bonus-a-mundo

another bright and shining bonus in this process...Mike already has a visa for China!!! He went a few months ago on a business trip and got a multiple entry visa and it's still valid! So that saves us $130!!! Okay, I know that doesnt seem like a heck of a lot right, but it all adds up, so to us it is a big deal...it's two cases of formula! Awesome!

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

LOA

We got LOA today! Day 61! Woohoo!

CCAI called to let us know they will be overnighting our LOA today, we'll get it tomorrow morning, sign it and overnight it back to them!! The 'guesstimate' that we will receive TA (travel approval) in 4-5 weeks, due to the fact that China has a week off for Chinese New Year in February! Then a few weeks after that we will be able to travel! So, if all goes well we are looking at late March, early April!! Wow, we still have so much to do, and so many things to get before we go! Because of Paisley's head we need to make sure that the house is babyproofed a little more carefully, and that all her toys, bedding, carseats etc have no sharp of uncomfortable edges. Holey Cow...guess I need to start filling that freezer with food for when we get back! Anyone fancy dropping over for a cooking bee??

rock on Robeez...rock on!

I got a call today from the lady at Robeez, she is sending out TWENTY pairs of Robeez for us to take to China with us for Paisley's Orphanage! Isn't it awesome that there are companies out there willing to do this! Actually, Robeez has a program to give adoptive parents shoes to take with them on their adoption trips! While some of the shoes will be 'seconds', they will be functional, warm and perfect for little feet that might otherwise go bare! This news came at a time when bad weather is ravaging China, many places are without electricity and ever important coal shipments have not reached their destinations, so we know many orphanages have to deal with no heat right now. That's why this week, Piper and I sent off our last package to Paisley's Orphanage. Inside were three very warm outfits made of soft fleece, a few blanket sleepers, over a dozen pairs of socks, some candy of course for the Ayi's and a special little New Years outfit for sweet Paisley. If you can believe it, the outfits were under $2 each on sale at Target...gotta love that sale rack! I just wish we were in a better place financially to make a bigger difference.

Our cupcake is 9 months old today

our sweet little girl is nine months old today...wow.

Hopefully we will have her home before her first birthday.

LOVE CHILD

You know the saying 'love child', I think it is used when a child is conceived without much planning, but is wanted and loved. Well, I can assure you that both Piper and Paisley are LOVE CHILDREN despite the absolute magnitude of planning that went into bringing both of them home! I had to giggle last night when speaking with another adoptive Mum..she told me that her first daughter was a '401K child', her second a 'Mortgage' child, and her third will be a 'Tax refund' child...all 'love' children, but when the world of adoption comes into play, well, it kinda adds a different dimension. She went on to tell me that she knows a lot of people with 'VISA' children too! It's good to have a giggle about it, even when we all know how many of us struggle to build our families through adoption. It's wonderful also to have the support of families in a similar situation, because, quite frankly if you haven't experienced it for yourself it's hard to relate to it.

Our family is struggling to reach our financial goal for this adoption, but we know if we try hard and do everything in our power we will make it. It's just hard not to panic when you are more than a few thousand dollars short!

moving out!

Piper's moving out! No, not out of the house people, she is only three! Nope, the time has come to move Piper into her BIG GIRL ROOM! It's still under construction...but I am hoping we can get most of he things moved out and into her new room within the next couple of weeks! The walls are now painted, and her bed is almost put together...I just need some window coverings and a few bits and pieces and she will be good to go

Here's Mike getting rid of the 'burlap' color! Clearly I am giving you a hint about the 'new' color...but you will have to wait to see it in it's full glory!

"Look honey, no tape!"

the scary thing was we had to paint primer over the brown so that the pale pink would not end up looking gross. preparation is key I guess!

Well, the postman comes to our street at about 3pm each day...and on Saturdays too! Generally when something is mailed off before 12pm anywhere within the city or burbs it will reach it's destination the next day by 3pm.

Imagine my surprise when our Homestudy Update wasn't in our mailbox on Saturday morning...and it wasn't there this afternoon either.

