Miscellany!

Click here to check out our Chinese New Year celebration and adoption news you might have missed this week!

We had a pretty good week despite all the weirdness! On Saturday, Autumn and I met Christy at Dunkin Donuts. The last time we got together, Christy and I went to Target where she found this adorable hat. It has hello kitty on the other side. It was supposed to be for Christy to give to Autumn when Christy met Grant but since we don't know when/if that will be, she went ahead and gave it to Autumn.


Friday, Autumn didn't have school because of a teacher in service day. We had a great time together. On the weekends, we can't really goof off because of church Sunday and aikido Saturday so it was nice to have a relaxed breakfast and hang out in our pj's a while. We had lunch with Mike and then met Angie and her son Leo for ice cream. And petco! They were so fun together!


Since it looks like I'm working backwards, this is from Wednesday. I was trying to take a photo of Autumn when I saw something...


something...lurking...


Once photobomb kitty decided to travel on, I got my photo. We rode bikes to school for walk to school Wednesday! It was miserable, hahaha. Autumn's bike is a touch too heavy for her so she struggled up the hills. At one point, she walked it up a hill! Poor thing, she sure worked hard! Once she can take the hills without stopping, we'll take off the training wheels. It, by the way, took us over 20 minutes to get school! Annnnd about 5 for me to ride back!


Monday, I don't know what was going on but the neighborhood smelled terrible. I told Mike that Autumn was going to have a fit and sure enough, she was not a happy camper! I tried to take a picture of her stomping around with her nose covered but she wouldn't let me!


Such a funny girl!

We'll have more adoption news in the next couple of days. We have a lawyer we're trying to set up an appointment with and once we talk to her, we'll be able to make a decision about what we're doing next. Thank you for your prayers.

Bright Spots

Hello, friends, and thank you so much for all of your prayers and messages and calls this week. Seriously, you are part of what is holding us together through this tension. If you want to check out the latest on the adoption click here. And if you want to see what I made Mike for Christmas, click here.

Today is Mike's birthday! We actually had a good day and I am glad! My mom, Nanny and Boppa, Lainey and P'd and Lindsay all came over for Mike's Epic Mexican Meal of Happiness: Steak Fajitas, Mexican Rice (both from Cook's Illustrated) and Spicy Creamed Corn. I have absolutely no photos of this so you'll have to take my word for it! He and Autumn were adorable today. Autumn has, truly, kept our spirits up!


I took a nap after everyone left. When I woke up, I heard Mike helping Autumn read a book. So sweet!


Autumn's class did Famous Americans day on Thursday. After going through a few ideas (Helen Keller, Hilary Clinton, Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, etc.), Autumn picked Amelia Earhart! We had a blast. I went to the library and got a book about Amelia Earhart and read it with Autumn who was so excited. The best part? The only thing I had to buy was the hat! I got it on Amazon and, um, I like it so much I might wear it myself.


It was so cute. I got to go take photos of the kids at the beginning of the day when their costumes were fresh. I love getting to see Autumn in class. She's so funny!


Here she is being studious. :D


This is her friend Garrison. His mom and I are the room moms! Garrison was Charles Lindbergh. How fun is that?


One other fun thing. I am SO PROUD of Autumn! She was fantastic at the dentist! Autumn's always had trouble with people looking too closely at her, noise, and unusual textures. The dentist office is not a fun place for her. But this time around she was super duper brave. She let Mrs. Stephanie clean her teeth AND let Dr. Chip count how many she has. And he totally made her day by telling Autumn that she has a couple of "almost loose" teeth.


Survived!


By the way, in case you were wondering, Molly is doing well.


That's it for today. Please, please continue to pray for us. I would so love to be able to show you photos of our newly expanded family next Sunday. If not, I pray for peace on our hearts--and yours. I know we have many friends around the world whose hearts are breaking for us. And thank you so much for your love and care. The internet is an amazing thing sometimes.

Not a Great Day

I don't have the heart to really post anything today. Check out passing pinwheels for some posts, as well as the latest development with Grant's adoption.

Catching Up

I know everyone is dying for more adoption news! If you haven't been reading Passing Pinwheels, that's where you'll find the most frequent updates. There, and on Facebook which is a little more real time.

