2008 Was Great!

• The Mitchells became a family of four.
• Brian started his own business- Out South Wine & Spirits.
• Hotel Mitchell is still going strong - if you don't already know, this means we had family here about once a month, which means we are very loved.
• Brian continues to have too much work and too little time- a good problem to have.
• We are all happy and healthy!

We hope everyone enjoyed 2008 as much as we did.

Happy New Year!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. My parents were here for the long weekend and had a lot of fun with the boys. Santa was very good to our kids this year. Brice got a tent and sleeping bag from Santa. He loves his new tent, he took all of his presents inside of it to open them.

Brice also received a GeoTrax train set (thank you Sarah for the suggestion), more dinosaurs, rubber snakes, Hot Wheels and so much more. Rogan got toys, teethers, and new clothes. He is getting so big he is outgrowing everything in his closet.

Rogan's favorite gift was his bouncer he received from his Grandma and Grandpa Goldsworthy. He loves it and would stay in it all day if he didn't have to stop and eat every once in a while.

We had a lot of fun over Christmas and we are excited about spending New Year's weekend with Brian's parents. Happy Holidays!

San Antonio

We had a great trip to San Antonio. Rogan's hearing was short and sweet. Our parents were all able to travel down with us and be there for the hearing. We had a great time and we are all thankful for Rogan's adoption going so smoothly from start to finish.

Here are a few pictures from the hearing.

He seems happy to be a Mitchell!

It's Official

We had our court hearing yesterday, Rogan is officially a member of the Mitchell family! We're still in San Antonio and will post more when we get home. We just wanted to share our good news!

Merry Christmas

We're leaving tomorrow for San Antonio to finalize Rogan's adoption. Our hearing is Friday afternoon. We'll be back home for Christmas. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

The Mitchells

Briceman

The other night Brian dropped me off at the gym and took the boys to go pick up some dinner. They decided to go to Chili's because they'll bring your order out to your car and Brian wouldn't have to drag both kids inside and out into the cold. Brian said a young girl about 16 years old brought our order out to the car. When she got to the car Brice started yelling, "Hi! Hi! Hi!". She of course thought he was too cute and started talking to him so Brice started blowing her kisses. When Brian started to leave Brice started yelling, "Bye! Bye! Bye!". Brian asked him if he was flirting with her and Brice just laughed. Then when Brian asked Brice if he thought that girl was cute, Brice responded, "Oh yeah".

He's only 3, we're in deep trouble.

Our friend

Many of you went to school with Brian and I and we've known you for years. One of our high school friends, Jeremy Phillips, was injured the other day and we know many of you know him too. As a lot of you already know, Jeremy has coached wrestling since before we even graduated high school. He has built a large youth wrestling system in Neosho and has been the head high school coach for a while now.

Apparently, he was cleaning the mats the other day and somehow the chemicals he uses to clean got into his eyes. He has lost sight in one of his eyes and has very little sight in the other. He went to a specialist the other day and said it was discouraging. Jeremy is staying positive and said he will be alright and prays his eyes will heal and his sight return.

We're thinking about Jeremy and keeping him in our prayers. Please do the same for him. He's a friend of ours and he has done a lot for the wrestlers in Neosho.

P.S. Today is Jeremy's birthday, Happy 32nd Jeremy!

We were taking a few pictures this weekend and I asked Brice to let me take his picture. I would have liked one by the fireplace or the Christmas tree, but you take what you can get. He walked over by the front door and sat down on the bench and smiled. It was a little Christmas miracle. He hardly ever cooperates for a picture. I think it turned out pretty well and here's a few others we've taken recently too.

Bass Pro

We took the kids to our Bass Pro this weekend. They have a nice area set up for the kids with trains, coloring tables, Santa's village, etc. It is nothing like the Springfield store, but still fun. We were hoping that Brice would get to see Santa but he was on a break and the line was HUGE! Hopefully, we'll get out there sometime during the week and it will be less busy. Brice had so much fun watching the trains they had set up. He has always liked the fish tanks and the animal displays and we take him out sometimes just to look around. This time though, he picked out a few ATV's. His daddy is going to have to make a lot more money and we're going to have to get a house with a lot of land if he thinks he is ever going to have one of those. He had a good time climbing all over them and pretending to drive.

