Settled

Well, I guess you know you are settled in when you can go on vacation without having to think about what needs to be done at the new house or for that matter at the old house. 

We all headed out to Palm Springs for a little R&R this past week.  James had to come back after three days for work and continuing education classes  - but we knew that!  The kids and I just drove home today after a week baking basking in the sun, dying  lounging by the pool in 115 degree heat!  Whew!

Actually each day the kids and I tried to think of indoor, air -conditioned activites to keep us busy.  These usually included a trip to the local mall or Target. This meant I was looking for the last few things we needed  to finish the house decor!  James is going to wish he had not left me alone with kids in Palm Springs when he gets the AMEX bill next month.  But truly . . . it was all on sale!!!  There was a trip to movie theater, the nail salon for Andrea's and my pedis, the dinosaur museum and lots of relaxing in our very nice Westin villa! All I can say is I am definitely thankful for air conditioning and I do appreciate the nice temperature at our house!

Back to the house . . . we are feeling more settled all the time.  I am actually remembering which drawer or cupboard I have put something in that I am looking for.  I finished off the living room with pillows and a throw (purchased in Palm Springs), found some guest towels that match two of the bathrooms and  some napkins and napkins rings that match the house perfectly!  Now on to the entertaining!  Tomorrow we are having good friends over for dinner and a swim, the daughter is staying overnight and then Sunday we are having more dinner guests from our old neighborhood!

Well, I better get myself in the kitchen - I've got company coming!

Moving!

The house actually closed on April 18th - the last day of tax season! (Somebody has a sense of humor!)  It originally was suppose to close on the April Fool's Day, then got moved to the usual last day of tax season -April 15th and finally we signed all the papers and got the key on April 18th, after James had worked about 12 hours  that day and 50 12 -16 hr days in a row!  He was brain dead - so he was kind of unenthralled with the whole process of signing his name a couple hundred times that evening. I, on the other hand was ecstatic.  The kids went along and declared it simply the most boring thing they had ever done!

We actually spent the night there the following Friday - just so we could say we had slept there before we went on our vacation to Colorado.  The kids swam in the pool and we ate pizza - you can't possibly think I wanted to mess up my brand new Viking Kitchen.  That will come later when I can get out my Giada cookbooks and do something really stunning and YUMMY!

Upon returning from our great vacation to Avon - visiting with dear friends, swimming in the pool and playing in the snow - we began the process of moving over the "little" things.  What a blessing to have the time to leisurely move the "stuff" we could - before the movers come on Tuesday!  They will move the "big" stuff!  I will post pictures of our  new digs and our move. 

Yikes -there is still a ton of little stuff - did I say I could do this leisurely????

I'm Back!

How can two months go by so quickly??  Of course at this time of the year (read: tax season) our whole family is in the trenches . . . not just James!  I have been drafted as the office administrator during this tax season and the kids are being real troopers about understanding that Dad is working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.  Naturally, this means that I am on 24/7 which some days sends me over the edge!!
                                                                                                                                             
Now for the family news . . .

Andrea celebrated her 10th birthday clear back in January - so she is officially in the double digits!  She is starting ice skating lessons and loves it! 

Justin is in both flag football and basketball.  He, too, is starting ice skating on Saturdays - future ice hockey player you say - well why not - but in So Cal not so likely!

We are planning a BIG trip to Colorado to see our good friends right after tax season - we are really looking forward to that nine day get-a-way!  We are going to let Dad "veg" while we swim, hike, play and visit!

We have some very big news coming your way in just a few days - no, not more kids  . . .yet!  Even the kids don't know so I can't tell until April 1.

Until then . . .any guesses????

Hooray! Summer is Finally OVER!

As denoted by my post title, and the absence of any postings for the past two months, it is fair to assume that we had a heckuva summer! (with a little good mixed in!)

The following is the GOOD, BAD, and the UGLY:

The GOOD:

Our adoption was finalized and celebrated on June 17, 2009. We feel blessed to be the parents of the two most wonderful kids in the world!

