jbam life: 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

Just a few months of photos!

Hello Milwaukee! Since we finally have a working phone and internet, I decided to take a whole night downloading some favorites from the past few months worth of photos for you to see. Alot of these are out of chronological order. We are doing well and enjoying it here. Brian is loving school and the cold is almost here. Come and visit whenever you'd like (except the week of finals!)

Are you seeing a pattern here?? Ana loves to organize and line up things.

We went to the Children's Museum and the girls tried out all sorts of careers. This is their tribute to Grandpa...

to Adam...

to Grandpa Dave...

to Grandma Ann...

to Grandpa JJ (although he had a radio show)

and to Grandma Terri and Mom.

For Halloween, Ana was Strawberry Shortcake, and Mya was Supergirl (at their request).

I love this picture of Ana....

We had a ballet class at home and the girls loved it. I told Mya that if she learns enough at home, I would consider putting her in a class. Sometimes we pass the Milwaukee School of Ballet when we go to the grocery store. We like to watch the ballerinas through the second story windows and wish we were dancing!

This is Mya's first hair cut... she absolutely loved the attention the hairdresser gave her!!

Ana kept asking if she could get a haircut too, but I couldn't bring myself to do that yet.

This was when the girls were trying on Halloween costumes to see if they liked them. I told Mya she could NOT wear the wig outside the house.

I put their hair in spiral sponge curlers...

They looked in the mirror off and on all day saying, "I look like Mommy!"

I really wanted to buy this plaque...but I had decided NOT to buy anything except food these days so I took a photo for a future art project!

Mya and Ana absolutely love using umbrellas. This was at the zoo...

This cute hat we saw made me think of Buffy--- because I thought she could easily make something cute and stylish like this.

Bring on the wedding photos! These are just a very few of what I have...

Ana danced practically the entire night. She was the first on the dance floor, and one of the last. When Stuart would get tired she would switch partners or rock out by herself, but her favorite was dancing with Stuart by far. Poor guy barely got a rest!

Yes, that is a plastic yellow pork chop in her mouth. Don't ask!

Ana picked some beautiful flowers for me...from the temple grounds!! WHOOPS.

Congrats Rachel and Steven!

This was a nail bitter.... :)

Fun with Adam...

Rachel's surprise bridal shower...

Mini Golf with Adrienne

A Rutowski household favorite...

Jelly Belly Tour....Adrienne your hair looks GORGEOUS :)

Gotta' stop for custard as soon as you cross the WI state line!!

Our last day out enjoying Utah....

Ray Ban sunglasses model and Mya

Congrats Brian!

Way to go on finishing up your first semester with excellent grades, while still being a terrific husband and father. We are proud of you for all of your determination and hard work. Keep it up!

You are doing excellent! Way to go on writing some awesome legal papers and for making lots of intelligent comments to get the professors' eyes on you. Keep studying hard. We are proud of you!

We are on our way! We have rented out the house, sold the Neon, and are ready to leave the morning of Aug 14th. Thank you Adrienne for agreeing to take the journey with us. We plan to arrive the night of 8/15.

Brian's last day of work is Aug. 12th and his co-workers are sure going to miss him! Thank you for being such a hard-working provider for our family. We are VERY grateful. Our plan is to start driving to WI on the weekend of 8/15.

Brian's plan is to excell at Marquette so he can transfer after year one to a better ranked school like- Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, UW Madison, etc. He'd still like to go study with Marquette in Germany for a month before he transfers. We'll see!

Cornell is full for this year's class, but they encouraged Brian to re-apply next year as a transfer student. We are proud of you Brian!!

FYI- Seat deposits for those accepted to various law schools are due the first week of June, so the waitlisters are hoping to hear something during the second week of June.

for making the "Wait List" at SMU and the "Reserve List" at Cornell. Yes, Cornell is an IVY LEAGUE school in New York, and the #7 Law School in the nation. Way to go Brian!

for making the "Wait List" at the U of UT. We should have a decision by mid May from them.

