The Kunstmans

Another new blog!

2008-09-20T20:23:00.003-05:00

The new blog replaces the other new blog I just started. LOL So if you want to go to my "OLD NEW" blog to find out why I started a "NEW NEW" blog, you can read my post at:

CoffeeBean's Corner

and then put my (final? it better be!) new blog in your Bloglines or whatever you use:

Eileen's Blog (I decided not to spend the time thinking of a catchy title, what can I say).

Hope to see you there! Please leave me a comment if you visit!

My new home!

2008-08-25T08:54:00.002-05:00

I started my new blog. Come visit me at CoffeeBean's Corner!

It's going to take me awhile to get things just the way I want them but I hope you will come and say hi. Please comment here or there and let me know if you stopped by!

Happy Birthday Ben!

2008-08-13T07:44:00.010-05:00

My oldest child is now an ADULT! Yes Ben turns 18 today! I.can't.believe.it.

We had a combined birthday and graduation party for him last Saturday.

We had a wonderful time and Ben raked in the cash. :-)

See the flowers on the cake on the graduation side?

Here's what happens when you eat one:

Nice, huh? :-)

I homeschooled Ben for 11 years - from 2nd grade through high school. Now that he is graduated, he is taking a year off to work full time, save some money, and get his private pilot's license. Not sure where he's going to go from there - possibly go to the community college next year and go into finance. He has wanted to be a pilot since we went to China for Lindsey (4 years ago!). That is still his goal, but whether as a commercial pilot, private, or just flying for fun while pursuing another career, he is undecided at this point. He has certainly done, and continues to do, his homework regarding the aviation field. He had been accepted into an aviation program at a local technical college, but decided the loans would just be too large and he's going to try to pay for college as he goes as much as he can. We are helping him out the best we can but we're not made of money - wish we were! He has been great about saving money and watching his spending. I'm very proud of him. Now if I can just get him out of bed!!!!! :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!!! I love you very much!

P.S. Have you ever played Blongo Ball? One of my sisters brought it to Ben's party, and my sister Ginny and I got totally hooked on it! I'm not very, ahem, coordinated and athletic, so I wasn't sure if I could even hit the target or even come close, but I did fine! It's so fun!

Changes brewing...

2008-08-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

I have 4 blogs right now - this one, one for what I'm reading, one for knitting, and one for sewing. I can't keep up with any of them. LOL I'm sorry I haven't been posting here or commenting in other blogs much lately. Life has just been busy and as usual I am so behind on everything. I am still reading your blogs though!

Anyway....

In September I will start homeschooling Lindsey (Kindergarten), and I've been thinking about doing a blog with more of a homeschool focus - what we're learning, accomplishments, struggles, and misc. ramblings. But I still want to write about reading, knitting, and occasionally sewing so I've decided to combine everything into one blog. I've decided to start this blog at Homeschool Blogger. I haven't decided on a name yet so I don't have a specific URL to share with you. I would LOVE suggestions on what to call this new blog! I am so uncreative. I don't want the word homeschool in the title since the blog will be about more than that. The same goes for any one subject such as reading, knitting, etc.

I'm thinking I may lose some readers when I go to this new blog but I may gain some too. I would love to have you follow me there, but I understand if you're not interested.

I hope to have my new blog started in the next few weeks and when I get a URL I will let you know! Thanks to the faithful readers/commenters of my many blogs.

We interrupt this post to bring you this opinion: I think it's ridiculous that some people say they're no longer going to be Packer fans after all that happened with the Brett Favre saga. I think both sides made mistakes (although I blame Favre more, much more) but are you a PACKER fan or just a Favre fan? Don't let the door hit you..... GO PACKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, had to get that off my chest. Back to your regularly scheduled post....

I will leave you with some misc. pictures from this summer. I will explain the first pic first. :-) This is my solution to letting Allison use scissors without cutting her hair. Like it? :-) I told her if she took the hat off she couldn't cut. She was pretty good about leaving it on. Notice her tongue sticking out. Every time she started to cut, out came the tongue.

And the rest....

Lifest - Saturday

2008-07-16T20:36:00.003-05:00

My sister and I had a great time at Lifest on Saturday. As several people told me, Casting Crowns was awesome! I have to admit a few years ago they were at Lifest and we only listened to a few songs and moved on to a different concert. I'm not sure why we were not that taken with them at the time. So I didn't know what to expect this time. Right from the start I knew it was going to be awesome! They really spoke to me about several things. I never really listened to the words of East to West but they fit me perfectly with what I've been going through lately. I was so blessed. I downloaded the song to my iPod. They were the last concert of the night (for us anyway) and I was sooooo tired afterward! This 43 year old mom of little ones is NOT used to staying up past midnight 2 nights in a row! LOL I was tired all day Sunday.

We were also pleasantly surprised by how much we liked Chris Sligh! He was awesome. We also saw just a bit of Rebecca St. James (the sound was bad or something, we left to go see Chris). We saw most of a concert by Danen Kane. We also listened to 3 or 4 songs by a band name Ruth. The band wasn't there though for some reason, just the lead singer and his guitar. Never heard of them before, it was pretty good.

I think that's it. Chris Sligh was our "Crabb Family" of this year's Lifest. Several years ago on the last day of Lifest, it was SO hot and we were SO tired and we were tired of walking from one concert to another. So we just decided to park our butts where we were at the time. We had good seats, we had everything we needed, we decided to listen to whatever singer/band was up next at that stage. It was The Crabb Family. We had never heard of them before and didn't know what to expect. WE LOVED THEM! It was awesome! It was such a nice surprise.

So anyway, there's the rest of my Lifest recap for 2008. I didn't take any pictures on Saturday so all you get is me talking. Sorry!

I can't wait for next year's Lifest!

Steven Curtis Chapman (and more)

2008-07-13T09:44:00.000-05:00

WOW. Friday night was incredible. It was emotional. It was both uplifting and somber. We were at Steven Curtis Chapman's first concert since the tragic death of his daughter Maria. I feel so honored to have been there. When he came out and I saw him, I just started crying. I cried through about 3/4 of the concert.

My pictures aren't very good - it was dark and I was taking pictures of a screen, and my camera is crap, but here are a few:

We also saw Mandisa. She was really good. Even Jay really liked her. I missed half her concert though taking Lindsey to the bathroom. :-)

Then we saw a bit of Denver and the Mile High Orchestra which was great as usual but we didn't stay very long. I really needed to go to the van and freshen up and change into jeans and get all our warmer clothes for later. It was so humid yesterday, and my hair was just a fright. I have stick straight hair with no curl or body to it whatsoever, so add a little humidity and it's horrible. I just felt blech. :-(

Just a few random shots while in between concerts:

I also got to finally meet my friend Shelly Waala. We have been trying to meet up at Lifest for the last several years but something always happened to prevent it. Her little Mia is so cute and so tiny. She played a bit with Lindsey and Shelly's older daughter. It was so cute.

More on yesterday's Lifest experience in another post....(you guys were right - Casting Crowns was AWESOME!)

Are you happy now?

2008-07-11T08:50:00.004-05:00

Okay, okay, lest you think I totally deprive my kids, I put water in the pool! :-)

-After sweating and struggling with the hose to fill the pool, and running in and out getting things together to go out, after about 10-15 minutes in the pool Lindsey got a little scrape, nothing major AT ALL, but she was whining and crying about it and would.not.stop. I told her either stop fussing or get out of the pool. She chose to get out. (grrr) Allison spent another 5-10 minutes then she got out. ALL THAT WORK for less than 1/2 hour of swimming! Sigh.

-FYI, Allison has an appointment for a haircut next week Tuesday so no comments about her hair in her eyes, okay? LOL

Lifest and Misc. Ramblings

2008-07-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

It's that time again – Lifest! It's a Christian music festival held every year at this time. This year is their 10th anniversary. I think I've gone the past 5 or 6 years with the exception of last year. I had only planned to go only one day, Saturday. It turned out to be the day after my mom's funeral and although 2 of my sisters went that day, and it might have been healing in some ways to go, Jay had done double and triple duty with the girls in the weeks before that since I was so busy with my mom, I didn't want to leave him with the girls all day again. I was also pretty well exhausted at that point. So I gave my ticket away. This year I bought a full event ticket as I usually do and Jay bought a one day ticket as he usually does. I went with just my sister last night, we're skipping today, we will all go on Friday, and just my sister and I will go again all day Saturday.

Highlights from last night:

*We parked our car and then I couldn't find my ticket. I knew I had brought it along because I remember looking at it in the car shortly after we left home. I had stuck it in the book I brought along to read but it wasn't there when I went to get it. I paged through the book at least 5 or 6 times, my sister paged through the book several times, we tore apart the car looking for it before finally finding it.....in my book! HOW did we both miss it so many times?

*We saw Natalie Grant (excellent!) and about ½ hour of the Newsboys. We left in the middle of their concert because a) we've both seen them before; b) we were both tired; and c) we were getting cold.

Friday night we will see Steven Curtis Chapman. It will be his first concert back since his daughter died. I can imagine how emotional it is going to be. We couldn't find a babysitter for the girls so we are taking them. It's going to be a long day!

We also plan to see Mandisa (formerly on American Idol) and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra (seen them a million times already but they're still fun to watch).

