WINDY!!!!!

OMG is it windy. I just got back from a walk and I felt like I needed a weight belt as the wind nearly blew my 105lb frame right off the path. As windy as it was I still had fun because I rarely get to go for a walk by myself so I got to listen to my ipod. I have over 2000 songs on the darned thing and never really get to listen to it (and only watch the movies when we travel). I discovered the perfect song to walk to (for my pace) is Swingtown by the Steve Miller Band. I had to listen to it twice then Morning Has Broken by Neil Diamond came on (I love N.D. and that song) I didn't even know it was on my ipod...pleasantly surprised.



Well it is Saturday and if you have read my blog in the past you know that it is cleaning day for me. This is OK today as it is windy and cold so I guess it gives me something to do all day stuck in the house. The bad thing is I can't send Hannah out to her sandbox to play so I can get my work done without her constantly under my feet. I'm not kidding she is like a little magnet when I 'm trying to clean. Wanting to help with every task which means it takes me longer because I have to clean up the mess she has made trying to help. It is a good thing she is sooo cute.



I am hoping our Ethiopia overview packet arrives today so we can start collecting the needed paper work for our adoption. Hannah told me the other day "Mama we are not getting a Zoey from China we are getting a Marissah from Africa". So I guess the name change is settled...Marissah it is.



OK off to lunch so hope you all have a great weekend with better weather than we have.

The Chase is On

We received word on Monday from our adoption agency. Our application for Ethiopia has been approved. They pulled our Dossier from China today. So we are officially done with China and on our way to paper chasing for Hannah's little sister from Africa. This should go fairly quickly as we have a lot of it done from our China Dossier. The good news is that we did not have to pay the application fee ($250) and some our fees for China will transfer. Also we recently had to renew our immigration paper work (including being re fingerprinted) which the govt. recently started allowing one free renewal (this costs about $900). So we won't have pay that either. With the wait time for China getting longer each month we would have had to pay the fee to get our immigration paper work renewed as it would have expired again in 18 months. Saving the money is a good thing...the only bad thing (well maybe not so bad I don't know yet) is we both of us have to take a 10 hour (on-line) course on international adoption (fee $175). It is a new rule the National Council for Adoption has implemented for all families adopting internationally. We would have had to take the course even if we stayed with China. So all things considered we are very excited to get the chase going...for our baby girl. The one thing up in the air is what her name will be...we had chosen the name Zoey for our China baby but feel that but since we are changing things up and there are so many Zoe/Zoey s around we need to choose a new name. We already have a girl with a very popular name. Our paper prints all the names born at the hospital in the past year....this past year there 16 Hannahs and 8 Zoe/Zoey s. We need a name that is different...when we are at the water park I hear the name Hannah yelled way too much.
Anyway that is where things stand right now.
Blessings,
Bliss

Super Saturday

Hannah walking the yellow

brick road at story book park.
We had a fun Saturday. It started with a gorgeous morning so we went for a long bike ride (it is always my job to pull Hannah it gives me more of a workout). The afternoon was spent at arts in the park with Aunt Bonnie. After supper Hannah and I spent some time at Story Book Park (that is where the photos are from). It is a wonderful park within walking distance of our house. I am really proud that a city of our size has such a great park with a huge campground that draws a lot of visitors to our humble little city.

Cool Clouds

I swear South Dakota has some of the most beautiful clouds...I couldn't resist taking a few shots.

Of course I couldn't resist a shot

of little Miss Hannah

Fun Day

It was finally a day that felt like summer. Temp in the high 80's YES I LOVE IT. Hannah and I were at the water park all afternoon. I wore a different suit so have some redness (in spots not previously exposed to sun) to show for our day in the sun. Hannah is just 5 shades darker. I have always been proud at how fast I tan (for a white blond girl) but I can not compete with my almond eyed, already tanned skinned daughter. We've only been to the water park 4 times and she is already so dark. I predict by the end of summer she will be almost as dark as her little sister (to be). Yes, her little sister will be black (from Ethiopia). I can't believe how many people ask me that question when they find out we are adopting from Africa.

I got 2 hours off the mommy job this morning as Hannah had Kindermusik camp. She only has two more sessions left. She so loves it. I am so loving to see her personality develop each day. She does not have a shy bone in her body. To me she has a very Chinese personality. I need to explain...I went on a mission trip with our adoption agency before we adopted Hannah. I encountered the real Chinese culture...they are for the most part loud and obnoxious (especially during a public meal and the older kids would be overly affectionate to perfect strangers. Hannah is becoming more and more like this each day.