We enjoyed a trip to Maui, two getaways to San Diego ( different areas), a short stay at the Disney Resort area, swimming lessons, a week at day camp, mixed in with afternoons boogie boarding at the beach, dinners out with friends, a few backyard barbecues, Angels games, visits from friends and relatives, etc.

The BAD:


James came down with bronchitis in Maui, which as you know from previous blog turned into pneumonia and a 5 day hospital stay. Two weeks later we discovered that he had a complication due to the medication given for the pneumonia which then resulted in another hospital stay of 6 days. At home, two weeks later, the infection returned with threats of another hospital visit - fortunately James managed to beat it this time with another $400 prescription. (The first time I picked up one of those $400 prescription I thought the pharmacist had forgotten to run it through our insurance - after my inquiry she retorted that this WAS our cost - the prescription was actually $1100 - don't even get me started on how badly we need some kind of health care reform!) Anyway . . basically James was seriously ill most of the summer . . . and that was very BAD! Gratefully he is well, back to work full speed, and feeling better than ever!


The UGLY:

During the time that James was in the hospital my brother Jon was there, too. So, each day we would visit Jon in ICU, then on to James in isolation . . with a stop on the 2nd floor to check on a friend of many, many years who was diagnosed with lung cancer on June 17th. He was relatively young, appeared strong, had never smoked, but nevertheless diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. It was hard for his family and friends to fathom that this big, healthy fellow would decline so in just two months and join his mom who had just passed away last January. He was a special man of faith who helped others and led an exemplary life. We felt honored to have known him.


Then when we thought we were done with the UGLY for a while, our cat of 16 years, Tigger, died. We, including the kids, were heartbroken. We had gotten the news from the vet in July that Tigger had cancer, but we were not ready to say goodbye to our beloved Tigger, so we kept him comfortable and had hoped that the steroid shots that the vet administered would keep him with us a little longer . . .it did - but only two months - so last Sunday we had our first pet funeral in the part of the yard we now have labeled the Pet Cemetery (wasn't that a creepy movie a few years back? ?). Andrea read Ecc. 3 and Justin gave the Eulogy and prayer. We are now concentrating our love and devotion toward our little blue parakeet, Brodie, and our pet hamster, Sunshine.


Despite what was a pretty gruesome summer, we had many delightful times, also. We are back and the next post will be those depicting our most happy moments!

TAGGING??

Is tagging even legal???? Oh . . . not that kind I guess! My good friend, Nicole (the bow girl) tagged me ` so watch out you could be next!



The rules are:

1. Go to your fourth picture folder

2. Upload the fourth picture

3. Tell everyone about it

4. Tag four more friends!



Honestly, I think Nico tagged me just to see if I could accomplish this feat! Actually if it weren't for her I would still be trying to figure how to upload a picture on my blog - that is if I could even figure out how to create a blog in the first place. So here goes . . .



Now Nicole will never believe this . . . this a picture of Andrea singing in a church program a few weeks after we got her. I used this picture to show off the cute bow that Nicole made for her on another blog entry. (Honestly this is the fourth picture in my fourth picture folder, Nico) I loved how the bows all attach to the little stretchy headband and she is so pretty in pink and white! What is scary are the eyes on these poor kids - they look like they trying out for some horror flick instead of singing in a church program!!!! (That's what you get when a bad photographer enlarges the photos to the giant size uh hum Mom . . .Erin . . .Diana . . .)

So that is it!

You've been tagged . . .

Diana

Erin

Krysta

Linda

Have fun!

CHRISTMAS PICS!

Our three Christmas trees!

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"The Glory of Christmas" at the

Crystal Cathedral with Grandma!

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Making our Gingerbread house!


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Our school Christmas parties!

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Our visit with Santa!

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Our visit to "Candy Cane Lane" - the most beautifully decorated street around!



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CHRISTMAS MORNING!

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Christmas at Grandma's, too!

