Adoption of a 3yr old

I found this blog last night on a China group that I belong to. This mom is traveling home with her 3yr old boy from China. Reading her blog makes me very anxious and excited. When I watched the video it really hit home that we are going to have a significant language barrier. (I need to learn more than Hello, thank you and good bye)
http://cristofolettifamily.blogspot.com/

My favorite post is the one titled Update. Look on the right side almost to the bottom. I hope we have a tender moment like this one.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas pictures in no particular order. I think this may have been the least stressful Christmas ever. Enjoy!

The Grandmas try their hand at Wii bowling. It got a little dangerous when the tennis game was on.

Mia was very nervous about the arrival of Santa. She even slept with us because she was so scared of him coming into our house. After seeing all of her presents we were eating breakfast and she annouced that she likes Santa now. This was evidenced later in the day when she willingly held this santa's hand.

It wouldn't be Christmas without a picture of Paw Paw sleeping on the couch.

The dreadfully long Lowe's trip

It was buying time for a lot of the house supplies. Faucets, knobs, light fixtures, insulation............and more. So, when we had to go get the 3rd buggy I knew it was about to get ugly. I pulled out my new Christmas camera to try to distract our four helpers. This is what I got.




p.s. I haven't forgotten about the last 2 days of Christmas, but nothing dramatic has happened. I have nothing new to post.(Unless you want to see the Master Bath toilet that is in the middle of the bedroom) Mia gets a big kick out of that every time.

a step in the right direction

David and I went to the INS office to be fingerprinted yesterday. We have been waiting for them to mail us our fingerprint appointment since mid-November. We received it this past Wednesday. We were expecting a long wait at the office. (Being a government office) However, we were pleasantly surprised and were in and out within 20 minutes. As we were leaving David commented that he almost asked the lady if she knew she worked for the government. But he thought better of it! Since they still have more papers to send us.
Once our fingerprints clear they will send us a letter called a FDL (Favorable Determination Letter) that basically states we are good to go and can bring home an orphan and he will be declared a US citizen. This is the final step toward having our dossier ready to mail to China. Last time it took 9 days to receive this letter. We will see what happens this time. I expect it to take a little longer with 2 holidays thrown in those 9 days!

I did notice that my fingerprints had several lines across them. They looked like wrinkles, I asked the lady if those wrinkles were going to get in the way with the matching process. She said "No, they're fine, You people all watch to much CSI" Yes, I agreed with her, I probably do. I wanted to ask her if my prints would be run through CODUS but again, don't want to make the nice lady mad.

The recital that..... WASN'T

The hair was fixed just perfectly, the tutu was fluffed, the slippers were ready but apparently Mia wasn't.
It all started at drop off when she didn't want me to leave the room. Even though there were 14 other girls there wearing the exact same outfit ready to dance to Jingle Bells. It didn't matter.

She made it out on to the dance floor and then the tears began to flow. She would have no part of dancing on this particular Saturday. (See those crossed arms)

Oh but wait! After the recital she was all smiles for the camera. Ready to pose and twirl and show us all her moves

Luckily, there's a Spring Recital.

On the 10th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me...

Someone other than us doing the work

It was a joyous moment to walk in and see a "crew" tackling the mess. This guy was texturing the walls. All the texturing has now been done and almost all of the painting has been done as well. There is some trim to be done and some touch ups here and there.

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me....

4 helpful friends painting way into the night

Gayla decided she likes my "Latte" walls a Lot-A. (Guess you had to be there)

Valarie edges the pink room with her favorite edging tool. We'll hope she doesn't go blind from staring into the pink.

Stacy works to cover the boy's "art work"
Darla worked her roller magic in the master bedroom

I was there to but no one stopped long enough to take my picture. Wow! These girls worked hard and I sure am proud. We did 3 bedrooms and the hall in about 4 hours.

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me.....
helpful kids painting (walls, themselves, graffiti, each other, the concrete)

On the7th Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me....

Bathroom tile laid twice

Nice Job, But Oh NO! the tile is straight and not laid on the diagonal

Now, that's better don't you think? (Don't tell me you can't tell the difference, because I can)

The job was suppose to be done on the diagonal and apparently the tile layer didn't know this and did a lot of the tile before anyone saw. So, he kindly ripped it all out and then re-tiled this past weekend. I tried to live with it the first way but after about 3 hours of trying to talk myself into it while painting this bathroom I decided not to start "settling" this early in the game.

