U.S. Citizen for 3 Months

Today marks 3 months since Lili's little feet touched U.S. soil and she became a U.S. citizen. In many ways, time has flown by, but I still find myself looking at her at some point during the day and being amazed that she's here.

Most adoptive parents understand the sadness of missing out on so many firsts in our children's young lives, so in celebration of Lili being home 3 months, I've decided to post photos of some of her recent firsts for Favorite Photo Friday.

Last weekend we met some friends at a local zoo. Lili loves animals, although I'm not quite sure how they feel about her :-) I don't think she had been this up close to a goat before, but she wasn't at all afraid.

If you need more proof that she wasn't afraid, here is Lili trying to kiss a goat and it looks like the goat was returning the kiss. For those concerned about germs don't worry, she only attempted to kiss the goats, but was never completely successful.Another first for Lili was a ride on the carousel. She was all smiles sitting on a hippo, at least while the carousel wasn't moving. Once that hippo started going up and down, the smiles quickly faded and this is where we ended up.The good news is that she did like being on the carousel and she made it very clear that she wanted to go again, so we rode a second time.

If you read my post from a couple days ago, you know that we've officially started the process for adoption #2. By-the-way, Dave doesn't refer to our next adoption as adoption #2, but as "our last adoption." :-) Anyway, we needed to send a photo of Dave, Lili and I together with our application and I realized that since it's usually Dave or I taking pictures, the only one I could find was one that my friend Cammie took during our visit trip back in October. I decided it was time to get some pictures of the 3 of us. I pulled out the owner's manual for my camera and quickly figured out how to set the timer so we could get a picture for our application package. I actually managed to get some decent pictures and thought I'd share our attempts with everyone.

I didn't send this one because Dave was partially hiding behind Lili's head.

No, not this one either. I'm now hiding partially behind Lili's head, but only because I'm trying to keep her from escaping.

Okay, this is a good one. However, Lili was still considering an escape. Maybe we could get a shot with my hand in a different position.

This one would have been really good if Dave was smiling, so we'll have to try again.

Smiles and/or pleasant looks, good hand position, I think we have a winner!!!!!

Finally, the photo shoot is over and we now have some recent photos of the 3 of us. Maybe we can get pictures with the boys in the future. LOL!!!!!

Two Posts in One Day

I thought I should really give everyone an update on our lives and promise I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Lili and I have been enjoying time outside on walks, playing on her Little Tikes play set (okay she's playing on it, I'm not) and for the last couple of days, swimming. While I continue to have pool problems this year, they're getting worked out slowly by surely. Good thing too since tomorrow is supposed to be in the 90's.

In Dave's younger years, he purchased a couple hundred albums that have been sitting in a closet for the last several years. We decided it was time to try and part with them so I've been trying to sell them on eBay. In addition, we decided to part with most of our DVD's. We have several that we haven't watched in 2+ years, so obviously we must not need them. I've listed a few on eBay and have sold some. It's nice getting some de-cluttering done. Also, the money we make off the sale of our eBay items will go toward our next adoption. So far we've made enough to cover our agency application fee.

Since we made enough for the application fee, I mailed it in yesterday. I guess that means we have officially started the process. Because of our home study agency requirements, we won't be able to begin a new home study until the end of September, but at least we can get some of the other paperwork out of the way in the meantime. I won't have as much free time to work on it this time around, so the wait may be a good thing.

Dave begins his Infant Care Leave on Monday. He'll be home with Lili and I for 4 weeks. He had originally planned on beginning his leave when we went on our pick up trip, but due to some significant things going on at work his boss asked if he would consider waiting. Obviously, he agreed. In many ways, it is working out better this way.

Since I said I'd try to keep it short, I'll stop here and will update more at a later date.

Tag, I'm It

I've been tagged by Nora.

Ten Years Ago: Seriously, you think I can remember 10 years ago. LOL!!!!! I had 2 teenage boys and a 9 year old. The 9 year old was playing baseball, so I'm sure we were traveling around to his games across the state. I was working at State Farm and trying to figure out how I was going to survive the boys teen years.

5 Things on My List Today: Laundry, getting ready for our garage sale this weekend, cleaning bathrooms, getting to the post office and updating my blog. Guess I'll be able to mark one of those things off my list.

Snacks I Enjoy: Pretzels, chocolate, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate ice cream, Dove Dark Chocolate. Wow, there is virtually nothing healthy about the snacks I like.

Things I would do if I Were A Millionaire: Pay off our adoption expenses, pay off all our other debts, travel, donate money to various causes (orphanages in Guatemala and Ethiopia, clean water projects, CAN (Cure Autism Now), and invest more for retirement. Wonder if a million is enough?

