Walking for the Orphans in Africa

 It was Hannah and I's second 5K and Roger's first.  ICDI (Integrated Community Development International) was having a fundraising event for their organization during the Lake Festival here in Warsaw.  ICDI travels to Africa and cares for orphans and drills wells for clean water throughout the country. Since Hannah was once an orphan, we thought it would be appropriate to help and also get some exercise.  It was a pretty day, but very hot, but we all made it. Of course, Hannah didn't have to work to hard, but she was still hot.

Today's Project- new swing set!!!

So earlier this week, Roger and I decided to dive in and purchase a swing set from Kmart!! They said it would take about a week to come to the store, but we got an email on Friday that said it was here. We called the Weinsteins to see if we could borrow their truck and Roger went to pick it up last night. Thank you Bryon for helping to unload it at our house, because I would have never been able to help.  Today, we decided to attack the project. We  had planned to have family over to help put it together, but when we told everyone that, they kind of laughed and reminded us how long it took to put Hunter's swing set together, so we decided to brave it ourselves. All the wood was already cut and most of the holes were already drilled, so we thought we could do it.  Well it turned out that 10 hours later, with the help of Dora, we completed the project!!!! The only thing we didn't complete was the anchors. When we tried to pound them into the ground, they both eventually split. We will figure that part out later- right now Hannah isn't big enough to flip the swingset. Roger and I totally enjoyed putting it together ourselves and we never even yelled at each other.  Once we were finished, we had to pull Hannah away from Dora, but once she figured out that it was for her, she tried every part out. We recommend this swingset to everyone- Kmart- Timber Play Set II.



Hannah tried to help at the beginning and kind of got in the way, so Mama got
smart and put in her new Dora dvds and she was hooked for an hour and half.





After Dora and lunch, Hannah took a nap.  She fell asleep reading
her "If" book to Dora...yes with her purple Crocs on.

Enjoying a banana popsicle on her half finished swing set.



This is Mama's favorite part of the swing and I think it will be Hannah's too.

Climbing up the wall...

at the top...

at the bottom!!!! CHEESE!!!!





Completed swing set in one day!!!!!

First of many warm days of fun!!!!!

Last Saturday, Baba decided to go fishing, so Hannah and I decided to fill up the little pool for the first time this year and have a little fun.  She was a little hesitant to get in at first, because it was a little cold, but after she started to warm up, you can see she dove right in.  She even took the time to cool Mama's feet off every once in a while. We had a good time...can't wait...3 more days of school, then we can have more good times all summer!!!!



Happy Late Mother's Day!!!!

I wanted to send this out earlier obviously, but I was having trouble with my blog and it still isn't coming up quite right at home, but we are going to try it anyway.  I wanted to send out a late Mother's Day wish to all the mothers reading this.  Sometimes I still can't believe that I am finally the Mama that I dreamed of being for 5 years while we waited for our little girl, but it is real.  She is real!!! She is truly the best Mother's Day present that I will ever receive and wouldn't want anything else!!!  She has grown so much since that first day we saw her, then received her and brought her home. Look at her now- Wow!!! She continues to be a huge blessing to us and everyone around her and we thank God for her every day.  To all the moms- enjoy every minute you get!!! Children are a true gift to us.


The very first picture we saw of Chen Leyan (Hannah).

 

The first time holding Hannah!




The first full day at home.

                                       Look at her NOW !!!!!!





 



Hunting Easter Eggs!!!

We headed back to Grandma and Papa Schaetzle's on Easter Day for lunch and an egg hunt.  Even though it was quite windy, the sun was out, so that made it nice enough to be outside. Both girls did a great job hunting for the eggs. 



Hannah and Shelby- beautiful girls -don't you think?

 

"I found a 'bue' one!!"

 

Way to go, Shelby!!





Emptying out the good stuff!!

 

"Cheese- let's go shopping Mama!!"

As the little ones were hunting eggs, the older ones were trying to walk on stilts.

It looks good, but he only stayed on for 1 second.

Papa was a pro- he walked at least 2 steps!



 Visit with Grandma Grossman

In the evening, we decided to go visit Grandma Grossman.  Hannah always has a great time visiting her and the rest of the ladies at the nursing home. She was very entertaining and was able to bring out lots of smiles. 



Coloring Easter Eggs!!!!

As usual, we headed over to Grandma and Papa Schaetzle's house to color some eggs for Easter.  Hannah had a really good time and she did much better than last year. Last year, many eggs were thrown across the table and cracked- this year only one ended up on the floor cracking as it rolled.  She enjoyed putting her dipper in the dye, then licking the dipper. Gross!!!!!!!!! She must have liked it, because she did it many times.  It is amazing to see how little things change even after one year.



Crazy cousins!!




She is very proud of her final result!





Having fun with her favorite cousin Ry-Ry



Yum Yum!!!

Hannah loves any food that is sweet, especially marshmallows.  I started a bad habit when I bought some chocolate swirl marshmallows at the discount store just to see what they were like. Now it is a daily snack for Hannah. Everytime we open the closet, we hear "Two marmallows" and "Han-nah pick".  Yes, by the way, she has started calling herself Hannah now. We hardly hear Han-han anymore- she is growing up so fast! Below she is enjoying some strawberry marmallows.

Oh, did you say little bites? Sorry, Mama!

Take a look at Hannah's outfit for a Monday morning to work in the flowers...I chose everything but the boots. I can't wait until she starts to pick out her whole outfit. Smile and Laugh!

Then she wanted to wear a hat like Mama. Thanks Grandma for the Dora hat!!