1st day of Kindergarten and I-800A is in the MAIL!

Ok these colors are wonky here ... I even brought my target to set a custom white balance but there was just NO time this morning for any of that.

It's funny how hesitant she was to walk inside - so adorable. At least my baby still needs me for a little while longer.

So the first day has come and gone. It was a success for Angel (and for me - I didn't cry!) Back to school tomorrow too - she's happy to go!

Our I-800A is in the mail on the way to Immigration. A LOT of work went into that, so I can breath for a bit now and take a break. More work to come but we're getting so much closer. Our I-800A approval will take a little over 3 months ... but it's the LAST piece we need for our dossier. I have a few more things to take care of while we wait for approval but nothing big. After this, we can send our dossier to China! Then once we have a log-in date, we'll be able to start looking at files. Slooowly but surely, we are getting closer to our daughter!

Who allowed my first-born to grow up?!?!?!

Seriously, I would like to know how this happened! Angel is starting KINDERGARTEN tomorrow. How do I have a Kindergartener? It seems impossible but somehow it's true. Ugh.

Angel picked out her outfit for tomorrow and then of course tried it on, so here are a few snaps of what she'll be wearing. This is the first year we have a dress code. How grown-up does she look?! Think she's excited? Umm, yeah, I'd say so.

The "real" shots will follow tomorrow :-) I'm totally not ready for this.

Adventures with Splashy and Adoption Update

"Splashy the Whale" definitely gets 2 thumbs up, super fun game! If you don't have it, you should get it - the kids LOVE it. The one piece of advice I'll give though - you should definitely play this game outside unless you want to clean up water from the floor. I know it's just water, but someone is bound to slip and fall in my house, that's for sure!

ADOPTION UPDATE - We just submitted changes to our home study. Hopefully within a few days, once our agency has had time to look it over, we can work on getting our notarized copies and finally apply for our I-800A! This application grants us permission to adopt from US immigration, but it kinda takes forever. Right now the wait is about 100 days (I think). The great news is after we have that approval, we'll add it to our dossier and get it sent to China! We have a few more things to wrap up for our dossier, but we'll have 100 days to take care of that! LOL. We are sloooowly but surely getting there, one step at a time!

Snap, Crackle, Pop

I rarely do selective coloring anymore, but I was trying to mimic the Rice Krispies commercials :-) The b&w also washes out my messy counter ... unlike the super-white non-cluttered kitchen in the commercial, we had just come back from the grocery store and there was stuff everywhere!

Angel *kinda* likes these, can ya tell?

This is my girl

on a normal, boring, everyday-kind-of day. This is typical .... always on some mission of play, carrying too many things around. She's amazing ... really there aren't enough word's in any language to describe her. Maybe there are enough in God's language. LOL.

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in a quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so."

-Mary Jean Iron

Messy art!

The kids fingerpainted yesterday. It was fun (and super messy). Angel didn't have a drop of paint on her, but her entire work space was covered with paint. Lovebug, on the other hand, had paint on himself everywhere but his work space was clean. LOL.

A {new} friend

I am always amazed at how easily Angel makes friends. She won't talk to adults at ALL ... and hey, maybe that's not such a bad thing anyway. Kids are a totally different story though - she will walk up to any child and ask "Do you wanna be friends?" LOL. That's awesome, I NEVER did that at her age.

Anywho, we were at the park tonight for a Children's Theater (which we weren't super excited about but the kids seems entertained) and Angel met this little girl there. She was actually one of the "actors" in the theater, as evidenced by the face painting. They ran around and played for about 20 minutes before we left. Angel said, "I'm going to play with my friend." So sweet. Too bad we don't know who she is. LOL.

This is soooo my little girl though - walking up to complete strangers and making friends. We won't be able to stay in touch with everyone we meet, but I'm thrilled she is a friendly child. Making friends didn't come super-easy to me when I was young (although that clearly changed once I hit high school), so it warms my heart to see this.

For Daddy

Fridays are our CSA day. The kids went wild picking cherry tomatoes, as you can see. They know how much Daddy loves to eat them. Ironically neither one of the kids will eat them. Go figure. LOL. This is just a quick snap of them with the tomatoes, I just realized how long it's been since I blogged! We were in full sun and they were having a difficult time looking at me because it was so bright, but it works :-)

A Package

Angel is definitely my daughter ... she loves seeing the UPS truck just as much as I do. LOL. Typically, the packages are for me but not TODAY ... *today* a package was delivered for HER. The delight in her eyes was unmistakable ... the suspense ... the anticipation. I know the feelings exactly :-)

These came from my Dad - a matching backpack and lunchbox in celebration of Kindergarten. Super cool and oh-so-cute :-) Unfortunately the backpack is totally too small for school. After I got over the frustration and disappointment about that, we decided that it will make a perfect busy bag!