On the 5th day of the reveal...

On the 5th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Emma)...

Our pal sent Emma the cutest slippers ever! As soon as we went to gift the 5th gift from Emma's room Jack came running. He now thinks that every gift in red should be his. As soon as we opened the package Jack jumped up in my lap. He thought that the slippers were a toy for him. By the way, he has followed me around for 3 days with his hot dog wanting my to play fetch with him. Back to the slippers! They are just adorable. I can see Emma now running down the hall in her pj's and slippers with Jack running behind her trying to attach her feet to get these plush slippers!

I had to show the bunny on the bottom of the slippers. We love them! Secret pal, you have sent us so many wonderful gifts. I just can't wait to thank you! 7 more days until we find out who you are!! I can't wait to be able to sit down with Emma and tell her where all of these wonderful and special gifts came from. Alright everyone, stay tuned for day SIX!!

A Secret Elf?

When we got home last night it was late. Mike had his final in his Law class and I was late at work AGAIN! We did manage to stop at Qdoba (our favorite) to eat after his class. Anyway, when we got home we played with the Jack and Kozmo for a few minutes and then headed back to Emma room to see what our Feb secret pal had sent us for day four. When we opened the door we got a big surprise! Sitting in the middle of the room was the cutest rocking horse! Mike and I both looked at each other. Nope, neither of us had put it there! Where did it come from?
I then remembered that a special elf had come to visit Jack and Kozmo since we were going to be so late getting home! We want to send out a special thank you to Nana for this wonderful horse. I can already see Emma climbing up on it and riding to town. It was the perfect addition to Emma room! Thanks Mom, we love you!

On the 4th day of the reveal...

On the 4th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Mike)...

This wonderful box of See's candy! Mike was excited when we opened this but even more excited to see that our pal had thought of him! Now I know the picture didn't come out great but on the little note it did tell him to share with ME! Thanks secret pal, he may have ate the whole box himself. Now I will try not to overdue it or all that weight will come back. To back up for a minute, we both had a long day so it was late when we got in but all these goodies have gotten us so excited that we couldn't wait to go into Emma room and grab another gift! What does day 5 have in store for us? Well, just wait! A big thanks to my pal. Only 8 more days until we find out who you are!

On the third day of the reveal...

On the third day of the reveal my (Kozmo's) secret pal gave to me... As you see I messed up the picture order again! Kozmo got these wonderful little mice. They were different from any we had ever bought him.
Here is a picture of Kozmo's gift before the reveal.

As soon as Kozmo saw Mike open the package he got all excited and started Meowing! I got one out for him to play with he took off with it. He has been flipping this thing all over the house. I liked the above picture as it reminded me of when he was a kitten and so playful. Kozmo sends a big Meow to his amazing pal. He wants to know how you knew exactly what to buy him?!

I guess it was a good thing we missed day 2 as tonight both of our boys got wonderful suprises! By the way, we are another day closer to finding out who our wonderful pal is. Come on, don't you want to tell us NOW!!!

On the second day of the reveal... (again!)

On the second day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (or should I say Jack!)...

As soon as we took the day 2 gift out of Emma's bed Jack got all excited. I guess he knew that it was for him. As soon as I got it open Jack was wagging his tail and got all excited. I almost didn't get to take a picture before he grabbed it.

Jack waited patiently for me to take the picture so that I would play fetch. Jack sends a big Ruff to his wonderful secret pal. I only have one complaint! Did you know it squeaked so loud?! I just hope Jack doesn't bring this one to bed! Thank you so much secret pal, you made Jack's day.

On the second day of the reveal...

On the second day of the reveal.... I was MIA! I missed day two so when I get home tonight I will post about day 2 and day 3. I left for work yesterday morning at 5am and didn't get home until after midnight so I missed the whole day! I had to be back at work at 5:45am this morning so I didn't get a chance to open my gifts yet. Now I have lots to look forward to when I get home tonight. Sorry, but you will have to wait until then. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

On the first day of the reveal...

