6 years old

Blaine playing dress up. He LOVES to play dress up, but he usually doesn't want anyone to see him when he is wearing a costume.

Today my sweet baby boy turns 6. I asked him this morning if he felt "different" now that he was 6, and he said "Yes, I feel 6 now". His party is later this afternoon, so pictures will follow soon......

11 Years!

This picture was taken at the Northwestern State University ROTC Military Ball in 1995. I was 20 and Joe had just turned 22 and we were only a few short months away from getting engaged. We look like little kids. No wonder my parents made us wait to get married until after we had graduated from college. Blaine better not even think of getting engaged at 20 or 22!

July 5, 1997 : Joe and I celebrate 11 years of wedded bliss today!

Only 1 more day!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted to add a picture of my little man all dressed up for our Mother's Tea at school. The boys wore their daddies ties over their uniform shirt, and the girls wore hats and high heel shoes. It was the cutest thing ever.

Only one more day until we are finally in the month of July! July will be a very exciting month around here, and we can't wait. On the 5th, Joe and I will celebrate 11 years of marriage. On the 6th we will celebrate Blaine's 6th birthday. He has been waiting for his birthday since December, because he knew that when his birthday got here, it would only be a few more days until his daddy came home. The 12th will be the much anticipated date. The 12th is the day that Joe will finally be home from Iraq, and our family will be together again. On the 20th we fly to Disney World, and on the 28th we head to Texas to visit Joe's family. It will be a busy month, but I am looking forward to it more than anything. Hope you all have a wonderful July!

19 Months!

19 months since our Dossier was logged in with the CCAA, and I don't know how much longer it will be. We are hanging in there, and hoping for a speed up, but for now we are just focused on Joe comming home and getting on with our fun filled summer!

Before and After

Before

After
OK the before isn't the actual "before" it is more of the mid-way point. When we bought this house 3 1/2 years ago it had plastic green shutters and looked worse. Don't ask about the grass. I don't know what to do with the grass other than rip it out and lay new sod, and I know my husband doesn't want to hear that right now. Less than 1 month is left on Joe's deployment. He will be home soon. Blaine is so excited and all he can talk about is what he and his dad are going to do when he gets home. Joe will have about 1 month of leave before he starts back at his Abbott job, and we plan on lots and lots of family time, at home, at Disney, and at the beach!

New Camera and T-Ball

I bought myself a brand new camera. It is a Nikon D40x Digital SLR. I don't know how to use it yet, and I only have one lense so far, but I love it, and it takes great pictures. Check out the T-ball pictures below. See how clear they are? Just wait until I actually learn how to use it!

Thumbs up!

Team Photo ------- Go Diamondbacks

Blaine and his best friend and next door neighbor, Santino, playing before their last T-ball game of the season.

18 Months!

I don't think the title needs a post. You know what it means.

November 18, 2013

Our prediction for LID 2006-11-13 (China Adoption Forecast)
China has 308 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 5-7 days of dossiers each month.

If China did all future referrals at the exact same speed as they did this month: 2013-10-26

Our best guess - a weighted average of recent CCAA velocities, guessing that CCAA will perform about as well in the future as they are performing now, but might return to previous trends: 2011-01-19

That's our best guess for when you might receive your referral. Just at a guess, we can suppose that the CCAA either speeds up or slows down significantly, and show you those dates. If they speed up: 2009-08-31. And if they slow down: 2013-11-18.

Since China generally sends out referrals in a batch about once per month, your referral date could easily vary +/- one month depending on whether you just get included or just get missed in a particular batch.

Field Trip to the Zoo

17 months since LID!

Wow! Has it really been 17 months? I barely noticed! (being very sarcastic here).

The good news is that Joe will be home in less than 3 months (2months 3weeks and 4 days, but whose counting?), and that time has seemed to have gone by rather quickly. You will never guess where Blaine decided he wanted to go on vacation once his dad comes home, go on guess.......................................... Yep, Disney World (again) in the middle of July. I can't wait, I have never been there before (being very sarcastic here too). We are also going to go to TX for a long trip to visit Joe's family. It should be a fun, long, hot, summer! I am sweating just thinking about it.

