How Many Pictures Does It Take...

to get a family picture where all 4 people are looking at the camera with at least a decent facial expression?

Let's find out...

Yesterday, racing was cancelled (???) so our friends came up with their new camera to take some family pictures.  Dawson is hard to get a good picture of with just a shot or two.  I need some pictures to send to Show Hope and also to Holt so we needed several poses.  Here's a sampling of what we got:

This was the third picture taken!  Yippee!

Then it went downhill from there!

And back up again.

All we did was sit down!

This and the next picture were the only 2 of this pose worth considering.

Facial expressions were kind of strange due to sun.

So we sat down...again!

If you stop crying, we'll give you food.

Amazing what the mention of food does for this kid!

Baba's ready...

Mama's ready...

Alright, Mrs. Burt...I'm ready for my close up!

By the way, racing had been rescheduled for today but then it was cancelled because IT WAS ACTUALLY RAINING!

Thank you, Stacia and Scott, for taking time out of your day to come up and take these pictures for us!

And here's a few other good ones:









Foods My Kids Like

My kids are normal and they are also NOT so normal!  Some foods we have found they like and some they don't.  Some one likes and the other doesn't.

When we were in China to bring Meighan home she ate some pineapple at the buffet and seemed to like it.  Then once we were home she didn't like it anymore.

When we were in China to bring Dawson home, he LOVED bananas.  Now he doesn't really want much to do with them -- although that could change at any time!

Some things that Meighan really likes are:  Noodles, mac & cheese, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, French fries, Chinese food ;-), pineapple (again!), pancakes and ASPARAGUS!  She had some asparagus the first weekend we were home from China with her and she seems to want it and eat quite a bit of it every year!  Of course, we get it fresh from the patch every year from my parents so it's probably better than if we bought it in the store.

Some things we are finding out that Dawson likes are:  Applesauce, peaches, pears (more recently than at first), cheeseburgers (he can eat a WHOLE patty!), French fries (he ate this in China), ice cream, pineapple (he seems to LOVE this!), pancakes (he ate 2 tonight!), and ASPARAGUS!  He always wants more and more and more asparagus but I guess I didn't make enough this noon!

One thing that Dawson does NOT seem to like very well is hot dogs.  Don't know if this will change or not.  Texture is a very strong thing when it comes to food and maybe he just doesn't like the texture.  Don't know.

We do make sure our kids at least try a new food.  If they don't like it then they can say they don't like it.  BUT, if they like it, they can sure have more!

Have to Share

This is Meighan's school picture from this spring.  She actually smiled nicely instead of squinting or fake smiling!

Jesus Loves Me

OK, so this proud mom has to share this video from this morning.  You could actually hear the kids singing and Tony (from several rows back) could even pick out Meighan's voice!  You will see why when you see this video!

Happy Easter!

Whew!  We had a BUSY day!  We went to church this morning and then stopped at Taco Bell for some lunch, came home and ate it and then finally got off to the zoo.  The remodeled aquarium sure is nice!  The zoo itself wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be and the aquarium wasn't crowded at all for it having just reopened on Thursday.  We got there about 1:45 and stayed until after 5:00 when it was in the process of closing.  Dawson didn't sleep at all while we were there but fell asleep as we were leaving the zoo.  Tony got him in the car and I got him in the house without him waking completely and he slept about an hour total.  It was nice to eat supper without him crying.

Also, yesterday we went to the Easter Egg hunt at church.  Since it rained in the morning, they cancelled racing for the day so Tony did other things here.

Here are some pictures of the Easter Egg hunt and of today.

I want to make sure I get all the eggs I possibly can!

Maybe he won't notice me taking another egg out to open if I watch him REAL CLOSE!

Look at all this loot!

Ditto!

Ah!  She CAUGHT me!

Decorating a cookie with frosting....

and sugar! ...

... and then it got eaten as soon as this picture got taken!

Dawson's not into posing for pictures!

I love this picture!

"Riding a baby elephant"

I love his smile!  I can really only get him to smile this big by tickling him!

Happy 3rd Gotcha Day, Meighan!

Three short years ago today we met our beautiful Meighan!  We can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our lives!

Because today is so busy with an Easter Egg hunt in the morning and Daddy racing in the afternoon and evening, we decided to give her her Gotcha Day gift last night.  She took right off on her new princess bicycle, although she had to be taught how to stop!  She also has a matching helmet (which she hopes to also use to ride a horse someday).

Also, since today is so full and busy, we will be going to the zoo tomorrow!  She's very excited about that, too.

Happy Gotcha Day, Meighan!  We love you very much!
Mommy and Daddy

Enjoy the video and pictures!

Dawson's First Easter Egg Hunt

We went to the Nebraska Children's Home's Adoptive Families Easter Egg Hunt yesterday.  Dawson got to pick up his first Easter eggs!  (He wasn't really impressed, though!)  Here's some pictures.

I found my first egg!  (What's an egg?)