18 Months Old

So I have been working so hard on the Blog and adoption paper work that I have neglected posting on the blog! So here is a little catch-up:
Father's Day:
We had a great Father's Day! Ari made Ben a card (she loves to color) and we got him a new backpack that actually fits is 17.3" laptop :) Ari and Ben had some good father daughter time:

Ari is now 18 months old!
Sunday was her first time in nursery (the children's class at our church for the youngest children.) She did really well. She didn't cry at all, but she wouldn't eat her snack...strange :) She is walking really well now and can even walk backwards and run a bit. So she is completely caught up on her gross motor skills. She loves to play out side and roll around in the grass. Recently we had family stay with us and had the pack and play out for their daughter. I remembered that you could unzip the bottom portion of the wall and allow Ari to crawl through...it is her new "fort".
Ari has always loved music, but it is becoming even more evident. She has a list of songs that she has made up signs to and asks very frequently to sing them. She will even ask strangers. We were over playing at a friends house and one of the little boys was so confused when she kept saying "pee" (her word for please) and then doing itsy bitsy spider. I have been trying to capture it on camera, but every time I pull it out, she wants to play with it instead.

  I don't know if this will help you see how big Ari has gotten, but the left is 18mo and right is 14mo. She is 35 inches long and weighs 23 lbs. Still off the charts for height and right in the middle for weight.

She has also learned a new trick! She can somersault! She is getting pretty good.

We are hoping to adopt again!

So if you haven't noticed, I have been doing an overhaul of the blog because I am trying to get it ready for more traffic...
We have been approved by LDS Family Services to start the adoption process. We have a completed home-study and are ready for a baby, so all we have to do is wait...
It took about a year from the time that we were approved to when Arianna was born. We have been told that it usually takes longer to get your second child so we anticipate having to wait a few years. BUT we can maybe shorten that with your help. 
We don't have to just sit and wait twiddling our thumbs...we need to get our information out there. Please pass on our profile or this blog information to your friends and family. If you know of anyone who is thinking of placing their child for adoption they can contact us schoenan@gmail.com or our case worker, Paul Gale, at GalePR@ldsfamilyservices.org. 
We are excited to start this process again! 
I have a few goals for this blog, the first is to keep up with friends,  family, and birth-families, second is to let perspective birth-parents get to know us better, and third is to be some kind of help to other adoptive families. So along those lines please feel free to ask any questions about us, the adoption process, or anything you might want to know. I am going to try to do a FAQ post within the next week, so ask away! 
Thank you so much for all your love and support! 

Here we all are at the Cardinals Game...we had a blast!

Nauvoo Trip

We have had a busy last few weeks and even more to come :) I am changing the blog format a little, so be patient with me through the process. 

My Dad came to visit about 2 weeks ago and it was fun just to spend time hanging out.

Ari is still afraid of picked flowers, but she is slowly getting over it.

 Then last weekend we went to Nauvoo, Ill with my mom. The car ride was interesting to say the least:

Ari is pretty flexible!

Yes, Ari is watching My Little Pony.

We did get to see some sights too:
Ari has been teething lately and had a harder time on this trip than we thought she would, so we spent most of the afternoons in the hotel, but the weather was so perfect, when we did get out, we were able to enjoy ourselves.