Yesterday all the aunts and cousins went on a road trip. Grandma Barb drove from here and Dawn drove from Luverne and we all met at a park in Granite Falls for a picnic. The playground was fun. "You can climb up it and walk across it and you will fall under it and then hurt yourself." Lunch was good. I didn't like meat but Mommy says I ate a lot of it. We took lots of pictures of all the cousins.

Then we came home, ate some spaghetti quick and went to the Sauk Rapids Parade. I waved to people and got a lot of candy. One man threw me a squishy baseball and I said, "That's not candy!" There were lots of bands and horses. It was very fun. Mommy says I should write a thank you to the people sitting in front of us at the parade who made room for the kids so we could get candy. They were very nice!

Now I have to go. We are going to play parade. I put an ice cream bucket on Mommy's head with the handle on her chin and now she's in the band with her "goofy hat."

The waiting is just beginning. It's finally starting to sink in that at any moment our life could change drastically. Ideally we hope for a couple months to prepare and get excited. But if we were to get a call today to come pick up our baby, that would be pretty exciting! For now we are trying to enjoy every moment as a family of three. We hope to get in some camping trips with William who is at the perfect age right now to enjoy it, or more accurately, for his parents to enjoy it! So Sara has put in notice at the frame shop that July 17th is her last day. She has a summer class starting at the end of July and student teaching this fall, so she wants a little more time to spend with family. Who knows... maybe it will be a family of four!

Thanks to all of our family and friends who have been supportive on our adoption journey thus far. Although it seems like all the work is done, the tough part is just beginning.

For those of you who don't know, we applied for domestic adoption through Catholic Charties. For the past several months we have been completing paperwork, collecting references, getting our backgrounds checked (nothing exciting there), and meeting with a social worker. It is now official, we have jumped through all the hoops to the agency's satisfaction! All that is left is to wait.

We put together a profile, which you can view online. The original is with the agency. When someone comes in who is considering placing an infant for adoption, the agency will take them through the counseling process and then they will look through the profiles of all the couples in the pool (right now there are around 15). They choose one of the couples that they would most like to meet. If that happens to be us, then we meet at the agency to get to know each other. If they like us, they can then ask us to be the parents of their baby. I don't know if anyone ever answers "no" to this question, but it's always an option. We certainly hope that we meet the birth parents, feel very comfortable with each other and can't wait to see each other again. Because this is going to be an open adoption, that would be the ideal case scenario. Everyone wants to have extended family that they love and enjoy, and through open adoption we will be growing our family by more than just one child. We will be adding their extended family as well, and feel it is important to our child's sense of identity for them to remain connected to some extent with their biological roots.

This has been open adoption 101. If you feel the desire to learn more, feel free to contact us with any questions. We plan to post periodic updates here on the adoption process.

Of course, if you hear of anyone who is pregnant and considering adoption, feel free to send them to our website or to Caritas Family Services. We have several friends who have chosen adoption for their babies and they are very strong, loving people who we really admire. They, along with our friends who have children through open adoption, have made us confident that this process is the way we were meant to grow our family.

Thanks again for your love and support!

We're all home from vacation now! Mommy and Daddy got to ride on an airplane to Washington D.C. They brought me back a t-shirt that says "Future President." I'm not sure what that means, is it something good?

Belle and I got to have a vacation at Grandma and Grandpa Lanz's house. It was lots of fun! We went for bike rides and boat rides. The weather was nice and hot so we got out the swimming pool. There were lots of big kids to play with me, like Tabby, Michael, Maria, Katherine and Ivy. I always like to hang out with the big kids. I got to sleep at Grandma's house for FIVE nights! Mommy called after three nights. She asked if I wanted to sleep at Grandma's house for two more nights and I said, "Sure!" I was really busy playing and having fun. But I was glad to go home in the end. I missed my Mommy and I told her so.

I got to see pictures from Mommy and Daddy's trip. You can see them too! I also got to see some silly movies on www.savethecookie.com. I guess Mommy and Daddy got delicious, fresh chocolate chip cookies on their airplane, but the cookie might be out of a job soon. Something about a "hostile takeover" whatever that means. You might want to check it out for yourself.

Wow! Things have been really busy lately! I haven't written an update in such a long time. I want to tell you about my new friend, Leonard the Lizard. I got him yesterday from Mommy's doctor because I was such a good boy. Leonard likes to jump and he's "bery" fast! I showed him to Barb today. She came to our house and I talked to her a lot. I showed her my room and my kitty, too. Mommy said she's going to help us adopt a baby brother or sister! I thought that sounded good. I like the babies I know, like baby Caedmon, and I think he likes me.

But now Caedmon, Tiernan, Dawn and Nathan moved and we don't get to see them quite as much, although I haven't noticed yet. I have noticed that I see Mommy more lately and that she's not doing homework all the time. That's been nice.

Come over and visit me sometime. I can show you how I ride my bike on the obstacle course. Or maybe I'll call you on the phone. I really like to talk on the phone. One day I called Daddy on Mommy's cellphone when she wasn't looking. Daddy was surprised! Mommy didn't know that I remembered how to push and hold number 3 to call Daddy. I wonder which number calls you...

A lot has happened since I last wrote on here. The biggest thing was that our trivia team won! We are going to be on the news tomorrow on KARE 11. Well, the team is anyway. I was sleeping every time the cameras were there. Read more about it at the Pull-Start Diesel website.

The other news is that I'm now officially 2 1/2! Today when I stood on the scale it said 34 pounds and when I stood against the wall I measured 37 1/2 inches. I'm getting big!

