Halloween party

Every year, we get to go to a Halloween party hosted by another fellow police officer. Everyone is encouraged to dress up and it's something we have really started to get into. Last year, Russ and I dressed up for the first time as D.og the Bount.y Hunter and B.eth. It was pretty funny and it was hard to top that for this year. After much debate, we finally decided to go as Hom.er and Marg.e Simps*n. Russ had a lot of fun creating my hair for Marge. Then, we spent one Saturday afternoon scouring the consignment shops and Go*dwill shops trying to find clothing and accessories for our outfits. I scored big with a red necklace for 99 cents, hideous red shoes for $6 and a greenish-color dress for $9! Marg.e wears a strapless green dress, red necklace and red shoes. Of all things to find, I knew it was going to be the most difficult to find an appropriate dress, in my size, in October. I was lucky to find an end-of-season sale for the dress! I couldn't go strapless, but I think this dress was close enough to pull off the effect.

Russ was easy. One white polo for him, jeans, bald head and a few strands of dark hair to comb over. Thankfully, Allison didn't notice that I "borrowed" some hair off one of her dolls to tape to Russ' head. If she knew I played beauty shop without her, she'd be mad.

I didn't get any good pictures of us on our camera, I will have to check with some friends for a copy from theirs. But, here's an idea of what we looked like.

Allison wanted to be a butterfly and I purchased the wings. I made the rest of her costume and had a pretty good time doing it. Cole decided to be a scary ghost and was happy that his bloody chainsaw from last year still worked.

We had a great time at the Halloween party. They have a hay ride and do a spooky haunted trail through their woods. We really enjoy going every year!

Finally--some progress on the house!

Allison got a ride on the lift with Daddy. I must say that we recently tore out the hideous bushes that were on the side of the house ( you can still see the narly stubs if you look close) and I am thinking that our next big project should be a wrap-around porch!
Russ is tackling the limbs

The moment I was waiting for--some color in the front!

It seems like this house painting project has been taking forever. But, when you've got a big house, kids in activities, job schedules, weather and everything else to factor in, it's going to take some time. Russ has been working hard on powerwashing the house and getting it prepared to paint. He finally got started painting a few days ago. He started in the back so that he could get used to the power spray painter. That thing is awesome. He quickly realized that painting the house would be the easy part. All the prep work was the hard stuff. Because of the height of our house and the difficulty in holding a paint sprayer while on a ladder, we opted to rent a lift. Also, a very smart move. It is also making the job a lot more bearable. Russ took full advantage of the lift and managed to cut down a few more tree limbs. We have huge old maple trees in our yard. They offer great shade, but a little too much shade and lots of leaves. I love fall, but when it comes to raking leaves, not so much. Our yard is completely fenced in, so we don't have the benefit of Mother Nature blowing our leaves into the neighbor's yard. Fortunately, our town will pick up our leaves if we rake them to the curb. That is always a huge project in and of itself.

Russ worked really hard on Sunday and accomplished a lot. We were both pretty psyched because we just KNEW he would be able to get it completely finished today (Monday). Unfortunately, he picked up the nasty stomach virus that is going around and was up sick in the wee hours of Monday morning and all day Monday. I was off work and Cole was out of school for Fall break, so we just sort of hung out all day. I will just have to show you more pics of a work in progress.

We are going with a tan color that will hopefully camouflage the dirt so the house won't look so dirty in the future. We are going to keep the white trim around the windows, soffit and gutter and eventually add burgundy shutters.

I was cracking up at the number of gawkers we had as people drove by. While we are doing our house, our neighbor is busy re-siding his house. People are just fascinated by the progress I guess. It's a wonder no one rear-ended anyone as they slowed to watch Russ on top of the house painting.

I'm ADD, aren't you?

I'm suppose to be cleaning my house, but I sit in front of the computer instead. My plan this evening was to "get it all done". We have a full schedule of activities this weekend and there's not much time after tonight to clean.

In my own defense, I have made a slight dent on clearing the dining room table. As I was taking off the 12 pencils and 2 erasers that Cole used earlier and walking through the front living room to put them in his pencil box, I noticed the dog's dish was empty. I looked at Dingo and he looked at me. Yeah, yeah. I had already scolded him earlier for getting a drink out of the bathroom toilet. (ewww, I know it's clean water, but that's nasty) So, I put the pencils & the eraser on the piano and took the water bowl to the kitchen to fill it up.

