She's Walkin'!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that Miss Adelaide is now a upright walking little girl! Her face glows when she smiles over her accomplishment.

She spent most of last night doing laps around the house which included a lot of wobbling and falling. Her determination to get up and try again was inspiring for Drew and I to watch. Thank the Lord there is a lot of padding in diapers and she doesn't have far to fall!!

Both of us were watching in awe that we forgot to grab the video camera! Luckily, we remembered with enough time to catch her before those legs got tired. We can't wait to share it with you all!

Ada Potada and Baked Potada!

Drew and I are expecting our second child! Baked Potada will be arriving around the beginning of March. I've been meaning to post this wonderful news for quite some time but I let life get in the way.

Our second ultrasound will be in a couple weeks and hopefully I will be able to share the images with you.

Please keep us in your prayers and we prepare for this wonderful blessing to arrive!

The Real Thing

Ada turned ONE years-old on August 28!

It was a beautiful day filled with family, friends, and as always great food! Drew and Braden cooked up some great beer brats and sour kraut. Jennie and Evan helped make and decorate the cupcakes. I made Louise's famous potato salad. And Mamo Bobbie and Poppi had fun playing with Ada.

We enjoyed our meal and our conversations. The kids had a blast playing with the piñata and gathering all of the candy that Jennie so neatly and patiently packed into it. We all had fun watching Ada play with the tissue paper from her birthday presents and listened to the music of the balloon toys that looked so neat in the wrapper at the store, but little did we know how loud they would be!

But ultimately everyone was excited about the CAKE. It was a great cake....and it didn't last that long! Ada's practice round in Minnesota surely prepared her for the REAL THING!

A Mother's Calling

A Mother's Calling is a group at church that I joined last year when Ada was born. It is such a life building community of moms that meet every Wednesday. We have speakers come to church to talk with us about various topics mainly spiritual in nature. I'm so glad the Lord helped me meet these women and grow my faith in the process.

I enjoyed the group so much that I offered to lead the group this year. We started at the end of August and have had such a wonderful fall so far. Our group is growing by leaps and bounds both new moms and new babies. So far we have eight mothers that have given birth or are pregnant since September!! We now warn any new comers to not drink the water or the coffee!!

Please keep us all in your prayers as we journey together as mothers!

Ada's Practice 1st Birthday

While in Minnesota we decided to have a birthday party for Ada so that all of her cousins and family could celebrate with her. It was a fun and beautiful day by the pool at the Sumners home. The kids swam in the pool with Abba blarring in the background. It was a blast to listen to all of them sing to the music.

Then it was time for cake! Ada sat eagerly awaiting something. She didn't know what. You can see her anticipation in the picture or is that pure joy to be around her cousins?

She had a great time digging into the chocolate cake with out mom interfering and LOVED it. Luckily we had a camera that could shoot video, so I could share the moment with dad when we got home. It was a little to big to upload to the blog. Sorry!

Arrivederci William!

Ada and I flew up to Minnesota to wish Father William arrivederci in early August. I was thrilled to be there for William's farewell party and witness his reaction to the wonderful gift that Greg made him. Greg along with his mentor, Will (not to be confused with William), created and built from scratch a beautiful cello for William to bring with him to Roma. Picture above (left to right): Mary, Will, William holding Adelaide the cello, and Greg.

We had a great time and it was so wonderful to see everyone and catch up.