I put a call in and guess what...the person I spoke to was also surprised it hadn't arrived. Yeah right.

I'm to drive into town tomorrow and retrieve another copy.

fabulous

still counting...

fifty-freakin-nine days and nary a word from China! Awesome.

and when we get our LOA we have to sign it and overnight it back to our agency and they send it back to China...and guess what...then we wait for TA...travel approval, which can take 2-4 weeks...then we wait for CA..consulate appointment...which can be a couple weeks after that!

oh..and dont forget

OUR 171H EXPIRES ON APRIL 29!

lets do some math here ladies...

days left;

January - 4

February - 29

March - 31

April - 23

87 days left before our 171H expires.

lets just have some fun...

we've waited 59 days for LOA

our agency says the wait usually runs 60-90 days, so lets say we'll get it in 31 more days...

87 - 31 = 56 days

okay 56 days...then the wait until TA is running 2-4 weeks...but I've been seeing more 4 week waits lately, and with Chinese New Year and the weeklong holiday slowing things down lets say 3 weeks for fun

56 - 21 = 35!

Then travel runs approximately two - three weeks after TA and CA

35 - 18 = 17

15 days in China on average

17 - 15 = 2

TWO DAYS TO SPARE???

someone tell me it isnt so!

Oh, and you know how fantastic our SW is...well she sent our Homestudy update to our HS agency over a week ago...we still haven't got it! I called on Friday because I was going to drive there and pick it up, but they assured me it went out in the morning post. hmm, in Minneapolis, if something is posted on Friday morning, you're pretty well sure to get it on Saturday morning! Guess what...nothing came! grrr.

renewals are taking 90 days to process, but you arent allowed to apply for renewal until you have 90 or less days left on your current 171H.

90 days was Saturday.

and just so you know...China has had our dossier since the beginning of November 2006..2006!!!! It took a month for us to get our LID (log in date) but they have had it for 14 months!!!

"bugger bugger bugger"

update: someone on our agency group just got LOA today, she was LID after LOI (which means she did not have her dossier already logged in with China when she sent her letter of intent)..she waited 61 days...61 people, from LID to LOA! My freakin file has been in China over 400 days. suckaroo!

just what I needed

Have you ever misplaced your car keys on a Monday morning? I say misplaced, not 'lost' because I really don't have the energy to admit I am that fricken flakey right now. Where are my keys? Are they in the pocket of my coat in the back of my wonderful husbands car...18 miles away in a parking lot? Have they slipped behind the washing machine because I didn't hang them on the key rack 3 feet away but put them instead on the top of the washer, and inadvertently knocked them off in some laundry day frenzy? OR...did our delightful daughter squirrel them away in one of her many dress up purses? I have no idea! I really don't.

Why oh why is Monday such a struggle?

this is too cool for school!

Girl with the ...oh shit, where's the earring?

Houston, we have a problem! This morning after getting Piper up, I noticed that the back of her little ladybug earring was gone. Perhaps the result from a restless sleep(Mike was up with her at 4am, then again at 4.30!)...or late night fiddling with her lobes...but this was not good, especially since, in the world of ear piercing, a couple of months is still considered 'fresh' so if the earring comes out and you leave it our for a few hours, well the hole just heals right up and there's no going back!

So I searched for her sparkley earrings but could not for the life of me find them , so I resorted to using a McGyver move and put tape around the front to hold it in place and vowed to run to Target to pick up a pair of studs. But alas, it was -17F or so today so we didnt go out until this evening, and the selection at Target was terrible...so I grabbed a tiny pair of 'sleeper' hoops, tiny, just hugging her lobe, but HOLEYSHIT BATMAN, it went in okay, but trying to manipulate the end to feed back into the hole (it's a full circle) was the closest thing I hope to ever come to knowing what torture is like...the screaming, the weeping, the tears..and sadly a little blood...ugh...yuk poor Piper!

It wasnt pretty! Thankfully I found her sparkley earrings just as I was threatening to remove them 'once and for all'...so the ear was saved, but she wouldnt let me near her other one, so she is now sporting one sparkley flower with garnet center and one red ladybug. tres chic!

