Whatever it takes.....

.....to get these monkeys to go to bed! I just had to snap a picture of the kids the other night. I was coming down the street after taking the dog for an evening stroll and from the distance I could see the light on in the van. When I got closer I realized that Adam and the kids were sitting in the van together..........reading bedtime stories? Strange! Apparently Evan was on the brink of "pre-bedtime" meltdown and the bribe of storytime in the driveway was enough to diffuse the situation. Good going Adam! You win the award for "Parenting Quick Thinking!"

Storytime with Daddy is always a treat!

Especially when it's in the car!?!?

There's a Hole in My Bucket.....uh Yard!

This weekend we tackled the sink hole in the backyard that we had discovered about a week ago. It turns out the sinkhole wasn't little at all! In fact it was the old septic bed that had rusted through causing a hole 6X4 feet wide and 4 feet deep to form. The only thing nnot causing a massive cave-in to have occurred earlier was about 3 inches of topsoil and some grass!! The hole was filled with rusted and jagged metal that I'm sure would've caused serious injury had someone fallen in. Thank goodness we won't have to worry about that!
We contacted a gravel company and had 4 yards of pea gravel delivered on Sunday and set to work filling in the septic tank. Need I say that Sunday was like the hottest day we've had all summer! Anyways, after much sweating the deed was done! I'm just thankful no one was hurt and that the yard is again safe for the little ones. Here's a couple pics. The actual magnitude of the pit is a bit deceiving in the picture because we only opened a portion of the pit and then used long rakes to fill in to the ends.

Our "hole"! Looks small but oh no!

A "bit" of gravel for our pit!

Trying to be Patient..............

We are quickly approaching our 8 month anniversary for our Log-In to China to bring home our amazing daughter Lauren (yes, she is amazing even though we've never met) I fluctuate between thinking "wow, 8 months has really flown by" and "hmmm...I wonder how many months are left." People are asking us whether we are still adopting? Are we getting the baby soon? And even, "oh, are you still waiting?" For those "in tune" with the international adoption scene 8 months is really only a drop in the bucket for what the end wait will be. Families who received their babies this month waited on average of 2.5 years. For families just beginning the process the wait could stretch to 7 years! The "expedited line" (the one we are in) is said to be processing Dossiers 40% faster than the regular line. If this is the case then we could expect our Referral sometime in late 2010 or early 2011 (based on an approximated wait of 2.5-3 years). For those interested in learning about the wait times in China, the social and political issues surrounding the international adoption of children from that country, and the families all over the world who wait to bring home their "forever children" then I encourage you to check out the website chinaadopttalk.com . This website, presided over by the "Rumour Queen" helps to make sense of the current wait times, and the possible future of the China Adoption Program. I guess to some extent I'm getting tired of the comment: "wow, there are so many babies over there why is it taking so long?" If only it were are simple as "supply and demand." Yes, there are many abandonned children in China. No they are not all girls. Yes, many have special needs. The percentage of orphanages that participate in the International Program is incredibly small. That means that the majority of children will never qualify to be adopted internationally. From a political perspective, China has an image they want to protray to the world. Once proud of running the most successful and non-corrupt adoption program in the world they have now shifted to not wanting to be seen as a country that "exports it's children." In the face of the recent Olympics in Bejiing, China is attempting to portray to image of cherishing it's children and caring for "their own." Will things change in the future? That is definately the "million dollar question." Personally I think not. Prospective parents are left to generate their own opinions and ideas in regards to the direction the Chinese governement will take. I feel the move will be towards a Special Needs Program only with the eventual disintergration of the Non Special Needs Program. My hope though is that the families who are currently Logged-In will eventually receive their children; and those children will receive the love of a family that has persevered and struggled to bring their child home. And that will make the wait worthwhile!

'Cause I had a bad day!

Those song lyrics seem so appropriate today and I'm sitting here hoping that it's just the heat (or hormones) making me grumpy and that tomorrow I'll awake and laugh at myself. We've been waiting for the Town Water & Sewer Department to sign off and give us the o.k. to dig for the new fence. Well, today the Sewer Department arrived. I didn't even realize until after he was finished that he had spray painted a green line down our "NEW" driveway. When I calmly asked him if it washes off he replied that it will "wear off eventually." GREAT!
To top it off we had noticed the other day that there was a soft spot in the backyard. Adam was going to investigate it later this weekend. Of course I couldn't leave it alone and curiousity led me to stick my foot down into the hole. There was a giant "whooshing" noise and the ground gave way. Luckily I wasn't sucked in too! Adam, who now thinks I'm pretty much insane, measured the sink hole to at least a depth of 4feet and there appears to be water at the bottom. We speculate that there used to be a septic bed there and it is causing the ground to cave in. We have a call in to a septic company to assess the situation but right now visions of having to dig the entire backyard up and remove the old tank are running through my head. And with all the money we spent on renos this summer there is not a penny left over for this newest disaster. Safety with the daycare is my biggest concern and I know the problem needs to be fixed. But how? Hopefully everything will work itself out for the best. And that concludes my pity party. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...................

All the monkeys in the zoo...........

Fun in the sun..........

We had a lovely weekend away and now it's back to the routine....that's the hard part! The kids spent long days at "Papa's Beach", ate "Grandma Cookies" till we thought they would be sick. Even for breakfast! Wow, I must've been in a good mood to let that one slip by! We've been looking forward to the day when the kids would be old enough to do fun family activities....so this weekend we decided to give Mini-Putt a try! Alec loved it, probably because he won; Evan was surprisingly good considering the club was the same size he was. Claire.....oh Claire! She fell asleep on the way there, and was in not-so-fine spirits for most of the outing. Oh well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad!
Adam spent the weekend showing my parents homes located closer to town. They even put an offer on one but were out-bid! It will be sad to say goodbye to the river; I know our kids have wonderful memories to take with them. Here are a couple of pics from the day.

Brother ~ Sister "LOVE"

Our Mermaid

Kayaking with Uncle Gregory (I was only a little nervous he would fall in)

Whew......

The To-Do List is slowly creeping to completion (finally). The patio and new bathroom are great. The driveway has been repaved and the kids are having a blast using the sidewalk chalk and riding their bikes on the "smooth" pavement (compared to the boulders and potholes that constituted our driveway previously). The new fence and gate are going in this week and I'm looking forward to letting the kids outside to play again without the worry of anyone escaping! The last bit of work will be finishing the rough -in and putting in the new fixtures for the downstairs bath. I'm pretty content to let this one rest till the Fall. As busy as we've been though I'm already thinking about "next" summer and what projects we'll tackle. We desperately need a new garden shed and now that I'm an expert "patio builder" I'm thinking of tackling the front walkway. I have some leftover stones that are begging to be used!
Till then though I'm enjoying relaxing with the kids. It's a long weekend and we'll be joining the massice exodus from the city and the migration towards cottage country, bonfires, kayaking, and playing in the sand. Can't wait!!