Happy Halloween

Doug and I carved our pumpkins on Sunday. I did the basic pumpkin face while Doug got creative and did the "evil eye".

Every year Asia watches and wonders why the heck we are mutilating the pumpkins!

Tonight we plan on giving out candy. Last year we had about 35 kids come to the door. I hope we get that many this year because I have two big bowls of candy ready!

Hope everyone has a very happy Halloween!

Halloween Party

Doug and I went to a super fun Halloween costume party on Saturday! It was put together by Lisa S. and hosted by Kathy and Matt. The decorations were awesome and the food delish! We had a costume contest, and Kathy handed out prizes. Doug won for funniest costume, and I won cutest costume (but only after Kathy disqualified herself because she bought the prizes! Ha!) Thanks so much Kathy and Matt for hosting a wonderful party!

My Swap Gift

Look at my great goodies from my swap partner Michaela in Orlando! This month's theme was "Bibs for a Princess". Michaela was so generous! I can't wait for Briana to drool and spill all over this stuff! :)

Yes - Another Consignment Sale

I just made a promise to myself that this will be my last consignment shopping spree for a little while. But boy did I get some great stuff! I actually went on my spree a week ago Saturday, but I haven't had a chance to post anything about it. I have been so busy this week that I haven't really been able to concentrate on blogging. Between work, updating adoption documents and doing the final paint touch ups on the nursery, I am behind.

I was supposed to meet Kathy at 8AM at the church that was sponsoring the sale. I pulled into the parking lot and got a call from Kathy who was stuck on a closed interstate due to an accident and being forced to go on a very out of the way detour. She decided it would be best to turn around and go home because there was no way of knowing when she could actually get there. I totally understood, but I realized at that moment I lost my "wingman". There was no one to go into the sale with me to help me monitor my spending!

I stood in front of the door to the church, took a deep breath and walked in. When I first walked in the door, there was the cutest ladybug backpack just waiting on a table for me to pick up (which I did). Then I saw rows and rows of little girl clothing - pajamas, overalls and dresses - oh my! I bought a bunch of really cute items, yet I managed to walk out of the church with money left in my wallet! I would say it was a successful morning!

Just For Fun

I am posting this video because I absolutely love these guys! They are the "Back Dormitory Boys", and they are so funny. They have a number of videos, but I think this is one of their newer ones. They are lip syncing to "A Public Affair" by Jessica Simpson.

Out To Lunch

I went out to lunch Thursday with my gal pals and fellow waiting China moms Kathy and Randi (and Randi's adorable son Jack) to La Parrilla Mexican Restaurant. We chatted about all sorts of things but really focused on the TV shows of the fall season! Lunch was delish! See you next month girls! Here is a picture of me, Randi and Jack (Kathy is taking the picture).

The Art Auction

Friday evening, Doug and I headed down to the Sheraton Buckhead Hotel to meet Kathy, Matt and Anna for a VIP art auction. Neither Doug nor I had ever been to an art auction before, so we were excited and slightly nervous at the same time. We were not sure if we would actually bid on anything, but we wanted to go to the auction because one, we wanted to spend time with our friends, and two, there were free drinks and a free steak and lobster dinner (which was absolutely delicious by the way). How can you pass that up? Ha!

After dinner, we browsed around the room and picked two items that we really wanted to bid on. Since we had never done this before, we figured that we could watch "the pros" at work before our paintings were featured for bid. Of course, the first picture put up for bid (even though there were a ton of pictures in the room) was one of the paintings that Doug and I were interested in. So the auctioneer starts the bidding. We had a piece of paper with a number on it that we were supposed to put in the air to bid on the painting. After Doug and I do the "You do it. No, you do it" number, Doug put the paper in the air. No one else bid after us, so the painting was ours! It is called "String Trio" by Steve Bloom. It is now hanging over our piano in our living room. We won our second piece as well called "Jazz Lane" by Misha Lenn which is now also hanging in our living room.

Thanks so much Kathy and Matt for inviting us! We had a great time and now we have some great art!

Panda Alert

This is so cute - I just had to post it! I laugh every time I see it! Make sure your sound is turned up.

11 Months

Today is October 3, 2006. Doug's and my dossier has been logged in China 11 months today! But because of the extended wait, I just had to send in my request letter to the USCIS to set up an appointment to get re-fingerprinted. And, I am starting to work on getting some new documentation for my home study update/renewal.

I am posting this video because it makes me smile, because we are celebrating another month down and because we are having to update our home study in order to get a new I-797 (I-171H) before the old one expires. Here it goes again...

Local Adopters Gathering

I want to give a big thank you to Lisa and Eammon for hosting the local adopters gathering on Saturday night! We had dinner at a Chinese Buffet Restaurant (which I am still full from by the way - ha, ha!). I swiped a couple of these pictures off Lisa's site because I forgot my camera! :) Doug and I not only got to eat and visit with our good friends, but we also got to meet some really great new people as well!