Happy Birthday Donovan!

Happy 3rd Birthday Donovan!

I'm "free". I love his finger show of 3. Nobody taught him, he figured it out himself. We celebrated by going out to dinner with Nama and Papa Earl (I forgot to take a picture of their visit) who came for Dono's birthday.

Party boys

Dancing

Mommy made the cake Dono picked out.

Make a wish.

We had a fun day and got some pretty cool stuff too.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Happy Birthday Jason!

We're glad to have you in the family. We hope you have a great day!

Ready to Adopt!

My sister Alisa and her husband Jake have just finished all the required paperwork and are now eligible to adopt a baby! They are going through LDS Social Services, but there are many couples already looking for a family. So I thought I'd help her by getting the word out. If you know of any family, friend, or aquaintance that is wanting to give a baby up for adoption, please have them look up Alisa and Jake. You can type up their profile name (JacobandAlisa) --no spaces, on the lds.org website to read more about them:

http://www.providentliving.org/ses/birthmother/searchprofiles/0,12268,2133-1,00.html

They have been married for 8 years, 7 of which they have tried unsuccessfully to have a child. A recent surgery has made it impossible for them to ever have biological children. They are a great couple. Jake is a computer network administrator and Alisa is a 2nd grade teacher. They love kids and are really hoping that someone will choose them to adopt.

Please spread the word.

Taking a Leap

Okay, I was feeling brave and wanting a new change, so I decided to get my hair cut today. Drastically. I've never had this sort of do. I like it. I went to Fantastic Sams and got 6 inches cut off. We were able to donate it to Children's Hair Loss, who can make hair pieces for children who are burn/cancer patients. I thought I needed 10 or more inches to donate, but this organization will take less.

before

after

It'll take some time to get used to, but I think I like it. I'll have to have some fun with it and see what looks best. The back is way short though, you can't see it, and I guess the good thing is that I can't see it either. :)

Pancakes

Today we had pancakes for dinner. Both boys love pancakes. Elliott, a little too much.

Dono's pancakes

Elliott's STUFFED face. Yup the whole (regular sized) pancake is in his mouth.
mm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm is what he says

New Zoo

We have just become new members to the Potter Park Zoo of Lansing. It's a fun park, but way smaller than I'm used to. There are many animals here that I had never heard of before. It seems that in order for animals to survive in this climate they have to be able to brave the cold. That is why a lot of the animals are from the Asian continent. Sadly, there are not many from Africa. That was always my favorite route to take at the Phoenix Zoo. No elephants, zebras, giraffe, etc. (somehow we can have lions, tigers, and rhino, hmmmm) I was desperately hoping for my favorite elephant, but no such luck. Instead we get red panda, snow leopard, kangaroo, arctic fox, reindeer, bongo, penguin, binturong, and muntjac. Interesting and fascinating animals. A bongo is a red striped animal that resembles an antelope, binturong is sometimes called a bear-cat (though it is not related to either), and a muntjac is a miniature-looking deer, but not. It'll be a fun zoo. We'll be able to see everything each time, unlike Phoenix, where you pick 1-2 routes and save the rest for next time.

red panda

reindeer (yes they really do exist beyond Santa)

penguins

Dono petting a goat ( and he wanted to do it twice, wonders never cease)

Dan-roo and Joey-Elliott

Kanga-Crystal and Dono-Joey