Suburbania

After a lot of debate we finally decided that we needed to get a different vehicle to fit our increasing family.  Our current vehicles will only seat 5 people max and that just isn’t enough.  Ash will be living with us next year and Jen will be up on weekends…So, we need something that will seat 6 people and 2 ninety pound dogs.  Yikes!  I guess we’re becoming a large family.

Ok, there really aren’t many vehicles that fit the bill (most just aren’t big enough.)  A minivan was considered and quickly discarded–little small.  We didn’t want a 15 passenger van–too much room for growth   After doing some research we found that the choices were Suburban, Excursion and Yukon XL.

After some rather painful used car shopping, we are now the rather sheepish owners of a Suburban.  Yeah, I always used to make fun of people who drove these gas hogs…now I’m going to be one of them.

Our new wheels

~Alisha

Roundness

I’ve reached a point where I am tired of looking in the mirror and seeing how round my face has become.  Since I’ve had Caden the pounds have slowly been sneaking up to me and adhering to various parts of my anatomy.  One part in particular needs to shrink back down so I can actually find fitted shirts that fit.  We all gain it in different places ladies.  That’s not the only place I’ve gained weight in–just the most obvious and annoying.

I have a couple big motivating factors to change lifestyle and loose weight:  1) My husband has lost over 50 pounds.  2)  I don’t want to go to a country where people are starving in my current state of roundness.  It just doesn’t seem right.  I had lost 6 pounds before the holidays started.  I ended up gaining 2 pounds back over Christmas but have lost that.  So, now the goal is 1-2 lbs per week…Seems like a reasonable goal.  I just want to be able to look in the mirror and see the face I remember.  Oh yeah, some better muscle tone would be good too.

I am writing this post to help keep me honest and motivated.  I will try to update with progress once in a while.

~Alisha

Holiday Cheer

You know, if I ever actually wrote half the posts that are running around in my head I’d be a pretty good blogger.  Unfortunately, I never seem to find the time…or I just don’t make the time.  Somehow, when I started out I thought I’d be better at this.  It’s probably the procrastinator thing coming back to haunt me again.  I’ve got some stuff cooking in my brain…we’ll see if it ever makes it to the blog.

We had a good holiday and managed to celebrate not once, not twice but three different times with various branches of the family.  I was starting a little burnt by the end.  I am grateful that I had Christmas off this year and got to spend it with loved ones.  Caden was super funny this year.  The little stinker changed his Santa List on us about a week before Christmas.  What did he want?  Why a bug cage and a light saber.  Yes, a little last-minute scrambling for these reasonable wishes.  He was so excited about Santa Claus coming that he had a really hard time going to sleep Christmas Eve.  We made cookies and he decided that we had to leave 3 cookies and milk for Santa.  We also left our magic key (it only works for Santa) outside before going to bed.  It was really cute.  I love this age and the way his mind is making connections.

We picked up the girls on the 26th and had our final celebration of the season with Jeff’s family.  The little guy was so excited to have his “friends” back.  I decided we needed to start a new holiday tradition because I want the younger kids to have memories of the older ones.  So, they made a ginger bread train together.  It was just a kit but they had a lot of fun–assembling and eating!  I managed a few pics before its rapid demise:

Assembly

Ash gave Caden an icing mustache

Gingerbread Express

Gotta love it.  I’m not sure which of the kids enjoyed eating it more.

~Alisha

Officially Waiting

So, after investigating some large fedex charges on my account I found that our dossier arrived in Ethiopia on December 28th.  Yeah!  It’s finally there…at this point I am just relieved that the only thing I have to do now is wait.  Hmm, let me rethink that…we still need to clean out the garage and make another bedroom out there.  Yikes, I guess we still have plenty to do.  I so don’t want to tackle the garage.  I am a procrastinator and so is my darling husband.  This is not a good combo.  Gotta work on this…maybe tomorrow : )

Still Waiting

A couple weeks ago I dropped our dossier off at our agency with everything but my husband’s birth certificate.  I had somehow not connected the fact that because he was born in California the birth certificate would have to be authenticated there.  Duh.  Oh well, I sent it off by express mail and thought it shouldn’t take more than a week after I sent it…I even sent an express mail envelope back with it to send it directly to AA’s office.  Well, the secretary of state’s office received the package on November 18th–the day after I sent it.  It was just put in the mail on December 7th!  Really?  That long to authenticate a document?  I know that I was the one taking my time with this but I have to say my timing really stinks!  To top it off my adoption agency is closed this week (for a very well deserved break).  Guess I am only patient on my terms.  Sigh.

~Alisha

Amazing Little Minds

My son is growing so fast–it amazes me.  He’s big for his age and I’ve had people think that he is a year or two older than he is.  What really blows me away though is the way his little mind is accumulating knowledge and making connections.  He has started assigning emotions to our reactions:

Me:  If you broke them Mommy would be sad.

Caden:   Mommy be angry too.

Pretty astute for a little guy.  He has even been a bit more nuturing lately and is putting his beloved dinosaurs to bed before he goes to sleep.  Kids really are amazing at this age.

