After Christmas Shopping!

I ventured on over to Tampa yesterday to my very favorite mall...INTERNATIONAL PLAZA! It has all the fancy schmancy stores like Nordstrom's, Neiman's, and my new favorite store, Lush, but more on that in just a second.
My husband was cleaning out his drawer and he found a Nordsrom's gift card that he never used from last Christmas, so he gave it to me. I took that as a "sign" that I should by those way cool Northface boots that I had looked at months ago with Sandi and Shannon. I had liked the white ones, but realized that they would get super dirty walking thru mud and slush in the cold land of Kaz, so I got the brown, waterproof ones. I LOVE THEM! I have them on right now, and they are making my feet hot, maybe because it's like 85 degrees in Florida. I had my hubby take a picture of me, he rolled his eyes and said 'NICE OUTFIT' even though I said, IT'S FOR OUR BLOG. So, what do you think, I am trying to pretend I'm a hot Kazakh chick. I don't think it's working...

Anyway, the boots are great and they only cost me $5 since we had the gift card. I figured if we don't travel until March, I'd still need them as it's cold and snowy in March in Kazakhstan. We are also getting a cold front here this week and it' getting down to 35, so I can wear them then too. HA HA

Next, my stepdaughter turned me into this new store at the mall, called LUSH. It's based in Vancouver, Canada. It's ALL NATURAL cosmetics. Sean and I were in there Christmas shopping for Jillian and I thought it looked cool, but I wasn't buying for me. After Jillian opened the huge gift box we got for her, I was intrigued, so I went back with my Christmas money. My skin is soft as butter now! I swear, I am as soft as a baby. The stuff is awesome! It's very weird though, but they have sales girls who help you out. I got this awesome body butter that you put on in the shower after you soap. It's fantastic. I got their eye creme, I got this facial cleaner with seaweed in it, as my skin is dry, but I sweat so much since I run 5 days a week, my pores get clogged. It's cool stuff. I got this shampoo that looks like a round bar of soap. It smells good, you just rub it on your scalp and it lathers up.
I got a whole bunch of stuff.
Check it out at lush.com. See if there is a store near you!
I LOVE IT! My skin is very dry and I feel like I look like I am 60 years old instead of the youthful 41 that I am. I don't want Baby Kaz to think her mom has grandma skin. The stuff is expensive, but it's concentrated and all natural. It's rather funky stuff, but I feel so hip and new age now. My hands are also really dry so I got this stuff called "Handy Gurugu". This is what they say about it..
Fabulous, herbal hand cream with fair trade shea butter .Handy Gurugu is a fabulous, easily absorbed hand cream made with rose water, six natural oils and butters, and luxuriously soothing essential oils. When sourcing the rich shea butters, our creative buying team traveled for 15 hours on a rickety bus along potholed roads to find villages where it is handmade by the local women. Handy Gurugu makes a big difference to your skin and a huge difference to the villagers who make the shea butter.

They are having a huge sale right now, buy one get one free, because the product has a shelf life so they are trying to get rid of it. Mine is all good for a year. Plus, the really nice gift boxes are buy 1, get one free, and the Christmas gift boxes are buy 1, get 2 free, (but, they are like over $100 for one gift box)


So, while my dossier gathers dust at the MFA, I will work with my seaweed soap, my bath bombs, my body massage bars, and my funky new face cremes so I can look younger and be soft for this baby so I won't scare her away with my wrinkly old eyes and dry old hands. :)

Last Christmas celebration without Baby Kaz

Merry Merry everyone and a happiest of New Years! Isn't it crazy to think, that for most of us "bloggers" and "blog stalkers", if you don't already have your Kaz babies, that this year was the last Christmas we'll be spending without our Kazakh additions to the family? That just blows me away!! We had a wonderful holiday in Dallas, Texas, with my family, 3 sisters, 1 brother, 1 sister in law and husband, and 7 cousins, oh, and 7 dogs too. It was COLD in Dallas, too, so that made for some SWEET running weather, but gave my hubby a raging cold and Sean a bad cough, but only because Sean refuses to wear a coat. I think Joe's cold is because of a couple night with my Dad, Mom, and the brothers in law and Yagermeister shots! Since I am "adopting", I was in charge of the kiddo's so I went to bed with them! And, humm, I am the only one NOT SICK in my family. Good thing, cuz Mom's can be sick, can we!!!

The picture above is a new baby I just met, my "grandfather's" (not technically my grandfather, but my stepmom's great uncle, and he has been like a grandfather to me) new wife's daughters child, named Francis, is just 3 months old. I was a big ole certified " baby hog". She was an angel baby, hardly ever cried and she's just gorgeous.
My 2 nieces, aged 9 and 7, spent the night at my parents every night, and my mom put me in charge of getting the kids in bed because "I am adopting a girl". It was hilarious. Of course, I gladly put my nieces to bed with Sean, made sure their jammies were on, teeth brushed, and then we'd read Christmas stories. It was really fun. Giulia told me they've been saving all their clothes (and they dress super precious) For my baby. She is so excited about this baby. Of course, like many of you have stated in your blogs, everyone needs to know...when are you going? when do you get the baby? Can you come to dallas for easter? When I say, hopefully Febuary, then they're like, ok, so for sure Feb? NO, NOT FOR SURE! I DON'T KNOW!!! I guess they did not get the memo that "One more be patient and flexible in international adoption".

