Wanna swing?

In recent Caleb accomplishments (and extreme cuteness), I would be remiss to omit the following...



Next thing I know he'll be asking for the keys.

Oh, and he IS his Daddy's boy ~ just look at that tongue while concentrating!

Yeah, my boy is barefoot. Welcome to November in NC...

**Some day I won't be so tired at night and will be able to give Adam and Traci's "pre-schooler times two" shower the attention it deserves**

Things that make you go, "Hmmm"

So the other day Kylie decided that she wanted to write a letter to one of her China sisters. When she was finished I asked her if she wanted to sign her name so that Caroline would know who sent the note.

With no help at all from me (she's been singing a song to teach her how to spell her name since she could talk ~ it's the same tune my dad taught me to spell my name with), this is what she wrote.
To clarify, I have not worked with her on writing letters just yet. She's only three, I figure there is a lifetime of education coming. We have however used Handwriting Without Tears to form the letters for some time now.

I don't know if I should be proud of what she did on her own, or concerned that her letters are written backwards and in reverse order. If it matters, she does seem to be a lefty. Words of wisdom?

"My airplane friend!"

One fun added benefit of adopting ~ we've made new friends across the country! Friday morning Kylie, Caleb and I took advantage of being in the same part of the state to visit with a "Hanna Tare" (Anna Claire) and "Tate" (Kate) ~ friends we made last year on the way to and in China.

Kylie, Caleb, Kate, and Anna Claire
Four of the cutest kids I ever did see!

The last time we saw these two sweet girls was on November 5 of last year, the day all the other families in our travel group flew home to the states and we flew back to Beijing for our venture on our own in the capital city. And while it had been a full year, Kylie still frequently asked when she could play with her airplane friend again.

Ky and AC on Friday
Ky and AC looking like they are cooking up trouble in Beijing on the tour bus...

It was sweet to watch the kiddos act shy for about five minutes and then fall back into a comfortable rhythm of playing and giggling together.

"Really, do we have to hug?" ~ Caleb and Kate

Luke, Henry, Kate, Eli, Caleb, and Zach ~ the only picture I have of Kate and Caleb together in one shot from our trip.

And Pam and I sure enjoyed catching up on our latest adoption sagas ~ we've covered a lot via email, but it was nice to chat face to face!

All too soon nap times were calling our kiddos and we had to say goodbye. I sure hope that we manage to catch up with this precious family (and hopefully more of them next time!) again before another year passes. Besides, we want to meet sweet little Charlie soon after he comes home!

Preparations

So the kids and I spent last week mostly at Mama's house. Ian was working CRAZY hours with his team to get a demo finished for the Super Computing '09 (yes, there really is such a trade show!) Conference and there were many details left to wrap up for the shower I was helping throw for my sister. (Note to self ~ taking on a task like that with two three year olds in the house is not so easy...) I figured the best way to cope was to head to the refuge of Mama's house, knowing that there would be several sets of hands to help out.

I was right! We got in late Tuesday afternoon and had the chance to have dinner with some of our old Bible study group. Man do I miss some of those folks ~ we were together for the better part of five years!

Then as the torrential downpours continued on Wednesday, one of my cousins whom I've only gotten to visit with three times since we've moved came over to help me with some of the "artsy, decorating" details.

Mama watched our girls build a fortress...
...sweet Toby tuck in the baby that the girls left cold and shivering on the floor...
...and Caleb sleep...

(I didn't take a picture of him snoozing, but that gets shown here a lot, so I'm sure you have a picture in your mind)

while Monica and I caught up on life and got the stuff for the gift table done. Here's what Maylin's side of the table looked like on Saturday...
Thursday was grocery shopping day as trips to a warehouse store and the regular grocery were on the schedule of things to do as well as spending a few hours at NaiNai's house, having dinner with my sister (we missed Uncle Adam that night ~ his job is requiring some pretty crazy hours for him right now too), and starting some of the food prep for the party.

Weigh in Wednesday

Back on the wagon...
Not as low as my lowest, but down from two weeks ago despite the copious amounts of Asian fare I had to sample to make sure it passed the test for the shower. (I missed weighing in last week because I was at Mama's house and who packs a scale when they travel?)

My original goal was down to 150 by the time we go to China. However the time on that is far too vague for me to make real progress. So today I'm setting some smaller goals to help me get to that point. I'm aiming for 160 by the 18th of December. (Of course I won't weigh in the next morning as Ian's company Christmas party is at Ruth's Chris Steak House on the 18th...) So now I've said it, time to start choosing salads and plan to walk a few miles after the meal next Thursday!

By the way, today marks 35 days since LID. I'm trying so to be patient, but counting down to an unknown number of days is making me crazy. I've seen LOAs (final approvals for those of you not in the waiting child program lingo) come in as little as 43 days and as many as 118 days. And then from LOA to travel is still about two months at best. I pray now that we will at least be with Darcy in China on her 3rd birthday...

