Almost there...

We’ve attended classes, given our life stories, had criminal background checks, been poked and prodded (seriously), fingerprinted, learned CPR and First Aid (again), taken pictures, given references, signed affidavits and been an open book to the State of Texas. Tomorrow we take the last 2 steps before our homestudy to become foster/adoptive parents in the Lonestar State—we have our health/safety and fire inspections.

We might have a house full of kiddos by summer time!

Belly Up

Busy Weekend

We had quite a busy Easter weekend at the Ramsey household. Friday we had the privelege of getting our car dented by a not-so-good-samaritan who failed to leave a note at a local restaurant. It's not a huge dent, but it urks me nonetheless and I can't quit staring at my poor, unsuspecting fender.

Saturday we ventured to Northeast Texas (4 hours one way) to see Tim's biological cousins at his aunt and uncle's house. Makenzie had quite the time playing with all of her cousins on "the farm". She got to see all sorts of farm animals that this city girl ain't used to, but she didn't want to leave she was having so much fun! Unfortunately, I got ZERO good pictures of all the kiddos together--it's hard to get that many little ones to turn and say cheese at the same time. We had a lovely flat tire on this side of Quinlan, TX and my manly man only took about 20 minutes of our day to change it and he didn't even get dirty!
Sunday, we woke up to see what the Easter bunny had left us at our house.
And then we ventured to Granny's to see what he left there and dye eggs with cousins.This is only the second picture of my teenage nephew holding Makenzie since she was born. I think he was only willing this time because we told him it would be a chick magnet!

3 year check up

Makenzie had her 3 year check up today and she was 38 1/2 inches tall (83rd percentile) and 36 pounds (86th percentile). She refused to talk to the doctor or even look in his direction, but we made it outta there with no crying and a sticker that made her smile.

More Artwork from March

Comparison

This year.

Last Year.

Birthday Girl

My precious little girl turns 3 today. I can’t believe she’s already 3! Now I understand the way my mother feels when she says she always sees me as her little girl.

Makenzie is just the little girl I knew she would be from the moment we first set eyes on her. She is very precocious, feisty and full of life. She’s so incredibly smart and it amazes me the new skills, words, expressions and even social conventions she’s learning every day. It seems as though this is a very concentrated learning time for her.

She loves to play outside with her scooter, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and swingset but she equally enjoys playing inside with her many baby dolls, kitchen set, and purses. She is a “people” person like her daddy and does not like to play alone. She is a nightowl and requires very little sleep, staying up most weeknights until 10pm and even later on weekends! Makenzie loves music and loves to dance any time she hears music no matter where she is.

Makenzie is very loving, but equally feisty when she feels the need to be. She will spontaneously tell me “I love you very much Mommy” and she likes to say her prayers at meals and bedtime.

We celebrated this past weekend with a party at Chuck E. Cheese. She had a blast and I’ll have to share pictures when I have time to get them off the camera. Tonight we went to On The Border and she was so cute when they sang to her!

Here's the cake I made!

She also is transitioning to a new school this week because her old school only goes up to 3 years old. This change has been very hard on her. She’s been at the old school since she was just a few months old and felt very secure in their loving environment. The new school is much more structured and “all business” and she’s feeling some fear and insecurity. She told me last night she was afraid of her new teacher and it just broke my heart. I’ve cried every morning all the way to work because she screams “I want my MOMMY” every morning when I drop her off. The class is full of her old classmates that have “aged out” before her, but it’s still very hard on her.