6 Days!!!!

Ok - we're down to 6 days people and J still doesn't have his bed. We do have the downstairs (new room) rearranged for J and a mattress, bedding, etc but no bed. I'm still hoping that it comes in before we leave but if not - thanks again mom and Dan!!! Well on a brighter note, all my clothes and A's clothes are laid out on the bed after some quick adjusting (the weather is going to be much hotter than I anticipated thus different clothes). We have everything that needs to go (except for Brad's clothes) in A's bedroom all ready to go in the suitcases. Mom is bringing the adapters that Brandy (thank you) has so graciously let us borrow when she comes down on Wed. By the way, I just informed Brad that he is NOT allowed to pack the morning we are leaving so we'll see how this goes. Otherwise, I think I just have to get the quarterly stuff done at work and we'll be ready. Oh and D wants me to bring EVERYTHING COOL back from China for him. I told him that we would have to compromise and I would bring him back at least one super duper cool item.

I also got the carseats out and washed and put back together. I case you've never taking a carseat apart (remove harness straps and material) wow, that's a challenge. Took me a while to get them back together but I think we're set now. I also reserved our panda phone for while we're there and I've been getting the house all clean (why, I don't know as the boys will have it destroyed before mom gets here on Wed). At any rate, we're moving along and getting closer and closer. Now I just have to remember where I put those identifying CHI buttons we're supposed to wear.

J is over at a friend's house today. After his soccer game, he went to a friend's b-day party where they went bowling, arcade, mini golf, etc and than went to stay the night at their cabin up north. I told him to watch out for the bogeyman, but he didn't think I was too funny, actually I don't think he even knew what I was talking about - 9yr olds, what more can I say. He won't be home until after football starts as his friend's football game was cancelled yesterday and they've rescheduled it for today so he's going to go from the party to the game. I swear he's almost like a teenager, I never see that child anymore!!!! Perhaps, once he's out of sharing his brother's room and has his new bed and the entire downstairs den to himself he'll have his friend's start hanging out here again more. I don't think he likes sharing the room with his younger brother. Oddly enough about a month ago, when he lost his room and J and D starting sharing the room - J wanted to go to his friend's homes. I do have to say though that he's a great kid and still likes to hang out with his mom.

So D's been home with us this weekend and we made cookies last night. I think there's still some more left so perhaps D and I can have one before we head out this morning.

9 1/2 Days!!!!!

Well you read correctly, only 9 1/2 more days. One week from Saturday and we'll be getting on the plane of a lifetime. Well I think we're ready, at least, as ready as we'll ever be. The boys are already being spoiled by grandma and she's not even here yet. We're just waiting for J's bed to arrive. We had to order it, because we couldn't find what we were looking for in stock and it's not here yet. But it will be here soon enough and if it's not here in 9 days than thanks mom and Dan!!!

The boys are doing great and we're on the countdown for our last weekend!

Great Day & Getting Close

A great day and great weekend at the Lasecki house. So I spoiled the boys a little this weekend after all it won't be long before mom and dad are gone for 2 weeks. The boys went shopping with me Sat to get some travel suppplies, clothes, and groceries. They did a great job, J even held my clothes for me at Kohls. Since they were so good at Target as well, I decided to let them pick somthing out. J got the new Star Force Unleashed game and D got the Batman playhouse. They are both still playing with their new toys as we speak. And of course, I couldn't get somethign for the boys and not for A - so we got a My Little Pony playset as we well. Although, Brad seems to think that she's going to like the boys' toys more than the girlie stuff.

Also, J won his soccer game today: 4-3!!!! We're now 2-1 for the season thus far. I have to say these kids are really improving each and every game and looking great!!!

Anyways, I think we're finally getting everything ready for the trip. I need to purchase our money belts today - I couldn't find any during my shopping yesterday so it's the internet for us. We are now down to 12 1/2 days to take off and only 1 more weekend!!!! The next couple weeks are going to fly by (especially at work as I have sooo much to do before we leave).

Well I need to get back to some serious football action!!! Can't believe we had a soccer game on 1) a Sunday and 2) during football. Let's see this afternoon we're rooting for Philly and Colts and I can't believe that Carolina and Chicago lost!!!!!

17 Days to Take Off

I can't believe it's only 17 more days (more like 16 1/2 now). When we first found out we wouldn't be able to travel in Sept and would have to wait until Oct - I was devastated. I just wanted my baby home now and I kept trying to look at the positive and know that God had a plan and I had to be patient. Well, the days are starting to fly by and we only have 2 weekends left. Yes, 2 weekends!!!! Mom that means you're leaving in 14 days and a few hours. After having all this time, I can't believe I'm behind on things that need to be done yet.

