I Need Next Week

I figure that since I haven't really posted much this month I should explain. Grad school, PTA and homework are killing me. We have something to do every single weekend, like "beautifying" Fairmount Park yesterday. Today I am going to be elbow deep in hair b/c there is really no way that we could squeeze another week out of Allison's last do. Friday night I went to sleep at 2:40 (remember that Saturday we went to FPE at 8 a.m.!) because Allison and I went to Hot Topic for the midnight release party of twilight on DVD. That was special because she loves everything Twilight and we bonded early on over the books (unreal she readily reads the 600 page books to herself now b/c she loves them so much). She was caught in the hype and beaming the entire time we were there. Of course we had to watch the movie as soon as we got home. By watch I mean fall asleep on the couch 45 minutes into it, but hey. I tried to get a picture of her in line and donning her new Edward shirt and pillowcase, but the camera was dead and I didn't realize until I already had the perfect shot :( I still might be able to catch her surrounded by Twilight stuff and get a pic to post later.

She was so hyper, it was fun. We are officially Twerds=Twilight nerds, Fanpires= vampire fans and Team Edward players.

Little guy is doing well, but nothing out of the ordinary has been happening. He does say really funny stuff all the time...I hear it and think I should write it down so I don't forget before Aleks gets home.

And I am doing The 3 Day this year!! My family has had many run ins with breast cancer, so I feel strongly about the cause. If you are so inclined you can donate at www.the3day.org/goto/carriepreston . Every little bit helps, I know times are hard.

####################UPDATE###################

OMG, this is so funny! I planned to update this post once I got a few pictures of Allison all Twilighted up and we just got more wild Fanpire news about 2 hours ago. The Hot Topic release party had a drawing to enter to win an autographed picture of Taylor Lautner (Jacob) or a cut out of Rob Pattinson (Edward). We actually won the Jacob picture and got to go claim our prize! Very fun and you should have heard the screams, she is psyched :)

Normal?

I walked in on this and told Aleks to hold on b/c a picture was necessary. He insists that this is an every weekend happening. I explained that Charlotte taught Jen about laundry meatballs and he said this is a laundry meatloaf, I agree. I really loathe folding and hanging, so I am lucky he has resigned himself to being the muscle behind that operation. I do all the other house stuff though, I think it balances out.

Chattavegas!!

I am in my BFFs wedding this summer so I figured that I should get up there and visit before I run out of convenient time to do so (FCAT next week, finalization coming in Mayish, another wedding in May, school getting out...). The kids ended up coming with me and we got to do some touristy stuff. Uh, this feels very improper in the sentence structure/all around grammar department so I am going to a bulleted list.

-first flight for both kids, Gabriel yelled out "Oh my God!" when we sped up for take off
-when we landed at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (kinda a local joke, they must not have looked up the meaning of 'metropolitan' before they named it) Allison yelled down the concourse "CHATT AN OOOOOGA, hahahaha its so funny!"
-Ruby Falls is touristy, but it is also real geological formations that have been chillin there for over 3 million years...pretty cool
-Mr. Lambert (guy who found Ruby Falls ((wife named Ruby, awww)) had to belly crawl for 6 hours in a space 2X4 before he got to a spot in the cave large enough to stand in!!
-my parents' dogs are crazy
-s'mores are messy and Gabriel would rather just eat raw marshmallows than deal with that stickiness
-my daughter has crazy eyes
-exploring the banks of the TN River in 40 degrees is fun and the scenery looks like Forks (Twilight setting)
-WE LOVED OUR VISIT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR A LONGER STAY

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Our Other Babies

When I sat down at the computer this morning I saw the adorable wallpaper on Allison's desktop of Kimball being eaten by the Thashers mascot during Bark at the Ballpark, then I switched over to mine and it is Louie with a feather on his nose looking like he'd say "do I have something on my nose?" if he could talk, then I remembered that Aleks' is Romeo dressed up as a lamp. We love our dogs! I really don't know how I ever lived without four-legged furry buddies running around. They are so special, here are some of the cutest photos we have of them.

