Porch Challenge

These things just crack me up. Who has time for this stuff? Apparently, I do.

Shelly tagged me so I'm fulfilling my duty to post pics of my front and back porch. The back porch is busy place as you can see. My Dad does concrete work and made a special trip from CA to pour and finish the patio for us after we moved in. Shade is a valuable commodity here in AZ so it gets used often. I collect windchimes and I've just about made my way around the patio with them. When the windstorms kick up, the neighbors must just LOVE me. ;o) We really enjoy grilling out here year-round and using the firepit to roast marshmallows when it is cooler. The patio's main function, though, is repository for dog hair!

Front Porch-Boring. I need a fun mat and some larger decor items, I think. Rabbits and javelina keep eating any plants that I try to put here. Ugh.
So tough to get all 4 kids to sit still for a picture! We tried to get the dog in on it,

but you can tell what he thought of the whole thing...

Ok, so now let's see how much time Dana, Ann, Heather, Lisa and Jennifer have on their hands. Tag, you're it!

Thanks, Shelly! This was fun. I especially loved seeing my husband's face
when he realized why I had persuaded him to clean off the back porch!!!

Dance Week

This year Audrey has taken Ballet and Hip Hop. She loves it! The recital was this past Saturday. Here are some pics:

In her hip hop gear-I had to bribe her to wear the hat sideways so we could see her face.

In Ballet attire, but with her hip hop teacher, Addison. He also teaches my Hip Hop for Moms (I call it Hip Hop for 'Has Beens') class. He reminds me of my brother, Jason, but with fewer tatoos!

The Hip Hop Girlz-Audrey's on the far right

and the ballerinas-Audrey is back-center.

You did a great job, Audrey. We are so proud of you!

15 Months LID

We've Waited Almost 12 Years for this day!

Well, motherhood comes with it's share of sacrifices and rewards. This one definitely falls in the reward category! Taylor is earning half of the cost for his summer activities this year and we are very proud of him. He decided that it was time for him to learn to mow the lawn so Matt gave him a lesson and he is doing a great job. I've always wanted a gardener! ;o)

PS-Mom of 5, does the corner of my patio that shows in the top picture satisfy your porch challenge? ;o)

That's my boy!

Just got Xander's portraits back from the studio. I just love this brown-eyed boy! I bribed him with candy during the shoot. It was a riot to see him concentrate so hard on doing what the photographer told him to do. The kid will do anything for a push pop! I can't believe that he will be turning 4 in a few months. We have never had a child turn 3 without a new baby, so to have one turn 4 will be really weird. Having him turn 5 before Meili comes home is an unfortunate possiblity. Trying to look on the bright side, I am really enjoying spending time with him and watching him learn and grow without any distractions. I thought I'd share a few things about him that I want to remember:

A few weeks ago, we were getting ready to go outside in the front yard to play. Xander asked for some help in finding his shoes because he wanted to be, "human foot, not 'bear' foot."

The other day, when he put his shoes on without socks he said, "it's okay Mom, my feet can just go commando!"



Sadly, Xander has now corrected most of the words that we used to enjoy hearing him mispronounce but I love that he still calls sunscreen, 'sunscream.'



Each morning when he wakes up, he will come and find me and say, "Good morning, sunshine!" and then climb into my lap for some cuddle time.

When I tell him that I love him, he reponds, "...and I double love you, Mommy."

I double love you too, Xanderbonie.

One Step Forward, 4 Steps Back.

The CCAA has sent referrals for dossiers logged in up until November 7th. That's only 6 days worth this month. With an LID of March 10, 2006, we are only 4 months and three days of LIDs away but at this rate, it could be another 20 months until we see Meili's face. Waaa!

Congratulations to all those who are seeing thier babies' faces for the first time this week! Sara has a great list of links on her blog if you want to check them out. There is one referral pic here with the baby sucking her thumb that is just precious!

Our friends, Dana and family, have a LID of November 18th. We are keeping our fingers crossed for them for next month! The Desert Dwellers need some good news!

I'm a Bargain Magnet!

