jbam life

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Cafe Anya

On Monday I went to a cozy french nook named, Cafe Anya. The service from Waitress Mya was exceptional, and the food from Chef Ana was divine.

I am lucky that I can dine more often now that I am a stay at home mom!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Baby Photos!!

The girl's grandma gave me some baby photos of the girls, and i knew that many of you would want to see them! Here is little Mya...

And she actually didn't have too much of Ana...

And here they are today...WE LOVE YOU MYA & ANA!

and it's reminding me that I could be tanning today!!!!
I know that the girls love the snow, (Ana always walks as S-L-O-W as she can from the car to the house just to feel it on her face and Mya has to march knee deep in the largest piles even when a sidewalk is completely cleared) but as I was stuck at the mall today in the storm, with my car hood open, banging on the starter, I imagined for just a second that I was actually enjoying a warm day in Texas. It also crossed my mind that if we end up in Texas both Ana and Mya will probably not even remember the snow in a few years...but I'm willing to live with that!

Mya's First Haircut

Last night we took the girls to a PreSchool Safari Activity where they made all kind of necklaces and hats, hoola hooped, danced, ate pizza, and finished it off with a stick of gum. Unfortunately we had no clue that Mya was still chewing that piece of gum two hours later when she finally got to bed. This morning I discovered an entire piece of gum-- gooey and smothered into what little hair she had just above her right ear. Since her hair strands were surrounded by the gum, and we were both getting impatient trying the ice thing...I decided to cut it out before any more hair decided to latch on. So-- here is Mya's first haircut, although we weren't really planning on doing any type of cutting for a few more years. I will admit that although she has a little bald spot, it's not even that noticeable and definitely doesn't mess up her normal "do". No more gum for a long time!!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Her Mother's Daughter

We woke up to a huge snow storm this morning, so after dropping off Mya at school, Ana and I read books for just over an hour and watched an Elmo exercise video for kids. The crazy monsters jump all over the place for at least twenty minutes, singing and encouraging the kids to jump with them. After Ana jumped for about 5 minutes, she laid down on the floor completely exhausted and exclaimed, "I want a candy bar!!!"

Monday, February 2, 2009

Party Time!

On Saturday we had a "butterfly" birthday party with more family from nearby (yes- Brian loves butterflies, didn't you know?). It was lots of fun!

Brian chose the purple and pink cake to be his because it was a tad more manly--or is it? :)
I think Ana was "busy" while we were singing to her...if you know what I mean.

The kids worked on a dinosaur art project until everyone arrived.

Thank you for celebrating with us!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ana!

Princess Ana shared her birthday celebration with Dad, but she had her own strawberry cake.

Ana loves opening presents. She carefully peels then wads up each tiny piece of wrapping paper, without paying much attention to what is inside until she is near the end. I decided that she should get to wear whatever she wanted on her birthday, so she wore her Blue costume all day until the party, when she handed it over to Mya, so she could be a princess. Thank you to those who sent b-day wishes her way. She was soooo happy!!

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!