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We are home from our fun (rain) filled vacation in sunny (rainy) Mexico. We had a great time, but we were both more than ready to come home. It's always good to get away, but it's even better to come home. Especially when you get to come home to this sweet face...

(This is Micah's favorite new facial expression. He does it all the time.)

The highlight of the trip for me was toolin' around the resort grounds on one of these...

Serious good times were had on the bicycle built for two. They also had single Townies and I loved it so much I want one now. No fancy-schmancy mountain bike for me - I want an old Townie with rust on it. Like this one...

How cool would I look ridin' around town on that thing? I know, super-cool.

But, I'm getting off-subject. Vacation. Perhaps I should be sharing lots of pictures of Kevin and I enjoying the beach and the pool, but since our (stupid) camera battery died after 1 day, we mainly have a bunch of boring shots of our room. Our room was awesome, but really, do you want to see those? I thought not.

So, instead I'll share pictures of Micah's sleepover at Habi's house. Habi's mom & dad volunteered to watch Mic for a night while we were gone. It looks like Micah had a great time - definitely a fun sleepover. (Thanks Mr. & Mrs. B - and Little One too!)

Cute boys in their PJs!

Woohoo! Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

We are here...

But it has been raining. All. Day. Long.

So, what do you do at an all-inclusive resort when it has been raining all day? You eat and drink. All. Day. Long. And then you fell like this...

But, we're not complaining. We're having fun! We miss our Mic though. He's having some fun times with Mimi, Grandma K and Papa, and then he'll be having a sleepover with our friend Habi! :) And the dogs are being cared for by our amazing housesitters. (Hope the dogs aren't driving you guys crazy yet!)

I'll have pictures to share when we get home! Adios Amigos!

(Oh, and a big thank you to Nikki with Blogs for a Cause for our new blog-over!!)

For Your Enjoyment...

While we wait for my blog-over to be complete... here's an oldie, but a goodie in case you haven't seen it...




And here is one from about a month ago of Micah rockin' out with his Fridge Farm and then going to lie on the dog bed. Gross. (The dog bed has since been moved outside - they sleep wherever they want anyway.)

Under Construction

I'm doing another blog-over, so bear with me. :)

Happy 30th Birthday Kevin!!

YAY! Kevin is FINALLY in his thirties!! I would think he would stop calling me old now, but he'll probably keep doing it. For his 30th birthday, I'm posting 30 things about my amazing husband... (he probably won't like this - but I'm okay with that :)

1. He is very goofy - he does silly dances and sings songs that usually contain the lyrics, "My name is Kevin..."
2. He can bake - really, really well.
3. He loves, LOVES to mow the grass and is a freak about making the lines straight.
4. He secretly wishes he were part of a baseball field's ground crew. He would like to make straight lines in a ballfield's grass.
5. He can play drums.
6. He LOVES Ohio State football (and is a little sad about last week)
7. He would become a Michigan fan if Micah played football for Michigan.
8. He loves the beach.
9. For my 30th he took me to Hilton Head and we had to evacuate because of Hurricane Charlie. Here he is in the car while in hurricane evacuation traffic...

(I'm going to be in so much trouble for posting this. :)

10. When I met him, all the girls that he worked with called him "Dreamy."
11. When I met him, he was a chef - and did look pretty dreamy in his chef pants.

12. He was in band in high school (drums), but according to him, this was "cool." (Okay, whatever.)
13. Kevin is not a reader, but he reads to Micah every night. His fav is Pajama Time.
14. Kevin's birthday is the same day as Talk Like a Pirate day. Arrrrgh.
15. He loves dogs - even though he was seriously attacked by one when he was younger.
16. He once had West Nile Virus.
17. He is a clean freak. He would vacuum four times a day if it were socially acceptable.
18. Kevin loves snow - he could not wait to take Micah out to see snow for the first time.

19. He actually loves any kind of weather. He watches The Weather Channel on a regular basis.
20. Kevin hates goat cheese and lamb. He will eat anything else.
21. He is four years younger than me. When I met him he was only 21. He looked like this...

22. He makes a REALLY YUMMY butternut squash soup. Wanna see it?

23. He takes pictures of food.
24. He loves The Office.
25. He also loves documentaries and will watch one regardless of the subject matter.
26. He thinks it is weird that I keep reading vampire books. (It probably is.)
27. He was the one who decided it was time to start on the adoption of our baby girl. He told me he was ready to start on Father's Day.
28. He supports me in everything I do. I am a lucky woman to have such a wonderful husband.
29. He is the most amazing Dad. I know I'm biased, but his love for Micah is beautiful thing.
30. He's FINALLY 30!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Kevin. Hope you're not too mad at me for posting all of this, but this is "Kevin and Stacie's Adoption Journey" so deal with it. :)

Playgroup Idea *Edited

Hi Everyone - I'm looking for an idea for a cause for our October Playgroup with a Purpose. We've decided to try to alternate between International charities (i.e. AHOPE) and domestic charities. This month I'm looking for an International charity. We don't collect money, but things, so it would have to be one that has a wishlist of some sort. If you have any ideas, please leave them in the comments section! Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment with an idea - these are great and I will file them away for the future. I'm especially excited to do a playgroup for Ethiopia Reads in the future. For this month, we decided to collect for an organization that works with children in Haiti. They have been hard hit by the hurricanes and are in desperate need of food and supplies. You can read more about it here.

