Happy Halloween!!!!!!

WE LOVE FALL IN OUR HOUSE! We love the great weather, the leaves and weiner roasts. Last night we did the annual pumpkin carving. It was nice to have the boys pick out an easy way to decorate their pumpkin, as opposed to the past years where Barry picks out something for himself and it takes 2-3 hours to carve it. Granted...it is awesome when he is done, but......

Tonight we went to the Booseum and also the Boo at the Zoo. The Children's Museum wasn't too exciting so we walked across to the Zoo and the weather was perfect. It was a fun night.

Fall Fun!

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

Overland Missions Children

Saw Madonna on Oprah this week talking about the adoption of her son David from Africa. I then saw this great video on another blog. Neat.

Anna's Antics!

She is at it again! Today while I was in the bathroom...I wasn't gone THAT long! I did put a few clothes away as I got upstairs. Anyway.... My creative little 2.5 year old climbed up on the counter, got out a bag of microwavable popcorn, opened it up. She climbed down off the counter, put the popcorn in the microwave with the correct side up. She closed the door and pushed the popcorn button. Voila...popcorn! I came down the steps right after she pushed the button. I wanted to laugh and did somewhat inside, but I had to scold her, too. All she had to say was "I hungry, Mommy!" She never even ate more than a few pieces of it after it was popped! She just likes to stay busy and find things that she shouldn't do!

Not much that an inquisitive little 36 inch girl can't do when she puts her mind to it.

Enjoying Fall!

We have been enjoying Fall lately. Yesterday was beautiful and we actually cleaned out the garage! We also caught our first little critter of the season...I will call him Martin the Mouse...or the dead mouse! I just get very irritated that every Fall the little buggers come visit.

Maybe I should also say that we have been hibernating this weekend! It has been very cold and windy here today! Almost bitter! Anyway, we didn't do a whole lot this weekend. We went to the Grocery Store with my mom for a kids day and they all enjoyed that.

The boys didn't want pictures taken this weekend, but of course, Anna was cooperating!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a good time at the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. We met another family from our China Travel group...The Wright's and a mom who is also going to adopt from China met us, too and brought her daughter and niece. The weather was beautiful and we had a nice afternoon.

Pumpkin Patch 2006

Daddy and his girl!

Thought these were just so sweet that I had to post them! You will rarely, if ever, find any pics here of this mommy!

Right now Anna is quite attached to her Mommy, but she still holds a special place in her heart for her Daddy.

18 months with us...2.5 years old!

18 months with us!

Today something strange happened. Barry and I had gone to Logan's parent teacher conference. After I got home and got Anna from the neighbor's Anna started her stripping...this is very common. All of a sudden she says....."I'm from China!" She then proceeded to march up to her room and got into her closet and pulled out an asian outfit to wear. She was as proud as could be as she got into her little outfit. Ironically, the outfit she chose was one someone was getting rid of and it came from Japan! Anyway, it all of a sudden hits me and I start getting tears in my eyes! Today marks the 1.5 year anniversary of the day that we got Anna! WOW! Did she know? I had forgotten myself!

Has it really been 18 months since the day that we walked into the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning, China on April 4, 2005? I can't believe the changes in Anna and all of us since then. She has brought so much joy to our lives. The boys love her to pieces and she adores them, too. Sometimes I just sit in amazement and remember all that she went through to find us as her forever family.

I was just sitting here today thinking how much Anna has changed in one year. Last year at this time, she had only been with us exactly 6 months. She was still learning to understand English and was still getting used to us all! Now, 1.5 years later, we remember how she was perfectly planned just for our family.

Thought I would include a referral picture and also a couple of pictures of Anna's first day with us. Meeting her was such an amazing day. And it was on that day that 9 other girls from Guiping City also met their forever families. The neatest thing about adoption for me has been all of the new friends we have made. We know Lifelink families from various states and call our travel group "family"!