Happy Halloween

Coming soon...

New post with lots of pics...I promise!

Catching up

Wow...2 months and no posting. I'm going to blame my laziness on the winter doldrums. Well, the snow is now long gone, and we are enjoying the beautiful warm weather. So, no more excuses for me.

I'm happy to report that Hope officially became our daughter on March 23, 2010. That's right...our re-adoption finally went through, after 6 months of waiting for a court date. You gotta love Philadelphia's legal system. Below are a couple of pics from the big day.

Hope is doing great. She is currently taking a tumbling class and a music class. She's a little soft on the tumbling, but she loves her music class. She loves to stand in front of the instructor and dance away.

She's also been doing a lot of talking. She is obsessed with our neighbor, Charlotte, and we hear Char-char around the clock. Short stack (our dog)and Suz-suz (our other neighbor)are among her other favorite words. Occasionally, we do get to hear a Mama and Daddy, so I guess we can't complain.

Now what you've been waiting for...the cute pics.

A Week of Snow

The Wait

Anyone who has gone through the adoption process knows how grueling the wait can be. First you wait for fingerprint clearance, than you wait for a referral, than you wait for a court date (or two or three), than you wait for your embassy date, and finally your travel date. The one thing that helps with all of this waiting is getting pictures of your little one. We were fortunate during our wait. A number of families traveled to Ethiopia, during this time, and supplied us with many photos of Hope.

As our "Gotcha Day" anniversary approaches, I find myself looking at Hope's orphanage photos again and again. She looks so sad in these photos, and so different from the happy, bubbly little girl I know. As I look at them, I realize that she was waiting as well...waiting to be safe and warm, waiting to have a full belly, and waiting to be loved and held. Looking back, her wait was much harder than ours.

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Move over Eartha Kitt...

There's a new Cat Woman in town!

Hope has a new favorite place in our home...the dog crate. I cannot keep her out of it. This new development has been very upsetting to Shorty. He loves his sister, but not as much as his bed and crate. To make matters worse, she now runs around in cat ears. I fear poor Shorty is on the road to a nervous breakdown!

Einstein

This week we had to say goodbye to our dear cat, Einstein. He would have been 19 years old this summer, and lived a long happy life.

Einstein, we love you and we will miss you. We know you are howling up in heaven. Have fun playing with Spencer, Sigmund, Boo, and Sophie.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Carol!

Hope with her Aunt Carol on her first day home.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! Today we celebrated our first Christmas with Hope, and what a good morning it has been. Santa came, bringing Hope lots of presents. Here she is opening a few of her gifts.


What did Santa bring me?













My very own Hello Kitty purse!












What could this be?

















Boxes are my favorite












My very own cell phone












Wheeling and Dealing on Christmas morning


















Taking Baby for a stroll















As seen on TV: The Snuggie

Congratulations, Jackie!

Yesterday, Hope's cousin, Jackie, graduated from college. Although Hope couldn't be there to celebrate the occasion in person, she did break out her guitar and did a little celebratory dance in Jackie's honor.

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Baby, it's cold outside!

Yesterday, Hope experienced her first major snow storm and her first tobaghen ride. We weren't sure if she was enjoying herself. She didn't crack a smile throughout the whole experience. However, she did raise a fuss when we brought her back inside. Here are some photos of her day playing in the snow with our neighbors.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

So my tongue stays in my mouth.




































Shorty has one other Christmas wish...he wants to put an end to puppy mills. If you are planning on adding a pet to your family this holiday season, please go to shelters and rescues, and not pet stores, for your new addition.

Bad Hair Day

Hope woke up with the most amazing hair do this morning. I just had to capture it and share it with everyone. Even with "Bride of Frankenstein" hair, she still looks beautiful.

Halloween

Yesterday was Hope's first Halloween. I'm not sure if she enjoyed it or not. I know that she definitely was not into keeping her duck hat on, and I hardly have any good pictures of her in full costume. Hopefully, she will learn to love this holiday, as it is my favorite. I'm also hoping that she will also learn to love dressing up, just like her brother, Shorty does.

Here are a few pics from trick or treat night.

Happy 21st, Caitlin!

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Country House

I've mentioned a few times how much Evan and I enjoy spending time at my in-laws house, near the Catskills. Well this summer we had the good fortune of finding our very own country house, and our settlement will be this Monday. We are very excited to provide Hope with a city and country life. The house is an old farmhouse, built in the 1870's, and rests on 5 acres in close proximity to the Delaware River. Below are a few pictures of the land. I will post pics of the house once we close and there will be a new blog charting the progress of restoring our little country home.

Way to go Phillies!!

The Phanatic hat isn't perfected, yet, but it will be for when we win the World Series.