Super, Soggy, Soaking Wet Monday

What do you do when it looks like this outside your window??????

You have a movie party with your friends!

Can you stand these two little buddies holding hands??? Ten years from now we won't be letting them even sit next to each other!!

What better way to spend a rainy afternoon.......
Than watching a movie full of fairies and flowers!

Two Bedrooms Done!

Brianna and Ella's rooms are done! Two down, two to go! I just love the way they came out. Luckily, so do they! Next, Wen's room. Just have to figure out what the heck I'm doing in there-- any suggestions are welcomed :) Then, since everyone else was getting a new room, I told Jason that we'd repaint his room. I hope I'm not sick of painting by then! Here are the girl's new rooms:

El's New Room

B's New Room

Pretty purple bathroom

Rebecca's Giveaway

Rebecca, the wonderful woman who designed my beautiful blog is having a giveaway with some AWESOME prizes!! She and I have become "online friends" as we both wait for LOA to bring home two very special boys. With travel to China right around the corner she is hoping to raise some money to help cover the rest of her adoption expenses. She has had some VERY nice, and very valuable prizes donated by some generous people. Click on the link on the side "To China for Owen" to read all about Owen and help bring this special little boy home or go to her site at www.tochinaforowen.blogspot.com .

Update!!!!!!

Over the weekend we got a long awaited update on Wen! Oh how I wish I was able to post his picture so I could share his beautiful smile with everyone! In his original referral pictures he looked so grumpy. It was wonderful to see him smiling! According to the information I received our little guy is extroverted, lovely, smart, and loving. He is a quick learner. They call him "Xiao Shuai". Xiao means little, and Shuai means handsome. He's potty trained and tells his nanny when he needs to use the bathroom. He drinks from a cup. They reported that he talks and says MaMa. I don't know who he'd be calling MaMa, and maybe they're just saying this because they think that's what I'd like to hear. But, if he truely is talking he must have some hearing. I guess we'll have to wait and see! I can't wait to be able to post his picture. Hopefully just a few more weeks!

Pumpkin Picking

We spent most of the long weekend working on Ella's new room. As excited as she was about her new room, she still was asking all day, everyday "when are we going pumpkin pickng?" So on Monday we made some time to finally take her. She was sooooooo excited! Now she keeps asking, everyday, all day, "when are we going to carve the pumpkins?" Hopefully we'll get to that this weekend!

Ella was just a little happy to be at the farm!
J carries a heavy one
El tries to carry a heavy one too!
Brianna....with us......and smiling, strikes a pose!

Handsome x2
This is Ella's "I'm so excited I can't keep my tongue in my mouth" face!
Now for the best part...the roasted corn!
Ella LOVES corn!

Happy Birthday Brianna!!!!!

Happy Birthday Brianna!!! WOW! That's about all I can think, WOW, 15 years old!! When you and Jason were little people would often come up to us and say "they are so cute, enjoy them now, they grow up so fast". Of course I smiled and thought "I know, I know, I've heard that a hundred times". Now, 15 years later, all I can say is "WOW, 15 years old"!!!! How all of those people were right. Were has the time gone? How is it that 15 years can pass so quickly. Wasn't it only yesterday you were playing Barbies while watching the Power Puff girls????? Look at you now. We are so proud of the beautiful young lady you've become. Happy Birthday!!

Our beautiful 15 year old!
Big sister, little sister

Ella was so excited about getting everything ready for Brianna's birthday!
Brianna seemed very pleased with her tickets to see "Legally Blonde" on Broadway
A bunch of friends who came over to celebrate.......12 fifteen year old girls.....very loud!! It sure sounded like they had a great time!
Brian worked sooooo hard to get the fire going in the fireplace......as soon as it was going strong......they all got out of the pool!!!! Of course they did!! Well, it looked really pretty from the house anyway!

In Love.....with my new laundry room!!!!!

I am very well aware of just how ridiculous I sound, but I can't help it. I LOVE my new laundry room!!!!!!! And I am so pleased with my beautiful Wild Cherry Red washer and dryer!! They are fabulous and so much fun, and oh...did I mention beautiful????? I am quite sure that the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now I'm going to enjoy it. Laundry is so much more fun, and the best part is the way the washer and dryer "sing" to you when the cycle is finished!! My poor friends who have just happened to be on the phone with me when the washer or dryer were done!! Most importantly, I have not been left with a single mud stain on any of Jason's disgustingly dirty football cloths. The room is so pretty with all the red accessories. I had so much fun decorating. Considering the rest of my house is, well, very neutral, this little pop of color was refreshing (no comments from you Dana!!!).

In addition to the new laundry room, moving the washer and dryer allowed us to now take the space where they formerly lived and convert it to pantry space. What a pleasure!!! No more food shoved onto and falling off of the shelves! So first the pantry................................

These are the shelves that had already been in the room on the wall opposite the washer and dryer. This was were the food used to be stored. And now.....
LOTS of room for food!! That's the space the washer and dryer used to be in.

And now for the laundry room.............

Before.........

.........And After
I just LOVE those red beauties!!!!!!

On the bottom--double doors-coat closet, single door-utility closet.

Above the closets more storage!
I just love all the accessories I found to decorate the room, especially the little stool where the kids can sit and take off the muddy cleats!