Tag-YOU'RE IT!

So, the lovely Gretchen Bilbro tagged me. It's like a chain mail but on blogs.
But, I really like her so I figured I would play along. Plus, I'm all zen now from yoga and accunpuncture. Here's the rules:

~The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours.
~Post the rules on your blog
~Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself

1. I inherited by Grandpa's ability to "ryhme on a dime". I can think up ryhmes really quick, but don't ever ask me to repeat them.
2. When I was going thru puberty at age 12, I had no self confidence and low self esteem, and thought I was "stuck up". Thank goodness it didn't last for a very long time.
3. We have 2 "critters" that broke a screen on our screened in lanai and are eating my cat's food. They are racoons. One of them is HUGE and creepy, and my big 92 lb dog is SCARED of it and now is chicken to go outside and pee.
4. I used to be really mean to my sister and squeeze her face when I got mad at her. All her friends say "Wow, your sister is SO NICE" and Stacey says, yeah, but you didn't know her when she was a big bully.
5. I have had 2 real Italian boyfriends...as in, FROM ITALY. I didn't speak Italian, they didn't speak english, but they were hot, and we didn't talk much. :) I was 14 for the first one, and 18 for the 2nd one. Roberto and Fabio were their names...all I can say about that is MAMA MIA! I did marry an Italian though..but he speaks no Italian and his name is Joe. :)
6. I used to do aerobics in the 80's and wear neon bike shorts, neon shoe strings, and neon hair ties and always stand in the front row.
7. I'm pretty good at standing on my head.
8. I used to be hard core into excercise and really thought I wanted to do an ironman. That thought has since passed. :)
9. When I was 18, on the way home from a wedding with my boyfriend, I wanted to flip his sun rooof on his Mom's 280 zx up, but i pressed UNDO and it flew off the back of the car and shattered on the road. The boyfriend was really mean and called me a b*tch and we broke up after that. He was so mean, and it was an accident!

Oh, wow, i'm done. I did 2 more than I needed to.

:)
I tagged:
Karen
Shannon
Sandi
Gena
Regina
Angela
Christy
Julie
Michelle
Meagan
Maren
Lori
Jenny
Jen

Lookin for our daughter!!!

I am happy to report we got some "News" on Baby Kaz yesterday from our agency. The "in country dude" has our dossier from the MOE and is now looking for a perfect child for our family!!! YAY!!!! She said, you are one huge...step closer to your baby. She also mentioned that we might travel very soon, but , she forgot to ask how soon. LOL
Soon is so relative. :)
I'm wondering though, should I take my boots back? I was all set to take them back, thinking we would not be going until summer. Technically, that could still be true, but it's still cold in March. So, maybe i'll just hang on to them a bit longer "just in case".

I don't care when, I am just glad to hear something. I was so happy all last night and all today. :) I think I had the pregnancy glow.
Now Sean and I are always saying, "what do you think baby Kaz is doing right now?"

So, don't know where we're going, or when, but I know they're looking for our girl!

I am happy. :)

Delightful Day at Disney with my sensational son, Sean

I have to say that I feel so LUCKY to live only an hour and a half away from most magical place on earth.. DISNEY WORLD! It was Martin Luther King day, and no school, so Sean I decided to drive up for the day. Joe will go to Disney, but does not find the experience as "magical" as Sean and I do so we went while he worked. :)
They have a really good deal right now for Florida residents, so we got a 4 day pass. We have 6 months to go 3 more times, and I know we'll do that! Our next holiday is Febuary 28th, so we already made plans go to then, for a teacher in service day.

The weather was PERFECT! It was a little bit chilly, but it warmed up, but I was perfect in the turtle neck and "warm up" suit I originally purchased to bring to Kaz with me. Since it's not looking like we're traveling anytime soon, I've made peace with the fact that we may not go until May or June, and I'm fine with that now. I was in a bit of a "funk" last week, but thru lots of prayer and yoga I'm happy again. YAY! I hate being in funks~they're no fun!