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A Day in the Snow (we made a snowman, too!)

The crown made out of the big orange leaf was Andrea's idea , while Justin hunted for small stones for the eyes and buttons! It was a great day of fun, wet clothes and cold, ending with dinner and a visit with my long time friend, Harriet (No pic, sorry)

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NEW YEARS DAY 2009 AT KNOTT"S BERRY FARM!

29 rides later . . .the park closed and we went home!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

On Our Way!

It has been just a month since the kids have come home and we have all adjusted well ( I think!).
We had our first Teacher-Parent Conferences and they went very well, Justin just finished a set of 4 golf lessons, we took that mini trip for our anniversary, which included the Legoland adventure, met lots of friends and family, got a hamster, experienced the birth and development of five more hamsters, suffered the pain and agony of giving away baby hamsters (BTW we still need homes for 2 more), had one doctor visits and five dental visits between the two of them and . . .
tommorrow we plan to go to Ventura, stay at the Sheraton, hit some of Mom and Dad's favorite restaurants and sights there and then on to Santa Maria the next morning for Thanksgiving. James and I worked this deal our early in our marriage - Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine! Works for me!
So we plan to hit Marie Callendars on the way up to Santa Maria for the traditional pumpkin pie and the not so traditional, (but James' sister and my favorite) Double Cream Lemon and then on to SM. The kids will get to meet Aunt Diana, Uncle Jack, all of the cousins and Grandma David. We will dine on the delicious feast that Jack and Diana always prepare and come home just about 5 pounds heavier!
It should be quite a few days!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Bows . . .Bows . . .Bows . . .

Last Saturday Andrea and I went to a Christmas Boutique where my friend Nicole was selling her adorable hairbows! Andrea came home with over 30 hairbows, decorated hairclips, headband, etc. We are now choosing outfits according to which hair doodads she wants to wear! Seems kind of opposite of how it should be, huh?

Anyway, my friend Nicole sells these hair bows on Etsy - Olive Blue. You can check out her blog on our family and friends link "The Milkies". She is also having a bow giveaway - so check it out!

Here's Andrea last Sunday singing at church with the pink bow and white headband in her beautiful dark hair!

Two Weeks Ago???????

I am kind of blog junkie - mostly because I love to know what my relatives and friends are up to. Prior to two years ago I'd never even looked at a blog and am not sure I even knew what one was.

Then my cousin in Indianapolis adopted their adorable little Grant and mentioned we could follow their adoption journey on their blog. One read and I was hooked. Where else can you practically get to read someone's diary without invading their privacy. Now I follow several - it is all I can keep up with!

We started this blog when we decided to adopt, just so the children would have a running journal of their adoption story. And now I notice upon reading my cousin's blog this morning that I have not posted anything for two weeks! Yikes . . . I tell you I am one busy mom! The following is evidence!

So here's the update :

We went to El Toritos for dinner the first night they moved in. The servers were so excited about the adoption that they gave the kids their own sombrero - so out came the camera!!!

The kids started school and are doing very well. Andrea is student of the month for November and Justin has a teacher whose children I taught beginning my first year of teaching! What a blessing!

We went to the pumpkin patch and had a fun Sunday afternoon. When I was a kid you either bought a pumpkin at the grocery store or you went to one of those patches that actually grew pumpkins and picked one right off the vine. Well now in So Cal you go to a lot (that will soon be a Christmas tree lot) and spend a fortune on carnival rides, bounce houses, etc. and then choose a pumpkin that you can barely lift into the trunk of the car. It was great fun!!!!!!!

!

HALLOWEEN'S cutest Barbie Princess and most handsome Star Wars Clone Trooper!

