A little of this & a little of that: FINALLY Time for Blogging while the rest of the household celebrates NFL Draft Day

Marcella donning her Ant Mask we made at our Tuesday morning playgroup...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.............



























Baba & Mar feeding the squirrels...




As a wise man recently told us "You have to take care of your Diad in order to have a happy & healthy Triad"....So, we heeded the advice and headed to Chicago for a "Date Night" ...we went for dinner at a Spanish Tapas Restaurant ...we walked around the city & did some shopping....we stayed downtown @ the Palmer House Hilton via Priceline....we had an AWESOME time...




















On our "date night" we watched the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"~~It was the funniest movie we've seen in a Looooong time. Quite possibly Ever. I was laughing so hard I couldn't wipe up all my tears fast enough, so I started using George's sleeve. Poor guy. By the end of the movie, his shirt was drenched with my laughter tears. At right, a "Sarah Marshall" taxi cab whizzes by...









A recent Brewers game...Marcella has been an angel at every game we have gone to this year. She loves yelling CHARGE when they do that little ditty over the loudspeakers.

We took our nephew Josh & niece Jessica to a baseball game this past week. Prior to the game, both were undecided about their opinion on this stellar team----after a spectacular game, an exhilarating finish, and awesome seats, they are now BONAFIDE BREWERS FANS!!!!!!!

~~NFL Draft Day 2008~~

Best Buddies

My friend Ayako watched Marcella this week, while I had a Literacy Event to attend. Marcella and Makoto had a blast, playing piano & hangin' out...

Scrapbookin'

George's sister Lubita is a scrapbooking afficionado. For Christmas 2006, she gave each of George's siblings (6 total including G), and George's mom, an 8x8 scrapbook entitled the "Circle of Families" Album. The only catch was that each scrapbook was blank. The idea is that each family creates a few pages for the scrapbook, detailing what is happening in their lives currently. After you've finished, you pass the book along to the next family, and they insert their own pages in your book, and then that family passes the scrapbook on to the next family, and so on.... When your book comes back to you, it will be filled up with the memoires of our entire family. What an awesome gift!!!

The only 'problem' is, as I noted in my first sentence, this was a Christmas present from 2006. When I last checked, it was April 2008. So, I am a bit behind the times. I have discovered that scrapbooking is next to impossible with a toddler tooling around. So, I asked Lubita to come and help me out with my pages, and to bring "babysitters" (AKA, Marcella's cousins).

Pictured below are Trevor and Nate, the coolest kats around, babysitting Marcella.

Forever Day, Part II

For those that might have read my previous blog regarding the Great Debate--whether to celebrate Marcella's "Forever Day" as Good Friday or as April 6th----I have good news. We have decided to celebrate BOTH this year.

Although we didn't do anything flashy or have a great big party today, April 6th was just a special day for the Kutschma's. We simply enjoyed the Spring Day with our biggest blessing, Marcella: we went on a couple of walks, hit the local playground, read "Happy Adoption Day" over and over and over (as Marcella proudly proclaims "AGAIN!"), had a delicious breakfast at "Antigua Real" (a local Latin American restaurant, specializing in Guatemalan food), gave Marcella a bath in order to wash off all the frosting she was coated in after eating her "Adoption Day" cupcake, and enjoyed lots and lots of hugs.

We are eternally grateful for the light of our lives, Senorita Marcella Kutschma...

Lyrics by John McCutcheon, from his book "Happy Adoption Day" :

Oh, who would have guessed? Who could have seen? Who could have possibly known? All these roads we have traveled, the places we've been, Would have finally taken us home? So it's here's to you and three cheers to you! Let's should it, "HIP HIP HOORAY", For out of a world so tattered and torn, You came to our house on that wondeful morn, And all of a sudden this family was born. Oh Happy Adoption Day!

HAPPY OPENING DAY!!!

Opening Day in Milwaukee is like New Year's Eve on HGH/steroids. (no baseball-scandal-related pun intended).





It is the day we dream of all winter long...


Although the day is truly about baseball, it is also very much about the parking lot. Tailgating, brats sizzling the morning away, mile long lines for the porta-potties, champagne corks popping, crazy opening day outfits (for example: a giant Saskwatch trotting down the street in a Ryan Braun jersey).


By the way, when you are the Designated Driver (as i was), the whole experience becomes much more LOCO (that's 'crazy' in spanish).


Go Brewers. Go Cerveceros. Spring Hopes Eternal.


Some Sights & Sounds of Opening Day 2008~~~

Hola...

Its been awhile! Sorry for the hiatus~~I guess time flies when you are having fun. Here' s snapshot of what we've been doing lately:


Parading around in fancy dresses...

Eating Vanilla Yogurt

Cruising around town with Makoto...

Staying at a hotel in Madison with
Auntie Micky, Grandma, and Uncle Luke
















Finally being able to break in our new rain (not snow) boots!!

Last but not least, enjoying the first Brewers game (and coincidentally the first Brewers WIN---against the Cubs, no less...)

the great debate?

Today is Good Friday.

Good Friday took on a whole new meaning for us last year, as that was the day we held Marcella in our arms forever and ever, por siempre y para siempre...

However, George and I have been in the midst of a big debate.

In adoptions, the date that you permanently receive your child is celebrated. It is commonly referred to as "Gotcha Day" or "Forever Day"... This date means so much to adoptive parents and children. It symbolizes the day your world changed forever and ever and ever...

Our dilemma is this: Last year, Marcella was placed in our arms--forever--on Good Friday, April 6, 2007. This year, and for many years to come, Good Friday will not land on April 6th. Soooo, do we celebrate "Forever Day" as April 6th, or as Good Friday????

I initially thought there wasn't a discussion to be had---for me, "Forever Day" should be April 6th each year. End of story. But George had the exact opposite take on the situation-->Good Friday is the day we should celebrate as it was a GREAT Friday (not the exact date of april 6th), and we will always and forever remember what we were doing on that one particular Friday in 2007...

And so the debate goes.

One argument to support celebrating April 6th is to equate it with people's birthdays falling around Thanksgiving. People don't say that their birthday is Thanksgiving. No, they hold true to their birthdate of November 24th, Nov 25th, 26th, etc. And when their birthday lands on Thanksgiving, well, i guess that is an added bonus (pumpkin pie & birthday cake). This was my argument all along...

Until today, Good Friday, came along..........

All day long, I have been reflecting back onto our experiences last year on Good Friday in Guatemala. I don't instantly think of that amazing day as April 6th---i think of it instinctively as GOOD Friday (GOOD, GREAT, AMAZING, WONDERFUL FRIDAY). I remember the celebratory and electric holiday spirit in the air in Guatemala City. I remember the butterflies (GIGANTIC torpedoing, butterflies) in our stomach as we raced to the lobby of the hotel to be reunited with Marcella; I remember seeing Marcella and her pigtails bobbing in the air as she bounced on Silvia's (foster mom) lap; I remember the SURREAL feeling of our first real and permanent moment of parenthood after Silvia left; I remember floating in the hotel pool that gorgeous Friday afternoon with our precious, amazing, gorgeous princesita Mar-Mar-------all of these memories took place on Good Friday.......

Perhaps the debate has resolved itself?.....