The Aquarium

We spent Saturday at the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati. The kids both got in free. It's a good thing, because the price for two adults was expensive enough. We spend about the same on the zoo and there is lots more to see at the zoo. We did get to see a lot of water life that is not common to zoos though. I enjoyed the jelly fish the most. They are really quite amazing creatures. I wonder how they keep from getting their tentacles tangled.







Shane's favorites were the Sharks and the Stingrays. Lucky for him they even had Shark Rays. when he got to pick out a stuffed animal at the gift shop he didn't hesitate. He picked the Shark Ray.

Rae's favorite was that she got to spend the day with Macy. One of her best and dearest friends. Fun days are made even better when you can share them with someone you love.

Thank goodness we are not outnumbered by our children yet. We had quite a time keeping track of both of them. There were a lot of people there so it was easy for them to get away from us while we were looking at the exhibits. It was a good feeling to finally get them strapped into their car seats at the end of the day and know we wouldn't need to chase them down any more tunnels or halls. It was easier when they were in strollers.

The Gap and More

I had a cup of coffee this morning. I usually only have coffee when I have a lot to do and want to rush around like a squirrel on caffeine for a few hours. I'm not sure the effect actually gets me anywhere. You know "haste makes waste" and that sort of thing.

I quickly took some pictures of Rae's triumphant smile this morning before she left for school. The one picture is kind of scary. Looks like that squirrel on caffeine I mentioned earlier. I explained she need to smile while showing her teeth and the next one turned out better.
Shane missed telling Rae good-by this morning. Which always makes him kinda sad. So he went and curled up in her bed. And whoops! he just fell back asleep. I doubt that was his intention. He probably thought he could put in a little secret thumb-sucking time. He has become very self-conscious of that little habit. We almost never catch him at it anymore.

And Shane in the laundry basket a couple weeks ago. He made himself a cozy little (squirrel like) nest and fell asleep watching a movie in the basement. My! aren't we just the little family of squirrels.

Well I gotta go work off some of this caffeine. 500 little bean bags waiting to be sewn up are calling to me.

First Post

4 going on 5. We are 4. Jeremy, Michelle, Rae Lynn and Shane. We will be 5. All the aforementioned plus Alexia. I have a blog specifically for adoption news, but I think a blog about every day life looks like fun.

Tonight our 6 year old daughter just lost her first tooth. After the initial shock of seeing BLOOD!!! She decided that the new gap in her mouth is pretty cool. She had bitten down on a stuffed animal (why?? I don't know) and Shane decided to take it from her. The result-her tooth gave way. It was ready to come out anyhow. Shane just helped it along a little.

I have 500 little bean bags to sew up in the next two weeks. That equals $250. Is 500 bags worth $250. Well, with a left over Christmas balance on our credit card I guess it has to be. I have been taking it easy for the past couple of months and enjoying every minute of it. Now it's time to get started on the not so enjoyable things in life. At least I don't despise sewing bean bags. I could be cleaning houses for other people. That is work I would despise.

Jeremy's parents new house is weeks away from being finished. As soon as they move out of the old place I'm going to start fixing it up for us. I'm hoping we can get moved into it before we travel to get Lexi. I want to do a lot of painting, replace some windows, add a shower/tub to the main bathroom and replace all the carpets. The main bathroom has only a stall shower, and the master bath has a stall shower and a jacuzzi tub. I definitely want a regular tub for bathing the children in.

Lexi's paperwork made it all the way back to the International Adoption Department in Vietnam. Now we need for them to approve it all and send it back to her province. Vietnam is getting things done a lot faster than USA. We are still waiting on United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to acknowledge that we sent them a form asking for visa approval. It was sent a month ago. As of today they still have not even started processing our request. Good Grief! I don't even let my junk mail set around that long, let alone the mail that matters!