Saturday: Most years we are conflicted at least a few times about which concert to attend when there are several going on at the same time that we want to see. This year there are really only 2 people I wanted to see for sure during the whole festival - Natalie Grant (check) and SCC. But Casting Crowns is playing Saturday night so we will see them, and also Chris Sligh (another Idol contestant). Otherwise we will probably just walk around and decide on the fly who to watch. It's going to be fun no matter what!

In other news:

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my mom's death. It's so hard to believe I haven't seen or talked to her for a year. It still feels so wrong sometimes to be going on with my life, doing normal things, when she's gone.

Lindsey got stung by a bee on her finger on Tuesday after her t-ball class. She screamed at the top of her lungs for about 5 minutes. I mean she SCREAMED! She held ice on it for about an hour and then she was fine. No bad reaction so now we know she's not allergic to bee stings anyway.

She asked me this morning if I love her and Allison "to the moon and back ninety hundred and five times". I said yes. :-)

She's in the middle of the second session of swimming lessons. It's the first time she's taken them. She took Level 1 in the first session, didn't pass and is back for another round of Level 1. We're not going to the last session. I want August to be a little more laid back with not so much running. She just finished a 4 week t-ball skills class. She's going to 2 days of Safety Town in August at the same place I went to Safety Town when I was her age. Oh she's also taking swimming lessons at the same pool I took them at as a kid. Then I took Ben to lessons at that same pool, and now here we are again. Sort of a surreal feeling. The last thing she's signed up for this summer is a one hour "Kids in the Kitchen" class. She's doing that with her 2 cousins Andrew and Thomas. They were all adopted within a few months of each other back in 2004. Lindsey from China, Andrew from Russia, and Thomas from Guatemala.

Allison has elevated whining to a new level. Heavy sigh. She can say almost 50 words now. She's still about a year behind in her speech but making really good progress.

Her taking off her diaper is going to send me to the looney bin. We've had over a month of this with no end in sight. We have to duct tape her diaper on at naps and bedtime otherwise she takes it off and pees on her bed or the floor. Yesterday she discovered a new trick - taking her diaper off from under her shorts, then wetting her shorts. Just lovely. Both my girls are quite challenging in their own ways, but that's another post for another day.

Ben will be 18 next month. EIGHTEEN! I can't believe soon he's going to be a legal adult and can vote for president in November.

That's it for now. It took me over an hour to write this post and now it's almost time to leave for swimming lessons and I've gotten nothing done except feed the girls breakfast and get them dressed. Slacker! Have a great day!

Who Needs Water?

2008-07-04T07:59:00.008-05:00

My neighbor very generously gave me her old swimming pool since it's now too small for her 3 girls (all adopted from China!) She brought it over the other day but we haven't had a chance to swim in it yet. So it was just sitting on the grass empty for now, but that didn't seem to matter to my girls!

Notice the dog in the picture, of course! He always manages to sneak in pics!

Ryan Cabrera!

2008-06-23T08:57:00.007-05:00

Who's Ryan Cabrera anyway??? He came to our local civic celebration this past weekend called ChickenFest. :-) I had never heard of him before but apparently he is a somewhat? famous pop star. He played for an hour. He wasn't too bad.

Just a cute picture of the girls....

Dorks, Jeeps, and Horses

2008-06-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

So no one else is dorky enough to be hooked on a toddler snack??? :-)

About a month ago we visited some friends who live on the Wisconsin/Illinois border (they are in Wisconsin, right across the street is Illinois). They live out in the country and have 2 little boys and 2 horses. Their older boy is 6 months older than Lindsey and their younger boy is almost a year older than Allison. They also have one of those kid sized jeeps or whatever you call them. I was surprised that Lindsey had no qualms about driving it all over the place. At one point their younger son drove around with Allison in the passenger seat for over 1/2 hour. Allison LOVED it. Riding the horse, not so much at first, as you will see. But she did ride for a little bit. Lindsey, on the other hand, loved riding the horse. I had to walk alongside Allison while she rode as my friend led the horse around. The horse was HUGE! I was probably more scared than Allison. :-)

I love these!!!!

2008-06-10T15:07:00.003-05:00

I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago with my girls and they were giving away free samples of a new Gerber product, along with a mail-in rebate form to get them free. If not for this I'm sure I never would have tried these. But I did and I am hooked! Yes I said *I* am hooked! The girls like them too but I love them. I even bought a second bag and hid them from Lindsey. LOL They are the Gerber Graduates Yogurt Melts. Yes they're for toddlers!

Two of my sisters tried them - one thought they were so-so and one thought they were gross! She even spit it out! Bad taste I guess. :-)

The only problem is that at almost $3 a bag they are too pricey to get very often. I could probably eat the whole bag at once. So they will be a special treat. YUM YUM!!!

Has anyone else tried these?

Thank You

2008-06-08T09:46:00.006-05:00

Thank you to everyone who commented with kind words of condolence and birthday wishes for Lindsey. It means a lot to me!

We were given a real gift the Sunday before my dad died, Memorial Day weekend. My sister had us all over for a cookout, including my dad. We were able to take him out of the nursing home for the day. He was feeling as good as we had seen in a long time. He really enjoyed himself, had seconds and thirds of supper (including watermelon which he loved so much but couldn't have much of in his last months), loved spending time outside with his children and grandchildren. We are so thankful that we had that day with him.

Here are a few pictures of my girls from that day:

Allison fell asleep on the way home (a 5 minute drive!). We carried her inside and laid her on the couch, she was exhausted!

Thanks again dear friends!

Birthday Wishes and Sad News

2008-06-01T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's hard to put both these things in one post, they each deserve their own, but I don't really know what else to do.....

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet Lindsey! What a precious gift we've been given in her. Sometimes she tries our patience to no end :-) but I wouldn't trade a minute of any day with her, for anything! I love you little Wu!

Yesterday was our 4 year Gotcha Anniversary too. May 31, 2004 - a day that changed our lives forever! I am so thankful for my beautiful daughter.

The sad news is that my dad passed away on Friday night. He had been ill for some time and was currently in a nursing home so it wasn't totally unexpected, yet at the same time we didn't expect it. It happened pretty fast. He died peacefully with his four daughters at his side. We lost our mom last July so it's been a very difficult year for our family. We would appreciate your prayers.

More on everything at a later date. Life is going to be pretty busy for awhile...

I really really really want to WIN!

2008-05-28T08:16:00.000-05:00

The sports radio station I listen to is giving away a trip for 2 to see the Milwaukee Brewers play in San Francisco in July (airfare, hotel, game tickets, tour of the stadium). In order to win, first you have to be the 14th caller when you hear a certain sound clip. They've been taking qualifiers for 2 or 3 weeks now. I tried for 1-2 weeks to qualify, maybe 2-4 times per day but I could never even get through, it was always busy. Then late last week I finally got through! Caller number.....12. So close! I got through again the same day, caller number.....11. Got through again once the next day, caller number.....11.

I tried a few times yesterday morning but it was always busy again. Then about 4 p.m. I tried again....busy, busy, busy, ring ring! You're caller number.....14!!!!! Woo hoo!

So now I'm qualified with a bazillion other people to win the grand prize. I'm sure they have well over 100 people in the running, so my chances of winning are slim, but at least now I have a chance! Jay and I could really, really, REALLY use this trip! We rarely get time out just the two of us, and there's no way we could afford something like this either. You know I'm a football gal :-) but I do follow the Brewers and while I would rather do just about anything than watch a baseball game on TV, I do enjoy watching baseball live. I've never been to San Francisco, that would be awesome.

I know there are so many more important, serious things going on around the world, but if you want to say a small prayer that I would win this trip, I would sure appreciate it! I'm not holding out too much hope, I never win stuff. But someone has to win and it might as well be ME!

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This little girl will be 5 on Sunday!

Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of the day we left for China to adopt Lindsey, and Saturday will be our 4 year Gotcha Day anniversary.

Haircuts.....one planned and one - not so much!!!

2008-05-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

Lindsey got her hair cut about a week ago. I've been living vicariously through her and her long hair. :-) I've always wanted long, straight hair, but that style does not look good on me at all. Her long hair was beautiful but shortly after brushing in the morning it would look stringy and the ends needed to be cut too. I thought for summer and her upcoming birthday I would get her hair cut a little bit shorter. It turned out great, she looks beautiful. :-)

BEFORE:

GETTING HER HAIR WASHED:

READY TO CUT:

ALL DONE:

Remember this from when she got her hair cut about a year ago?.....

She gave me the EXACT SAME LOOK again! That is SO Lindsey!

Allison was having fun playing with the water cooler and running around.

Now onto the unplanned hair cut - I think you can guess what I mean!!!! Background story: Allison will be transitioned to the school system for speech therapy next fall when she turns 3, but they are doing all the evaluations now before school is out for the summer. Various people from her "team" have been over to do their evals, and when the occupational therapist came out, she was actually really impressed with Allison. She didn't think she had any delays in that area. One of the things she did was have Allison try to use scissors. She did a great job! I had no idea she could use them, I know I tried with Lindsey at this age or even older and she could not work them. (Now one of Lindsey's favorite things to do is cut up old magazines and papers, etc.)

So the other day I put Allison in her high chair and gave her some paper and scissors and she was having a great time cutting up paper. She was happily doing that for over 1/2 hour! Of course when I turned my back for a bit she cut some of her hair. It wasn't a big deal, she basically only thinned it out some and you couldn't even tell really. You would think after that I would learn, right? WRONG!

