My little sister graduate from high school!

I can't believe that 18 years ago (almost to the day) I was in Peru meeting Emily for the first time, and now she is graduating from high school!? I don't want to say anything cheesey, because I can already feel her rolling her eyes through the screen, but it is amazing how fast time has gone, and what an incredible young woman she is. And now we'll have the full circle when my kids come and visit her at college and play on the quad, run through her dorm halls, and thoroughly embarrass her in front of her new friends:).

A Tribute to My AWESOME Family

My little sister is graduating from high school and we had a great family party to celebrate!

My beautiful cousins!!!!


I am going to miss my family when we are in Houston!!!

Memorial Day in Wisconsin!

Best buddies! Look at these cute kids! Ooh, your head can fit through the slats- someone quick grab them!

Walking on the boardwalk.

Our Families- we will miss you so much Annie, Peter, Sam and Nate!!

Trying to go to sleep-

When sleep wouldn't come, we had a little fire-

The next day, sumo wrestling. Nate I think you're winning.

Driving the boat

Nate with mommy

Papi and Vivi

Grandma and Tonito

Auntie Susie and Vivi

Mommy and her girls

Warm hugs- one with his binky, one with her thumb

Another boat captain

Mommy and Maya

Singing songs on the floor

Making up new verses of Row, Row, Row Your Boat

We love you guys!

Our Last Good-bye Dinner with Friends

Beckett in the bucket and the kids in the fire engine

I can't believe we are really saying good-bye!!!! :( We love our house, we love our neighborhood, we love our friends and family, we love our yard, our library, our park district, our neighbors, I could go on and on. We invited some friends over for a little barbecue on one of our last weekends before moving to Houston. I love having friends who have kids that are friends with our kids, so we can have family dinner parties and everyone is entertained! I am in disbelief that we won't be here in just a couple of weeks- we have lived in this house for almost 3 years and it is perfect in every way for us. I remember when we first looked at the house and saw the yard, the huge deck, the landscaping, we thought: "this is the perfect party house-" and it lived up to our expectations. We had a nice little outdoor party with lots of kids, plenty of good food, and adult conversation enhanced by Tonio's awesome mojito's. Maybe Caputo's (my favorite local grocery store) can expand down to Texas? Although it wouldn't be the same without the little Italian grandma's. I'm going to miss our life here:(.

Celebrating readoption and falling in the fountain

It is official! (well, it already was) Tonito has been "readopted," which means that we can get him an "original" birth certificate from the US anytime he needs one. It actually is just a "record of foreign birth" that is registered and accepted everywhere in the US, which means I do not need to bring in his single China birth certificate and translation to register him for school, etc. And he can just call up Cook County anytime he needs an "original!" First he was "served" his papers:

Then we headed to the courtroom:

It was a special courtroom just for adoptive families, and definitely was catered to families with young kids:

Afterwards, the kids LOVED looking down at the streets below, at the garden rooftops, the cars and buses, the lake, etc.

Tonito was counting taxis:

After court, we went down to the plaza, walked around the market, and then played a little in the fountain.

Just as we were leaving, literally a minute after this picture was taken, the lady in the far right corner (with the blueish dress pulled up) offered her chair for our kids to sit on while they put on their shoes. Just as Vivi and Tonito sat down, the wind blew some papers away and she stood up, which of course caused her lawn chair to flip over and throw Vivi head-first into the fountain. It was as if she were sliding into first base, only underwater and in a dress. Poor Vivi!!!! Soaked and dripping, we walked to Mickey D's for some ice cream.