A Little Closer.

Tomorrow- we are going to the USCIS office to
have our prints done.

I like the girls there.
They love it when Stacy and I come in
because I am so goofy and loud and then Stacy comes in and
is Mr. Sweet and Quiet.

They ALWAYS comment on how funny we are and that they want us
to "adopt" them.

Odd, because we never really DO anything funny.

The last time we were there, one of the Mom's was thinking of
taking her son out of the school system to home- school.
Apparently, this child was being picked on because he was"smart",
made good grades, and did not play football or basketball.

I told her to tell him that I had never seen"Did You Play Football in
High School?" on any job application, so it REALLY isn't necessary.
I am interested to see how that has turned out.

We also have an appointment with our agency in B'ham, on Thursday.
It will be fun to have a face to go with the program director's voice.

We are fine tuning our dossier before sending it to Houston.

It's cool to be within driving distance to our agency. Our last agency
was in Maryland.

I feel like I am getting a little closer....to what I have no idea.

No news on the boys. Going on week 6 or 7....I don't know.
I try not to think about it too much.

I've been trying to read a little about toddler adoption.

I am going to have to go back and read my "the Natural Child" book.

I do not agree with a lot of the mainstreams ideas on how to bring a
toddler home.

I've never been one for keeping a baby on a schedule or "tough love".
We prefer to follow the lead of the child. Not popular in today's child-
rearing circles, but I have never been a "follower".
No real reason to start now.

So that's what is going on here.

Peace.

Last Night Daddy Came Home With..............

And guess who is going to be a Rock Star?!


Mary Elizabeth will not be left out


OR out done!


It is going to be hard getting her to share the
mic.


Maybe she will get tired of it..............

Peace.

Classic Movie Night!

SOME LIKE IT HOT!


Popcorn & Bean Bags!


We have decided that we are going to have to
"NetFlix".

We tried to find"Window With A View" , "Giant",
"Rooster Cogburn", and "How to Marry a Millionaire",
but Blockbuster doesn't carry those anymore....


The kids LOVE old movies and we try to do this as much as we can.

It really hacks me off that they can't go and "pick out" the one that
they want to watch.
To me that's part of the fun of" MOVIE NIGHT".


Anyway....They were happy with this one.
They laughed their heads off.
Jack Lemmon is Hysterical!
Marilyn Monroe was a brilliant actress. Her comedic timing was impeccable.
She was so ahead of her time.
These days, She would be demanding millions a movie.


If you haven't seen Some Like It Hot, or just haven't seen it in a while,
Check it out again..............Only don't go to Blockbuster.
They don't have it. :)


Peace.

Best Birthday EVER!

Today was my 39th birthday!
40th- if you count the first one!

A great day! Lots of calls and E-mails.

We girls( friends) do the "bookstore and coffee" thing.
So much fun to hang with the girls and giggle!


Daddy bought home an ice -cream cake!


Big hit with the kids!
The kids all made me cards and gave me hugs and kisses.........
So precious.

And after the cake my husband gave me his card and gift......


2 tickets. November 23rd. San Antonio, Texas.
Section 3- seats 7 & 8.... Andrea Bocelli......

Unbelievable!

The coolest gift I have ever been given.

I was speechless.....So were my kids. They love Andrea Bocelli,too.

I am married to an amazing man.

Life Is Good.

Peace.

Coffee, Current Events, and NO CAMERA...

The big kids and I head to the bookstore for our

"coffee and current events" outing.

Of course, I leave my camera at home.

Anyway, we get there and there is only a USA today and a

local paper, so i think, "I'll just get a few magazines from the LEFT,

and a few magazines from the RIGHT and we can talk about

politics, politicians, and how the media effects our "take"

on certain things.

Great idea...Only...there were only LIBERAL rags available

at our local B-A-M.

So I think maybe I am not looking in the right place, so I ask

the ...let's say...19 year old working there, if those were all of the

news magazines the store carried, and he said, "Yes".

So I proceed to explain to him that when you are trying to teach your

children about politics,environmental issues, the LEFT side and

the RIGHT side, and you can only find news magazines that represent

ONE side---THE LEFT SIDE---

It makes it a little difficult.

Then this sweet little boy looks at me and says(in his best grown-up

voice),"Don't you think that they are a little too young for all that?"

I respond by leaning as close to him as I could, using my deep, quiet, Don't

Mess With The Mama voice- I say, "No... I don't."

Exit B-A-M-employee.

We grab what they have....Newsweek, Time, Something else...I

don't remember..and Layton and Hannah grab National Geographic

and Discover(2 of our favs. So it wasn't all bad)..and we go to

the coffee shop to pay for our loot and get a cup o' joe , an Italian

Ice and 3 Hot Cocoas.

We all get settled and set our parameters.

We are all going to skim our papers and mags and when we find a subject

or picture that we find interesting we are going to throw it out there

for discussion.

Caleb starts off with NORMANDY and how all we got in return was a statue

and the French are really rude to American tourists and says that he thinks its

weird that Americans are made fun of and ridiculed until someone needs

help getting their "butt out of a sling"....Hmmmm......

Spoken like a true Southern Gentleman.............NEXT!

Layton has found an article and is concerned about the effects of Global

Warming on Marine life and animals living in Arctic regions....Oh and the

gorillas that were supposed to be in a protected area, but were killed

anyway ...........My little tree hugger.I am SO Proud!............NEXT!

Hannah opens her National Geographic and squeals, "Monkeys!".

She had found an article on Capuchins and was giddy...The people

beside us were laughing until they heard her say, "Aww Cool!

