All Tomorrow's Parties

Today we had a little birthday party for Rachel. Her Nana was there, and her Aunt Margie & Uncle Charlie too. Her Grandpa had to work so he couldn't be there... but she had a good time anyway...

I was going to dress her in something fancy, and then I remembered what we were planning... you'll see what I mean soon!

First she feasted on some dumplings and egg rolls. She really liked them! and she is sure getting to be an expert at biting into things with those teeth of hers!

She wasn't thrilled with the birthday hat, but she let us keep it on her for a little while before she told us in no uncertain terms that she had had enough!

After getting a good fill up of her snack foods, it was time to move on to the main event!
Her birthday cake! We couldn't get a regular "smash cake" so her daddy got her a carrot cake instead. You can see by the pictures that she REALLY loved her cake! Hooray for 1st birthdays!!!

Of course, after munching on all that yummy carrot cake, it was time for the clean up crew to move in! Daddy hosed off the highchair in the yard after Penny helped with the initial cleaning of the seat! In the meantime, Mommy brought the birthday girl into the kitchen for a proper hosing down!

After getting hosed down in the kitchen sink, it was time to get into jammies and have a little snuggle time with Mommy before getting her bottle and going to bed... Oh.. and if you can see her cute little feet, she is wearing some leather "Got Milk" cow booties that her Aunt Margie & Uncle Charlie gave her for her birthday!

The best part of it all is, she gets to do it all again on her birthday on Tuesday!! Then her Grandpa will be there but her daddy won't. So she get's 2 birthday parties

We LIKE birthday parties! even little ones!

I've Got Plenty To Be Thankful For

Well, we made it. Thanksgiving 2008 is now behind us... This was such a special Thanksgiving, because more than ever, we have SO much to be thankful for. To finally have our little Rachel here with us was, naturally, the biggest thing to be thankful for!

And already, it's time to start concentrating on our little Butterball's birthday!

Rachel will turn one on Tuesday, so today my parents are coming over, and our friends Margie & Charlie... We are getting her a little "smash cake" for her and her alone... and then another seperate cake for the grown ups to munch on... I think I'm also going to make some dumplings and egg rolls as a little appetizer/snack. We opted to just do a little birthday party here at the house this year. Mostly because I wanted this to be a special family day... Next year, I'm sure she will have lots of friends and we will have a party that includes other kids and friends, but I just wanted to be a little selfish this year. My parents are going to come over again on Tuesday for her actual birthday (of COURSE). But we are doing the party today since Tuesday Daddy will be working and he wants to be here to celebrate his little daughter's birthday too!

So here are more pics from Thanksgiving... Birthday pics to follow... probably tomorrow!

and I finally have a few pictures of just me with Rachel!!!! Next time we will TRY to take some full family shots... including all the animals!

Alice's Restaurant

Well, it's almost my favorite day of the year... Thanksgiving... and that means turning on Alice's Restaurant while we cook... we've already started thawing the bird... I made my pumpkin soup and the string bean casserole... tomorrow, Tommy will make his pumpkin pie and custard pie. He already made homemade cranberry sauce. I still have to do the sweet potato casserole and the rest of the side dishes. Oh, and I already boiled up the chestnuts for the stuffing... we'll need a lot of that to stuff into that 28 lb bird we got! We are expecting anywhere from 11 to 13 adults on Thursday. And if Tommy had his way, there would be enough side dishes for each person to have their own!!! I had to talk him out of having me pick up carrots. As it is now, we have at least 6 sides already... ENOUGH!!! :-)

I am still without a laptop, so I'm going slightly nuts. I also just realized I do not have the printer running on the desktop yet, and I'm not even sure I'm signed on with the high speed connection! For all I know, I could be on dial up right now!

So other than LOTS of cooking, there isn't a lot to share just yet... but here are a few of the most recent photos! (always need an excuse for that, right?)

Welcome to my Nightmare

So this was NOT a fun week... it all started when I walked into the family room to find a spilled cup of iced tea surrounding my laptop. Long story short, I am now in the market for a new laptop! I was very lucky in that I was actually able to save all my stuff to an external hard drive before the thing completely fried.
I also had a tech come to check the desktop too... it had been running miserabley for a couple of years now... well, he said it was nothing to do with the hardware... all software issues... so he told me he would do a full recovery of the system (brings it back to factory settings... like I just took it out of the box) so that's what I did. Well, at least now I have ONE working computer in the house... and it really is working much better... still a little buggy, but nothing I can't deal with. At least the hard drive is not refreshing every 7 seconds like it was before...
Other than my computers... let's see... Penny ate my favorite sandals *( something we thought she had outgrown since she hasn't eaten a shoe in almost a year!!!)
Tommy got a speeding ticket AND a summons for Jury Duty on the same day...
Oh... and I still have the CMV, just not enough to qualify for the donor program anymore... so I still get to be a little sick, but without the benefit of getting paid for it... just when that extra money could have come in handy to buy a new laptop!!! figures...
On a positive note, Rachel couldn't get any cuter if she tried... every day she does something new to make me laugh like a little girl! Her latest thing is she is trying to wink... so instead she does her "squishy face" but squishes it more on one side! LOL... she is just killin me!
I'll post some pics when I have full acess to all computer stuff...