While I was standing there, I decided to start the dishwater for the items that have to be hand-washed because they won't fit in the dishwasher. I started scraping the dinner leftovers into a plastic container and putting them in the other side of the sink. The water dish is full now and I switch the faucet to the other side of the sink to fill. As I am setting the water bowl down, I see a miscellaneous sock that the sock monster must have attempted to cart off. While picking it up, I realize that the washer has shut off downstairs. I think to myself that I'd better go down to the basement and switch the loads because I need to get Cole's football uniform washed for tomorrow. I quickly turn the kitchen faucet off and go downstairs.

I open the dryer and there are leftover towels from an earlier load that Russ must have done and there isn't an empty basket to put them in. I grumble as I have to go upstairs to get a basket to bring down. I go into my room where I find the other pile of towels in a basket ready to be folded. I decide to go ahead and fold those towels and put them away so that I can take the empty basket back downstairs with me. I fold a few towels and take them in the bathroom and notice the kids' dirty clothes on the floor from their showers earlier. Plus, the floor is soaked.

I glance at the sink and it's smeared with toothpaste. Why can't anyone else swish the sink out with water after they brush their teeth? Am I the only one that it drives nuts to see globs of toothpaste in the sink? I go back to the kitchen to get the spray cleaner to use on the bathroom sink. Argh! There's the dishes waiting for me. I turn the water back on and throw a few more in the sink to start soaking so that I can get them washed up and at least accomplish something for the night. On my way back to the bathroom, I trip over the 24 pack of toilet paper that I bought earlier today. I pick it up and take it to the bathroom to be put away. I see the dirty clothes still on the floor and pick them up and throw them down the basement stairs.

UGH! I still didn't start the washer. I turn the kitchen faucet off again. I go down the steps to switch the loads because the clock is ticking and I've GOT to get Cole's football pants clean. They are white-ish. More like a hint of white with dirt and grass stains. Russ says it's pointless to wash them or try to get the white. I scoff at his lack of faith that I will get them clean. It's sort of a mom-thing to get your son's grass and earth-colored football pants white again. Any good mom can do it. No matter if it takes all night. By golly, those pants WILL BE CLEAN for tomorrow's game. I can't be the mom they all whisper about at the game because I couldn't get my son's pants clean. I start to spray them with the stain lifter and realize that I did NOT bring the empty basket down with me to carry up the rest of the towels. Damn it! Now I'm getting irritated. I have to go BACK UP THE STAIRS to get the freaking basket that is in my room. There are STILL towels to be folded and put away before I can empty it.

I fold all the towels and put them away in the bathroom. I start cleaning the sink in the bathroom and go to the kitchen to get an old towel to dry with. The tea was left out on the counter so I put it in the fridge and see the stove really needs to be cleaned too. I remove all the parts so I can spray cleaner on it too.

I grab the towel and head back to the bathroom and the sink has dried on its own with an ugly film because I didn't dry the cleaner off. By this time, my knees are really starting to hurt because I've got up and down the stairs so much.

I decide to come sit for a minute and check e-mail. No e-mail, so I check how many hits the ol' blog has gotten. A few, not many. I wonder how many other moms have this ADD thing. (Attention Deficit Disorder for those that don't know) Is it normal to just keep meandering through the house seeing things to do while you are on a mission to do something else? Russ complains that I should complete one thing at a time before going to the next thing. Heh. HE'S the one with ADD telling me to focus on one thing.

It's not ADD I tell him, it's MULTI-TASKING.

The problem is, I never used to be this way. I am a very organized person who likes things neat and clean and in their place. That never seems to happen around here anymore. Not without a lot of effort and sometimes my effort just isn't available when I need it to be.

All of my meanderings through the house and my pitiful attempts at keeping order are usually done late at night after the kids are in bed. Before that, there's baths or showers, snacks and bedtime stories on most nights.

I grew up in a house that was a very clean and neat place. It wasn't very comfortable or homey. Just clean. I want my kids to remember the time I spent with them rather than watching me bustle around the house making sure everything is clean.

Yet, it still would be nice if we had a housekeeper!!

Oh how we need some curb appeal....

I am actually mortified at posting these pictures of our house. For a long time we have hated how our house looks. We have aluminum siding and the paint has oxidized. Now, these pictures show what the house looks like AFTER hubby has already been power washing the peeling paint off. So, it hasn't looked this hideous all along....just now. We both hate coming home to our house because there is so much work to be done to make it look welcoming. And well, the budget only goes so far when there's gas to pay for..... Hubby has been working very hard on getting the house prepped for the big event---WHEN HE PAINTS THE HOUSE!

