Ahhh 17 DAYS till we LEAVE

The title says it all. 17 days till we leave... AHHHHHHHHHH The boys are packed and ready to go. Packing for four kids and myself is NOT an easy task. Today I start packing the girls. I have been avoiding their suitcase and packing. Picking out their clothes is no easy task on any given day but to have the foresight for a two week trip seems insurmountable. Primarily because the girls consider themselves fashionistas and I am confident whatever I pick out for the trip will not be acceptable to their budding fashion sense.

Wise Words From an 8 Year Old

Last night we celebrated the 100 birthday of our dear neighbor Alice. Together with our neighbors we helped put on a party for 35 of her friends. The party featured a sit down dinner outdoors under the stars with fine linens, china and crystal. All fitting for a queen---our Alice. She walks daily, gardens nonstop, reads every business paper she can get her hands on and enjoys her evening old fashion or glass of port. At 100 years old she gushes positive thoughts and energy and is an inspiration to all around her. She never complains...she takes a not so great situation and always looks for the silver lining...we could all take some lessons from her approach to life.

For the event we all dressed up in our summer black tie attire. When we got home Noley asked
"why did everyone wear black?" I said we wore black to dress up for Miss Alice's party. Noley
proceed to say "why would everyone wear a dark and unhappy color when they are going to a happy party for a lady who's fun and happy? Everyone should wear bright happy colors when the go to celebrate?" She's got a point... Why don't we wear more fun and happy colors?

Happy Birthday Nonnie

Happy Birthday Nonnie. You mean the world to me. I thank you for staying with me in my thoughts and for coming and visiting me while I sleep. I thank you for the time we spent together. I still think of you often and share your memories with the Yahoos. I only wish you were here to meet them in person. They would make you proud. I miss you so much...please give grandpa a big hug for me too. Noley sends her love too.

Why I HATE Playdates...

The top three photos are taken in post play date in Noleys room. This is the number one reason I HATE play dates. The time it takes to clean up after them is daunting. Why? Why? Why do play date kids insist on taking EVERY single boxed item out of their friends closet and dump in on the floor? I beg beg beg my yahoos NOT to do this when they go to a friends home or I will not let them have play dates. No parent should have to deal with this. This is a result of Noley deciding to clean post play date. Not only was everything she owned out of the closet, she emptied all of the boxes to declutter.....uhhhhh I think she needs an intervention.

Now fast forward to MeiMei's room post play date. I after a play date, I ask MeiMei to go in and clean up her room. Unlike her sister she takes a whole different approach. The organized everything must be in order. I think I am going to start paying her to clean her older sisters room.

Tickets for China Have Been Bought!

Well the tickets are bought. We wer hoping to take Singapore Airlines again since they were so awesome and cheap...but like everything else with this adoption.. the path is different than last time. We will be flying Cathay Pacific which I hear from friends also serves great food and all of the cocktails you can drink for free. Free movies, games for the kids and an on demand noodle bar. So sounds like the change will be just as good and it was just as cheap. We got our approval for parents and siblings only so we will be a large party of seven soon to be a party of eight. We will be entering China via Hong Kong like last time. I am a little disappointed, okay so a lot disappointed, that we will not be going to Beijng first but guess that means we will just have to go back to China in the future for a heritage tour sans adoption as our minvan is now full. We will be staying three days in HongKong to get acclimated and then on to Nanjing for 5 days and then back down to Guangzhou. We will arrive in Hong Kong on the 8th of October and home on the 23rd of October. 24 days till we depart for China

First week of school and kindergarten

We or more like I survived the first week back to school and the first week of Kindergarten. Like others it is with mixed emotions that I send the yahoos off to school each year. One it seems like just yesterday the Noley and Tobbers were crawling around getting into everything in sight and just yesterday that MeiMei was home flushing everything in sight down the toilet.

We got the teachers we expected to get so no big surprises on that front. It appears that this year is off to a better start. I am clearly getting desensitized to the 20 percent hoochy and ghetto and am noticing the 80 normal at the school.

MeiMei is thrilled to be a "big girl" in kindergarten. No tears for her in fact she would perfer to stay longer and begs to go to "5thR" as she calls it---everyone else on the planet calls it 4thR.

Where Have We Been?

Uhhhhhh cramming in the last of Summer Activities. We end the Summer with the annual beach vacation trip to Santa Cruz. We joined the openwindow family and the kids had a blast. This summer we managed to cram in Lake Tahoe, Angel Island, Several Art Camps, Kindergarten Camp, Boating Trip Down the River and the Grand Finale... The MYSTERY SPOT and Bird Beach Santa Cruz. If I can get the darn photos to up load I will share some...but for some reason I have not been able to upload any photos for the past couple days...