special boy, Jackson Quoc Bao!!  We love you more than we ever imagined we could love anything and are SO proud to be your mom and dad.

OMG, can’t believe I almost forgot about our big Jon & Kate Plus 8 party tonight!  Hurry up and get your butts a twitter account so you can join us at tweetchat (and enter #jk8 to find our party) tonight for a lively night of egde-of-your-seat tv watching…the couple has an “announcement”!  Anyone care to gander?  Think TLC is just teasing us and they’re going to announce a sponsored vacation, or do you think this is THE announcement (the D word)?  Don’t forget to leave your twitter id in mister linky below so we can make sure to follow you.  See you in 3 hours (9EST)!

Jack LOVES that book – it was a hand-me-down from my little brother Georgie, and Jack has read it so many times it barely has binding left enough to hold the pages together.  Anyway, we went strawberry picking this weekend and had an absolute blast.  The kids ate so many berries while in the fields (which is allowed) that they had swollen bellies and stained faces by the time we left.  I can’t wait for the rashes to appear;)  If you watched the video / slideshow I made for Father’s Day, you already know the highlight of our adventure was finding that toad under one of the bushes. 

The farm we go to is just awesome.  They let the farm animals run wild, and the kids are allowed to touch them, feed them, whatever.  I have to say that Shane is the bravest kid in the world, but his big brother is the biggest wimp ever when it comes to animals.  And although Shane almost had his eyes pecked out by a rabid turkey, he could not be dissuaded from chasing the other animals around. 

This picture cracks me up because I think Finley was poking this morbidly obese pig to see if he was alive or not:

Then there was the actual strawberry picking, which Shane took VERY seriously.  The kid was a PRO at finding the reddest, ripest, most delicious strawberries and was 100% focused on his task:

Is he not the cutest thing ever?  And then there was Finley, who looked like Hannibal Lecter by the end of her berry eating jaunt.  She was, however, our worst berry picker.  She could stand in front of a bush FULL of absolutely gorgeous strawberries, and Finley would manage to find and pick the 1 unripe white berry.  Every time she’d come at us with a handful she’d proudly picked, we’d cheer for her, pat her on the back, and dump them out of the carton as soon as she turned back around;)  LOL!  This was her idea of a “good pick:”

She’s a smarty though, so she of course preferred to eat the ones Shane and Jack picked, which were a bit richer in color (and taste!):

Jack was in his own world of strawberry heaven.  He didn’t contribute much to the family pot of berries; he just went from bush to bush picking the very best to consume right on the spot! 

And of course, he wouldn’t be Jack if he didn’t find a cozy place to take a dump immediately after devouring a few pounds of strawberries!  Ahh, under the picnic table – just the right amount of privacy, but still a room with a view!

Shane doing the squat as he watched the action in the chicken coop:

Shanie has a VERY guilty look on his face in this next photo, but I think he was just poopin…or thinking…I can’t tell the difference between those expressions on a toddler;)  Though his eyebrows make me guess he was thinking:

Here’s Finley signing “bird” like mad with her double jointed fingers.  She was really going nuts with this sign, thanks to the hens, roosters, & turkey.  They gave her little fingers quite the workout:

It’s their “bars-on-a-cell-phone” pose again.  I love it when they line themselves up like this:

To all the dads in my life who have shaped me, my siblings, my kids, my husband, and my friends, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY and thank you.  To my dad, thank you for teaching me persistence in pursuing my dreams, be they athletic or academic, domestic or abroad, family or career based.  Thank you for showing me what it looks like to always put your family, marriage, and kids first.  For showing me what it looks like to be assertive and strong, yet still compassionate.  For teaching me what work ethic really means.  Thanks for coaching every team in every sport I played growing up, and for continuing to be my biggest fan even when I chose the sport you liked least;)  Thanks for believing in an athletic future for me, even though I spent my first few seasons doing cartwheels on the soccer field!

Dad, thank you for always finding the balance and always making me feel encouraged without being pushed.  For always meeting me at my level so you could be involved with my life, even if it meant running with me when your knees/hips hurt;)  For *trying* to be patient while helping me with essays and math homework, no matter how painful I know that was for you.  Thank you for teaching me to aim high with my goals, loving me through my disappointments, and celebrating with me in my triumphs.  Thank you for gently asking “what about medicine?” when I was lost in college but didn’t have the confidence to announce I wanted to be a doctor until you suggested it and said it out loud first.  And most of all, thank you for supporting me 100% when I decided to put my career on hold to be a full-time mom during these early years in my kids’ childhoods.  I love you Dad!!