Yesterday morning I put her in her high chair again with paper and scissors but this time I put her hair back in a ponytail and stayed right next to her at the computer while she cut. She was having a grand old time again. Well I got complacent and forgot and went to get their clothes ready for the day. We were going to visit daddy at work in about an hour. I came back in the kitchen to find Allison had taken her hair out of the pony tail and had cut quite a bit of hair off her left side! YIKES! This time she cut much more than last time.

The other mistake I made was giving her sharp pointed scissors. I bought each of the girls a pair of scissors at WalMart the other day and I accidentally got the sharp pointed ones instead of the blunt scissors. I think the blunt ones would have cut her hair too but maybe not so much? I don't know, but the deed is done. Just looking at her you still can't totally tell. But it sort of looks like she has a mullet! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! :-) I won't be able to pull it back in any way for a long time otherwise all the short pieces will show and she'll be almost bald on that side (or "bolt" as Lindsey says for some reason instead of "bald"). She wouldn't let me get a good picture, she kept turning her head, but you can sort of see how short it is on that side:

I think it's going to be a good year before I can pull her hair back again. Sigh. I'm thinking maybe by the end of summer I can get her hair cut into a little bob or pixie style and then go from there. There's really nothing that can be done about it right now. Maybe when she's ready for another bang trim they can fix it up a bit.

Does anyone else have a good "my kid cut their hair" story? Lindsey cut her bangs once, pretty short, but they didn't take very long to grow out again.

Have a great weekend! Keep those scissors away from your toddlers! :-)

Weeping with those who weep

2008-05-22T12:26:00.002-05:00

Everyone knows by now about the terrible tragedy in the Steven Curtis Chapman family. I've been crying on and off all morning. I'm just so heartbroken along with everyone else. SCC has always been my favorite Christian artist before Chinese adoption was a part of their family or mine. And now of course now there is the China adoption connection. I am just so sad....I can't fathom the grief. I just have no words....

The rest of the story....

2008-05-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

I have some other things I want to blog about, so I'm just going to finish up the rest of our trip to Allison. Thanks for traveling down memory lane with me!

November 1, 2006

At a park in Kunming - my sister Ginny holding Lindsey, me and Allison, and our guide, Helen

November 2, 2006

November 3, 2006

November 4, 2006 - In Guangzhou, someone is tired

November 5, 2006 - At Lucy's

November 6, 2006 - Sunday Night Football - Monday morning!
You KNOW I was loving that! :-)

November 7, 2006 - Last day in Guangzhou

November 8, 2006 - Coming into our local airport - HOME!

November 9, 2006 - Siblings together at last

In Guangzhou it was hot and we were in summer clothes. The day after we got home it was nice enough to go for a walk. The next day, we got this.....

That is Wisconsin for you! Despite the snow, it was great to be home! I loved both of our trips to China, and I hope to go back some day, but in my eyes there truly is "no place like home".

Thanks again for reliving my trip with me!

October 31, 2006

2008-05-20T07:43:00.000-05:00

Sisters!

Gotcha Day - October 30, 2006

2008-05-16T07:55:00.003-05:00

Family of 5 (minus 1 - Ben was back home in the US)

Doesn't Lindsey looked thrilled? :-) Don't Jay and I look shell-shocked? :-) Our Gotcha Day for Allison was a totally different experience than it was for Lindsey. Lindsey's 4 year Gotcha anniversary date is coming up on May 31. I will probably blog more about it then.

October 29, 2006

2008-05-14T13:30:00.001-05:00

My sister Ginny, me, and Lindsey at our hotel in Beijing...

Lindsey at the Great Wall....

Back to China....

2008-05-13T11:02:00.003-05:00

....in my memories that is. :-)

Here we are at Tiananmen Square for the second time in our lives (that just blows my mind). It was Lindsey's first time there. :-)

October 28, 2006

Praying for China after the deadly earthquake...

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T20:36:00.006-05:00

Happy Mother's Day! For my present, Lindsey decorated this cake for me:

She did it at the local grocery store where my son works. He had the idea for the cake which was sweet. Thanks kids!

I also got to sleep in a little bit then Jay brought me coffee in bed. The girls came in for hugs and to say Happy Mother's Day, then they all left, shut the door, and I read a book and drank a few cups of coffee in peace and quiet. :-) Took a shower then the day began. :-)

My in-laws came over for supper. Shortly after they arrived I went to get Allison up from her nap. I opened her bedroom door to find her wearing nothing, clothes and diaper on the floor. I'm pretty sure she slept like that, buck naked, because she had majorly wet the bed. Thankfully she went there (everything easily washed) and not on the floor. No picture unfortunately! :-)

I had a really nice day, although it was very bittersweet as this is the first Mother's Day without my mom. :-( Yesterday my 3 sisters and I walked in the Soleburner (5K run/walk) to raise money for cancer. It felt very good to be honoring my mom in that way and spend the morning with my sisters. We have always been close but this past year has brought us even closer and we have spent so much more time together. After the walk we went out for coffee and then visited my mom's grave.

Mom, I love you and miss you so much! Happy Mother's Day to the best mom EVER!

Happy Mother's Day to my MIL also, she is a wonderful MIL and I have absolutely no complaints. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, to those who are waiting, waiting, waiting for their little one from China especially. And Happy Mother's Day to kitty mothers (you know who you are, Wrigley and Quincy's mom!!! ~smile~)

Flashback - Oct 27, 2006

2008-05-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

In my last post I have a picture of me, Jay, and Lindsey in our local airport on our way to China to adopt Allison. Here we are the next day, in Beijing! Happy that the long trip was o.v.e.r.!

Here is Lindsey having a meltdown on the plane right before we arrived in Beijing. Can you see why we were glad the flight was o.v.e.r.? :-) (Actually she did very well on the way there and this was the only meltdown she had on that flight. Notice I said on THAT flight. LOL)

This and That

2008-05-05T08:40:00.002-05:00

First of all, THANK YOU to all who left such nice comments on my last post. I'm so glad I opened up and shared about this. Since I wrote, Allison said her first 2 word sentence, a very simple one, but 2 words together nevertheless - "Bye, Bapa!" (Bapa is Grandpa) She also added a word or two to her vocabulary. Tracy, I do know about the apraxia website and email group - I am a part but lurking for now since I don't even know if Allison has this. When her therapists first mentioned the word, and I did some initial research, I thought it sounded a lot like her. But now as time goes on I'm not so sure. Allison always seems a step behind her peers, but she grows and develops on a typical timeline, just as though she is 6 months younger than she is, if that makes sense. So we keep the diagnosis in the back of our mind but time will tell on that. Kit, *I* have watched the Signing Time videos and have learned from them :-) but Allison is still really not interested in TV yet at this point. (Unlike her sister, who, ahem, loves watching TV.) Anyway, thanks again!

**************

This Saturday I am walking in a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society with my 3 sisters. As most of you probably know my mom died last July from pancreatic cancer, just 3 weeks after she was diagnosed. So this cause is very important to me. I hesitate to ask here, but I'm going to anyway. It's totally up to you if you want to help out. So far I only have 2 sponsors! If you or someone you know is affected by cancer, and you'd like to sponsor me, you can go HERE and donate. Thanks so much!

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If you read the comment on my Draft Day post, then you already read this, but it's so good I have to say it again here:

Did you hear that Brett moved to the 'Twin Cities'?

YUP...He wanted to get as far away from professional football as possible. :)

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL

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We've been home from China for almost exactly a year and a half, and I still have not printed out the pics from our trip!!! I thought it was bad when it took me a year after our trip to Lindsey to print those out and get them in an album. Of course with her trip, Ben took over 1200 pictures! He didn't come on our second trip (his choice) so we don't have quite as many pictures. So what's my excuse, I don't know. But I am finally going through day by day and choosing pictures to print. I thought I would share one from each day of our trip, one per day or as I get a chance to post. As I said before, I am just so itching to be in China, so bear with me as I relive our trip to Allison. :-)

Here we are at our local airport waiting to fly to Chicago and then on to Beijing! (October 26, 2006)

More About Allison

2008-05-01T11:55:00.001-05:00

There is something about Allison I have never mentioned here. I just felt like it was too personal and wanted to protect Allison's privacy. But now I feel like maybe it's not so personal, and I would love to connect with other bloggers in similar situations. I hope that maybe I can encourage someone when they need it, and someone can encourage me when I need it. :-) I would also love to be able to talk about Allison's accomplishments here. So here goes:

Allison has a severe speech delay. She sees a speech therapist every other week, and on the opposite weeks she sees an occupational therapist. The latter is for some sensory issues and fine motor delays that she originally had. She has almost fully "recovered" from those delays now, but she is still behind in many ways, so she still sees the OT. Her therapists have mentioned the possibility that she has verbal apraxia but she is too young to be diagnosed yet. (Some children her age can be diagnosed already, but due to various reasons it is too soon to say Allison has this.)

I wanted to discuss "what not to say" when talking to someone whose child has a disability. If you have said any of these things to me, I am not upset with you. :-) I'm sure I have made MANY "open mouth, insert foot" comments to people going through various issues. When you've never gone through something yourself, sometimes it's hard to know what to say and what not to say.