We received word from SMU today that they are extending their acceptance decisions (instead of 4/30) to May 11th. Ugh! Since Brian hasn't been accepted or rejected yet-- this just extends the wait!!

Also, a deposit has been made to hold Brian's scholarship and "spot" at Marquette, just in case!

Marquette wants you and they are offering an $11k scholarship per year if you say yes!

...on getting your first acceptance to law school! Brian was offered a $15k scholarship per year to Florida Coastal--but we don't think we will end up there! We are proud of you!

..on completing your law school applications. I know it was tons of work, and your Personal Statement was awesome!! Now we just wait a couple months, so--no need to be stressed anymore!

...on being such a wonderful and loving husband. I appreciate all that you do for us, and I couldn't make it without you. Thank you and know that I love you so much!

...on an exceptional LSAT score! The studying paid off, and you are on your way.We are hoping to move within the next 6 months (we just have no idea where that will be!).

...for studying so hard, and completing the LSAT without running out of time. We know you did great and we are so proud of you! Scores should be in by January 5th.

...on getting the prestigious position as Deputy Clerk at the UT Federal Courthouse. Way to go smarty pants!

BS Healthcare Administration

We are so proud of you!

The Latest

12/10 Mya and Ana were sealed to us in the Salt Lake Temple which allows them to be a part of our family through the eternities. Thank you to those who were there with us, to witness such a special blessing.
12/8 Mya and Ana officially became Waymans as we swore in and officially accepted the responsibility of being their parents. Thank you to all those who attended the ceremony!
Mya and Ana will be sealed to us in the SLC temple on 12/10 at 7:20pm. Hope you can make it!
11/3 was the pre-trial to enter any success of the mediation to the judge. Grandma withdrew her petition as promised, and the final adoption date was set. BOTH GIRLS WILL BE OFFICIALLY (LEGALLY) ADOPTED AT 11:30AM ON MONDAY 12/8. I should know the sealing date shortly. You are all invited to the adoption at the courthouse, and to the eternal sealing!
The 10/30 mediation went well. Grandma agreed to withdraw her petition for a promise of visitation if agreed upon by us and Mya's counselor. Since Utah is a closed adoption state, the visitation cannot be court ordered, and therefore any visitation that we allow post adoption is considered "good will".
I have completed 2 meetings with very different types of Post Adoption Specialists. The first was with a DCFS therapist who gave me tips on how to develop the skills I need to better help Mya with her PTS and her permanency, attachment, and control issues. I learned that most of this needs to be resolved before the child turns 5 because of the personality traits and brain functions that children will have in place by then. I have my work cut out for me, but I know that it will benefit us so much in the long run! The second meeting was regarding programs available after adoption and paperwork. I found out that both girls will receive new birth certificates and Social Security Cards with their new names, etc. on them. I had no idea, but that's pretty neat. For those of you who don't know this already, we have chosen the names Mya Grace and Ana Elise. Although Mya prefers Mya Papaya--we already had to turn in their new names for the adoption petition, so it's too late now!
10/6 Despite our petition, the judge called for another mediation because grandma's attorney said he was confident we could figure everything out in mediation, and not need to go to trial. Mediation was scheduled for 10/30. Then we will report at a pre-trial AGAIN on 11/3.
10/2 Our petition for adoption was submitted to the court
9/29 This was supposed to be the Pre-trial to discuss how the mediation went. Since there was no mediation to report on, judge scheduled pre-trial again for 10/6. GAL requested that we go ahead and petition for the adoption before 9/6. She said that if there are 2 petitions regarding the same thing, the judge only has to respond to one. We are hoping she will choose our adoption petition over Grandma's guardianship petition, so that way we can proceed and have this finalized ASAP. We are hoping to have an adoption date within a week or so.
9/24 Mediation Scheduled. Neither Grandma nor her Attny show up.
9/15 The girls are now legally free. Almost there!

jbam life

Monday, November 9, 2009

Just a few months of photos!

Congrats Brian!

growing WAY up MAN

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