Brian is Officially BRIAN ARLEY MIDDAUGH!

Introducing Brian Arley Middaugh! It is official. As of 0800 on May 21st, 2008, Brian is now officially adopted in the United States.

Here we are waiting for the certified copies of the final adoption decree. We left Wichita Falls at 0500 yesterday morning to head to Fort Worth so we could meet our lawyer at 0745. We made it in an hour and 45 minutes so we had a few minutes to spare. We met with the lawyer and she went over what to expect in the court room. We were the first case! The judge called us up to the bench and had Brian sit up on the front ledge so he could see him. We were all sworn in and then asked a few questions. Brian just smiled. You could tell he had no idea what was going on. He just answered yes when asked if having us as parents was in his best interest. The judge was so nice. I couldn't help but cry when they were asking us questions. I was so happy. We were back on the road by 0830. We stopped for some breakfast and were home by 1100. I wrote up a note to get Tiffany back in school.

We were originally planning on doing something in Dallas after the hearing but something better came up. Tiffany was going to be receiving an award at school. We had to have her back to school by 1:25. I am so proud of my little girl. She received an award for Student of the Month, Honor Roll for the first 3 marking periods and a Math award. I cried when I heard the math award. You see, last year, Tiffany had a lot of difficulty with math. SHe had to go to summer school for extra help. She is much more confident with her school work this year and I couldn't be prouder!!!!! She should get one more award when school is done and that is honor roll for the 4th marking period. They had to wait for school to end before saying who received that. School doesn't end until June 5th. Here is one of the pics of Tiffany getting her award!

I have to tell this story. Throughout the years, we have given Tiffany different nicknames. SHe has been called pumpkin, tiffbug, peanut, princess and boo. Our latest name for her has been Boo Bear. We have probably been calling her that for 3 years now. Well, Brian had his own take on it. At first, he was calling Tiffany, "Tiffa" but now, he has decided to call her Boo Berries. It is so cute especially with his spanish accent. Tiffany says she is embarrassed and doesn't want him to call her that but when you look at her, she just has this big smile across her face. It is like she doesn't want to admit that she likes the fact that her brother has a nickname for her. We told her to come up with a nickname for him and she wanted to call him "Melon Head" because his head is big. We told her she had to be nice so she is working on his nickname.

Another 2 weeks gone by!

For Mother's Day, we went to the Dallas Zoo!Brian loves getting his picture taken.
Here is my beautiful Tiffany. She is doing better at being a big sister!
Brian had cowboy day at school. We almost bought him the holster with the guns but then realized that probably wouldn't be a good idea to take them to school.
He insisted on having his picture taken this way. Toooo cute!

You know, I made a promise to myself that I would update on here at least once a week and I didn't think it would be that hard. Well, it is. WIth going back to work and taking care of 2 kids now, having spare time is a rarity. As for what has gone on in those 2 weeks, let me see... On Mother's Day, the kids and John took me to Dallas to go to the zoo and eat at one of my favorit restaurants (Macaroni Grill). We had an awesome time. I had told John what I wanted for Mother's Day and for once, he actually heard me. I really wanted to get away and do something special with just the 4 of us. A lot of other mothers must have had the same idea because the zoo was packed. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't have asked for better.



Brian is doing great in school. He came home with green on his calendar all this week! He has started learning the days of the week and will ask if he has school on that day. His teacher suggested he go to summer school but unfortunately, they don't start that until July 24th and we will be gone for at least 2 of those weeks. We promised we would work hard with him this summer. We did talk to the Sylvia Learning Center but they said they couldn't really help him. THey said it doesn't sound like he has a learning disablility. I was happy to hear them say he didn't have a learning disablility but I was also hoping they could still help him. That is when they told me they don't have a Spanish teacher. Brian doens't need to learn SPanish! John and I I will continue working with him like we are and several people have said they would tutor him so we make take someone up on their offer.



Thursday, we got a wonderful letter from Tiffany's school. SHe is getting an award! They haven't said what it is for. We have to wait until the ceremony. I am so proud of her. Hopefully, we will make it back from Dallas in time. The ceremony is May 21st! The same day we do Brian's readoption so Tiffany wasn't going to be in school that day. We have to be at court at 0745 and the ceremony is at 1:30. Our problem is the hearing and her school are 2 hours apart. Please pray that we make it to her ceremony on time!

One month down, many more to come!

Here we are, one month since bringing Brian home and things couldn't be going better. Brian has made great progress with adjusting to life with us as we have with him. I can't even remember what it was like without him. I am so proud of him. He really wants to learn English. Everyday, he asks to do his ABC's and we work on his numbers. He can almost count to forty with only a few mistakes. His teacher said he is doing better in school although he came home with yellow on his calandar for the day on Friday. He was talking. If that is all that he gets in trouble for then I will be happy. We did take his bike away from him for the day though so that he can learn that he has to follow the rules in school.

We have some wonderful friends here in Texas. First, let me start with my (Patty's) friends at work. They are awesome. I went back to work on Monday and they had planned a lunch. It was international foods and it was great. Of course, I over ate but I couldn't help it. Well, as I was sitting down eating my lunch, they whole staff came in and gave me a card and a big truck for Brian. As if that wasn't enough, the back of the truck was full of money! Brian had a great time with the money and the truck. They also gave Tiffany a gift so she wouldn't be left out. I work with a great group of people!

John works with a great bunch of people too! They had a welcome home Brian get together. We had cake and icecream. Brian ate 2 pieces of cake and I think he had a third helping of icecream. He loves sweets!!!!!!! No that is not all that we feed him but I think if it was his choice, he would eat icecream and chocolate for every meal. Here is the cake they had for us.

Along with the cake, they gave us a card from the whole staff. In it were some gift cards for Brian. Well, we decided we would take him to ToysR'Us and he could get what ever he wanted (to an extent). He had a blast. I think he was a bit over whelmed but he had a blast. Here is a picture of what he bought. Thanks to all of you at the Chapel!

Just a warning! Don't buy the markers that are made for kids and the bathtub. Brian had an awesome time making this artwork. Mommy and daddy had a terrible time getting it off the wall. We even used bleach to get it off and there are still signs that someone had fun in the tub. I guess we will just have to keep scrubbing it and maybe it will eventually come off!