Halloween was a blast! Our good friends "Uncle" Cary and "Auntie"Shirley came over for dinner (bearing gifts and cupcakes - no less), then James took two very excited "trick or treaters" out for the candy run! (Thanks, Ashley for the cupcakes! They were declared yummy by all!) They had so much fun! As new parents we had that dilemma that many parents go through - just how much candy do you let the kids eat, keep, etc?????? I was so proud when Justin decided to give his candy to the poor children (they had a drive at the school) so that they could develop the cavities! Andrea couldn't bring herself to give it all up . . . but she did give up part of it and shared the rest with Justin. Fortunately the dentist told me that the cavities they had filled this week were not from this Halloween - but instead "sugar germs" that they had experienced some time ago! Whew . . . what a relief!

Last, but certainly not least . . .Justin got a hamster this past weekend. He named her Sunshine - like we don't already have enough sunshine in the house with these two sweeties?????? Anyway he is a proud owner and very responsible taking care of her! Andrea has Brodie, the parakeet, in her room and she loves taking care of him! She plans to be a vet when she grows up , although she calls it a vegetarian. The later I suspect she will never be because she is quite the carnivore!

I'll try not to wait so long to write my next post - this took forever!!

Waiting No More

For those of you who got a quick look at our blog from yesterday I did remove it temporarily.
Nothing has changed - but I may have blabbed more information than I was supposed to!
(So what's new . . .)
I will put that blog entry back up as soon as I get the go ahead from our social worker.
Until then keep us and our two little ones in your prayers, and know that your wait to see their pictures won't be that long - I promise!

WAITING!

Us at Legoland!

It seems like in life there a lot of waiting! Right now we are in a wait mode . . . and it is a hard place to be. It seems like waiting is the last thing we ever want to do from birth on.


Babies hate to wait for their bottles or to have their diaper changed...

Moms and Dads can't wait until their baby takes their first step or says their first word . . .

Later they can't wait for them to sit down and be quiet . . .

Toddlers can't wait for their toys . . .

Preschoolers can't wait for their turn on the swing . . .

Kindergarteners can't wait until they can read . . .

Kids can't wait for birthdays, Christmas and to spend the night at Grandma's . . .

Teenagers can't wait to drive, go to college, or get to vote . . .

Young adults can't wait to get their first big job and get married . . .

Then we can't wait to buy our first home and decorate it . . .

We can't wait to go to Europe and all the other vacations places we long for . . .

We can't wait for that nice luxury car . . .

We can't wait til the Angels are the World Series again . . .

Now here we are when others can't wait to have grandchildren and . . .

We can't wait to bring our kids home!

One of my good friends said that we should just enjoy right now because once we have children not only will our life never be the same but - it also will always be about them.

So . . . we are trying hard to take her good advice. Last weekend we got away to San Diego for a night to a very nice resort where we could behave like adults and what did we do? We decided it would be fun to check out Legoland. This weekend we went to Redondo Beach and Manhatten Beach and checked out the Redondo Beach Aquarium. I even checked on birthday parties there.

Tonight is our Monthiversary - that is the 8th of each month when we celebrate our marriage by going out to a very grown up restaurant, having wine and a nice dinner and maybe doing a grown up activity afterwards. It's my turn to pick the restaurant . . .hmmmm . . . should I pick Chuck E. Cheese or the McDonald's with a playland?

Lynn . . we are trying hard to take your advise - but I am sorry to say we are not doing such a hot job at it. We'll try harder tonight.

Bittersweet!

We had our adoption support get-together last night! What a great evening as our closest friends and family gathered for dinner and to meet our social worker. We had lots of laughs while we reminisced about our friendships and relived some of our fondest memories.

Our dear social worker explained to everyone the process which we have gone through, and what else we have to look forward to . . . it was such a wonderful evening where we felt the love and support of all of those there.
We know there were others that wanted to be there and we truly appreciate you as well!

On the sad note for the evening . . .
we learned that the two children we were interested in will be going to a different family -
and although we were very disappointed we are happy that they will have a forever family and we know that there are two children out there waiting for us . . .
Know this . . . between us and our great social worker we will find them!
We'll keep you posted!

Getting the Kids!

Adopting the kids is kind of like having a baby or in this case a couple of babies!