If you notice in the picture above there is one gift missing! Now I know what you are thinking but it's not true. I had every intention of waiting until the 14th to start opening the gifts but my wonderful and amazing secret pal told me to start NOW!! Yes that's right. She posted me a note to start today. She even told me to open one for yesterday and one for today but we opted to start today. Now of course I got my photos out of order so check out what we got!

Aren't they the cutest! Now I have to admit that I know nothing about scrapbooking but I had already decided that I was going to attempt to make one for our precious Emma. Now I have some cute pieces to start with . Anyone want to give me a Scrapbooking 101 class? Thank you so much secret pal, we love them and can't wait to use them.

So here goes! On the first day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me... 2 wonderful pages of scrapbook goodies!! Now that we got the hang of this we can't wait until tomorrow to open our second present. Stay tuned for our next gift!

The 12 Days of Reveal!!!!

It's Saturday night and we just got home of a full day of running. We got up early and went out to breakfast before heading to the doctors. Don't worry, no one is sick. We were just going to get our physical home study update. We had to have a letter from our doctor stating that we are still in good health. Dr. J just laughed as this is his 3rd update for us. We were then off to the Christmas craft fair at Butler. I was a little disappointed as I didn't find a bunch of trees to bid on this year. Last year I got two (I put pictures of them on my Babyjellybeans site last year but I'll put one here when I get a chance). We then went out to the mall, Qdoba and the Kramer's. By the time we pulled into the drive it was 9:15pm! While I was getting the packages out of the car Mike went to turn on all the Christmas lights. As he rounded the corner he was holding a BIG box. Boxes, two days in a row!!!! Oh, the mail lady even put this one on the porch. I'm sure she wasn't happy having to get out of the car in the cold. I'll have to take back being mad at her yesterday and make a mental note to get her a Christmas gift! Anyway the package is from my Feb. Secret Pal!! You wouldn't believe how excited I was to open the box (which had ladybugs on it). I know, I get a box every month but this one is different! This one will reveal my PAL!! I yelled for Mike to grab the scissors and we ripped into the box! This is what we saw inside....

The letter gave us some ground rules. RULES, I HATE RULES!!! But guess what we will follow them. Inside is twelve presents. Each one has the cutest label on them. It reads: "On the first day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me..." There is one for 12 days!!

Here is a picture of all 12 gifts in Emma's bed. We thought we would put them in her room instead of under the tree. I'm not sure when our pal wanted us to start opening them but we assumed that we should start on the 14th so that we would open the last gift on Christmas. That means we have to wait 12 days before we start opening them. Anyone who knows me knows that I love suprises so we will be good and open the gifts as instructed. By the way, the reveal is in the red bag which will be opened on Dec. 25th. Now, is everyone as excited to find out who my wonderful pal is? Well, I guess you will have to wait until Christmas!!!

To my Feb Secret Pal: I want to thank you in advance for all of the wonderful gifts and cards you have sent us. We have enjoyed each and everyone of them. You have been so wonderful to us and I hope one day soon I will have the chance to meet you. Stay tuned for all my gift reveals!

Gifts for travel!

On Friday evening when we got home from work there was a package stuffed in the mailbox for us. Now, I am not sure how the post lady got it in there because I had a time getting it out. I guess she thought it was too cold to get out and put it on the porch! I guess I shouldn't complain to much as she has been delivering a lot of packages to our house. Of course I was excited to see it was from our March Secret Pal. This months theme was "travel time" and she (or I guess I should say, "THE PAL" as it could be a guy or a couple!) set us up with all the essentials. The first thing we opened was mini lint rollers (great idea!). You would think that I would have thought of that since I am always walking around with dog and cat hair on me. Next, Mike opened shampoo and conditioner. We then got lotion, chap stick, and a first aid kit (hey, how did you know I'm such a clumsy person?!) The best was the baby travel pack. I always love smelling all of the J&J baby products at baby showers and now we are actually the ones getting them! Of course we always love the sweet cards our pal sends. Thank you so much to our March pal. Your gifts always brighten our day!

