The Birthday Party

I just woke up from my nap at Aunt Kate's house and I'm ready for my party! (The party was at her house.)Cheesing it up in front of my monkey tree.

Monkey cupcakes.

Monkey cups.All the monkey goodies.

Jaida came to my party!

And so did Reese!

Aunt Kate got me this fun monkey helmet . . . as if I wasn't already a monkey enough!

Everyone started singing Happy Birthday to me. Mom was trying to take a picture of me to send to my family in Texas.

I didn't know what to think about that big monkey cake, so mom gave me a cupcake. I just picked at it for awhile.

Mom thought it was time I get more of it in my mouth.

It didn't take me long to dive into it!

Then I got to open lots of presents. I got a lot of baseball and monkey stuff! Grammy out-did herself again and gave me a rocking chair that matches my room. The rocking chair actually used to me my mom's . . . Grammy said mom got it on her first birthday from her Grandma Hotze. What a great gift!

Rockin' it in my new chair!

Check out my new monkey rain boots! Grammy is trying to help me with my swing.

Mommy said this is her favorite picture of the weekend. Something about me being a really big gift from God and this being the best year of her and daddy's life so far.

Things are Changing at our House

See this little storage closet in our basement . . . It has been as awesome storage closet, with deep shelving all the way around three sides (and it was packed full!).

But the shelving has come completely down! The door and the wall will be coming down this weekend, too. My dad and brother are tearing it out and finishing it off to make our downstairs living room bigger. We can't wait!But, we did't just throw away that shelving. Oh no . . . shelving like that is gold in my world! I would not let it go to waste. Not only did our good friend, Brian Wulfekuhle, tear all of the shelving out, but he also put it back up in our utility room (with Jason's help, of course).

WA LAAA! As of last night, we have new storage shelving in our utility room. I am so excited! Thank you SO MUCH Brian for all of your work!

Less than 24 hours later, I had that storage space completely filled up! (Thanks to some help from Libby.) Since we eliminated the previous storage closet and we are going to have a renter again in May, this is now our only storage space. I'm thankful I got it all to fit.

And the other change that is happening is that wall on the left . . .

Which is the wall on the right from the kitchen view . . .

That wall is also COMING DOWN!! Our kitchen is pretty small, so we (well, my dad and brother) are knocking the wall down on Friday to make it more open. We've been planning these remodel projects for awhile . . . and I'm so excited that they are really happening! And yes, they are happening this weekend, the weekend of Abram's birthday. Kind of crazy, but I'm thankful to get started.

Renee Nesbitt is Getting Married

So, I threw her a bridal shower this past Saturday. It was so fun! The theme was "Love Birds" with as many purple foods and prizes I could come up with (since her wedding colors are purple and silver . . . which just HAPPEN to be what my wedding colors were!)It is hard to see the tree in the picture above. My friend, Libby Asay, gave me the idea to put purple glitter on the ends of the branches. And of course my sister helped me with the tree . . . I don't do anything creative without her!

Here is everyone who came to the shower.

Only 19 more days, Renee! I love you!

My Girl

I got to hang out with my girl yesterday. I love to take the bow out of her hair.

I showed her how I can stand up with no hands . . . but she didn't really care.

I took her for a spin.

And then . . .

I really showed her my stuff!

What We've Been Up To Lately

Abram's favorite spot in the house . . . in front of the window, with the knob from the string to the blinds in his mouth. Here he comes! Abram is taking many steps on his own these days. Still not walking 100% on his own, but oh so close! And he had a follow-up CT scan on Friday that showed his head has healed. Praise God!

Abram got to have his picture taken with a very pretty Jessie Wheeler this weekend (before prom).

I had a birthday over the weekend. :) The best part of my birthday?

Having a little guy to share my ice cream with! So thankful to finally have a birthday as a mom.

I didn't mind getting to share with these three either!

Our Seatbelts Are Strapped On

. . . because we have officially started the adoption process again!

We met with our social worker a few weeks ago to update our homestudy (homestudies are only good for one year). We are doing this adoption with The Avalon Center, in Mason City, Iowa. Leah, (from the Avalon Center) did our home study for our last adoption. While working with her, we learned that her agency also does adoptions. And it is a fairly simple process.

We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Abrazo, the agency in Texas we used the first time. And we would still highly recommend Abrazo to anyone. But we have chosen to go with Avalon this time for a few reasons:

1. Avalon is $10,000 cheaper!

2. Besides paying for our homestudy update now, the full cost of the adoption is not due until a baby is placed with us.

3. We LOVE Leah! She has been the best social worker we could ever ask for. She is very timely with paperwork, very helpful, always available and willing to help with anything we need. She already knows us well so it made the homestudy update and paperwork for this adoption easy-peasy. 'Easy' and 'adoption paperwork' rarely go together in the world of adoption, but I'm not kidding when I say it has been easy so far.

4. While we loved traveling to Texas to get Abram, going with Avalon means we'll adopt a baby from Iowa (or possibly a surrounding state). This cuts down on cost, not to mention time, as well.
5. Overall, going with Avalon is just a lot lower maintence than Abrazo. There is no orientation to attend, no traveling, no staying in Texas for two weeks after we have a baby, etc.

I have already made a new family profile photo album for Avalon and we've already given our three copies to Leah. She will start showing them to birth moms right away. Can you believe that? Like I said before, going with Avalon is low-maintence and easy!

Easy, however, is definitely not how I'm expecting the emotional journey of this adoption to go. This is adoption we are talking about. Which is why I've got my seat belt strapped on! I know there will be a roller coaster (or two or three) involved sooner or later.

Our preference is to adopt a Hispanic or minority baby, but we are not limiting ourselves (or God!) to that. We want what God wants for us. And obviously, Iowa is not quite as racially diverse as a place like San Antonio, Texas. We look forward to what God has in store for us!

Easter Weekend

Ready, set, go find eggs!Abram scored an awesome Easter bucket from Aunt Kate. So cute . . . especially the little boys in their plaid shirts.

We also celebrated Mya's birthday this past weekend. Her birthday is today. We have been talking about her and Abram's birthdays being in the same month so she wanted a monkey birthday. So cute!Happy 6th birthday sweet Mya!

Slumber Party

It has been awhile since we've had the kids over for a slumber party, so we had one on Friday night. And with all four Ehresman kids!

Of course the first order of business was chocolate strawberry shakes! Even the little boys got slurped some.

Then, it was downstairs for a movie . . . but a little jumping on the mattress before it started.

Chillin' during the movie (Alvin & the Chipmunks, The Sqeakquel)

Ready to sleep.

Up and at 'em in the morning, playing in Abram's room. Quite the treat for our little extrovert boy.

This is how I found Grey when I opened the door. Looks like he just came from the gym with his blanket wrapped around him like that. It cracked me up!

Waffles and eggs for breakfast.