Guilt people...oh the guilt.

I love this candle!

And...since I had a wee bit of 'Santa' money left over from Christmas, instead of putting it into the adoption fund (dont hate me, I never buy anything for myself...this was a one off), I bought this to cheer me up. It's so pretty that I don't mind that it doesn't have a scent...it reminds me of my Dad's garden at his old house...lots of roses winding themsleves around the pergola. My memory will serve the 'scent' part...this candle reminds me of home. If you like it, you can get one here, it's on sale from $55 to $14.99! Deal-io!

speaking of gardens, I am very proud of my Dad & my stepmoms new garden(eight years new), they started with bare land, and turned it into this

Just thinkin'

You know, even through all the stressy stressness of the last few months, and the financial strains and woes...I cant help but wonder if one day, if all goes well...maybe five years from now...that perhaps we'd do this again? No, we arent thinking of doing it anytime soon...in fact Mike turns a lovely shade of green when I even mention it in passing...but maybe someday, when we are back on track, when we are back in the black...maybe we can bring a little boy home? A toddler. If we do, he will be called Peter, yeah, funny huh, Peter, Piper & Paisley...haha, jokes on us. But quite honestly, I couldnt think of a better name(eh Dad!).

Until that time I will advocate for the waiting children and adoption with a passion.

counting days

you know, not since the dark days of fertility treatments and ovulation cycles have I pawed over our calendar so much. It's like I am destined to be a counter of days for my entire life!

Although the shift has moved...from the years of counting days of ovulation and weeks of gestation, to counting days between the milestones in the world of China adoption. As you can see by the sidebar we have our 'stats' posted, we compare notes with families on similar time lines and try to make sense of families that travelled before us. Trying to pull 'numbers' that make sense to us into some semblance of what the median is...but there is no median anymore, it seems there is a fissure in time, when all the numbers we used to rely on kind of got sucked into a wormhole and get thrown out to us in spits and spurts..not making sense like they used to...just making us nervous and obsessive...and sometimes grumpy...oh yes my friends, I can be grumpy!!! Mike can attest to that! But the reality is...we just want our children home, safe in our arms. Today is day 42 for us of waiting for LOA. We were told 60-90 days...so we may only be halfway there. But then there were some who waited 150 days...which is sad...and it makes me worry.

When will file reach review?

When will we be in the match room?

When will we get LOA

When will we travel?

When can we look at tickets, and itineraries?

When will Paisley be placed in our arms?

When will be able to call her ours...Forever?

When?

update:...sorry, Day 52, not 42...math skills bad!

good things!...

no, GREAT THINGS!!!

Today I found out a great piece of information that could help other families in need of adoption funds. Especially in the last few months before they travel. I received a message in my inbox today from a lovely adoption blogger with a link to a nice family who is also in the process...except the Dad is a tax genie and has posted about finding those elusive funds for adoptions. I have no issue discussing these kinds of things because I like transperency, and I like sharing ideas with other families who are considering or are in process of adopting.

RUSS THE TAX WHIZ

Russ, who from now on I will refer to as the 'tax whiz' made a fantastic post on his family blog about adoption financing and 'finding' money when you most need it. In my eyes he has helped us find at least a couple of thousand dollars in the next two months by NOT withholding taxes. yes, you heard me right...by asking the payroll department to stop withholding taxes for a couple of months we can benefit by recieving that 'tax' money in our paycheck!!! This didnt even enter our head as a possibility and it is simple...we only plan on doing it until we leave for China, and then we will switch it back. We have a 'safety net' of the Adoption tax credit, so when 2009 rolls around and we do our taxes, our credit may be smaller but we will have had the luxury of those extra dollars when we needed them.

Brilliant...just brilliant!

How can this be?