We have been talking to him about having a little sister for awhile and have some children’s books about being a big brother.  He is still extremely jealous of my holding any other child but is warming up to the idea of having a little sister.  He has decided I can hold the baby as long as I hold him first.  Hmmm, not sure how well this one’s going to work.  He told me the other day that sissy can play with his toys.  I gave him lots of praise for being willing to share.  I then asked him what little sissy’s name is going to be and he promptly responded “Ellie.”  I was a little floored by this initially but he has been naming everything in the past couple days .  Since we are still undecided on a name maybe I’ll call her this for now.  My husband then asked him where little sissy would live.  Caden said “with sissies.”  We asked him with Ash and Jen and he said yes.  I can see how in his mind this would make sense since his big sissies live with their mother.  Still, it’s amazing the connections they make…

~Alisha

Toukoul Adoptive Families Reunion (TAFRU)

On August 6-8, 2010 there will be a reunion for anyone who has/or is adopting from the Toukoul Orphanage in Ethiopia.  The reunion will occur in Portland, Oregon and  will serve as an opportunity to meet some of your blogging buddies, meet new friends, make connections, learn a little and just generally have a good time!  At this point plans are not finalized but will look something like this:  A casual meet & greet type of event Friday evening, a couple speakers on Saturday and then an afternoon at the Children’s Museum or Oregon Zoo, and a short morning get-together Sunday morning.

While many of our plans are not yet finalized we have decided on a hotel–The Doubletree at the Lloyd Center.  We have received an awesome group rate of $58 per night!  I have checked out the hotel and while it is not “fancy” it is clean, huge (400+ rooms) and centrally located.  It is also located on the MAX line and bus line which will make things easier for anyone without a car.  If you would like to book a room you can call the hotel at 1-503-281-6111 and ask for the TAFRU’s group code when booking.  You make also book online and place the appropriate group code under the group code portion of the reservation process.  If you are interested in booking leave me a comment and I will send you the group code for TAFRU.

So, start planning now and get that reservation booked!  If you would like more information or would like an invite to the TAFRU blog (www.tafru.blogspot.com) just leave me a comment.

~Alisha

The Day Has Come

The Infamous Dossier

For months I have pondered, dithered, debated and procrastinated about submitting my dossier.  My reasons have been many and various but finally I am committed.  Yesterday, I dropped my dossier off to my agency and met the very nice man who is trying to unite children with their forever families.  I was very impressed with his sincerity in the short time I spent with him.  I feel comfortable that he will do his best to see that my adoption is as problem free as possible.  He actually thinks that our daughter should be home in time for the TAFRU reunion in August.  I will cross my fingers but I’m not counting on it.

I am overjoyed that this document is FINALLY out of my hands!  It took me three tries (a week per try) for my husband’s bank to get the correct form letter they would notarize.  Even then, that letter did not include our account balances.  The previous letter include our account balances but they would not notarize it.  My bank on the other hand wrote out my letter as asked the SAME day I asked for it.  No, sending back to corporate headquarters…Urgh!  Can you tell I’ve been a little irked???

Every time I thought I had everything finished there would be some last detail that had to be dealt with.  The final thing was when I took my documents in to be state authenticated ($10 per document in Oregon) and they would not authenticate eight of them.  Yes, eight of them.  I was feeling pretty balistic at that point.  The documents were from two different notaries that didn’t sign their signatures exactly as they had on their original forms.  One of the notaries was, of course, from my husband’s bank.

So, I went forth and got new copies of my documents signed.  The next morning I went back to the state office for authentication.  Seven documents got authenticated (Yeah!)…all but the document from my husband’s bank.  This time she signed her name correctly but forgot to stamp the document with her notary seal.  Can you believe it?  So, one more time around and I finally got authenticated.  Finally, off to Portland and the thing is finally out of my hands.  At this point I just feel relieved that everything is finally done…I’m sure the excitement will come later : )

~Alisha

Picture Project for Kids

I tend to be on the crafty side and seem to manage to start at endless pile of projects that never quite get finished.  Lately, I’ve been trying to find something that my 3 year old can participate in.  So, this means simple and quick for those with a short attention span.  I also wanted to incorporate some of those cute pictures that get taken and somehow seem to sit inside my camera.  I started out with a couple different ideas for Halloween and eventually came up with this project.

What you’ll need:

• Pictures (I laminated mine so they would last longer)
• Glue
• Foam Sheets (5.5″ x 8.5″)
• Foamies self-adhesive shapes
• Magnets or ribbon

Materials for project

The next step is to glue the pictures onto the foam sheets.  If you have an older child they could help with this next step.  My son’s attention span is still rather limited so I did this step myself.  I went for the asymmetrical look.

Glue photo to foam sheet

The next step is to let your child have at it with the foamies.  You may need to help the little ones peel off the sticker backing.  You will probably also have to limit the amount of foamies on each picture : )  The last step would be either attaching magnets to the back so you could put the picture on the fridge or some other type of hanger.  You could modify this craft for any holiday or theme:  Christmas, ocean/aquarium, Valentine’s day, etc.  Have fun!

Finished picture

Pumpkin Time

I really enjoy this time of year:  the spectacle of fall colors, the last of the summer warmth and bringing in the last of the harvest.  Last weekend we went out to the harvest festival at one of the local farms.  It was a gorgeous fall day, the girls were up for the weekend, and we all had fun.  They had all the traditional things:  petting zoo, corn maze, hay maze, hay slide, etc.  They also had a wheat box (like a sand box but filled with wheat.) which really got me thinking.  Wow, we live in a country where we can actually play in our food–that’s pretty amazing.  Without further ado here are some pictures from the day

A boy and his pumpkins

In the wheat box

Petting zoo

Jen and Ash--They hate having their picture taken!