Here are the dads in my life…(left to right: Travis, my Pawpaw, (me), my dad at my graduation from college):

(Travis, his dad, & his brother on a trip out West):

My parents, my older sister, me (at my dad’s graduation from law school):

And then, of course, there’s my SAHT (stay-at-home Trav).  I can’t come up with enough words of gratitude and appreciation for what an awesome dad he is to our kids, so I made a little video tribute.  Specifically, though, I am grateful that my husband takes equal responsibility in raising our kids, values my career and personal aspirations equally to his own, and always wakes up with the energy to be an incredible dad every day of his life.  Even with all the funny “SAHT” things he does (putting cayenne in the kids’ waffles, changing diapers on the carpet, letting the kids do things that push the safety limit, etc;), which give me great twitter material everyday, he’s an all-star dad for sure and I love him even more than ever for that.

This video starts with an HYSTERICAL clip from yesterday when we took the kids strawberry picking and found a giant toad under a berry bush – it’s full of baby laughter.  You’ll have to keep watching (that part is only 2 minutes) to hear the BEST SONG EVER for Travis’ little slideshow…I got such a kick out of it and knew it was his song the first time I heard it;)

Happy Father’s Day to all the awesome dads out there, and especially my dad, my Pawpaw, Travis, and Grandjoe (Travis’ dad)!!

I guess I should have seen it coming.  I bet you aren’t the least bit surprised that the boy on the left in this photo…

would grow up to be the boy in this picture:

And if you watched the video from my previous post, you know that Travis actually believes his destiny is to sit around, smoke cigars, and drink port.  Bwahahaha!!  Now THAT is hilarious. 

On another note, Shane just had speech therapy and his teacher actually cried (happy cry).  His is becoming one of those really crazy, feel good stories about the little guy who never babbled, talked, or communicated.  Then, one day, woke up and decided to start speaking.  I don’t want to overstate his progress, because we obviously still have a ways to go and plenty to work on.  But I cannot even describe our level of relief, or begin to tell you how proud we are of Shane.  He’s picked up another 15-20 words this week, putting him at around 30-40 in just 2 weeks (and 12 days before his 2nd birthday).  And today he asked his speech teacher “where is dad?”  I’m floored.  It’s not even just that he’s talking all the sudden, it’s that he’s doing puzzles, sorting shapes, pointing to body parts, appropriately making animal sounds, correctly identifying pictures in books, etc.  Not to be greedy, but if we could just get him to sleep through the night and / or at least sleep past 5am…and Finley too, for that matter. 

Here’s Jack pointing out his little sister for ya:

Too cool for school…the kids got new sunglasses the other day (they’re 2 for $5 at Children’$ Place):

Finley thinks this is the funniest thing in the world.  We’re slightly amused by it as well:

DON’T FORGET TO JOIN OUR Jon & Kate Plus 8 TWITTER PARTY TONIGHT!  Leave your twitter id in the mister linky link at the bottom of this post and follow us at #jk8 in TweetChat tonight!

I can’t possibly write a recap that would do this weekend justice, but it was a BLAST. My guess is that we will be in recovery for awhile.  2 nights in a row of late night partying, followed by early morning rising (and for me, several breastfeeding wake-ups in between there…it’s probably safe to say that Finley’s little liver was working overtime due to my 90 proof breastmilk! Just kidding.  Kind of;).  On Saturday, we went to bed ~4:15am and woke up with ALL 3 kids at 5:30am.  OUCH.  But, that’s what we get.  In case I forgot to mention it, some of our closest friends were married here this weekend, so we went to their rehearsal dinner Friday and wedding Saturday.  I’ve blogged about Kaakpema and Sara before- Kaap is one of my best friends from Brown, and Sara is from Colorado.  Their wedding was the most INCREDIBLE event we have ever attended in our lives.  Seriously.  Just to give you a tiny idea of the scale of incredibleness we’re talking here, they flew a company in from Florida to turn Sara’s parents’ gorgeous pool into a plexiglass stage.  Scuba divers built the underwater scaffolding so that the pool lights highlighted the water that shimmered beneath us while we watched Kaap and Sara say the vows they’d written to each other, while a Ghanaian mentor of Kaap’s from college gave libation, where they broke glass in the Jewish tradition to symbolize their love and marriage lasting as long as that glass stays broken (forever), and where we danced during the reception.  It was totally awesome.  Here’s a picture (I didn’t have my camera, so this is with a point-and-shoot that had stuff all over its lens;):

