Ah, how nice

This is the sort of picture I love. I always call them the pictures that make me look like a good mom. Kids content, painting at the table, happy....ya know. Those good moments where no one is argueing, no one is getting sent to their room, and we're not running late for some sports thing......good times.

"my house is not always crazy.....my house is not always crazy.....my house is not always crazy......."

Party time

Last week we had our extended family Christmas party. It's always a lot of fun to get together and see everyone.
Before it got too busy around our house, I had a family picture done. The lighting isn't great, but the picture is nice.

We tried to do one then of all the cousins. Other than a couple unwilling participants, it turned out really nice. Let's face it, it wouldn't be normal to have all 13 cooperate.


We had our annual visitor and the kids are just as excited every year as the last. It's a fun tradition.

Tis the season to get behind on stuff

I'm about 2 weeks behind on this post, but hey...better late than never.
On Thanksgiving weekend, we put up our Christmas tree and decorations. It's really one of those things where I kinda dread it. The mess, the chaos, the mess....but as the boys get older, the one thing I do like is that they can do most of it by themselves while I watch and take pictures. Is that bad?
They love it and I love watching them have fun. At least we're getting to the point where I don't have to redo all the decorations cuz they all end up on the bottom half of the tree. That's progress.

Completely by Ana Laura

I absolutely love this song. I love the words. Just wanted to share.

Dreamin'

I had a dream about Olivia last night, it was the second one I've had. I dreamt that we were in China getting her and driving around sightseeing. She had chin length hair and her lip had been fixed already. She was soooo cute. We were sitting on the back end of OUR (in China) minivan....LOL.....and I turned around for a second. When I looked back up, she was over at some steps with this Chinese person who was holding her. I ran over and was asking what she was doing with my child. I picked her up and brought her back to the car and changed her diaper. That's it. That's all I remember. Hmm....weird.

About a month ago I had one too that we had just come home with her and went to my parent's house to show her to them. When we got there, everyone in our whole family was there. I went upstairs ahead of Livi and watched her walk up the stairs very slowly and by herself. She stopped half way and just looked at everyone and acted scared of how many people were looking at her and trying to talk to her. She looked at me and said "mama, hold me" and held up her arms. I was so excited in my dream that she 1. spoke...and in English and 2. that she called me 'mama'. Dreams are so funny. Makes me think that they are the things I must really be thinking about while we wait to go get her.

Next steps

Today, Jason and I went to the agency to sign a bunch of paperwork for bringing Livi home. Immigration approval is the next step and it has been averaging about a 4 week wait. After that, there's Embassy stuff and article 5's, NBC paperwork and travel approvals......all of which should average around 12 weeks, give or take. I'm not setting my watch cuz I don't want to be disappointed if it takes longer....and secretly I'm thinking that the more time until we go gives us just that much more time to come up with the rest of the expenses....
But for now, we are very excited.

It's Official

Today, after spending 10 weeks looking at that precious face, we got our official approval to adopt Miss Olivia. We couldn't be more excited!
Tomorrow we head to the agency to sign some paperwork and send out the next part for immigration. We will also be able to send her a care package and request more pictures of her. That I cannot wait for!
YAY!!! She's ours!