New Year's Eve 2007

This year for New Year's Eve we decided to stay home in the comfort of our own home. We had a wonderful time with my parents, sister, brother and their families. We played "Are you Smarter Than A 5th Grader (I think I need to go back to school (ha ha), Taboo, etc" Toasted the New Years and probably ate too much food, but everyone including the kids had a great time.

Happy New Year!!!

Logged In for 13 Months

Today we were officially logged in for 13 months. Bitter sweet. Glad to have 13 months behind us, but disappointed that I feel we haven't yet made a dent in moving ahead. All in due time I guess. I plan on hanging in there. It's going to be a long...long.. journey, but it will be well worth it in the end. This is truly a test of patience and trust.

December Cybershower

Corinne, Joe, & Maggie Beth

Thank you for the very creative gifts. I love the moody bear. What a great idea, I didn't even know they sold these. All the gifts are so wonderful. The Pink Oink bank is so precious and I can't wait to start saving for her. The little reindeer slippers will keep her tiny toes and feet nice and cozy. I look forward to reading the Five Little Puppies to Kayla and putting her pictures in the baby bottle photo album. I also loved the Christmas Tree wooden puzzle. I received your package Christmas Eve just prior to leaving for my sisters and my little boy Rylan (2 1/2 yrs old) actually started crying cause he wanted the puzzle, so I hope you don't mind, but I gave in and he now says "mine" "mine".

Thank you for all the terrific gifts and I hope you and your family have blessed and safe holiday.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!

Each year my sister and I alternate who gets to have mom and dad spend the night at their house. We started this tradition 4 years ago and I cherish it every time. This year it was my turn for mom and dad (hip hip hooray). We all had such a wonderful Christmas together. I honestly have to save that I have the best parents. They are so wonderful and the kids can never get enough of grandma and grandpa "Pa".

After our celebration at my sisters house, mom and dad settled in at our house and then we prepared for bedtime. We made hot cocoa and then Craigy, our oldest, read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to all of us. Daddy sneaked out and when I looked up he was video taping Craigy reading the story. This will be a tradition that I will forever hold near and dear my heart.

Afterwards, the kids scrambled to their bedrooms, although once in there they were a little too anxious to fall asleep, so needless to say, Santa didn't come to our house till almost morning, but he made it (he he).

As you can tell, the boys were very excited with all their toys and Rylan got a bike.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Eve 2007

Every year we gather at my sisters house on Christmas Eve and have a big dinner of Ham, Turkey, casseroles, and all the fixings. We have our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We start off by eating at 1:30 p.m. and then after we have a full belly move to the living room to open up our gifts from each other. Afterwords we fill up on dessert and packup and head off to church and then head to bed in time for Santa.

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I love being able to sit by the warm cozy fireplace and take time for rest and relaxation and enjoy each others company. I especially enjoy seeing the excitement and watching the twinkle in each child's eyes as they open their gifts. Wrapping paper and boxes flying everywhere and the complete and utter craziness of the kids excitement.



I feel very blessed to have such a loving, caring, and devoted family. I can't image a Christmas without my family. This year was sad without Grandpa, but I know he's up there in heaven telling his oh.... so many jokes. He was a very special man and a terrific grandpa. We love and miss you Grandpa. Merry Christmas.

Thank you Secret Buddy for Dec, Jan, and Feb

It's a pleasure to meet my new (not so secret) secret buddy. I
noticed that you're from Novia Scotia. It's nice to meet others
from all over.

Thank you for our December, January, and February secret buddy
gifts. We loved everything from the soft fleece pink blanket, to
the Asian figure ornament to the personalized snowman ornament. I
absolutely fell in love with the snowman ornament that was
personalized with each family members name including the "waiting
for Kayla". That was so incredibly thoughtful of you. Thank you
also for the maple cream candle. I love candles.

Thanks again for everything and we anxiously await to see out next
surprise in March. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and Happy
and safe New Year.

Hair Bow Swap (December)

Thank you to the Campbell family for the adorable red bow with the festive green ceramic Christmas tree. I hope some day soon Kayla can wear it. It will look adorable with her black hair.

Thank you Bib Swap Buddy (December)

Thank you to the Darlington family for the most precious bibs. We received a pink bib that reads "I love my Daddy" oh, how I can't wait for Daddy to be able to wear this on his little girl. We also loved the red Christmas bib "santa's little helper" with the cutest little penguin. We are all so anxious for the day we have our little girl and little sister home for her first Christmas. We have a long wait, but we'll wait patiently for her....ok maybe not so patiently (he he).

Merry Christmas from The LeMasters

Wishing everyone and safe and Happy Holiday.

Review Room Through October 31, 2006

What's this mean? This means that we are now in the review room. It's nail biting time. I've so anxiously awaited this moment and now that it's here and I just want it to be over and hear that me and all my fellow November buddies made it thru with flying colors. Let's hope that this month gets thru review quickly, so that we can move on from Dept. 1 (Review Room) to Dept. 2 (Matching Room).

