Watch Me Grow

As can be expected with me I have to combine Week 2 and Week 3 today. I did actually take the pictures on the correct day I just didn't have time to post last Monday.


Last Monday was a snow day and it was COLD- so Samara got to stay in her jammies all day!  This was actually the first time since she's been home that she stayed in jammies.  It was time for that kind of day.

This picture is Week 3- taken this morning.  She is the most difficult child to get a picture of with her eyes open, but she looks cute anyway.

Samara's New Years gift

Happy New Year!
Here's just a few pictures that I thought were too cute not to post.

One of the doctors that Chad works with is Korean and she was telling him the importance of the New Year for the Korean people.  She was so sweet and thoughtful that she bought Samara a gift to celebrate.

It's the tradition that on New Years Day the children dress up in the traditional clothing and carry a small purse.  When they come up to the adults the adults put money in purse for the children.  I'm sure there is a bit more to that tradition- so I'm going to have to look it up and do some investigating- but that's the gist.
Here she is in the outfit.   The shoes were so darn cute- I'm going to have to take a separate picture of them to post because the dress is covering them.

Christmas

Christmas Eve at Grandma's






Samara got the idea of opening presents very quickly!  Imagine that...

Dane got a Wii game that he's been wanted and obviously had no intention of sharing.

We came home and set out cookies and milk for Santa and read Elf of the Shelf and said Good-bye to Belfy.

Christmas Morning my parents came over and Neil and Taylor were staying with us so we all got to celebrate together.  Being with family is probably my favorite part of Christmas.

Samara opened an adorable doll from her Aunt and Uncle and when she saw the baby inside she was kissing the box.

She also loved all the dress up shoes and purses!  Such a girl.... it's so fun. 

Baby Alix and Samara all dressed up for Christmas Day.

I love the pictures of the little ones being held! 

Adoption Finalization

I am so sorry that these took so long to post, I had so many pictures on my camera it took forever to go through them all. 

December 14 2010 was the BIG DAY for us!  It made everything that we've been through in the past two and a half years official.  Most people think that as soon as you bring the child home the adoption process is over, but actually since bringing her home July 6th we have had three visits from our social worker, three packets of questions to send into the agency to update them on how the transition and bonding is progressing, and we send pictures to Korea for the foster family to see.  So on the 14th we headed north to the Fort Collins court house.  We had to stop on the way and buy diapers and wipes because in the mix of trying not to forget anything important (mainly the camera and video camera) I forgot the diaper bag!  Once we got there we followed our paperwork to the floor and court room where we were assigned to.  After about 10-15 minutes of trying to figure out why the court door was locked and not finding anyone to ask we realized our paperwork was wrong and we were supposed to be one floor up!-- YIKES-- that made us a couple minutes late but fortunately Regina from our agency was waiting for us and she had everything ready so we could just walk in and proceed.

Here are the kids while we were waiting in the wrong area.

 

We made it.  Judge Gilmore was our judge he was a wonderful man who took his time with our family and let the kids check out the room.  They all got to bang the gavel, swivel in the jury seats, and try out the microphone.

After Judge Gilmore asked us a few questions he signed our Certificate of Adoption making Samara officially a McGuckin!

It also makes her a US citizen and legally changes her name from Da In Jeong to Samara Da In McGuckin.

Judge Gilmore gave Samara a quarter dollar in a little case that has the year on it that she came home.  It was really thoughtful and will go in her keep sake box.

The judge also said that her  Colorado birth certificate should come in the mail and then we can get her a passport. 

The boys were so precious with Samara.  They knew it was her "special day" and totally treated her like a princess.  They kept saying, "she's our sister today." 

We left Ft. Collins and headed south to the Korea House.  The food was really good and very authentic, just like I remembered it tasting while we were in Korea.

Samara stuffed her face, literally, for an hour.  I don't know if she was extra hungry from the long day or if it was the food.  I'm guessing it was the latter.  She ate all the pickled zucchini, the bulgogi and the bimbimbap, plus she had quite a bit of miso soup.  The only thing she wouldn't eat was the kimchi (that must make her at least part american. :)  I have to say it was quite good and even the boys found something they liked.

December 14th will always be a special day in our family!  Yeah, the journey is officially over....and in most ways just beginning.

Watch Me Grow Week #1

I am borrowing this idea from a friend who did this with her daughter last year.  Each week she posted a picture of her little girl so that everyone could watch her grow up.  At the end of the year she had a beautiful group of pictures that really showed how much she had changed.  I loved the idea so much I decided that I would do it this year.  Let's just hope I can be as diligent and get all 52 pictures!

Samara is making her classic "squishy" face for the camera.  It's very hard to catch her with her eyes open lately so I had to put the second picture.

Samara really is growing up everyday.  Her words have taken off and she tries to say everything we do.  And today she actually went poop in the potty!  We weren't even trying but when I went to change her diaper I could tell she needed to go so I ran her over to the bathroom and set her on the toilet and to my amazement she actually went!  I clapped and made a big deal about it and I think she felt very proud of herself.  I'm sure it's just a fluke- but exciting none the less.

I'm sorry for my long break in blogging but I'm back at it and I will post over the course of the week our Christmas pictures and our adoption finalization!

A bit of everything

Last week we were in our normal routine, when at lunch time this is what happened.

She had pretty much finished eating while I was collecting the lunch dishes to put into the sink.  I plopped them in, gave them a quick rinse and when I turned around she had fallen asleep.  It was seriously only 45 seconds to a minute.  And she was snoring!  I had never heard that before and it was adorable.  Needless to say, off to bed she went covered in food and all- because you never wake a sleeping baby, right!?

And then yesterday, we got our first snowfall of the year.  It was beautiful (because it was the 1st one) ask me in April and it will be another story!

From the moment they saw the snow they started bouncing off the walls and running outside without anything warm on.  Crazy kids!  I had to make major threats just to get them in shoes, hats and gloves.

Tonight, this is where I found Dane sound asleep.  We had finished out bedtime routine and I had gone back down stairs to tidy up, he tried to come down but I told him no, and to go back and get in bed.  When I came upstairs (in the dark) about 10 minutes later I didn't see Dane in his bed, so I went and checked my bed- then a panic hit so I turned on the light and there he was at the top of the stairs.

It reminds me of something my brother used to do when he was little.  He hated being alone and would sleep as close to the action as possible without getting caught. 

The boys start a new activity and we have a kitty cat!

For months now the boys have been asking to take karate classes.  Dane is just dying to punch something!  But I know nothing about Martial Arts and had no clue where to begin, there's about 10 schools within 5 minutes of us.  So two weeks ago when we were at Halloween with the Horses at the trick or treating area they were having people sign up for free giveaways.  So at all the martial arts places we passed I signed up for their giveaway.  Two of them called within a few days one offered us 7 weeks free, the other two free weeks.  So I went to both of them and checked them out and one of them just found a place in my heart.  Maybe because it's Tae Kwon Do and gives us that tie to Korea that we just can't help but love.  Maybe because of the instructor, I don't know.  I had some hesitations too- like the other place giving us 7 free weeks.  So through a series of emails and conversations I asked the instructor if he could match what the other gym was offering and he said no.  But I tried.  Chad and I talked, we took the boys to watch the class and see what they thought.  Then the instructor of the one I was leaning toward called and said he had spoken with his wife and they would like to offer us 8 free weeks!  Well, that made my decision easy.  So yesterday the boys had their first class dressed in their adorable uniforms.  Here are a few pictures.

 

Here she is, our kitty!

 Aunt Danielle makes an adorable big bird!

Cousin Liam and baby Ben (6 Weeks old)