Update on Adoption Process

I realize from all the questions I have been getting that I have not updated everyone on our adoption process. Well, our paperwork is completed and our social worker, Robin, has completed our case study. We are now officially in the "book" that the birthmothers look through. So, what do we do next? Honestly...all we can do is wait and pray. It could take a long time for us to be matched or it could happen next week. Just keep us in your prayers!

Also, this will probably be the last entry for 2007. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2008! Happy New Year!

Christmas Celebrations

As my mom pointed out to me earlier tonight, it has been awhile since I updated my blog. So, I thought I would give a quick overview of my Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve Jeromy, Mom and I went out to dinner at Cousino's Steakhouse and then we went to church. It was a lovely service. Luke 2 was read with carols mixed throughout. It was nice to go to a Christmas Eve service where the congregation is given the opportunity to truly worship God and celebrate the birth of His son, Jesus.

On Christmas, Jeromy and I opened gifts that we had bought for one another. Jeromy bought me a very nice jewelry box, a couple Boyd's Bears (which I collect) and some DVDs. I bought Jeromy some of the woodworking tools that he has been asking for and a MP3 player. Here's a picture of Jeromy with a couple of his gifts:



Here's a picture of me with a Boyd's Bear that Jeromy gave me. He said that he decided on this one because of the "eggs on legs" joke that we have.



For lunch we headed to my mom's house where we met up with everyone to celebrate the Christmas holiday. On Christmas we celebrate with the Sanderson side of the family. This includes my Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy (along with Gail and Bert and Jimmy and Jen), my Aunt Cindy (Bobby, Samantha, Brad and Lizzie) and my Uncle Scott. We had a good time hanging out with everyone. Then, on Wednesday, we headed over to Kelly's house for another Christmas celebration. We had to put off the celebration with my mom and sisters because Julie had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas. Here are some pictures of our celebration:


Elena chilling by the fireplace.


Alex opening his Scooby Doo computer game that Jeromy and I gave him.


Alex helping Grandma open the gift that he bought her at Santa Shop.


Grandma playing Operation with Alex and Elena.

I don't think I have ever posted pictures of my sisters (aside from the elves). Here are some pictures that I took that night:


Laura and her fiancee, Andy (they are getting married in March).


Kelly, her husband Monny and their dog Lucky.


Julie and her boyfriend, Lee

We had a great time together that night. We don't get a lot of opportunities to spend together any more.

Christmas was busy, but it was a nice time with family.

This Just In...

Another Elf! This time it is my sister Julie and her boyfriend Lee dancing around as elves. Check it out here!

Baking Cookies...A new Tradition

When we were young it was a yearly tradition to make our sugar cut out cookies as a family. Now that we are older we have not kept up that tradition. However, this year Kelly had the idea that we should make cookies together as a family each year at mom's house. I teased her it was because she didn't want the mess at her house (she didn't deny it). Anyways, tonight was the first excursion for our new tradition. It turned out that Julie and Laura were not there, but Kelly, Mom, and I worked with Alex and Elena to make our cut outs. Jeromy was there as well for a brief time but he just supervised. Here are some pictures from our "interesting" night.



Within moments of beginning the process, Elena managed to cover herself in flour.



Alex was not as messy as Elena (of course, he was not necessarily clean). We were surprised to discover that he has got the skills of a chef. Within moments he was rolling dough, expertly using cookie cutters, and carefully moving the cookies to the cookie sheet. He made a lot of our perfect looking cookies.



Kelly and Alex decorating the cookies. Alex did a wonderful job decorating as well. Below is a picture of his cookie which he called his "United States Army" cookie. He has a fascination with the Army recently.





I had left for a half hour to take Jeromy home and run an errand for Mom. When I returned, I found Elena sitting on a stool eating sprinkles with a spoon directly from the bottle (that bottle was not being used any more thankfully). She is going to have such the bellyache tomorrow.

One Big Happy Elvish Family

Everyone seems to be getting "elfed." Click here to check out Kelly and her family as elves and click here to check out Laura and Andy.

This is the funniest thing this Christmas!

Hilarious!

Okay, everyone else is posting themselves as elves and I wanted to try it too. Click here to see Jeromy and I dancing around as elves.

Are You Kidding Me?

Yes, school was cancelled today. We have now had three days cancelled. It is nice to get unexpected days off, but we only get five of them and then we have to start making them up. I really don't want to go too far into the summer.

Even though it was annoying to have another day off, I did have fun. I ended up going shopping with mom, Kelly, Elena, and Makenzie (the little girl Kelly babysits). We started off by putting Alex and Zoe (Kelly's friend's little girl who is in Alex's kidnergarten class) on the bus, then we headed off to the Southwyck Mall. I didn't know there were any stores still left in that mall. I was surprised to hear that there were, so off we went. While we were at the mall Kelly and I rode the merry-go-round with the girls. I took a few pictures, but I must have forgot to save them. The only picture I have is this one that my mom took of me and Elena. It is really blurry, but it does show how fast the merry-go-round was moving. Elena and I actually got dizzy by the time we got off.



We made other stops as well and aside for one thing that I still need to buy, I am finished shopping for Christmas.

Oh...The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Can you tell I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music? Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow is a favorite of mine, but I didn't want this much snow. We woke up this morning expecting snow, but we were not expecting so much. After looking out the window we decided that we would not risk the roads and drive to Elmore and would go to Hope Community (ONC's new name)instead. But, when we turned on the TV we found that Hope Community was cancelled (as well as every other church in the Toledo area). They say we may even have a delay or cancellation of school tomorrow because of the snow blowing. I would like a delay, but I don't know what I think about three cancellation days before Christmas. That's almost guaranteeing us makeup days in June.

For those of you out of town, here are some pictures of the snow. A little fun fact would be that this was the second time Jeromy plowed the driveway. The first time was around 10:30 and these pictures were taken around 3:00. The picture of the pool depresses me. I can't wait for summer.

Benefits of Being a Teacher

Okay, so there are a lot of benefits of being a teacher. The largest benefit of all is the unexpected day off. Today we had our second day off (we had a day off last week on Wednesday). There was an ice storm last night and school was cancelled all over the city. To celebrate the day off, Michelle and I joined my mom on her shopping exhibition. We had a nice time shopping all over the city of Toledo. We even had a stopover at Kelly's house. There is a chance that school will be cancelled tomorrow as well (there is another ice storm coming through tonight). Of course, I already have the day off due to a doctor's appointment. I guess we will just have to wait and see...

More Time with Alex and Elena

Last month Jeromy and I had an opportunity to spend time with Alex and Elena. During our evening together we spent some time at the downtown branch of the library (They are both big fans of the library). I am finally able to send the pictures I took with my phone to my e-mail account so that I can post them. Here are a few of the cuter ones. The first two are of the kids "chilling" in the jeep based on the book Sheep in a Jeep (a favorite book). The final picture is of Alex and the Cat in the Hat.

Spamalot

On Friday night, Jeromy, Michelle, and I headed off to the Stranahan Theater to see Monty Python's Spamalot. It was hilarious! It is the musical rendition of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was also a parody of musicals in general. We had a lot of fun! If you want to see some video clips of the musical, click here. I would highly suggest this musical to any fan of the movie. It's great!