September 8th

While we were hoping for much more we did move 14 days. Congratulations to all those who will be seeing their babies for the first time this week! For those of us still waiting, hang in there! The only thing that scares me is at this rate we will have to update our papers again next November.

Eight down, how many more to go??????

While I am excited to have eight months behind me I am sad to think about what it means. I know I have told you this before but here I go again! When we started this process we were looking at a six month wait and now, well, who knows!!! I am still happy to have eight months behind us. As I write this we are all anticipating the next batch of referrals. When are they going to be here? When is the cut off date? Why can't the CCAA move faster?? Oh well, I guess all I can do is wait with everyone else.

I also want to give an update on my sisters birthday. I was trying to be nice by not giving her age but she decided to post that she is 38 anyway! Well guess what?! She lost a year! She is actually only 37! Hey DeeAnna, it's one more reason to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Happy Birthday DeeAnna!

November 29th

Just wanted to send you a big birthday hug! I hope you have a wonderful day. Don't worry, you don't look a day over *% (HA,HA)!

For those of you who don't know this is one of my big sisters, or should I say OLDER SISTERS!! This picture is DeeAnna with her girls Charlee and Courtney.

Enjoy your day and don't work too hard (just don't tell Mom I said that!)

More Feb Secret Pal Goodies!

Sorry it took me so long to post about my wonderful goodies from my Feb secret pal but it has been one busy weekend. We got home last Wednesday and saw that our good postman had left a package on the front door (I was thinking that I better get him a gift for Christmas with all these packages he has been bringing to my door!). Of course, I ran for the camera and Mike helped open the box. My pal did it again! She send such wonderful gifts. First we got the cutest photo album. The front says Baby Girl, which just made me melt. I can't wait to get to China and snap some photos to put in it! Then we got a babysitter pad that goes on the fridge. I love it! I know one day we will use it but right now I can't think of ever leaving our little Emma! It did make me think of who we would let watch our princess. We may need some more background check papers (hey, they checked me out!). Next WE got POPCORN! As I type this I am snacking on it, YUMMY!! Last but not least, Emma got the cutest matching hat and gloves (my favorite!) I can't wait to bundle up my doll and see her in these. Sorry, Mike wouldn't model it for the picture so Jack had to pose for his little sister.
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I just really want to thank our wonderful pal for all the gifts she has sent. We have loved everything and can't wait until next month to find out who you are! You will always have a special place in our hearts!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

(The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is my favorite!)

We are off to cook for Thanksgiving dinner so I will post more later. Today we will be going to Mike's aunt's house to celebrate and tomorrow we will be celebrating the holiday with my family. Two days of wonderful family, fun and FOOD!! Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be posting very soon to tell you about the wonderful gift I got from my Feb. secret pal last night, our Thanksgiving dinner, and our big shopping trip on Friday morning. Is anyone else getting up early to fight the madness?!! Until then....

Well, maybe one more!

I have started Emma's shoe collection. Yes, she now has 4 pair. Once again I found them all on clearance. I paid between $2.50 and $5.00 for each pair. She will probably end up like her mother and like to go without shoes. Hope you are enjoying seeing a few of the things in Emma's closet.

One more find

Mike and I went to the Glendale Day's a few weeks back and Mike saw this beautiful plaque. We decided to buy it to put above Emma's closet. It makes me dream of all those nights ahead of us when we tuck Emma in at night and can give her those sweet little kisses.

Look what I found!

While out shopping I went in a store called Everything 4 Kids. I had ran across this store one day while I was out finding material to send to all of my quilting pals. I had decided to go in and fell in love with the store. It is half consignment and half new products. This is the same place I found Emma's bed. Anyway, I had to check out the dresses on clearance and I found these two (brand new) beautiful dresses. I saw the prices and well the rest is history. The one on the left was $10 and the one of the right was $8! Now I have to tell you that I had promised myself I wouldn't buy too many things for Emma but how could I pass up these deals? The original prices were $60 and $54! Can I shop or what?!! I think I posted a picture of Emma closet awhile back but I promise everything inside was bought on clearance!