When you are pregnant, friends and relatives call every few minutes to find out if labor has started or if you have headed to the hospital, however . . . in our case we get the calls to find out if the kids have "come home" yet.

Here's the update . . .

We have . . .
Turned in absolutely all of our information . . .
Finished all of our classes . . .
Had our last interviews and home inspections . . .
Sent our photos in . . .
Our worker has finished the all important "HOME STUDY" . . .
We are having our adoption support meeting tomorrow night . . .
Have found 2 adorable kiddos . . .
and now . . .
we are waiting for the matching coordinator to tell us - it is a match!

We'll keep you posted!

VACATIONS!

Vacations are a funny animal and I love them . . .
however I haven't decided what part of the vacation I love so much!


I spend an enormous amount of time planning each detail of our trips - even driving trips like the one we just returned from to Colorado.


I pack food, clothes for every imaginable kind of weather, print out driving instructions for places we plan to go to (and some we only might go to), call friends and family we might see, write up detailed itineraries and give a copy to everyone we know, and of course I make reservations for hotels, etc. months ahead with a print out of all the amentities and things to do in the area . . .

I just love doing all of that and makes me so look forward to the trip!


Then we head out . . . when I was a kid my dad would start out on a driving trip about 4:00am ( he always said it was to beat the heat, but I think it was because in our excitement to begin the vacation we couldn't sleep later than 3:00am), however James is not quite the morning person I am so we usually get out by 8:00am or so. The drive is soooooo beautiful! I even enjoy the desert (for about 10 miles or so) then we break out our favorite music - full blast, open a couple of Cokes and sing at the top of our lungs! The energy expended with all that singing usually requires a snack, of which I pack many. So . . . we break open the chips, cookies,or trail mix and start munching. Of course by now it is about 10:00am and we are begnning to think where we might stop for lunch and so it goes that most of our drive time is spent planning the next eating event.


When we finally arrive at our destination we carefully review all of my plans for the area and determine that what we really want to do are things other than I had planned for - so . . . we always have to ask for directions, ask for recommendations, and revamp my carefully designed plans!

This time we stayed in Avon, Colorado, just three hours from our good friends in Colorado Springs. We made the trek to their house for a couple of days and then one of them visited us in Avon. We had a great time except for the altitude adjustment that I did not plan for! No one told us that at 12,000 ft above sea level that you cannot breathe and get tremendous headaches. So, the hikes we had planned were out of the question and the good sturdy hiking shoes stayed in the closet the whole week. We did hit the pool and spa a few times . . .but then the thunder and lightening storms began. I personally have an aversion to getting electricuted - especially this close to becoming a mom. Maybe next year I will feel differently . . .

All in all it was a very nice trip with the highlight being the time we spent with our good friends and the beauty of the mountains! We miss them so much since they moved to Colorado.

So is it the planning, actually getting there, or getting home that is the best part of the vacation?? I don't know . . .I think I love it all!

The Office is OPEN!

The plaque outside our office door.

Well, we have spent this past week setting up the new office. We thought we could do it in about 1-2 days . . . it has been over one week since we got the keys and we are still working on it!

After all . . . we went from a 110 sq ft office to about 8oo sq ft - a lot more space to fill up.

About three days after we had the walk-through, some very good friends helped us move all of the former office furniture and "stuff" to the new office. It took the better part of a Saturday and some very strong "guys"! Shirley and I did the important shopping for that day! We couldn't have done it without good friends . . . Thanks "guys"!

The "very nice cherry" office furniture!

This week we have had 6 file cabinets delivered - 2 of which were damaged, and we are awaiting the "pick up" man . . .they have no problem delivering them one at a time, but each guy tells he's not authorized to take back the damaged ones. It is a mystery to me how in these days of $4.65 per gallon gas, companies can afford to work that way - oh yeah- I know they will raise their prices!!!!!

Three rooms of very nice cherry office furniture was delivered and assembled without problem - except they forgot the keys to my desk file . . .

