Christmas time!!

Boy, do I have some cute stories to tell about Drew. Guess what he had started saying he wanted for Xmas last month? A baby sister! He heard us talking about it a while ago and he told his teacher at school that he was getting one! Wow his wish will come true in the near future. We have decided to adopt again, this time a little girl from Korea. We're just waiting on our homestudy to get done , our paperwork is done (much quicker, less painful than for China). The wait is still around a year or so though by the time it's all said and done, we're looking like probably 1 1/2 yr.
We took him and Riley to meet Santa and all that jazz too. The cutest thing is that he brought in his stocking and said he was ready to go , so Santa Claus could fill his stocking up with toys. Good thing I didn't let him take it with us there-haha. He was not even afraid of Santa, and sat right down on his lap without hesistation. He told him he wanted a transformer, but later changed his mind to power rangers. I had to "call" Santa and let him know this new change of plans.

We watched Frosty the Snowman on TV last week or so and he kept calling him "Krosty" instead. At first, I thought for sure he called him "Krusty".....again, too cute. Drew has really caught on to the idea of this Christmas thing, he knows he will get presents really soon. He's already counted his gifts under grandma's tree and ours. We were homefrom church a few weeks ago and he started singing Jingle Bells. It took a little bit for me to realize that he'd never heard this before or sang it for that matter. I asked where he'd heard that and he said at church. They were starting to practice for their Christmas program songs and Drew learned the chorus of it after the first time. The following Sunday night, during bath time he repeatedly was singing Happy Birthday Jesus over and over , yet again another song he'd heard. I should 've recorded it. This past Sunday evening was their program in which Drew was a shepherd. He asked me if he could keep his "costume" before we got there and ,"if it was going to be Iron Man". Of course I had to try and explain this concept to him, which I should've showed him pictures of shepherds-duh. He did great in it, though he was playing around and dropped his "big stick" as he called it. Don't you just love his hair in the pic too? I had to laugh even though he was so cute.

Still here

Surprise everyone! Yes we are still laggin' behind with posting as usual, but we are still here and doing just great too. Since I'm so far behind here, I'll just mention the pics on here. We went to our friends to Pumpkin Hollow to feed the animals, take a pony and a hay ride, play on hay bails, and pick out pumpkins. Drew had a big time there, as you can see. For Halloween he was the bumble bee transformer. He almost wasn't though, as he had a bad day and was refusing to go trick or treating! Thank goodness he changed his mind, he loved every minute of it. By the time we were done, his little pail was full as could be. Guess I should throw what's left of it in the trash now.

Urumqi reunion at the river

Two other families who also adopted and traveled to/ from Urumqi, China joined us for the weekend at my parents' house at Current River in Doniphan,MO. The Prescotts, John,Karen, Lily and Luke are from Springfield,MO and we visited them earlier this summer. The other family were the Morales,- Tonio, Becky, Vivi, Maya, and Tonito from the Chicago area. The Prescotts arrived early around dinner time and the Morales got there around 10 p.m. due to unexpected news and several stops along the way. Drew was getting so tired waiting for Tonito, that he told Scott to wake him up when he got there, however, he never did take a nap. So needless to say, the kids were running around trying to keep awake til they got there. At first meeting, Drew was a little quiet and stand off -ish, only b/c he was so tired and not sure how to react to them all being together. This changed quickly as all the kids jumped in their sleeping bags in the floor lying beside each other to go to sleep. This was such a cute sight to see. The only two left there in the morning were Drew and Tonito. Drew got up around 7 and came in our room to wake me up. The weather had been dreary and rainy that night they got there, and we weren't sure how it would play out the rest of the day for Sat. but it ended up not raining just being really cloudy. The kids played in the hot tub a bunch of times and we got to go on a boat ride, though the wind was a little chilly. They thoroughly enjoyed being together and playing the entire weekend. They all got along really well, with no fighting, no crying, and hardly any whining! Karen brought a pinata and the kids helped fill it with tons of candy which they later got to bust open. Man did they love doing this! The kids also got to roast marshmallows over the fire pit and make s'mores. As Karen said, it was pitch black and we only had some flashlights to see the fire, the kids, the food, and the river beside us. Thank goodness no accidents!
Sunday morning came too fast for us all. The Prescotts left early that morning around 7:00 but the Morales fixed breakfast for us and ended up following us to our home in Malden, an hour away. They were driving to St Louis to go to the zoo the next day, so they decided to visit for a little while. Drew was so excited to show Tonito his room, toys, and all the animals. Vivi, Tonito's sister loved the two kittens we have and held them the entire time making sure our puppy Copper didn't harm them. He also took him for a ride on his "vroom vroom" (his battery powered 4wheeler), which they both loved. They also got to hitch a ride with Scott on his new 4 wheeler, which they both wanted to go fast! We all ate leftovers for a late lunch, then they headed toward St. Louie. It's a good thing Drew didn't understand or realize that it might be a long time before he gets to see his little buddy again. Hopefully we will get to Springfield for the Chinese New Year celebrations, this would be a first for us & Drew. We all said that we will have to plan future "reunions" esp so that the family in Florida can join in. Well enjoy the pics!

