Happy, Happy Birthday ...

I am officially baby-less in my house--right, 2 years old is a toddler?

I know Katie would like to change that, but I must say it feels good.

How crazy that two years ago we were in Texas. On Addy's and Marcus' birthday I was thinking about our experience there, how intense it was. I don't think I have ever written about what happened while we were waiting for Courtney to have her c-section. The twins birthfather (also, Courtney) came to the hospital with his mother to try and stop the adoption. The social worker sent Mark and I into the hallway while she met with everyone. After talking to them, the socialworker came into the hallway and told Mark and I the adoption was off, that the birthfather wanted the twins and that we couldn't do an adoption without his signature. Hiding our panic, we explained to the social worker that that was not Texas law. For some reason everyone we met in Texas thought 'law school'=lawyer and Mark's words were gold (even though I am the adoption expert), so the social worker suggested some mediation between us and the birthfather and his mother. I can't even think about how I felt, how my hands were shaking, as we met with them. The terror ended in him signing the adoption paperwork, I still don't know why. Maybe because we told him we would take him to court; maybe because he would have had to fight for them; or maybe it was because Mark and I got emotional when we explained to our children's birthfather that we loved them already, that we had everything ready for them, we had a mom and a dad together, that could financially support them. Whatever it was, Addy and Marcus are ours, and they are loved by everyone in their lives--birth and adopted family.

(Courtney (birthfather) came back a few times to see the twins and hold them before we left the hospital, he and his mother contacted us on the twins birthday last year and asked us to start sending them pictures and updates.)

The twins birthday this year started with a bang.

We had a mini-cookie party in their pre-school class.

Then after their naps we opened presents (and played with balloons).

Addy got a princess dress from Grammy, so Katie ran upstairs and put on her princess dress "so they could be princesses together."

After dinner we invited the neighbors over for cupcakes. They have a little boy who is 6 months older then the twins and all 3 of my kids love to play with him.

Friday Mark took off work and we headed to Tweetsie (a Western themed amusement park for kids-complete with Train rides and cowboys). Marcus was a little nervous about the rides for the first couple minutes but he quickly overcame his fears.

Please notice the seatbelts on this ride--yes that is a rope, tied, and Addy is trying to undo it, I spent the duration of the ride praying they wouldn't fall out and thinking about how much money I could make if they did--luckily my cautious not greedy side won out.

Eating lunch while we waited for the train ride to start

Marcus didn't enjoy getting locked in the jail as much as we enjoyed locking him in.