Facing the morning

At our house it comes in two styles:

Full on embrace...

Raring and ready to face the day!

...and denial!

Begging for five more minutes of shut-eye!

(Oh, and when I say there are two styles, that does mean that both parents fall into one of those two categories as well...)

But once my cherubs are fully awake, they greet one another whole heartedly. This morning I was brushing my teeth and came back into my bedroom to find them laying on my bed, nose to nose, saying "Good Morning, I Love you!" to each other. A year ago I would have told you that would NEVER happen!

And then, just because I think it is pretty stinkin' funny, a smiling shot of each...

Don't you just love that little dimple?
Yes, he did it to himself...

Groceries are purchased and put away, laundry from the weekend is done, Maya has been on a 45 minute walk, the house is straightened and in reasonable order, hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up on blogging about last week during post Pre-school nap time...

and the LBC giveaway winner is...

...Nancy!

Nancy, send me an email and we'll decide for sure what I'll be sending you this week!

Thanks to everyone who helped us get the word out! And if you haven't headed to her site just yet, get on over to

and get shopping! Christmas is coming you know...

Lots more to come! Once again I find myself pathetically behind in blogging. This time it is due to being out of town ~ the kids and I were at Mama's from Tuesday until last night and she has no internet access at her house. (The two posts that appeared while I was gone were due to the cool feature of being able to post ahead...) I've got a lot to catch up on ~many cute moments I caught of my kids with friends while we were "back home" and the celebration of Pierson and Maylin ~ but for tonight it it off to bed at a reasonable time. I'm still exhausted from last week!

Loved by Choice Designs launch!

Do you:

Like beautiful jade bracelets?

Enjoy a comfy t-shirt promoting a message of love?

Find yourself looking for meaningful artwork for your child's room?

Want a handcrafted journal or photo album to record some of your precious memories?

If you answered yes to any (or like me ~ all) of these questions, then get yourself over to my sister's website, Loved by Choice Designs! Traci is using her talent as an artist to make (or have made) some items to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Taiwan to bring home Pierson and Maylin. She is also setting aside a portion of her profits to donate to in order to assist other families in completing their adoption dreams.

Please get on over and shop and spread the word! And as you do, remember that you are helping to bring these sweet kids,









my niece, Maylin, and nephew, Pierson, home to their forever family!


Yes, that is as big as I can make the pictures ~ the images for their referral came via email and the agency sent them to Adam and Traci frustratingly small...

And because we are celebrating Pierson and Maylin this weekend with a shower for Adam and Traci, I'm feeling generous and want to give something from her site away. Help us get the word out and you will be entered to win! Head over to Loved by Choice Designs and look around.

Leave me a comment on what one item you want the most. That will get you one entry. For a second entry, grab the Loved by Choice Designs button below and put it on your blog. And for a third entry, write a blurb on your blog about Loved by Choice Designs and provide a link back to LbC. (Just be sure to leave me a comment with a link to your blog to verify your entry!) You can enter until 10pm EST Sunday night (Nov. 15th).

To add to your blog or site a button like this:

Copy this code and paste it where you want the button:
<center><a href="http://lovedbychoicedesigns.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Loved By Choice Designs" src="http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad122/lbcdimg1/lbcd_button.png?t=1257839731"/></a></center>

Happy shopping!

Abbey's birthday party

As a family, we are blessed to have a few families "that look like ours" that we have become dear friends with. One of these precious families is the family of Kylie's good friend (and Caleb's "partner in crime") "China Abbey."
Now before you go thinking that it is totally un-PC for Ky to call Abbey that, in her defense she does have a cousin named Abby too. I suppose this is just her way of making sure that she knows which Abby/Abbey I'm talking about...
Abbey is six months younger than Kylie and one month older than Caleb and the three get along splendidly! Abbey's birthday was back in September, four days before she and her parents left for China to go meet her little brother, so it is understandable that her birthday party was a bit delayed. Finally on Halloween morning schedules worked out to celebrate Abbey at her favorite place ~ "the jumpin' house!"
While it would really be hard for me to decide if the five kids or the two dads that were there had more fun, they all really enjoyed their time!
They started sliding individually, then in pairs, and before we knew it they wanted to all slide together.
Just a fun shot of my cute girl...
And then we headed back to Abbey's house for lunch, princess dress up (except for Caleb ~ while I'm sure he would have put on a dress if Kylie and Abbey told him to, Ian and I drew the line...) and a Dora pinata.
Wondering if this was going to be the lucky string.
Did I mention this was Halloween morning? My kids cleaned up that day!

We had a great time celebrating sweet Abbey and look forward to watching her continue to grow up as a loved child of God!