First Day of school....one day late.

Yep, that's how I roll....

Why be like everyone else and actually post pictures of the first day of school ON the first day of school???



Truthfully?

This first day of school actually flew by before I knew it.

And here it is the second day of school.....and I'm posting the first day of school pictures.

Yep, that is how I roll.

True story.


Anyway....

Yesterday, Shea and Avery were up at the crack of dawn.

5:30AM.

I think they were a tad bit excited.

All went well.

Recess was good.

Lunch was good.

Avery met a new friend whose name she can't remember.

That was all I got.

All in all a good first day of school!



Today, they were NOT up at the crack of dawn.
They were cranky tired.
Still excited, though.  :)

Wordless Wednesday {sisters}

Our Sunday Walk

Dave and I are trying to stay in.....ahem, shape.

Right now the only kind of exercise we can find time to do is walking.

We try to walk at least 4 times a week.

And the best way to use our time wisely is to make take the girls with us.

We call it "Family Time".   It's bonding while sweating.

We walk briskly for about 40 minutes.  We have a 2.2 mile route.

It's.......ummmmm, fun.  Yeah, fun.

Sunday, we decided to try the River Walk downtown.

Now that was fun.

Who knew that our little town held its own white-water rafting race?

On the River Walk???  I guess a river does means water, but I had no idea that the said river could boast a race.  Nor that the said river's water had a current that was even strong enough to be competitive for a race?  Like I said, who knew????

Guess I need to get out more.

What a pleasant scene we stumbled upon:

We watched the races for a while.....

Then proceeded on with our walk.

We stopped along the way to enjoy the river.

Something about a river is just so peaceful.....

That is when you not racing down the rapids of course!

We didn't get our 'sweat on', but we sure did have some fun!

Log in Date issued! Woo-hoo!!

Slowly but surely, we are getting closer and closer to meeting our little guy!

Yesterday, I was notified that our LID (log-in-date) is August 5th.

Yay!  We are officially 'in' the China system!

Yay!  The new computer program did not kick us out!

Double yay for that!!!!

So now the new count down begins.

We are counting down until we receive our LOA (Letter of Approval/Acceptance) from China.

Lately, it is taking anywhere from 60 to 90 days to receive LOAs from China.

We are on day 12!!!!  It's a start, right?

I'm figuring that we could possibly be traveling to China sometime in January or February of 2013.

Interestingly enough, we traveled in February {of 2007} for Shea, and we traveled in January {of 2010} for Avery.  So maybe, that time of the year is when we are meant to travel.  (???)

Now that we are officially LID, it's time to think 'boy' in our household.....again.  It's been a while since we have had 'boy' stuff and 'boyishness' 24/7.

"24/7?   Like...ALL the time?"
Avery says with a bit of incredibility hedged in her voice.

(Our oldest sons are 27 and 26....so yeah, it's been a while....)



Time to get a move on with Liam's room.
Liam's toys.
Liam's clothes.

EX-CI-TING!!!!!

It's my understanding he likes cars.

It's a start.
Cars in the house?
Wow!
And none of them pink?
How will 'we' ever cope????

We have started working on the 'girls' bathroom......
Need to make it a girls AND boy bathroom.

Here is our first step:

Thank you Pottery Barn for Kids!

Also....
I just had to purchase this:

Waaaaay cute.  Don't y'all think?
I can just picture our little Liam wrapped up in his Penguin bath towel......all cute and snuggly!!!

This Momma is getting excited and completely impatient to hold her youngest son in my arms!

Hurry on up LOA!!!!

Let's get this show on the road!

Good-bye long hair......

Last week, Shea and Avery finally got their hair cut.

And when I say finally, it's not like they needed a haircut.....

It's not like they really wanted one, either.

They love their long hair.

And quite frankly, so do I.


So then, why?

Why cut the pretty l-o-n-g hair?


We've been talking for a while about helping others.
About how to give of ourselves.

It doesn't have to be big.
Fancy.
Over the top.

It just has to 'be'.
It has to 'be' a part of who you are.
We need to 'be' aware of others.

We rush through life so unaware.....
We are so focussed on ourselves.
Our needs.
Our wants.

Cutting off 7 inches of your hair isn't life changing.
It's not THAT huge....
But it IS something.
Especially if it helps my girls to focus on someone else.
Someone else who doesn't have hair because she is so sick.
Someone else who needs some hair to feel somewhat 'normal'.
Someone else who's momma is frantic with worry about the future of her child.
Someone else.....

I'm not going to lie.
At first, Shea and Avery really didn't get IT.
They were a little prideful.
Their hair maybe, kinda, sorta defined them.
Maybe "we" focussed too much on their hair.
Ahem. (me)

It took them about  a month to make this decision.
A lot of talking.
A lot of praying.
They finally 'got it'!

They were ready to go.
They wanted to help someone else.
They were on board.

Enjoying the shampoo....

The first snip.

Seven inches, baby!

Wow!!!

The end result!

We love the new look.

It's a win-win!

They experienced the joy of giving of oneself.

And someone will experience the joy of hair.

Thanks Melanie!  You were so patient with the girls.  :)