The Most Wonderful TIme of the Year

Usually in the mornings I am dragging myself out of bed, but NOT this morning. NO WAY! Can you guess what today was? It was the first day back to school. Whoooo Hooooo!!! Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids, LOVE having them home, and LOVE spending time with them, but I also LOVE that after a few months home ALL day EVERY day they get to go back to school. I am so looking forward to getting back into a daily routine. Not only was I ready for them to go back, but they were equally excited. They were ready to see their school friends, and believe it or not, my kids do like school and are very good students.



~BLAKE~
Blake is 12 (almost 13) and in the 7th grade this year. He is most excited about being able to officially play football and basketball for the school. Last year he played, but was not play FOR the school. He is obsessed with everything football and is quite a good player. He will have football practice every day after school from 3:30-5:30. I am not 100% sure, but I don't think his first game is until September, so we are looking forward to going as a family to cheer him on. I am going to make some special outfits for Emma and Mylee to wear once I know what his number is.
Blake is still mowing lawns trying to save money to go to China. I did talk with his principal at registration about us taking him with us. He basically said that it is all up to Blake whether or not is considered an excused or unexcused absence. As long as he is a good student, does not cause any problems, and continues to get good graded he will be allowed to go and it will be an excused absence. I really don't think we will have anything to worry about.
Closer to the time of us leaving we are going to set up a blog for Blake to journal on while we are in China so his friends and schoolmates can keep up with what is going on. I also think it will be neat to have his perspective of the whole experience.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Blake is officially taller than me now. I am 5'7 and he was measured at football a few weeks ago and is 5'8. I did not think that my 12, almost 13 year old would be taller than me.




~EMMA~
Miss Emma is 7 and is starting the 2nd grade at a brand new school. Our district is growing by leaps and bounds so they built a new school practically in our backyard. Seriously, we can see the school from our house. Because we are so close, she is now walking to school. I will be honest in saying that I am not really looking forward to her walking, but at the same time it is literally around the corner, and we have several parents that have gotten together to make sure all the kids get to school safely.
Sunday evening they had an open house which was really nice because not only did we get to see the school, and meet the teachers, but we were able to take in all of her school supplies to lighten her load today. She was super excited when she found out that she had a locker. I on the other hand was quite surprised to see that ALL the grades (K-5th) had lockers. She is already asking if she can get a mirror, message board and some other decorations for her locker. I am in so much trouble...



Walking to school with Grandma




~GABE~
Gabe just turned 5 on August 5th and will be going to pre-school this year. He doesn't start until September 8th, but asks every day if it is his turn to go to school. He is such a sweet little boy and I am really going to miss not having him here in the mornings. He loves to play with the babies I watch and is so kind and gentle with them.


















~MYLEE~
Mylee will begin pre-school on Monday and is also excited. She is looking forward to seeing her teacher again and riding the bus. We ran into her teacher at registration and Mylee was so excited to show her how she can now sit criss-cross (something she was not able to do when she started school last spring). She is also now crawling, I mean really crawling. She is able to get on all fours and actually crawl like a baby. She moves her legs and all. Before she just used her upper body to "crawl" but now she is actually crawling. She is VERY proud of herself. I am so amazed at the progress she is making. She is such a blessing to our family in so may ways.

~DREW~
There is nothing really new to post on Drew. We are still able to talk to him through SKYPE every Sunday. He loves to sing to us and of course we love to hear him sing. He tells us about what he is learning in pre-school that day usually a letter, number, or color. He also has English lessons in the afternoon which is going to be such a benefit for us and him when we travel to bring him home. We have been asked if there is anything specific we want him to know. We suggested that they teach him to tell us if he is hungry, thirsty, and the obvious of having to use the restroom. I guess he is doing very well and is a very good student.

~MATT~
Matt is STILL laid off. He did talk with his boss the other day to find out if there was any work coming up. He was told that it is going to be at least a couple more weeks before they have anything. I know there are thousands of families in our situation right now, and it is not fun. Please pray for us and them that the economy turns around soon so we can all get back to work.