Update

Rogan is on the move, he has started to turn over and I know that it is all down hill from here. Next thing I know he'll be crawling. It seems like he is changing every day. He has started to coo and try to "talk" to us. He laughs out loud, which is my favorite! He is very ticklish and laughs while you change his clothes, it is really cute.

Brice surprised us both this year by actually helping decorate the tree and keeping it decorated! Last year I spent a lot of time picking up ornaments that he ripped off the tree and hid strategically throughout the house. I was finding ornaments under beds, sofas, in closets... Now he's every one's big helper. He helped his dad get out all the Christmas stuff and carry it into the house. He had to have a hand in carrying every box. I am also amazed that he is beginning to actually follow directions. It is mind melting to ask him to pick up his toys and he actually does it! Brian and I both almost collapsed the first time it happened. After eating dinner the other night he got down from the table and carried his plate to the sink. Brian asked, "Have you seen this?" It's shocking. Of course, he still has his wonderful 3 year old moments.

We're headed to Neosho for Thanksgiving, but will only be up there for the day. Brian is working on Friday and a half day on Saturday. It will be a quick trip, but we'll get to see most of Brian's family.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Decorating

We got a jump on our holiday decorating this year. I'm always the last one in the neighborhood with pumpkins and mums still on the porch. So this year, we decorated a week early. We usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, but Brian generally has to work Friday and sometimes a few hours on Saturday. This year we decided to decorate the weekend before then we would actually get a day of rest on Sunday! We'll see if that pans out. It sounds like a good plan.Every time we go to Wal-Mart, or anywhere with inflatable displays, Brice is in awe. He just looks at them, wants to touch them and keeps saying, "Oh, wow!" We decided he needed one, so this year we have a huge inflatable waving snowman in our front yard. He had so much fun helping his dad put it up yesterday. He kept saying, "wow", patting the snowman, and jumping up and down. He loves it!

Rogan was his usual helpful self! He slept throught it all.

My birthday

On the advice of our friend Val, we decided to visit Arkansas this weekend. We took the boys over to the Gentry, AR Wild Wilderness Animal Park. It was a lot of fun. Val blogged about it a week or so ago when she took her girls there and had a great time. We decided we'd go for the day for my birthday on Sunday. It is only about 85 miles from Tulsa, so we made a day of it.

Brice had so much fun. He got to sit on the console in the front seat so that he could see all the animals as we drove through and he even sat on his dad's lap for a little bit and drove. The petting area at the park is huge and Brice chased turkeys, goats, pigs and even kangaroos. Of course, you are supposed to approach the animals calmly and slowly but they made those rules before they met Brice. Calmly and slowly is not in his vocabulary. He went up to the largest kangaroo and patted him right on the nose. All the other kangaroos had pretty much cleared the area when they saw him coming.

It was a fun day and of course after we finished at the zoo we headed to a Mexican restaurant in Springdale and filled our bellies. It was a great birthday!

We're almost done

We had our next to last post placement interview today. We have one more on December 6th then we are off to San Antonio, TX to finalize Rogan's adoption on December 19th. After that, it's official he's stuck with us forever!

It's a long process and we're happy that it is almost finished. Brice's finalization took one year, we are fortunate that we are able to finalize Rogan's in 5 months. Rogan's birthmother signed paperwork that is allowing us to finalize early. We're traveling to Texas this time because the court system is much friendlier and faster. What a wonderful Christmas present!

Rogan is 4 months old

Rogan is 4 months old now. He went to the doctor today and he weighed 14 lbs 14.5 oz and he is 25 inches long. He is in the 50th and 55th percentiles. Rogan is smiling all the time and has started to laugh out loud. He loves to watch his big brother and smiles and laughs at everything Brice does. It is fun to watch Brice entertain him and Rogan react to it. Brice is my big helper and I sure appreciate it.

We're in Business!

Brian's store finally opened today. He, his partner, and their store manager have been working late nights the last couple of weeks to get the doors open. Today is their first day of business and I hope they do well. It has been a long road with licensing, build out and other unexpected delays. I know that Brian feels like a ton of bricks has been lifted from his shoulders. He's realized his dream of owning a business, now let's hope there are a lot of wine lovers and alcohol consumers living nearby who will become regular customers!

For Fun

I was on the computer today saving photos and cleaning up files. I came across these two photos and thought it was a fun comparison. Brian and I have been hanging out together for a long time. Enjoy, Brian and I got a good laugh at our own expense.

Now 2008

Then Prom 1995