Mom - priority #1 is the kid's schedule. Don't worry, I may forget clothes, toothbrushes, and sanitary items but you will have the schedule. By the way, it's almost done.

I did go through all the papers and we have everything we're supposed to - I believe that's the most important thing. I've been scanning all the papers in and saving them on a disk - why didn't I think to do this when I was filling out all these papers????? We still don't have any travel sized items (detergent, shampoo, etc), no money belts, and no adapters. But we do have A's backpack and lots of clothes. By the way, have I mentioned lately that Brad and I work with the most amazing and generous people and we also have the most awesomist family!!!!

With our without shampoo, we're leaving in 17 days!!!!

PS - J is no longer the dish and yard boy. He received a 90% and an 80% on the 2 AR tests he took.

Love my D-man

Kids are sooo funny, especially D. D has an overactive imagination and is "all boy". Everything is a sword (pop bottles, sticks, rolled up paperback books, pillows, you get the idea) and there's a story for everything, and if he doesn't get his way or he's saying something that's not true, than he's "just pretending".

Case in point #1 - I love football!!! Football is always on the tv, the games, the replays, recaps, etc. J is my sportsnut, but I think D is turning into one (slowly). D is cheering for the players in white shirts - the players in the white shirts are not playing today. So he comes up with his own cheer and song and plays the air guitar doing all of this and at the end I ask him what if the players in the white shirts aren't playing - "well they are". No D they're not - the green and blue shirt players are playing. This goes on for 5 minutes (I'm not kidding). Finally, D says "I'm just pretending". His answer for everything.

Case in point #2 - Tonight, he proves he is smarter than mom. He finds some magnetic long foam covered sticks (they're used to build forts, etc) and sticks his brother's sandals on the end of them. These are some kind of power ranger fire and water lasers (still a little unclear). I kept dying and coming back to life only to die again. (did I mention I love my boys). So, I thought I would use my powerful hand shields and block these lasers - now I'm alive all the time. D can't have that so I'm now the fire laser and he's the water laser. Did you know that water beats fire - yes, mom's just can't win some days. The taunting of "na-na-na-na, ha, ha, ha" is still ringing in my ears.

I love being a mom and I hope A doesn't love fire and water lasers because I'm tired of always getting killed during these battles.

Great Day

Well the day's not even over and everyone had an awesome day! Brad and I had to split up and take the kids to different activities. Brad took J to a soccer game in Charlotte. Apparently, Steve Smith from the Carolina Panthers was there - his son played on the opposing team. Brad didn't recognize him but J sure did. They lost the game (3-5) but apparently J played an amazing game as goalie. He blocked 15 shots. One block he had to jump up and he was going to try and grab it but instead he pushed it up and back behind the goal. He was very excited when he came home as he knew he did a great job despite the loss. To top it off, he got to go to a b-day party after the game for a teammate and they went to Nascar Speedpark in Concord Mills - rock climbing, go-karts, arcade games, what more could a 9yr old want!

D and I went to a birthday party for his friends. It was a swimming party and everyone had a great time. He did really well on his swimming and had an AWESOME time!!!! He also got a big piece of cake - which he loved. The had this big inflatable in the pool that the kids got to climb up on and slide down. Unfortunately, the kids couldn't climb up so birthday boys' dad had to lift the kids up and I helped them going down the slide. I think we both got some exercise today - but it was a great time. D loved it!!!! From the looks of it, M & A had great birthdays as well.

It's only 7:30p and it's been a great day for all!!!

Travel Itinerary

We received our travel itinerary today!!!! See the list on the left to see our activities for each day. We're so excited and it's awesome to be talking to the boys about where we're going to be each day. This weekend I'm planning on making sure all of our papers are in the binder and ready to go. We're almost there A!!!!!

Adoption News

We are now 23 days to take off. We received our final package of "very important information" from CHI this week. We also got some very exciting news this morning. Apparently, the embassy in China did not have our updated I-171 (immigration) forms. I have the form but they don't. No, mom - they would not accept us sending them our copy it had to come from the National Visa Processing Center here in the US. Well NVC in the US said that it was sent to China on 8/20 but China did not have it. Our awesome travel coordinator sent an email to China telling them politely to look for it. That was a week ago and this morning we received notice that they indeed did have our renewal forms. So everything seems to be going smoothly now and I have crossed off local politicians, congress, and the White House off my calling list.