~MANDI~
I am excited about my daycare situation this year. I am waiting a 4 year old little girl that I have had since she was 9 months old, and three 1 year old little boys. Gabe and the little girl will be in pre-school three mornings a week (M,W,F), Mylee will also be in pre-school three days a week (M,T,TH) and with the schedule of the little boys, I will have one or two mornings a week when I will be pretty much alone. The little ones still nap in the morning and afternoon, so while they are napping in the morning I am hoping to get some of y homework done. Yes, I am taking classes this semester. I decided that with the adoption I am only going to take two classes this semester and next. This semester I am taking Abnormal Psych and Family Communication. I am actually excited because I have been wanting to take Abnormal Psych for a couple of semesters but it was already full by the time I registered.

I also have a couple of adoption fundraising projects in the works. For one, I will be making tutus for all the little ballerinas at Emma's dance studio this year. The owner and Emma's teacher has had me make a few other costumes in the past for recitals (just for Emma's class). So, this year I made up a couple of sample tutus to show her and lucky for me she LOVED. So instead of ordering the ballet costumes through a catalog this year, she will be ordering them through me. I have no idea how many I will be making, but am looking forward to the opportunity to earn some money for Drew's adoption.
I am also hoping to do some blog makeovers thanks to Rebecca. She came over one day and spent a couple of hours showing me how to make-over a blog. THANKS REBECCA. I have already done one makeover for my dear friend Tara and am in the process of doing another for a fellow bloggy friend (who I will reveal once it is done). So, with fall approaching, if you are wanting a new look, please e-mail me for all the details.


Thanks for sticking with me, I did not intend for this to be such a lengthy post, but I wanted to make sure that you were all updated to this point since it has been awhile since I have posted.

We Are Approved!

Not that I was worried, but we got our immigration approval yesterday. What does this mean? Well, we are getting much closer to getting our dossier to China. The next step is to get the immigration approval authenticated by the Indiana Secretary of State then ALL of our paperwork can be send to the Chinese Consulate for final approval before being sent to China.

On another note, Matt was home yesterday and today. Why you ask? Well, because he is out of work AGAIN. Yes, AGAIN. As of right now we don't know for how long, we are just praying he gets some work soon. However, since he is off, one of us will be driving our immigration approval to Indy today to get the authentication. I was really hoping he would, be he would rather I do it since I have already been there twice and know exactly where it is and what needs to be done. The alternative is that that if go, he will be here watching our four kids, my niece who is staying with us for the week, and my four daycare kids. He seriously must not want to make the drive to Indy (about 2 hours) since he is the one who suggested me going and him staying at home.

I will update later to let you know who went and who stayed. In the mean time, I will leave you with the most recent update from Drew's foster mom.

We hope this note finds you doing well, and that you enjoy reading this month's update.

Drew (Jeremy) is 3 Years 4 Months Old.

Drew (Jeremy)’s foster mom wrote this update:

Drew is very well behaved. Every morning after he wakes up, he washes his hands and face by himself and brushes his teeth. He says, “I’m a big boy now!” Drew knows how to take a shower by himself and wash his feet and shoes at night. He’ll cry, “So cool and awesome!” when he’s putting on his clothes. Drew loves it when things are tidy.

One day when he saw me standing and brushing my teeth, he ran and got a stool for me and told me to sit down to brush my teeth. It brought tears to my eyes because I was so excited. I told him, “Drew you're so sensible! You're all grown up! You're my boy!” I am very proud of him!

Wordless Wednesday

100 POSTS!!!

Wow, I cannot believe this is my 100th post! WooHoo! I know many bloggers have a giveaway for milestone posts, but since we are saving money to bring Drew home I am sure you will understand us not having one this time.

