Those were the days!

I spent way too many hours last night (well early morning actually!) scanning hundreds of my pre-digital photos. My sister and I decided to have a slide show running on her laptop, at the party, of the two cousins and since I'm only a recent participant in the digital age I needed to get on to the task! I have already gone through the BIG baby blues and am very comfortable with the fact that these two little ladies are all there will ever be but one does get a bit nostalgic for those baby days while going through the photos! The thing about maturing is that before the BIG baby blues I would get nostalgic and feel like I needed another baby but now it's more like a longing to return to the time pictured in the photos. I struggle to find the energy to keep up with these two fairly independent souls and their schedules let alone an energetic toddler! Well, at least I now have a hefty pool of pictures to draw from for future posts :)!!! I loooove this picture of Mari holding her baby sister for the first time as SISTERS. We had gone and visited when Julia was 5 weeks old with Mari but had left her home for the pick-up trip. Good thing because the attorney had severely bent the truth on when the amended birth certificate had been issued and we arrived to find that she didn't even have the passport yet!! Luckily that was in an earlier era in Guatemalan adoptions when the Pink was issued on the spot at the embassy window once the completed packet was presented. (for the non-adoption crowd it was the color of the paperwork issued giving permission for the final physical and visa interview and thus the name) What was supposed to be a 3 day trip turned into a 9 day saga and poor Mari was waiting so anxiously back in Illinois with Auntie Peggy for her baby sister to finally come home.

Just look at how Julia is looking up at Mari!! All of the cousins had come wearing patriotic t-shirts to greet the newest member of the gang.....obviously it was pre 9/11 since you see they are all sitting in the gate area!!

My Mom holding Julia for the first time back when she was healthy and confident enough to leave the security of her living room. Tell me you aren't melting into those gorgeous eyes!!

Funny but I have a bunch of pictures of the two of them down on the floor hugging each other?!?! The sibling rivalry is pretty healthy so I forget these candid moments when it's apparent that they really do love each other. I'm thinking of trying to do up a poster of these shots to hang in their rooms so they can be reminded of how much they love each other!!!

This is so their relationship in a nut shell!! Mari torn between a big hug or a choke hold while Julia happily grins and plays along with whatever Mari devises.

Well I'm stalling here and need to get to a list of a million things that need to be done for the party on Saturday.