4th of July

We have had a fun filled week! My mom came down on Tuesday and we have kept busy. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, I forgot to charge my camera so all the pictures are from phones :)

We went to the farm park. It is what the title implies, a farm that is a city park. Ari had a fun time. I think her favorite part was the chickens.

For the 4th we kept with tradition and went over to Ben's family's. I love that Ari is old enough to start playing with her cousins. Here are some really fun videos of them all:

Ari did really well with the fireworks, which surprised me. I expected her to be in tears most of the time, but she only had one melt down and then enjoyed the show.

The next day we went to the zoo. I had never been, but Ari has been learning her animals and I wanted her to see them in real life. She recognized the monkeys, elephants, and bears, and also learned what a giraffe was. We rode the train, but Ari didn't really like that experience...

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.

Ari is really walking now...

So Ari started to walk about a month ago but then stopped just a few days afterwards. I started getting concerned when we wasn't progressing and called the Dr. yesterday. She said we needed to get her into a neurologist and the one she recommended happened to have an opening today. So we took Ari into see him and you won't believe what she did in the doctors's office...yes, that is right, she walked. He said everything appeared to be normal and he wanted to check up on her in 6 months to make sure she progressed correctly. We will see what tomorrow brings, but I think it is safe to say, we have a walker on our hands :)

My sister Sierra has been here helping out for a few days...we have had a blast. (I think it has really been her that has gotten Ari walking). 

Arianna Photo Shoot

  Our friends came to visit us this weekend and Sarah is an amazing photographer. She took some beautiful shots of Ari and me. We had an amazing weekend and the weather was perfect :)

Butterfly House

We were able to take our first family outing, that Ari was really able to participate in!
We went to the butterfly house in St. Louis this weekend. Ari has been talking about butterflies so much we thought she would really enjoy it...and boy did she. She switched between sitting in silent awe and trying to jump out of the stroller yelling "Bai"..."Bai" (butterfly). You will see in most of the pictures Ari has her hands out...she really wanted those butterflies!

Family pic...it was hard to get her to stay still :)

Grandma!

Aunt Skylar!

Skylar found a dead butterfly...

I found a live one :)

Oh the pretty butterflies...

That one flew too close!

Chesse Face!

Ben's idea of entertainment...yes those are all cockroaches

We had an amazing time and would recommend it to anyone!