We went to St. Louis for Bethi's Dr. appointment regarding her toes. We ate at the Meskerem Restaurant. It was SO good! We ate there last year when we first took Bethi to Shriners Hospital. They have since remodeled. Looks really nice.

We went to the ARCH in St. Louis. The kids had a blast riding the "elevator" to the top.

Who weighs more???

Smile!!

Inside the "elevator".

Amanu calls the ARCH the RAINBOW!!!

In Springfield we met the Hyman family! Brandon, Elisa, Miles, and Baby Marley.

The kiddos

Elisa and Marley

Amanu likes to pretend this is his horse!

Bethi won a door prize! It was gift certificates for Taco Bell.

Math Night at Bethi's school. College students from Pittsburg State University came and played math games!

Showing off her tooth!

Bethi lost her front tooth!!!

Almost a year and a half!

Amanu refused to let going to the bathroom interfere with his peanut butter! EWWWW!!!
Valentine Tea Party

New baby for Christmas

Amanu giving his big sister Braden her gift.

Bethi giving her big sister Braden her gift.

Amanu LOVES playing with any kind of ball. He wore himself out!

Bethi's Christmas program. Amanu wanted to cheese it up!

The kiddos have been home with us for almost a year and a half! Hard to believe. They are doing so well. Problems we have with them are minor. Such as, Amanu was peeing in my shoes for awhile...he's over that now! He liked his juice sippy cups at night and never slept well. The juice is now gone and he is sleeping much better!!

Bethi likes to argue with her daddy a little too much. She thinks she's the boss of him sometimes. ; )

She loves school and has lots of friends. She really worried me at first because she was clingy with her teacher.She is reading mostly by herself now and enjoys it.

Amanu is so amazingly bright, the things he says amazes us daily! He has such a good memory.

WISH I DID!

Amanu finally gave up running from his cousin. Ava is 8 months younger, but 3 more pounds than Amanu! So yep, he runs!

Bethi and Amanu both love to play outside!

Don't have the pics yet but as of September 25th Bethi now rides her bike with no training wheels!She is SO proud of herself!

This is at the Magic House in St.Louis. Bethi had to go see an pediatric orthopedic for her toes. She has two bones in her big toes. We are looking at surgery in June of 2010. She doesn't want to miss any school.



Making the BIG bubble was hard!

Fishing at the Magic House. Amanu didn't want to leave!

Back Home

First day of school for Bethi!!She's wearing her Hanna Montanna shirt. Before we got the kids I was the one saying i didn't want our kids into all the "commercialized" clothing like Disney, etc. Guess what? First things she wanted when she got to America!

I LOVE this pic! I was sad! What a lonnnng hall!

This pic was taken on Amanu's 2nd birthday. September 16th

He wasn't feeling to whoopy that day, so no party that day!

More Summer!

July 19th was Bethi's 5th birthday!!

Amanu enjoyed it too!

She LOVED her cake!

4th of July

Playing in the sprinkler.

Bethi eating her favorite food. Mashed potatoes.

Amanu snuck the rest of the chips and salsa!! He loves it!

Vacationing in Minnesota. they love hotel life.

Mehaber in Minnesota.

Ethiopian dancers

Mall of America

Tight fit!

Rainforest Cafe (overrated!)

Amanu fell asleep drinking Dad's pop.

It will be one year home soon. Amanu has bonded well, loves both of us now and not just Shawn. He fights with his sister, loves to play any kind of ball, and talks alot now! His favorite handy fridge item is cheese slices.he just changed his name for Bethi. He did call her what sounded like "cease" because we called her sissy I guess. He now calls her Bethi correctly. He will bring us a book and say "read me" If he doesn't know where in the house we are, he will holler "where are you?" He is one busy boy! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Bethi has bonded well. She crys alot to get her way. Doesn't always work, but she trys!

She loves to ride her bike and loves to watch cartoons. She loves to rent a video and watch it all by herself in her room.

Recently we had our final post-adoption report. I knew it was coming, just as it had all other post adoption visits. The next day she kept saying how she misses her Ethiopian mom and dad. And especially her older sister. This has been going on for 3 days now. We try to comfort her, but it is so hard to see her hurting.

She is such a sweet little girl. Loves people, and always has a smile. I hope someday her hurt goes away.

Looking forward to Kindergarten!!