America: Land of the Free

Turns out joining the land of the free is pretty costly. For those of you who don't know, Ryan was born in Canada. He's lived here since he was a small child, but never actually became a legal citizen. About a year ago this finally caught up to him and it was time to make it legal. Here's what we had to work with:

• Has lived here over twenty years


• An American mother


• An American child


• An American wife


• Served in the American military


• Has paid taxes timely every year

Now, one might think all these things combined would make for an easy process. One would be wrong. It, in fact, became very complicated and very drawn out. Also, very costly. Because the laws change so much, the application we thought would be applicable, was not. So, do they have you just fill out a different set of papers? No, of course not. You have to start all over. Which means paying the $750 fee again.

So we applied, we paid, we waited. We applied again, paid again, and waited. then we waited some more. And then when we thought it was almost done, we got a letter telling us to wait a while longer. But last Thursday, miracle of all miracles, the letter came! Our application had been approved! Ryan was still at work so Oaklee and I decided to do something special. We sent Ryan this picture without any words:

Oaklee was really into it, as you can see. Ryan called me and was SOOO excited. We sent the picture out to our family to tell them the good news. Only about half of them understood at first but they eventually all caught on. The next day Ryan and I went in and he signed all the papers and was given his certificate.

Also, just so you know, when you become an American citizen you get a little welcome packet with a letter from Obama, a little American flag, and a copy of the Constitution. Special.

So! Ryan can now be allowed to have a driver's license again and as soon as we get him a passport we will be able to go visit his Canada family. He hasn't been up to see them since he turned 18. It was a very exciting day at the Webster home.

In other Webster news. Oaklee won't stop growing. She's getting so big! And I'm pretty sure she gets more adorable every day. On Saturday Ryan had to work so Oaklee and I hung out in our PJ's all day being lazy. This is Oaklee in our bed watching me do my hair. Is she not the cutest thing ever?

Oaklee LOVES playing wither her daddy. Last night he was singing to her and she was cracking up. She's a clever little thing though and is a master at not letting me get pictures of her smiling on camera. You can almost see this smile if her hand weren't in the way.



This is her mesmerized by daddy's crazy made up songs.

And then being all worn out from playing. It's a hard job.

Also, note to self. When putting Oaklee in the corner of the couch, ALWAYS interrupt Ryan's xbox game to make sure he knows she's there. Otherwise she might get a daddy on top of her. Talk about a wake up call.