Again - thanks for the ideas!!

Fo' Schneezie

This is going to be a hodgepodge of whatnots. And, I'm tired. That's my warning for you - proceed if you wish.

First, our second Playgroup with a Purpose meeting went very well last Saturday. We had 5 families come and we collected a lot of stuff. You can read about it here. I'm thinking of trying to get more exposure for it soon, so hopefully it will continue to grow. I know if you all lived here you would come. Wouldn't you? I thought so.

Second, can anyone tell me where to buy pants for a skinny, but tall child? I bought Micah a pair of 18-24 month jeans at the gap and they are humongous on him. A belt will not work. The problem is that he is 33 inches long, and most 18-24 month pants are for kids 31-33 inches, but also for 27+ pounds. Micah is a mere 21 lbs. And, the adjustable waistbands - I can't find them!! So, your input would be appreciated here or else Micah is going to walk around floodin' in his skinny jeans.

Third, I can't stop reading vampire books. And they're scary.

Fourth, we got two, yes TWO nice surprises in the mail today! One was from this family - they sent us an awesome Ohio State sweatshirt. (Remember - Kevin is a HUGE Buckeyes fan.) It was so thoughtful and such a great surprise! Go Bucks! :) A big THANK YOU goes out to Sam and his mom & dad!
The second nice surprise was from CIS - they have received all of our stuff for the i-600a and it looks like we won't have to do another set of fingerprints and we were allowed to do the free (FREE!) extension. So, we are now just waiting on the 171-H. Oh, well that and waiting for me to finish the dossier. I guess I should do that instead of blogging.

But, no, I shall continue to blog. :) Really, I'm just going to post some pictures of Micah's recent foray into the world of golf. I think he may have found his calling...

Look at that form!

Here he was lining up his putt.

Fore!

Caption contest for this one - Micah's face is cracking me up.

Are you wondering about his cute new t-shirt? I love it - but I like things with dogs. Even more than that - things with dogs and headphones.
Dogs+headphones = cute

I told you all I was tired.

P.S. Melkam Addis Amet! We tried to get Ethiopian food for dinner tonight, but it seemed the Ethiopian restaurant was closed for the holiday. So, we had sushi. It's been a weird day. Anyway, Happy New Year. ;)

Skinny Minny *updated

We just got back from the doctor - Micah's 18 month visit. We determined that Micah is tall & skinny (something we knew already :). He is 21 lbs. and 33 inches - 5th percentile for weight and 55th for height. I was a little worried, but the doctor said he is fine and that everything else looks great. He asked if he was pretty active... uh - YES! So, that is why he is our little skinny man.

Skinny Minny

He also got three shots today and was very brave - although he did give me that, "MOM, why are you letting them do this to me?" look that I hate. So sad.

In other news, we were able to see our Ethiopia in-country rep this week! Tsegay was visiting from Ethiopia - his first time to the US - and we went to a reception that CHI had for him. It was a little overwhelming to see Tsegay lift Micah in the air - lots of emotions. After that moment, however, Micah kept us too busy to think - he was a wild man that night. He ran, and played, and banged, and ran, and played. He got a lot of the, "He's pretty busy, huh?" comments that night. :)

Micah & Tsegay

We haven't been doing too much else exciting. Tomorrow is the second meeting of our Playgroup with a Purpose. I'm hoping for a bigger turnout this month - we're collecting for a local home for children and have plans for next month already. I'm still very excited about this and hope it catches on here soon.

As for Baby #2 - we are just waiting on one document to get in for our homestudy to be complete. I'm hoping that gets here soon so we can send in everything to get our golden ticket (the 171-H). Hopefully that final doc will get to CHI soon!

And, since I don't think I've ever posted these (although I promised to do so) here are some cute pictures of Micah from BU 08!

Surfer in training

Micah LOVES the beach.

I just love this picture. So sweet.

* Update: We just got word today that the homestudy is READY! So, I will be off to pick it up Monday morning and will be sending it to CIS right after that! :) It's so surreal that I feel weird getting excited - I know it will be a while before anything happens. But, Tsegay did tell me that it won't be as long as I think. But what does he know - he's only the person who gives out referrals. :) Really though, I'm still planning on being patient until 2.2010 (yah - right).