Sunday, July 31, 2011

We have a new cat...

..and he has red hair and meows NON STOP!!! Gage has turned into a cat and wants everybody to call him "meowy" now! It was cute at first, but got a little old after meowing in my face 8 hours straight, trying to get me to pet him! I hope he turns into a dog tomorrow...at least it'll be a different animal sound..lol! 
Our little cat has also learned to swim today...without a lifejacket! We've been "pool sitting" for a neighbor that's out of town all week, and so we have taken advantage! We've gone everyday and he finally felt comfortable enough to take his lifejacket off and swim like the big boys. We still need to work on swimming underwater, and swimming horizontally rather than staying in place...but it's a good start! Ben captured it on video, but I can't get it to upload to my blog!  I'll post when I figure it out..


G and his new friend, Ellie. Nice pink jacket, huh??

My good friend, Megan, just had her 3rd baby girl. They came by to visit and the boys thought she was so cute! She is so sweet and tiny...I couldn't get enough!


We met some new friends at the splash park on Friday. Jodi and her family live in McKinney and adopted two of the sweetest little girls from China, and they just got back a few weeks ago with two boys from Ethiopia! They are the nicest and funniest little boys! It's amazing how well they've adjusted in the short time they've been home! We had a great a time and look forward to many more get togethers with this sweet family! Here is a link to her blog....http://headsup07up.blogspot.com/

Ok, so I know I'll regret saying this when I'm getting up at the crack getting the boys ready for school, but I'm getting in the "I'm so ready for school to start" mode! The boys are fighting and it's driving me COOCOO! I blame it on the fact that it's so hot outside that there's nothing to do and their bored, but who am I kidding!   
They'd be fighting even if they could go outside! It's kind've funny at times though, because Ben and Reed fight the most over Gage! They both want his attention and they do everything they can to get him to team up with one and leave the third one out. With three, one is alway left out. Maybe everything will be a little more balanced when little meimei gets here! :)


Our little girl turns one this Saturday, August 6th!!  I wish more than anything she was here with us to celebrate, but that's not the case.  I sent her a little birthday care package through Ann at Red Thread.  We sent a camera too, so I'm hoping to get some pics of the birthday girl!  
I'm so sorry you won't be here with us on your big day, but I promise we'll make it up to you when you come home!  We'll have the BEST bday cake for you to dig in to!!  We Love You Baby Girl!!


Monday, July 25, 2011

swimming, baking, and playing with frogs!

What else is there to do when it's 105 outside!!  I think it's been over 100 pretty much everyday this summer, and it's not suppose to get cooler any time soon! I'm so over it!!  The boys found a little green friend at the pool, and they played with him the whole time. I'm sure he was thrilled!



They thought he really liked them because he never tried to hop out of their hands........ 

                                          ....OR off their heads!!  geesh....BOYS!!


We let him go when we left and they're hoping he's there waiting for him when we got back tonight!  Sure he'll be there boys, sure he will..:)


We've been doing lots of baking lately, too, and Reed loves helping...or making messes...I'm not sure which he loves more!  At least he's staying entertained!


Thursday, July 21, 2011

DTC!!!!!!!!!

Our Dossier (ALL the paperwork we've been compiling since we started) was officially sent to China today!!!  I am so excited because this marks the end of our long and tedious paperchasing!  We now wait  for our LID,(log in date), when China recognizes that they received our dossier, and then our LOA (letter of acceptence), when China officially agrees to let us adopt our sweet daughter!! :)))) YAY!!!!    Hang on Baby girl....we're getting closer!!!



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"Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised."  Hebrews 10:36

Sunday, July 17, 2011

It's HOT!!!

I know I said I wouldn't complain about the hot Texas summers after we were iced in for 4 days this winter, buuuttt....I am officially COMPLAINING!!!    It's like walking into a blast of heat as soon as you step foot outside after 9am!  The boys have played DS, computer, Wii, and watched more TV than I normally let them, but there's nothing else to do!!  We've been swimming a lot, but you start to get tired of even that after a while!  We did go bowling one evening at a really cool bowling alley, Splitsville, where you can order really good food from a menu and they serve it at your table while you bowl!  So fun!  And the food was really good restaurant style food...not your typical bowling alley hot dogs!  We'll be back!  The boys were super competitive as usual, and even more so with Luke there!  I'm not a big bowler or competitive, so I lost!  The boys were so flustered because Gage was in the lead most of the time. (the bumpers and ball slide may have helped just a little)..lol  


This is what happens when I ask them to smile now....