When I first started researching China adoption several years ago I was a bit discouraged when I found people blogging about their vacations to Egypt less than a month after returning home with their daughter and how they were decorating their vacation homes. Great for them, but I figured that that meant we would never be able to afford to adopt from China ourselves. Happily, I was wrong. I strongly believe that if we can do it with four kids and (basically) one income, anybody can do it. It is a choice and you just have to be creative and know how to stretch a buck.

There are few things I love more that finding a good deal. I seriously believe that if I came into any money, my life would be ruined. It is just too much fun to hunt for the ultimate bargain. Here are some of my latest.

8 Shirts for the boys from Children's Pl*ce=$7.14 (That is total folks, including tax!)

Nike shoes for Meili=$7.99 Children's Pl*ce outfit=$3.98

I also bought jackets for the boys for $2.50 each and shirts for Audrey and dress shirts for the boys for .99! I only have a few things left to get and school shopping will be complete for 4 kiddos! My goal is to get it all done for less than $100.00.

One day I'll blog about how I stretch grocery dollars. I've thought about writing a book so that others could benefit from my psychosis several times but there are already too many out there... I'd love to hear what any of you do to save a buck. Or you are always free to share about your vacation to Egypt...;o)

Happiness is...

We have been waiting for a long time to get an In-n-Out here in town. One just opened up a couple of months ago that is about a half hour away. We have seen reports on the news about people lining up for 2-3 hours to get a burger so we hadn't made any special trips out to get one ourselves. We have been driving by whenever we have been in the area to check out the line and it has always been horrendous. Until today! We we were heading across town for a bike ride and noticed that there were only 4 cars in the drive-thru! It was only 10 am and we had just had a late breakfast but none of that mattered. It was heavenly. You just can't beat the grilled bun, melted cheese and sauce and can't find a better red, ripe tomato on a burger anywhere. I've been ranting about the place for months in anticipation only to have several friends try their first INO burger and comment that they didn't see what the big deal was. WHAT???!!! Maybe you have to be a California girl to appreciate it.

Thinking about this for the girls' room...

...and trying to decide if it coordinates well enough and what on earth we'll do with the walls and how long I can look and brown and pink before I've had enough of it...too funky???

Hodge Podge

Nothing happening that is worthy of it's own post, so here's the bullet list.

• Started taking Mandarin last Thursday night at the Chinese Cultural Center. Very cool! Comparing it to earning my Spanish minor, I'll trade 4 tones for conjugating verbs anyday! Our teacher is caucasian and speaks PERFECT Mandarin. I'm inspired!
• I was asked to speak in church on Mother's Day. Just what every mom wants, right? It went ok, glad it's over.
• Three weeks left of my hip hop for moms class. There's a bit too much hips in my hop and the English major in me has serious issues with the grammar in the song lyrics but it is a fun class. We come out sweating so that has to be burning a few calories at least, right?
• Xander commented out of the blue yesterday that he wants to have TWO baby sisters. Yikes!
• My 11 year-old has maturation clinics at school today. Seems like just yesterday that he was a zygote. Now he's learning about them. Makes me feel old...
• Rumor has it that we could see a big batch of referrals this time around-possibly 16-21 days worth. If that happens, it may light a fire under me to start making preparations for Meili again. I may even muster up enough energy to start renewing my home study and I-600a. Right now, it seems useless.
• The kids only have 6 more days of school left. Heaven help me! Actually, I'm excited. I've got tons of activities planned so every night by 8 o'clock, they should be begging for bedtime! I have lofty goals of completing Meili's quilt and catching up on all of the scrapbooks. We shall see...
• I'm getting very excited for a trip back east with my mom in July. We are doing a bus tour starting in DC. We'll also spend a couple of days in NYC. We'll see Wicked and The Color Purple on Broadway. The Idol freak in me is very excited to see Fantasia in that! Hopefully, my Letterman tickets will come through. Apparently, they will call and I'll have to answer a trivia question to claim my tickets. We'll also see some church sites and end up at Niagara Falls. It's nice to have a trip coming up that I can actually plan for!
• I'm trying to come up with some end of year teacher and bus driver gifts that are not too expensive (there are 15 between the 3 kids.) Any ideas?

