Riley-you will be surely missed!!

Well, the time has come. Riley is back with his Mom. I was told this last Wednesday that Riley would not be coming home to us Friday evening that he would now be full-time with his mom. I was ok with it at the time but now that I have had time to think about him being gone for good I got really sad.

The last few weeks Riley has been moved into longer visits with his Mom. It went from Friday's from 8am to 8pm then Thursday after school from 12pm to overnight and coming back Friday evening to Wednesday's then coming back Friday's, then just a few weeks ago it was Monday's after school and coming back to us just over the weekends. Riley really started to struggle with the change. So this really is the best for Riley

I am just VERY sad that he is gone. I didn't think that would be this sad but I miss him. I know that he (I hope at least) that he is happy and I am sure he will miss Natalie & Corbin. I know they will miss him. I sat down with Natalie the other day and explained to her that Riley now lives with his mom. She started to cry. Although I am not sure why she was crying but I got a little sad for her. We are hoping that his mom will allow us to take him for at least an hour or so this weekend to say good bye and give him all his clothes and toys.

Riley will be surely missed. We loved him so much and always will. Hopefully we will be able to be a part of his life in the future.

Natalie's Birthday Party #2

Now onto Birthday Party #2: Natalie and a little Nursery friend have the same birthday, January 24, so both families went in together and had a McDonald's birthday party. We invited a majority of the nursery kids and they played their little hearts out. They each got a happy meal, then cake and ice cream. Yeah that was fun. The pictures tell all. She really had a great time and tells us all the time when we mention ANYONE's birthday that she had her birthday and who all came. I tell you she is too smart for her own good. I think we are in a run for our money with her. She is already into the "pretties". Daniel already has age limits for a lot of things set up like facebook, dating, etc. I just laugh and say you just wait. That will change.

Natalie is so into Dora, Diego and get this ICarly. Who ever knew a 2 year old would like icarly. She loves to watch TV. It will keep her distracted for a while. She already has her 2 year old attitude. She loves to see how far she can push me before I break. She also LOVES Daniel. She loves to cuddle with him in the mornings and watch TV with him at night (only so she doesn’t have to go to bed).

We are still waiting to hear anything from the Supreme Court. The only thing we can do is just wait. WE are almost through with out 3 month supervisory period for her so when we get an answer from the Supreme Court (and we get the ok for adoption) we can immediately set an adoption date w/out any other obstacles. So now we just
W-A-I-T!!! Augh!!!!!!!!!

Natalie going down the slide with India (India goes to school with Riley. I volunteered at the school for a few days and Natalie really attached to India and has ever since)
Corbin in the basketball zone-he loves balls in general-this was his favorite place

The Crew at Natalie's Party

Natalie LOVING her ice cream

"The Cake"

Natalie and her birthday girl crown and her butterfly balloon which she LOVES!

Natalie's Birthday Party #1

Natalie turned 2 on January 24 but since we had family up the weekend before we celebrated her birthday with family. She wanted a "princess party" so her cake was a "princess cake". When my parents flew in we did a little shopping at the Spokane Valley Mall. Natalie decided to wonder while we were all eating so part of her birthday present from my parents was a doggie backpack. She LOVES it because it is her backpack AND the doggie comes out plus she got bracelets (she kept stealing everyone's jewelry that weekend) Corbin even likes it. We got her a princess camera and a high chair for her babies. Then for her birthday and Christmas for the two kids (Corbin and Natalie) we are getting her and Corbin a play kitchen with some dishes and play food and a Dora Big Wheel. She also got an Elmo phone from Aunt Jodi (she will carry on a conversation with who ever is on the other side which is usually "daddy") money from grandma & grandpa Johnson and a $50 gift card to Macy's from her CASA worker.

CHECK OUT "NATALIE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY #2" FOR HER MCDONALDS PARTY

This is Natalie w/her doggie back pack. She really likes to wear it. We put all her toys in there and it goes almost everywhere with us.

These are the jammies that Grandma Aikele bought for the two kids. They look absolutely adorable in them so I had to post.

This is Corbin's new jammies. He looks absolutely adorable in them because it shows his cute little round belly.

The Newest Member of our Eternal Family

Corbin is now ours FOREVER!!! I am still having a hard time registering that he is my son forever. We sealed him in the Spokane, WA Temple on Saturday, January 16 and Blessed him that Sunday, January 17. It was such a fun weekend. My most favorite memory of that weekend was when we were brought into the Sealing room I looked around at everyone but the second Corbin spotted Daniel & I he started to cry and squirm out my mom's arms to come to me. So I was given permission to hold him. It was an amazing experience to be able to hold him in the sealing room. I really wondered if Daniel & I would ever have that opportunity to be in that room let alone being able to sit in a chapel with our own child and bless him as a member of our church. We are just so truly blessed. Thank you to all of our families and friends who were here with us. We had an amazing weekend.