National Guard Soldier from Baton Rouge Killed in Iraq

National Guard Soldier from Baton Rouge Killed in Iraq
A member of Joe's unit lost his life on Sunday. Please pray for his family. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through at this time.

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Free family tree - Ancestry search

Gifts for Chloe

Chloe got this ladybug chair for Christmas from my friend Cindy and her family

My sister found this, it is soooo soft and cuddly

I bought these

And last, but not least, my very good friend Avis, sent Chloe and I a box full of ladybug goodies. The t-shirt and booties are my favorites, and will be making the trip to China with us in the far, far off future.

Avis also gave Chloe a Ten Little Ladybugs book, but Blogger won't let me upload the picture. Spell check isn't working either, so don't laugh at how I spell things.

The Balloon (a poem told by Blaine)

Since I recieved so many e-mails from friends and family about Blaine's tooth videos, I thought I would share some more. Blaine loves, loves, loves to be video taped as well as video taping. He actually asks me to get out the camera to tape him all of the time. This video is of a little poem he learned at school.

My Sweet, Sweet Baby Boy

Yesterday morning, when Blaine woke up, he ran into the living room to show me what the Tooth Fairy had brought him. When I asked him what he planned to do with the money, he told me he wanted to buy me my very own Webkin. How sweet is that? He thought that since he loved them so much, that I would want one too. I am such a lucky momma!!! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. I tell him all of the time that I want him to stop getting older, and he just looks at me and says "Mom, I promise to still play with you when I am all grown up" That kid sure know how to make me happy. I hope I make him happy too.

Ping-Pong Champion

(this picture was taken right after the tournament, hense the sweaty shirt, yuck)

My husband, Joe, recently won the Ping-Pong Championship for Scorpion MWR Baghdad, Iraq. He is so confident in his abilities, that he recently announced that he could actually be a professional Ping-Pong player (insert cricket noise here). I love my husband, but if he quits his cushy job in the pharmaceutical industry to become a professional Ping-Pong player, I will....I will...I am not sure what I would do, but I would not like it!!! We are so proud of you honey! hehe

A Day on the Farm

Yes, that is me in the background petting a cow.

The animals on the farm are all really gentle and love to be around people, except for the geese. I have never met a friendly goose. The cows will follow you around like a dog and get "all up in your grill" (isn't that what the kids are saying now? hahahahahahahahahahaha) I told my dad that he and my Uncle Alfred should open up a petting zoo. The farm is right behind my uncle's bakery, and it would be the most exciting thing to ever happen in the little cow and sugar cane town of Vacherie (which is French for Cow, I think)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pictures from Valentine's Day. Blaine is currently into Webkinz, and Joe and I each got him one for Valentine's Day, along with some candy. We hope everyone had a wonderful day. (Blaine informed me that he has two girlfriends, Abbey and Mia, but I am not sure if they know it or not. hehe)

Blaine's First Loose Tooth

On Monday, Blaine came home from school with his first ever loose tooth. I was a little shocked, because I thought 5 was a little young. I said "Oh my goodness" a little too much on this video, and the echo is because we are in the bathroom so that Blaine could have a large mirror in order to look at himself.

On Thursday, Blaine's Nanny (my sister) helped him extract it at lunch time (she is a third grade teacher at his school) because Blaine's teacher was afraid he was going to swallow it with his lunch. He didn't swallow it, but he did lose it for a little while last night before he went to bed. Also, I don't know where he got the $20 from, but at least that was less that what he originally told his friends he was going to get; For some reason he was convinced that the tooth fairy was going to leave him a million dollars. (I hope this works, if not I will try it again later. Sometimes Blogger won't cooperate)

New Babies!

Last week the two mommy goats each gave birth to twins! Blaine was thrilled, and enjoyed playing with them. No wonder he enjoys visiting his grandparents so much.