How is it humanly possible for there to be so many faces on the page of a newspaper? and this is just half of the page...of one newspaper, one of hundreds, if not thousands of small daily papers accross China. This is the page on which our daughter's 'finding ad' was published...it's small, and it sits among others whose fate we will never know. It is so hard to imagine...and it brings tears to my eyes. What is so precious about this piece of paper? It is the earliest photo we will ever have of sweet Paisley, she looks only a few weeks old..and has a small smile on her face..one of the few that does. The true story of Paisley's first days are known by just a few, and we are not privvy to that information which is sad. I wish we could tell her birthparents that she will be okay, that she will be loved. The same wishes I have for Piper's birthparents. We are so lucky to be able to get this small but extremely signifigant piece of information for our daughter's, and it would not be possible except for the efforts of one dedicated adoptive parent.

Brian Stuy - Research China

Paisley is the sixth ad in the fifth column

this is why its worth it!

it's -6F outside, and all Piper wants to do is dance...in her swimsuit and princess slippers, and her "gobbles"!

She was such a comedian this afternoon, dancing around in her 'newly' pink nearly but not quite ready big girl room.

Dont ask me why she took off her regular clothes and put her swimsuit on...hey, as long as we arent going outside I'm fine.

Piper has an active sense of the dramatic, she is constantly making up stories, and songs, and delighting us with her antics. I'm pretty sure she is destined to live in someplace where she can surf and swim...hmmm, maybe Hawaii Daddy?

what is it worth to you?

What would you sacrifice to bring your child home? Would you sell a car, your house, your wedding ring? At this point I'd have to answer yes. Although it wouldn't be in our best interest to sell either our house or our car, especially since my 99 Subaru has seen better days and our house owes us more than what we paid for it (thanks to dishonest Sellers and the crappy real estate market and $60K of repairs after a storm and a flood). We have cleaned out our bank accounts, maxed out our credit cards and pretty much sold anything that wasn't nailed down to be able to bring our little girl home. Now that we are in the final stretch there is some pretty serious number crunching going on. We are short, not by much, just a few thousand dollars, but it is worrying. I have spent hours and hours writing grant applications, but we haven't heard anything, well, it would be silly to expect to hear, especially when there are thousands of families vying for a handful of grants. But you always hope, right until the last minute you hope.

So what I need from you are IDEAS...lots of ideas! What can I do to make it past the finish line, to raise that final $3000? I am already planning on putting anything I think is saleable on eBay...but what else? Where can I magic a few thousand from in a couple of months? I am not having any other ipod fundraisers, they were great, but we don't want to wear out our welcome! There is always tax time, and I'm pretty sure we will receive a small refund...but will it be enough?

I get emails from other adoptive families all the time, they have enough to raise a child but to find the additional funds in a short time is often much more difficult. It's not a question of not doing it because you don't have the money, why if everyone waited to have children until they could afford it then half the people I know wouldn't have kids! Yes I agree that you should save so that you can afford to adopt, but quite often families have exhausted all their finances with fertility treatments or failed adoptions. Yet, the desire to parent is so strong we will do whatever it takes to move forward. For Mike and I, life would be quite lovely with just Piper, we cannot complain, but there was a desire in our hearts so strong that we could not ignore, we knew we wanted to bring another child home. From the moment Piper was placed in our arms on that steamy October day in Southern China, and from the moment we gazed into the faces of dozens of children in the orphanage where Piper had spent her first 10 months we knew that it was meant to be; that we'd be back. People adopt for many reasons, ours was because we had the desire to parent, and we knew that there were many children in our world that did not have that luxury, and so we were led no further into the world of fertility treatments (even after our Doctors corrected my issue and gave us the green light) but our hearts were set on China, and to bring home one of the millions of children that needed a Mummy & Daddy.