Sealing & Blessing

Wow-in just over one week we will be sealed in the Spokane, WA temple to our beautiful son. I am so excited. I wish I could get more family up here but I totally understand weather and travel. We are excited to have some of our ward members be there with us. WE will then be blessing him that Sunday at our Church in Rathdrum, ID at 12:30pm.

The sealing will be Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.

The blessing will be Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 12:30 p.m.

Our Christmas Break

Ok, I will start at the beginning. We started a tradition last year (it was our first Christmas with ANY children) that we would start out by taking a drive to look at Christmas lights around our neighborhood and area then we would come home make cookies for Santa (of course eat a few) then watch a Christmas movie downstairs in front of the Christmas Tree (last year was Home Alone 3, this year was Polar Express). This year wasn't so "tradition" based. Riley spent a majority of the week (from Wednesday morning on to Friday evening) Christmas with his mom so on December 23 Daniel & I took the 2 kids and went on a Cruise to the North Pole. It is a holiday cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene where they set up a North Pole scene on the other side of the Lake with Santa and his workshop and the tallest Christmas tree. When we came home I wasn't really feeling the best and my ear hurt then by the time I got up on Christmas Eve my ear REALLY, REALLY hurt. So I went to the doctor to have them tell me I had an ear infection. So Christmas Eve we spent at home. Christmas Day was good though because I wasn't in pain until the next morning. I got up and was SOOO dizzy I felt so sick. So I took some Dramamine and felt better to have the same thing happen the next evening. So needless to say our Christmas break was an interesting one this year.

Anyway, Christmas Day was fun. Natalie really enjoyed opening her gifts. She wanted to help everyone else open theirs or do it for them. Natalie got a stroller for her babies but now that Corbin is close to walking he likes to push things around while walking which means Corbin & Natalie fight over the stroller. Corbin will push it round and get stuck. When he gets stuck he squeals to let you know he needs help. We have gotten to the point where we will make him get himself out of the predicament he is in so he will learn how to the next time. IT has helped a lot. Overall it was a fun Christmas. Now onto the New Year.

This is the two of them just after coming down the stairs and seeing their presents

Give him a few minutes to warm up. He just woke up

This is Corbin walking. He started at the Christmas Tree and kept going-he will be there by the time we go through the Temple. You go Corbin
This is one of Natalie's new outfits

This is not staged. They actually sat down and ended up back to back.

Aikele Family Reunion

We traveled to Blackfoot, ID for our annual family reunion in July. We had a friend of the family take some pictures for us that turned out really cute. I have published a few of the ones that I have. I know there were many more cute ones of all the grand kids but that would take years to upload. So here are ones of my family.

Eagle Watching

We were given FREE tickets to go on a seasonal Eagle Watch Tour on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We were really not sure if we wanted to take all the kids with us especially where it was so cold. We were told that this tour was specifically for young children and everyone got a free cup of hot cocoa. So we went. It was a lot of fun but not sure we would ever do it again with 3 young children. Riley spilt ALL his hot cocoa all over him, his pants, the chair he was sitting on, and the table, Corbin wanted to get down and crawl, and Natalie wanted to go walk outside along the boat so she could see the water plus they were ALL tired. What a ride. You had to have binoculars to see the Eagles so the kids didn't really know what we were looking at. I think the next time we will wait until they are older.

This is Daniel & the three kids waiting to get on the boat

K so I know there is an Eagle in this picture. They are so small the hare hard to see. If you look about half way up the pole then look to the left you can see a little white head.

This one also had an Eagle but I couldn't find it now. If I remember someone said it was somewhere aroudn the house.

This is just part of the scenerey while out on the boat.

Will this EVER end???

Wow-it has been a while since I posted. Well, October 30 came and went and two days later we heard from Natalie's Case Worker that the judge has granted termination of parental rights. We were absolutely ecstatic. So the file was transferred to an adoption clinician and the adoption process was ready to begin. Then we got word that Natalie's mom has appealed AGAIN which means the case now goes before the Idaho Supreme Court!!!! So now we are in the waiting game again. We now wait for the supreme Court to review the case and make their decision. There is some good news in all of this. This is as far as she can go she can't appeal anymore. Some more great news is that we can continue to work towards adoption knowing that there is an appeal on the table so that when we do have the final word from the SC we can immediately set an adoption date. We won't have to wait on anything else. So we now pray that the SC will see that there has been two other terminations and dismiss the case. We can only hope and pray. I strongly believe we are looking at middle of 2010 for an adoption.

Natalie Divyne

I am going to start from the beginning. Our first day of Divyne's termination hearing was October 16. Many testimonies were given but due to the amount of people testifying we were in recess until October 30. So today is October 30. Divyne's case worker said that it wouldn't make a difference if we were there or not so we chose to stay home with the kids and wait for the verdict. So according to the case worker court went well. Now we wait. The judge will look over his notes and evidence and make a decision with in a week or two. We have a prayer in our heart that the judge will allow this little girl to have some permanency in her life and allow to her to stay with us forever.