When the cat's away...

Mike was gone with the commmunity group guys this weekend! I decided to take the weekend off and have a fun couple of days with Autumn to relax and unwind the rough couple of weeks we've had. Friday, we camped out in the playroom after visiting a wedding venue with Tamara. Saturday we had lunch with Penny and then went TREASURE HUNTING!


I'd heard of it before, but Christy is the one who introduced me to geocaching. We went to a few sites when we went to Atlanta together and visited Christine in South Carolina. Autumn's all into maps and treasure so I thought it'd be a fun little thing to do. I downloaded the app and we went to it. The first one, we absolutely could not find. But then, we headed to a "park and grab" and had success! The above photo is our first treasure! We found the next treasure at this funny little park/museum not too far from our house.


I was pretty surprised at how brave Autumn was. This box was pretty far into some trees and there were a lot of thorns and bushes and branches we had to tromp through. She told me, "Leave it to me! I will find the path! It's THIS WAY!" And I just followed her with the compass pointing her the right way. Too fun. Afterward, we went through the park looking at all the fun things. Like a deer. Or reindeer as she calls them.


These are the treasures we found! We left a few things of our own, signed the logs, and took whatever caught Autumn's fancy. I had to wash them. I'm not a big germophobe but there is truly no telling where these things have been.


Sunday, we went to the circus! Christy got some free tickets so we went along. I wasn't sure how Autumn would handle it so we brought her earmuffs in case it got too loud.


Everything went pretty well! She was suitably impressed with the acrobats and the dogs were hysterical.


We ended up leaving during the intermission. It was supposed to be just 15 minutes but when it started stretching to the 30 minute mark, we cut loose. It was seriously hot in the bleachers and I took this one when I took Autumn to a door to cool her off. See those pink cheeks?? By the time we left, we'd been there for 2 hours which is, I think, quite long enough!


And this is what Molly did!


We had fun but we're really glad that papa is home! Oh! And look at this. Autumn made her teacher a birthday card. I LOVE how she draws her teacher's curly hair!




Such fun! And, welcome back, Papa!

'Ventures and Memory Lane

Well, for those of you who haven't heard, our adoption officially fell through. It's a long story I might share sometime but for now, you can read some of the details here. On a happier note, I posted some of our Valentine crafting on Thursday. I used up most of my fun photos in that post! Not much foresight on my part there. But, I do have this.


On Sunday, as soon as Autumn got home from church, she changed into pajamas. And a hat. And house shoes. She also had a suitcase, binoculars, and sunglasses because she was "going on a 'venture." Part of the adventure involved...sitting by the window? I don't know. Wilderness watching?


Whatever it is, she does this pretty often. I'll find her just sitting by an open window, watching the world. :) Mike does this, too, so it's extra cute when I see Autumn at it. I like to imagine what she might be thinking about.


I am so very, very proud of Autumn. She's worked super hard this year at school and at home on her skill development. She did some occupational therapy for a while but, unfortunately, our insurance decided not to pay for it anymore. :/ To ease the transition out, her therapist gave us ideas on how to continue working together at home; between our work and her fantastic school teacher, Autumn has rocked at kindergarten! They do quarterly skill tests that are required by the state. The first set that came back, Autumn tested at average. Which is fantastic considering we thought about keeping her home an extra year to let her catch up more. Well, I tell you what. She's just been growing by leaps and bounds. This recent set of tests? She scored in the advanced level!! AND she read every single page (all 62!) in the Green Eggs and Ham book to me this week! Nice job, little ma'am!


Speaking of Autumn and her development, I decided to look at pictures from her first February. SO FUNNY. I love this picture so much!! Look at those chubby cheeks! Another school thing, they did health screenings some time ago. I got a letter from the school saying she got flagged for low bmi. >.> I took her to the doctor so he could fill out the "we aren't starving her" paperwork and he said she's completely fine. He's not even sure how they came up with a low bmi because his calculations have her in the normal category. She's grown some--last year Autumn was in the 3rd percentile and now she's in the 10th for weight and 15th for height.


Oh, and Autumn has been like *this* since, well, forever. Hahahaha. She's a varied little thing, though. I also have some pictures of her looking absolutely filthy (she's a messy eater, much to Mike's dismay) but I'll spare you the grossness!


I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and a good week in general. We're hanging in there pretty well. We miss Grant (whose name is now, I believe, Kingston) but at the same time, we feel some peace now that we know he doesn't get to come home with us. It's not limbo any more. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know I say this all the time but how would we get on without you?? Anyway, I'm off to do some of this, although probably not as soundly!!

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!!!!