Fall!

     I absolutely LOVE fall & winter. Sadly, we don’t get much of either of those where we live. But, yesterday was a beautiful day and Sam had so much fun playing in a very small pile of leaves. Right now she is happy with our very small trees and the very small amount of leaves that fall from them. Maybe one day I will live somewhere with tall leafy trees, crisp fall weather and huge snowfalls…..maybe.

Happy Halloween!

     Sam is fighting a cold, so we had a pretty low key Halloween. She was invited to a party, but I just didn’t want her out that long nor did I want to pass it on to anyone else. She was quite happy to put on her costume, hop in her wagon and trick-or-treat up and down our street. She came home with her Elmo bucket full and was thrilled with her loot! The boys ran around the neighborhood with their buddies and each came home with a pillowcase full of candy and the girls both went to Halloween parties with their friends. Charley and I were invited to an “adults only” party, but we decided to be old fuddy duddies and stay home. So we enjoyed some good college football games, grilled some yummy steaks and munched on the kids candy!

Dressed and ready, opening the glow sticks before heading out!

This girl is ALL about her candy!

The suckers were the biggest hit!

A Weekend of Racing & More

     Yesterday, Charley took Bradley and Cody to practice and they got three hours of instruction from an “expert.” They had a great time and learned a lot. Kristen, Sam and I spent the day shopping and running errands. Kalee, poor Kalee. She wasn’t feeling good, so she stayed home to rest. Today the boys went racing so they could put their new skills to the test. They rode great, had a blast and brought home some big trophies. Kristen got up early and went with them so she could be a flagger. The track is always looking for people to run the caution flags and they pay too! Kristen is working really hard to save her money. She wants to come with us when we travel to China to bring Rylee home. We are hoping to bring Kalee, Kristen & Sam, but we’ll see as the time gets closer. As for the adoption, we are making progress. We met with our social worker for the first homestudy visit this afternoon. We have also been working hard on gathering all of our documents. I just wish we could fast forward through all of this and bring our sweet girl home now.

Hanging out in the trailer, waiting for the boys race to start!

The happy worker!

The boys getting geared up to race!

Kalee helping Cody get his bike ready.

Sam is such a fan! Giving Cody a high five for a job well done!

Holding the boys drinks. Such a helper!

And speaking of drinks, if you need one, she will be happy to hook you up! She has red gatorade, orange gatorade, ozarka water and a juice baba!!!

Bed

     I think we may be making progress with bedtime! Two nights this week, she actually fell asleep in her own bed, and one of those nights, she even slept through the entire night!!! That is a really big accomplishment, and one we have been waiting a very long time for! Hopefully the progress continues! But she still loves our bed and we let her come play and cuddle before we put her in her little bed.

Sweet Rylee!

     We received more pictures of our sweet Rylee this past weekend! Although I LOVE getting new pictures, these made me sad. She is sleeping in her crib, laying directly on wood. Oh how I wish I could send her a mattress! I just want to jump on a plane today and bring her home to her nice warm soft bed.

     I’m not sure if I mentioned this in any previous posts, but we made friends with an American lady who lives in China and volunteers at Rylee’s orphanahge. It is wonderful to have that direct connection with someone who sees her on an almost daily basis. She has been wonderful to us, answering questions, sending pictures and she is even going to send us a video soon too! In her last email, this is what she wrote about Rylee’s personality: Xiaohe is active, loves to climb, loves to be held, is very naughty, gets along well with other children, enjoys running around, is outgoing, and is incredibly smart for her age.  Sounds a little like Sam!!!! She also mentioned that she would love an older brother or sister as she loves the older children at the orphanage. Well, she will be happy to know there are lots of brothers and sisters to play with here, and they can’t wait for her to come home!

OU vs TEXAS

     And ofcourse the Field Bunch is hoping for a big win!  With all our injured players, we aren’t too confident this year, but here’s a “BOOMER SOONER” anyway!

She was keeping an eye on that dude while briskly walking as far away from him as she could! He is a pretty scary dude!

Glaring at him from across the street!

She wasn't too thrilled to stand this close, even with big brothers!