When I tell someone that Allison has a speech delay, the most common response is:

"Oh, my (son/daughter, niece/nephew, neighbor, friend's child) didn't say a word until she was 3 and then one day she just started talking in complete sentences! Don't worry, ALLISON WILL BE FINE!"

Especially if I just shared that I was discouraged, that response is *not* helpful. First of all, it is dismissive of my feelings at the time. Second, just because said child eventually talked, that doesn't mean that my child will. Or she may, she may be fine in the end, but it may takes years of therapy to get to that point. Just please don't tell me stories of children who were "fine" in the end. It may seem like it would be encouraging, but it's really not, because again there is no guarantee my child will end up the same as the child you are talking about. Not every child with speech issues has a speech "delay". Sometimes, as possibly in Allison's case, they have a speech "disorder" and it's not a simple "fix" or not just a matter of time.

I'm not sure how I feel about this next one. I can't count how many times people have said to me, again "my son/daughter, niece/nephew, etc." wasn't talking by age 3 and someone asked me, "well have you had his/her hearing checked? My son/daughter, etc. wasn't talking and we finally had his/her hearing checked and lo and behold, he/she couldn't hear! They cleaned out her ears and now he/she talks great!" I'm sure there are many people whom it would help to bring this up, but I think *usually* if someone has been dealing with a problem for any length of time, they will have researched that subject to death and there's not much new information you can tell them. So anyway, YES, we had Allison's hearing checked shortly after she started therapy and her hearing is fine.

Another thing that drives me crazy, is when people say "Well Lindsey talks so much, she probably just does all the talking for Allison." That is just not the case here.

Or, "well she didn't hear any English for her first year of life, that's probably why she isn't talking". Lindsey didn't hear any English for her first year of life either and she had no speech issues. She started talking within a month of coming home. There are also many children adopted from China who were over a year at adoption who talk just fine. This may have something to do with a child not talking at first, but we've been home with Allison now for over a year and a half. This is not the problem.

***************

All that said, Allison is making GREAT progress lately! She is up to about 25+ words and seems to learn a new word and/or sign almost every other day. Now I know for a typical 2.5 year old, 25 words is not much. Both Ben and Lindsey were talking in complete and sophisticated sentences at Allison's age. But considering that at Allison's 6 month follow-up meeting in January she had only 1 or 2 words, this is big. Her receptive speech gets better and better all the time too. When she first started speech therapy late last summer, she really didn't have a clue about much of what you told her or asked her to do. Now she responds properly and quickly to most things you ask of her.

Here are some of Allison's words: Mommy, Daddy, more, off, read, open, water, ball, bye, please, hi, oww, yes, eyes, potty, walk, brush, juice, baby, wash, push, shoes (she says "eh-shoe", sounds like a sneeze!), socks, uh-oh, and eat. And some of the signs she knows: more, eat, open, milk, brush, potty, drink, shoe, book, read, please, shoes, bike.

One thing about Allison's speech delay, is that every new word is such a triumph! I get so excited about every new development. It's very rewarding. Allison has such a sweet personality (although she sure can stomp her foot when she's mad, it's actually pretty comical!). She's a very happy little girl and cute as a button. She makes me laugh, and drives me nuts. LOL She is SO into everything, gets into the same things over and over and over and over until you think it's never going to end (is it???). She's been such a joy and I am very thankful she's my daughter!

Awww!

2008-04-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

I am so itching to be in China! Not to adopt again, just to visit. We hope to take the girls back when they are older, maybe ages 8 and 10 or something like that. I hope we can afford it. Anyway I have been thinking about our 2 trips to China and have been browsing through pictures this morning from our trip to adopt Allison. I just came across this one of her the evening of Gotcha Day. So cute! She's changed so much!

NFL Draft! and recipes

2008-04-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, Jennifer, you read that right! LOL I guess you don't know me very well - I am a football NUT. I love, love, love the NFL and everything associated with it. Of course my #1 love is the Green Bay Packers! I bleed green and gold. Anyway....

My sister and I have had a "Draft Day Party" every year (except last year, my mom was in the hospital that weekend) for about the past 5-6 years of so. BTG (before the girls) we literally sat on the couch ALL DAY watching the draft. It's a bit more difficult now that the girls are running around, not quite as relaxing, but still fun! We still managed to sit on the couch without moving for quite a few hours. We were quite bummed when it ended early. We were prepared to go until 10:00.

We each pick players out of one of the Top 150 prospect lists we find on the internet and have fun seeing whose player gets picked each round. (Yes, we're weird but we LOVE it!) We had sandwiches for lunch and pizza for supper. We also eat very unhealthy, sugary snacks. :-) I made Oatmeal Caramel Bars (yes that is THREE sticks of butter):

Oatmeal Caramel Bars
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups butter, softened to room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 pkg. caramels
1 small can evaporated milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt caramels with the entire can of evaporated milk. Set aside. Mix the first six ingredients, like a pie crust. Then add vanilla. Put 1/2 the mixture in a floured 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Top with the caramel mixture. Sprinkle the remaining ingredients on top. Bake for for 20 to 25 minutes longer, at 350 degrees.

Yum, yum!!! I know this is not the healthiest, lowest fat dessert! But I only make it once a year for Draft Day so give me a break. :-)

As if that's not enough sugar, here's what my sister brought:

French Lace Cookies
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup Crisco
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 caps vanilla

Boil ingredients except flour and vanilla to golden brown. Add flour then vanilla. Drop gloops on cookie sheet, bake at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. (I'm not really sure exactly how long they take, you have to watch them.)

************

My sister and I talked about actually going to the draft in New York, maybe when the girls are teenagers. I'll let you know if and when we go so you can watch for us crazy Packer fans. LOL

They have 9 new players from the draft:

WR Jordy Nelson
QB Brian Brohm
CB Patrick Lee
TE Jermichael Finley
DE Jeremy Thompson
OG Josh Sitton
OT Breno Giacomini
QB Matt Flynn
WR Brett Swain (lose one Brett, get another!)

Go Pack Go!

Four Things....

2008-04-24T13:26:00.001-05:00

I never do these things, although I always want to. Again, can never seem to find the time or even when I have the time, I rarely feel like writing. But for some reason I decided to do this meme that I found at my friend Jane's blog, Much Ado About Books.

Four jobs I've had:
1) Waitress
2) Secretary
3) Secretary again
4) Checker at Kohl's

(Those are the ONLY 4 jobs I've ever had.)

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1) Sound of Music
2) Father of the Bride
3) Mrs. Doubtfire
4) Overboard

(I'm NOT a big movie watcher at all! You'll notice the 4 movies I listed are all older. I haven't seen a new movie in quite a few years. I'm not sure why, it's not that I don't like movies. I guess I like other things better. I keep saying I'm going to start watching movies but I never do.)

Four places I've lived:
1) Wisconsin
2) Wisconsin
3) Wisconsin
4) Wisconsin

(In fact, I've only lived in 6 different houses (2 before I got married, and 4 with my husband. They've all been within a 10 mile radius or so.)

Four TV Shows I watch:
1) American Idol
2) The Office
3) Amazing Race (LOVE that show, wish it was on more)
4) House Hunters

(Those are my four favorite shows.)

Four places I've been:
1) Beijing, China
2) Guangzhou, China
3) Kunming, China
4) North Carolina

(I haven't been to any other countries except China, and I haven't even been to that many places in the U.S.)

Four people who email me regularly:
1) Tamara
2) Dawn
3) Mary Jo
4) Sue

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Mashed potatoes
2) Cheddar Cheese flavor Quaker Quakes
3) Chocolate (milk chocolate only, can't stand dark or semi-sweet)
4) Pizza

Four places I would like to visit:
1) China (I want to go back again so bad! Not to adopt, just to visit)
2) Australia
3) Scotland
4) Hawaii

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1) Summer! (this was a long hard winter)
2) Graduating my son from high school (this was our 11th year of homeschooling – I'm ready for a break! Although, I will be starting Lindsey in Kindergarten this year)
3) Lifest in Oshkosh, in July
4) The NFL Draft!!!! This weekend! Having a party with my sister. WOO HOO!!!!

Four friends I'm tagging (if you haven't done this already):
If you are reading this consider yourself tagged!

***************
After posting on my other 2 blogs (Books and Hooks and N.E.W. Knitter) about possibly ending all my blogs, and receiving some very nice comments (also the comments posted here), I decided not to do it. I'm not going to end any of my blogs. I may not post very much, but I will post when I can. So please stick around! I have also decided to try to comment on other blogs more often. I want to know that people are reading mine, that I'm not just talking to myself, so I want to make sure others know I am reading their blogs too.

So I guess you will all have to endure seeing more pictures of my beautiful girls. ~smile~

Haircut Number...4?

2008-04-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

I think it's #4.

Before....

After....

But mom....

2008-04-03T10:06:00.000-05:00

....I don't WANT to stop painting!!!!!!!!!

"It's okay Allison. We can paint again tomorrow."

She obviously doesn't quite know what painting is all about yet!

***********
I am going to be taking a hiatus soon - maybe temporarily but maybe permanently. I haven't decided yet. Life is so busy and I am always trying to cut down my computer time. As soon as I get a chance to type up a goodbye post, I will do that. Might be awhile before that happens though! I just can't seem to get myself to sit down and write anything anymore. Thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog the last few months. I haven't gotten back to everyone and I'm sorry about that. I plan to one of these days! Happy Spring! We are finally in the 50's, yea!