Nothing like a gorgeous day at Disney to cure the "funks" away! It's good for us to get away from our daily grind too. Sean was an absolute delight. We had great conversations, laughed a lot, and he even held my hand UNPROMPTED. It was so nice.
I feel like all I've done this year is be "Naggy McNaggerson". Brush your teeth Sean, do your homework Sean, did you practice Guitar Sean, pick up your dirty clothes Sean, please tuck your shirt in, please comb your hair, please turn the lights out when you leave the room, please put the seat down on the potty, THE LIST NEVER ENDS! And, he responds by being "Sassy McSasserson" and gives me the "eyeroll" which drives me insane. On the way home from church on Sunday, he gave some sassy retort. I said, Sean, enough on the sassy and on the disrespect. I don't appreciate your being disrespectful to me. He said, "Mom, i'm getting older, it comes with the territory". So I went into how he can think what he wants about me in his mind, but he can't say it, it's rude to me and even God says to respect your mother and father. I told him if he refuses to try to be respectful to me, then I don't have to be nice to him. I told him I am a really nice mom and I put a lot of time and effort into doing nice things for him and if he wants to treat me like that, then I can be a mean mom, that being nice isn't part of the mom job description. Then, he comes out with..."WHATEVER MOM, YOU DON'T GIVE A FLIP ABOUT ME CUZ YOU'RE ADOPTING!!

We're at Disney, and he's being so sweet, pointing out all the cute baby girls that we see, and asking if I think she'll(meaning baby Kaz) want to dress like a princess to come to Disney.
I said, did you really mean that when you said you don't think i care about you because we're adoptiong baby Kaz? He got a sheepish grin on his face and said, NO, I didnt' meant it. I was just mad.
LOL
So, it was a magical day for Mom and son to get away, and the lines were not long, and we managed to get to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot and ride pretty much everything Sean wanted to. He was very cute pointing out all the baby girls.
We saw quite a few "princesses" in full princess regelia. One little girl, looked to be around 4, walked by in a Jasmine type outfit (from Aladdin) and it was chilly out, and she has on the half shirt thing. Sean looked at me and said, WELL THAT WAS DISTURBING! It was really funny. They have a beauty shop called the "Bippety Boppity Boutique" where your favorite princess can get all "glammed up" complete with glitter to look like her favorite princess. Sean said he hopes baby Kaz is NOT so into princesses and is more into skateboards. :)

One last note...we had 5 minutes until Animal Kingdom closed, so we ran to one last ride. We were right behind this lady, who had 2 kids, a daughter and son. The daughter was not tall enough for the ride. She was argueing with the poor Disney dude, and the girl was screaming. The lady looked at me and asked me, "Would you mind letting me go ahead of you with my son and you watch my daughter for me?" I was bewildered, to say the least. I said, No, I'm sorry, I'm going on it with my son, and we ran ahead. Sean said, MOM, was that lady serious, asking a stranger to watch her kid? I don't think you would ever ask a stranger to watch me. I said, NO WAY, but are you sure, thats what she was asking me? I told him that when Baby Kaz is 3, we will not be able to go on the big rides until she's tall enough. My mature, 9 year old son answered, yeah, thats ok, we live here, and i like kiddie rides, too.
Oh, and Sean also got Student of the Week last week. His teacher told me on Friday. I said, SEAN got STUDENT OF THE WEEK? Really? She said he has had a great attitude and he hasn't given her a hard time about doing all the work ONE TIME! LOL
That's my boy! Sassy McSasserson!!!

So, that wraps up my escape to the wonderful land of Walt Disney, my hero. :)
Have a magical week everyone!

ps. It's a good thing we had a most magical time. I came home to find out that we need an entire new AC unit on our house. It hasn't been working, so we finally got a service company out. We need an entire new unit and duct work, the circuit board has gone bad and we HAD MOLD! ick! So, here I sit, while they install new everything, and let me tell you, it's NOT CHEAP EITHER! So, good thing my day was so magical. I think Tink sprinkled extra happy dust on me because I even had to miss yoga and I'm still in a really happy mood, despite being several thousand dollars poorer. :(
But at least we'll have a working unit and be MOLD FREE! Now we're ready for Baby Kaz!! Mold free, and Disney bound, baby!

Sean in front of "It's a small world after all"
I recognized the "Dasvidanya" at the end....goodbye in Russian! :)

Make new friends, but keep the old....

One is silver, and the other gold. Now, everybody sing together, in ROUNDS.
:)

I thought I'd share the picture that was taken last night when a few of the Florida Future Kaz mommies got together! Sandi couldn't make it, as they were celebrating her dad's birthday in Orlando. We missed you Sandi!

For the intro, we have Super skinny Suzanne on the left in the red, behind her is the Sassy Shannon, beside her is me, and Sean.
To the right, we have Matthew, Suzanne's very smart, funny, and talented hubby, and the "newbie", Stephanie, who is just beginning the process.



Suzanne, the most incredible, well informed, dedicated researcher I've ever known, brought a new friend who is just starting this journey. Her name starts with an S too...Stephanie!
So, we have Suzanne, Shannon, Stephanie, Sandi, and Susan. Isn't that funny?