Anyone know how come the bullets don't show up when I publish the post? They are there when I'm writing...argh.

Time for these again...

Referral Wait Brownies

Bring to boil in saucepan:

2/3 c. shortening (what we wish the wait times were doing)
5 T cocoa (in honor of the coveted brown envelope)
1/2 c. evaporated (like our hopes of having our babies home before Christmas)milk
2 c. sugar (how sweet it will be to finally see a picture of our little ones!)

Mix in a bowl:
4 eggs, beaten (what the next person who asks how long till referral will be :o) )
1 t. salt (in our wounds to see a two day referral batch!)
2 t. vanilla (or cherry juice-a touch of red for good luck)
1 c. flour (for our little cherry blossoms waiting for us in China)
1/2 t. baking powder (I know, we'd rather be working with baby powder...)
1 c. nuts (because that's where we are all headed if we don't start getting some good news!)

Add saucepan mixture to bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour into un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Cool, frost, and top with halved maraschino cherries (pretend they're ladybugs and consider it your sighting for the day!)

Frosting: 3C powdered sugar, 1/3 c. butter, 1 t. cherry juice, 1-2 T. cocoa, 2 tsp. milk

Enjoy! …and hang in there everybody!!!

Next To Worst Conceivable Rumor May Be True *UPDATED

I received a call today from my SW (who is also an agency director, my boss and a friend.) She shared with me over the phone a post to a Russia adoption forum about a person who in speaking with their own adoption agency about their own Russian adoption was informed as an aside that China is 'shutting down' and may consider reopening in 2010. I assume that 'shutting down' was the person's attempt to summarize the CC*A's intent to stop accepting dossiers and not 'shutting down' meaning 'Go home. No baby for you' for those of us already logged in. Even so, CRAP.

My 2 cents: My agency has said and stated in emails repeatedly that they speak with CC*A daily and assure us that they intend to continue to participate in IA. BUT...IF there really is a backlog of dossiers as big as we hear, and IF there really aren't enough paper ready babies to put a dent in the backlog, and IF the wait to referral could get as big as is rumored (three years!), and IF the new requirements didn't discourage as many applicants as CC*A hoped (in fact it resulted in a huge influx of applicants trying to beat the deadline which must have really ticked them off), THEN you have to wonder how responsible it is for the CC*A to continue to accept dossiers and agencies to continue to accept applications (and $) and allow families to put their lives on hold indefinitely while they wait endlessly for a referral. The thought of putting dossiers on halt has to have at least crossed their minds.

Anyhoo, back to the roller coaster ride...I of course went straight to the RQ site to see if there was anything to it and if I might have been the last person to find out which is often the case. There was nothing. I tried to post to the forum but after writing the post just didn't have the heart to send it so I deleted it.

Later in the day, I called Shannon-my local(!) DTC buddy and dropped the bomb on her. Sorry Shannon! She recommended that I PM RQ and let her make a judgement call. I did. Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if it is tomorrow's post topic. It looks like I'm not the only one to come across this info. Looks like up is down and down is up in the world of China adoption. I dreamed a few weeks ago that we went to China and were given a unicorn! Today, a unicorn feels just as likely as getting a baby at the end of all this.

*RQ CONFIRMS THAT THE RUMOR IS THAT CCAA IS CONSIDERING NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS, NOT THAT THE PROGRAM WILL SHUT DOWN.

Sorry to have freaked you out, Heather.

14 Months Since LID

Still here...still waiting.

New Theme Song

Keep Holding On
Avril Levigne

You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side,
you know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
No I won't give in

Chorus:
Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late, this could all disappear
Before the doors close
And it comes to an end
With you by my side I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend
Yeah, yeah

Chorus

Hear me when I say, when I say I believe
Nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
La da da daLa da da da
La da da da da da da da da

Chorus

Keep holding on
Keep holding on

There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through..

My Graduate!...almost.

