Help make room for one more

My old friend from work has a cute little family of 3 kids and a dog. He and his wife are two of the biggest hearted people I know. They have decided, or as they put it, God has decided, that they have room for one more in their family, and they are trying to adopt a little orphan from China. She is two and they have named her Miranda Joy. She was abandoned the day after she was born and has been in the orphange ever since. And here's a sweet picture of her to tug at your heartstrings...

As many of you have probably heard, international adoptions are expensive. They are raising money to finance the cost of the adoption and the cost to go to China to pick her up. They don't know I'm doing this, but I thought I would solicit some support from my fellow bloggers. Please check out their website, Our China Girl Adoption to read their touching story and to support them in bringing this sweet little girl home. Be sure to click on the Support Us link!

Dear Daddy,

You've been gone for a LONG time! How do you like North Carolina? Is that where cousin Caroline lives? I miss you a whole lot! I bet you miss me too, so thought I'd write you a letter to let you know what I've been doing while you've been gone.

This is me thinking about what to write you.

I have really been working on growing up lately. I want to do whatever Mommy is doing. Unless she's getting dressed or getting her fingernails clipped. I hate both of those things! Ever since I got my nails professionally painted, I won't let mommy cut my nails. I'm holding out for a mani. I'm also a good helper. This morning Mommy was swifting and I wanted to help so bad! So when I finally yanked the Swifter out of Mommy's hands, I got to clean our floors up a little. You can pay me my allowance for this when you get home.I also have figured out what candy wrappers look like. I don't know how because I never have really had candy...until today! Mommy had to go take out the trash, so she let me play with the M&M's I got from trick-or-treating because you know how I think it's so funny to shake them. By the time Mommy came back from outside, I managed to open the bag of M&M's and was thoroughly enjoying the nice treat. I poured them out everywhere so I could choose which colors I wanted. Mommy said it was a good thing they were plain M&M's and that I didn't choke. What a worry-wort! I totally had it under control! I don't know why she took them all away from me. I was so mad!

I got over it soon because we went downstairs and Mommy took me cruising around the carpet in my Cruisers' box. That was so fun! Maybe if we can find a box big enough for you, Mommy can pull us both around when you get home.

The other skill that I'm getting really good at is making messes. This is by far my most favorite thing to do all day. I hope you're not expecting to come home to a clean house, because even if Mommy tries to clean while I nap, I just mess everything up again when I wake up. It's awesome!

Do you like my new sweater? I hope so because this is what you're getting for Christmas this year! We've been doing lots of shopping while you've been gone. And Mommy said she spent all of our Christmas money on my new stuff, so I hope you like this pink sweater. Don't I look cute though? Mommy says don't me mad, k? My favorite thing about shopping is standing up in those shopping carts. Those belts and leg holes are for sissies! I always try to stand up when Mommy pushes the cart around the store, and Mommy always tries to make me sit back down, LAME!

Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I should hit the crib. I can't wait for you to come home this weekend! I miss hearing the door unlock and running over to see you come in! And I miss patting you on the back and laughing at the back of your head until you wake up when you're trying to sleep in on your day off. We will have so much fun playing together when you get home! Good luck at your interview tomorrow in Virginia!!! I'll be prayin for ya!

Love you and miss you! Can't wait to see you soon! Mmwah!

-Anna

Deck the Halls

I finally started putting up my Christmas decorations and it got me so excited for my favorite time of year! (It IS the most wonderful, afterall!) Isn't it still a little early, you ask? Well, I've been meaning to do it ever since Halloween because once I get caught in the whirlwind of things to come it would probably be Easter before I could get them up otherwise. So last night I began decking my halls. I don't have any boughs of holly, but I wish I did. They sound cute. I really don't have that many decorations, but the few that I have make me excited and happy. I have a sign that says "Be Merry". How can you not be happy after looking at that? We'll wait for Dave to come home to trim the tree. And thanks to Light FM 100 and Kosy, I've been enjoying Christmas music since November 1st. So don your gay apparel and fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la because it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

