Thursday, December 29, 2011

Date night

We enjoy going out during the holidays because Hayden gets to spend time with his Grandparents and/or cousins while we get to spend time with each other. It's definitely a win win. We decided to go see the Christmas lights and it was such a beautiful night to be out. Kind of cold, but bearable. It reminded me of the night that Kyle proposed to me 11 years ago, almost to the day! What a great way to celebrate our marriage. I love my man!:)


Adrienne

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Traditions

We have a lot of Christmas traditions that we enjoy every year. But I think our silly string fight is by far one of our favorites. Every year, Santa puts silly string in our Christmas stockings. We usually wait until the morning after Christmas to actually have our fight because its too hard to clean up with all of the gift wrap, presents, food, etc... on Christmas day.  I think we got daddy pretty good this year! HA!


Our next fight will be the morning after Easter because that silly Easter Bunny loves a messy house!!

Adrienne

Monday, December 26, 2011

Cute comment...

With all of the paperwork, background checks and doctors visits that we have put into getting approved to adopt again, we've kind of had to keep Hayden up to date on our progress and exactly what we are doing (in terms a 4 year old can actually understand).

Today I was getting him ready for bath time and he looked up at me with an adorable little look on his face and said:

"Mommy, I'm so excited for our baby to come"!

Me too buddy, me too.

We are all excited for what this New Year might bring for our family. Especially Hayden... he is SO ready to be a BIG brother. He loves babies and he talks about "our babies" all of the time.  We sure can't wait to meet the little miracle that is meant for us! :)

Adrienne

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Our trip on The Polar Express


We decided to go on the Polar Express this year with Nana and Papa, my parents.


Our cute little man in his jammies and robe, "just like in the movie", Hayden said. 


Enjoying "Hot, Hot, Hot... Hot Chocolate"


There is so much about this picture that is awesome. First, it was the final picture of about 3 that I took that my dad's eyes stayed some what open. Second, my mom is trying to figure out why her phone camera is trying to film her and not Hayden, lol.  Third, the lady dressed in Pj's and reading a book was definitely one of Kyle's favorite aspects of the trip... NOT. And fourth, you can kind of see the attention to details that they put into the train- they even have waiters dressed in their "Hot Chocolate" uniforms. It was a really fun ride.


After singing a jillion Christmas carols, we finally got to see Santa after stopping at the North Pole. He even got his very own bell from Santa. Hayden was so happy!


Afterwords, we started singing The Twelve Days of Christmas! We were the French Hens and Hayden was a super excited French Hen, lol!


What a fun experience! We will definitely be going back in a few years after we have our newest addition to our family. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!


Love,
Adrienne

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Our message...

Dear Birth Parents,
Hello! We are Kyle and Adrienne. We just wanted to give you a little bit of information about us so that you could get to know us better.
Kyle and I met in high school when we were sophomores, although we were not high school sweethearts- I actually dated one of Kyle’s good friends! Throughout school we had several classes together and went on many double dates (we still have pictures of our double dates with other people). We became very close and hung out with the same group of friends throughout high school. We stayed in touch when we went away to college; eventually we found our way back to each other. We became best friends, started dating and then fell in love. Kyle proposed to me at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve 1999. It was just like I had always imagined my proposal would be, very romantic and we got to start the Millennium together. We have been married for twelve years and have enjoyed every minute of it.

