Homestudy Fun!

Well...first let me say my computer is infected. 173 viruses, so much for paying high dollar for Norton!! So, I haven't had a computer in at least a week, so I cannot post any pictures. On the adoption front, we met with our social worker last week and this week. At our first meeting, she asked Jeff and I alot of questions about our motivation to adopt, our parenting, our marriage, and the ethnicity of our community (big fail for Owasso). The scariest part was when she interviewed Austin all alone. You never know what kind of things will come out of that kid's mouth. (I was remembering when he was 4 and told the pediatrician that he doesn't sit in a car booster or wear a bike helmet, when I questioned him why he told her this, he said I was just joking.) I was hoping he wouldn't "joke" with our social worker. Then I became even more nervous when Austin told us that it was a secret what he told her. But then said he was joking and just couldn't remember. Bits and pieces are coming back and I think he did well :) At our second meeting, she spoke to Jeff and I separately where we got to discuss our "issues." I felt like I received some good therapy! :) We will meet with her one more time over the phone to finish up our discussion. We have finished all of our education classes and will be sending out our Application Part 2 to our agency, hopefully this week.

Next on the agenda: get together documents to send to the government (I-800A, and fingerprints). I have been told this could take 3-6 months to be approved to adopt. I hope not!
Also, we will begin working on our dossier which OH MY, is ALOT of work.

I keep thinking of this like my pregnancy...which would I rather have, pregnancy symptoms, moodiness, and weight gain for the next 9 months, or this? I will get back on that one....

Going Quackers!

I took the kids to the duck park today. Casen was cracking me up. He loved those ducks and wasn't scared at all. The geese were honking, and Casen kept honking right back at them. I couldn't stop laughing at him.


Casen "honking"

Once the bread was all gone, Casen kept clapping his hands and calling the ducks back with his arms. It was so funny how much he loved them.

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Such a Mess!!

Life is always interesting with Casen!! Well, I will just let the pictures do the talking....


He somehow found this sucker and unwrapped it himself, and well who am I to take it away from him. Definitely not worth his wrath!



He LOVES his brother's DS. He wants it turned on, and well who am I to take it away from him, it's not worth his wrath!


What a little helper...don't be deceived, HE made that mess!


We gave him a snack, and then realized he was much too quiet :)

Casen loves sitting on the potty and every once in awhile we actually have success. Him just sitting there is success enough for me!! He loves reading books when he sits, and sometimes I cannot get him to get up!


This is his new favorite look. If you tell him "no", or if I just try to talk to him when he is in Kylie's arms this is a look I get, along with a whine.

He is just such a mess, and I love him!!!

The Tooth Fairy is Coming!

Austin lost his first tooth!! He is probably the last of his friends that hasn't lost any teeth, but after weeks of wiggling on that thing with his tongue (which completely grosses me out by the way)it popped out tonight! Austin was very excited!! Brenden thinks that since he has a gap between his 2 front teeth that he has already lost a tooth. After several weeks of hearing arguing between him and Austin about it, I had to break the news to Brenden that God made his teeth that way and he hasn't lost any teeth. He was crying and wanted to lose a tooth like Austin. This is the life in the Smith household :)

Awwww!

That's my big sigh of relief, and I am sure there will be more to come as we continue to finish steps in our adoption. I have finally finished all the paperwork needed for our homestudy. It took a little over a week...here was my checklist (and can I say as a person who loves lists, I loved checking each item off, it was almost fun!)




I personally dropped off the papers at Dillon International this morning. Then took my boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the morning, forgot my camera, so no pics :(

What we are working on now....our social worker will contact us, and we will meet with her about 3 times. We will also work on completing our 12 hours of education and reading our book.

Spring Break!!-Day 5

Today was Day 5 of our, we really miss you Jeff and Austin and can't wait to see you tonight, week of fun!! We went to the aquarium. HOLY MOLY, is what Brenden said over and over. He loved the big fish, and the alligator. His favorite had to be the sharks though!

Casen kissing his shark. He kept putting it on the ground and tried to make it swim.

Spring Break!!!--Day 4

Well, today was day 4 of our, okay we may be a little jealous that you got to go skiing, week of fun. We went to mom's club at the mall. The kids played; I talked with my friends. Nothing could be more fun :)

Brenden and one of his best friends, Cooper.

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Casen and his future best friend, Brock. Casen refuses to take pictures now. When I tell him to look at the camera, he says, "uh-uh" and never looks. So when he is older and wonders why the other 2 have way more pictures, I can tell him why, and not at all because he is the 3rd child.