School is on...

I think the public schools around here started today, but we are well into day 9 of Kindergarten, 2nd and 3rd grades. After much whining about how it was too hot to play outside this summer, I decided the week before the girls went to camp that we were starting when they got back. That way, when we are stuck inside because of the heat, we can be productive, then when it is fall and spring, we can take some days off to play in the awesome weather. We are doing the Prairie Primer this year and are liking it so far.
We finished our schooling today around lunchtime. I had been working on a huge grocerly list complete with about 20 coupons. I wanted to go today, but was signed up to work 3-11. I went to Mom's at 1 in order to take a shower and lie down a few minutes before going in, and they called about 1:15 to let me know they didn't need me from 3-7. So instead of napping we all took off to the grocery store 25 min. away. It took 2 carts, lots of threatening and forever to complete this grocery trip. UGH!
Mom came with us to help unload and eat supper. Aaron got home the same time I did, saying they told him to pack his bags for a fire. So he will probably be leaving in the next few days for California? Never 100% sure until he gets there. I hate for him to be gone, but the money is a blessing.
I called work at 5 to see if they still needed me at 7 and if they were going to cancel anyone, please cancel me! She said she would call me within the hour. She called while the next paragraph was going on and cancelled me and I was very grateful.
While we were packing and Mom and the girls were eating we got the bad news that Hannah had thrown up all over the kitchen floor. That was a mess, but she hasn't done it since, so I am hoping it was a fluke thing and NOT the stomach virus. A girl can dream can't she?
Still trying to pay off debt so we can continue our adoption goals. I am sooo ready. We started this March 2007. Anyway, we applied for an adoption grant and an interest free adoption loan. Please pray that we get one or both.
Time to head for bed. Slept terrible last night and then Hannah woke me early.

Fort Morgan

I thought I would add some more pictures tonight while I was working in the kitchen.

A picture of the kitchen in the Fort

This picture was taken from the top of the fort, which was a little nervewracking up there with 3 kids, but looking in the opposite direction, there was a great view of the ocean.

This is Hannah posing with Josh, the tour guide.

This is Hannah posing on top of an old cistern.

Vacation

In this picture, you can see Natalie about to be drenched by the upturned bucket of water.

It has been so long since I have blogged. I thought about giving up blogging when I started to go on Facebook. But this last week, I have not been able to figure out how to post pictures onto Facebook anymore. What I used to do doesn't work anymore on my computer or on Mom's. Very frustrating.

Let's see...

We just got back Thursday night from Gulf Shores.

Sunday

We left Sunday morning and around lunchtime got to the Montgomery Zoo. We had never been and got in half price with our Birmingham passes. We ended up staying for almost 3 hours. It was better than I expected. The funniest part was this monkey. Hopefully, I will be able to post a picture.

Sunday we spent the night in Daphne.

Monday

We got up the next morning and thought we'd go for a walk down Gator Alley, which was a big disappointment. We did see 2 gators from the boardwalk, but it was pretty much a boardwalk under the interstate where people did grafitti. Natalie wanted to go to the Bass Pro Shop we saw, so we ended up walking around there for about an hour.

Then we drove on to Gulf Shores. We couldn't check into the hotel until 4pm, so we had some time to kill. We ended up going to the beach and swimming, then went to Pizza Hut, almost dripping wet for a late lunch, walked around a couple of souvinour shops then checked into the hotel. Later, we went back to the beach until almost bedtime.

Tuesday, we got to Waterville USA at opening time. So expensive, but so much fun. It was worth it. We were there about 2 hours and then decided to get some lunch. We drove through the drivethrough, came back and ate in the parking lot. The food would have cost us an arm and a leg in the park. Then we swam and went down water slides until around 4 when we went to the car for a quick snack, then back to play again until closing time at 6pm. I am so glad we went that day, because it cooled off some after that. The girls went right to sleep that night.

Wednesday

It was only supposed to get up into the low 80s this day with clouds. So we went to Fort Morgan this morning and toured the fort. It was interesting and the girls enjoyed going up and down the stairs and the place had a lot of hidden places.

We drove back to Gulf Shores and ate our only seafood lunch at the Original Oyster House, which was delicious. Then we decided to go to the beach in clothes to find shells, wade in the water, and build sand castles. We stayed there until around 7pm and even in the clothes, we all got pretty soaking wet. I was so tired of sand.

