on the road again

We spent the weekend in Blacksburg with our friends Greg and Sarah. It was a fun little trip and the kids attended their first football game - the spring scrimmage.  Kaneu was in heaven - football, cotton candy, popcorn - what could be better? Ruby is happy anywhere as long as snacks are involved. It was nice to be back at our alma mater during the spring. The last few times we have been it has been cold and rainy. That was not the case this weekend. It was HOT. The east coast is having a serious heat wave and it was in the 90s. Ugh. It's April, not August right? We nearly overheated but we made the best of it and had a very fun time.

Brian is on his way to London and we are counting down the days until we are no longer separated during the week. We have completed all three post-placement visits with our social worker and are now waiting for our court date to be scheduled. Brian has begun taking toys and clothes back to London to prepare for our move. We have a lot of work to do to get ready. Lots of items to be listed on cr*igslist and possibly a yard sale. In the meantime I'm going to start by trying to get some sleep. This heat is exhausting!

hard to believe

it's been 5 months since this day

our homecoming committee

I love this pic so much - I wish it wasn't so blurry

I came to the conclusion today that Ruby is a toddler now. Brian helped me figure it out after she and he had a chat on the telephone. She is speaking new words daily and is growing more and more independent. I was scratching my head and wondering where did our baby go and realized that our baby has been home in the US for exactly 5 months! One more month and we are eligible to have our adoption finalized and she will become a US citizen. Yay!!!! 

in case you're wondering ...

I'm still here! Went away for a few days, or 5, but we are back. We had a nice visit with Grammy Sue at her house (for a change). We did some fun stuff, too. I, of course, took a zillion photos so I'll just let the pictures do the talkin'. 

*fun on the farm*

As you can see Ruby was not a fan of the pony ride. Kaneu was not a fan of feeding the animals. He did take pity on the chickens and threw them some feed. Thanks to Grammy Sue the animals did eat.

*fun at the mall*

*small town fun*

*fun in the city*

easter

hope you all had a happy easter!

see what I mean with the focusing issue? grrrrr

We had a great Easter Sunday, though it started off, well a little groggy. I (sometimes) take melatonin at night before bed. It helps me sleep soundly and is also really helpful in overcoming jet lag. Brian recently brought home a new bottle of 5 mg sublingual melatonin. I think the previous bottle we had was only 3 mg. Well, it hit us like a ton of bricks. We were in bed by 10 on Sat nt and I slept like a rock. It was awesome. Brian, on the other hand, slept horribly. He had the jimmy legs and then was up a few times with Ruby only to get a few hours of sleep before Kaneu woke up. I heard nothing and slept like a baby. At 7 am I was woken up by Brian. Kaneu was up and was eagerly wanting to see if the Easter Bunny had paid us a visit. Thankfully we had assembled the baskets the night before.  I groggily made my way down the stairs and sat and drank some coffee while the kids played with their goodies. I then found my sn*ggie and slept on the couch for the next 2 hours. My eyelids would not and could not open. It was the wierdest thing. For the rest of the day I was exhausted. After we got home from church I took a 2.5 hour nap. I mean, seriously, it's not normal!! So, this is a warning - if you are thinking about taking melatonin, I suggest sticking with the lower dose. It makes me kind of sad because I was so tired I really don't remember the kids opening their baskets and I didn't taken any pictures :(  We also missed the Easter parade yesterday afternoon. I know the kids would have had so much fun but because of the long naps (we all slept, except Kaneu) we missed it.  Oh, and another thing - Kaneu is now on antibiotics. Ugh, hopefully this is THE end of being sick.

home!

We are home.

I am alway so sad when the vacay ends. I have a small case of the post-vacation-blues ... it's nothing this bag of kisses can't cure though.

Anyhoo, we had SUCH a great time. The sun and salt air really revived us. We had some friends join us the last few days and it was great fun.

Ruby is now saying "chee" when she sees the camera come out. Finally! Up until now she has not paid the camera much attention and it's been a real challenge to catch her smiling for me. It usually involves me singing or playing peek-a-boo before she'll crack a smile. Thank you so much for all of your kind comments about my pictures. I have really been working hard with my camera lately. I've been using a 50mm lens for the last month and I really love it, though it's really tricky to focus. Does anyone else have this problem - I'd love to hear any tips you may have. I figure the more I practice the more I'll "get" it but I have missed out on a TON of great shots this week because they were out of focus or not focused where I wanted them to be. It's been super frustrating.

this is her saying "chee" AND looking at the camera

lots of dolphin sightings

egg hunt on the beach







this is brian's contribution to the photos

Happy Easter! I will hopefully post pics of the cuties tomorrow.