China Update

For those of you wondering about our China adoption. We got an update from our agency today. They (meaning China-our agency has nothing to do with this end of things) have completed referrals through Feb. 9, 2006. We are August 15, 2006 so hard to say when it will be our turn. They have to go through 6 more months to get to us. It could take up to a month to complete 2 weeks (it has in the past)or they might speed up and do a month at a time (highly unlikely but we can hope) we just don't know. Our agency is hopeful that another providence in China is going to allow international adoption which will increase the amount of children available. This is part of the slow process we are dealing with. They are plenty of children who need homes but not all orphanages allow children to be adopted and go outside of China. If more orphanages allow people in the US to adopt then this would hopefully speed up our process. We will just keep waiting and praying! Yes we have now been waiting (not counting the time it took to gather our paper work) 2years and 1 month! Technically longer because we first went to our agency in January 2006 but didn't get our paperwork logged into China until August 2006.

Off the subject but cute quote today:
J: Mrs. Dunn, I am eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, do you know where jelly comes from?
Me: Yes, do you?
J: Yep, jellyfish-that just squirt it out of them!

Fun Times

We had a very busy but good week this week. I am proud to say we accomplished our goal and ate at home every night this week including Friday! I will admit there were some nights of grumbling and complaining but everyone survived! We went to meet the teacher on Monday and got to hear and see how PD is doing in fifth grade. He had great reports from both teacher and the only complaint was handwriting. Allen says maybe he is going to be a doctor because you can never read their handwriting! On Tuesday and Thursday we had double header baseball games. PD team seemed to be worn out on Thursday and not do as well but they still had a great time playing. On Friday Allen went to the game while PD and I stayed home. We were both tired out from a long week and were in bed by the time Allen got home. Saturday PD had ball practice, we went to the grocery store and then went to Amy and Heath's to watch the Carolina game. It was a disappointing game. The Gamecocks love to get your hopes up and then let it slip right through their hands. We had a good time hanging and watching the game together though. After the game we went to met my family for a belated birthday meal for my mom at Kanpai. We usually go there for PD birthday but this year since he had a party we didn't go so when we were there mom told them it was his b-day celebration so he got to wear a hat, get sung too and get wooden chopsticks. She said she didn't want all that attention and knew he loved it! It was nice because my parents,Mike, Scott, Jennifer, my Grammie, Amy, Heath had not all been together for a while. I forgot my camera but Heath snapped some picture with his iphone and sent them to me so I am going to attempt to post them.

My Grammie, Mom and Dad

PD digging in ! As you can see he loves the hat!

Mike and PD Scott and Jennifer Amy and Heath

As you can see there is no picture of Allen and me. Heath took one but it was way to close up and not a good angle so it didn't make the cut! Hey, it is my blog and get to make the decisions! :) After dinner we went back to Amy and Heath's where the boys watched another game and Amy and I channel hopped. We watched House Hunters and Wedding Singer (now that is some great television!) we had our fill of football watching Carolina! This morning I woke up with a terrible sinus headache and we didn't make it to church. The alarm went off everyone got up but me. I felt so terrible I took some medicine and went back to bed. I still do not feel great! I hope whatever is blooming goes away soon because it is killing me! We went to my parents to eat lunch and left PD there once again. He loves to stay with them and they love to have him so it works. It was another great week for us. I hope this week goes just as well. I am off to hopefully take a nap!

Out Of the Mouths of Kindergarteners!

I had two cute and funny comments I just had to share from my sweet class. I was drawing a character from a story to model for them what I wanted them to do in a workshop when one of my kids said, "Mrs. Dunn when you grow up and get to be 16, you should be an artist!"
The second was when we were reading "One, Two Buckle My Shoe" at the end it says "9, 10 Big fat hen!" Well, one of my kids said " Can we say thick instead of fat? Because my mom says fat is not a nice word but thick is ok!" Just some of the many cute things my kids say on a day to day basis! I had to write them down so I won't forget! Happy Hump day!