New Theory in the Romanov Mystery! I really do think Anastasia escaped.. "

Then they just looked really confused...............Good Job, Hannah! Keep

Em' Guessing!...............NEXT!

Riley(only 8- But she's gifted so she gets to come!) opens her Newsweek

and there is a page FULL of little snippets of newsworthy events.

Pictures of Iraq, Soldiers, Fuel lines, Grocery Prices,Entertainment, etc.....

Riley says,"OOOO, The Jonas Brothers!"(a teen band from the Disney Channel)

I said, "What?!"

She said, " The Jonas Brothers! They are soooooo Cute!"

I said, "Riley-Sweety- Look at the rest of the pictures on the page. There is

a war going and on and people are having trouble paying for gas and food.

Let's talk about what you think about that stuff. O.K?"

She said, "Yes, Ma'am.......THEN can we talk about the Jonas Brothers?"

She catches on fast... World Peace, FIRST.......THEN you can talk about the

cute guys! Good Girl!

Just as much fun as I thought it would be.

Peace.

Busy, Busy, Busy.............

The girls wanted to "write a novel or just a newspaper".

Caleb came in, heard the plan and told the girls
that his Uncle Greg had given him the electric typewriter he had used
in college.
He offered to let them use it if they would agree to take turns
and share(yes, he REALLY said that!).


They have had the best time.


Ben said that when the girls got finished
he was going to write a Spongebob Book that was
"way better than this one".


Rachel and Riley are working on their newspaper article
"about people singing in the shower and it sounds really bad..
Only they don't know it."

They listed everyone in the house- except the two of them!

When I pointed that out, they informed me that they were good singers.

Peace.

How do you get Riley to read a CLASSIC?

Tell her she looks like the chick on the cover!

Music Lessons.................

OK- Let me start by saying that my brother and sister-in-law
are soooo lucky that they have access to a piano, because they
would be purchasing one in the very near future, otherwise.


First day. Never had lesson before this. Piece of cake for both of them.


They have both played through the first 3 songs in the
book and this is only day 2.


Today- we had intro to acoustic guitar.

Rachel and Mary Elizabeth(who had changed into her striped
Hannah Anderson PJ's for the lesson) are on each side of me with
Bongos and Tambourines.


They learned G, F, and D7 chords and will learn 3 more
tomorrow.


They both LOVE the piano and the guitar and
have promised to practice if I let them borrow the guitars.


I wish you could have seen their little faces when they hit
that first chord and it was like mine. Precious!


If you'll notice , Hannah now has my guitar......
She didn't think hers"sounded right". Hmmm...

Tomorrow- it is Violin and Flute, and Caleb is going
to give a Mandolin intro.

I'm not really sure how he plans to do that since he won't
let anyone else TOUCH his mandolin.

Should be interesting.

I tried to post the video of the girls playing the piano for their
Mom and Dad. I guess it was too long.

I'll try again later.

Peace.

Near-sighted Batgirl!

Riley -Cat comes into my office and says,
"Aunt Andrea, Look ! I'm Batgirl!"

I turned around to THIS..................

I was laughing so hard I had to take the picture twice, because the
auto focus couldn't do its job.

I said, "Well Batgirl, do you want to take off the glasses so you don't have
to worry about breaking them while fighting crime?"

She says, " Well...If I do that then I can't see where I'm flying."


Peace.

2 weeks...Every Summer.....

For the past several years, my 2 nieces have tried to spend at least
2 weeks with us, each summer.

Although it is hard for their parents, my brother and sister-in-law know
that at some point I will cease to be cool( in the eyes of the girls) and I
will be cast aside for the likes of Cheerleader Camp and Boys.

But for now, I am the "Cat's Meow".

We picked up Layton ,today , and the first thing she asked was
" What are we going to do this week?"

I love it!

I love the fact that these two little girls know me so well.

This week we are going to learn to play some instruments!
We are going to have guitar, piano, and violin lessons.

They may leave here and never play another lick, but I would
have done the best I could to expose them to something that
they may fall in love with.

We are also going to spend some time at the bookstore, drinking coffee
and reading the newspapers.

Why? Because people assume that children cannot comprehend
what is going on in the world and I think they can......I want to hear
what they think about it.

Good or Bad?!

There should be a lot to blog about in the coming days!

Stay tuned.......................................


Peace.

Family, Friends, Finger Paint, and Cookies......

Busy Little Fingers!




Today- 4 of my children and 3 of my 5 nieces wanted to finger paint.




So we did! 2 of the 7 children had NEVER painted with their fingers,




and 1 had, but had forgotten what it was like.




It was a lot of fun!






The funny thing about this group was that each child would
clean their fingers off before dipping into new colors!




No-one wanted to mix the colors.




After we finished , we laid them out to dry- so Daddy could see them
when he got home.




Caleb was bummed that he missed all the messy fun!




He and his friend, Josh, had already left for the Youth
party.




But we all got together for cookies and milk before bedtime.




It's a really good thing that we have a dentist in the family!




Everyone is always happy to get in bed with a tummy full of
Cookies and Milk..................Go Figure.




A great way to start the weekend.




Ben was glad Caleb was home. He said that he missed his brother


this week. He would wait up for him each night.

Sweet Ole' Boys.





Peace.

"FANCY DINNER!"

This other kids were feeling a little left out because Caleb was leaving
(every night) for dinner with his friends.



They decided to have a "Fancy Dinner" tonight!

The girls chose the menu, and we got out the "good stuff".



They asked to use the chargers, linen napkins, and candles,
AND we had chocolate cake for dessert.

Look at those happy little faces!

Doesn't get much better than this.

Peace.