2 weeks home

The past 2 weeks since Fisher has been home has been filled with lots of things from smiles and fun times to some crying and not so fun times. Here are some pictures of our first 2 weeks together as a family of 6.

45 pounds and 47 inches

Visiting Tate in school on St. Patrick's Day -- everyone is green!

Not so sure about his hat.

Out to bike ride AGAIN!

Harper and Fisher.

Bike Riding.

My 2 little leprechauns.

2 seconds drawing with a new gift.

EB and Fisher. Note the drinkable yogurt. Fisher LOVES them.

No fear of Levi.

Fisher grabbed Tate and pulled him down to hug him and they were both smiles.

Love the "Family" sign that Tate made. He added Fisher as a star and wrote everyone's ages. For Fisher Tate added "new" and wrote 6 or 7 of maybe 8.

EB sleeping on her new soft pillows she had been wanting for so long.

All clean and hugging.

Harper doing her homework.

Tate wanted to read Fisher stories and Fisher wanted to listen.

Harper's all about me week!

Daddy and his boys.

My little artist Tate.

Yum Popcorn from Mr. and Mrs. Trimarco.

All bones!

We went super early to the MSI before it got too busy. Here is Tate running in a circle. He lasted 10 seconds.

Mommy and EB trying to relax. Can you guess who won this game of relaxation?

I love that Tate did his chart and entered in the people that were important in his life, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and EB. For the subsequent questions they were all EB. Never knew 2 siblings could love each other this much.

Object of this game was to make a self portrait of yourself using shapes. Tate wanted to do the real thing.

EB got it!

Fisher, Daddy and Harper.

EB trying out some wheels.

EB loving the best climbing tree ever at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Bowling Fun.

Who needs to bowl when you can hold a baby, especially one as cute as Brody.

Timeline to Fisher

Our Timeline to Fisher

3/16/11 -- Home together -- Family Day
3/14/11 -- Embassy Appointment and approval
2/23/11 -- Confirmed by Embassy
1/27/11 -- Additional Paperwork to Embassy
1/26/11 -- scheduled for Embassy
1/14/11 -- Embassy needs more paperwork
12/30/10 -- received BC
12/24/10 -- received Adoption Decree
12/7 -- 3rd Court Date
12/6 -- Fisher is officially ours
11/23 -- 2nd Court Date -- did not pass
11/12 -- First Court Date
11/4 -- Leave for Ethiopia
10/7/10 -- received court date of 11/12
10/7/10 -- got email approval from USICS
9/30/10 -- sent off documents for Request for Evidence to USCIS
9/28/10 -- Courts reopen in Ethiopia
9/21/10 -- USCIS fingerprint appt.
8/25/10 -- USCIS check cashed
8/23/10 -- I-600a Received by USCIS
8/20/10 -- Documents submitted to court
7/20/10 -- Matched Officially in Ethiopia with Fisher
7/12/10 -- Dossier sent to Washington
7/1/10 -- Dossier sent to IAN
6/29/10 -- LSSI received our home study approval
5/4/10 -- Homestudy done and sent to DCFS for approval
4/20/10 -- Last visit from social worker for homestudy.
4/13/10 -- Officially signed the papers for a waiting child, one step closer to Fisher.
4/9/10 -- Decided to take a waiting 5 year old
4/8/10 -- Couple interview w/ SW
3/25/10 -- Jill and Kids meet w/SW
3/23/10 -- Peter Interview for HS
3/12/10 -- Got fingerprinted for DCFS
3/12/10-- Training for homestudy
3/3/10 -- First meeting for homestudy
3/1/10 -- Signed with IAN
2/10-- Signed with Lutheran Social Services for our Homestudy

Welcome Home Fisher (and Peter)!

Today was a great day having us all together. Grandma and Grandpa met us at the airport or they may say, we met them at the airport. Peter and Fisher's plane landed early and they flew through customs and getting their luggage so they were all waiting for us since we had to wait for EB to get home on the bus before we could leave.

EB worked so so hard on her sign and we were excited to have it at the airport for Fisher's welcome home.

Grandma and Grandpa and Fisher.

Daddy and Fisher.

The girls cannot get enough of him. Hoping it lasts for a while but right now they are all over him!

Tate and Fisher -- cannot wait to get a picture of them both showing their missing front teeth.

