Christmas Fun

Hi Folks,

We don't have any real updates on the adoption just yet. There are a few weakly rated rumors floating around. One says that December 20th is in the next batch and two other rumors say that December 19th is the cutoff. Our LID is the 20th and I won't be a bit surprised if the 19th is in fact the cutoff. It would be consistent with this entire process.

Beginning about 12 months ago we started thinking that we were about 6 months away from our referral. This continued for several months: each month we were still 6-months away. Then about 5 months ago we thought we were only 3-months aways from our referral. This continued for several months:each month we were *only* 3-months away.

It only stands to reason that we need to feel that we are only 1-month away from our referral for at least two months. So, we wait. Hopefully, we will hear something more substantial next week-- but I think we will be waiting until February-- probably the 2nd week, until we get our referral.

On one hand, this will suck, on the other hand, we will likely be in China for the Spring instead of Winter-- nicer weather and I will have maternity leave for part of the Summer which will work better for the Christening and the timing of the family party we plan to have for Josie-- more to come on that in the coming months.

In the meantime we have been pretty busy with the Christmas Season; Phoebe's first snow not to mention opening presents and enjoying the company of family and friends.

We had a big snow storm about two weeks before Christmas. It was a mess out here. The highway and all the main streets were packed with traffic. It took me over an hour to drive 5.5 miles from my office home and Wim about 3 hours to drive home-- a typical 20 minute commute.

The only good part was the beautiful snow. This was Phoebe's first introduction to snow. Unfortunately for her, the day after the big storm she went in to be spayed. She had to wear a cone on her head for few days afterward and ended up looking like a snowcone when she came in from the yard!

Christmas Day was a great day! Gabrielle and Xavier were very happy that it had finally come and they could open presents. It was definitely a whirlwind! Luckily for Wim and I they are now old enough to not be sooooo excited the night before that they cannot sleep and wake-up super early. We were actually up before them!

Here are some shots of them coming down Christmas morning and diving into their loot.-- and there sure was a lot of it!!

Wim was very happy to get another pair of Keene hybrid shoes. For those not in the know-- he got a pair this past Fall to take on a canoeing trip in Ontario-- where he lost them. Well, he didn't exactly lose them-- he forgot them at a campsite.

He was very bummed out about losing them and on Christmas day he was all smiles to see this new pair! Phoebe was very excited about all the early morning activity. All the paper tearing, presents, and wantnot. She was even more excited when she got to join in on the fun. At first she was confused and thought that the wrapping paper was the toy and she kept trying to eat it. Gabrielle was very brave and went deep to retrieve the paper from the far reaches of Phoebe's jowels. With steady positive encouragement from Gabrielle, Phoebe finally figured it out and was very happy with the rope reindeer chew toy Santa Pup brought for her.

Even Need-a-Kitty scored a little catnip filled chew toy shaped like a dog. She chewed on for a while, but she doesn't really look to happy. I guess one dog in the house is enough for her.

Once all the presents were unwrapped it was time to try out some of the new stuff! Gabrielle was eager to try on some of her new duds. Since it was still morning she started with her new PJs.Xavier was quick to grab his new Hydrogen Rocket and him and Wim worked on putting it together getting it ready for blast-off. It was like being in the heart central of NASA!

Meanwhile Gabrielle had moved on to some of the sweets in her stocking. I think she was starting to feel a bit of the sugar rush!

Wim and Xavier moved thier rocket ship outside-- it started beeping and counting down and all kinds of crazy warnings. Unfortunately, they did not get it outside quick enough and the appropriate launch conditions had passed.

It was time to get ready for the kids to go to thier mom's house and us to go Portsmouth so we had to postpone the launch for another day. Like I said, just like being front and central at NASA!

After dropping the kids off to celebrate Christmas with their mom we were off to Ava and Al's (Bob's parents) to celbrate Christmas with Wim's family.

Let me start by saying how wonderful it is to not only have wonderful in-laws like I have, but that they also have such wonderful in-laws. Ava and Al are such wonderful people! It is always a joy to be in their company and we have so much fun with them. Word cannot express how happy I am that everyone really enjoys each others company. I feel that we are all truly one big happy family.

Of course the holiday circles around all the kiddie-pops-- and right now, there are certainly plenty to go around (I can't wait until we add Joise to the mix!). I am always so happy when the gifts we choose are a big hit with the nieces and nephews. Here are some pictures of Abbie with the Unicorn and part of the outfit we gave her. Take a good look because she sure is growing into a pretty little girl. Before we know it, she will be a lovely little lady and not a little girl.

Emily is too little to open her own presents, but Becky was more than happy to fill in for her. You can see Bob in the background soothing the little darling while Momma opens the gifts for her.

Although she may be too little to open her own presents, she was still in good spirits. I think it may have been because she was sporting her hot new panties with her monogram on them. If this isn't blackmail material-- I don't know what is. Then there is her first baby doll. I think this was a present from Judy. My only question is . . . can you tell which one is the doll and which one is Emily?

Although Emily is too little to really understand what Leapster is all about, her big cousin, Abbie, can demonstrate all of the functionings for her.

Nate was more than happy with his gifts-- once we got him to change his focus. He is one determined little boy. He really zooms in on things and already knows how to focus with intent thought. But, with much coaxing-- and a little luck we finally got him to switch gears and check out the new musical school bus we got for him. He seemed to really enjoy it.

The dads were kept very busy by the kiddie-pops throughout the day. Bob enjoyed catering to his the whims of his little princess while Steve commented on the excitement that Abbie felt after opening hers.

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas that was as Merriest as ours!

Love,

Reena and Wim