all in a day's work

I love all of our trees, I really do. We have a gigantor one in front, 3 along the side, and then one more in the back. They give us so much shade in the summer and add so much color to our street in the spring, summer, and fall. But today, I do not love them. Today was the day I finally decided to tackle the task of cleaning up our leaves. They haven't even all fallen yet, but it was such a nice day, and it's supposed to storm tomorrow, so it was as good as time as any. With Dave being gone, I needed some help, so I recruited my family and friends. My mom and dad, Wes, and Amy, and Jill all came to pitch in. I am so lucky they did! I could have never done it on my own! I would still be out there raking! You guys are awesome! THANK YOU!!! It was seriously so nice of them to take time out their days to help me. I think this is one day that Dave is probably glad to be gone. We did about 30 bags of leaves! And I'm not talking about those fluffy bags of leaves, these are FULL compact bags. It can be kind of a fun thing to do, but my problem is that I always think I'm almost done, and then every time I turn around, there's another pile of leaves. Five bags would be fun. After that, it gets old.

And look how much more are still to come! Ugh! This tree is a little "special." I think he's slower than the other trees. It's always the last to bloom in the spring, and the last to drop its leaves in the Fall. It's always about a month behind the others. But we love it anyway, and maybe one day with lots of hard work and practice, it will catch up with the rest of the trees on the street. We really do love our trees, so I shouldn't complain.

After a long day's work, Anna and I went to the library. We got some good books and rented a few DVDs. Anna and I needed a good chick flick for tonight, so we got Annie. I love that little orphan! And Anna was really into it too. Must be all the singing, dancing, the doggie, and that cool guy that can make stuff float in the air. Looks like this is going to be a DVD to purchase! And remember...you're never fully dressed without a smile! And the sun will come out tomorrow! Oh boy, I'm totally going to be singing these songs the rest of the week. Another reason for Dave to be glad he's gone.

HaBEE Halloween!

I know, I'm a little late on the posting, but Anna's 1st Halloween was action packed!

First she got to hang out with Grandma G while I went to work which is one of her favorite things to do. Then because it was Halloween after all, she got to come down to my work for the big party and festivities. If every day was a holiday, I would like my work much more! I am usually complaining about something at work, but I must say, they really know how to celebrate. They have a pumpkin carving contest, a game of sort of vampire "tag" where you try to avoid being "bitten". (I was into this because I have a thing for vampires lately. If you've read the Twilight series you know what I'm talking about.) Then of course we have the costume contest which is more like a series of skits where usually most of the men dress up like women. (This year we had a little red riding hood, Britney Spears at the VMAs, and a series of beauty queens, cheerleader, etc. -- all men, and no, most of them are straight) Halloween is really a chance for those in advertising to show off how creative they are. Anyway, it was really fun and not much work gets done on days like this as you can imagine.

The best part of it all was that Anna got to meet Poe! My best friend at work, Christina, dressed up as Dorothy and her cute little dog Poe, was the perfect Toto. (I went all out and put a clip in my hair to be a flower. Slacker, I know.) Anna LOVES doggies, but she normally sees big ones, so when she saw that Poe was just her size, she was ecstatic! At first she was just excited to see him, but then she mustered up the courage to touch him, and after that, poor Poe couldn't be left alone! He was probably sick of the big bee that kept bugging him. (no pun intended) Poe was such a good sport as Anna chased him around, pulled his fur, and grabbed his collar. She was in heaven and definitely made a new best friend.

Poe gave her a serious case of the giggles when he let her play with his jingly collar.

That night we went out trick-or-treating with some of Anna's favorite friends, Trish, Amber, Sara, and Will. Anna scored some good candy for not being able to eat any of it! She didn't even have a candy bag, but everyone really wanted her to have some candy. Anna was just glad to be out with the kids. Seriously, this is one social chick. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of everyone! When we were back at Sara's, I did manage to get a picture of the awesome pumpkin costume she made her husband Mike! Isn't it awesome? Hilarious. I should have gotten a family shot because I don't know how thrilled Mike will be about making it on my blog. I love Sara for making it and I love Mike for wearing it. I wish Sara had a blog so she could share her good pics! Little Will was a pumpkin too.

After trick-or-treating, we went off to see Caroline and Grandma and Grandpa. Caroline was the cutest little chicken ever!

Checkin each other out.

Are you really my cousin? I can't tell from your disguise.

I just thought this picture was funny. Anna was unsuccessfully trying to get Caroline's attention.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, now BUZZzzz off! :)