Good Deals

While shopping at Target (my favorite store) I ran across these frames and fell in love with them. I can't wait to take some black and white photos of Emma and put in them. I love the Dream and Imagine at the bottom of the frames. The deal... They were originally $14.99 and I got them for $3.49! You gotta love the clearance section!

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

This is how we are feeling these days!

The paperwork is here

Well, it came today. I need to call AHSS to confirm what all I need to update but it appears that I have to do the following:
1. Sign all the agency forms
2. Update our aotobiographies
3. Have all 5 of our references send another letter stating they still support our adoption
4. Resubmit a guardianship form
5. Need another copy of our INS paper
6. New copies of all of our investment accounts
7. New statement from our physicians
8. Criminal background checks
Oh, and don't forget the $250 to do the updates and also a new home visit! I guess I better get started as we only have 25 days to get it done. No big deal except we have lots to do with the upcoming holidays.

Starting over!

I'm trying to keep a smile on my face these days. It's not always easy! I got a letter on Friday that our home study will be expiring on 12/12. You know what that means? You got it, more paperwork (yuck!). I contacted AHSS on Monday and they are sending me out the required paperwork to update our home study. I am not sure what all I have to redo but I hope the papers get here soon so I can get everything done by Dec. 12th. I guess I will be calling Amber AGAIN. Poor thing, she has seen so much of us. Hopefully this will be the last trip she has to make out to our house before we bring Emma home. If the papers come tomorrow I will let you know what I have to do.

Our little star!

Our little star! Friday night was opening night for Gage's first high school play. Now I know he looks a little young to be in a high school play but sometimes he just gets ahead of himself! Gage did a fantastic job singing in the production. Michael and I were so excited to see him perform on opening night. You could tell he was a pro as he even refrained from waving to us. Way to go Gage, next stop Broadway!!!

Emma's Feb Secret Pal Gifts!

When we got home on Friday night we were so excited to see a box sitting on the front porch. It was dark so we didn't notice it until we took Jack out. Well, let me tell you, Jack must have know there was something in it for him because he wouldn't leave the box. As you can see from the pictures he was right as there was a big bag of goodies just for him. He has been working on it all weekend. Jack wants to send a big thank you to his secret pal! Emma was extremely spoiled as always. She got the cutest little ladybug bear (of course Jack thought this was for him also). Next she got the cutest dress up tutu and hair band. I can just see her now dancing around the house in it (I can't wait!). She also got her very first CD. It is a CD of Chinese lullabies. I have already had it out and listened to it. I know Emma will love this as it is so soothing. We also got the cutest note pad with a nurse on it with a themometer behind her ear and it reads "Now where did I put my pen?" (how cute!) and the best smelling travel candle for us to take to China. If that isn't enough, did you see our cute card made by our secret pal. We love everything. Thank you so much secret pal for spoiling us rotten. We can't wait to know who you are!! Maybe one day our girls can dance around together in their dress up gear!! Once again you have gone overboard!!

Gifts from the girls

Just wanted to show some pictures of the cute gifts Emma got from Lisa and Melissa.

Thanks girls, we can't wait for Emma to get here and let her play with the toys and wear these cute outfits!

GAGE IS EIGHT!

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY GAGE!

I can't believe that today Gage is turning eight. It seems like just yesteday that I got that call saying Tommi was in labor. He is growing up too fast! Tomorrow night he will be making

his debut in his first play (it's a high school play!). Good luck Gage, we can't wait to see you on stage. Hope you have a wonderful birthday, we love you!

Happy Birthday Mom Kramer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM KRAMER

(No I didn't forget her birthday, I just forgot to post!)

Sorry this birthday wish is a little late but know that you are in our thoughts

and we love you bunches! BTW, the birthday was the 6th!

What a weekend!