She is the most affectionate little girl. She hugs and kisses me each day and tells me "mommy I love you"

Beautiful Day

Hannah made this spider hat at her story time this morning the whole 10 week theme is BUGS
She thought it made a good frame for her little face
She took this picture of me in the silly hat...I think she took a pretty good picture for a 3 yr. old

Ron was off again today to work on the porch. He really under estimated how much work the porch was going to be and was not able to finish it. He will have to work on it this weekend.

It was such a beautiful day and you know what that means for Hannah and me. If you said water park you would be right. Our nice days are so few and far between we need to take advantage every time one rolls around. Hannah has so much fun and always finds a friend to play with the whole afternoon. When I say friend I mean some random girl (always way older than her 8 or 9 yrs) that she latches on to and they become fast friends. When I went over to correct Hannah's behavior on one of the slides the girl she was playing with looked at me (with a bit of confusion) and asked if I was her mom. I get that a lot at the water park. I also ran into a woman I met at the water park last year. We connected because she has two boys from Korea. She came running over to ask if we had gotten our second baby from China. I filled her in on the whole saga about China and the unbearable wait time and we have since decided to drop out and adopt from Ethiopia.

Well that's about it for today. I have to go put Hannah to bed as Ron is playing catch up at work tonight (he usually gets to put her to bed as it is their special time together).

Blessings,

Bliss

Happy Father's Day

We had a nice time yesterday celebrating Father's day with our Fathers. Of course Ron spent the day preparing a delicious meal ( he didn't do all the work I made 3 dishes and the one of the desserts. Ron grilled steak and halibut that he caught in Alaska. Soooo Good. After dinner we took my dad to the go-cart track to do some racing. He has never driven a go-cart...what's with that? I think he had fun. Hannah loved it. She is now tall enough and old enough to go on the double cars with us. She wanted to go as fast as we could possibly go. She took a turn with dad first and then me. I asked who was the better driver and Hannah (she's the best) said MAMA!

Ron took today and tomorrow off and is spending his days off working. He spent all day working on the front porch. I think it is a bigger project than he thought. After working all day he came in for dinner and said "why don't I ever just hire someone to do the work?" I told him because they wouldn't meet his standards. He likes things done just right and he is good at doing them himself and I know he enjoys doing it. Hannah and I spent the afternoon shopping. This not something I really like doing but Hannah needed a new swim suit. I got her two new ones a month ago but they don't fit because she has such a tiny hiny. She has been wearing her bikini that is size 18 mo. it still fits on the bottom but the top is getting kind of tight. I wish you could by children's swim suits as separates. It took me three stores to finally find a bikini (2T) to fit her (why didn't I go to Target 1st). I will only take Hannah to the water park in a 2 piece because she always has to go potty at least twice during our visit and it is so much easier to just pull down the bottoms. Now if we could just get some summer like weather so we can go to the water park.

Blessings,

Bliss

New Porch

Ron is pretty much replacing our front porch with vinyl product so we don't have to paint it every other year. Hannah had fun playing with all the tools. During the destruction of the porch a small storm moved through which gave us the very beautiful rainbow (it was really colorful but started to fade before we could get a photo). I love that we can see a full rainbow where we live. This always makes me think of the Wizard of Oz (although I don't like the movie...it scared me as a child) because the author lived in our city. I found some interesting information about Mr. Baum and his years spent in our state.

The South Dakota years
In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, where he opened a store, "Baum's Bazaar". His habit of giving out wares on credit led to the eventual bankrupting of the store, so Baum turned to editing a local newspaper, The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, where he wrote a column, Our Landlady. Baum's description of Kansas in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is based on his experiences in drought-ridden South Dakota. During much of this time, Matilda Joslyn Gage was living in the Baum household. While he was in South Dakota, Baum sang in a quartet that included a man who would become one of the first Populist (People's Party) Senators in the U.S., James Kyle.

Hannah and I spent the afternoon at the waterpark...Thank God for giving us another day to play in the water. I can't tell you how cold and windy it has been everyday. Please God let it be summer already.

Tomorrow is Father's Day and Ron bought his own present (some sort of mighty power saw). Good for him but Hannah insists on getting him a butterfly balloon (and I am so letting her get the balloon for daddy).

Happy Father's day to all.
Blessings,
Bliss