Fun with Friends

We had a great time with wonderful friends tonight. This is a family very dear to us. They often help us in a pinch when we need someone to watch Jack. And they're so much fun to hang out with. We enjoyed Mexican food, then Jack wanted candy, so he munched on not only his lollipop but poor Griffin's ring pop as well. At least Jack's had all his shots.Me share?Stinker!Move over Elizabeth Taylor! Ring pops are cool, look so genuine and are much cheaper.Poor EE had a run-in with a white object we can call a tissue, for lack of a better word. Ew! EE, nobody models TP like you, nobody! Bye, bye!

Weekend in Review

We had a fun, busy weekend. We attended my family's annual potato pancake get-together at my aunt's home. She is always so gracious to host the event. First, you have to grind the potatoes.My aunt always fries the potato pancakes - it's called quality control. They were very good.Yummy extras.My brother enjoying his first trip.My mom and aunt sported "copy and paste" shirts. Aren't they cute!My son only had eyes for me. My little cling-on.While we were at my aunt's enjoying the beautiful day outside, I teased Meaghan about either being so busy (attempting to chase a cat out of a bush) or being bossy and she matter-of-factly replied, "Well, I am a natural born leader!" :)

Jack and I stayed the weekend at my parents' house which gave us extra time to get goofy with Meaghan and huge zucchinies.Jack rode on a tractor again. Grandpa let Meaghan "drive." I'd show a cute picture of her looking quite silly but my niece has a habit of "dressing down" for the summer.Cute kitty! At one point, Jack thought all three of the kitties needed to be on mommy's lap. When they wandered off, he'd say, "Kitty," and retrieve them. I was very proud of him. He handled the kitties very well.We also visited Jack's birth mother and her family at their hometown picnic. Jack soon discovered how fun uncles and an aunt can be. They, along with his birth mother, took him in a bounce house, played duck and fish pond with him, and also went on a little choo choo ride. Jack got around more than I did. I admire his birth family's energy. I remember when I had a remnant of it when my niece was a toddler. I'm tapping into my reserve energy these days.When we arrived home last night, we realized that a few tiny brown specks on Jack were actually sea ticks. Boy, removing them was not fun. Poor Jack.

Yes, I realize I've used a lot of air quotations in this e-mail.

Photo Project

I took a couple of nice pictures at our church today. I'm working on a photo project and, considering that I didn't spend much time thinking about these, nor do I have a fancy camera, I'm kind of proud of myself.

Latest Fashion Craze

I often ask Jack what he wants to take with him on the trip to our daycare provider. Well, this morning, I forgot to ask, but he had already made up his mind. Oven mitts were the accessory of choice. So, just a heads-up all you parents, if you want your kid to look cool, better buy him a couple of oven mitts. This is one fashion craze that's starting in the midwest. Take that east coast!

Fair Day

We've had beautiful weather here this week, the perfect time to attend the local fair. So, I took Jack last night and we survived, barely. Jack has been super clingy lately, partially due to not feeling 100 percent (allergies or teething). So, he admired the rides more when he was off of them than when we tried to ride. In fact, we rode two rides last night, definitely worth the $10 arm band. Ha, ha. That arm band ended up going on his leg after he cried bloody murder when the guy tried to put it on his arm.Below is one ride we managed to stay on, the other was the carousel.Jack probably would have been happy with entering the fair, grabbing a free balloon, looking at the tractors on display and heading home. But I was trying to give him the full fair experience with rides, fair food (forgot the cotton candy, darn it) and petting zoo. There was a three week old giraffe at the zoo - so cute!

My friend Geni and her two children also attended the fair. Now, they actually rode the rides. :)

I'd like to thank the...

Academy. No, really the Telly organization, some organization that requires you to pay money to enter a television news story/promo contest in which you might win an honor. So, I paid some money, entered a promo about a local Egghunt Eggstravaganza, won the honor just above honorable mention, then paid money to receive a statue that actually feels heavy, and therefore, must be worth something. Also, even though the award is bronze, it looks gold so I can pretend I won first place even though the organization doesn't give out gold awards...but the average person doesn't know that.I was a little bummed because a story I entered about a person who survived a house fire was a better piece and didn't win. That story and the person's family are worthy of an honor.Back to making fun of the award, which, by the way, also makes a good drum. I've joked that I'll put the statue on the back of my toilet because all the big stars put their awards in the bathroom. The cool thing is that the overpaid makers of these awards also make the Oscars and Emmys. I'm so close baby, so close...

Weekend in Review

Mike and I finally saw the latest Harry Potter movie on Friday. I've read all the books. Mike tends to read the last chapters (cheater!). Anyway, we both liked the movie. They always leave me wanting more. I guess it's a good thing they're splitting the last book into two movies.

Our Saturday was pretty low key. Today was fun. We visited Jack's birth mother's family and had a wonderful time. It was fun just hanging out, enjoying her family's wonderful meal and talking. Jack even made it into their pool for a little while with daddy. They were much braver than me. I took the pictures and kept my white legs to myself.Jack was able to feed carrots and leaves to his birth mom's horses. He really enjoyed that. Poor tree.Both grandpas (his birth mom's grandpa and my dad) offered to take Jack on a John Deere tractor today but he said "no" each time. Crazy kid. All he talks about is "poppo" and "tractor." Mike and one of Jack's uncles played air hockey. Mike is a little too competitive in the game. Jack's uncle said he wasn't hitting as hard because he didn't want to hit Jack. Not sure if that was true...but it was pretty funny. See the chip flying in the air?Then we went to see my folks a bit and Jack played with little kitties. That was fun until Mike said Jack tried to sit on one. Don't worry. They're okay.And then we played a little outside when we arrived home tonight. Yes, that's me. Jack insisted I sit on one of his tricycles even though I look like a fat cow on it.Self-portrait time!I am soooo tired. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday, a work day. Ugh!

McFly is Back!

Our fingerprints are good for another 15 months. I can't believe we received our renewed I-171H so fast. It's only been a week since our trip to Kansas City. When we started this more than three years ago, it took forever to get this notice. So, yippie skippy! We'll probably be going through all this at least one more time.

And now, for some cute pictures of Jack.

Somebody loves chocolate! This could make Halloween extremely more dull but less fattening for me this year. Looks like Jack is trying to be a trekkie.He looks so grown-up in this picture.Jack with daddy and his uncle Joe, who came to see us a couple of weeks ago.*By the way, the McFly reference is to a Back To the Future reference I made in a past post.

Weekend in Review

Boy, it's been a while since I posted and there's a lot of catching up to do. Last Wednesday, we traveled to Kansas City to be refingerprinted for the I-600, a necessary action for the China adoption. Of course, that's still moving as slow as a snail. I'm just glad the fingerprinting is done and we're good for another 12 to 15 months.This weekend, we finally returned to the pool for the Itty Bitty Beach Party. It was a two hour event hosted by Parks and Recreation. Jack had a good time even though the water was freezing. I'm sure the recent rain added to the chill.We also made it to a family reunion, although we were a little late and everyone was almost out the door. Mom snapped a quick picture of Jack, Meaghan and me with my Great Uncle Jerome and Aunt Janet. My father's mom died before I was born so I've often asked my aunt Janet about Grandma Mary.Here's a classic expression after discovering my son's poopy diaper.And Jack wanted Meaghan to carry him which lasted < 30 seconds.