I've heard of people voicing that fundraising for an adoption lacks taste or decorum, frankly I don't care about the few who bring that to our attention, what I do care about it our daughter, and I know she will flourish in our family, and I know we will give her everything she will ever need, and maybe even some things she just wants. We wont bow our heads, or lower our shoulders, we remain empowered as parents, inspired by adoption and blessed by our children. We were told not to rock the boat when we petitioned Mike's employer three years in a row with proposals for adoption benefits...it didn't stop us, and finally for 2008 the company agreed to implement a benefit...can you imagine how many children will find parents because of this? Our family is not just proud of how we were created, we are magnificently blessed!

do carseats expire?
according to BRITAX, yes they do! Honestly, I had no idea! I should know, and I feel bad that I didn't do more research before offering to buy a friend's older model Britax Marathons. According to the Britax website, carseats reach their expiration six years post manufacture date! This is especially so if the carseats have been used in 'extreme' climates...be that the heat of Texas or the subzero temps of Minnesota or Vermont! So...what do I do with two seemingly good carseats in good condition? Will anywhere accept them as donations? They still have almost a year of 'life' left in them, but I don't know where I could take them. Of course, my wonderful friend who sent them was as surprised as me, and she just wants me to donate them to a charity like 'success by six', or headstart. Of course I'll cover her shipping costs, and I feel bad that she shipped them all the way from Massachusetts, but when I called Britax to order a new cover the lady told me about the expiry date...and I kinda admit I balked a little. Precious cargo people, precious cargo. So, I found a website that had the Marathon on sale and I bought it. Great, because I have now spent $300 buying a seat I could have paid $219 for. Awesome.
Upside is, for all you parents in the market for a new carseat, I hear Britax seats will be HUGELY on sale come February! At least someone can get a bargain!
For more in for on carseat expiration's check out your manufacturers websites! Hand me downs are great, but for some things it's better to be safe than sorry.

Minne ~ Stockholm

So up here in the freezing Nord, it's very, well,.....Nordic. We are a city of Swedes, Norwegians, Germans and all cold loving Europeans. Why they travelled halfway around the planet to find somewhere exactly like where they just left will always stump me! I mean, if I was leaving Sweden I'd say, "hey Sven, Florida sure looks nice"...but no, they came to Minneapolis instead...and a few hundred years later they built an IKEA, which is pretty much Sweden's equivalent to raising the flag!! There is such a huge influence from Scandinavia, that sometimes it reminds me of the winter I spent in Stockholm (incidentally that was my first experience with temperatures below -30C!)

This weekend we visited a small hamlet tucked behind a busy shopping plaza in Edina, you wouldn't know it was there unless you made a point of looking. Guess what, the little lakes freeze over and they turn it into a skate park, the 'clubhouse' even rents skates, sells hot chocolate and there are two roaring fireplaces one inside and one outside where weary skaters can thaw their chilled fingers and toes!

No one is too young either, Moms and Dads were out in force on the ice with babes in strollers!! Piper thought is was the best thing ever! We jumped on the 'complimentary' horse & carriage ride and took a small jaunt along the lakes. We'll be going back next weekend, this time with skates in hand!

The carriage ride was short, but Piper loved the horses and watching the skaters fly by

Chilly but stoked about the prospect of returning next week!

It's a funny thing, asking questions in so many different ways just to see if you get the right answer, but never really knowing if it is in fact the 'right' answer, or just an interpretation of the answer? That is why, when I ask a question about something of much importance, I always ask for the answer in writing...oh yes, I hear you groaning, what a 'p.i.t.a' I must be right?! But I have to justify this with how many times this has saved us untold work, misery and money in the process. Today I asked our Homestudy Agency what the process was to re-file, re-new or extend or 171*H, yes I used ALL those words just in case someone said "uh, we dont re-file, we re-new...get my point)......anyway, the person at the Agency that I spoke to sent me a memo that they had received from the officer at USCI*S stating that all we need to do is ...brace yourselves...

write a letter to ask for an extension

include a new Homestudy update

not sure if it's real or just a dream!