A Note from Kyle...
We both come from large, very loving families. Adrienne is the second oldest and has one older brother and two younger sisters. Adrienne was adopted, as were all of her siblings. She has been raised by parents who truly are living examples of the blessing of adoption and have been a great support for us as we have started our own family. Adrienne is a wonderfully loving mother, wife and friend. She has many talents and is an accomplished singer, dancer and homemaker. Adrienne graduated with a degree in Music, Dance and Theater. She currently choreographs and teaches music at a local performing arts studio and loves to work with children. Adrienne also teaches private vocal lessons from our home. Adrienne is not currently performing in any musicals, but some of her more recent shows included Smokey Joe’s CafĂ© and West Side Story. Someday soon, Adrienne wants to open up her own performing arts studio so she can share her love of music, dance and acting with her own kids and the children in our community. She is very artistic and has spent her entire life sharing her talents through teaching and performing in musical productions. Adrienne enjoys all types of music and still loves to take dance classes to keep up on the latest moves! In her spare time, she enjoys shopping and spending time with her friends. Anyone who knows Adrienne would testify of her loyalty and caring nature. She is extremely dedicated to her family and focuses most of her efforts in life towards them. Adrienne is the best mom and our son Hayden is so lucky to have a mom that is so patient and loving. She spends most of her energy in life making sure that he is learning new things and growing up in a safe and happy home.
A Note from Adrienne...
Kyle is also the second oldest, with one older sister, two younger sisters and one younger brother. Kyle’s oldest sister adopted their first child, a little girl, as well. They have two little girls and they are excited to start the adoption process again and hope to welcome another child into their family soon. Kyle’s younger brother has two little boys and one on the way! All of the cousins just adore playing with each other. Both of our families are very excited for us as we continue on this journey and are very supportive and eager to welcome a new member into our family circle. Kyle is an amazing man and I am so blessed to be his wife. Kyle is such a dedicated and loving father. Welcoming daddy home from his work day is one of our favorite times of the day. Kyle received his Masters degree in Health Care Administration and is now working as a hospital administrator. Kyle loves his job because it gives him the opportunity to help improve the way that patients are cared for in the hospital. Kyle has a wonderful sense of humor and is a fun-loving person that everyone seems to gravitate towards. He loves to listen to music, especially his favorite bands The Killers and Coldplay. In his spare time he is teaching himself how to play the guitar and bettering his golf game! Kyle is an extremely talented athlete and loves to play basketball, football and golf. He is one of the most supportive people I know; in all aspects of our lives, we can always count on him to be there for us. I know Kyle will take care of me and our children no matter what. He is an awesome father!
We have already been tremendously blessed by adoption in our little family. We adopted our son Hayden, 5 years ago at birth. Hayden is the center of our universe. He brings so much joy into our lives. He is such an energetic and curious kid who loves to be around people, especially other kids. He constantly asks us “when is my baby brother/sister going to be here” because he is so eager to have a little sibling to take care of and play with. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments. He loves to sing, play soccer, ride his bike and play with friends. He is looking forward to starting Kindergarten this year and talks about how excited he is to become an older brother every single day!
There are many activities that we enjoy doing together as a family. We love to travel, especially to sunny beach destinations such as Hawaii, California and Florida. We try to find lots of family fun centers to play games at and we love going to children’s museums, the zoo and amusement parks. Some of our favorite days are when we just go outside and play in our front yard, playing catch or riding bikes. We like to try new things, especially outdoor activities like boating and we plan to take skiing lessons this winter. One of our favorite things is going to the movies, but our favorite place to watch movies is at home with a big bowl of “sticky” popcorn. We also have a very close group of friends that we enjoy spending time with, although we think the kids enjoy it more than we do. A regular weekend activity at our home involves playing all sorts of games, but always ending in some sort of family wrestling match. We definitely like to gang up on daddy!
Our parents are both very involved in our lives. We are excited to be able to spend Sunday dinners and holidays with our families. Hayden spends a lot of time at Grandma and Grandpa’s (Kyle’s Parents) and Nana and Papa’s (Adrienne’s Parents). Even though they won’t admit it, we know there is a competition for who is the favorite and the result is one spoiled grandkid!
Kyle and I are very involved in our church. Kyle likes to connect with many of the neighbors in the community around us and helps to plan different local activities and events. Adrienne works closely with the youth in the church and loves helping them develop spiritually.
After being married for three years, we began trying to have a family. It is something we wanted to have and share together for the rest of our lives. After trying on our own and with the help of many doctors, we were unsuccessful. Our dreams of becoming a mom and dad seemed so impossible. With much thought and prayer, adoption became a blessing which has given us our eternal family that we always knew we would have.
We want nothing more than a home filled with children- they bring an incomprehensible love. We hope to get them involved in many different types of sports and the performing arts. We will be supportive of whatever hobbies our children want to pursue. Both of us plan on showing our support to our kids by always being there for them. We will always be at their sporting events and performances, just like our parents were always there for us. Both of us want to raise our family with the same values that we were taught. Our home is a place where hard work and honesty are instilled. We will always stress to our children the importance of a good education and encourage them to pursue their hopes and dreams.
We are so excited to meet you and have been looking forward to the opportunity of getting to know you. We hope to spend time with you before placement and keep that relationship with you after placement. We are open to visits after placement and open to exploring our relationship and what works for everyone involved in the future as well.

Although it is impossible for us to understand the struggles that you are going through, we have gained a tremendous respect for the journey you are on and the challenges that are ahead. Our experience with our first adoption taught us a love for Hayden’s Birth Mother that we didn’t know we could have. She has been a tremendous blessing in all of our lives. We want to thank you for all that you are doing. Our prayers and thoughts are with you.
Much love,

Kyle and Adrienne

Friday, December 16, 2011

Meet Kyle and Adrienne

Kyle and I met in high school. We were good friends who hung out a lot and went on several double dates... with other people! We stayed in touch when I went away to college and spent many weekends hanging out together with our close group of friends.  After dating other people from different schools, we decided to go out with each other because we finally admitted that we "liked" each other. We were hooked after that... we spent the next 6 months together 24/7. We became the best of friends and still are to this day. Kyle proposed to me at midnight on New Years Eve of the millennium.  We had a short engagement and got married 6 months later. We've had 11 1/2 wonderful years together and we can't wait to see what's ahead for us and our little family.


After 7 years of marriage, we were blessed to welcome our wonderful son Hayden into our family. We adopted him at birth and he has made our family whole. He has been the joy of our lives for the last 4 1/2 years. Just recently we have all felt like something is missing. Our family doesn't quite feel complete yet. We know that there is another little person out there that is meant to make our family complete and we can't wait to meet them and make them a part of our family for eternity! This blog is our journey through adoption and we hope that it brings us closer to our special little someone so we can welcome them into our family.  Please help us complete our little family and help us welcome home our newest little miracle! We have been hoping for our miracle and waiting patiently for what feels like forever.



Much love,

Kyle, Adrienne and Hayden