Drew's updates

Yes we're lagging behind in updating this blog. There's so much to talk about now, that I can't keep up and remember it all. Well I finally took Drew to the dentist about a month ago, yes I"m a slacker with that too. Anyhoo, his teeth checked out great, no cavities! Drew had to go back by himself and he wasn't scared nor asked me to go with him--this was one of the firsts. We were just amazed that he didn't have any cavities since he eats lots of candy. Drew loves going to school still. He also now goes to ESL class three times a week. Yesterday, we had our 6 month post adoption visit with our social worker here. Drew was such a ham and had us laughing most of the time she was here. First let me back up, Drew had a minor surgery last week (circumcision). So he proceeded to tell Rebecca our social worker that the doctor fixed his wee wee, among other statements.... He had to show her his bedroom and everything in it. He even showed her his stash of cash he has hidden in his underwear drawer. She was surprised we had more animals/pets than the last time she was here. Just recently we've added 2 kittens, and a puppy as of last week. So now we've reached our quota with 4 cats, 2 dogs, 4 rabbits, and 1 iguana. Maybe we should start charging admission or something.... Drew had to show off all his pets to her too. She was quite impressed with Drew's continued progress and how bright he is.
We're just thankful that he has adjusted amazingly well and secure in such a short time and is the perfect fit in our family. Well in one more day, we will be seeing two other families that we traveled with to Urumqi to meet our kids. Drew is soooo excited and happy, he can't stand it!!
They are meeting us at my parents' house at the river for the weekend. Yes it will be such a short weekend, but well worth it. The only downside is that the family from Florida won't be attending, good grief that'd be a long drive!

Time for school

Well Drew started preschool last Monday with a slow start. He had been waking up early for the entire past 2 weeks prior to starting, however this day, he did not want to get up. He was sooo crabby. I had to prod him just to move an inch. He couldn't decide what he wanted for breakfast and we were running late anyway, so he stood in the kitchen and started to cry. So, the first day of school pics were NOT what I had anticipated. However, once we got to school he cheered up and was fine when I left. The next day, we took another pic b/c he was in his regular cheery mood, so he cheezed it up big time. Drew has been doing great in school so far, receiving good marks everyday from his teacher. She noted that he was a very good boy and a super listener! Last week, he came home and asked me who could come over to play with him, he was already bored at home with me. I told him everyone was at school or at the babysitters and he said, "no one play with Drew." Too bad his class doesn't last all day, it only goes til 11 a.m. I'll have to find ways to entertain him for the rest of the year.

Drew has his first gymnastics class last Friday. He loved it, to say the least. The first part of it was body conditioning and it wore me out just watching them. I figured he'd be tired by the time they got to the rest of it but he did great. He practiced doing hand stands, cartwheels, and a whole lot of jumping and running too. Everyday since, he asks in the morning if it's flip time. He wants to go everyday now. When we'd watch gymnastics on the Olympics, he'd say, "Drew can do that." We'd just laugh and let him go on.

Bonding time

Last weekend Drew and I went camping with our friends the Lampes. Scott was working so he couldn't go this time. We drove to Sam A Baker state park on that Friday evening and was dark by the time we got there so I missed a few turns on the way. Luckily, it wasn't too bad though. Deer jumped across the road right in front of us before we turned to go into the campground too.

Drew loved this new camping experience. He got to roast marshmallows, even though he didn't like to eat them. They had paved roads and bike trails so we all rode our bikes alot too. The park presented a snake encounter program for the kids that we went to and Drew got to pet a snake, he didn't want to hold it just yet. He also swam in the river like a fish. Thank goodness he's taken a liking to the water! He told us that he wanted to stay 5 times camping, he liked it so much. He also said "babaw sleep here, bed fall down!" and laughed hysterically. I couldn't help but laugh too as he said this when we were going to bed one night. We both enjoyed the snuggle time we got since we had to sleep in the same bed. So after we got home the whole next week, he wanted to sleep in our bed. Yikes, Scott said not to get that started-haha.

Our trip to see the Prescotts

The day after Drew's b'day party, we left bound for Springfield/Branson. We met the Prescotts, a family we traveled with in China. They adopted their son, Luke from Urumqi while we picked up Drew and they also have a 4 yr old daughter Lily who was adopted when we was about a yr old. We met for a late lunch at a nice Japanese steak house that was delicious. After that, we went to their house so we could visit more and the kids could play in their backyard. The kids loved it, as they got to jump on their trampoline, look for bugs and fish in their pond, and play in their treehouse. The next day, they rode with us through the animal park. I don't know who was more excited to see/feed the animals--me or the kids! By the end of it, all four kiddos were standing up, hanging out of our sunroof- thank goodness we had to go slow. We later had lunch at this pizza joint that had indoor go karts and arcade. This was Drew's first time for this and he loved it. John, Luke, and Lily came to our hotel to swim that evening, which all the kids really enjoyed. The next day, we spent in Branson going to the Titanic exhibit, which was really interesting esp with two kids..haha. I also got to go shopping of course at the outlet mall. That evening we went back to Springfield to have dinner at the Prescotts' house. By then, the kids really played well together and played hard too. Wednesday, we went to an animal show in Branson then met the Prescotts at the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and show. At one point, Drew was sitting beside me and Lily was on my lap with Drew insisting on putting his arm around Lily's neck. It was toooo cute!! After the show, our boys still wanted to play with the kids so they came back to our hotel to swim and say their final goodbyes. We were so used to seeing them everyday, too bad we had to go home.