At least one person is a mighty mighty star in this process. Our Social Worker is a ROCK STAR! I don't say this lightly, we have experienced the worst of the worst in the world of Social Work while in Vermont, you know the kind, the narcissistic arrogant power hungry type that loves to be the puppeteer while looking on with satanic glee? Well, if our Vermont SW was the worst then the Universe rewarded us with Glinda the good witch of Social Work when we moved to Minnesota. You wanna know why I am writing an entry on social Workers? I emailed our SW yesterday afternoon about needing to refile for a renewal of our 171*H and a few short hours later, the official 'Homestudy Update' was in my inbox!! All it needs is to be notarized and it's good to go. How 'bout them apples people!

crap on a stick!

yes, I said it...crap on a big sharp stick! crappy crappy crapity crap.
So here's the deal. Our 171*H, the coveted and expensive 'golden ticket' of sorts expires in April. While we optimistacally hope to travel in March or early April, this is not particularly good news, as it is just that einsey bit close for comfort. What does it mean? Well, wouldn't you know it means that we have to do a heck of a lot more paperwork and apply for a new ticket ala gold. I'm sure many of you know what an extreme pleasure it is to work with the fine folks at the *INS, yes, it's all sunshine and smiles and group hugs...NOT! It is a miserable place, misery-able, staffed by many an angry worker who probably never won the 'miles of smiles' award at the local T*G*I Fridays, and were forced into working for 'gulp' the US*CIS. There aint no 'flair' there my friends!

Today I spent a few hours on the phone to our Agency in Colorado, where not one single person could give me an 'estimated' date of departure, I think we are just sitting right on the cusp of a definate YES or No...henceforth we are relegated to the land of maybe, might happen and hmm, not sure. BUGGER.

On top of this spectacular craptacular, we also found out that since our sweet Paisley is the only child being adopted from this particular orphanage at this particular time that we may in fact be shouldering an increase of 30% more than we had budgeted for - aaaaggghhhh! There is an extremely good chance that we will miss out on the benefits of 'piggy backing' ourselves to another travel group, and we will not get the group discount on travel, hotels or transportation and in-China airfares. b..bu..bummer! I am a bit grumpy and a bit overwhelmed, because not only do I now have to re-file the paperwork for the golden ticket, which by the way includes new Doctors letters, background checks, child abuse registry clearances etc, but now we have to figure out where the heck the rest of the money we will need is coming from?

So, we keep on trucking, we keep on plowing foward, and hope that it will work out, that miraculously we will file our taxes early and we will get a return that equals the amount we are missing, that airline prices take a dramatic dive and that my new wrinkle cream actually starts working...(I just threw that one in on the offchance)

Fan-diddley-tastic

CAKE

and lots of other goodies too! sour worms(that Piper insists on calling 'germs'), beetles, bugs & butterflies cookies, grapes, strawberries, orange slices, cheese & crackers, breadsticks and more! but most importantly CAKE!

Fun times ~ good times!

Much fun was had by all, all the children made their own pizza with ham & pineapple, pepperoni and sprinkles?

Piper ADORES the girls across the cul de sac, I've said it before but seriously...these girls are Piper's surrogate sisters! Bryce, Avery & Dillon (Bryce in front, Avery behind and their Dad Brady in the back) are the sweetest little girls, and NOTHING beats their sense of adventure, nothing! Piper has EXCELLENT role models in the three girls!

'Pin the bow on Lola!'

this'll be going on the back of Piper's door in her new pink bedroom!

Sweet Party Girl

Can you even believe how cute this outfit is? When I saw it the other day I knew it was made for Piper! It is SO her! Thanks Grandad! I also picked one up for Paisley's birthday party in April...hopefully she will be home by then, if not she will definately be having a belated party in May! Grandad Pete and Nana Jocelyn also gave Piper an extremely cute highchair for her doll 'Hannah' and a DVD library of scholastic classics.

P A R - T A Y!

Tada! The cake! What a smash hit!

The lady at the store put icing around the side that said

Piper says "I am actually not BIG, I am really quite small"

it was AWESOME! and so delicious too! Chocolate with a raspberry jam filling,

YUMMO! We set up the house to be as Charlie & Lola as possible, from the table cloth and butterfly 'scatter' to balloons and handmade garland in Lola colors! I even copied and pasted a coloring cutout onto a piece of authentic 'Lola wallpaper', colored it with color pencils and enlarged it at Kinko's and put it in a frame on the wall. We also made a shrine to Lola on the sideboard...too funny! I also cut got a 2'x 2' enlargement of the same coloring in template of Lola and cut out butterfly hairbows so we could play 'pin the bows on Lola'..(thanks for the idea Sam!) It didn't matter that only five kiddoes came, we lost a few guests due to family illnesses and trips to Florida) but overall it was still a lovely day!

