Cost Of A Disco/Dance Party

Age inappropriate costume for a 4 year old.....$5.00



Gold Glitter Hat.....$4.99




Inflatable plastic guitar.....$1.99



Disco Ball Earrings.....$1.99



Disco Ball Hanging In Your Living Room.....$23.99



Your Husband (wearing a Mr. Kotter wig) and nephew "rocking out like they mean it".....



PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I think this was around the time that my Dad announced "I think I hear The Homestudy People knocking on your door." Luckily it was just the extremely loud beat of the music.

Update from Camp Jon And Karen

We are still at it with the kiddos, we have just been having too much fun to post. Actually it's too difficult to wrestle the laptop from the 11 and 15 year old. I realized from some of the comments on the previous post that I should let you know there isn't really any camping done at Camp Jon and Karen. There is usually a kid sleeping on the floor, so I guess that might count as camping. Today is the last day so last night we celebrated with a disco/dance party. I will just let the pictures tell the story.


Even Dad was "getting his groove on."



More to come....

Camp Jon And Karen Day 1 (told by Ivy)

(I asked Ivy to tell me about her day yesterday. Most of it was spent driving here - they got here around 6:30pm. This is how Ivy remembers it.)

First, yesterday I woke up in the motorhome and we drove here. We played and colored. I took a nap and Ashlee' did too. It was a long, long trip. Pappy ate an Ice Cream Sandwich when we stopped. I ate a turkey sandwich. We couldn't find the campground because we went the wrong way. We parked and Mamare brought us to your house. When I got here I hugged you. We had a tea party but I drinked apple juice. We had goldfish at the tea party. Karen gave everybody a tee shirt. That's it.

2006 Camp Jon and Karen Countdown

Ok people, it's almost here. That's right, in less that 24 hours the happy campers should be arriving. My parents are bringing the nieces and nephew in their R.V. and should arrive late Wednesday. So, not only do the kiddos get to travel in style but it also helps us out with the kid to adult ratio. (Despite what our homestudy says, Jon and I really don't have a clue.)

Which reminds me, some of you asked if you could send your kids. I'm afraid we aren't able to accept any additional campers as we should probably keep the adult to kid ratio at 1 to 1.

As chairman of the planning committee, I can tell you that I have a few things planned but those will remain a secret for now. I am sure there will be pictures and stories so stay tuned. Despite my BS post yesterday about not obsessing over the referrals *, I am considering putting each of the kids, my parents and Jon on a rotating 3 hour referral watch. I already have all the important sites bookmarked so it wouldn't be too tough for them. (Well I would have to teach Ivy to read a couple of key words but how hard could that be? I'll start her on the flash cards first thing. ) Then I could have 24 hour round the clock referal watch. Brilliant. Besides, without three kids to look after, my sister Hope might be a little unreliable in the next few days.

Speaking of pictures, I thought it would be a good idea to capture a "before" shot. You know, so that we can properly assess the damage, I mean fun, that we have. Here are three of the four kiddos (they are picking up my Brother's daughter in the morning.) My BIL took this before they left today.















* I am currently allowed to obsess since we are now in a severe referral alert status. My new resolution only applies to anything less than a severe status. OK, and maybe a high status.....

I've Created A Monster.....

and I love her. It's my sister Hope. It was almost exactly a year ago that Jon and I were starting our adoption process. I was at her house for a visit and I exposed her to the world of adoption blogs. At that point I had found one - yes one, China adoption blog. Don't laugh, I was new to all of this. The blog belonged to a family that had just returned from China with their daughter. We sat at Hope's kitchen table, both with tears, and looked over the blog. The next morning Hope confessed that she stayed up very late the night before reading the entire thing. Anyway, her blog habit has progressed from there and I couldn't be happier. It's not about her reading the blogs, it's her involvement in this entire process. She doesn't even have to ask if there any updates because I swear she knows them before me. Don't get me wrong, all of our family and friends are nothing but supportive about the adoption. I am grateful for all of their support. They just haven't reached the obsessive status that Hope has reached - and I wouldn't recommend it either. In another few months, you will probably hear about her support group for "Sisters of Adoptive Parents".

Last month when referrals came out, I was down with bronchitis and didn't even get around to announcing the referrals. I mentioned that to my sister and she said "Oh, please I've seen every one of them." I asked her how (because clearly she must be dependent on me for all of her information. ) She says "I've seen them all on The Salsa Girl's blog." Yes, M3 you are "Salsa Girl" and trust me it is a term of endearment.

A couple of weeks ago, I was called her from whatever airport I was in and mentioned that I had been so busy I had not even checked in on the latest rumors. No problem, Hope knew exactly what they were. But here is the best part. If there is a good rumor, she gets all excited and tells me. If it's a bad rumor, she will say "Don't listen to that, it's just a rumor."

I've decided I can no longer watch all the rumors like I have been doing the last couple of months. It may help other people but for me it's just not healthy. I'm sort of an "all or nothing" type of person. I do not think certain rumor sites are bad. In fact, Hope will be the first one to tell you that she has learned so much about the process via the popular rumor site. I can use just about any acronym out there and Hope knows exactly what I am talking about. I also think the site does a good job of educating folks on issues such as the extension for the 171H.

