Another week

Another week has gone by since I've posted. Where does the time go? I keep thinking I'll sit down and post, but I so rarely sit down until later at night when I am so tired I don't even want to think anymore. Plus, I've wanted to include some pictures and for some reason I dread posting those...picking the ones I like, uploading them, writing captions...I have to psych myself up to do it. :-)

Well, I'm finally here and will attach some pictures at the end...so keep reading...

What have we been up to? Here are some highlights:

• We had the girls' family birthday party. We love our family and are so blessed to be able to spend time together.
• Now that Mebira is doing so well at school I have decided not to stay with her anymore. I asked our adoption doctor about it, and she said if she's doing well then I should leave her so as to not create one more way in that Mebira is different from the other kids. I will start volunteering on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, but other moms will be helping out as well so she won't be singled out.
• We took the kids, along with my nephews, to the Corn Maze. It was so much fun - the kids took turns leading the way and they actually did pretty well. The place of Mebira's birth had a ton of corn fields, but somehow I don't think they would have had corn mazes there. :-)
  
• We attended a football game a few weeks ago - Mebira's first. The girls were troopers and stayed up super late that night. Thankfully it was so nice out (30ish) so we loved just sitting outside and enjoying the evening. The girls couldn't have cared less about the football game as long as we kept the snacks coming. Mebira tried cotton candy for the first time - and it was a hit!
• My good friend Sandy and I decided to try yarn twists on her daughter's hair last Thursday. Mebira really seemed to like them so I just HAD to try them out on her as she is so sad that she has short hair and she's DYING for long hair. I was going to wait a bit longer, but the style I did last week just wasn't staying in and we were going to an adoption get together on Saturday. Although I'm sure the adoption community would have been understanding, I didn't want to bring her looking all ratty. So on Friday night I spent at least 3 hours doing yarn twist after yarn twist. I managed to get half of her hair done, woke up the next morning and spent another 2-3 hours. I think it turned out pretty cute (and she loves it), but it ended up taking so long that we weren't able to get our other jobs, errands, etc. done so we had to miss the adoption get together completely. I was sad to miss out but really hope to go to the next one...and I'll plan ahead better next time!
• Now that Mebira is at school and I have at least 2 hours of "free" time each day, I am tackling projects at home. My life was totally out of balance for the last 2ish years, and my house shows it. I cringe every time I open a closet or a drawer...I just see chaos. I have started tackling closets (2 down, too many to go), and will work on drawers next. I really think that having an organized home will help me feel less stressed and more on top of things. That way I'll actually know where things are. The good thing is that I'm in a really unsentimental mood (unsentimental? that's probably not a word, but you know what I mean) so I am actually getting rid of things. And it feels SOOO good!
• We are going for family walks almost every night. Sometimes the kids walk, other times they scooter or ride bikes, but we are finally at the stage where we can walk super fast and actually get exercise. The girls have had so much fun crunching and jumping in the leaves. I feel pretty good about our family schedule at the moment. We used to drive from activity to activity, looking out our car window at other families outside and wonder where we went wrong. This year WE are the family who is outside and it's been great for all of us.

OK, that's all I can think of for now...I will attach some pictures and then sign off!

(Below) The girls came downstairs one morning all wearing these shirts. So cute!

(Below) The corn maze with my nephews, N&N. They are such great kids and are so sweet to their younger cousins.


(Below) Cotton candy TWICE that weekend. The first time at the football game, and the second time at our church picnic. Incidentally, I happen to LOVE cotton candy but was scared off by the calories and thought it must have at least 1000 calories in one of those big bags. I was so thrilled to see that each big bag only has about 150 calories. That's better than a can of coke! Needless to say I dove into my own cotton candy after that! :-)
(Below). Aaaaaahhhhh. We FINALLY finished her hair. I originally thought I'd go longer, but man that was a lot of twisting. I can put it into pigtails, so that's all I need. As her hair grows (and when I do it with my cousin next time) I will do it longer, but since her hair is still so short this was a nice compromise and not too drastic of a change. We both love it...I just hope that we can keep this for at least 3-4 weeks so that the 5-6 hours of work will be worthwhile!
(Below) G&E's family birthday party. I'm SOOO relieved to be done parties for a while!


(Below) A spontaneous stop on one of our nightly walks.
(Below) Mebira loves to go everywhere with her dolls. She will even insist on taking it along for a 30 second drive to school.

(Below) Fall is so much fun! Good thing leaves don't stick in her hair like sand does! :-)