My mom got me 3 GORGEOUS cashmere sweaters from Neiman's for Kaz. She said, I know you won't wear them in Florida, but you NEED warm clothes for Kaz. I didn't tell her I had bought $5 sweaters at OLd Navy outlet store because I will be getting spit up on and layering like crazy. However, I will be able to fit in with all those hottie fashionable Kaz women with my fancy sweaters. One is brown with fur on the sleeves and fur around the hood. I am hip, like my son, I Have a "hoodie". But, i have BONUS Fur and cashmere. :)

Being the coolest "Aunt Susan" that I am, I got all the kids matching jammies. I dragged my sweet hubby to the mall 3 days before Christmas. It took 45 minutes to find a parking spot. I love Dallas malls at Christmas! But, they all look so darn cute in their matching jammies, don't they? It was NOT easy finding 7 kids matching jammies either with their various ages and stages. They were awfully darn cute!





Here is a picture of me and my "baby" for this Christmas. I can't believe he's so big. Fortunately, he will still hug and kiss on his mom, when he's not busy rolling his eyes at me and thinking I'm not as cool as him.


I guess this is the last year of Serra, party of 3, when we go out to dinner too. We are really a party of 5, but Joey and Jillian are on their own and don't live with us anymore. It is so exciting, strange, and wonderful to think that in a few months, we'll have a new Serra in our midst!

School+Shopping+Season=Slacker

Hello! I am have been a real blog "slacker" and I apologize! However, with regards to Baby Kaz, we have no new updates. We're still at the MFA, entering week 8 this week. I think we hit the holiday rush of dossier's at the ole MFA. I fully did not expect to hear anything until the end of January, but then Catalina posted that her dossier moved to the MOE last week, and hers hit Kaz the same week as ours. However, that doesn't really mean anything because everyone's timing is different. I must take care to remember that this is God's timing, not our timing. :)

When we "officially" started the adoption process and signed on with our agency, I remember asking the question..."Do you think we could travel by Christmas?" and they said, possibly, but "one must be flexible and patient in international adoption." As time went on and I collected my paperwork, I made my self imposed deadlines, but soon learned that while dossier collection was IN my control, receipt of my I-171H was not! So, right then, I realized that Christmas in Kaz was most likely not my reality. However, as the weeks rolled by, I realized that I really would like to spend Christmas here in the states, with my family. As much as I may complain about my Florida weather, and going to the beach after Christmas decorating yesterday, I have super thin blood and I would be freezing in Kaz this time of year. Even if we travel in March, it's still snowing in Kaz, which is plenty cold for this southern gal.

In the meantime, 4th grade has been keeping us most busy. I had heard from fellow parents that 4th grade was a big change, but I am now experiencing it for myself. The work is much harder, and the homework takes longer, and the projects require much more thought and preparation. Getting our work done while still playing sports and getting ready for the holiday has been a test in time management and patience. :) I have also realized that taking Sean out of school for 8 + weeks would really be a struggle for him. Thus, the 2 trip option that is being advised by our agency is really a best case scenario for us. We have also been super busy putting the house back together after installing the wood floors in our 4 bedrooms, and getting ORGANIZED and trying to get somewhat "baby proofed". We have this awesome coffee table with baskets underneath that we got when SEan was a baby. It will full of JUNK and small things that baby could put in her mouth. Sean was busy cleaning those out. It feels good to get organized. We are the biggest pack rat family EVER. We finally decorated for Chrsitmas yesterday, and went to the beach when we got done. Sean was skim boarding in the water, which was freezing, but not to him!! I have also been busy trying to start Christmas shoppping too. So, see, I have been doing lots of stuff, just slacking on my blogging because I have NO NEWS TO TELL!

The question of the day by everyone is "When are you going"? to which I reply, maybe end of Febuary or March, but WE DON'T KNOW. Then people say, Oh, I'm so sorry, I know you wanted to be there by now, and I have to reset their expectation and say NO, I am fine with not being there now, it's not our time. :)

One of my best friends has an adorable son of 15 months. He is now a fully mobile toddler and I had forgotten how BUSY they are. Mommy Maria never gets to sit down! I sometimes wonder what I've gotten myself into. :) Sean, however, is adorable with MacCaiden and is just enthralled with my friends babies. It's really cute. I think he is going to be such a good big brother, until, of course, Baby Kaz goes into his room and grabs all his stuff. :)



The wood floors are in and they look great. Baby Kaz has a room now!! I dont have a mattress for the crib yet, or bookshelves, for the 2 huge boxes of books that were handed down by her big brother. I also took a picture of her closet.




It's a shame she doesn't have anything. We could also bring home a boy, so if so, the baby house is going to get a lot of really cute girl clothes. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't purchased any clothes, but I did, and what's done is done. In reading blogs and advice, the best advice I took was to have NO preconceived notions of your child, gender, or age. I thought that way at first, but then though, oh , we'll get a girl and I went a little psycho. Oh well!!!

Miles follows me around everywhere, so he is in the picture too. :) You will notice my lovely boxes in the background-those hold books .I haven't found a bookshelf I like yet.




Have a very Merry Christmas everyone and keep blogging!!! Just because I am a slacker does not excuse you guys. :) I so enjoy reading the blogs, but I just don't have any updates on baby Kaz just yet. :)