But I'm not getting too big for my nuker. It wasn't working for me to sleep without a nuker, so I got a new one. I cried and said I didn't want a nuker and I could sleep without a nuker. But Mommy gave me one anyway and I was happy. Now I'm a good sleeper again!

I'm going potty on the potty chair a lot more now. But when I wear underpants I have to go potty every 45 minutes so Mommy and Daddy don't think I'm ready to wear them all the time yet.

So that's what's going on with me. Mommy is going to class a lot and Daddy works on the computer. Mommy keeps asking me if I want them to adopt a baby brother or sister and I keep saying no. I wonder if they'll listen to me or give me one anyway just like the nuker.

Today I'm a grown up! After I got up from my nap, I threw my nuk-er in the garbage. It had a hole in it and had been making loud squeeking noises for a couple of days. I didn't really like that very much and we were talking about it being almost time to throw it away. Then today the hole was pretty big and it was getting kind of gross inside. So Mommy asked if I was ready to throw it in the garbage and I did! Mommy and Daddy were proud! And I was proud! When it came time for bed, I looked for my nuk-er just like I always do when I lay down, but it wasn't there. That made me really sad. I had a hard time lying down in bed. I was so grief-stricken that I bumped my head on the rails of my bed. I couldn't calm down until Mommy brought me a Dora Band-aid to put on my head. Then I settled right in and went to sleep. I think I heard Mommy tell Daddy as I was falling asleep that they will have to go out and buy more Dora Band-aids.

Christmas was really busy around here. I'm still trying to get back on track after so many late nights. We had lots of fun!

Saturday was Christmas with the Lanzs at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The first thing I found was the video golf game that Uncle Joe brought over from work. I talked about that for days. Then the people really started coming. Everyone just hung out and ate food. Once I discovered the cookie trays, I decided that I was hungry. When we sang Christmas carols and opened presents, there were around 60 family members there.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, was a more lazy day. We went to church in the morning and everyone napped in the afternoon. When we all finally woke up, we went and had a later dinner with Grandpa and Grandma McKeever. After dinner we watched Ocean's Eleven on Grandpa's HDTV, but mostly I played with toys.

Christmas Day was time for another big party. But not until we opened our presents and played for a while in the morning. It's a good thing that I decided at the last minute that it would be okay if Santa came to my house because he brought me a bike! It's a big bike that I can pedal around in my house and I even have my own helmet. I still need some help to pedal, but I'm trying to get the hang of it. I can get on and off the bike all by myself. Even though I was all worn out from playing, I still didn't want to take a nap. I wanted to go to Grandma Lanz's house and open presents. But Mommy said we couldn't go until I took a nap, so finally I went to sleep. When we got to Great-Grandma's house it was already crowded and noisy. I didn't want to go say hi, but after I saw Grandma and Grandpa I felt okay. Then I was playing and having fun with all the kids when it was time to go to Grandma Lanz's house. We had dinner with all my aunts and uncles and Joe's girlfriend, Kathy. Again I ate more cookies than dinner. After we opened presents I got to play the golf game again with Grandpa! When I made my own "sled bed" in Michael's new Christmas sled, Mommy decided it was time for us to go home.

Now that I'm back home, Daddy's been on vacation and we've all been playing a lot. I'm riding my bike, playing hockey with my new hockey stick, playing Thomas trains, testing out my new tool kit, doing lots of puzzles, and other stuff too.

My mom turned 32 today! I didn't get to sing happy birthday to her last night at Grandma Lanz's house because I was too tired and went to sleep without eating supper. Good thing I was going to sleep over anyway! Mommy had to work on her birthday, so I played at Grandma's house today. Then after work we went to "Mexico" for dinner. Or should I say for chocolate milk since my tummy was already full when my food came. While I waited for Mommy and Daddy to eat I named all the plaster animals around the restaurant. Then before we left I got to throw a penny in the fountain! So that's how we celebrated Mommy's birthday. The best thing she got for her birthday was a break from school. She's halfway done with her classes now!

We're all ready for Christmas (of course, I don't have to do the shopping, so I can say that)! We already had one Christmas with the McKeevers at Ferry Point. All my cousins were there so with six kids ages four and under it was pretty busy. I had a lot of fun playing with Abby and Faith and wish they lived closer. At least I get to see Tiernan more often, even though we don't get along real well yet. We're both always wanting what the other one has, especially if it's a football.

Santa is not coming to our house this year. I told Mommy that I don't want Santa to bring me presents because he's "cawy" (scary). And I said, "Take out house chimney." Mommy's not sure where I got the idea that Santa is scary, but she said Santa doesn't have to bring me presents. I hope she's right that we don't have a chimney.

I like singing Frosty the Snowman. That's my favorite Christmas carol. I hope we get some snow to play in sometime this winter, although the warm days without boots and snowpants have been nice.

Have a merry Christmas!

Now that I'm feeling better I can tell you about what's been going on lately. I have a bad cough from a cold I had that started turning into pneumonia. But the doctor noticed it early and got me some medicine and I'm doing much better now.

I had to miss trick-or-treating, though. It was okay with me, but my mommy seemed disappointed. She would have taken me to a couple neighbors houses if I wanted to go, but it was enough fun to play in my cow costume and watch the trick-or-treaters come to the door.

I had lots of fun staying at Grandma Lanz's house for four days and five nights while Mommy went to Seattle to join Daddy for a few days. Daddy had to work, but Mommy took lots of pictures of all the stuff she saw in the city. She said she had fun but she missed me. She would have liked to take me on the cruise boat or to the aquarium. And Mommy and Daddy both wish that I could have met their friends Joe and Michelle. They say they'll bring me along next time!