Elle's First Halloween - 2008

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I know, I know.... I've been scolded a lot lately for not posting anything new on here. I am a slacker, I will admit it. But, nothing much has been happening and I have not really been in the mood, sorry. You wouldn't have wanted me to post when my frame of mind wasn't good. It hasn't changed much, but when I am in trouble with all of you, I need to suck it up and post anyway... Life is that way sometimes, you know?

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Halloween is tomorrow of course. This will be Elle's first Halloween in America. Somehow, I doubt that she has ever experienced anything like she will tomorrow afternoon/evening. My sister and I plan to take her two little boys and Elle to a Community Trick-Or-Treat first. Elle, Conlee, and Dayton have all done well with the school mascots, so lets hope that Elle and Dayton can maintain their calm (if either of them have a "calm") while they are around lots of other kids in some "interesting" attire. After that, we'll go to some houses for goodies and then, have some supper with the bigger boys (who would rather go tricking on their own - guess they won't get any candy). Here is a preview of Elle's costume. I hope to get some good photos tomorrow and will share them as well.

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Bryant has a football game tonight - three hours away. Probably his last of the season. Saturday, Alex has an honor choir performance which will be fun - kids from all across the region will be there to sing also. We'll be going to watch and hopefully, he stays standing upright this year (sorry, Alex).

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ROLL CALL

Greetings -

Nothing in particular happening this fine, fall day. The boys didn't have school, so Elle is home with them (which is kind of frightening). Ken had an in-service though and I have to work today. Bryant has a football game tonight, so we'll be doing that later on.

When we first started this blog, I set up a counter on it. I also did a world map to show where people are when they look at our blog. After twelve months passed, that map re-set and all our dots were erased. We used to have hits from Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Africa, Europe, and all over the globe. I often wondered who in the world all these people could be.

Another fellow adoptive family/blogger decided to ask people to post comments to see who some of their readers were and I thought that was a great idea, so here we go. I know that I have our blog set so that you have to "log in" in order to post and I have to "approve"your post before it goes online. I will temporarily drop my caution and let it be more open, just to make it easier. The reason I had it locked was because when you open it, you tend to get Viagra ads and all kinds of spam that just becomes a problem. So please, go ahead and post a comment to this "ROLL CALL" and let us know who you are, where you are, and whatever else you feel comfortable sharing.

I am well aware of the fact that when I set this blog up, our family had some specific "readers" targeted, but I have quickly learned that those are not the people who regularly frequent this site... Fortunately or unfortunately, I am not sure. So please, feel free to let us know who you are!

Thanks for making this fun and more interesting as we draw near to our one year anniversary with ElleAnna!
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Alex's Last JH Football Game

Well, it was a little too exciting for this poor mommy... but, we pulled off a win. It went right to the last second. I don't like games like that! Alex's team only had one loss this season which is really impressive, especially given that most of the schools we played were much larger. I am anxious to see his final stats as he had a great year! No more Junior High football for our family... kinda sad.... He will graduate from 8th grade next spring. Somehow, I doubt that Elle will play football although, she is certainly rough enough to take on just about anything and anyone :-).

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Today was Hippy Day

Spirit Week at the Junior High continues with today being Hippy Day. Here are some photos of two hippies who went to school dressed the part, and a little girl who still cannot resist the wigs laying around the living room floor. Tomorrow will be Green and White Day for the game. Alex's game on Thursday evening is about 75 miles away. Bryant's game on Friday night is almost two hours away. JOY! Drive Time! :-)

I hope you appreciate the changes to the blog format. We had to find a neat way to use some of the "fall photos" that the kids and I did tonight. There are lots and lots of pix, but this one for the header was one of my favorites of the three of them together.

ENJOY!

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Photos So Far This Week

Not sure why Conlee has "bug eyes", but its still a cute photo...

