Friday, June 25, 2010

Today's the Day


Feeding the ducks, originally uploaded by gemjlo.

Today's the day we head down South to spend some quality time with my SIL and her family. We will do things like feed the ducks, go to the water park, eat at Lamberts, and BBQ for the next week. I am so excited to finally be leaving.
I spent the whole night last night shopping, and running errands that needed to be done before we leave. I didn't even go home after work. When I finally did get home at almost 9pm we packed up little G, and that was all the energy that I had. This morning I packed most of my things and headed off to work.
Jerry is working from home today and will pack up the car and do other things that need to be done. Then, when I get home we all jump in the car and start our journey.
We will stop tonight somewhere in Iowa and sleep, then in the morning we will be up bright and early to complete the trip down. It takes about 11 hours to get from our door to theirs(depending on how many pitstops we make). Knowing Gigi we will be making quite a few. I will try to get some blogging in while we are gone, but I'm not gonna promise anything, because I don't want to let ya'll down.

Bon Voyage!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

To Missouri we go

On Friday we leave for Missouri!  I am really excited to see my Sister-In-Law, her husband, and her kids.  I haven't met the littlest one Bryce yet and he's already 1.  I can't believe how fast time goes by.  While we are down there I hope to go to Lamberts, the 'Home of the Thown Rolls'.  It's a resturant that throws rolls at you when you raise your hand.  I know it sounds weird, but it's pretty fun. We will stay there until Wednesday, then head back home.  Gifti is really excited to meet her cousins and aunt Angee & uncle Mike.  This will be her first road Trip, but definatly not her last.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Pet lover

This is Cody and Gigi.  They are great friends.  I'm glad that my little girl likes our pets, because they are very important to Jerry and me.  Gigi didn't grow up with animals.  In fact her first time living with one was in the foster home that she was in right before she came to live with us and she was only there for a few weeks.  She told us that she likes our dogs, which are both large, but when she grows up she's gonna have a little dog that can sit on her lap.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Toy Story 3

We took Gigi to see Toy Story 3 last night.  I thought it was really cute and well worth the 12 year wait.  Jerry said he liked it as well.  Gigi fell asleep.  Silly girl, I think she was very tired from the night before.  I am sure that she and my niece didn't get a lot of sleep, plus she was playing at the park all day.  When we woke her up to go home, she was so out of it.  I think she was sleeping soundly.  She went right to bed when we got home.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Valley Fair

Yesterday my SIL took Gigi to Valley Fair for the first time.  She spent the night, so I haven't been able to see how she liked it, but I talked to my SIL and she thinks that she did.  I am so glad.  I think the best part was that she was with her cousins.
Sunni, my SIL said that they went on a ride called the Wild Thing.  It's a roller coaster that has a steep first drop.  On the way to the top I guess Gigi started to panic and began to chant, 'I want my mommy' over and over.  Sunni reported this to me thinking that she was asking for me.  I wonder...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ayreonah

Gifti has so many cousins I haven't tried to count them all, but one day I should.  But, today I am going to introduce you to the one that stayed over last night.  This is Ayreonah.  Her mom is Jerry's step-sister Crystal.  I was just thinking last night how I remember crawling around on the floor with her when she was barely old enough to walk.  Now, look at her.  She's a beautiful young lady.  She's been through some terrible things, but is still a lovely girl.

Gigi is fortunate to have 2 cousins that are her age, and they are really the three amigos.  They would do everything together if they could.  I envy my little girl because she has so many cousins her age.  I only have 6 cousins total and they are all considerably younger and all but 1 are boys/men.  I hope that it helps reinforce how fun family can be, and give her a great support system as she grows up.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Brownie--------->Junior Girlscout!

A few months ago Gigi joined Brownies.  She loves it and I think it's helped her a lot to make new friends and to feel like part of a group.  Last week was the end of the year party, and her troop is moving to Juniors, and they now wear green.  She's so excited.  She's really excited that he has a vest now, instead of a sash.  We did that on purpose because she was only a brownie for a few months.  Now, she will be a Junior for a few years and needed the room for all those patches she's going to get.  Her troop leader is great, and is always giving the girls fun patches that are not merit based.  So, even the girls that don't get the patches that you have to earn have something to put on their vest.

Did I mention that my little girl had grown over an inch in the past 2 months.  Crazy...

Monday, June 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma Betsey ~ Gigi
This weekend we spent part of Saturday celebrating my mom's Birthday with her and the family.  I can tell that Gigi is getting more comforatable and is expressing herself more with my family, and I am greatful for that.  She's fitting right in, and I can tell that she's blossoming because of it.


Auntie Melanie ~ Gigi ~ Mom

I try to take extra pictures of her with the family because there will be a time in her future that she will feel bad that she doesn't have photos of herself when she was a baby.  Not that it will make up for that loss, but I hope that she will see how much we love her and glad that she's come into our lives.



Gigi and Daddy

I am also very glad that she's been playing and having more fun with Jerry.  It appears that they are finally bonding and having playful moments.  She shared the Father's Day card that she made for him with me the other day.  It's so cute.  She calls him Dad and says she loves him and that he's the best.  I worry that she says those things because she thinks she's supposed to, but if that's the case then I hope that it will be one of those things that you do so much that it finally becomes true.

Friday, June 11, 2010

One Happy Family

This photo was taken a few weekends back at my brother's graduation party up in Duluth.  Gigi had a wonderful time hanging out with the Duluth family and so did I.  The weather was nice and the food was good.

This week we had a bit of trouble.  First, she was grounded from her bike for not wearing her helmet, then she was grounded to the house on Tuesday for giving her Dad attitude.  Since then we have gotten along fairly well.  I think she's still testing her boundries.  But, I would expect nothing less from a 9 year old little girl.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Toothless

In the past three weeks my little girl has lost 3 teeth.  It's amazing to me that she could have 3 teeth loose at the same time and still be able to eat her food.  She was really excited about the tooth fairy.  Me, no so much.  Jerry refused to be the one to sneak into her room and play TF, so it was up to me.  I woke her up every time.  I told her that I was really excited to see what he left her, and was trying to peek.  She seemed to be alright with that, and graciously let dig under her pillow.  Yesterday, I couldn't get in there in time, and when I did she was already looking, so we told her that since she had just lost a tooth the night before that he must have thought she was putting the same tooth under her pillow.  She decided to write her a note, so she finally came last night and left her some quarters.  I'm glad she trusts what I tell her and doesn't question my reasons about things very much unless it comes to something she wants to do that I won't let her.

Finally

We are finally a legal family.  I cannot believe how fast the actual court appearance was.  It took a maximum of 20 minutes.  We were asked some basic questions concerning personal information and our intentions as far as Gigi's future with our family, and that was it.  We signed a document and paid for copies of her new birth certificate, and court order, and that was it.  Amazing how fast the actual legal process was compared to the documentation, homestudy, matching, and classes.
We didn't do anything to exciting afterwards, just lunch at a small cafe in So Mpls with Jerry's mom.  Because the date was sprung on us last week, there wasn't time for our parents to get the time off work, so it was just the 3 of us at court, but that was nice too.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is Finalization day.  I am a bit nervous, but really excited at the same time.  I officially become a mom and we officially become a family tomorrow morning.  It seems weird because LG has been a part of our lives for half a year now.  Weird in a good way.  I can't wait to share more about her, and post pictures.  Tomorrow...