Busy Weekend

Saturday we had a visit from Janet (our social worker)as it is time for her to file a report with the Russian Consulate on Marina's progress. Marina was really good, although the first words out of her mouth were "goo goo ga ga" (she has just recently started with the "baby" talk.) She then told Janet that she was too shy to talk - that lasted about five minutes and then we could not shut her up! Marina is really into playing with babies right now. Her special baby is named Russia and I am "grandma" and John is "grandpa", so she was explaining all of this to Janet. Janet said she was very happy with her progress, that her vocabulary is fantastic for her age, as is her actually understanding of what is being said. Marina was 9.5 months before she even heard an english word, it is sure hard to believe that when you hear her talk now. Since I have no recent photos worth sharing I have added this shot because of its sentinmental value to us. The very first photo we took of Marina about five minutes after we had met her. It seems like so long ago now.

Tuckered Out

Even Marina was exhausted on the 29th. She had a big sleep on the couch (first time ever!) and no, she did not have any gin and tonic!

The day after...

The 29th of July was a tough day... Marina had me up at 7:00am. I gave her a box of Dora bandaids and brought her back to bed. At 7:30am I heard "mommy, I am finished playing with my bandaids..." my cue to pull my ass out of bed. The day got much better. John Maunder was staying with us, and Sheryl came by to help clean up. The clean up was really slow until we started pouring gin and tonics!

Wasn't that a party

It was a great night.

BBQ

So we always have known how blessed we are with friends, and they managed to surprise both of us during the party. They all got together and bought us an AMAZING BBQ with all the extras. John loves to BBQ, and it was the perfect gift. So thank you everyone!

You say its your birthday...

Cake time! John did some weird karate move and whacked all the candles on the cake instead of blowing them out. They shot in every direction, hitting people as they flew! Apparently he thought they were completely wax - but they were actually wood. Nice!

Chubby Bunny

During the hunt, Sheryl had every one come back to the house. They had to shove as many marshmallows into their mouth that they could fit while saying "Chubby Bunny" Travis won this part - no question... 16 marshmallows! Imagine!

Scavenger Hunt

Our friend Sheryl organized a scavenger hunt for the party. She had us all running around town in birthday hats and hawaiian leis! It was extremely creative and ALOT of fun. The jury is still out on who actually WON the hunt - I personally think both green and blue cheated (hah it is my blog and I can say what I want!) Prizes consisted of gift certificates for things like... a complimentary lawn mow from John Grey, a complimentary car wash from John Grey... Please people - make sure you collect on those!

Johnny's 40th Birthday

Okay, so I know this post is extremely delayed but I was having a bit of trouble getting our photos of the party loaded. July 28th, John turned 40 - the next few posts are some of the fun things that went on that day. These two photos are what his old pick up looked like parked in front of the hotel when he got to work! Our friends Kevin and Sheryl decorated it with big signs telling the entire town that "John Grey is 40".