The Journey of a Lifetime

Ryan and I have decided to pursue our forth adoption and add another beautiful baby to our family. We couldn't be happier and are thrilled! Join us in our journey in adopting baby Schlenner!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Happy Holidays!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our home to yours!!!! We celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior this Christmas!!!! It was the BEST Christmas EVER!!!!!! Having Magnus with us this year was definately extra special, too!!!! Here's some pictures......


Santa Claus came a couple days early to our house before he set off to Europe and left the kids their gifts in their stockings!!!! Some gifts were TOO big to fit in their stockings........

Ryan and I always have our "own family" Christmas the day before Christmas Eve. So Friday was our day to celebrate!!!! The kids played with their Santa gifts all day while I worked on dinner!

We opened our family gifts that evening. The girls opened their American Girl dolls and accessories.

Magnus loved opening his gifts that night....but then be didn't seem to care by the 2nd and 3rd day at the grandparents homes.

Ahnya was all smiles....

Jocelyn...always appreciative for the gifts.

And my Gabriella...had a very special night, too!

We celebrated Christmas Eve day with the Johnson Family at the farm!!! It was a super fun day! Always busy...and always fun!!!

Here's Nana & Bumpa with all the Grandkids.

My beauties.....................................................................

Ahnya and Harley are "naughty" and "naughtier".................................


We went to the Schlenner's on Christmas morning and spent the day there. It was another fun day and the kids in good spirits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happy Holidays and God Bless Us All...Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Happy Holiday Road Trip!!!

We have just returned from our 2011 Holiday Road Trip!!! And we had the most fun EVER!!!!!! We picked the two big girls up from school on Friday at noon and told them we were going on a SURPRISE road trip!!! My girls LOVE road trips and we always do crazy weekend get aways and never tell them where we are going until we get to the destination!! I've learned that they don't ask as many questions and everyone is eager and ready for an adventure!!! Anyway as bags and we went to the cities to stay downtown and see the holidazzle parade!Ryan and I always take the kids and watch the downtown Holidazzle Parade together-so it's no huge surprise. But every year we LOVE it! There's really something magical about it! Everyone has their hot cocoa in hand and has the Christmas spirit! The kids were bundled up tighter than fort Knox and we had a super time!
Ahnya and Magnus were happy and content in the stroller for the event!We spent the next day at the Mall of America and the kids had so much fun! Gabbi told me, "Who knew shopping could be this much fun!"We had an early appointment to visit Santa Claus on Saturday morning! The kids had an amazing time talking with Santa and listening to some of his stories. The kids actually spent about 25 minutes with Santa and it was so fun to watch! Santa got out of his chair and sat on the floor with all the kids because his lap wasn't BIG enough!!! Ahnya told Santa that Magnus was on the naughty list and that he was a rotten lil brother and he stinks! Ryan and I just pretty much died laughing! The two older girls are seasoned veterans when it comes to Santa visits and they are always very behaved! Not Ahnya! She is major work in progress.After seeing Santa Claus we took the girls to the American Girl Store! If anyone knows our girls-then you know they have been waiting and WAITING for an American Girl doll! I was boy-cotting the American Girl Store for years because I didn't really think my little girls "fit" the whole American Girl theme! I mean they aren't exactly "American" and the American Girl doll doesn't have adoption related themes....blah, blah. blah...I plain didn't see the point in our family. But they wore me down...and it's not about me and my beliefs anyway. They're little girls and they love their American Girls dolls!!




Magnus was an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G baby for this trip! He shopped great and sat in his stroller with his sister Ahnya the whole day without much complaint!

My friend Jami had told me the whole experience of getting the American Girl doll is actually GOING to the store with the girls and picking it out and etc!!! So with that advise (thank you Jami!) Gabriella had the BEST time picking out a doll that looked just like HER! And to Ryan and my surprise, she named the doll her Russian birth name-Yulia! Ok, American Girl has us now HOOKED!

