The Mouths of Babes..

Conversation with Zach

(Looking out the window) Mom, is it gonna rain?

(Me) I sure hope so, we really need rain

I don't want it to rain (insert whine here)

Why not?

Because, we are going to swim at Great-Grandma's today, and I don't wanna get wet

HUUUUUHHHH??????

Milk Please

Mike had to go into work an hour early this morning.  I'd like to say it is because of the 100 + degree day we are supposed to have today so they get the guys out of the shop early, but he will probably end up working late again today like they have all week.  After he left for work, I curled up on the couch with Fiona and the computer for a couple hours until I decided it was time to go get showered and dressed.  As I stood up, first my ankle cracked-that has been happening a lot since I sprained it.  OOHHH, then my knee, but a catch in my hip stopped me in my tracks for a minute until that too popped.  Crack, crack, the bottom couple vertibrae of my spine completed my experience of getting off the couch.  I've heard that getting old is hell.  I was feeling like a bowl of Rice Crispy's this morning as my whole body was going snap, crackle, and pop.

The Eyes Of A Child

Small things make such a difference to small kids.....  I used to point out to Steven and Peter whenever we saw something that might interest them when we were driving.  I still point things out to them, but they don't care so much anymore.  Yesterday we were driving out in farm country - yeah, I know we live in farm country, but Amish farming is very different from "English" farming.  So, anyway, as I said we were driving and I saw a Crop Duster. 

Look, Zach, a plane!

Of course, just then, it flew below the tree line and he could not see it.  Pete and I were then on the look out so we could show Zach that low-flying plane.  Finally we turned the right corner, and there it was.  It even turned around to make another pass across the field right over our car!!!  Zach thought the noise was REALLY loud.  Then we saw it drop it's load while flying low across the field.  The big boys have seen this sight several times, although I still think it's kind of cool to watch.  It was Zach's first crop duster- guess they don't see them much in China. 

I love watching firsts through the eyes of a child.

No News Is.....

Frustrating!!!  I think my whole family will agree with that.  I sent an e-mail to the Consulate again to confirm that things are moving along with out Aritcle 5.  This time I have not heard anything back.  I am REALLY hoping that we are back on track.  My adoption agency has told us that when it comes to the CHINESE part of this, no news is good news, not sure what no news means means for the US part.  The good thing about our delay?  Ticket prices in August are MUCH lower than ticket prices in July.

My friend is coming over on Friday with her son for Zach to play with and her baby girl for me to love on since I want Molly to be home so badly.  I need my baby fix!!!! 

To Do or Not To Do?

Sister Wives, another of my guilty pleasures.  Watching the finale tonight....... I asked Mike if we should find us a sister wife, and got an emphatic NO!  I think he doesn't want to deal with PMS multiplied...  I just don't share well!!! Maybe Brother Husbands then.  Our "Honey Do" list would get done faster!!

The Luck of the Chinese!?!?!

On Mike's last trip to China he brought home a gold metal cat, with Chinese characters on it, it takes batteries and the arm waves.  I have never liked this cat, how it looks or the fact that every time the arm goes back, it clunks.  MIke told me that most businesses in China have these because they welcome money/good fortune.  Yeah, whatever, it was relegated to the top of his desk in the office, and forgotten about.

I have been a pretty lucky person in my adult years.  But there do seem to be some rules of the Gods with my luck.  Usually if I am going to win something (like when many prizes are going to be awarded) I will be the first name called.  If I am not the first, I do not win, but I have been first a few times.  Weird, I know, but who am I to argue?  This winter, when Mike and I put out all those applications for grants, and hoped to get 1 or 2, I didn't think much about it.  The first grant response that came in was a yes!!  Yep, my good luck holds true, I (we) won something in which more than one would  be awarded, and the first answer was a yes.  Thank goodness it was a nice size grant, because the way my luck goes, it is the only one we will get.  Several more responses came in, all sorry, but no's.  As we continued our process, it was time to turn the office into Molly's room.  Mike's desk went to the basement for the boys to use and he took over their homework desk since there wasn't enough room for both our desks in the living room.  My desk is BIGGER and HEAVIER and NO ONE wanted to haul it downstairs, so Mike's was the one voted off the island.  Since he lost desk space, the Chinese cat was placed on top of MY desk.  When I moved it, I noticed the batteries had died, so I placed in fresh batties and went about my day.  That very day, we recieved another answer on a grant request, this time a yes.  HHMMM, that's never happened before.   I patted the kitty and told Mike when he got home that I guess the cat can continue to stay in the place of honor on top my desk, there might be something to this.  We now only have 1 grant that has yet to answer us.  We were awarded more money than I thought we could possibly receive, from our fundraising, donations, and grants.  We have 2 beautiful children who will be ours soon and what could be luckier than that?

