Dinner Out

We had to eat in a lot of restaurants in Quebec. Michaela loved it, but she didn't always like the menu choices. Thankfully there was usually pizza, which was always welcome.

Artillery Park

I love this picture. It looks like she's jumping off a tall wall. In reality she's running down a hill.

St. Matthew's Cemetery

This picture was taken in the oldest cemetery in Quebec. So old in fact that a tree grew around this tombstone. It was a beautiful graveyard, turned into a park. This was Michaela's favorite place in Quebec City. We often stopped here to have ice cream at the end of the day. It was only a few blocks from our hotel.

Fun at the Park

It was such a beautiful day, we also decided to go to the park. Michaela loves climbing high, but only if Daddy is nearby!

Nathanael loved this tunnel slide, but for some reason did not want me taking a picture of it (note the pout!)

Family Day

Jonathan and I had a wonderful weekend out with the kids. When we heard that Stewart Hall was having it's "cultural days" this weekend we decided to go. There were displays by local artists, activities for the kids and more.

Michaela got to go from station to station making different crafts. Here she is displaying the origami butterfly she made.

As fun as the crafts were, both kids were much happier walking down by the water (a little too close if you ask me). It was such a beautiful day.

I just love this picture of Michaela. She looks so serene and lady like. She had been picking dandelions, and then went and sat down with her bouquet next to her. A second later she was up again and off running. I'm glad I caught the moment.

We topped the morning off with a yummy lunch at subway. Nathanael, as you can see, doesn't need a high chair anymore, but sits very nicely to eat his sandwich.

Mother's Day

I wanted to give a very special thank you to Marthe who sent me these beautiful flowers for Mother's Day. It was the very first time anyone has ever sent me flowers. I'd always wanted someone to send me flowers! It was as special as I'd imagined. Thanks so much Marthe! Happy Mother's Day.

Clown

Nate found someone's reading glasses and gave us all a good laugh. Future Nerd! (Just like his Dad) ;)

Not Enough Grandma!

One popular game this weekend was "Fight for a spot on Grandma's lap". There just wasn't enough of her to go around! Nathanael especially seems to prefer Grandma's lap to any other.

A Huge First!

This weekend we drove to Kingston to celebrate Jamie Roo's 2nd Birthday. It was the first time all the cousins, including practically-brand-new Justin, were together. With the promise of treats, we somehow managed to get them all on the couch together. It was quite a task, but well worth it!

Early Birthday Surprise

We didn't want Michaela to have to wait all the way until the end of July to get her first bike, so we gave her one last weekend. She was very surprised!
Nathanael wanted it for himself, and kept trying to get it away from Michaela.

99 Luftballoons

Party!

We had a wonderful party for Nathanael(2) and Elizabeth(4). I love the look on Nate’s face here. He loves large groups of people, and you can see this in his smile.

Everyone pitched in and we got Nate this awesome stroller/bike trailer. He loves it, and we’ve already used it a lot of times! Thanks again, everyone, for being so generous!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Michaela made Nathanael a cake for his second Birthday on April 2. I love this picture of Michaela proudly showing off the cake she made. For some reason she reminds me of my Dad. Note the backwards pants (done intentionally) and the thumb in the bellybutton. Uncanny resemblance, don't you think?
You can tell by the look on Nate's face that the cake was really yummy!

Puppy

You all know Nathanael’s Puppy. There is nothing in this world more important to him then his Puppy. It’s a little blue puppy with a soother sewn onto it. Michaela gave it to him the day we met him, and although I force him to keep it in the crib, he live for that puppy. All I have to say at bedtime is “let’s go see Puppy!”, and Nate scrambles up to bed quicker then any 2 year old I’ve ever met. I even bought a second one, exactly the same, just in case he ever lost his (or if it fell apart from so much loving). He won’t touch, or even look at the second one. He knows his Puppy.
I wash Puppy every few months because he gets really grungy. So far this has never caused a problem. Nate recently had a really bad cold, and Puppy was getting really gross! I ran him through the wash the other day, and was broken-hearted to find that Nate no longer recognized him. He cries when I put him to bed, cries in the morning and cries all nap time, looking for his best friend, but not knowing where he has gone. I’ve never felt so sad for Nate, but didn’t know what to do.
Finally today I tried a new strategy, I let Michaela walk around all afternoon, holding Puppy, and sucking on the soother. For the first half hour, Nate didn’t mind, then all of a sudden he reached for Puppy, and when Michaela wouldn’t give him back, Nate flipped out. I gave him his Puppy back, and he hasn’t put him down since. Phew! Nate is too young to have lost his best friend.

And the Results Are In!

I asked for feedback on which of Nate's important milestones to celebrate yearly. I think Mom, Josh, Calvin and Rebecca are right. It's hard to think of celebrating the 14th of December because it was such a hard time for us, with a new baby, I had the flu, we were trying to get ready for Christmas, Jon had extra long hours at work, and everything was so stressful! But I guess that's often the case when you have a new baby, whether you're giving birth or adopting. It was the day he joined our family, and so that is the day we will celebrate yearly. Although, knowing me, (I like parties), we'll probably always mark the other 2 days as well, just without as much pomp. So Dec. 14th will be "Our Family Day", Aug. 14th will be "Nate's Name Day", and Feb. 18th will be "Nate's Adoption Day". But the real day to celebrate him will be Dec. 14th.

Someone asked me if there really was a need to celebrate another day, after all, Michaela only has her birthday, isn't it a bit unfair to her. I feel that Nate deserves a special day for him, and I do as well. He and I missed out on breast feeding, his first smile, his first teeth, his first solids. And then there is the miracle of his finding his way, through all of the thousands of other families waiting to adopt, into our arms. He deserves to be celebrated over and over again.

Fun With Balloons

Belonging

One of us at last!

Party

We had a mini party for Nate because Mom and Meghan, Aaron and the kids came down to celebrate with us

Febuary 18th - Finalization!

Before

Nathanael standing outside the courtroom doors, just before we all went in to finalize his adoption.

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After!!!!

One of us, forever!
You can see how excited Missie was when we told her that Nate was going to be her brother "forever and ever".

I want to take a little survey..... I really want to celebrate Nate joining our family, yearly, but I don't know which date to use. There are 3 possibilities;

1. December 14 - The day he moved in with us.

2. August 14 - The day we got legal custody, and his name changed, officially, to Nathanael Josh James Santo

or

3. Febuary 18 - The day his adoption was finalized.

I'd love it if people could post comments voting which day I should use. They are all so important. Thanks!

Buddies

These two trouble-makers have a blast together! It's so cute to see them having fun, and playing. Nate adores Micah. And Micah is so great with him.