D is so in love with his baby sister already. He's going to a b-day party this weekend and he started crying last night because his baby sister wasn't able to come with him. He talks about her all the time and apparently tells everyone in his class about his baby sister. We talked last night about all the fun stuff he'll get to do with her when she comes home - like Halloween. I talked with my mom and I think she's going to take the boys to get their costumes this year so I'm not running around at the last minute - gotta love my mom!!!!

J is not very happy with me today. He is grounded because he did not do well on his AR reading test. He seems to just read the words on the page and doesn't think about what he's reading and therefore doesn't remember. Most times it seems he picks out books that don't interest him. Last year, we spent a lot of time together and he would write notes down after every chapter and I would give him practice tests. We than graduated it to writing notes after every 3 chapters and so on. He did very well with that, but I let him start the year on his own this time and I'm going to give him another chance. We talked about remembering techniques and why it helps to remember when you write notes, etc. Basically, I got the "you're pushing me too hard". I thought of the Cosby show episode where Theo tells his dad how he's never going to be smart like his parents, etc, etc. Bill Cosby in all his wisdom's says something to the effect of "I don't care". Well that was basically my spiel as well. Afterwards, I told him that mom does not equate to best friend when doing schoolwork. Well, I still have my dish boy and yard boy for another week at least.

Soccer Game

J had his first season game (the other games in SC was a pre-season tourney) and they won 5-2. I was so proud of all the boys but especially J (what can I say, I'm a little partial to him). The first score was a penalty kick and J picked one direction and the shooter picked the other. I'm not really sure what happened on the 2nd score - it just got by him. I do have to say that Brad had to pipe up in defense of J at one point though. OK - here's a soccer lesson (J had to tell me at the SC tourney as I was lacking in the soccer rule dept). If you are a goalie and someone on your team kicks the ball to you, you cannot pick up the ball, you must kick the ball. I think all the kids know but apparently there are some soccer parents who are like me and lacking in the rule dept. Anyways, it happened today and someone yelled out to pick up the ball and Brad proceeds to yell back "He can't pick up the ball". I had to chuckle over that one - J didn't seem to really care, after all, "I know the rules". Kids!!!! Anyways, had to share the news that we're on our way to great soccer season.

By the way, D has found a new playmate during the soccer games. One of J's teammates has a brother about the same age as D and they had a blast today.

Getting Closer

29 days to take off!!! Well we're getting closer to leaving for China to pick up A. I think I'm finally starting to let things settle in my mind and get things ready. It seemed like there were so many things to do that were swirling around in my mind that I'd start a task and than move onto something else just as quickly all in complete randomness. It's probably due to football season starting - in case you don't know, I LOVE football!!! I get to yell at the tv and I think it just seems to make everything so much clearer to me (yeah, I know I'm crazy and so does the hubby and kids). At any rate, we have big plans for this weekend (other than football), I've got a written task list of what to do for the adoption and J has a soccer game tomorrow (hold off for an hour hurricane Hanna). I have a great feeling about the soccer game tomorrow and of course, Sunday is FOOTBALL!!!! Life would only be better if A was here with us now.

Oh and a big congrats to my sister and brother in law, Amy and Marcus, on buying their first home!!!!! Welcome to the wonderful world of debt and repairs.

Nice, Long Weekend

It's been a great weekend thus far. Brad and I took the kids to the park Saturday and Sunday and J got to go swimming at the neighbor's yesterday and Brad and I got to go out last night with some friends for an adult dinner. And we still have another whole day!!!! We've been so busy with the adoption, my sister's wedding, starting school and soccer that we hadn't really seen these friends in awhile and it was nice to get out.

Both boys are enjoying school, especially D. D loves his teachers and is still very excited to be in the big school with his brother. J is glad to see his friends but I think he would be happier without the homework. He likes his teacher though and he's excited to have 2 of his really good friends in his class.

This weekend my brother and I went shopping (I know, Dan shopping??? In his defense he wanted to go furniture shopping and didn't know where to look and I needed his truck). Anyways, I got a mattress, foundation, sheets, extra comforters, bookcase and I ordered J's new bed. We had a hard time finding J's bed as I really wanted a bookcase headboard and it had to be for a full size mattress. Should be here in about 2-3weeks. I think we now have everything we need for her room (the bookcase was the last item) and now we have everything for J's new room. Now we just have to put everything together - I think I'll leave that up to hubby.