Spring?

2008-03-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

So sorry it's been almost a month since I posted last! Things certainly are looking different around here now. Check out my front yard! (a bonus glimpse of Lindsey and Chester too!)

This was the same front yard just a month ago:

We're supposed to get some more snow tomorrow. :-( But I don't think much and at this point in the year snow doesn't last that long anymore. We still have a long way to go, we've had a TON of snow this winter and it will be awhile before all of it is gone. But it's getting there!

Highs in the 30's for Easter Sunday. They should make Easter snowsuits for little girls in Wisconsin instead of sleeveless Easter dresses! It's so hard finding appropriate clothing for them for Easter.

I will try to write some sort of meaningful update one of these days. Don't hold your breath waiting though! :-)

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Edited 3/21 to add: I really like when I comment on someone's blog and I don't have to go through the extra step of doing the word verification (am I lazy, or what?). So I decided to take that off my blog for commenters, but I have gotten numerous spam comments since then, so it's back on. Sorry about that!

Finally!

2008-02-25T10:02:00.000-06:00

I was able to take the girls outside for awhile both days this weekend. We've either been in the middle of a snowstorm or it was just way too cold to take them out most of this winter. Jay snowblowed a path around part of the yard so the girls (and the dog!) could walk around.

I think you can spot Allison in here somewhere.....

This was last August.....

.....and Saturday

BIG SIGH.....

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These are from last week. Allison is obsessed with putting swimming suits on her head! I guess she just can't help dreaming of summer....

Chinese New Year

2008-02-17T20:24:00.000-06:00

So I'm late with this post, surely that doesn't surprise you! :-)

I know many of you went to a Chinese New Year celebration recently. But how many of you went to one at.......

Yes our FCC group's CNY celebration was held in the atrium of Lambeau Field last Sunday. As a result we paid a hefty price for the meal but it was fun. Lindsey was her usual "social butterfly" self and Allison had a good time running around too. A few pics from the day....

Who ARE these kids????

2008-02-09T18:20:00.000-06:00

2007 year in Review - Allison

2008-01-31T10:19:00.000-06:00

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

2007 Year in Review - Lindsey

2008-01-29T18:06:00.000-06:00

I have seen a few people post a picture of their child every month for the past year and thought I'd do the same. First I will do Lindsey and after you've had a few days to admire her beautiful face :-) then I'll do another post with Allison. Allison's changes are much more dramatic. I think going from a baby to a toddler in the past year makes that so.

Here's Lindsey!

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Sigh

2008-01-21T10:30:00.000-06:00

I'm so disappointed that the Packers lost last night. Sadness in Packerland this morning. Hats off to the Giants though who deserved to win, and I hope they crush the Patriots in the Super Bowl. What a horrible game. They couldn't move the ball and they couldn't stop the Giants. Except for the 90 yard TD by Driver the whole game was miserable. But, life goes on. We didn't expect this season to go the way it did, we had a blast, it was a great ride. Too bad it didn't end better but what can you do.

I thought I'd post some pictures of the girls to cheer me up but for some reason I can't access the drive where all our pictures are. Next time.........

WAHOO!!!

2008-01-14T13:04:00.001-06:00

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news......
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THE PACKERS ARE IN THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND IT'S COMING TO LAMBEAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!GO PACK GO!!!!!

Haircut #3

2008-01-06T20:01:00.000-06:00

The girls got their hair cut on Thursday, the third time for Allison. You can see here that it was quite needed:

But the "after" is oh so cute:

Lindsey's cut is less dramatic. She just got a bang and ends trim. Jay has been bugging me to cut her hair shorter. I agree she would look adorable with shoulder length hair. If she agrees to it, I will have it cut that way in the spring. Sounds like a good summer haircut dontcha think? The stylist braided Lindsey's hair so it's hard to tell what the cut looks like, but here she is:

Here's what her hair looked like after the braid came out:

And just a cute/silly pic of the girls in their jammies:

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-23T11:05:00.000-06:00

Ornaments

2007-12-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

We just put our tree up last night. Since Allison is the QUEEN of getting into things, we just didn't want to deal with her taking ornaments off the tree all the time, for too long a period of time. We weren't totally sure if she'd want to take them off, but sure enough, ornaments have already been strewn all over the place by the little tornado. Guess the tree will be coming down the day after Christmas unless things get better, then we'll leave it up until New Year's Day. I've never been one to want the tree up for weeks and weeks anyway.

So here are a few of the ornaments:

See a theme here? :-)

I have about 10 more favorites but here are just a few more:

This one is my absolute favorite. I made it in kindergarten and I remember making it. The ornament is 38 years old! It's the first one I hang every year:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Sweet

2007-12-14T00:26:00.000-06:00

Long time no post, sorry. No time now either, time for bed! So I'll just leave you with 2 pictures:

Lindsey napping in her own little "nest" -----

Allison wide awake ----

Sigh

2007-11-30T11:44:00.000-06:00

I was hoping for a happier post this morning but oh well, you can't win 'em all! I thought the Packers did fairly well considering their injuries (and that was even before Favre got hurt) and playing IN Dallas. AND since it looked like it might be an embarrassing blowout for awhile too.

I had to watch the game all alone last night since Jay is out of town for work, Ben went to watch with a friend, and the girls were in bed. I'm getting a cold too and my throat was getting more and more sore as the game went on. And then the Packers lost. Oh woe is me. LOL

My four favorite TV shows:

1. The Packers playing football
2. The Badgers playing football
3. Sunday Night Football
4. Monday Night Football

:-)

I really like The Office, The Amazing Race, and House Hunters too. :-)

Have a great day!

GO PACK GO!!!!!

2007-11-29T17:43:00.000-06:00

GO PACK! YOU CAN DO IT!

BEAT THE COWBOYS TONIGHT!

Happy Birthday Chester!!!

2007-11-23T16:39:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHESTER!!!

Chester is 7 years old today!

I never had a dog in my life until we got Chester. I didn't have a clue how wonderful life is with a dog. We got him when he was 8 weeks old, and only 2 lbs. 6 oz.! He was SO little and cute! He "cried" part of the way home and parts of the first 2 nights here. But after that we were his family and he has done so well. *I* cried the first few months we had him. Let's just say he wasn't catching on to housebreaking (took him 9 months!) and he was just a lot of work. He never was a chewer or anything, it was just that pottying all over the house that was frustrating.

Now, he is the.best.dog. He is so cute and sweet, smells so good, doesn't shed, is friendly, great with the girls. AND....I'm his favorite person. :-) He loves CHEESE (of course!), probably even more than meat! He loves his homemade chicken cookies (yes I make them for him - if you want the recipe, let me know, it's easy!). He loves destroying his doggie toys (making a hole and getting all the stuffing out). He loves going for walks and going to the dog park.

His middle name is George because we brought him home the day Dubya was inaugurated (sp?) for the first time. :-)

I think we had him home for a day or two in this pic. Look how little Ben is!

He wouldn't even fit in this doggie bed today.

AWWWWW!!!!!

Someone is in t-r-o-u-b-l-e!!! :-)

P.S. Can't leave you until I say one more thing........................

How 'bout them Packers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10-1!!!!!

This season has been an absolute blast!

Shoes

2007-11-19T16:07:00.000-06:00

Lindsey needed some new dress shoes. She fell in love with a sparkly pink pair, of course. I said she could get them. The next morning she had them on. I said to her "You really love those shoes, don't you?" She answered......

"Yes, I'm *obsessed* with them!!!"

Too funny!

Allison is always on the go.......

Sisters

2007-11-15T14:44:00.000-06:00

....and, of course, part of a dog (look in the lower left)

Always behind

2007-11-06T10:33:00.000-06:00

Story of my life these days - I have NEVER been SO behind on SO many things IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I just can't seem to get anything done in a timely manner these days. I have a To Do list a mile long that I can never make any kind of dent in. This is just such a new feeling for me. I was wondering the other day WHY in the world I can't keep up anymore? I realized right away that I have never had 2 little ones at the same time before! Ben was almost 13 before Lindsey came along, then we had just one little one for 2 1/2 years before Allison came home. It doesn't help that I'm homeschooling Ben in his senior year which brings a lot of work and stress, Lindsey has a difficult personality (don't let that sweet face fool you! LOL) and Allison has delays (which I don't really want to discuss here, mostly for her privacy, but she has a major speech delay as well as a few other minor things). So I have just resigned myself to feeling disorganized, my house being a mess, and some things just not getting done, for a few more years yet.

A week ago today, October 30, was our one year anniversary of Gotcha Day for Allison. We did nothing to mark the day, other than to acknowledge that it was one year since Gotcha, and I looked at the pictures from that day in China. Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures on that day in China, none of the actual Gotcha moment, because my sister mostly took video (at my request) instead of pictures. But here is one of us that day. We were so shell shocked, things felt so different than they did when we got Lindsey.

For Halloween, Allison stayed home with me (she has no clue what the day was all about) and Jay took Lindsey out trick or treating. She went as a pink leopard. I didn't get very good pictures (story of my life again) but here's one:

(I really don't care for Halloween to tell you the truth. Lindsey had a blast and it was cute having her dress up. But I absolutely hate the gross and gory decorations that people put in their yards, I don't find it funny or cute. I think it mars the beauty of the fall season. And now Lindsey has a bucket full of candy - just what she needs! - NOT! We struggle the way it is with sweets and junk food. This doesn't help! So anyway, just my thoughts on the subject, I know I'm in the minority with my feelings about Halloween!)