He has already purchased a power painter and we are currently doing our homework on quality exterior paints that are going to last for a long time. Our plan is to paint the house in a clay color, have white trim and I really hope to get burgundy shutters next year. Then, of course we will need a new front door, new landscaping to complement the new look to our house and new outside lights. One day, it will be the picture perfect house. I will definitely post pics of the finished product when it is all said and done or maybe even when hubby is in progress. I can't leave the mental picture of the way our house looks now in your head, now can I?

The funny thing about all this is....hubby is NOT the painter of the house. I am the one who has always painted the interior of our house. He has helped in one room on 2 walls during our dining room/kitchen remodel last year. It's just not his thing. Keep your fingers crossed that he will survive the Great Painting Project of 2008.

Allison now---September 2008

Allison---then September 2005

Three years ago today....

Today is a special day for us---three years ago today, we met Allison for the first time. In the adoption world, it is known as “Gotcha Day” or “Metcha Day”. Regardless of what it’s called, it’s the day we became a family of four. I thought I’d try to share some of the emotions and memories from that day in China, three years ago.
It was on a Sunday and the day started with us leaving Beijing to fly to Allison’s Provincial capital of Nanchang, which is located in Jiangxi Province. It’s located in the mid- western portion of China. Allison is actually from a very rural mountain town called Tonggu that is 5 hours away by bus from Nanchang.
While we flew in a few hours to meet her, she rode on a bus with Nannies and several other little girls to meet us and our travel mates at the Civil Affairs Office in Nanchang. We had time to check into our hotel, and freshen up a little before loading on a bus for the short drive to the Civil Affairs Office. It was just enough time to be completely excited and apprehensive all at the same time.
Allison would turn 9 mo. old while we were in China and I was worried that it would take a lot of time for her to adjust to us. I was worried that she would grieve for the loss of her foster family since I had read that can sometimes happen. After all, we were strangers taking her away from the only life she had ever known.
Russ was extremely excited and was tired of waiting. He was ready to go and get her. We had completed months of paperwork and waited—not so patiently—for her. To put it into perspective to what current adoptive families are facing with wait times, we waited a total of 7 months from the time we submitted our paperwork to China. Let me pause for a second and let any other current adoptive families that may be currently waiting and reading this pick themselves up off the floor. It is very sad and hard to believe that families are now waiting longer than 2 ½ years for their referral.
We began our paperchase in April 2004 and finally completed it and saved enough money to submit it to China in December 04. We received our referral July 05 and we traveled in September 05.
When we arrived at the Civil Affairs Office, we were ushered into a large room and looked anxiously to see if the babies were already there. Our guide had warned us that some babies would be dubbed as either happy babies or sad babies because they would just cry and scream. We had to wait a only a short time before the girls arrived--it was a good thing because it was hot. Most of the buildings in China do not have air conditioning. When the nannies filed in with the babies, we quickly spotted Allison. We didn't know if we would be called first or last and all of us parents were trying to juggle our cameras and video cameras to capture the first moment together. As luck would have it, we were called first. Russ sprinted in front of me and grabbed her from the nanny's hands as I handed our camera off to another parent in our group. Immediately there was a commotion about Russ grabbing Allison and our translator rushed over to see what was going on. Apparently in his excitement, Russ failed to present his ID and our paperwork showing we were the right people to be taking Allison. He.did.not.want.to.hand.her.back. while they checked her paperwork and ours. She was finally ours!
We waited for the tears and watched her reaction of us very carefully. She was quiet and curious, and did not cry or utter a sound at all. She went to either one of us without a fuss and just calmly took in everything around her. It quickly became a chaotic scene in that room with each set of parents being called up one by one to collect their girls. Some of the girls wailed at the top of their lungs as they were handed off to these new, strange people.
We took a lot of pictures and tried to find a spot to sit and wait our turn to ask the orphanage director questions about Allison. When did she eat last? When did she nap? How much did she eat? What time did she go to bed?
We were all given some formula for each of the girls which made it easier for them to switch to different formula since we could slowly combine the two. The orphanage director tried to answer our questions as best as possible, but I got the feeling that he really didn't know. It didn't really matter everything would change now. Everything would be just fine.