SILLY


CHEESY


And GOOFY!!



These were the cutest little bowling shoes!  


Notice the Melissa Cardinals shirt!  He just had to have one when he saw how awesome our town was..:)

kisses....I love when I catch sweetness on camera...:)

Nana and Pa came in this weekend to pick Luke up to bring back home.  We will miss him!  It was nice to have an almost 12 year old that would actually ask me what he can do to help around the house!  Whoa!! I'm not use to that!  Guess it's back to watering my own flowers today!
These 2 are inseperable

G and Pa...having fun in the tent!
Jon just got back from his 1st triathalon since the IM catastrophe and he did great!  It was a sprint triathalon and he came in 1st in his age group and 6th overall out of 300 people!   I love that the boys get to see him get back on the horse and work hard to accomplish his goals after his disappointment at IM.  So proud of him!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

I800A APPROVAL!!!!!!!

Woohoooo!!!  I've been waiting and checking the mail like a crazy person expecting  it to come!  I had been told it would probably come last week when we were gone...of course..but it didn't!  I started to get a little nervous and called our case manager to see if she knew why it hadn't come. She said it had been mailed June 30th and it was July 11th!!  Before I had time to really freak out, I checked the mail and there it was!  This is immigration saying we are approved to adopt from China.  It's a huge deal because now we can officially send in our dossier to China(DTC)!  From what I'm told, it could take anywhere from  3-5 months before we travel to China from our LID(log in date)!  I'm thinking it'll be anywhere from November-February.  I know...huge window, but I'm shooting for November!!


We brought our nephew, Luke, back with us this week and the kids have had so much fun!  I love that they're so close with their cousin. We've stayed busy with the only thing you can do in Texas heat...SWIM!!  It is HOT, HOT, HOT!!  Luckily we have friends with pools!! Jon set up the zipline in our backyard tonight and the kids can't get enough!  We've been talking about getting one since we moved in, so this should keep them entertained for a while!



Thursday, July 7, 2011

still beachin' it..


This has been my view for the past 5 days and I'm LOVING it!!  Nope, not bored of it a bit!  There is nothing I'd rather be doing than sitting on the beach, reading a good book, with the sound of the kids playing and the ocean waves in the background!  Back to reality soon, so I'm enjoying every relaxing second!  We've seen at least 15 dolphins and even had an almost close encounter with a shark!!  We didn't see it but a man in a kayak pulled up next to us and said "y'all didn't see that shark behind y'all, did you?"  WHAT???  You've never seen this mama run so fast out of the water!  He said it was a small one that jumped out of the water!  I don't care....baby or not, a shark is a shark!  I've been perfectly happy just dipping my toes in the water since!
If you squint, you can see that black dot in the ocean.  That's one of the many dolphins we saw.  Some came a lot closer, but I only had my camera for this one.


We haven't been total beach bums the whole time. We went to Waterville Waterpark, played mini golf, and even parasailed today!  We talk about parasailing every time we come, but we always talk ourselves out of it because it's so expensive for just 8 short minutes.  Glad we did it , but will probably be a one-time thing.  At least for me anyway!
Heading out to parasail!  I've got some brave boys!


I only freaked out a little at the beginning


Jon didn't freak out quite as much as I did.

It may be an understatement to say that Gage loves mini golf, he LOVES it!! He is obsessed with it!! ..and he's actually pretty good! We played when we went to Galveston for Spring Break, and he has talked about it ever since.  When I told him we were going to the beach, that's the first thing he asked about!  It's pretty funny because when he realizes that there's only a few holes left, he starts to get a little stressed knowing it's almost over.  After the first game, he had a little meltdown and I carried him to the car crying the whole way!  After he calmed down, we talked about why we can't play again if he doesn't act like a big boy!  So we give him another chance the next night, and toward the end, I could see the anxiety setting in.  I asked him if he was going to be a big boy and not cry....his response..."I NOT a big boy, I Gage, and I wanna play golf!"  Well, lesson not learned yet, but I easily distracted him this time and no scene was caused!:)
 
My little rollercoaster daredevil!
Being entertained while we wait for our seat at Lulu's
walking the plank!






making a happy plate so we can play mini golf! ;)
G and Aunt Julie

I think this was right before the shark encounter...and last time I was in the water!



CRAZY boys!!








I see a perfect spot for little Miss!

We're never ready to leave the beach, but we're going to enjoy the last couple of days, and try not to think about the dreaded LOOOONG drive home!!