Thursday

Since it still wasn't supposed to be real warm, we decided to just swim in the hotel pool before checkout. Afterward, we packed our things and headed home.

Mom fed the pets and checked on the garden while we were gone. She had already picked 6 yellow squash and I picked 2 more since coming home. I have a spaghetti squash the size of a lemon, tons of skinny green beans, lots of cucumbers on their way to getting ripe and probably 20+ green tomatoes. So exciting. We have weeded off and on yesterday and today. Watered half of it today and will probably water the rest tomorrow, with water Aaron has caught in rain barrels.

Top is a picture of Madelyn, Hannah, and Lexi. Middle is Hannah and bottom is the kids getting ready to go for a ride.

Lonely and Quiet

The girls left Sunday with the granparents to go on a trip. They went to the grandparent's house Sunday and Monday night. Then left Tuesday for Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium on Wednesday. Last night, they were close to Chattanooga, planning to see their Great Granny today and then going back to the grandparents tonight, then coming home tomorrow afternoon.

I would like to say that I got a ton of stuff done while they were gone, but I didn't. I worked 8 hours Monday. Then 5 horrible hours on Tuesday. It was a bad evening. So bad, that I had planned to call and see if I could work Wednesday, but decided to take the day off instead.

Yesterday, Mom and I went out to lunch. I got some paint at Walmart for the girls' bathroom (haven't started painting yet). Aaron left work after lunch. We ran a few errands, then came home. He sprayed weeds while I planted our puny tomato plants. I am hoping that being in the sun with room to spread will make them grow. I think they have been the same size for 3 weeks. If they die, I will just buy plants to plant and give up growing tomatoes from seeds. I never seem to get them to grow right.

Our garden is about 1/2 way full and we still have green beans, snap peas, and cucumbers, zuccini and more corn to plant. The peaches that were on the trees before it got real cold last week are bigger this week, so I assume that means that the frost didn't kill them.

Today I plan to plant my green beans and some cucumber seeds outside. Clean the living room and kitchen, balance the checkbook, start painting the bathroom and work 3-7. Guess I should get off the computer soon.

One more note... We had Natalie's party on Saturday. I hate planning for a party and then no one calls to say if they are coming or not. Most of the time no one calls, but we have a good crowd. This time, we heard one yes and one no. Out of 10+ invitations. Sadly, only 2 kids showed up. But thankfully, one of them was her best friend, so she was happy. Aaron and I were disappointed that we bought enough food for 30+ (since most parents stay and bring siblings). Oh well, hot dogs will freeze.
We had a great time. We hiked through the forest. Then cooked our hotdogs and marshmallows over an open fire. After that Aaron drove us down the road for a great hayride, right at sunset. it was beautiful. Then we came back, Aaron took them on another hike and everyone went home. Aaron's parents spent the night, so we all stayed around the campfire until about 9:30.

Fingerprints

Aaron and I dropped the girls off early at Mom's on Sunday morning before church and drove 25 miles to have our fingerprints done. We didn't want to have to take the girls into the jail. We have now been to 3 different jails and I think this is our favorite. The first, in our town, only has actual ink fingerprinting. So, if you mess up then there is no fixing it. Our fingerprints from that jail were rejected. Then we redid them at a jail about 30 miles from here in a tiny closet of a room with visitors to the prisoners constantly going in and out, where the police officer would stop and chat because everyone knows everyone and that was a little uncomfortable. But it was the new machine where your finger never touches ink. You put it on a screen and it scans it, shows if it is good enough right then, then at the end, they print the whole card. So, our fingerprints for our homestudy were mailed off today. When the social worker gets them back, she will officially complete our homestudy (for the 3rd time -patient woman) and then send it to us. Once completed, I can mail it off, plus a ton of other stuff to Citizens and Immigration to have our status changed from Vietnam to Russia and get a date to drive at least 1 1/2 hours to have our fingerprints done again for them.
While doing our fingerprints, the young woman told us that she was adopted - by a distant family member. Of how she is all for adoption and how she met her birth mom when she was 18 and immediatly called her adoptive mom to tell her thank you. It was just nice to have some encouragement from someone who has been there.
Don't have time to post a picture tonight. I am going to bed before 10pm.

Princess

Here is our dog Princess who we rescued from the animal shelter last fall. She is a good dog. Probably around 8 months old now. She is so big though and still a puppy, which is not good for the girls sometimes, since she plays a little rough.