Just Another Frantic Thursday

It's a good thing my husband is a faithful blog reader.  Apparently, I forgot to let him know that I had gotten a call the other day about Zach's visa renewal being accepted.  Last night, I first heard my husband laughing at Pete's drill bit conversation, then ....... "Zach's Visa extension is approved???"  Ooooppps.  I thought I had called him and told him that, I must have gotten distracted by the children before I actually dialed the phone.  "yeah, sorry, it should be her via FedEx on Friday"  Let's just pretend I have pregnancy brain drain, from all the adoption chaos.

Last night, I had a meeting for the section I am teaching for vacation bible school.  As we talked about what everyone is doing, the lady in charge mentioned that she still needed a man to play a goofy guy in the opening skit every day.  A call home, and then I let her know that Steven may only be 14, but is taller than me and would be happy to be this goofy character.  Then he will come hang out with me in my room while I do my sessions.  I am a little worried about Zach's behavior during vacation bible school.  Not in most of it, but when he comes to my sessions.  This child is very attached to me - I call him my Velcro boy - he always wants to be cuddled by me, or hugging me, or have my undivided attention when I am talking to others- his interruptions are something we are working hard to break him of.  We will have to have a conversation with him before we start, about how he is expected to behave.  Last night he went with Mike to the gas station for lawn mower gas, and I asked him to have daddy bring me home a diet coke for my meeting.  They were gone about 20 minutes, and Zach came running into the house ahead of daddy, throwing himself into my arms "Mom, I MISSED you!!"   UUUHHH, I have a bad feeling about this.

Warning Kid With Power Tool

Mom, where does dad keep his hole saw for cutting door knob holes?  - Pete asked while holding my drill in his hand

I don't know, and if I did I wouldn't tell you until you ask your dad to use it

Then where are your spade bits?

WHY......

I need to cut holes in the tarp for under my tent to put stakes through

You don't use a drill to do that!!!

Then how can I make the holes (insert whiney, put out, lots of attitude here)

UMMMMM, scissors........

Good news..... Zach's visa extension was approved and is in the mail to us.  Now we can quit ducking the law - afterall, we HAVE been harboring an illegal alien since June 10.  You know how it is, the constant worrying that the INS will come knocking on our door, looking over your shoulder when you go out in public.....

This means that he definitely won't have to go back to China ahead of us.  And his passport will be back to us in plenty of time to travel (it will arrive back to us in the same envelope as his visa extention).  Another thing down.... and seems like a million more to go.  When we started this process, we asked our adoption agency and another mom who had adopted from China how long it would take, and were told about a year, if we really pushed things along maybe 9 months.  We rushed every process we could, even paying extra for some of that rushing, and are still looking at a year.  Sigh.  The earliest we will be able to go to China is Aug 1.   Grumble, grumble, grumble. 

Zach came to live with us last year on July 31.  It just doesn't seem like he has been with us that long, but seems like we have been in the adoption process FOREVER!!  Funny how the very same time is looked at in such different ways. 

By my calculation, that is one more step forward.......even with where we were 2 days ago.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

As I was re-reading my adoption paperwork two nights ago, I saw where we could contact the National Visa Center to check on the status of our case.  Being the Type A personality that I am, I feel totally helpless right now, in a process I have NO control over.  This gave me a much appreciated chance to be proactive, and have something to do during the adoption.  We knew that our case had already gone from the NVC to the US Consulate in China, and we knew that our paperwork would be at the consulate for 3-4 weeks.  According to my calculations, the paperwork should either have been done by last Friday or this Friday.  The NVC verified they sent the paperwork on already, and we needed to contact the Consulate for the status there.  Boy am I glad I did.  They e-mailed me back that they've had our paperwork, but are waiting on something from our adoption agency before they can begin to process it.   UUUUHHHHHGGGGG.  E-mails sent to the adoption agency revealed we needed to send them our paperwork from the NVC when we got it - I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME THAT WEEKS AND WEEKS AGO......I'VE HAD THE PAPERWORK FOR 3 WEEKS NOW!!!!!  A quick e-mail today and they got the necesarry paperwork, and will have our stuff all delivered to the Consulate tomorrow.  It will be 2 more weeks now added to our timeline.  How frustrating!!!!!

On a totally unrelated topic, Peter and Zach decided to camp outside in Pete's tent tonight.  I explained to them it was going to be HOT.  But no, they argued they would be fine.  Ok, Momma tried, learn the hard way.  Zach came up from his shower wearing a blanket sleeper - which is fine inside with the air conditioner on, not great for 90 degree weather.  (that was 2 hours ago, now it's 10:05 and still 84 degrees).  He tried to tell me he would be fine, with those jammies on, he would not need a blanket.   HHMMM, as hot as it is, you won't need a blanket at all.  We finally convinced him to change into PJ shorts and a short sleeve jammie shirt.  Off he went to the tent, happily camping for the first time in his life.  The rest of us went off to the garden to plant some late veggies that Mike picked up for a great deal at the local greenhouse on the way home from work.  Mike asked me to go down and fill a bucket with water, and the water spicket just happens to be by where the boys put their tent........ and Zach had all the window flaps zipped shut (he must have been roasting in there)........so being the good Mommy that I am, I had to shake the side of the tent and say GGGRRRRR.  After a huge yelp from inside the tent, I calmed him down and convinced him it was only me.  After that he was not going back to sleep while we were outside.  OOPS.