LeMasters Christmas at Kalahari Waterpark

Every year we spend the 3rd weekend of December at Kalahari Waterpark to celebrate my husbands side of the families Christmas. They travel from Chicago, IL, Edwardsburg, IN, and South Bend, IN and some more from Ohio, like us. We reserve a huge room 3 bedroom suite and usually 1 to 2 more rooms to accomodate all the family.

It's the perfect place to celebrate since its a 1/2 way point for all of us and the waterpark is really a treat with its gigantic waterpark to cater to every family member from the little babies to the grow ups. They have a huge arcade, pottery, mini putt putt, tree house play ground, cookie decorating, Santa, and a little lion cub that you can touch, dining, and so on.

We arrive on a Friday afternoon to give the kids plenty of swim and play time and then the following evening we go out to dinner and come back to celebrate our Christmas.

This year we had our dinner at Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse in Port Clinton, Ohio. They've got the best and mean the best hibachi food I've ever had anywhere. We all enjoyed their hibachi dinner show and tricks. The kids were all giggling watching them cook our food. From there, we came back and celebrated Christmas.

Here's a picture of the boys getting their big gift early. They weren't to sure about a wii, but Craig and I explained to them about how much fun it is to play (we of course, had to test it out...way too much fun) and of course, it helps that they not sitting on their tushy's while playing video games. My oldest son loves guitar hero III. As a matter of fact, he hasn't stop playing it since it got it. Anyone got ear plugs??? Just kidding.

Merry Christmas and wishing all my adoption buddies out there and safe and happy holiday.

Many Blessings

Christmas Cookies!!!

Mom and I baked our annual traditional Christmas cookies. We either bake at my sisters or my house. Sis could not join us this year as she was completely swamped trying to do interim report cards, so hopefully she can join us next year. We made Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge. After the sugar cookie dough was ready the kids rolled out the dough and made some pretty cute cut-outs.

My dad stopped by to TEST the cookies and before you know it Grandpa and his boys were rolling and cutting out sugar cookies. We all had such a terrific time baking, listening to Christmas music, and best of all enjoying each others company. My dad was a huge help with everything. He helped my mom and I with the cookies and even helped with cleaning and sweeping up everything. As you can tell by looking at the pictures you will notice that it was quite a mess, but hey, we all had a BLAST.

This is truly one of my favorite traditionals,

Gingerbread Houses

Well here's me and the boys making gingerbread house and well, Daddy's testing the icing to make sure it's just right (he he). We had a lot of fun making them.

Breakfast with Santa

Here's some pics. They're pretty hard to see cause of the light coming in from the window, but if I can scan the polaroid pictures they took I'll replace the other pics below


This morning we had breakfast with Santa. Craig and I and the boys, my parents, my sister and her kids, and lots of our friends all purchased tickets to the event. It was held at the local Applebee's and was put on by our local police department. It's a annual event and the proceeds go towards the police dept and the D.A.R.E. program. They had face painting, full breakfast, which is served by the officers, and the kids got to talk and and get a picture with THE REAL SANTA. They also got a goodie bag.

We all had such a terrific time and look forward to doing it again next year.

Christmas Shopping

Last night my sister and I ran all over the place and got a lot of Christmas shopping out of the way. Schewww.... what a great feeling. We had such a good time and it started snowing too, so that helped for getting us into the Christmas mood, while atleast until the roads began to get icy, but hey we had fun anyways. It was funny cause I thought...WOW...I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping then as I lay there in bed last night and started counting in my head who I still needed to buy for I realized I was only 1/2 done. Hopefully I'll be finished by next Sunday. That's my goal anyways!

CCAA Website Updated

Last night the CCAA updated their website that September 2006 was out of review. Someone from one the internet groups said that someone with a 10/31/07 LID has already been asked a question, so I'm hoping that they finish Oct. soon and move in and out of November even quicker. I know what I'm asking Santa Claus for!

McKinley Museum Field Trip

Today was Zack's field trip to the McKinley Museum in Canton, OH. Myself and Zack's grandpa "Pa" went with him today. The museum tells about the history of former President Wm. McKinley and many other historical things that happened in Ohio, specifically in Canton, OH.

Here are some facts:

**Wm McKinley was 1 of our 8 presidents from Ohio. He was our 25th president.
(The other seven are; William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding)
Wm McKinley was a former congressman and Governor of Ohio and then became president. He was well known as the only president to run his campaign from his front porch of his home in Canton, OH, so that he could stay close to his wife Ida as she was not well. People would come to him by rail instead of him going out to campaign.

Some of the other things we got to do was go to Discover World and see the dinosaurs on exhibit. They also had a planetarium that was really interesting. We learned about all the constellations, the sun, moon, mars, and the other planets. How to tell what star is what and find particular stars to know if your heading North, East, etc.

I've included some pictures from our field trip.

This Mastodon was found many years ago in Canton, Ohio! Here's a newspaper article on it. Don't know how well you can read it, but pretty interesting.