Weekend

Well not much went on around here this weekend. On Friday night, we went to see Amy's new classroom at her brand new school and I must say it is very nice! Everything there is beautiful. PD said he would like to go back to fourth grade and go to school there. We had two extra passengers with us Friday night, Savannah and Isabella were with us while Kelli and JB spent a romantic Friday night at the ER! JB had a kidney stone act up Friday afternoon so we took the girls with us and they were so sweet! After touring the school we went to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We love their fries with vinegar! Yummy! Then we came and hung out at our house for a while before we took the girls home. It was a fun evening. Saturday, I got up and worked in the yard to try and save our front flower bed from weeds! It seems to be an impossible task because as soon as I get it where I want it the weeds attack again! Allen went to help a neighbor cut up a tree that had fallen in his yard and PD was a bum and stayed in to watch football.That afternoon Allen worked on tackling the bushes in our yard but was unable to finish due to some wasp nest in them! He was lucky and didn't get stung but they were swarming everywhere! PD came out and played football with the neighbors and I went to the grocery store! Our goal this week, is to not eat out during the week and just eat what we have here so I worked on buying things that everyone would like this week. Saturday night we went to a birthday party at Frankie's fun park for one of PD's friends from elementary school. He had a good time and we enjoyed catching up with some friends. The boys don't go to the same school now and we miss seeing them so it was nice to have some time to chat. Today was church this morning and lunch at my parent's house. PD stayed there for the afternoon to entertain them (haha) and I came home and took a nap while Allen watched (w/ his eyes closed) football. Tonight we went back to church and we are gearing up for a busy week! We have Open House at PD's school tomorrow night, a baseball double header (by the way Allen corrected me in my other post I said double hitter and it is double header!) on Tuesday, church Wednesday, another double header on Thursday and Byrnes game on Friday! Oh yeah, not to mention work, cooking, laundry and cleaning the house! I guess I better get to bed if I am gonna make it!

Batter Up!

PD had his first fall ball game on Tuesday night. He pitched the whole game and did an awesome job! I was so proud of him and his team. They had a double hitter and won both games! He is having a ball and would have played all night if they would let him.
Here are some pictures of him batting. He did a good job batting too. He was walked several times and I think we would rather be able to hit.




Here are some pictures of him pitching. I am amazed at his focus on the mound. I really like his coach this season. He is very positive with the boys and enjoys coaching them.




Below are some pictures of PD and two of his good friends. The first one is him and Caleb. They have been friends since they went to Ms. Linda's together when they were one. I have cute picture of them when they played YMCA tee-ball but couldn't get it on here. It is so amazing to see them so big now.
Below is triple trouble! PD, Caleb and Hudson. Don't let those innocent smiles fool you they are trouble!

This was a picture I took of the three of them sitting in the bleachers between games. We had no idea they had these numbers until they handed out jerseys. Pretty cool!

Surprise!

On Monday night we had a sweet prayer time and we had a surprise baby shower for Amanda in our group. It was such a fun time! Amanda had no idea that it was not a regular prayer time and we enjoyed showering her and baby Harrison with gifts. I feel so blessed to be a part of this group of praying ladies. When we get together we always have such a great time! Every time I leave prayer group I feel so revived and I know I will be prayed for until we get together again.
As you can see from the pictures below we always make it fun!

The Whole Gang

Amanda, Jennifer and Me-showing off Katie's great burp cloths!

The hostesses

Our True Colors

Weekend Recap

Well it was a great long weekend! After our adventures on Friday night we got up on Saturday morning and went to Gaffney Outlets to do some shopping! I really needed some fall shoes and khaki pants. So we headed to Clarks for some of my favorite shoes! I was so excited they were having a huge sale! I got 2 pair of causal shoes (one black, one brown) for $30 and 2 pair of dress shoes for $60! This was a great deal for Clarks! I also found khaki pants on sale at Eddie Bauer for $8.99! I was so excited. Allen got new sunglasses and PD finally finished all his b-day money by buying a new Wii game. It is an Olympic sports game that he has really enjoyed. Then we came home and cleaned our house from top to bottom and boy did it feel good to get that done! If only it would stay that way! On Saturday night we took my mom and dad wings since my dad is still recovering from knee surgery. We stayed and watched the Clemson game to half-time (so sad) then Allen and I came home and PD stayed the night with PopPop and Anne Mommy. Allen and I watched the rest of the game and cheered on the Tide! (SORRY!) It was a great game! :) On Sunday PD said he didn't feel well so he stayed at mom and dad's while Allen and I went to church and had lunch with our Sunday school class. When PD finally came home he only stayed a hour before he headed to his Grandmother's house to spend the night! Allen and I went to eat at On The Border (my favorite) and then to Barnes and Noble and the grocery store. On Monday we headed out to breakfast at Duncan Cafeteria and then we came home and spent the rest of the day being bums until I headed off to Prayer Group. It was a great weekend!