And it's Advent!

Which means the countdown is on, here is a few ways we are going to welcome the season...

"Ted", our elf is back from the North Pole and Parker seems to value his magic. I almost brushed the elf and Parker yelled "No Mommy, no touch the elf" As the story goes, he will lose his magic.

I made an Advent calendar and each day involves a holiday activity. I have the best intentions of documenting them all here....

We get to unwrap one holiday book each evening, Jim was thrilled to wrap them.

Parker is thrilled about Christmas, and has been talking about Santa for months and making a mental list. We were in the car today and he was having a "conversation" with Santa, he said "Go pick up my sister, Evie" What a sweet boy, hoping for that wish too!

Thanksgiving

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving has come and gone...

We ran the Wishbone 5K in our town, I pushed Parker in the stroller. He looked for dogs and would yell.."Hi woof woof...woof, woof, woof"

We visited Jim's family for dinner, which is an hour away. The day did not seem like a holiday, for a few reasons. None which I care to get into.

Saturday we drove to my parent's house to surprise my Mom for her birthday. Her birthday is not until December but we were successful at surprising her. My parent's had so many thanksgiving leftovers, we had a second meal...this time with sauerkraut.

We put up both of our trees and Parker had a great time playing in the boxes. We haven't finished decorating but it amazes me how much Parker remembers from last Christmas!

I hope it goes without saying that I am thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life. I have more in this life than most people could imagine. I never dreamed that I would have a daughter at this time and for that I should be thankful!

Another two weeks lost...

I am such a downer lately....

Had a great day before Christmas shopping with my Mom. She stayed extra on Monday and played with Parker. Which meant I got to workout and run errands childless. I came home to find our I800a returned from USCIS for another signature...

This means two weeks lost...sigh

There must be end in sight, maybe the wait will shorted in some other areas while we wait.

Right?

Timeline

I just got done with an extra ten hour shift and need to vent...yes, there are probably more pressing things going on in the world...but as one of my graduate school profs used to say "All man's suffering is relative" mind you, he would talk about oppression and Tibet as he passed out an exam...He was the world leader of the Free Tibet movement, he always talked about how the Chinese government took pictures of him. Did I digress?

Most likely we will now travel in July...unless our government speeds through our paperwork. Our social worker took a month and a half to update our homestudy! It should have taken two weeks, at the most. So an extra month or two, so what?

Our baby girl, will be two months older...that is two months where she is in an institution, two months where she is not receiving the stimulation she needs. I pray her and the other girls are getting their needs met, that they are being attended to when they cry, that they get held.

Trust me, I am busy...our household is non stop. My plan was to work extra, save for the adoption but I think we're fine. I think Evelyn has most of what she will need (sorry want, my shopping borderlines on sinful). Extra work takes me from Jim and Parker and I would rather be with them...or seeing girlfriends I rarely see!

We have travel planned, the holidays are coming, I am making it a point to help others in need...I guess I wait. Her room needs painted and we have some house projects (but Jim and I need to be home together, with Parker entertained!)

Venting over, going to make my brunch dishes for MOPS and watch some RHWOA (talk about mindless!)

No more trick or treat...

Last week Parker looked like he was going to cry, when I asked him what was wrong he said "Parker sad, trick or treat over!" Thought I should share all of our Halloween events before it got too late! I felt like we celebrate all month...

Trick or treating in our neighborhood, we found some of my MOPS friends and Parker had a monster join him in his wagon. Parker was much more interested in pulling his friend, he actually did a good job!

We visited the Children's Museum Haunted House (lights on, of course) He went through with Grandma.

We visited Zooboo, he refused to wear the costume, he said it was too hot!

On of the high schools in our town held a fundraiser Halloween party. As we walked into the school he said "I love this place" Even the football players commented on how cute he was!

Octoboo at the library

He also went to a Halloween party at the YMCA and got to join in on the fun of trick or treating when we visited our homestudy agency.

No, we still don't have our homestudy in hand...that is for another post! Hoping for Monday so we can get our immigration paperwork filed.