However, with an LID of 3/14, we have a ways to go and I just can't do that to myself. This is also why I've been blogging and commenting less - I am afraid I'll get totally "sucked in." I'll still check on the rumors off and on (especially when referrals get close) and I am sure as we get closer to a referral, I'll be hitting refresh every five seconds. But for now, I am going to let Hope be my filter. I'll still be checking all my favorite blogs so I can celebrate each and every referral. But I am going to take a break from the "12 month, 18 month, 24 month" game. It's anybody's guess and no amount of speculation is going to change that fact. When I started this process, I decided to trust our agency and the process. As much as it hurts, I have to continue trusting.

HEY YA CHARLIE BROWN OUTCAST HEY YA SONG

Check it out. I love this song and either it's the wine I've been drinking or this is really funny!

Wireless In Rhode Island

For anyone who scoffed at my need for a wireless connection at any airport, I have a little story. I arrived at a certain airport at noon last Wednesday for my 1:14 pm departure. After everyone boarded, they decided that the plane (regional jet) was over it's weight limit. They make a lame announcement which basically says "we are over our weight limit and we need some people to get off the plane". Yeah, Mr. Airline Employee that's going to work. So "Little Miss Helpful Let Me Tell You How To Do Your Job" (aka - me) sitting in the front row tells the guy "I think you need to tell people a little more info if you want them to volunteer. You know, tell them if you are offering any vouchers, tell them when they will be rebooked, things like that". Blank stare from Mr. Airline Employee.

Of course no one volunteers, so I said I would sacrifice my 110 pounds - HAHAHAHAHAHA. Six other women (who are now my new friends) volunteer also. Then the chaos begins. The gate agents start pecking on their keyboards looking for alternate flights for us and what do you know, can't seem to find any. "Little Miss Wireless" (aka - me) fires up my laptop, logs onto my favorite travel website and proceeds to find flights for myself. I also tried to help my new friends but they were all traveling together and it wasn't easy to find six seats. Yes, I was one of "those" people - but hey I wanted to get home. The gate agent tries to tell me that there aren't any seats on the flight I found and I say "yes, actually 3F in first class is open and that will work just fine for me." The seven of us then proceed to re-negotiate the original voucher offered and got them to increase that a bit as well. Only fair since I did a bit of the work.

It took TWO hours to get all of that settled and then still had a couple of hours before the new flight. So I headed to the airport bar with my six new friends and had a couple of drinks. They were a hoot!!! So if you ever get stuck at the airport just give me a shout and I will hook you up!!

P.S. - Angela, Mark is of course excluded from any frustration that I appear to have with Mr. Airline Employee and his co-workers. Mark is the pilot, the one that gets me home safely. I say THANK YOU every time I pass the cockpit door when getting off of a flight - even if it is late.

Have You Seen This Show?

I'm in my hotel room, flipping through the limited channels and trying to get some work done and I came across this show "Honey*we're*killing*the*kids" on TLC. Two words. TRAIN WRECK. Oh my goodness. (I know what did I expect with such a dramatic title.) Think Super Nanny but all about diet and exercise.
Is this show old news, am I the only one that hasn't seen it? Sure, it's mostly common sense, things we all know but don't necessarily always do. They study what your kids eat and also the amount of exercise they get vs. how much time they spend watching tv and playing video games. Then the whammy, they run this data through some fancy schmancy computer model and show what the kids will look like when they are 40. Scary. Not in an attractive vs. unattractive way but more about how healthy they will be. Who knows how accurate these computer models are but at 40, they looked at least 55. The main star/host is Dr. Lisa Hark, well known nutritionist. She takes the family through a three week program where they transform their eating and exercise habits. She showed how much sugar they should be consuming in a week and then showed how much they are actually consuming each week. Ouch. They just threw out all of their junk food - huge plastic bin full. Not good. Hmmm. I just realized I am basically watching a TV show about how bad it is to watch too much TV. Wait, is that the hotel gym calling....... Nope it's still the TV.
Have you seen this show?

Funniest Thing Ever Heard At 35,000 Feet

I've logged a few miles over the last 15 years or so. I've heard and seen some crazy stuff while flying the friendly skies. I once heard a two hour conversation between a minister and a Las Vegas stripper - I kid you not. Too bad I didn't have a blog then!! Anyway, I was on a flight yesterday and as the flight attendant comes down the aisle to take our drink order, the woman next to me orders a strawberry daiquiri. HA!! Would you like that before or after the five course meal you are going to be served? This wasn't even a "real" airplane. It was a regional jet. What do those things seat, like 60 people? You can't even stand up. Sure, the thing is equipped with some (hopefully) sophisticated navigation equipment and your seat cushion will somehow magically become a flotation device in the event of a water "landing" but sorry, no blender.

Pathetic

I take it personal if I find myself in an airport or hotel that doesn't have a wi-fi connection. Recently, my wireless card is having trouble at home and I haven't figured out the problem just yet. In the meantime, do I just stay tethered to the office? Oh, heck no!! All I need is a loooooong ethernet cable and I am good to go. Here is the new look leading from the office to the bedroom (or anywhere else in the house.)

And thanks to the layout and modest square footage of the Jon and Karen Abode, I can actually cover the entire house with this if necessary. Sure we aren't going to pass any baby proof inspections but I'm sure we Jon will have the wireless issue figured out before our homestudy update.

I remember years ago when Jon first suggested getting a wireless router. Don't quote me but I think my response was something like "how pathetic would I be if I couldn't just stay in one place when I'm online"? I think I just answered that question.