First off, I would like to thank all my bloggy friends who have hopped over to my ebay auctions and bid and won many of my children's clothes. The last of my auctions end this afternoon so if you haven't had a chance, go check them out there are still some great items left to bod on.

In adoption news, yesterday we FINALLY traveled to Indy to be fingerprinted. I feel like it has taken forever to get to this step but I am so thankful that it is over. Now, we just wait for our approval, which once we get that I will hand carry it back to Indy to our Secretary of State for his approval, and then it is off the the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for their seal of approval. After that, it is off to our agency for a once over and then to China. I am hoping and praying that we will be DTC (Dossier to China) by the end of August/first of September.

Other than that, there is really not a whole lot going on here right now. I am working on a few things for another fundraiser/raffle which I am hoping to have ready by next week. Oh, what do you all think of my new blog makeover? I still have a few more changes, but the majority is done. I am thinking of doing a few makeovers as a way to make some money to help with our adoption expenses so if you are in the need, or simply just want to change things up a bit let me know and I can get started on your new makeover right away. Just leave a comment or e-mail me and we can work out all the details.

I got on New Day's web-site like I do everyday and was so surprised to see so many pictures of Drew on their. The preschool kids made cookies the other day and played dress up. From the following pictures, it looks like they had a great time.


Drew with his little ladies. Sophie, Victoria, Drew, Adah, Emily

I think we may be in trouble in a few years with this little guy. Although our phone is already ringing off the hook for Blake with girls calling him. HELP, I am so not ready for this!



Oh how I LOVE those cheeks!

Pardon Our Mess

As you can see my blog is under construction. Thanks to my friend Rebecca I am learning how to do blog makeovers. Rebecca just left from my first tutorial on Blog Makeovers 101. Now that she is gone I am a bit nervous about doing this on my own. However, I am really looking forward to it because it seems like it is going to be alot of fun. So, hopefully over the next couple of days you will see my blog transform before your eyes. Oh, and don't be afraid to let me know what you think.

On another note, I am still have several more items to put up on ebay. Thank you to all my bloggy friends who have won several of my auctuions. You guys rock!

I am also hoping to have a few more fundraising tricks up my sleeves that I will be able to share very soon.

And since I haven't posted any pictures lately, here is one of the kids from the 4th of July.

ADOPTION FUNDRIASER

ebay

I feel like it has been so long since I last posted when in reality it has only been a couple of weeks (then again, in blog world that sounds like an eternity). But, I do have a good reason for being silent for so long. Usually two or three times a year I clean out my kids' closets and list everything on ebay. I have been doing this since Emma was a baby and usually make pretty good money doing it. Generally I take the money that I make off ebay and "recycle" the money to buy the kids new school clothes for the new school year. This year I will be splitting the money and using only a small portion for new clothes and most of it to pay for the next installment that is due to our agency so our dossier can go to China. With the economy as it is right now, Matt not working a full 40 hours every week, and I have lost a few daycare jobs due to parents not going back to work in the fall, money is really tight right now.

So, I am asking you my family, friends, and bloggy friends to check out my auctions on EBAY right now and if there is anything you are interested in bid, bid, bid. I have tons of name brand clothing for boys and girls ranging in sizes from 12-18 months all the way up to 14-16. So far I have Mylee's clothes on there but am working today on getting the rest. If there is something you see that you really, really want, let me know and we can work something out.

Thanks for taking the time to check things out and please do not hesitate to pass this info along to any other friends or family that may be interested in helping out.

I am hoping to post some 4th of July pictures by the end of the week.

I Spy With My Little Eye...

Last Friday we went to Matt's sister's house for their son's 1st birthday party. I cannot believe Camden is 1 already. While we were waiting for dinner to be finished, Blake decided to climb the tree in their back yard. He was almost to the very top of the tree when I was called out back to look. You can only imagine my surprise when I looked up, and up, and up and finally found him, clear at the top. Luckily before he had a chance to go any further, we were called to dinner. Thank God, because I did not want to have to make a trip the the ER.