It sure seems like the weekend went by so quickly. It all started Friday night with a trip to Bardstown to watch Holy Cross take on Bethlehem. It was so cold at the game that you couldn't feel your feet. The boys played hard but lost their game. I just wanted to let Chase know how proud I am of him and I'm already looking forward to bringing Emma to watch him next year! It was a short night sleep as we got up at 4am to catch our 6am flight to Chicago. We got into Chicago at 6am their time and took the train into downtown. We got to the hotel, dropped our luggage and headed to meet Lisa and Jeff and Melissa and Darren. Of course we were able to pick Darren our right away. We got introduced and then Lisa and Jeff showed up. Now I guess I should back track. After we dropped the luggage we stopped at Starbucks (we're addicted) and I got a call from Lisa saying she was close and she was a little late. What Lisa didn't realize was that she was on the wrong time, it was only 8:30 in Chicago. Fast forward! We decided to eat breakfast at the hotel and get to know one another. We then headed over to Chinatown, where else! It's the first place us girls thought about going. We enjoyed checking out the stores and decided what not to eat in China. Jeff and Darren did a little shopping. It was then back across town so I could introduce the gang to Garretts Popcorn, (if you haven't tried it you are missing out) and then back to the hotel to clean up. We then headed for a stroll down Michigan Ave and to eat Giodornios Pizza. After dinner I needed to make a stop at the Apple store and guess what?! They had internet access! We had to check out our favorite blogs and the new referrals. I know, I can't go a day without it. I do want everyone to know that Melissa did take a sneak peak at Rumor Queen (we made her!) We spent the rest of the night hanging out talking and sharing gifts for our girls. Lisa got us the cutest matching outfits from Gap and the sweetest ladybug card. Melissa also got us a cute outfit along the cutest dolls. I promise I will take some pictures to show you. We met again in the morning for breakfast. At the next table sat the cutest little China doll. Melissa got the scoop and she had been adopted in January. How funny it was to see all six of us staring at this precious little girl. It was time to get ready to head back home so we said our farewells. I just wanted to let Lisa and Melissa know how much I enjoyed getting to spend time with them and know them better. Oh, BTW Melissa, Lisa's not the only one who figured out the slide show! More later, gotta get to bed.

We're back from Chicago!

Create Your Own!

OFF TO CHICAGO!

WE ARE OFF TO CHICAGO IN THE A.M. TO MEET LISA AND MELISSA. I CAN'T WAIT TO FINALLY MEET! I'LL FILL YOU IN WHEN WE GET BACK. UNTIL THEN.....

Better and better!

The day just got better and better. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was go check the CCAA site and was very shocked to see the wonderful news. Then I got to see some of the beautiful babies that the stork has brought. I came home to find out that our agency got 10 precious dolls and also that our special needs list will be out tomorrow. To top it off I had a package waiting in the mailbox. It was from my wonderful March secret pal. I was so excited to see that she had changed things up and made it a Halloween theme. First I saw the orange pumpkin toy. On the top of it, it says "my first Halloween". It made my heart melt! Then I opened the package that had the cutest Halloween book and check out how cut the bib is!! Everytime I go shopping I keep looking at the Halloween bibs but I refrained from buying one. You sure know me secret pal, do you have someone watching me??? I also got a wonderful card that I always treasure and a Home Sweet Home Yankee candle. It smells so good! Thank you so much secret pal, you sure know how to put the smile on our faces.

FLY STORK FLY

THE STORK SHOULD BE ARRIVING THIS MORNING SO IF ANYONE SEE'S HIM TELL HIM TO HURRY. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE NEW BABIES!

Huge News!

I AWOKE THIS MORNING TO WONDERFUL NEWS. NOT ONLY DID THEY INCLUDE 8/24 BUT THEY GOT TO 8/25!

THIS WAS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. I HOPE THIS IS A GOOD SIGN

FOR THE MONTHS TO COME!

I WANT TO CONGRATULATE ALL OF THE FAMILIES THAT WILL BE

FINDING OUT ABOUT THEIR PRECIOUS CHILDREN!

THANK YOU CCAA!