Mellow Mushroom makes great pizza, and they have really good beer too! I sampled like 5 kinds and finally settled on a really good one! It was in a real tall glass and I managed to drink every drop!

Sean got dragged along too, and he was very interested in the conversation, for the most part. When he got tired of listening, he brought along his ipod.

What a wonderful journey we're on -one where you can add new faces and places to your repetoire, and that's all before you get the kid! I feel so incredibly blessed to have met so many wonderful people on this journey. I don't know what we'd do without the internet and the yahoo groups that have been formed. I would not have met all these incredible ladies!!

Proud Mom! Go Sean!!!

I wanted to dedicate a post to future big brother to Baby Kaz, "my baby", Sean. He brought home a GREAT report card yesterday. I have posted before about the trials and tribulations of adjusting to 4th grade. I had heard from other parents that 4th grade was a big change, and, let me tell you, they were right!!! The work gets a lot more involved, requires more thought, focus, and time. The homework requires much more "focus", and "focus" and "homework" aren't really jivin with Sean's personality. :) He actually has "projects" that he has to do, that we get well in advance. Of course, it's hard to convince a kid to start on a project that's not due for another few weeks, but if you don't, you will be sorry! They assign them far in advance because they take FOREVER, and it's hard for a child of this age (especially an active boy, like Sean) to sit still and focus for longer than, about 5 minutes.
Fourth grade is also the first year they get letter grades...no more V's and G's and S's, it's A, B, C, D and F now!! Our first report card, he did fine, he made honor roll, with all B's and one A. I was proud of him but I told him I thought he could do better. Of course, the response was "Mom, I am a B Student, there is NOTHING wrong with B's, you just think I should be perfect, I'm NOT PERFECT MOM"
However, I kept on him about doing his best and being neater and focusing. I pulled out his report card yesterday and he did awesome! He turned that around and he got all A's and 2 B+'s! His teacher (who he thinks is mean, but I don't) wrote the nicest thing. I couldn't even read it, I started crying. Sean grabbed it and read it outloud to me since I was a blubbering crybaby. "Sean amazes me with his knowledge of the world around him. HE is maturing academically and starting to proofread and check over his work. We continue to work on pace and finishing work. Good job on Honor Roll!
I can tell Sean is very proud of himself. He called his Dad at work and got his voicemail and read him his report card and said, how bout that Dad, GO me, go Sean!

On another note, we met one of my best friends and her husband and son today at our favorite donut shop. Sean LOVES MacCaiden, their son. He picked out one of his stuffed animals to give to him, and brought his report card to show them to discuss his "qualifications" to babysit MacCaiden. He really loves to play with MacCaiden and he wants to start babysitting. I told him that 9 is too young, but he can start playing with him and maybe helping out when they are home and have stuff to do. Mac is an adorable 16 month old little boy and he is BUSY BUSY BUSY. He never sits still. It warms my heart to see Sean interact with him. I think he is going to the best big brother to baby Kaz. The other day he asked if he could help dress her, and how much fun I was going to have because I will like to dress her like a "little doll". He asked me how I thought we should do her hair .He is already talking about her learning to write her name and how hopefully her kindergarten teacher will let her write her nickname if her first name has too many letters.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes Sean frustrates me and have our share of "fights", and he can be QUITE SASSY. He is not perfect, but I love him to pieces and I can't wait to see him share his love with his baby sister. :)

Wishing you everything GREAT in 2008!!!

Happy New Year to all of you! I was trying to find a picture that captured what I wanted out of 2008-and i found a couple that caputure it perfectly ! This is the TRUE JOY of Christmas morning and family! This is the kids running out to see what Santa left them. You can see the excitement in their faces-it was so much fun! I don't really "do" New Years resolutions, but I do make a lot of goals during the year that I try to accomplish. Instead, I wanted to leave you with my wishes for 2008. I'm copying off Ann Landers, but she put it so perfectly that I wanted to share it with all of you.
It's a prayer of Saint Francis. For many of us, this is the year we bring our children home. For some of you, it's a year watching your lil miracles grow and thrive, and encouraging those of us who have yet to complete our journey! The support here has been INCREDIBLE and it just reminds me of HOW GOOD GOD IS!

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
"Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
"Where there is doubt,faith;
"Where there is despair,hope;
"Where there is darkness, light;
"Where there is sadness,joy;
"O, Divine Master, grant that I may not as much seek to be consoled as to console;
"To be loved as to love.
"For it in giving that we are pardoned;
"It is in dying that we are born to eternal life;"

AMEN!
Wishing everyone much love, faith, laughter, good health, patience, friendship, and joy in this wonderful year of our Lord. :)