Catching up.....Again

WHO gets the award for the least amount of posts....? Umm, that would be ME! I have a million things I would love to update here, but time is my biggest enemy. Or I should say, the lack of time is my biggest enemy. Our days are very busy as I am sure most parents, would agree. It seems when I would like some extra time, it eludes me, but when I would like the time to pass faster, it just drags on, and on, and on, and on. So let's start there, time dragging on. Yes, we are still waiting and hoping for a referral of our sweet baby boy. It's been eighteen months now and we recently had to renew our fingerprints for USCIS. Made me wonder......my fingerprints haven't changed, and if I was going to change something, it certainly wouldn't be my fingerprints! Maybe a tummy tuck, cheek lift, something to improve, kinda thing, but hey, rules are rules so we made the trek to their office, and we have been updated. After the holidays I will submit for the I600A renewal. I never thought we would have to renew that paperwork, so I will add it to the list to update with our homestudy, dossier, and pictures. The hubby will just love that idea....(insert sarcasm) ....he doesn't like his picture taken. I'll think of some bribery tool to get it done.

Let's move on to pictures.....I love taking them, they are not always the best, but it's fun! I have a boatload of them from our trip this summer to Lake George NY and to Lake DuBay in Wisconsin. This one is at Lake George, Adam was our photographer for this shot. Beautiful place, met up with some old friends. Awesome fireworks that echoed through the mountains, really neat. Our next summer adventure took us to Wisconsin. And we drove, all the way, one and half days. Our kids are great travelers and sleepers, what a blessing. Here we spent a few days at the Wisconsin Dells, what a fun place with something for everyone. The weather wasn't the best, but we still had fun. We then headed north to Lake DuBay for our annual China Families Reunion. We have been meeting with them each year since the girls were adopted. We all met in Hong Kong as new parents to our little girls. To this day we still talk, catch up and see how much all the girls have grown. For 12 yrs now each family takes a turn hosting in or near their hometown.....we have been all over! Columbus Ohio, Wisconsin x2, Myrtle Beach SC, Memphis and Gatlinburg TN, New York City, Cape May NJ, Kansas City Missouri, Niagara Falls Canada, just to name a few. Not each family can make it each year, but we all try. There were 12 baby girls that trip to Nanchang China, and it is so much fun to see the similarities. Of the 12 girls, 9 of them are left handed, 7 participate in sports, dance or gymnastics, 5 play a musical instrument, most like to read, and 8 of the families have adopted again. Pretty Awesome, very

LARGE Group! Can you say reservations for 40 please? Heaven help the Chinese restaurant we go to at a reunion with everyone and their entire families in attendance. Some even bring the grandparents too. Here are the few that attended this year, five of the original girls, and their two little sisters. Even if some families can't make it, we still talk through the year, birthdays, holidays, or just catching up. This year all the kids got to try some fun lake sports..... Emily, her turn water skiing.

I love this smile! Not sure what he said or was saying, but he loves the water! Adam skied like a pro, until he got a little too over confident and he tried to jump the boat wake, practically split his bathing suit right up the middle and almost landed in the lake. He complained of a slight thigh/groin strain, so I told him to stay in the lake, float around for a bit, and the cool water will keep any swelling down. He was good after some rest. Ahh, boys! Gotta love 'em! We had so many great times... this is how we started our evenings.......the sun setting while we started the campfire for stories, games and roasting marshmallows.

As summer ended, we closed the season with a 70th birthday party for my mom, including my brother and his family from down south. About 35 friends and family came to celebrate Mom on her speical day. Every once in a while I still find a piece of the curling ribbon that held the balloons on the deck, needing to be cut. Chris finished the pool deck and he did a fantastic job! I called it Chris's Ark as he doubled checked each screw and measured and RE-measured each board, I don't think Noah took as much time as Chris did, LOL! :-) Adam says his dad can fix anything and I think Adam is right! We had a few parties to celebrate summer and I think I have enough plastic silverware to last two summers. Note to self ~ Buying bulk isn't always the best idea. Then it was time to head back to school. So we did all the shopping for just the right binder, shoes, so many shoes, and cool pencils. My kids think it's un-Cool to let Mom take your picture on the first day, so sorry no pictures. But I did get to watch them walk to the bus stop, only permitted if I stay on the front porch. The only one that everyone agreed on is this one.....oh my, they are growing up fast!

Next up, lots of projects for school (already finished four), plenty of driving practice, dance, concert band, and Halloween !! Oooh, spooky fun! Fall is alot of fun and there is always something going on! Finally the weather cleared up here after three days of rain, just in time to go back to work. Go figure, right? Well this weekend, we will try to find some pumpkins to decorate the front porch. Enjoy the Fall !