October Update

Do you ever feel like you're so far behind that you'll never catch up? Well, that's how I feel about our blog right now.....Here's a little update.
Halloween
Mad Hatter (Jared), White Rabbit (Jake) and Alice (Serenity)

Saturday afternoon at Treasure Cove. This is our favorite tide pool spot and its hidden most of the year except days the tide is super low. We always see something new. It was the first time we saw a live lobster and we saw 3 big jellyfish washed up on the shore.

Shane holding one of the jellyfish.

The day after Serenity's birthday she lost her 1st tooth eating an apple. 10 minutes later she lost her 2nd tooth! A few weeks after that Jake got his first 2 teeth, so we told her the tooth fairy took her teeth and gave them to Jake.

Serenity's Birthday was on October 24th, she is 6 years old!

Water Polo

Jared started playing waterpolo in May, 2 hours a day 3 days a week.

We like to tag-a-long and watch (when the baby lets us).

Kinder-Celebration

Serenity has officially graduated from kindergarten!

Serenity with her diploma

Serenity with mom and Jake (Shane was in Baltimore)

After her graduation we celebrated by going to lunch at Johnny Rockets. Serenity loves the nickle Juke-boxes!

Serenity the Monkey

Serenity is finally brave enough to cross the bars at the park!

Lately when we go to the park Serenity stands at the edge of the playground with her arms holding the first bar, she stands there forever and never gets the courage to let go of one hand and swing to the next. After awhile she gets a little brave and asks someone to hold her up while she swings across. The other day we were at the park with the "short bars" and she got brave and went all the way across!

Jake stayed in the jogger and played with Mooey. (Mooey is his cow that velcros on his wrist....the kids love to laugh at him when he whacks himself in the head with it.)

Learning to Ride

Shane took the training wheels off Serenity's bike. I'll admit, I was nervous (she being a bit accident prone). She did great, I shouldn't have worried.

Adoption Hearing

Serenity's adoption hearing was on Friday. It turned out to be a special day. It has been a long wait and we are so happy to have her be officially part of our family. We also were excited that so many of our friends and Shane's mom could be there to share our special day.
Brunson family in the courtroom

The judge gave Serenity a white teddy bear.

group photo after the hearing

Adoption Day - Update

Serenity's Adoption Announcement
(click on image for a larger view)

We signed the paperwork yesterday. Our official court date for the adoption hearing is February 19! (I just hope the baby can wait that long)

Adoption Day Comming Soon!

We found out today that Serenity's adoption will be finalized this month. What a fun surprise!

Serenity and I did a photo-shoot today to get a picture for the adoption announcements. She is such a cutie and looks so grown-up with her new haircut. (check out more pics from her photo-shoot on my photography blog - http://www.jessicabrunsonphotography.blogspot.com/ )

Mary Poppins - Practically Perfect

Serenity has talked about being Mary Poppins for Halloween for almost a whole year. She loves to watch the movie and sing the songs. I had so much fun making her costume. She looked "practically perfect"!

I found women's size vintage hand drawn patterns for the shirt and skirt and sized them down to fit Serenity. I love the gores on the back of the skirt, she wore a slip underneath to give some fullness to her behind.

I crocheted they scarf and sewed the carpet bag and the hat. Serenity saved her allowance and bought herself the parrot umbrella.

She loves her costume and has been playing "dress-up" with it every day since Halloween.

Serenity doing her "it's a jolly holiday" dance.

Serenity's Pincess Party

Happy Birthday Serenity

A Big Birthday Breakfast
We started off Serenity's birthday on Saturday by having breakfast at the Storytellers Cafe.

Shane, Jared and Serenity with Meko the Raccoon

Jared, Serenity and Jessica with Keni

Just Dance with the Sounds of Music

The "Just Dance with the Sounds of Music" recital was last week. Jared's piano teacher and Serenity's dance teacher are sisters and every year they put together a joint recital. Last year Jared played a few pieces in the recital and I remember how adorable all the little dancers were, and truthfully it made me a little sad to think we might never have a little girl. Its ironic that just two months later we were blessed with Serenity. I can't believe that a year has gone by already! This time we had a piano player and a dancer in the recital. Jared played FOUR songs! He did a great job and we were sooooo proud of him! Serenity had three dances. Que Sera, the Lion Sleeps Tonight and Uptown Girls. It was great and we can't wait to do it all again next year.

Snow

We had such a great time with my family for Christmas. Jared, Serenity and myself followed them back to Utah on Saturday. (Shane will be in Baltimore and flying to Utah Thursday Night). It snowed on Sunday and the kids were anxious to get out and play.

Sunday afternoon we went to Grandma Gwen's house (Shane's mom). The kids LOVE to jump on her trampoline. It was covered in ice and snow, but that didn't stop them from getting in a few slippery bounces.