Dinner & more presents!

friday, day 1 episode 4

we had Piper's birthday dinner at a local restaurant, meeting up with good friends Kam & Naimisha. Of course, she was showered with more gifts...one in particular has been a HUGE hit, the good ole faithful 'viewmaster'...a favorite from all of our childhoods! It was so enjoyed that Piper basically didn't come up for air the entire evening! K & N went a bit overboard and got Piper a great game by Eric Carle called 'The Grouchy Ladybug' and a Leapfrog learning tool for spelling and learning letters! Piper also enjoyed the musical birthday card, playing girls just wanna have fun!

All girls deserve a Daddy like Piper's

Friday, Day 1 episode 3

What girl doesnt like flowers? Piper was clearly enamoured with her Daddy on Friday night when he gave her the sweetest posey of roses. What a great Daddy huh! When I asked Piper what she would like to wear to dinner she told me "a tutu and sparkler'ry ballet slippers"...thankfully one of her Chinese outfits has a tutu and she has a pair of sparkle slippers for 'dress up'. Before we headed out for the envening, Piper got to open a few more gifts...a coffee maker from Mummy & Daddy(well, she has to learn to make us coffee at some point, so why wait!), and the coolest Chinese New Year Barbie from Poppy & Dede, and some cute clothes too!

how long does it take to celebrate a birthday?

Friday, Day 1...episode two

On Friday morning we took cupckes to school, the children were so excited at the prospect of all that sugary goodness that they clapped and cheered when they saw Mike walk into the room with Piper and 24 pink sugar bombs! At 10am I turned up for the photo op! seriously, there isnt much cuter than 14 three year olds salivating for cake!

healing hearts

a wish from us to a little girl named Sarah who had open heart surgery this week

we are thinking about you and praying you make a speedy recovery.

"I am three, therefore I bounce"

When life hands you strawberries...make PiNk MiLk!

Looks like Piper's party will be 'actually quite smallish', we lost a few guests to Florida and Iowa, and her Nana, Papa and Auntie wont be able to make it from Colorado as planned. It's a little bit sad, but Piper does have one friend from pre-school who is able to make it, and the 'girls' across the cul de sac are coming. I'm going to scale down the games a little bit and hope she doesn't notice. Yesterday one of her little friends that can't make it to her party dropped around to see Piper. Reid is darling, Piper and he had a wonderful time playing upstairs with her Dragon and Pat Pat Rocket. Reid's Mom even made a baby blanket for Piper to send to the orphanages in China as part of her 'Blankets for Babies' project. So far Piper has gathered or 'helped' me make 15 blankets! What a cool thing! If you would like to donate a new, warm baby blanket (homemade is just fine) please email me for details.

guess who graduated from being two?

Piper is three today, hip hip hooray!

Happy Birthday Piper!

Piper was uber excited this morning when she woke up. However the idea of gifts waiting downstairs had absolutely no impact on how quickly she got out of bed and got dressed....gosh, she was almost four by the time she got her socks on! Downstairs she was able to open two of her gifts..a Little Einsteins 'golden pyramid' and the coveted 'Leo's baton'...Piper was SO excited by the baton she squealed "oh my gracious"...Mike almost snorted juice out his nose..."now I can induct, now I can induct!"..."conduct Piper, conduct!" She has been using hairbrushes to 'induct' for the last few weeks, so we thought it would be a good idea to get her the actual baton! Clever toy for plastic n'all, I'm impressed.

After a quick breakfast of peanut buttered english muffins and juice, Piper was off to school, with two dozen highly frosted cupcakes to share with her sugar lovin' buddies! All this before 7.30am!

note: does every kid get an owie right smack on their forehead in time for their birthday party and photographic extravaganza? hmmm.