Have I ever told you that my husband is amazing? He works about 55-60 hours a week, plus commutes about a hour and a half each day round trip so we don't have to live in the ghetto. He gets up at about 4 am and gets home close to 6 at night. For the last couple years he has also been working on his MBA. After dinner, I'm sure he'd like to hit the sack and try to catch up on much needed sleep. Instead, he hits the computer and tackles his school work, often until well past midnight. I don't know how he does it.

Well, this past weekend he walked with his graduating class. He still has about 12 weeks of classes left, but qualified to participate in the graduation ceremonies. We are so proud of him! His brother, Todd, came out for the occasion which I know meant alot to Matt. The kids really enjoyed having Uncle Todd for a visit and fought over who got to sit by him wherever we went. I don't think I've participated in such thought provoking conversation for years (Todd's a Harvard Law grad.) My contributions to discussion lately have consisted of, "Where is your owie?" and "Do you need to go potty?" so it was a welcome change.

We took Todd to the Desert Museum yesterday so he could see all of the interesting creatures and vegetation that we are surrounded by here in the desert. I was sitting watching the kids dig for minerals in a little quarry area when a little Asian girl came up to me and started asking me about my braces. She kept trying to give me her rocks-what a sweetie. There were other Asian adults there so I was surprised when she took off with two caucasian ones. When my kids noticed, they just looked at me and smiled without missing a beat in the rock hunt they had before them. This is quite a development from the days when Noah in his unbridled excitement would see an Asian child with Caucasian parents and shout at the top of his lungs, "LOOK MOM, IT'S A CHINA GIRL!!!" Meili may be far away in distance and time, but she is real to all of us now. Even the little kids know that someday, that will be us.

Enjoy the pics from the weekend!

Matt and Todd

Kids with Uncle Todd

Cactus Bloom

Pretty in Its Own Way

Happy 9th Birthday, Audrey!

Birthday Campout

The month of April just about does me in every year. We have two birthdays (Audrey's and Noah's) just 12 days apart, Spring Break (read 9 days of entertaining 4 kiddos from sunup to sundown), and Easter usually sprinkled somewhere in the mix. May 1st usually finds me tired, broke, usually both. One family tradition that has been born of necessity is that the kiddos only have a birthday party on even years and then pick a fun activity to do with the family on the odd years. This way, I never have to do 2 birthday parties in the same month (Taylor and Xander's birthdays are 3 weeks apart later in the year) and the kids have gotten to do some really fun things that wouldn't normally be in the budget with the money that I would have spent on their party. Two years ago, Audrey chose horseback riding camp and didn't miss a party at all. This year, she chose camping with the neighbors and it was another winner. Audrey was very clear that the who was just as important as the where so we were very grateful that our neighbors and friends were willing to join us for the weekend. We had quite an adventure...Shortly after setting up camp, a bad windstorm picked up so I piled all of the kids into the trailer for some Parcheezi while the other adults tried to salvage their tent. I was a bit freaked out-had to open all the flaps on the trailer to allow the wind to blow through because it felt like it was going to be blown over. The kids were oblivious and had the time of their lives-great to be a kid, huh?

The next morning, the weather was beautiful-perfect for some fishing! Nobody caught anything which was just as well. I'm not sure what we would have done with a fish if it was caught...
Our neighbors-They each deserve an 'I survived camping with the Boutons' t-shirt. Thanks for a great weekend, guys!

Happy 6th Birthday, Noah!

I can't believe that this kid is 6 already! I love that he still calls me 'mama.' I know it's just a matter of time until it evolves through mommy and ends up at 'MOM!!!!!!!!' We celebrated all day long by taking Eegee's (shave ice fruit treat) to his kindergarten class...I got to meet his future wife (unless she has anything to say about the matter.)After school we had a pizza party at a local place with about 12 friends. They decorated bags, played ABC bingo, burned a few tokens and ate pizza, of course!
Later on the same night, Noah had a birthday dinner with the family-he chose Chicken Fettucini Alfredo, opened gifts, had cake and icecream and fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

China Bling for a Good Cause

My sister-in-law, Jennie, is raising funds for a charity bike ride in support of Leukemia/Lymphoma and in honor of our Uncle Steve who passed away last year. She is making and selling bracelets to help raise money. She only needs about $250 more to reach her goal! Click here for more info or to make a flat donation. She is selling the bracelets for $10 including shipping. You can contact her at mommajenx3@msn.com and work out the details if you are interested. I think that the bracelet above would be cute with 'RED THREAD' or the name of our Chinese daughter spelled out on it. I bought one that is green and has PATIENCE spelled out on it. Who couldn't use more of that???

