October

1st grade scarecrow day

Isaac teaching Julia addition

Our dossier on its way to China

Helping with leaves

Dallas loved the leaf piles

Apple orchard

Looks good

Isaac wanted to pick all morning

Boo at the zoo- Julia is a cheerleader

Mom and Yoda

Caleb and Jackson at soccer party

Cutest Yoda I've ever seen

1st lost tooth

Mouse in the house

Carving pumpkins

During the transformation

The finished product

Since it is February and I'm writing about October, this might be a short post.  In October we finished up soccer.  Julia didn't love soccer and we figured this was her first and last season.  At the last game she announced, "I can't wait for soccer next year!"  Really?  The kids had Grandparent's Day at school.  My Mom was a trooper and attended with an IV bag on her back.  She is one awesome Grandma!  I took an excellent parenting class for adoptive/foster parents in Sep and October.  It was called TBRI- Trust Based Relational Interventions by Dr. Karyn Purvis.  She is awesome and I came away with new techniques and understanding.  The kids had parent/teacher conferences and all of them had glowing reports.  I'm proud of my kids for working hard and loving Jesus in all they do!

Julia lost her first tooth! She did not want Nate or I to touch it, she thought we would be too rough.  So she asked the school secretary to pull it out!  I couldn't believe it.  Mrs. Meiste got a tissue and pulled the tooth without a complaint from Julia.  School secretaries are the best.  Julia was excited to get her first visit from the tooth fairy.  When her second tooth was ready to come out I told her she was not allowed to ask Mrs. Meiste to take it out.  Luckily for Julia it fell out when she was eating.

Somehow we got a mouse in our house.  It was quite the morning excitement for the kids, watching Nate corral the mouse.  He was able to open the door off our dining room so the mouse was able to live free instead of getting stepped on or something.  Gross.

About a year after we started the adoption paperwork process, we finally got our dossier mailed to China!  Such a relief and now we wait.

 I didn't get any Halloween pictures this year!  The boys wore their Star Wars costumes again.  Julia was a cheerleader.  The day before Halloween we went to trunk or treating at Ridge Point church.  I have never seen so many people for an event.  We had to wait a long time to walk thru the cars and get candy.  And it was COLD.  Thankfully, Stephen stayed home with Nate.  On Halloween we drove to Wheaton to visit my grandparents.  Nate was a little excited that we wouldn't have to hand out candy at home.

Nate did an awesome job on the brick by our fireplace.  The brick was not pretty, so our friend recommended painting it.  We are so glad we did, it looks amazing!  And I am thankful for my handy husband who did all the work.