...And the Stork has arrived....

Our First Family Photo

So, no need to hire Chris as your photographer when he is trying to hold a WELCOME TO AMERICA sign, and take a photo, he'll miss the star of the photo! He got me, and Bela's bags... you can't even see an arm or a hand. :) haha.


We went to Olive Garden for lunch.


Then we went to University Park Mall to get Isabela a cell phone.


Chris and Bela took naps when we got home, I went to the Grocery. Later, Isabela gave us gifts! It was like Christmas in August! There was so much stuff. Chris thought the flag on his sandals was awesome!


I got two pairs! They are so incredibly pretty!.. and they fit perfect. They are Havaiana's - Very nice and made in Brazil!


She even brought an Eco-Friendly shopping bag... which is perfect, I have three and this makes four! With one more mouth to feed, one more bag will be needed!


Here is Isabela explaining the book of Rio that she brought for us to learn with.


Chris' favorite thing in the whole wide world.. a hat! He loves hats.


We also got this Great picture for the house! It is so Pretty. We will soon find the perfect spot for it.


Many thanks to Maria (Bela's mom) for the jewelry! It is so pretty. There is a set of earrings and a necklace made of purple Brazilian stones. They went great with the white shirt I was wearing.


There are a few more gifts that are so great, I am going to get pictures of them while I am using them! I guess you will just have to wait and see....

Isabela talked to Thom, Rachel and Ashley on the phone today. The girls are very excited to meet her. I got to talk to her brother today as well.... He had very delayed trip back to Ohio, but he made it. Thanks for the b-day wishes. We will be meeting at some point during Isabela's stay. We have not set a date yet, but we are going to see him play soccer some time.

Special Delivery...

Friday at work I got 2 special deliveries!

Flowers from my Co-Workers (and a cake too!)


And Flowers and a balloon from my parents!


They smell sooo good!


Thanks again to everyone for their birthday wishes! I had a great one!

The Day Of Casi's Surgery...

This may seem crazy to everyone else, but to keep the kids busy during Casi's surgery, and to keep our own minds from the worry...we took the boys to Indiana Beach for a few hours. Here are our pictures.

Grandma with the boys and Austin's girlfriend, Courtney.


Chris getting himself pumped up for the day.


Devon and Courtney enjoy the rides that go round-n-round.


I thought Devon playing with the bell was just too cute!


He REALLY likes that ringer.


He still gots a hold of it...


Grandma rides the horses with Devon... Little does she know we saw her taking this photo.


There she saw us... We are the ones at the end of the line.


Courtney.


This is what we were doing while they rode the kiddie rides... Austin loved it !


He is such a roller coaster freak... he has been riding them since before he was tall enough... (cow boy boots with attachments on the bottom to make him taller...)

But still enjoys a kiddie ride here and there...


Devon rode like a big boy, all by himself.





What a great big brother, Austin helps Devon out of his seat belt after the ride.




The kids were mesmerized by the water show pirates.





Devon is making sure Uncle Chris saw what just happened...




Then we hit the water park for an hour...






Then Austin had to ride the Frog Hopper. It is a mini-dropzone ride that he loves.


Courtney is scared of heights. She did a very good job on it though.



Grandma and Austin also rode the sky lift thing. I had Devon and he wanted to ride, but he only wanted to sit on my lap and that was not allowed. So he screamed and we got off. Courtney is afraid of heights so she did not ride it. Chris walked her to the other side, Devon and I had to catch up, they were wondering what happened to us.

And as posted earlier- we got to the hospital with perfect timing....

Yummy-o Cookin

Let me just say that all of our dinners have been DEE-LICOUS! The Taco-Topped Potato - was the start of it... mmm... as the name says it is all the makings of a taco, minus the shell, piled a-top a baked potato. Yum! Then we had ham w/ brown sugar and pineapple (minus the cherries because I forgot to buy them) Yum! Last night we had pork chops with Rice and Corn on the cob that Chris got from Allen at work. Yum! For dessert Chris made his wonderful cobbler- apple this time... (which I know he still needs to get the recipe to you Amanda, I'll have him send it tonight, promise) Can I just say... Yum, Yum to that one!

Only 2 days!