Down and Out in Paradise

Today was an awesome day. Nothing fun, just that today is the day we applied for Rachel's Social Security card! Another step closer to the readoption! (Since we want her to have a US birth certificate, we need to do some paperwork and technically re-adopt her).
Mom & I also went out for lunch for a little sushi, which we hadn't had in a long time...
Funny how just being out a few hours and going out earlier than usual, but mom and I were both totally exhausted by the time lunch was over... came home and had to crash. Even the baby was wiped out!
Yesterday I finally got to donate plasma after trying for 3 weeks. My iron levels were finally high enough to donate. Because it took so long to qualify, the research company had me go to get tested again today to be sure I still have CMV before letting me donate again... Hopefully the results will be back in time for me to donate on Friday... also hope my iron stays up!

God Bless the USA

So this afternoon I started to panic. I spoke to my girlfriend Sophie over the weekend, and she mentioned that she had already gotten Zia's COC (Certificate of Citizenship). As a matter of fact, she got it over 2 weeks ago. Well, we hadn't gotten Rachel's COC yet... so I decided to email the rest of the families in our travel group... the answers started coming in one by one. Everybody that responded had the same answer. They got their COC 2 or 3 weeks ago. So that's when they panic kicked in full force. I contacted our post adoption counselor from Great Wall. She said to contact the USCIS office. I called the USCIS office, and they said they don't have anything to do with certifications. Ok, so now I'm REALLY freaking out because I don't even know who to call and scream at!
Well, like I always say, timing is everything... I had gone out shopping with mom at Sam's club and decided before going to her house to work on her computer, I should stop at my house to put the refridgedables away. I also thought I should check the mail... and guess what was in the box! Yes, it is now totally official. Rachel MeiLi is a CERTIFIED American Citizen!!! Hooray!!!!
Next step, I have to apply for her social security card. I'll be doing that either tomorrow or the next day, unless we have to have an appointment, in which case it won't be up to me!

(Lime in the) Coconut

Tonite we went to the Cape Coral Coconut Festival. It's like a small scale state fair with all the typical fair things! Rachel had her first taste of Philly Cheese Steak (wish we had seen the BBQ stand and the Gyro stand before we got the cheese steaks!) and she also had her very first try of Funnel Cake... now THAT was a HIT!
We met up with our friends Lorie & John and their girls Kaylie & Amelia... unfortunately, we got there a little late, so they were pretty much done eating before we started so we split up right after they ate so they could start going on rides with the girls. Rachel was too little to go on anything just yet (unless I went with her, and I wasn't willing to spend that kind of money to get us each tickets... they don't do lap tickets for babies!)
We also went with Margie & Charlie and their granddaughter Arora. She had a blast.
My girlfriend Meri came with her whole crew, including her parents! (I love her dad... he is so sweet). I think Rachel was VERY happy to finally meet Gavin! and he sure was a cutie! They always have a "name" band. Tonite it was Survivor. We didn't really hear too much of them... I actually thought they were done playing but they came back out right after the fireworks ended. and that's where Rachel ended too. She LOVED watching the fireworks, even though she was really tired. Almost immediately after they ended, she was out cold.
I will post the couple of pics I took later. Just her sleeping, but I also took a pic of Charlie winning a black panther doll for Arora, just so we could show we were at a Fair!

The Times, They Are a-Changing

The elections are finally over. It was an amazing race, to say the least. History was certainly made today. Obama won the election by quite a substantial margin. I really hope this is the answer we've been looking for. I know Tommy was not thrilled, but like I keep telling him, he doesn't earn enough to be a Republican...
All I know is, I sure am glad we won't have to deal with all those stupid ads anymore!

Under African Skies

Today was terrific. Rachel & I drove up to Sarasota to visit a dear old friend, Osumba. She and I used to work together at the University before I got married. She retired and now travels back & forth to Africa where she has started an orphanage in the village she grew up in. When I get more info, I will be posting it here, as well as on the various message boards. I am SO proud of her. She is really an amazing woman.

Happy Birthday...

Happy Birthday to my Dad & Zulema....

Tonight we are going to PF Changs for dinner to celebrate Dad's birthday. That was his choice for the evening... Unfortunately, the reservations are pretty late, but we are going to try going early and hopefully we'll be able to be seated before 8pm... I don't like keeping Rachel out that late because it messes with her sleep schedule, but just a little, and seeing as how this is a special occasion, it won't be TOO bad. I put her down for a late nap to try to compensate... Besides... Babies R Us is in the same mall (which is more like a little CITY) so we will have plenty to do while we wait for our table!!

These pictures are actually from yesterday, but since they weren't Halloween related, I thought I'd just put them in today!!!

Everyday is Halloween

The hardest part of trick or treating was trying to decide how early to leave the house! We finally opted for 6:30, and that was probably later than we should have... but since we were just going around the block, it worked out just fine.

Since we have been calling Rachel our little Bat Baby since the day we got her, it was only fitting that she wore a Bat Girl outfit... Not Batgirl like from the movies.. but more like a little Bat princess! She had a great time... and brought daddy a nice little bag of goodies!

and it worked out fine that her little bat ears wouldn't stay on... the Mickey ears were a great help! :-)