Visit with Arianna's Birth Family

 We went up to Kansas City this weekend to visit with Ari's birth family.  We met Lindsey at the Zoo, and Ari loved the carousel.

Then we went out to eat at Five Guys. The weather was so perfect. I can't believe how cool it has been!

The next day we met Tyson and his family at a park  then went out to eat:

Tyson and his fiancee.

Also with Tyson's mom and sister.

I don't get to look at Ari and say she has my eyes and Ben's nose, so when we get together with her birth family, I love to look and see where she gets all of her features. When she was born, she looked so much like Lindsey, but as she has gotten older I have seen a lot of Tyson come out too.
 She is such a beautiful, loving little girl. I am very grateful to the people who gave her life and chose us to give her a home.

Deven's Adoption and Birthday

Deven Nicholas Petersen, age 7, avid tree climber :)

It has been a really big week in our house. Along with everyone catching a bad cold, we celebrated Deven's Birthday twice (party and actual day) and were able to officially adopt Deven. 
Deven's Birthday Party:
Deven turned 7 this year and we decided to celebrate with a water party. I made a giant water blob, filled the pool, ran the sprinklers, made a boat race, and bought lots of shaving cream :) We had a blast!!

Birthday Boy!

Cousin Ellie

Pure Chaos!

The blob was Ari's favorite!

Green Monster cake, no I did not make it

 

Deven got many presents for his birthday, all of them have been wonderful. Ben has particularly loved the Legos, while I have enjoyed the outside things. Deven got a rope ladder for our bigger tree and a platform swing.

 On July 9th we went to Lawrence County and adopted Deven. The experience was bitter sweet. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be Deven's mom, but the way it all happened was less than desirable. It felt like we were on a conveyer belt, and we got a stamp of approval on our foreheads. The state does not make a family, but I am glad that I can legally call Deven mine, even though he has been mine since he walked through our door.

We celebrated by taking the kids and Lance, Ari and Deven's cousin, to Incredible pizza. The bumper cars were their favorite.

 
And no blog post is complete without a little bit of Ari. We have been talking a lot about names because we changed Deven's name, so Ari has caught on to a lot of it. Please ignore her clothe-less state, it is hard to catch her on video when she is in a talkative mood. 

 
 We went to the butterfly festival on Saturday and had a good time.