Thankful Thanksgiving

It was a special day as we celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Sophie as a family. We had a wonderful day laughing, eating, eating and more eating. Sophie enjoyed playing with cousins Jack and Mason and spending time with Bear and Belle. We are so thankful to have this little girl in our lives. She is truly a gift from God and each day never ceases to amaze us. We love you Sophie!

 Getting ready to host the cousins in her new dress! Thanks Bear and Belle!

 

 Happy face (thanks Emma) with Mommy

 

 Happy little family unit.

  

 

 Sitting with Bear, Belle, Jack and Mason.

 

 Tricia's spread. She cooked one heck on a dinner.

 

 FINALLY we have a KIDS table!!!!

 

 And the beautiful and awesome bird! Next year's cover of Southern Living!

One Year Ago Today

At 3:41am on November 25, 2008 that little red blinking little on my BlackBerry went off. An email....the one we had been fighting for finally arrived. It was one year ago today that we received Sophie's I-600 pre-approval which cleared the way for us to go to Viet Nam.  Here is the link from last year http://babybelz.blogspot.com/2008/11/woohoo.html

We love our life with Sophie, but the frantic pace we experienced getting travel plans etc ready was fun (after fighting with the USCIS). We miss the country of Viet Nam and all the wonderful memories that we had there with Sophie and the Duckers. We look forward to going back someday with our girl.

We have alot to be thankful for this year. From the Belz family, we wish you and your family a very Happpy Thanksgiving!

Family Night At The Blues Game & MeMa's Birthday

A Saturday night tradition in the fall and winter are the Blues games in St. Louis. Last night (11/21) was a great non-conference game against the Islanders who have not visited St. Louis in a few years. The three of us went and had a great time. Sophie loves watching the games on TV and in person. She laughs at the fights when they happen and says, "Not nice!"
The Note pulled of an impressive 4-1 win before a packed barn. After the game we went to meet with a few players thanks to Poppa! 

 Family photo op.

Sophie PROUD to wear the Blue Note on her chest.

Yep....she has made in on the jumbo tron AGAIN. She has been to 5 games!

Kisses to Poppa

The Cam Janssen Family :-). Cam is the first Blues player that was born here to play for the Blues.

The B.J. Crombeen Family :-)

T.J. Oshie Family :-)

Trish and Sophie went to Arkansas last weekend to spend a birthday weekend with MeMa. They had a great time! Unlce Bub and Sophie made the cake, had some PF Changs for dinner and spent a nice warm Saturday at the park.

 

Making the cake

A little tasting too

A masterpiece!

out for dinner

Big smiles with Mommy

TRICK-OR-TREAT! It's Halloween Time!

Always a favorite around our house, we had a wonderful evening with Sophie and her first Halloween! Friends joined us and Sophie was excited to "trit r treat". Well that was until she caught glimpses of the huge spiders, skeletons and other ghouls and ghastly gargoyles that adorned the houses of the neighbors as well as ours. The shrills and screams that echoed from the wagon were funny....We only hit 4 houses with her since it was in the low 40's but she received plenty of candy from those four. Three even made her special candy bags which we thought was really nice. This morning she was like a pirate in a treasure chest with all her goodies. PlayDoh and accessories, goldfish, stickers. You name it, she got it! Below enjoy the pix. HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Pumpkin Flag

The graveyard at 1058 :-) Looks even better at night all lit up, with sounds and fog.

Spider basket she got last year from Olivia Walker...Now she got to use it!

Yes, I am coming down the stairs.....don't laugh at my costume

Mommy and the Gnome!

Big smiles

What are we? Well we are OU Hoosiers :-)

Rollin' out yo! The Yard Gnome and Elmo! (Olivia Walker)

First house

Sweet! I scored CANDY!

More!

Just saw the HUGE spider....trying to jump out of the wagon :-)

Special treats from wonderful neighbors!

Hope your evening was SUPER SPOOKY :-)