365 + 1

If you look around the internet you can always find something new to participate in. For instance, when I'm inspired by the world around me, or the boys, or even Dan, and it happens to be a Thursday, I will write a "Love Thursday" post. I've been known to do what one might call a "Meme" from time time, which is usually just a question & answer type post giving random facts and/or information that may or may not be of any interest to anyone other than myself. I've even taken part in NaBloPoMo this year, which was no small feat in and of itself. You might say, based on the lack of posts since November, that writing in a blog every single day definitely took its toll on me.

That said, the newest craze sweeping the internet (actually not so new, I'm just late in joining) is something called"365", which basically amounts to posting one picture every single day of the year. So why is this post entitled "365 + 1"? Well, 2008 is Leap Year, which means I could either a) take the day off on 2/29/08, or b) post a picture on that day as well. I've decided that I should really shoot for the stars and try to at least post a picture of something each day. Maybe me, maybe Dan, maybe one or both of the boys, maybe the dog. Or maybe it will be something random that we find interesting enough to photograph.


It's late at the MacDonald Clan's house though, so you will have to come back tomorrow to see pictures beginning from 1/1/08, and you may just get a glimpse of our view of the ball that was dropped in Time's Square, which we saw in all its glory (albeit from at least a half a mile away).

Merry Christmas...

from our family to yours!

One Year Ago

If you had told me a year ago today that Dan and I would be parents to Matthew and Nicholas I wouldn't have believed you.

If you had told me a year ago today that not only would we be their parents, but that we would have had the boys for 6 months already, I really wouldn't have believed you.

It's been an amazing year. We are so thankful...


I guess I should clarify this...December 20, 2006 is the day that Dan and I made the drive down to Sarasota to meet with our adoption agency. It is also the day that we signed our contract with FHSA, and began the whirlwind experience that we call our adoption. I remember saying to people right after we signed with them that we only hoped to be traveling by this time. Who knew we'd travel less than six months after we started the process? Who knew we'd be celebrating our first Christmas as a Mom & Dad already!?!!

Look! No Tears!

We've Moved! (partially)

I finally got the finishing touches put on the new home for the vn-and-back blog. You can now view it at http://vn-and-back.tazman.net/. I don't know how long it will remain on blogspot, and the new home has a couple extra posts that were missed when I first updated the original, so if anyone is referring back to it, check there first please.

Also, stay tuned, because we are planning on moving this blog as well in the future.

Bye Cathy!

My friend Cathy leaves today to meet her daughter Adelyne. It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked, so I don't know all the details of her trip, but I think that when she lands in China she will go directly to the orphanage and meet her little girl. I'm so excited for her, Scooter and Colton!

It's amazing the path that life leads us in...three years ago Laurie & Ed, Cathy & Scooter, and Dan & I celebrated Christmas without children, and this year we have 6 kids between us.

First Day Home...

We put the boys to bed last night around 9pm. That was about an hour later than normal, and certainly later than we had planned to do, but our routine was a little out of sorts having just come off an airplane three hours before bedtime...

The boys and I are all sick, and Dan is quickly catching our cold, so my mom stayed last night to do the night shift, which allowed Dan and I to get a full night's sleep. Wouldn't you know that last night was the night Nicholas decided to sleep ALL.NIGHT.LONG, and Matthew decided that he only needed ONE.BOTTLE.??? We've been doing two bottles a night for a couple of weeks now, so I hope they keep this trend up.

I think the boys are happy to be back in their own beds. The fact that they slept so well overnight is one indication, but they took two great naps (1.5 hours in the morning, and 2.0 hours in the afternoon) today also.

Other than their great sleeping, the boys have been playing with their toys and generally just hanging around. With their colds, they can't have swimming lessons, so we had a pretty lazy day around here.