FAMILY PICTURES AND HOMECOMING DANCE

                                                    Paige's 6th grade homecoming dance

                                                                    sassy,sassy girls

                                                             Ally helping paige get ready

HOMECOMING PICTURES

Two months home

Today marks two months from the day we picked Ally up from the baby home she has changed so much in the last few months the baby we met in the baby home would not smile or laugh or run or play now she is full of energy and is a very happy little girl she is a bit on the sassy side not sure where she could get that lol.It is amazing how well she has adjusted to all the changes in her life she has just acted as if she has been with us forever her language has already came so far she can say mama, Dada,bubba,Sissie,bye bye, no no, stop , you stop, dog, cheese, juice, paw paw  , Nana,poo poo,tee tee,Anna,crystal,hey,night night,morning,quarter,I love u ! Ok and more but I guess we don't have all night. She has bonded very well with all of the family it's actually cute if Johnny and I try to hug each other or sit by each other on the couch she will come sit between us and point her finger and say no no no you stop!!! And give us both a kiss . Paige and Lil Johnny are both doing great with her We are all enjoying having a little one in the house again. I will say it has defiantly added a little extra life to the house. I think there is nothing better than the sound of pitter patter of little feet running through  a house. She has filled a place in our heart we never knew was empty:)

                                                    THEN                       NOW   

                                                         THEN                NOW

                                                   TRIP THREE SHES COMING HOME

                                                      FIRST TIME PAIGE SAW ALLY

                                                        NOW THAT SHE IS HOME

                 

Pictures

REFERRAL PICTURE

                                                               ORPHANAGE PHOTO
                                                                     FIRTST TRIP

                                               FIRST TIME WE EVER SAW HER!!!!!!!!!

                                                            

                                                  FIRST TIME I HELD HER

 

                                                      SECOND TRIP COURT TRIP

                                                       

 

 

                                                             
                                                

Ally update

Ok let's go back a little bit since it has been a while since I have been able to post:

Paige and I woke up on the morning of June 26th it was finally the day we had waited   20 months for

the day we would go bust Ally out of the orphanage.We packed her bags that we would take to dress her in and headed to the lobby to wait for driver Mrs O. when she arrived we still had some running around to do before we could go pick up Ally so off we went to gatther everything  we would need to get her out I think Paige must have ask 1,000 times now are we going ? No not yet Paige !
What about now? No not yet ! And then the time came it was time ..............
We took the one hour drive to the baby home as we entered the gates to the baby home this is when I knew it was real my dream had came true the day had finally came we where actualy picking her up and bringing this sweet baby home where she belongs.We entered the baby home and Mrs O took the outfit to Ally's room and the caregivers dressed her as we waited in the lobby a few minutes latter we could hear crying coming down the hallway it was her :)  being carried by Mrs O she handed her to me and I handed her strait to Paige because I had had a chance to see and hold her before I wanted Paige to have this moment and boy was it sweet Paige busted out crying you could tell  it was love at first sight . The baby was crying Paige was crying I was crying the poor lady that works the front desk did not k ow what to think but it was a moment we will never forget! So we took the hour ride back to the hotel and she did great she never cried once she just looked around and just took it all in.When we got back to the hotel we learned that she loved baths
that night she went to sleep fine and slept with me and Paige. The first few nights there where no smiles but as the days went on she began to smile and giggle and we learned she loved fries and ketchup she is a real good eater and loves to play outside while we where at the Vlad Inn we took many walks outside and played on the playground.By the third or fourth day she was already waving bye bye blowing kisses making duck lips she had really came out of her shell and we could tell we had a smart one on our hands she was nothing like the baby we had met at the baby home.Each day that passed you could tell that she felt more comfortable with us and acted more and more like the average two year old everything from trying to flush Paige's I phone down the toilet to putting her toys in the refrig and remember when I said how shy and quiet she was when we picked her up well that lasted about three days :) now she is the sweetest spunkies little girl you will ever see and she keeps us on our toes. Ok so by now she has ate about all the fries at the Vlad Inn I'm sure they had to make a new food order and at this point Paige and I think if we eat one more bite of oatmeal or fries we will die because that was about our diet the whole 12 days
Yes I'm a great mom!The baby did eat good so I get points for that right? By now it's getting close to time to come home and it's a good thing because there is only so much discovery channel a girl can Handel and being that I don't understand Russian the other channels did me no good and we where missing our guys VERY bad if you know our family you would understand we are not away from each other much I have been married for almost 19 years and I think the longest I have been away is about 3 days so this has been a long trip so by day 11 I am just ready to be HOME!!!!!!!!So we started to pack our bags and prepare for the 30 hour journey home  we went to sleep knowing this would be our last night here in Russia although we where sooooooo glad to be going home there we would be leaving everything behind about Ally's birth country I did the best I could do and took tons of pictures of the city where she was born, Her Orphanage her caregivers,her bed she slept in
Kept a pair of her shoes she wore took pictures of us while in Vlad brought back gifts for her for when she's older from Russia and there is a plus she will even get to know another little girl from the same orphanage from her!We woke up and it's go time here we go me paige and baby in tow Ohhhhhhhh nooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can do this right ??????????
We get to the lobby and let me remind you I'm No titty baby really I'm not!!!!
But im one of them people that holds strong till everything is over and ok we'll I guess I had got to this point it was over everything was ok we where going home she was ours no one could take her!
So as Mrs O  started to give us the paper work to get her home I was tearing up Paige was looking at me and even said mom please get it together we are going home why are you crying!!We get in
the car and off we go and Ally just looked out the window my heart was beating and beating the same as it was when we came to meet her.We arrived to the airport and had to say goodbye to Mrs O and if 
you know her you will know it feels as if she has became a part of our family she has been with us on every trip so saying goodbye was hard we will always think of her and thank her for the part she 
played in bringing Ally home.So  after saying goodbye we went through security and went up to wait for our plane while waiting Ally decided to throw cookies at some Russians and you know I acted like I had no idea where that cookies came from lol! Paige was like mom :) I said they will never see us again!No need for the long drawn out flight details but lets just say after a few tears from Me a few MORE from  Ally!Paige saying MOM get it togather a man Russians helping with luggage some 
luggage getting kicked down the eskalador  Paige sleeping 11 of the 13 hour big flight I guess a girl needs her beauty sleep . But overall not too bad just a long  trip but when we hit Atlanta we got our 
second wind we got to talk to the guys on the phone and we knew we where almost there and had all of  our family and friends at the Mobile airport waiting.? This is the end of this post the next post I will post pict of us entering the airport:)

WELCOME ALLY JADE BOWEN

I guess late is better than never but I have been a little busy with a two year old!Our Gotcha Day was June 26th and she has done great I will post a few picts to hold you over till I have time to do a full post.