To be honest I get pretty discouraged at my inability to get things together. Plenty of other moms have at least 2 little ones, some many more than that, and they still seem to have things in order. Big Gotcha Day celebrations, great pictures, clean houses, eloquent blog posts, etc. Oh well, I am who I am and I have to accept that.

Thursday is our 12 month post-placement visit, and is also the one year anniversary of the day we came home from China last year. We have our court date for Allison's readoption later this month. I will make sure I get some good pictures of that at least!

So this isn't a total downer post, here are a few other misc. pictures of the girls:

Ick!

Allison actually fell asleep one late morning on the kitchen floor,

Lindsey took the opportunity to pose next to her :-)

She loves to climb!

This was so cute, they were sitting there together, each looking
through piles of "stuff", so intent on what they were doing

Allison's Birthday

2007-10-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I didn't get any really good pictures of Allison's 2nd birthday party. I tried to take some before the party, knowing it would get chaotic when everyone was here (which it did) but the girls just did not want to cooperate. Both girls would not stay still so all the pictures are blurry. I thought for sure I took some when we were singing Happy Birthday but they did not show up. Here's what I did get:

(I told you Chester always gets in pictures! That's his ear on the bottom.)

Eating supper, she loves to eat!

I got tears in my eyes when we were singing to her, thinking about last year, how no one probably sang her Happy Birthday. How thrilled I am that she is my daughter and from now on we can celebrate her coming into the world and into our family, every year. She is a special little girl!

In honor of Allison's nickname, "Pie Pie", we didn't have a birthday cake. Jay made an apple pie and a blueberry pie (yum!), get it - Pie Pie. :-) I did make cupcakes and spelled out Happy Birthday on them with candy letters. The picture I took of that didn't turn out very good :-( and I FORGOT to take pictures of the pies! ARGH! This was NOT the birthday of pictures I guess. Allison took her own pictures. I wonder if hers turned out better than mine. :-)

Have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

2007-10-11T17:26:00.000-05:00

My baby turns 2 years old today! We missed her first birthday by just a few weeks (Gotcha Day was 10/30) so I'm so happy to have her home with us today. We're not doing anything special today, but having a birthday party for her on Sunday. I will post more about Allison and pictures after that day. I don't have the time right now. But I wanted to acknowledge my sweet Allison today on her special day!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Love, Mom

More pics of the girls, what else

2007-09-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

I had these all ready to post a few nights ago and then poof! I was doing some cropping of the pics and thought I was deleting one picture but instead everything I had just worked on was gone and I didn't know how to get it back. So this morning I redid them all and here you go.

Lindsey started a Tumble and Jazz class a few weeks ago. Here she is all ready on the first day:

Allison woke up sick a few Sundays ago. She seemed so mellow when she got up, and at first we weren't sure if she was just tired or if she was sick. Then she threw up. :-) She slept all morning and then she was fine after that thankfully. I have no idea what that was all about. Doesn't she look sweet and a little pathetic?

This picture tells the story of the position these little girls take with each other. Lindsey ALWAYS has to be the center of attention. Poor Allison is sometimes the "poor little sister" tagging along.

But they do love each other!

Although you might not always be able to tell, LOL:

Loving books:

It's funny that when we first adopted Lindsey, the nannies told us she did not like "hairy toys" (translation: stuffed animals!) Now she LOVES them! She's not really into dolls, but she loves her stuffed animals. She loves real animals too. She says she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. :-)

Just looking pretty:

Not happy all the time!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Life isn't always happy and easy around here, raising 2 active little girls plus a teenage son can be so exhausting. Some days I just want to throw in the towel. Life can be very HARD! But the good things do outweigh the bad. I so love my kids though and thank God He has blessed me 3 times over. There was a day when I wondered if I'd have any kids, and then I thought Ben would be an only child forever. So remind me how thankful I am when I am struggling! :-)

Have a good day!

Just pics again

2007-09-10T10:53:00.000-05:00

I wish I was witty or interesting or had time to tell great stories about my girls :-) but once again you just get some pics:

Sleeping!

Outside about 2 weeks ago:

Riding her bike in her dress up clothes and butterfly wings!

Allison got her second haircut on Saturday

Shoes

2007-09-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

I wasn't born with the "female shoe gene" - I'm really not that into shoes (or clothes or shopping for that matter, GASP!). BUT, Allison LOVES shoes, other people's shoes mainly. Here she is with a pair of Lindsey's shoes on (and a pair of winter tights on her head!!!):

(Ack, please don't look at how dirty the carpet is! It's pretty bad, but what can I say with 2 little ones in the house? Jay will be getting out the Rug Doctor soon!)

Sorry I'm not much for updating lately. I think I only have a small handful of readers anyway. (If you visit my blog, please comment and let me know you were here! I would really appreciate it.) I have been spending a ton of time with my new knitting hobby - doing my knitting blog, participating in knitting email groups and one "real life" group, reading knitting books, listening to knitting podcasts, and of course actually knitting. I'm not obsessed, no not me.

Come visit me at my knitting blog!

Shameless Plug!

2007-08-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

I started another blog, because I'm learning to knit! It's called N-E-W-Knitter. I also updated my sewing blog. Go have a look!

N-E-W-Knitter

Eileen's Sewing Journal

Happy Birthday Ben!

2007-08-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

My "baby" is 17 years old today! Happy Birthday Ben!

After 12 weeks of bedrest for preterm labor, then almost 3 weeks of walking around, having contractions but no baby, I was finally induced a few days early (I was due 8/17) and Ben was born at 6:12 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. I can't believe 17 years has gone by since that day. Ben is a son to be proud of. He will be a senior in high school this year (homeschooled) and plans to go into a career in aviation. He loves music, movies, hanging out with friends, and anything aviation related of course. He works part-time as a bagger/checker at a local grocery store. He's a great big brother, a big help to me, and bigger than me!

My sister is watching the girls tonight while we take Ben out to dinner at Hu Hot Mongolian Grill. Yum!

One Year Ago Today

2007-08-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

We saw this picture....

....and received the referral for our second sweet daughter from China. She was exactly 10 months old, living in Kunming, Yunnan. She had a special need of ASD which turned out to be non-existant. She still has some delays but has made tons of progress in the past 9 months since we brought her home. Referral day is the BEST!

FOOTBALL!!!!

2007-08-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the Packers first preseason game. But boo hoo, I won' t be able to watch it. I'll be at my 25 year high school class reunion. I'm sure the game will be on there so I can catch parts of it. I am a huge football fan and am training my girls the best I can. I don't know where I went wrong with Ben, he recently lost all interest in football. Sigh.

Here are some pictures of us in our Packer attire. None of them are real recent. I think I need some new Packer clothes for this winter. I still wear my Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XXXI Champions sweatshirt (they won it in 1997).

At the beach

2007-08-02T18:38:00.000-05:00

We were at a friend's cottage a few weekends ago (where the latest pics of Allison were taken). We went to a beach for a little while. Lindsey had a ball playing in the sand and running through the water (we forgot to pack swimming suits, ack! but it was too hot to stay long anyway). Allison was NOT so sure what she thought about the sand. She would cry if she had to walk in it (with or without shoes on). But she did eventually stick her hands in it to see what it was all about. (Reminds me of when we brought Lindsey home, she was scared to death to touch grass with her hands or feet. Allison was fine with that right away.) Just 2 pics from the beach...

Beautiful...

2007-07-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

....Just love these pics!!!

A Tribute to My Mom

2007-07-14T17:24:00.000-05:00

I want to keep most of this part of my life private as this is not the purpose of my blog, but since I mentioned that my mom had cancer I also want to let you know that she died last Monday, July 9. She died at home, peacefully, with her whole family at her side. I do just want to say a few things about my mom. Of course I think she was the best mom in the whole world! She gave me so many things. I have nothing but happy memories of her and my childhood. How many people can say that? My mom was so unselfish. She never cared about things for herself, her fulfillment came from being a great wife and mom and taking care of her 4 girls. She loved my dad so much and faithfully took care of him all their days together. They would have been married 50 years next month. She loved to make friends, she would talk to anyone who would listen at their senior apartment complex, a doctor's office, the grocery store. The comment I heard from people so many times at the funeral yesterday was "Your mom was such a sweet lady." I miss her so much already.

I could go on and on but I will just say "Thank you mom for everything. You're the best!!!!! I love you and will miss you incredibly."

***************

Thank you to all who prayed and sent cards and gave hugs and supported me through all of this. Many of you probably don't even read this blog but I'll thank you here anyway. Thank you Tamara for your "extra" prayers, the flowers, the talks on the phone. Thank you Mary Jo and Lorraine for watching my girls and taking such good care of them, I didn't have to worry about their wellbeing when I was busy with my mom and at the funeral. Thank you Sue for coming to the visitation, that meant so much to me. Thank you to my email friends - my blogger friends, Robin, the "Chatty Girls" and both of my travel groups for your prayers and words of comfort. Thank you to Traci my hairdresser who not only came in early one day last week so I could have a fresh haircut before the funeral, but didn't charge me for the cut and style. I know I'm missing a bunch of people, I'm sorry if that is you, but know that nothing said or done has gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

1st Haircut

2007-07-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Allison got her first haircut** today!!! She did so good, just sat nice while he cut her hair. I took her to the same place Lindsey went back in January.

