1.31.2011 - My little sickies

Both B & E have colds. Here they are watching Pingu. Aren't they cute?

On a not-so-cute note, I never seen a child launch snot out of her nose the way that E does when she sneezes. Amazing.

1.30.2011 - Korean food...

...yum...spicy pork bulgogi, rice, kimchi, dried seaweed and marinated cucumbers. My handsome chef of a husband is perfecting his recipes. We developed a love for Korean food when we worked with Korean students and now we can make it at home!

1.28.2011 - Happy Birthday to a Sweet Niece

January is a busy birthday month in the Reno/Johnson family. Today our sweet niece, Aaliyah, turns 10. Double digits, baby! If you know Aaliyah, you know what an amazing kid she is. She is so fun, wonderfully kind, patient, helpful, loves her family...I could go on and on about what a wonderful young lady Aaliyah is. It is especially a blessing for me to witness how much she loves our kiddos. When we brought B home, in order to encourage bonding and attachment, we didn't really have anyone else hold him, which was SO hard for Aaliyah. Her first (first) cousin and she had waited for so long with us and he was SO cute and she wasn't able to hold him and cuddle him! But she didn't love him any less. When E was born, I wanted to cry at how excited Aaliyah was to hold her!!

Both Chris and I continually praise God for Aaliyah. She is a blessing to us in so many ways. We love you, Yaya!

1.26.2011 - Siblings

B & E are just starting to "play" with each other. This may entail B being B and making E laugh in the process, holding hands, B making E roll over (he says, "Mama, I make Baby Sister roll like a ball!" - yeah, this requires a little adult supervision), B sharing his "bayntdee" (blanket) with E and so on. Too much fun!

(There were way too many cute pictures from this bunch...I couldn't pick just one!)

1.24.11 - Happy Birthday to the Man of the House

My handsome hubby turns 36 today! As I wrote on his birthday card that we delivered to his classroom along with balloons and some of his favorite treats..."Blessed is the man that fears Jehovah..." and we are so blessed because of his faithfulness, to God and to his family. You can see from these pictures what a great (and fun!) dad and husband he is. We are so thankful for him! Happy Birthday CJR!

6 months old!

This sweet little thing is 6 months old today! We love you Little Girl! You are an unexpected, blessed, challenging, beautiful gift!

First Taste of Sand

January 2011 - 6 months old














May 2009 - 7 months old

In the beginning

Although as the wife of an English teacher, I should know better than to plagiarize, I am going to copy an idea of an adoption friend of mine (who I have never met...but we do have a special connection in the forms of our 3 precious Ethiopian kiddos) and start posting a picture a day. This is only way I can think of to make myself start posting again. Facebook is so much easier, I am wondering if keeping this blog is worth the trouble. So here is my little experiment...let us see if I just manage one picture...

And, let's start at the beginning, 7 years and 1 month ago...this is how our little story began (if you skip me liking Chris for 2 years, the 9 day courtship and the 3 month engagement):

The day I married the love of my life. God is so kind!