Halloween - 19 houses and a ton of candy

So, we have a wonderful neighboorhood, but really there are hardly any kids in it, other than ours. We account for over 1/2 of the total kids on the street. When we went out tonight, many people said we were their only trick-or-treaters! So, normally we really score in our neighborhood, but tonight it was above and beyond. We only went to 19 houses and the kids bags were overflowing. They even got some KING size chocolate bars, two per child!

Daddy got to indulge as well.

Other than that the kids watch Mummy:Dragon Emporer and I made sushi rolls for the first time ever. It was quite fun and cured my sushi craving for the day.

Fall Portraits

The kids this week brought home their school picture order forms. It is unbelievable how expensive the packages are, you can't simply buy a 8x10...oh no, the cheapest package with an 8x10 is $28 per child. Plus there are some other sizes in the package that you won't do anything with. So, in an effort to be frugal...Carl took a 12% pay cut the day we decided all was well with Virginia's adoption and chose to move forward...Carl just asked me why don't I just take some pictures myself of the kids. So, that is just what I did. The yard right now is stunning, partly because we have not chosen to rake all of the golden leaves that carpet the ground. So, with some prodding and combing, curling, etc I got the kids ready yesterday afternoon. I realized too that I don't have a single picture of all four kids together. So, here they are, and I think they turned out pretty cute. I might subject them to more pictures this afternoon in an effort to get the "perfect" picture of all 4 of them. That might be too lofty of a goal with a newborn and a 3 year old though....Anna, said, "Dont tell me what to do James!".

Handsome boy, James Bond had nothing on you my son.

Well, at least Virginia was awake, even if she was nearly cross eyed and worried looking in most of the 237 photos taken yesterday.

7 weeks old and Fall Colors - October 28, 2009

All 4 kids watched Cinderella this afternoon.

The fall colors at our house are so beautiful. This picture is our front yard. our backyard

The walkway up to our front door. Breathtaking beauty

Anna's birthday - October 22, 2009

Showing off her cute birthday clothes

Admiring her amazing barbie fondant birthday cake. I took 2 days to make it, but it turned out so beautiful. Maybe Virginia will want one someday.

Anna also got a crystal for her bedroom window, a tea set, and her ears pierced for her 3rd birthday.

Halloween Trunk or Treat

James didn't want to dress up, but he took part in the "make a mummy" contest.

Me and my beautiful girls. Emma is Trinity from The Matrix, Anna is a peacock and Virginia is a little black kitty. I made both the matrix and peacock costumes.

Every year at church we have a Trunk-or-Treat where the kids have a party and go from car trunk to car trunk to get candy from all those at church. Quick, easy and lots of sugar.

6 Weeks old - October 20, 2009

She loves her binki.

5 weeks old - October 13, 2009

Anna is still so in love with her baby sister, she never tires of her. Well, really, all of us are so in love with her, she is perfect.

4 Weeks old - October 6, 2009

Ginny held her bottle for the first time, well for a minute or so. She always has her hands near her face, so she kinda just held it by default.

I finally finished knitting her blanket! Whoo Hoo!

Virginia's very first clip in her hair! So cute, only with very special babies can they have enough hair for a clip at 4 weeks old.

No, she wasn't really happy, she wanted to eat, but we needed just a quick picture.

Missy's 33rd Birthday - October 2, 2009

I got the best birthday gift ever! A sweet little girl. She is so precious to me.

3 weeks old - September 29, 2009

Emma thought it was so funny that Virginia was holding onto a spoon! She had to go grab the camera.

So little still in the car seat, soon she will fill it up.

3 1/2 weeks Virginia started to focus on things and look more carefully.

2 Weeks Old - September 22, 2009

Home Now - September 18th, 2009

Adoption Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kMToqJ8BaE&feature=player_embedded

Getting darker...

Interestingly a lot of people don't know that black babies come out looking quite...well, white. Anna looked like every other baby there in the nursery, and after a few weeks got brown. Virginia was just slightly brown when born other than the tips of her fingers and the tops of her ears were slightly darker. From Saturday the 12th of Sept through Monday the 14th, we noticed Virginia getting darker by the day. It was really fun to watch, the same thing happend with Anna, but not that young. Anna is biracial, when we adopted her we didn't know if the birth father was the white man from Raleigh or the black man from Charlotte. Anna's birthmother was white, so we really didn't know what Anna would look like. We were delighted when she turned a beautiful shade of brown. Since Anna is biracial we really loved the idea of adopting another biracial or black baby. We felt Virginia's spirit in our home even before she was here physically, such a wonderful feeling. I could tell my child was there! We also had the same experience before we adopted Anna. It is wonderful to know that the Lord has a plan and we are a part of it.

Also when I was a child, there were these beautiful dolls "My Child" dolls. They were the cute competition for the very ugly cabbage patch dolls. I got three of them when I was a child, and still have them to this day. One is fair with blonde hair, one with red hair and one that is black with black hair. I wanted to adopt a black baby from the time when I wasn't much of a baby.

Also in the picture there are two topsy turvy dolls, that change from blonde to black girl by pulling the skirt up or down, I believe my grandmother made them...?

Visiting with Aunt Michele

Another great visit we had during the week was with my sister Michele. Anna even graced us with one of her brief awake times. It was fun to catch up with Michele and learn all about her new adventure of running a small store in care facility. Anna also loved getting rides on her lap, while driving the motorized wheelchair. Grandpa Frost came along for the ride too; not on Michele's chair, but just to accompany us... ha, ha.