13 Months Since LID...

I can't believe that it has been 13 months since LID. That's 18 months since we began paperchasing! Can't believe that we still don't have Meili and are actually more clueless than ever about when we will finally see her face. I really can't believe that we are trying to figure out how long to delay renewing the I-600a in an effort to avoid possibly paying the fees for a third time down the road. I spoke with the orphan officer at our local USCIS office last week (sw perks!) and confirmed with him that there is no disadvantage in letting the I-171H and fingerprints expire other than the chance of being 'caught with your pants down' in the event that we were suddenly presented with a referral...fat chance.

Happy Easter 2007!

Whew! What a day! Audrey woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep she was so excited. The dog barking for his breakfast finally got us out of bed around 7. The kids each got waterguns in their baskets and a water war ensued. They must have been at it for an hour and a half. Matt and I sat in the porch swing with the dog in our laps and watched the kids have fun. Matt noted that there was a dog in my lap and our children were playing with weapons-two things I swore I'd never allow. There must be a tatoo somewhere in my future...

Last night we made Empty Tomb Cookies-very cool! Each ingredient has a corresponding Easter scripture. When the dough is mixed and dropped on cookie sheets, you place them in the oven, turn it off and tape the door shut. You don't take them out until morning and the centers are hollow. A new tradition! After we checked out our cookies, we had a late breakfast and colored eggs.

We had church from 2-4, came home and had an early dinner-ham, 'funeral potatoes' (you know, the evil cheesy ones?), asparagus and rolls. We waddled into the living room and watched Grease with the kids. Funny, I don't remember noticing all the sexual innuendo when I saw this movie as a kid. Now that I know what the words to 'Greased Lightning' are, I'm actually shocked that the movie got a PG rating in 1978. Did they sneak that in there recently or have I just now become a prude?

Where were we? Oh yeah, Easter. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day!

Easter Water War 2007

Coloring Eggs at Noon on Easter-Better late than never, right?

A Rare Moment- All 4 kids clean at the same time!

The End of an Era-Taylor has informed me that he is DONE with the matching outfits. I love this guy!

Two Damn Days...

After hearing the crappy news that only 2 LIDs worth of referrals were matched this month, I grabbed my keys and headed out the door for the nearest burrito. This one was the size of my head which presented no challenge in polishing it off. I can also attest to the fact that yes, there is ALWAYS room for ice cream...

And Puppy Makes Seven...

I haven't blogged for over a month. We have been generally busy with life and having a blast with our new dog, Jackson. I used to think that I/we needed a dog like we needed a hole in our heads but I was wrong. The kids love him and are having the time of their lives playing with him and teaching him new tricks. To deny them a dog would be robbing them of a very important part of their childhoods. These kind words are not to say that for the first 2 weeks that we had him home, his life was not in jeopardy. It has been quite a transition. The housebreaking is still a work in progress and he has yet to learn the difference between a shoe and a chew toy but we are seeing progress. He's a very smart dog-some days he obeys better than some of the children. I'm still not ready to include him in family portaiture but he is getting his own Easter basket tomorrow...

This photo was taken shortly after Jackson 'spelled his name' on my white carpet. This act of genius on his part may have saved his life. He looks like his is there to snuggle but he is in fact using the children as human shields...

One of the kids took this shot and it just cracks me up. I think that Jackson has noticed how the kids make silly faces whenever a camera is around and thought he should do the same...

Someone please tell me why Jackson will lounge around like this when he is outside but will run around like he's on crack whenever he's in the house?

Not my best photo ever but thought I better include proof that I actually touch the dog...