Wow! Is It Ever Hard Choosing a Favorite Photo for Friday

Thanks to the wonderful world of digital, Lili is captured often in photo. For a matter-of-fact, I'm not sure I have that many pictures of our boys combined. Oops!

As a result of all the pictures I've taken, I have a difficult time deciding on a favorite. I just need to remember that we have a lot of Fridays in our future so I'll have plenty of opportunity to post my favorites.

Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago. She was watching her favorite t.v. show, Hi-5 in one of my favorite outfits I bought for her. There is nothing special about the outfit, I just think the colors look really good on her.

Changes

One of Dave's co-workers and his wife were kind enough to give Lili two Little Tykes playsets that their kids had outgrown. Lili is especially fond of the smaller set and loves testing her new walking and climbing skills outside.

Let's see if I can get up this slide with my shoes on.

Better try out the side with the little ladder.

I think this is going to work.

Okay, the shoes were causing problems so let's see how it goes without shoes.I think I'm going to make it. Yes, I made it.
Applause!!! I'll sign autographs later.
Okay, I'm sure everyone noticed in the above photos that Lili still needed a hair cut. Well, I can happily say that her hair is no longer hanging in her eyes.

Before . . . . During . . . . . And, after . . . . .
I can see again!!!!!
And my big brother Ben watched the entire time to make sure I was okay.

I found the cutest salon called Cookie Cutters. The entire salon caters to children. The stylist put "Finding Nemo" in the DVD player so Lili could watch the "tish" while she got her hair cut. She did much better than I thought she'd do. She also looks older now. Boo Hoo!!!! But I can now see her beautiful eyes again.

FPF

Another Friday has arrived and making a choice on a favorite photo this week is difficult. Therefore, I'm going to post my favorites from this week.

I came out from starting a load of laundry and this is where I found Lili.

Who knew playing in a cupboard (literally) could be so fun, but apparently it is.

Look at me mommy!!!

This is what the dog dish area typically looks like.

But since mommy was getting things cleaned up a bit, Lili decided she'd try out the mats herself.

I don't know where Jada and Lexie's dishes went.

For those who didn't see my posts from yesterday, please scroll down and check them out. Big things happened at our house yesterday :-)

Look Whose Walking

It was a busy day at our house today.

Look Whose Swimming

We finally got in the pool for the first time this season.

Lili loves the pool and mommy is thrilled.

We'll be spending lots and lots of time outside this summer.

Appliances

A few months ago we decided it was time to replace our dishwasher. It had done a good job over the years, but it was wearing out and needed to be retired. So about a week ago the Sears installer came out and removed the old dishwasher and put in my brand new Kenmore. The dishes are now getting clean, without me washing them first and that is an exciting thing, especially now that I have a new little helper in the house.

Over the weekend I noticed the oven seemed to be taking along time to heat up then a couple night ago I turned on the oven and started smelling gas. I opened the oven door just in time to see the oven flames go out. Our oven has died, yet again. If we replace the part, this will be the fourth time. At some point you just have to say "it's not worth it" and get a new stove. Now, the good thing about the oven breaking again is that I've had my eye on a new stove for a couple years now. I haven't decided exactly which one, but I do know I want one of the newer models with the double oven. The bad thing is that the newer ones with the double oven just aren't cheap. So, I think we'll try to survive the summer without an oven and then look at replacing the stove sometime this fall. Since Sears has no payments and no interest until June, 2009 I can use the summer to pay off the dishwasher and then go get my stove. Still, I have other things I'd rather spend our money on, but those things will just have to wait.

Wonder if I should be looking at our next refrigerator purchase? LOL!!!!

It's Favorite Photo Friday

Another week has come and gone. Where does the time go?

Lili is still doing well. We've had a little more success with sleep this week. Nothing major like sleeping through the night yet, but her naps have been a little better and she had one night where she actually slept from 10:15 p.m. until 3:55 a.m. That is really good in my book.

It's also become a bit difficult to get pictures of Lili as she has started shutting or squinting her eyes whenever I point the camera at her. Here are the 3 pictures of her that I took today.

This one is pretty good, although I'm sure everyone will notice how badly she needs a hair cut. We'll be taking care of that soon, I promise.

Here is squinty girl.

And another of squinty girl.

Guatemalan Goods in Bloomington

I've had a couple people request information on the store in Bloomington that sells Guatemalan goods, so I thought I'd post the info here.

The store is Crossroads Global Handicrafts. Its at 428 N Main in downtown Bloomington. The store is a fair trade shop run by volunteers.