Another Christmas Down

Another Christmas down...another year coming to an end. Owen has now experienced three Christmas seasons in his lifetime. This one being the only one he will remember...at least for a couple months. He got a pair of car on fire rubber boots from his auntie and uncle...featured in the picture above. Another present of note is a new book called Fast Friends (based on the Cars movie). We have read it 50 times already. "He's sure and steady, Mater thinks he ready to become as fast as a race car." Can't get it out of my head.

We spent 8 days up in Cheney with family, while Matt stayed behind and worked. Somebody has to bring home the bacon. Cheney was filled with snow...3 feet of snow. Maybe more. Owen got to sled once. Grandpa pulled him around in the "Thundercat" (only the best sled from my childhood). However, Owen didn't want to sit in it alone...so Grandpa got to pull around an extra 120 pounds (me) in addition to Owen's 30 pounds. Whip! Whip!

Most of you know that my mom had a couple of tumors found over the past couple of weeks. I am happy to report that everything is going really good and that in a couple weeks she will hopefully never have to worry about them again. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers as she went through doctors appointments.

Adoption update: I plan to call immigration on January 5 to find out the status of our paperwork. I am trying not to call more than once a month. Last time I called was December 3. I think I am being pretty patient...really proud of myself :). My hope is that we will have a referral before the end of January...might be too optimistic but you never know.

Have a safe and happy new years!

It is SOOOO cold!

This week has been freezing. I think back to the time when Matt and I were thinking about moving up to Alaska to teach in remote villages...and even planning to have kids and raise them up there for a couple of years. What was I thinking??? Cold weather bites. At least we have some light during the day.

And, snow in the Tri-Cities. Not uncommon, but not that common. Mainly because it has actually stayed for more than 5 hours. Owen experienced the first snow he can remember this week. We put him in his snow pants for the first time. And...put him in some shoes. Ooops. No snowboots. Grandma bought him some snowboots a couple weeks ago, but they are two hours away. He didn't seem to mind at all. And, since the snow is so dry, his feet didn't get wet.



Matt is sitting in the room next to me playing star wars on the Wii. We love our Wii. Just got it last week. I picked up Wii Fit last Friday. Lucky! They sell out everywhere 15 minutes after a store opens the doors. It was just sitting on a counter at a game store. We both have been doing yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance exercises. It really is a good workout. Maybe not a complete aerobic workout, but definitely a good strength and core workout.

Owen and I will be heading up to Spokane once the snow lets up. The airport is closed and they are getting dumped on right now.

Hiking Badger Mtn.

Owen and I took a great hike last Saturday. We hiked up the local "mountain." A hike we have done before. This one was special because we couldn't have asked for better weather for a December hike. We went with some folks from my work. Tim carried Owen up the mountain and I carried him back down. What a great day.



We are getting excited for Christmas to come. We will be heading up to Cheney for a couple days while Matt stays home and works.

Adoption update: absolutely nothing! Still waiting on paperwork.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving was lots of fun this year. I enjoy the holidays much more now that we have Owen. It is exciting to see him excited about celebrations. Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Greg came down for 3 days. Owen was in seventh heaven. Attention all around! Auntie Janell spent Thanksgiving with a friend of hers, but we get to see her on Christmas.



We ate the usual. Turkey, Kim's homemade stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, orange-cottage cheese dessert, Kim's homemade applecrisp, roles...I think I am on my third meal of left overs. We finally finished off the stuffing today at lunch.

Like last year we did the Turkey Trot. A Thanksgiving morning run along the Columbia River benefiting the Red Cross. The weather was cold, but tolerable. I just remembered that I have everyone's t-shirt in the back of the van. Kim came in first...that is what she tells us anyways.

I got a new camera for Christmas. It was delivered today. So an early present. And, I love it. It is a digital SLR. It makes the best sound when it takes a picture. I could click it all day long. The pictures it takes are amazing. I was messing around with it while Owen was taking a bath tonight.



We bought and put up our tree today. Only the lights made it on. The ornaments will have to come tomorrow.



Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great.

The Hair

I took a poll last month: Grow Owen's hair out or cut it.

Grow it out won...by a landslide. His hair is curly when it is long...so his uncle wanted to relive his glory days through Owen's long hair. It is getting really long and fluffy! Not sure when we will cut it. I guess when people start asking how old our little girl is.

Adoption update: I talked to our adoption counselor today. She is sending our dossier to the US Embassy - Burkina Faso on Monday. I didn't know this, but they can process our dossier and send it to country for processing...and even possibly identify a baby for us. They just can't officially refer a baby to us until our paperwork has passed through immigration. And that takes forever.

The Zoo

The much awaited Zoo pictures have arrived. What great friends when they are behind a 2-inch thick piece of glass. At a visit to the local pet store this week Owen's favorite animal was the snake. "These are the store's snakes, sweetie. They are just for looking."

Pumpkin patch adventures

True to tradition, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our halloween pumpkins. We picked one closer to home this year...should have stayed with the tried and true. Their tractor was broken and they kept saying they were fixing it...and only 10 more minutes. Finally after an hour we left with some quickly chosen pumpkins laying on the ground by the checkout stand. Owen, however, got to play in a wheat sand box and see kittens. I definitely see a kitty in his future.