The phone and internet system was set up only to find out from our computer guy that we needed three more "lines pulled" (whatever that means) and after pretty much a whole day of his work and waiting, we had to have a guy come to "pull the lines" and then wait for another day for the computer guy to finish . . . and so it goes . . .on and on . . .

You get the picture - speaking of pictures - it is my job to find the accessories which includes the plants, pictures, decorations, etc. Normally I love this kind of thing , but I have been to a half dozen stores looking, and generally just not finding the exact thing, so . . . one more thing to keep doing.

We are waiting for the "glass guy" to cut and install the glass countertops for the "very nice cherry" office furniture so that we don't get scratches, etc. on them. That should be another few days.

Notice how there no official names for these worker guys. There was the "computer guy", the "telephone guy", the delivery guy", the "pick-up guy", "the wire pulling guy" and then there were the "strong guys"- seems like they should have a more official names, huh?

Well, I gotta run now to read the manual on our new phone system, so that when you call you might get an answer!

WOW . . . We're Getting There!

Thursday was our last of the ADOPTION interviews. As I told our adorable social worker - "It all seems so surreal!"!

We had our individual interviews and it seems that we are getting closer to the kids all the time. Tommorow we go to our last mandatory training class and as I have said a dozen times to others - if they made everyone go through what we have had to, there would be no unwanted children and lots of well trained parents in the world!

The classes really are great and we do have some wonderful people in them and fantastic trainers! We really are grateful for the opportunity.

Next we have to prepare a "Life Book" of James and myself. This is to include a wedding picture (which I dare anyone to think that is really me), current pics of us, family members, our home, their bedrooms, Tigger, our cat, Brodie, our bird, their school, the beach - you get the picture! For those of you "scrapbooking types" feel free to offer your advice.

Last, we have to have a meeting (read: party) of all those who are part of our friends and family who support us in this decision and also wish to support us when we need a sitter or just to listen when we start doubting our parenting skills!

After that, which should be in a couple of weeks, we are free to bring home the kiddos - whoever they might be!

So tonight we went to one of those neat kid's bedroom stores and bought our little boy a cool loft bed with drawers in the stairs, under the bed crawl space for playing in, shelves, and a desk - all in one piece. Every little boy's fun bed!

We have the bed for our little girl's room coming this weekend - white iron and brass princess bed! Every little girl's dream!

Oh . . . to be a kid again!

We're Back Again!

School ended and we left for San Diego the same day. We had one of those great timeshare "villas" for a week . . . but the real purpose of the trip was to go to the US Open with our good friends, Cary and Shirl.

We had been planning this trip for many months, so with great anticipation on Sunday morning of the US Open we headed to QualCom Stadium to catch a shuttle to Torrey Pines. (There were no other options - I dislike shuttle events!)

Now, James and I had been to a few tournaments before, and in fact, James had been to the US Open in Olympic Golf Course several years ago, so we thought we knew just how to strategize getting around the course and see all of the players that we wanted to see.

What we didn't factor into that equation was the thousands of other people with the same strategy! The first few hours we were there the gallery seemed like that at any tournament - LA Open, Buick Open, etc. but . . . when Tiger and the other leaders teed off in the early afternoon, people came out of nowhere. That "run ahead" idea we had became a "crawl" your way the next hole event!

We finally settled on the 17th hole where we stayed for about 2 hours. James and Cary were right out there in the sun - as close to the green as possible, while Shirley and I were content to stand under the shade of a tree and try to peek through the crowd.

We got a few glimpses of the limping Tiger, an "up close and personal" Phil Michelson sighting (where I yelled "Hi Phil!"), and got to watch the swings and putts of a dozen other outstanding golfers.

Although it was fun and we love being with Cary and Shirl . . .
I believe next year we will be watching from the comfort of our family room on our LCD TV getting all of the golf analysis at the same time!

We're back again!!

A New Appreciation . . .

It's funny how you develop a new appreciation for things as your life goes on!
Here's just a few of things I have noticed.

