Visit with Nana & Poppy

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We caught up with Hayley’s grandmother, grandfather and great-grandfather from her firstmom’s family for dinner the day after Thanksgiving. Her Nana & Poppy live in Florida so it was a nice treat to see them on their visit up here! Hayley always loves to see them.

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Photos: Visit with Rachel

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Recently Hayley had a chance to hang out with one of her half-sisters from her first family. They went to Build-a-Bear, lunch and then goofed off in the mall riding their carousel and this cool bounce/jump thing. They had a lot of fun and it was a great afternoon for them to spend together.

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Photos: Castle McCulloch

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We went to Castle McCulloch to pan for gem, gold and fossil last weekend. We met up with Hayley’s first/birthmom, sister Faith and her first/birthmom’s husband Scotty. Hayley had been dying to do it and this place was a fun little adventure. She also took my camera and took a bunch of photos of the castle and grounds.

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Fifth grade graduation!

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Hayley with her diploma and fantastic teacher Miss Fowler

Hayley graduated from Salem Elementary last Wednesday and it was such an adorable ceremony. My folks and Aunt Cathie came, as well as Hayley’s first/birthmom, her husband and one of Hayley’s sisters. The kids did most of the ceremony themselves and I think it was almost as much about saying ‘thank you’ to the parents as patting the kids on the back. I just couldn’t believe how grown up she looked and how time had just flown by. I did love her teacher from this year and enjoyed hearing her share some wisdom with the kids. Unexpectedly, the class gave a thank you present to the co-room moms so I had to go up front, which we all know I dislike but this time, I didn’t mind. Also each child got an special award – Hayley got the Artistic award!

My favorite part was while the parents were waiting for the kids to file in, they had a slideshow. The kids picked a generic scenic photo and wrote a sweet note to their parents. A lot of kids picked kittens and puppies for their picture. Some boys threw in a baseball or skateboard scene, a few kids picked photos of beaches. Hayley picked one of my favorite photos of all time:

Her note was pretty sweet too. I was grateful I remembered to wear waterproof mascara. I’m so thankful to Salem for so many things – even when things didn’t go how I wanted them, they never stopped trying to make things better. The list of people there who had a positive affect on my child is very long. I’m sad to leave Salem Elementary after her six years there though but at least she won’t be far, just next door at Salem Middle.

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Photo: Hayley with her grandparents, aunt and uncle

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Hayley’s grandparents, aunt and uncle on her bdad’s side were in town for a doctor’s appointment in January and we met them for nice lunch!

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Photo: Hayley with her grandmother and great-grandfather

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Sadly Hayley’s great-grandmother on her bmother’s family side passed away earlier in the year. She was a lovely lady and I know her family misses her a great deal. While she was up in NC for the funeral, we caught up with Hayley’s grandmother Janie who brought her great-grandfather to visit.

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Visit from Hayley’s first family

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As most of you know, Hayley was adopted and we have a pretty open adoption with her first family. Hayley’s sisters, bmom and her husband, grandmother and granddad visited us here in November for a nice Sunday of lunch and goofing off.

I was taking photos with three cameras and for some reason didn’t end up taking the last couple of photos they posted for with my camera but we got a lot of cute ones.

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Photos: Visit with bdad Derek and family

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We had a great visit with Hayley’s bdad Derek, his wife, parents, sister and sons. We got some sun at the pool and ate pizza, then relaxed and played at home. Hayley loved to spend time with her brothers!

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Photos: Visits from Hayley’s extended family

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Hayley’s half-sisters came with her first grandmother and grandfather to visit during this Memorial Day weekend. My folks and Aunt Cathie came over to go to lunch together as well. Hayley was happy to see everyone and it was a nice visit.

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Photos: Visit with Hayley’s first/bmom and family

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On Sunday we met Hayley’s first/bmom Gloria in Greensboro with her husband Scottie and Hayley’s half-sister Faith. We had lunch, looked at some old photos and then took the kids to play at Celebration Station. It was a really pleasant visit. The bumper boats were a highlight for Hayley, she and Faith squirted all of us various times to their ongoing hilarity. I had my cell phone camera on and taped all four adults getting sporadically drenched.

Unfortunately some of my photos didn’t come out – the light is odd in those neon flooded places and a very strange woman who took a photo of the group and cut half of us out (i can get not being able to focus but aim??) So hopefully Gloria will give me a copy of that one and some other to add to this pile.

Videos on flickr have that little play icon in the lower right corner so you can tell they are video. They will play in the slideshow but it will be pretty crappy because it isn’t met to be looked at in that big size of screen. So if you go the page that is easiest to see them all, you can see it there.


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