Snuggle Time

Just when I thought they couldn't possibly get any cuter...

Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas season. We were blessed by family, friends and each other. As we end this year, marking it one of the greatest of our lives, we are excited to see what 2010 will bring forth. May you cherish this time in the company of those that you love and grow in a faith that will keep you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sophia the Artist

Sophia has been and always will be an artist. She gets lost in a daze and when we ask her what she's doing she replys by saying that she is making a song in her head. She'd much rather have a blank piece of paper to design a beautiful piece of original art work than color in the lines and she has an imagination that can create the most amazing dream worlds. Recently her artistic abilities have been noted and admired in Kindergarten. Sophia has authored her first book entitled The Gingerbread Man and has had a piece of artwork chosen by the school district's fine arts curriculum coordinator to be showcased in a public exhibition. We have a feeling that this little artist will continue to create masterpieces and we will forever be her number one fans!

Etienne's Quote of the Day

"Who gives the kids kisses at bedtime if they don't have a Mommy and Daddy?"

Approved

We are officially Gladney approved! I can breath a huge sigh of relief because this means that the work accomplished over the past four months has been accepted by our agency and completion of our dossier is within our very close reach - one slip of paper to be exact! Our file has been moved over to our program caseworker who will guide us though the completion of our dossier and finally to our referral. Having been through the adoption process once, I know that this approval is far from the end. Being able to hold my daughter in my arms, I also know that this approval is one more step closer to our son.

Social Security Card

We have finally received Charlotte's social security card - translation all paperwork is done! As we celebrate her journey's end we also anticipate the beginning of our son's journey home. We got confirmation from Madison that all of our documents (aside from our I-600A) have been authenticated and after months of waiting we have a fingerprint appointment with USCIS. We are approaching the moment when our dossier can be sent away and our official wait can begin. Current wait times with Gladney are 7-8 months to referral and then 1-3 months after for travel, therefore in a year from now we could be with or about to be with our son. Our house is so chaotic at times and the thought of adding to the family can be intimidating but our hearts yearn for this child and our capacity to love can never be diminished by chaos.

SNOW DAY!!!

Saint Nicholas Day

The stocking were hung with care after St. Ncholas had been there until our candy crazy Etienne woke up at 6:00am and excitedly tore through them in search of St. Nick's generous gifts. An hour later Sophia and Charlotte woke and our living room was taken over by joyful chaos. After their sugar high fell flat, all three kids enjoyed our first annual "Buddy Breakfast" and were all hopped up again. See below for graphic details and images.

Inspiration for our Buddy Breakfast:

One of the funniest aspects of the film is Buddy’s eating habits, which are formed from the elf world. (Their four food groups are candy, candy corn, candy canes and syrup.)  Buddy mixes spaghetti noodles, M&Ms, marshmallows, Pop Tarts and sugar, then coats them with maple syrup.

Our Buddy Breakfast / We know you won't believe us, but it was actually quite good:

Etienne's Quote of the Day

"Mommy you're short but I still love you."