Elf Yourself

Zane found this Elf Yourself web-site and made this little song and dance number. Zane and I think it's hilarious. Especially the Paw Paw elf.(that's my dad)
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1504566579

On the 6th day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me....

A very open floorplan

This shot is from the gameroom looking toward the kitchen, See the big ledge on the left. That was actually a walk in wetbar. Complete with cabinets, shelves and a sink. It is now all gone....

This is from the kitchen looking out into the living room. See the white bucket on the floor. That's where the bar once was. I'm so excited to have the house this open. I can see "who started it" without having to leave the kitchen.

On a side note... all the kids have been asking to see Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I thought it would be a nice break to take them tonight. I didn't realize tonight was actually the opening night. Also, it was apparently the opening night for several other movies. I have NEVER seen so many people in line(s) at the movie before. I remember standing at the Charles Cinema and complaining if there were more than 6 people ahead of me. Well, my have things changed. I waited for 25 minutes just to get the tickets and then 2 more hours before the movie actually started because all the showings were sold out until 9:20. It was quite the event.

But, the movie was really cute and everyone really enjoyed it. Mia almost made it to the end. She feel asleep during the last 10 minutes, just in time for David to have to carry her across the back 40 to get to the car.

On the 5th Day of Christmas....

My true love gave to me...
A Dumpster in the driveway

And look what went in it....

Lots of Tile

and tons of BLUE CARPET.....It's gone Hooray!

On the 4th Day of Christmas....

my true love gave to me..... Four Kids at the dentist

I had to deviate from my theme today. I believe a 2 hour trip to the dentist with four patients and No Cavities deserves it's own blog post. (David took a break from the house, I don't fly solo on this type of trip.) Kaylee's behind the lady in the purple jacket. Getting the flouride that she obsessed over for several days. She hates that part.

They give each child their own pair of sunglasses, to help with the bright overhead lights. Did you notice the white Kilz paint on Mia's fingers? Yes, we had worked on the house earlier.

On the 3rd day of Christmas....

my true love gave to me....

A kitchen to gut

(Yea, I know gut is not really a Christmasy word but I what else can I say?)

Before

During

The after picture will come a few weeks from now. The cabinets will be in Dec. 21st. Merry Christmas to Me!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas....

my true love gave to me......

Lots of 80's Wallpaper, To scrape off


I am not kidding, I scraped wallpaper for 11 hours in just the laundry room. I even had help. Emily came over for about 4 hours as well. That night I had to take Ibuprofen and Benadryl to get to sleep, my bicep hurt so bad.

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me a big, old house to remodel....

The theme for this year's 12 days of Christmas will revolve around the current project that we are focused on. We've owned the house for about a month now and are frantically trying to get it ready to move in. We hope to be moved in by mid-January. We feel very blessed to be able to work on it and not have to live in a construction zone.

So Close

Westlake High School made it to the Superdome in New Orleans for the championship game. I told Zane that the team they are playing is also 14-0 this year. He said, "Well someone is going home tonight 15 - 0 and someone is going home 14-1." Sadly it was our Rams that has to make the LONG drive back home.
High School Football3A State Championship Game
Final Score:
Westlake 18

Parkview Baptist 19

Glitz and Glam

Mia was invited to Holland's Glitz and Glam Birthday party. Oh My! this girl sure had a fun time. She's been carrying around the invitation for a week, waiting for Friday to finally come. Well it was well worth the wait. The photos below show a little bit of the fun from the party today.
Let me start my spa experience with a soft, fluffy robe and a cold drink.

Sure! I have time for a manicure.

Getting my hairstyled

Gotta Get my make-up on!

Wow! Aren't we beautiful

" Raise the Roof" Was this a birthday party or a dream come true?

A true conversation

I overheard this last night while Trent and Mia were playing:
Trent- (With a pink clam shell case in his hand, Presents it in front of Mia and asks) "Mia Will you marry me?"
Mia - Takes the pretend ring out of the shell and says "Yes, Thank you for my ring"
Mia - "Hey wait, Take this back, I want a bigger one"
Trent - "Listen, You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"