My best friend from college, Nick, and his wife, Hillary, came out from Chicago for the wedding weekend and stayed with us.  They have been amazing friends to us for as long as we’ve all known each other and the 4 of us always end up with sore ab muscles from all the laughing.  This weekend with them was extra special because we asked them (and they accepted) to be Shanie’s Godparents.  Those relationships are really important to us because we see it as an invitation to become part of our family and have a significant role in helping us raise Shane.  We hope he’ll look to them as he grows up if he ever needs guidance or mentorship from people other than me and Travis.  We take our role as Godparents to mean the same thing, and have been honored to baptize Brad & Melanie’s daughter, Ashlyn, and are looking forward to our to-be Godson’s baptism in August (Dominique & Kevin’s son, Tomas).

Oh, and the kids did GREAT with their first babysitter EVER.  She just graduated from college and will be teaching kindergarten here in the fall.  Jack now refers to her as his teacher, and was showing off like crazy for her.  She told me he picked up a play food apple, brought it to her and said “Miss Rachel, this is an apple. It starts with A.  A says “ah.” It’s red, rojo in Spanish.”  She thought that was pretty hilarious.  And just so you understand what it meant for us to have a sitter from 3:30pm until 2:30am…it involved Travis and I taking a taxi home and back TWICE during the night so that I could breastfeed Finley.  What a high maintenance organism (HMO) that kid has become;)  It also allowed us to be there for bedtime routine though, which was nice.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our wild weekend.

(Left to Right) Drunk, Drunker, Hillary, and Nick at rehearsal dinner:

The rehearsal dinner was also unbelievable.  Kaakpema’s family flew in a traditional Ghanaian band that has performed for Obama and at other high profile events, and they were absolutely awesome.  Excuse the weird lighting problems and stuff on the camera lens:

Nick and Finley lounging / napping on the couch:

Hillary and Nick enjoying some Colorado sunshine (in between hail storms!):

Pre wedding ceremony inside Sara’s parent’s BEAUTIFUL home (that would be an indoor coi pond with glass blown flowers and a sculpture behind us):

The ceremony…the gorgeous couple, Kaakpema and Sara:

We were taken by shuttles to a mansion, where dinner was held, and then back to Sara’s parents’ house to party.  Here’s Nick at dinner:

Wedding night craziness…here’s the over 85 club (of 1), aka a cast member of Miami Vice, sipping a 1966 port while smoking a cigar in his linen suit we had tailor-made when we were in Thailand 7 years ago (he finds an excuse to wear it pretty often, actually):

The life of the party, aka Nick:

I put together a little video medley that, in under 2 minutes, captures the hilarity of the wedding night partying.  Turn your volume up because the conversations are the funniest parts, especially Travis’ comment at the end of the video (particularly funny if you know him because you’ll realize he’s dead serious):

Here are a few more cute pictures with the kids:

OK, here’s the part where you leave your twitter id for the #jk8 party tonight!  Carissa showed us all last week that if we just go to TweetChat, login, and type in jk8, it’ll show us our twitter party in real time.  So go there at 7pm Mountain Time (when the show starts), and let’s have some fun!

First, I wanted to remind everyone that you have until 6/19 to use the promo code PHO for a 10% discount when ordering from The Pretty Peacock, so don’t miss out on that if you’re planning on owning any of Ana’s beautiful pieces!

And finally, Elizabeth, who left comment #110, is our Sparklette Tag winner!  Thanks to you all for entering the giveaway and for all the great jewelry suggestions.  Here was Elizabeth’s comment:

110 Elizabeth { 06.11.09 at 10:08 pm }

You are the Yin to My Yang is my favorite. It makes me think about the passionate gazes and hugs my husband and I share each day. Even when it’s stressful we can connect and everything is right with the world after that.