I thought I'd finish up my Christmas photos! This was probably my favorite Christmas event. Autumn has been fascinated by nuts in the shell for some time. I'm lazy so I never buy them like that. Santa had the brilliant idea to give her a small bag of nuts in her stocking. I am soooo glad because she absolutely loved them! Everything came to standstill. She forgot that she hadn't finished unloading her stocking! Several times over the next day or two, she got them out and showed friends the different nuts. Too funny. Also, THAT HAIR.


Hot cocoa (well, hot chocolate soy milk!) with presents is a tradition we started last year. And my mom has spent the night with us the last 2 or 3 Christmas Eves so she's gotten to do gift opening with us! This year, Autumn handed out all the gifts. She's gotten pretty good with heavy lifting! And I have to confess I'm really happy with how patient she was. I'm not sure I could have stopped opening to hand out gifts when I was five.


After we wrapped up at our house, we went back to Mike's parents' place. Santa Baxter came by to greet us! Note Autumn's much improved hair situation.


Another popular gift: ear muffs. I'm really confused though because we can't find them anywhere. I think I'm going to have to do another hoarding sweep of Autumn's room! She tends to put things into bags and stash them around. About the time we start missing things, it's time to make sure everything gets put into its proper place until she builds up another hoard of treasures. She is, apparently, a dragon.


I'm not sure how Uncle Brad became a head rest. But they both seem cool with it.


Is there a better way to repurpose bows? I think not.


I have another funny face series.




And Christmas is not Christmas without a box. We live in box land these days. Autumn builds castles, cars, trains, cat houses, boats. You name it, a box has become it. At the end of gift opening Autumn said, "why didn't Santa bring me a box?" Hahaha. I love her. We managed to procure a box.


That takes care of December, I believe! We're getting all caught up before the new normal hits!! Keep an eye on Passing Pinwheels as we work towards Monday the 28th when we get to bring baby Grant home! Also, on the 28th we are going to launch a special fundraiser that I am very excited about!

THE CALL!

I promise I'll do a photo post this week but you have GOT to click here and read about our adoption news!!!!

Holidays, part 1

Oh, my gosh, you guys. I haven't even finished going through my photos from Christmas and I have been CRACKING UP. I can't wait to share these with you but I'm going to have to break it up. What do you think the highlight of the holiday was for Autumn? This, of course!


Seriously, there was a LOT of silliness.


Here's Autumn preparing to put a rear naked choke on Tyler...nah, not really. We did some presents on Christmas Eve because the Ryan and Leah branch of Colleys was heading out of town. Autumn and Tyler entertained themselves while waiting.


I mean, how awesome is this?


Finally, P'd had them count to 50 together to kill a little bit more time.


And this is the moment where it got old for them, hahaha.


AT LAST, the presents came out. Even Hudson had some fun!


Such a sweet face. She was so great this year, seriously. We're so lucky. Blessed.


We drew names for siblings this year and it was fun! I got Leah, Mike got Kyle, I think Lindsay got Mike, and Lauren got me. Mike made out nicely. He also got a book. I read it before he did. :D


We, of course, had to pose with Boppa.


And with Nanny. Such fun photos. (Hi, Nanny and Boppa's friends! You'll have to tell them you saw them here!)


Ok, almost done. But look at these poses in Autumn's new coat:




TOO MUCH.

Stop by Passing Pinwheels!! SO MUCH HAPPENING:
I made Autumn a Dress
I made a free download!
I have a new advertiser
Year End Highlights
Unexpected Beauty

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday so far! We've been busy preparing for Christmas, visiting friends and family, and finishing up last minute gifts. We did make time to head over to see Santa. He was a super nice Santa and Autumn did really well with him. Afterward, she posed enthusiastically for pictures!


That right there is the Christmas spirit. And we didn't leave out Lainey and P'd!


And, of course, I had to get one with our happy miss. Autumn was pretty excited because next year, baby Ellie is going to be joining us for Santa visiting! She asked me what would happen if Ellie was scared and I told her that she'd have to help her be brave. Autumn had to think about that because Santa is a bit of a stress on her comfort zone!


I'm sure I have much more to post but I just realized it's midnight!! Visit passing pinwheels for our Christmas card and a little bit about Miss Autumn. Merry Christmas, everyone!