Merry Christmas

Jadyn had a awesome Christmas, she enjoyed her gifts and was ready to open again and again.
Because our family lives out of town we had more than one Christmas celebration.

Christmas morning

Thank you Santa

This is what all that hard work is about!

Checking out her new toys.

We hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas pictures

Jadyn showing the photographer some ballet moves.

Santa take II

Take II

She has been sooo excited to go see Santa. As soon as we got there and she saw him she ran over to the area. We walked into the fenced off area where he sits and it all changed!

She no longer wanted anything to do with him. I could not talk her into it or bribe her (yes, that sometimes works) even Santa's helpers tried. She agreed to stand by him but nothing more.

They took her picture, We paid and left. As we walked around the mall she suddenly said "I'm ready to sit on Santa's lap now". I said "are you sure?" she was, so we walked back and sure enough, she climb right up there and even gave him a hug.

Santa was so happy she came back, he got up and came over to tell me she made his day by returning.

I think she was disappointed in herself for not sitting with him. I'm so proud of her.

Take I
What you don't see, because Santa's helper cut it out, is me holding her left hand.

Take II is such a happier picture!

Play date

Jadyn and her good friend Aleah had a play date yesterday at Aleah's house. We met them last summer at Jeron's Martial Arts class. They live an hours drive away so we don't see them as often as I would like.


It's funny what little 3 yr olds notice, Jadyn noticed Aleah's Asian eyes the day they met. They formed a great friendship that day and so did their Mom's!


She even got Jadyn to eat an orange


Jadyn's not a fruit lover. But if your friend says there good, they must be!




pizza face

Road Trip to.......

Canada. We crossed another boarder, passports in hand for a long weekend of hockey.

Some firsts for Jadyn.....

wearing snow bibs inside of a restaurant


enjoying her first Starbucks (hot choc. with a pump of vanilla)

Not caring at all what the road conditions were like.

We had a great time visiting Canada and watching G play hockey, but so happy to be back in the USA.
Where Mom's cell phone works for more than just taking pictures!

We're Back!

Sorry for the long delay in posting.
Jadyn had walking pneumonia, she was pretty sick for about 8 days. We had a good case of cabin fever by the time she was well enough to go out. She had a cough that was so ugly I would not take her anyplace. I would have ran the other way if she wasn't my kid!. Some strong antibiotics and breathing treatments helped a lot.


I still think she gets sicker than the average kid, not sure if it's because she was in a orphanage for 2 years and not around too many germs or if it's that her immune system is still weak from heart surgery.

She's well now and that's a good thing because her and Mom have lots of Christmas shopping and Santa Clause visiting to do!


Going shopping!

Fall Snow

Day 3 of 20 degrees and below, I'm already tired of it and it's not even officially Winter.
Jadyn loves the snow, but only wants to play out in it for a few minutes at a time.
She's like her Mom, she hates to be cold.





A snowball fight with your brother is fun!


These pictures were taken yesterday, we have 2 times this amount of snow now.

First snow of 2010

First snow of 2009

Cuteness

Sit and smile, thanks to a box of Nerd candy

Open Wide!

Jadyn had her first dental check-up yesterday. She is one of the bravest kids I have ever met, you would think with all she has been through medically the last 15 months she would be terrified.


She's not, she wants to know what is going to happen and I have to stay close, but she was happy to let the Dentist count her teeth.
I'm sure this Hippo with the enormous chompers helped calm her down.


I'm happy to report no dental worries at all!
Once she is 6 months post surgery we can think about a cleaning appointment for those pearly whites.

We had some family pictures taken last week, here is a sneak peek......

Don't worry, she took more than just our backsides!

I can't wait to see all of them!

Happy Halloween

From Princess Mulan!



She waited for this day for a long time. Everyday she asked "Is it time to be Mulan?"



She didn't enjoy cleaning out her pumpkin, so that became Daddy's job

Good job Dad

Halloween is at the top of her favorite Holiday list now. I'm sure it will change again when it's time for Christmas.

3 month post-op check up

Yesterday was filled with doctor appointments. In the morning Jadyn had a blood test to check her coumadin level. Coumadin is a medication that she will be on for 6 months, it's job is to thin her blood while her heart heals from surgery.

She has her finger poked every week to check the levels. We have had a hard time keeping her in the therapeutic level, the the amount we give her has been increased for the second time now.

Jadyn prides herself on not crying, the last 2 weeks she hasn't made a peep! The nurse and I are so proud of her. She is sure to tell everyone there that she didn't cry. She walks out of there with a sticker and her favorite treat, a piece of gum.

Daddy left work and met us for lunch, then we all headed to see her cardiologist.

The only thing they decided to do was a chest x-ray.

Her oxygen saturation is a whopping 99% .

The Doctor could not be more pleased with her.

Will will return to see him next spring.

The Great Pumpkin Patch

We once again paid the price to enter the pumpkin patch, our 2 younger kids love it so it's worth the price!

On our way to climb the hay bale mountains







just pretending!




Look how I've grown

We got lost in a corn maze!

After about 10 minutes Jeron decided to let Dad lead us to safety.

waiting to jump out and scare Daddy & Jeron

Jadyn tried to pack this one back, but decided on a much smaller one.