Major catchup

I thought I would have more time to blog with my new somewhat leisurely schedule, and maybe will, but not this month. Meagan turned 9 on the 9th...her golden birthday (sniff, sniff). Here she is above with her BFF Kaili in "twins" outfits. We had a small party at home with her fav dinner...salmon and green beans (go figure) and lemon meringue pie. The following Saturday she invited a few friends to Creative Escape to make pottery. She seems so grown up to me now. We are trying to teach her more responsibility so I told her I will no longer brush her hair or lay out her clothes for her in the mornings (is it weird that I still do this?) So she has been very fired up lately, in spite of her high-water pants and snarled tresses.

We are also very much coming into crunch time with adoption paperwork. With this agency we have to get our documents authenticated at the Chinese consulate ourselves, vs. our previous agency took care of all of that for us. Anyway, there are all kinds of crazy expiration dates...I had my blood drawn 3 times in 2 weeks because I found some "expired" test dates on my physical. It is more than a little frustrating. If I did not have AIDS 10 months ago, then chances are I still do not have it. We may decide to take a little day trip to the Chinese consulate in Chicago so we can hand deliver our documents. Another reason for the rush is that the government's adoption credit expires in Jan 2011...so we will save $11,000 if we can finalize this adoption in 2010.

Below are more pictures of Meagan and her friends...at church one of the girls had an idea to form a "3rd grade girls club" so they meet monthly to hang out. Last week was our turn to host. They are enjoying fruit and chocolate shish-kababs





After Meagan left for school one day, NiNi came into my room and said, "Listen, mom...It's really quiet when me and sissy aren't fighting"

NiNi is starting to learn about rhyming in school. Today we were at Kohls and, in a flash of brilliance, she shouted, "Hey, Jesus and cheese...they sound the same!"