Some before pics:

During:

And after:

Playing when she was done:

The back:

(See the DOG in the pic! Remember I told you he manages to get himself into so many pictures! Silly boy!)

Remember THIS look from Lindsey when she got her hair cut?

Well, Allison decided she could do that too! :-)

(Actually Lindsey's was a real scowl, Allison was just looking down and happened to make that face, she didn't mean anything by it.)

And how she's changed! Here are a few more pictures of her in China (this was 8 months ago):

**Unless you count this:

See how her hair looks blunt cut across the top - we wonder if her hair was in her eyes and her foster mother or nanny just cut it straight across the top. Or it wasn't cut, but just looked like it. So I will consider today's haircut her first.

Just a few pics

2007-06-30T00:09:00.000-05:00

Just to keep this blog updated, here are a few pics. I won't be posting much this summer. My mom was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and we don't have much time left with her. These past 2 weeks have been the most difficult ones of my life. I don't want to disappear completely but posts will be sparse for awhile.

Hope you all are having a good summer!

Nice hairdo, "crazy lady"

2007-06-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

The other night I was getting the girls ready to get in the tub. I got Allison down to her diaper and took the "waterfall" out of her hair. (She FINALLY keeps things in her hair so I can keep it out of her eyes! Before she would just pull anything I put in there right out.) So anyway her hair was sticking up flopping all over. It was so cute. Before I could get her in the tub she took an empty laundry basket and started pushing it all around the house, making funny noises while she pushed and especially when she would bump into anything. I was laughing so hard, I just videoed her while the water got cold. Allison is such a hoot!

Allison

2007-06-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

She always wakes up happy! Here's Allison after her nap today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!!!

2007-06-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

One big day follows another! And tomorrow is her party. A busy, happy 3 days for my little girl.

See how she's grown!

ONE YEAR OLD:

TWO YEARS OLD:

THREE YEARS OLD:

FOUR YEARS OLD:

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!!!!

2007-05-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today our beautiful Lindsey was placed in our arms. She was so stoic, didn't cry, just sat and looked around, let out an occasional "ah!". We couldn't believe how adorable she was! It was so hot in the Civil Affairs office, she was a little sweaty, dressed in a cute red romper with white shirt and little white socks. Very clean but with long dirty fingernails! She loved to scratch, scratch, scratch at everything for the first few days. After a few days she started to smile a little and open up but was nothing like the outgoing, opinionated :-) , loves life little girl that she is now! She will be 4 years old tomorrow! She can't wait for her "birtday" (no "h" when she says it, so cute!)

Happy Gotcha Day Lindsey! You are such a blessing in our lives. We love you so much!

(Ahem, you may notice Lindsey's very short bangs. You may wonder, what beautician would cut them THAT short? Well....the haircut was done at Creations by Lindsey. YES, she cut her own bangs last week when I wasn't looking!)

That dog!

2007-05-10T15:26:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in a post once before, my dog gets himself into so many of my photos it isn't even funny! I love him to death though. HE'S THE BEST DOG EVER. I like this pic of Allison. See Chester in there too? He's looking longingly outside. We have had some really nice weather lately!

Our Family

2007-05-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

Last weekend before prom:

Mother and Son

Allison's Story

2007-04-14T17:07:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know we started out in the NSN program for our second China adoption, LID 10/12/05. Ever since applying for our second adoption, we talked on and off about filling out the special needs (SN) application with our agency. We never felt quite ready until the summer of 2006. Everything just fell into place and we filled out the application in mid-July. On August 11, 2006, we received the referral of our little Allison. We were asking for a child about 2 years old, and she was only 10 months the day of referral. "She's younger than you were asking for, do you still want to know more about her?" Well, YES! :-) We accepted her referral and Gotcha Day was 10/30/06.

You also know that I started a password protected website for our travel. I also didn't know what lay ahead of us as far as treatment so I wanted to keep that information more private. But now I'd like to share about her "special need that wasn't", to give glory to God!

Allison's special need was a heart condition, atrial septal defect (ASD). She was reported to have 2 small holes in her heart that would most likely need surgery to close. About a week after we got home we took her to a pediatric cardiologist and.....her heart was fine! Either the holes closed on their own or she never had the defect. Of course we were thrilled! She is a very happy and healthy little girl.

Please forgive me!

2007-04-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

I'm so behind. My sidebar is not up to date at all, I'll fix that when I can. Congrats to those families who received a referral in the last batch! Hugs to those who expected one and didn't get one due to the CCAA only doing 2 days worth. And Jane I hope yours comes very soon too! I can't wait to rejoice with you!

So anyway, things have been crazy around here. Jay was in the hospital over Easter weekend (he's home now and doing fine) and so many other things. I will get my sidebar updated soon. For now I'll leave you with 2 pics of the girls from last month. We actually had a warm spell for about a week and a few days after these pics were taken it even got up to 80 degrees one day. Now it's cold and snowy again but spring WILL come, right? (Lindsey SO needs to get outside and work off some energy, I think it's contributing to her, ummm, being quite naughty lately!)

Sick!

2007-04-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

This was actually the week before last. Allison and I were both sick that whole week. Can you tell she wasn't feeling good in these pictures? :-)

We're both feeling much better, but now it's Lindsey's turn. :-( She has a runny nose, a bad cough, and a fever. This is worrisome because a little over a year ago she started out like this and it turned into pneumonia. I read you are more susceptible to it once you have it. But when she had it she was also VERY listless and breathing fast, and she's not like that this time. But a call to the doctor might be in order tomorrow. Feel better Lindsey!

4 Years!

2007-03-26T23:27:00.000-05:00

Four years ago today we filled out the application for Lindsey's adoption. Wow time flies. I had no clue that day what an incredible journey we were in for. I am SO blessed. I love you Lindsey!

Notice Allison's little feet on the left. :-)

Basket baby

2007-03-24T11:50:00.000-05:00

Allison is a climber! Lindsey was not/is not a climber. The girls are so different in almost every way possible. One of these days I'll post about it. Just a picture for today. Besides climbing UP on things, Allison LOVES to climb IN things, like the toy baskets. (And then most of the time she gets stuck, LOL)

Does Harvard Accept 3 Year Olds?

2007-03-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

The Many Faces of Allison

2007-03-08T11:13:00.000-06:00

Allison is the Queen of faces! She has so many different ones, she just cracks me up so often.

Two more

2007-03-08T00:47:00.000-06:00

I love these! She often ends up in just her onesie for awhile between getting her clothes off and getting her jammies on before bed. She loves that. Ben and Lindsey used to love to run around in just their undershirts too. Parenting tip: when your child is cranky and you can't figure out why, get them down to their onesie! It often works!

Cute pictures, what else

2007-03-08T00:22:00.000-06:00

I have tons of pictures to post and things to write, but for now here are 3 pics of Allison to hold you over. :-) Hoping to do more updates soon!

She looks a bit like a boy in these pics! Good thing she's wearing pink. :-)

The dog (Chester) sneaks into SO many pictures!

THE BEST DOG IN THE WHOLE WORLD

I Can't Complain

2007-02-26T10:26:00.000-06:00

It's gorgeous outside! So how can I complain about the snow? I will say I hope this is the last of it though, bring on Spring!

Another blog (oh brother)

2007-02-25T12:26:00.000-06:00

I need another blog like I need another hole in my head, but I recently decided to start sewing again so I started a blog to write about what I'm sewing and post pictures. Come visit if you'd like!

Don't forget about my book blog!

Sunday

2007-02-25T11:02:00.000-06:00

It's not over yet. More snow today, more tomorrow. And we were SO close to having no snow in the yard! Oh well, I've lived here all my life so I knew this would happen, but that doesn't mean I like it. It IS pretty though. Lindsey is looking forward to going outside later today.

This IS Wisconsin after all!

2007-02-24T11:48:00.000-06:00

After the bitter cold weather we had a few weeks ago, we had some warm weather last week and the snow started to melt. Here's our backyard Wednesday morning...

...then Thursday morning

...and Friday morning

...and now, today.

If it was early January, I would welcome the snow. But we're at the point of winter where I WANT SUMMER! :-)

Have a great day!

Just 2 pics

2007-02-20T09:38:00.000-06:00

First a picture I call "Nerd Baby".

Now a picture of Lindsey looking pretty as usual.

My 2 girls are so different in every way and I love it! They are both wonderful and I love them so much! Awwwww

More Crib Fun

2007-02-12T09:23:00.000-06:00

I think Lindsey has officially given up naps. But after Allison wakes up from hers in the afternoon, Lindsey will climb in the crib with her and they'll play. Lindsey had Allison laughing so hard the other day.

Soooo tired....

2007-02-04T08:23:00.000-06:00

This is what happens around lunchtime when mommy doesn't get around to giving me a morning nap - just fall asleep where I'm sitting in the living room.

Lindsey's New Look

2007-02-01T09:27:00.000-06:00

Lindsey had some dental work done last October - 2 crowns, 1 extraction, and about 6 cavities filled. We had a bridge made for her for her missing tooth. We went in at the end of November to have it put in but it wasn't made right and they had to try again. A few weeks ago they finally got the new tooth put in. She looked so cute with her missing tooth, but I think she is even cuter now that she has her new tooth.