Bryant, Conlee, ElleAnna, Dayton, and Alex

Spirit Week at the Junior High - So, Alex dressed in drag. At first, I thought Elle would be frightened, but she loved the wigs. This is her Hannah Montana look, while sitting next to Executive Alexa (AKA Alex). As the bus pulled into the driveway, Alex realized that he should have used the brown wig, wore his glasses instead of contacts, and gone as Sarah Palin... He missed his chance!
Elle looks more like Cousin It than Hannah Montana in this photo... Check out Alex's pretty red nailpolish :-).
Here she is with another wig on.

Elle with an 80's hairdo - standing next to her Daddy who was also dressed as a woman.

Elle with dred locks.Elle in a short blonde one.

Elle with a cute, longer bob hairdo.

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The JV Game tonight - Bryant is 60 in these photos. In the green uniform (of course). We didn't win, but we certainly put up a good fight.

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LID - 27 Months Ago Yesterday

For those of you following the International Adoption issues in the news, you will realize that things have gotten very complicated on many levels. China, in particular, has encountered lots of bumps that were previously not a problem with them. One of the biggest snags has become their increasing wait time that was once only a few months, which has now stretched into years.

We sent our original paperwork to do an adoption with the Chinese government in June of 2006. Our LID (log in date) was July 12, 2006. At that time, we were told the wait would be about a year before received a referral of a non-special needs child. NOT! For all kinds of reasons, we opted to switch our paperwork to a special needs child, and have obviously adopted ElleAnna.

The families who were LID with us on July 12, 2006 are STILL WAITING for a referral. In fact, the Chinese government has only made referrals of families with LIDs up to February 16, 2006. Based on the delays, if we were still waiting, estimates right now are that we would get a non-special needs referral in November of 2010. Can you imagine? A total wait of over four years (assuming that its an accurate estimation).

I cannot even fathom not having ElleAnna (first of all), but I hate to imagine what all the families are going through that are still waiting for the first glipse of their children. You are in our prayers, and Elle's too as every night, she prays that all the little boys and girls who used to live with PanSuo find Mommies, Daddies, and families of their own.
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One Year Ago Today

My calendar is packed with birthdays and anniversaries today, but its also a sad day. The lady who gave Elle this stroller and Raggedy Ann doll died one year ago today. She never got the chance to meet Elle, but was very anxious and excited that we were adopting a little girl - who would most certainly be in need of these wonderful toys! You are missed Evelyn, but I can assure you that Elle has loved the dolly stroller and that its had plenty of use!

Thanks much, Evelyn!

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October 10

Three years ago, Elle was hospitalized to have her lip surgery. She was barely seven months old. I can only imagine what she looked like, how frightened she was, and how unhealthy she might have been. She was there four days before she even had her surgery (On October 14).
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Homecoming Football Game - 2008

WOW - WE WON 54 to ZERO. We haven't won a game that big in ages. Pretty impressive! Here's a few photos from tonight - Remember, Bryant is 6-0. :-) If you forget, Elle will remind you! Alex is one of the trumpet players just to the right of the bass drum in the band, so you can see him here too. In fact, in a couple of pictures, Mom managed to get both boys in one shot! Elle was comparing all her "green" in the pix of her. Unfortunately, it gets dark too fast and my camera doesn't do well with that lighting, so these are all without the other team. Monday, Bryant has another JV game though, and it starts early enough that maybe I can get some good pix. Anyway, for now, please ENJOY these and I hope you each have a wonderful weekend...

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Homecoming Parade - 2008

6th, 7th, and 8th grade band students.

Other Junior High Students along with their teachers.

Last years Homecoming Royalty.

Sophomore Class' Float - Bryant is on the far side, wearing the green baseball cap.

Another grade's float - They are going "Coyote Hunting".

Some of the wild people in the parade.

Cheerleaders with the little girls, doing cheers.

More with the cheerleaders and their "helpers".

Bryant's class skit. One of the boys dressed up like Hannah Montana :-).

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