Here's Jocelyn with her doll that she picked out! She picked one that looks just like her! Jocelyn said to me, "Mommy I want an Asian doll that looks like me!" And she named her doll, Ka In, which is her Korean birth name! I'm so proud of these girls because they are proud of their birth countries and heritage! I tried to get a picture of Ahnya with her doll but she wouldn't cooperate!


After that we went to Under Water World at MOA. They've done great renovations with the sea life at Underwater World! I was impressed! Very educational, informative and not as rushed as before!!

The girls loved the sea turtles the best! Ahnya and Magnus LOVED the hammer head sharks!!The kids ended the day with plenty of sugary sweets and we were all exhausted!! They ALL slept on the way home!! What a road trip to remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Today is the Day!!!

Happy Baptismal Day Magnus! Today we celebrated Magnus' baptismal day!!! He did wonderful...well as good as a 19 month old can do!!! He wore his silk Chinese outfit and was all smiles!!! Just adorable!!!!!!!!!

Adriann and Tyus DeBoer (my niece and nephew), along with our dear friends Kirstie & Paul were Magnus' God Parents! A special thank you to Angie & Carl and Trey and Bryce for being there, too! We love you guys!!!!!

Nana and Bumpa




Grandpa Bob, Grandma Peggy & Grandma Ro




It was a special day and thank you to everyone for celebrating with our family!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Santa Baby!!!!!





Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped by to visit the children in Marshall today!!!! It was so much fun to see Santa and Mrs. Claus!! We had lunch with them and even did a couple crafts!!!!! Our friends Avery and Julia were there, too! And we had lunch with them!


The girls and Magnus did great and there were NO tears meeting Santa!!!! Gabriella was more nervous than the younger two babies! The countdown til Christmas has begun and we are going to enjoy every single second!!!!


Happy Holidays!!!!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Baby Photo Shoot!!!!

Magnus had his first baby photo shoot and the pics turned out amazing!!!!!!


I just had to share a couple of my favorites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Here's his Chinese outfit that he'll be wearing for baptism on Sunday!



My favorite is this "panda" picture. Enjoy!

The McCorquodale Thanks-Mas Celebration


On Saturday we kicked off the holiday season with the annual McCorquodale Thanks-Mas (combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one!!!) Here's Gabriella is Nancy!!!!

Ryan and Magnus...Ryan doesn't look very excited...but then again Ryan doesn't EVER get excited!!!!


Jocelyn got exactly what she was hoping for from Grandma Ro!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ahnya was a character as always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


HEre's Grandma Ro with all the Great-Grandchildren!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for another fun and enjoyable time!!

So many things to be THANKFUL for....

Hope everyone had a wonderful and beautiful thanksgiving! Our family celebrated at Nana and Bumpa's house and then ended the day at DeBoer's for dinner. It was a beautiful day outside and we enjoyed the sunshine and end of the year popcicles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Adrianna is the photographer in the family and she is doing an incredible job taking pictures. Thank you Adri for the beautiful pictures you took!!! I will not take any credit for these pics...because they are amazing!!!!!! I especially like the very LAST picture at the bottom!!!!!!!!!!


Momma and the girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Magnus was TOOOOO busy exploring outside to take a pic with me!!!!! That's just one of the differences between girls and boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Girls LOVE camera's and boys RUN AS FAR AWAY FROM THE CAMERA AS POSSIBLE!!!!!!


All my babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Adrianna is going to be one of Magnus' Godparents at baptism next week!!!


At dinner we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. Jocelyn said she was thankful for 'God and Jesus.'


Gabriella is eating a delicious cornish hen and all the fixings! Gabriella said she was thankful for family, friends, food and Nicki!!


Ahnya said she is thankful for Chocolate Cupcakes and her family!!!!

This is my favorite picture of the day!!!! We took a nice walk to the barn and cut evergreen bows down for decorating at the farm site. The girls jumped in Bumpa's old farm truck with Deacon and hauled all the evergreen bows in the back of the pickup. So here's the pic of Deacon driving, with Jocelyn in the middle, Gabriella, and faithful dog Jack looking through the window!!! Ha!!! Cracks me up!!! Happy Holidays everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!