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Big Weekend

I almost went to bed without posting this, but I figured I better not procrastinate any longer. Aleks' step dad came into town for a regatta by the pier and stayed with us for a few days, he was the last grandparent the kids needed to meet. Gabriel loves him, he keeps asking when he is coming back and is sure to tell me which character Grandpa is in the books I'm read him. Allison also enjoyed her time with Grandpa, he introduced her to Thai tea and ankle bracelets, what's not to love about a guy like that? Grandpa actually owns a sailboat factory in TN, he trained Gabe up to be the next family sailor. Allison might try sailing this summer through a camp, Antonio should do it with her.
Then on Sunday night we went to XiiR (extreme international ice racing, as if you didn't already know that) at the Forum with Kasey and Loyda. I will be honest, I was sorta tired by Sunday afternoon and Allison's behavior over the previous 4 days wasn't stellar, so I didn't know how much fun we were going to have. BUT...it was awesome! Allison totally loved it, Loyda's other friends were cool, Gabriel and Kasey were too cute and I actually got into the races myself. Alli and I became fans of #22 Hippy and #5 The British Bulldog. Hippy signed Alli's hand (she chickened out of the forehead by the time we got to him) and the Bulldog put Gabe on the table and gave him the hat off his head after he signed it!! Not bad! Anyhoo, this is exceeding the amount of work I planned on putting into anything tonight ;)
XOXO Carrie

Oh, Lo asked me to be in her wedding today, so excited!!!! I had to put a puzzle together that she stamped with the a little poem. I suck, I was trying to put edge pieces in the middle...let's hope I don't end up in charge of anything too serious.

Oooo, I have to add this last little part. Aleks' Granny has collected Madam Alexander dolls since before he was born and in the valentine package from Grandpa and Mom mom Granny sent Allison a little doll named "Pussy Cat" (if that is her name on the tag, I guess it could refer to something else) and Alli so LOVES it. Right now I have her sitting in a bowl in the china cabinet, but Alli gets her out to carry her around. IDK if she should really be handling her, but I think the value is mostly going to be sentimental...and she is already priceless in that department.

****A million hours after last typing! I couldn't pick any crappy OTM music to accompany this slideshow, so please enjoy in silence~grrrrr****

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OMG!!!!!!!!!

Our caseworker was supposed to get back to me last week about when the court date for a non-relative placement would be, but she didn't. So, I called her a million times over the weekend and this morning. She said she had court today and she'd make sure to ask the attorney. I got a call at 5:30 saying that the placement came through and we are the legal caregivers!! Today is day 1 of 90, let the count down begin!

They say that no news is good news, but that’s just not the case. We have had the kids unofficially living with us for almost 3 months and the proper steps to have them legally placed still haven’t happened. Every fifth night I have to take them “home” crying and pouting because they can’t be out of their “bed” for longer than 4 nights in a row. Our fingerprints have been lost, the request for background checks was submitted to the right department but they didn’t submit it to the FBI, my (not Aleks’, suspicious) FBI clearance letter said foster rather than adoptive and that caused major problems, we couldn’t get a reasonable appointment for our NEW fingerprints so I had to complain, our background checks finally came through but expired while we were waiting for other issues to get resolved, so now we are waiting for a THIRD round of background checks before they can be legally placed with us and we can start counting the 90 day wait period to get consent for adoption and then about a month to get a court date for the finalization. On Tuesday we are hopefully getting them here in a non-relative placement (for those of you who know about George and Amber, it’s that same arrangement), not quite ideal because it will not count towards our 90 day wait period, but at least they won’t have to go back to their foster home anymore. And I’ll get to sign her school papers and mover her to another school. I could go into crazy detail about how horrible her school has been about all this, but I think for my mental stability I’ll just say that they are not as supportive as you probably think they would be.

Enjoy some January pics! I took Allison’s hair down and she wore it straight for a few days before I rebraided it, which I think I am getting pretty good at. The trampoline has been a big hit, Gabriel always begs to get it wet. And sadly, there is a new queen of the dogs ;) I guess I can share!

This was taken 3 years ago, during my reign :)