Before

After

Jay has been wanting Lindsey to have bangs for a long time. I resisted but finally gave in to letting her get a few wispy bangs. I am SO glad I did because she looks so beautiful! I love her new look.

Lindsey with an attitude

Checking in!

2007-01-12T20:59:00.000-06:00

To whoever still reads this hapless blog, thanks for checking in! I've been obsessed with book blogs lately (including my own! come visit and leave a comment!) but I thought I'd take the time to post a few new pics here. Have a great weekend!

Messy baby!

Playing around in my crib

I'm so cute

Dr. Lindsey

I'm pulling up to a stand now (all the time!)

Crawling too - what's under here? (aha! my sister's box of (mostly) junk!)

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T10:55:00.000-06:00

I got it!

2006-12-30T15:19:00.000-06:00

I've been driving myself crazy trying to come up with a name for my new book blog. I asked for creative ideas (and got a few, thanks!) then I realized that if it's too catchy/creative, then it doesn't feel like "me". So I was almost all set just to call it "Eileen's Book Blog". LOL

Then I started thinking about how I want to get back into crocheting again. I've done some here and there since we brought Lindsey home, including making her and Allison afghans, finishing the afghan I started for myself years ago, and a few other small projects. I doubt I'll be able to crochet every day or even every week but I want to get back into it.

So I thought why not combine the two interests - reading and crocheting. Then I can talk about what I'm crocheting as well as reading. I was making lunch today and a name came to me.....

.....Books and Hooks! It may sound dumb but I like it. So I created the blog, don't bother going there yet though because I'm still working on setting it up.

Gotta run, I'm off to the library! :-)

Creative people - HELP!!!

2006-12-23T21:32:00.000-06:00

Despite the fact that I am trying (and pretty well succeeding, with some work to do yet) to spend less time on the computer since we've come home with Allison, I want to start a book blog as of the first of the year (which is only a little over a week away!). I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read and I've seen so many great blogs about reading out there, I'd like one of my own.

Anyway, I want a cool name for it, and I'm not that great at coming up with things like that. The name of this blog proves that. LOL If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I was thinking of calling it something in Latin since I'm learning Latin with Ben (and I LOVE it!) and it feels very studious. LOL Otherwise something having to do with coffee and reading, LOVE coffee too. Drinking a cup of coffee curled up with a good book is a little slice of heaven you know. Or neither of those things, just something totally cool. :-) Thanks!

It's been awhile!

2006-12-18T21:17:00.000-06:00

I don't plan to disappear completely but haven't really had much time to post. I'll upload a few pics for now. Everything is going GREAT here! Allison is awesome! I LOVE having 2 little girls!

Home!

2006-11-15T07:46:00.000-06:00

We've been home a week already, time flies! It's so great to be back. I don't think I'll be blogging much but I'll try to check in. Everything is going well. Allison is a very happy and content baby and so far sleeps all night. :-) We are falling in love with our little girl more and more each day. Lindsey is doing well other than the usual challenges you can expect from her adjustment to her new role as big sister. Here are a few pictures of the girls in China:

This is it!

2006-10-22T09:53:00.000-05:00

Hi all, This will probably be my last post to my blog until after we get home. We leave in just 4 days and I'm going to wrap up all my "computer stuff" and get this laptop packed up and ready to go! I can't believe the time is almost here. I've been walking around with butterflies in my stomach constantly! I have a terrible cold, hoping to get rid of it before we go! I am almost packed, not sure if everything will fit! Here's a pic of all the "stuff" not including any clothes! Don't worry, this is before I took things out of their boxes and consolidated and all that. (Note the dog on the left *G*.)

I'm going to be journaling from China on my password protected website. If you want the info, email me and ask. If I don't know you from Adam you'll have to give me some info about yourself first! I won't have time for any chit chat, just the facts ma'am. If you email me after Tuesday I doubt I will be able to get you the info.

And one last picture of Princess Lindsey (she was at a princess birthday party):

Zai jian for now!!!

One more, and two more

2006-10-15T10:09:00.000-05:00

One more Thursday, one more Friday, one more Saturday, one more Sunday (after today)

Two more Mondays, two more Tuesdays, two more Wednesdays!

Before you ask, let me save you the breath.....NO, I'm not packed yet. :-)

I do however, have in my possession Allison's new carseat:

and the double stroller:

We finally picked those up last Thursday. I knew what I wanted, we just had to go buy them. Lindsey has a Britax Marathon too and I love it (she has the denim cover, Allison's is houndstooth) so that was an easy choice. I also love our Graco Quattro Tour single stroller, so it made sense to just buy the double. I'm looking forward to pushing the girls in it! I'm not looking forward to buckling 2 girls in carseats. :-)

Happy Sunday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

2006-10-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! I wish I could be with you on your birthday, but we'll be there soon! Your big sister Lindsey is ready to play with you! I love you!

Thank you!

2006-09-27T16:04:00.000-05:00

SO many people have commented or emailed me to congratulate me, wish me well, all those wonderful things. I want to thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart. As you can imagine life is super busy right now with homeschooling, one very busy 3 year old, and of course an upcoming TRIP! So I can't always respond to everyone individually, but I have read each message and saved them all.

As you can see from my new ticker, we leave 4 weeks from tomorrow! I know that time will go FAST but it also seems like forever! Thanks again to everyone for everything.

WE GOT OUR TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-22T08:28:00.000-05:00

YES! We got our Travel Approval yesterday on Day 34! I doubt that's the fastest ever, but it's the fastest I've heard by one day. Another October LID family got their TA last summer in 35 days, another family a few weeks ago on Day 40, and another just this past Monday on Day 39.

So, without further adieu (or is it ado? hmmmm)........here she is......

Miss Allison Lingyun Kunstman!!!

All good things....

2006-09-17T15:38:00.000-05:00

....must come to an end. And so must this blog. But not yet! :-) I am, however, going to phase this out before we go to China. I'm switching to a password protected website for the rest of our journey. I just feel like I want to keep some things private. If you're with AWAA, you will see the website with username and password in my signature line of my (infrequent!) posts to the email group there. If I personally know you or you've commented in my blog and really want my website info, I'd be happy to give it to you. You'll find my email in my profile. If you're just a lurker, well, I don't want to shut you out necessarily, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Maybe you don't care about my little life anyway. :-)

Another reason for phasing out this blog besides the privacy issue, is the time I spend on the computer. Once we get Allison home, I want to cut most of my computer time out and focus on my family and other things. I know many people are able to keep up their blogs, etc. once they get their child home, but I know myself and I know I haven't the discipline to stay off as much as I'd like to. I have a vision in my head of what I want my days to look like. I want to start them out with breakfast with my girls (and Ben is he's awake LOL) and not start it off on this computer. I want to get outside more, play with them more, and GET CONTROL OF THE CHAOS around here! :-) Will it happen as I envision it? I don't know but I hope so.

I leave you with a few pictures from last weekend when we went up to a friend's cottage. I love the brother/sister pics. Oh Lindsey can annoy Ben and vice versa, but there's also times when they make me go awww and warm my heart.

We made it to Day 30 of the wait for TA. That went pretty fast! We're really hoping to travel early November.

AMAZING RACE starts tonight! Woo hoo! Oh, and the Packers lost. Woo, big surprise, not.

I'll write again a time or two before I close this blog. It's been fun but as I said, it's time is done soon.

We are in t-r-o-u-b-l-e!!!

2006-09-04T08:23:00.000-05:00

I volunteer in the church nursery once a month. Lindsey does so well in her class, I don't want to be in the same room she is in and have her think that is the way it is going to be. So when she was in the 1 year old room, I served in the 7-12 months area, when she moved to the 2 year old room, I served in the 1 year old room. Well this fall she moves to the 3 year old room, so I signed up for the 2 year old room (well of course). Except the children don't move to their new classrooms until next week, but the new fall/winter volunteer rotatation began yesterday. SO, I was in the same room with Lindsey. First it was just her and I, she was showing me the toys, and then a little crying boy came in. I went to pick him up and Lindsey had a FIT. I was the only volunteer in the room at the time and I had to tend to this little boy (thankfully he stopped crying immediately when I brought him to the train table). But the rest of the morning went well....NOT! Oh that was difficult. She is SO jealous of sharing our attention. So like I said, we are in TROUBLE when Allison comes! Eeek!

On another subject, Lindsey slept in her crib until she was almost 3 years old and then moved to a toddler bed (thanks Dawn!). That was to be temporary until we could find reasonably priced matching twin beds. We just bought matching headboards, put one in the basement for now, and set the other one up on Saturday. (We'll set the crib back up probably next month.) Her room still needs much decorating. Whatever we got done before she came home is what is done today over 2 years later. I can't believe some of the elaborate nurseries some of my fellow adoptive parents have created! Lindsey's room has been pretty bare. Hey, we're slow, what can I say?

Goodbye LID Ticker!

2006-08-26T18:21:00.000-05:00

I left my "days since our LID" ticker up there for awhile, for some reason couldn't let it go. Dumb, because it no longer matters how long it's been since we have our referral for our precious Allison. I'm moving on! :-) (Had you noticed our Allison's birthday is only one day before our LID?)

I'm not crazy about the white backgrounds on the birthday tickers but it's the only way the text will show up.

That's my exciting entry for the day! 8 days down, ? to go!!!