When you are a kid your mom tries to get you to eat certain foods that you are determined are yucky or gross and then as you mature you develop an appreciation for those foods. One that happened to me was AVOCADOS - did I have to learn to like a food that cost $2.99 for one little tiny organic avocado at Whole Foods????

Then when you get to be about 19 you begin to appreciate adults in your life that you thought were really stupid and really didn't understand or know a thing prior to that. I guess this a good thing since we will soon have children and maybe they'll learn to appreciate us before the memory loss sets in and we don't know they appreciate us!

Lately I realize how much I appreciate our good friends. There's a time in your life when you are so busy that you keep putting off time for friends. Well over a year ago we started a monthly game night with friends. This date each month has not been missed once and we truly have a great night each month!

I also realize how much work a blog is to keep up with. I used to get a little put out with my Indiana relatives if there wasn't a new entry everytime I checked their site - now I realize just how hard it is and what a great job they do keeping us up to date on their lives and their adorable, Grant. I wish I could do half as well - I really appreciate their blog!

Lastly, I appreciate my husband. He keeps me laughing and keeps us focused. We have fun just looking for office furniture, he is such an encourager to his new executive assistant (me) and what my job will be, and he is really "getting it" when it comes to what it will mean to have 2 kids in the house. He's gonna be a fun dad. It's his birthday this week and in fact we have his family birthday party at my mom's today!
Happy Birthday, James - I appreciate you most of all!

The Office

Now, for those you avid TV watchers that watch something other than news, politics, history or science documentaries, with a little sports and HGTV thrown in, you may have seen a program called "The Office".

We primarily watch the aforementioned!


Kayleigh got me to watch my first time ever episode of "The Office" during my spring break. It was hilarious - in a dry humor sort of way! Anyway, it is her favorite show!

Now, I always get a little nervous when someone tells me that I remind them of a character on a TV show, so when my house guest mentioned that, my first reaction was - Ohhhh Noooo!
Fortunately the character that she thought reminded her of me turned out to be ok! Whew!

Anyway . . . our adoption social worker told us we needed to have the kid's rooms ready by June - so it is that we have spent part of this last week looking for The Office! (We need to turn our home office back into a bedroom!)

It may not be quite like the TV version, but it will be "Our Office"! We are pretty excited about it. We finally settled on a very nice, professional office, which will be modified to suit us.

We may never make it to the big screen or even the small screen, but maybe after we have moved in and are settled I can post a picture of "Our Office".
Then for those of you like us who primarily watch news and documentaries you can peer at a little reality as well!

Maybe by then I will have a tranformation and look like the girl in "The Office" that I remind Kayleigh of!

Our House Guest

This week I have "Spring Break"! Now, I know most of you would think that working at a Christian school I might have had the week before or after Easter off - but no, this year we stayed with the public school schedule - so this is it!

We invited a former student of mine over for a few days. She is a doll! Kayleigh is 14 and finishing her freshman year of high school with a 4.5 gradepoint average. Unbelievable! Back in the "olden days" when I was in high school there was nothing higher than a 4.0 - and I don't think anyone in my circle of friends had anything close to that!

Kayleigh was in my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade classes when I taught the Multi-Age class. She was quite a student then as well. It is so much fun to see the great young lady she is growing up to be.

Best of all, James and I see a potential babysitter in Kayleigh. We have even talked to her about going on trips with us, if we should need her.

What a joy she is as a house guest - plus she was a great playmate for me as James is over his head in work! We were able to fit in a long walk through Seal Beach, on the beach, down the pier, a shake at Ruby's at the end of the pier, pedicures, watching two funny movies, playing a game of Sorry, making a great Salmon dinner and the "Perfect Apple Pie", taking a trip out to Beaumont to check on our house out there, going out to two lunches and one nice dinner at the Olive Garden (we stole James away for that one), two dips in the jacuzzi, and lots of girl chit-chat time!

Did I mention she was only here about 48 hours?
Whew, but FUN!