There are only 2 more days till Isabela gets here! We are getting so excited! Tonight we are going to try and buy darker blinds for the bigger room because the sun just pours into that room in the mornings. I usually go in there to turn the light off, but it's not on it's so bright. We still have a few things in the closet to pull out before she gets here, but that shouldn't be too difficult. :)

She's Doin' Good

Casi is doing very well following her surgery. She has just been moved from ICU and has a room now. We took the boys to Indiana Beach per Casi's request, and are timing was perfect to go in and see her last night.

She was just waking up and already you could tell that she felt different. She looked around with one eye (the other is swollen shut) and asks, "where's my husband?" then she says that her throat hurts. I told her I was going to post her picture online and instead of saying no, she said OKay. I didn't have my camera, I was just joking with her.

Her motor skills seemed to be all intact, and her memory good. She talked, asked for Shane, held mom's hand, smiled, and I think she may have even managed to roll her one eye at me. :)

So THANKS to everyone for their wishes and prayers. I didn't post too much about her surgery sooner because it was her news, but This brain surgery was to totally get rid of Casi's seizures. Yes, they had to go inside her skull (if that don't make you queasy....) and play with something on her brain that they think might have been the cause for her seizures.

Now let's just pray for them to be right.

Pictures from the busy weekend...

So the busy weekend was every bit as busy as we anticipated.

It started early Saturday. We got our bag packed for the night, got all the cleaning caught up, had time to vacuum out Chris' car, and headed over to Sullair for the family outing. It was awesome. We only wished we had little kids with us to play all the games with... next year, we'll have to pick up a niece or a nephew or two before hand.

There were a lot of the those bouncy pits and blown up slides for the kids. The food was GREAT! We just had hamburgers, chips, Corn on the cob and pasta salad, but it was GOOOOOOOD. We also got a great gift for coming out.. it is a portable grill thing with a cooler and it is in a nylon type bag I guess... I'll get some picture of it later this week to post.



Here are more rides and a few game booths. There were many more around the grounds. All the game booths were free and the kids all got prizes.


The wall was pretty cool. There were way too many people in line, Chris and I wanted to climb it, but we also wanted to make it to the Derby.




Here is Chris with one employee George. We saw several others out there.


This is Chris driving to Danville.


This is me before I fell asleep on the way to Danville.

This is Casi at the fair in G-town.

Chris sticking his tongue out! We are waiting to get into the grandstands for the derby.

Kristina.

I take my own picture, then us girls head out to see what all the fair has to offer. Chris and Austin stay in line to get us some awesome seats.


ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRR, we have a great time at the petting zoo...

Silly Monkey...

Believe me, you don't want to pet this crazy gorilla.

So my batteries died as we are walking around. So I got no pictures of the derby to show you, but it was A LOT of fun. Austin loved it, and Chris was so into it, he was standing up cheering for his pick.

Early, Early, Sunday morning we met up with Dad at his semi. He gave us a bookshelf. It is pretty and will replace our current MOVIE stand.


Chris drove his dad's semi from d-ville to champaign. Then we all loaded up in the caddy and headed to Galesburg. We picked up Cousin Jay at the new Wal-Mart there. He was just passing through and was able to make it.



Grandma and Grandpa West



Chris was the Auctioneer again this year. We donated one of those NERF shooters kits with 2 guns and 2 vests.


There is Amy and baby Amber.


Jay plays Frisbee.

And there is his daughter throwing it back.

Dad gets into the field action and plays some kick ball.

So does Uncle Lloyd... look how high he gets that leg.

Chris and his My Little Pony Kite, maybe for his birthday I'll buy him a big nice kite like he wants... or maybe at least a boy kite.

Aunt Carolyn tosses the Frisbee around too.

Chris gets a picture with Grandpa.

Chris passes baby Amber off to her daddy Kevin.







Grandma and Grandpa with her brother Joe.








Family Photo, don't look too close at Lara, her face is all funky. Maybe some else had a better shot..??

Kevin and Dad are in charge of the Pinata... boy they had a crazy time trying to get it wrapped over a branch.

Aunt Nancy comes over to watch the kids play.

The kids try to pull the right string to make the candy fall.

Chris shows off his new cooler/grill that he got from Sullair.

Makenna holds the doll the Grandpa West won for her in the Auction.

Makenna and Aunt Nancy play with the bubbles she won at the auction.



Chris and the gang make plans for what to do with the leftover cookbooks.... EBay.... ?

Brent let Makenna drive the car around the grass. She did a really good job.

Before we left Galesburg we stopped over at Lincoln Park to see the Veterans Memorial. We found Grandpa's Brick for Serving.