Mommy and her boys. Notice the iTouch in Fisher's hand. He LOVES it and does not want to put it down. Thanks Uncle Joe, Aunt Rachel, Annie and Theo.

His first car ride. He jumped right in and buckled up!

Once we got home it was pretty much a mad dash with the kids running around the house trying to show him everything. He was so excited to find his bed and then EB brought in the balloons and off he went!

Dueling remote controlled cars. So much fun!

Tub time -- Fisher was not home long before we put him in the tub for a good cleaning. The boys -- love saying that -- had a blast together.

Off for some fun in the yard on the swingset.

LOVING the swing.

Back to the remote controlled car. It will need new batteries tomorrow. He feel asleep tonight holding it.

Tate was very nice and let Fisher try to ride his bike. After about 45 minutes of sharing we were in the car to get him a new bike. His smile would have melted your heart. Pictures of that to come tomorrow when we get it out of the car.

It won't take long to ride the bike!

Welcome home Fisher -- we are glad we are finally all together as a family of 6! As EB said leaving the airport, I think we are good with 4 kids but if we want one more, let's go to China for her.

My Baby

Fisher and Peter come home tomorrow and we are all very excited. Fisher may be younger than Tate but Tate and I have agreed that he will always be my baby. Here he is passed out!

Tate singing

Tonight was the spring concert at Ogden and Tate was excited to go and loved singing. He did a great job.

Tate and Mrs. Morkes

On their way!

Peter and Fisher are on their way. Poor little Fisher looks so so tired. They will be home in 24 hours and we are ready!

And he is out.....

Fisher -- Notes from Peter

I am loving all the updates from Peter! We have only had email the past few days but from that I got lots of information.

Monday night

So, Fisher's sleeping and I can barely grab some wifi from here on the
4th floor. Earlier tonight, Fisher discovered the video feature of
his iTouch. He kept taking video of the person at the desk and her
daughter. He was cackling, such a joker. Then they turned the tables
on him and videoed him. They're all saved (so far) so we should have
some interesting video when we get home.

Speaking of Jokers, we went to go downstairs earlier and he went ahead
of me, opened the outer door to the living room and left it ajar. I
stayed behind to get some supplies. I went into the sitting room, No
Fisher. So I headed downstairs muttering about not waiting for me and
he jumps out from behind the couch laughing with glee.

All day long, I could barely pull the iTouch out of his
hands. Then, late, afternoon, I finally get him to go outside to kick
the soccer ball around. One of the guards joined in (thank God). We
played for an hour, at least. It felt like 2. Even though I was
totally worn out, I was not going to be the one who called it,
Fortunately, it was dinner time, so I said we had to go in a wash.
After washing (and a comfort break for Fisher) he went over to the toy
suitcase and pointed. I said "what?" and he said "ball." You're
killing me, kid. I told him we needed to eat. He wasn't happy about
it, but as soon as the food was in front of him, he polished off an
entire plate of tibs and rice (sans vegetables) and 2 bottles of
water. When we got back to the room, he didn't say "ball" again. He
took off his shoes (a sign he's tired, I've learned). I got him into
jammies instead of the jeans he slept in last night. He crawled into
bed and 5 minutes later, he was out.

Tuesday

This morning, Fisher Weyesa and I had breakfast then played some
frisbee, then some soccer with two men. They were good, they
practiced hard with him (and showed off some) while I mostly watched!

We left with Alazar to go shopping at 9:30 this morning. Fisher came
with us, and we saw at least 2 other families form the Yebsabi (other
agencies) there with their children. It was no problem at all.
Everyone was very nice to Fisher and there were no second looks at
all. One man (after a particularly tough negotiation) even gave him a
small necklace. It was a little rainy, but no big deal.
He's wearing the mini boden hoodie, so he put the hood up.

We came back and I packed a little for our trip. He and I packed his backpack for
the "aeroplan." He understood we were packing for the airplane trip.
He is anxious to go. After I zipped up his backpack, he said
"aeroplan, let's go!"

On day 3, Fisher remains very sweet, kind and funny. He also seemed
somewhat alarmed when I got out of Alazar's car to exchange money at
the Yebsabi with him still strapped in. I came immediately back, said
it's OK and Alazar told him I'd be right back. Fisher asked for water
and I told him we would share the big bottle we had brought. He's
also started to be more talkative with me, trying more English-- he's
really good at it. It won't take any time at all for him to learn.