( Now comes the stall... )  Mom, I have a loose tooth......   Yes Zach, I know (it's been loose for about 6 weeks now) ........  Mom, it's bleeding.........  OK, get a kleenex from inside and go back to sleep.   When he came back out, I decided to check his tooth out, and oh, my, it WAS almost out.  He couldn't get ahold of it, and consented to let Mike try to pull it.  Mike started to reach for his small pliers he keeps in his back pocket.  No, Mike, you're going to scare him!!!  Mike then tried to pull it with his fingers and could not get a grip on it.  Zach then looked at Mike's pliers, checking them all out, and consented to letting Mike use those to pull on his tooth- MY dad used to threaten to use pliers to pull out our teeth to scare us into pulling out our loose teeth.  Unfortunately, Mike couldn't grip it with the pliers either.  Zach then worked and worked at it, until it came out.  We convinced him, since it was past his bed time, the tooth fairy has already passed by this neighborhood and he would be on tomorrow night's schedule.  He is so cute right now, with his Chinese accent and his slight lisp from his missing front tooth.

By the way, he then went back into the tent and saw a lightening bug inside, since he had forgotten to zip the door shut.  Off he went into the house with his pillow - camping over.  I think Pete is inside now too - he was too hot.

Our prayers have been answered

Today has been a great day.  Really great.  We got a phone call this afternoon telling us we received an adoption grant.  This grant has now put us over the hump for the last of the money needed to fund our adoptions.  Mike says that now I can relax and sleep at night.  That just shows what he knows......now I will lose sleep waiting to get Molly in my arms and make Zach our son forever.  The waiting is hard. 

Now I'm watching one of my favorite movies "The Blind Side".  I love Sandra Bullok's character Lou Ann Toulley.  Mike and I agree that she could be my sister, seperated at birth.  I just love her and my very favorite line of the whole movie, now that we are adopting, is when her friends tell her that she's changing "that boy's" life and she says "no, he's changing mine".  Amen to that,  we have been saying from the start that we need Zach as much as he needs us, and we are learning so much from him.

I've been running the numbers on our time line- the adoption agency gave us a handy dandy chart for this last part of our process, after our LOA (official approval from China to adopt).  From LOA it's about 3 weeks to our Provisional Approval (and it was three weeks exactly), then about 1 week to wire all our paperwork to the US National Visa Center in China (and it was 9 days),  then 3-4 weeks for the NVC to turn that Provisional Approval into our Article 5 (this is were we are now, today was 3 weeks, so we are waiting to hear this step is done), then we have 2-3 weeks for China to issue our Travel Approval.  We should travel within 2 weeks of getting our TA........... we could still make it home in time to register the kids for school the week before school starts..........Please, please, please........

We are still waiting for Zach's passport to come back to us.  We had to send it in to the Grace Children's Foundation for them to renew his medical visa.  Without that passport back, our travel date could be held up, since obviously he can't travel without it.  Again, please, please, please let that come back in time to not throw off our earliest possible travel date........

Today's Project

Darling Hubby had to work today, so Pete, Zach, and myself put together the big and small strollers, in anticipation of Molly coming home soon.  Pete had to be reminded several times to WAIT until I read the directions before he did something else, and that there are often reasons to follow a specific order when putting them together.......We did good I think!

 After the strollers were assembled, we were left with I big box and 1 fair-lee big box.  Pete started with the big box, making himself into a robot.  Zach of course had to be a robot too, so I helped him make his.  Zach has been playing with Molly's Chinese baby doll today, pretending it IS Molly.  We decided she needed to have a robot costume too.  Here are our final costumes.  We have named them Data (Pete), R2D2 (Molly) and C3PO (Zach).

I hope Zach babysits for real as well as he babysits Molly's doll

The Wrath of Mom

That's what Mike calls it when I get all angry at the kids.  Yup, hard to believe, I know, that the mother of 3 boys sometimes loses her cool.  But I do.  In spades. 2 days ago, all three boys were doing (or not doing) things to set me off.  After putting kids in corners, sending them away from me to clean rooms, and finding them playing instead........ I really lost it.  Mike came home from work to find me standing in the middle of Pete and Zach's room directing the cleaning efforts.  The simple concept of you each have half a room, keep your stuff on your side.....seems to not be so simple.  Steve was being trusted to work on his own room and clean the linen closet in the kids bathroom.   HHMMM, in checking his work, I will be standing in the middle of his room today....  He has been told to not even consider eating breakfast today until he cleans out the closet and under the bed - where he threw everything when he cleaned his room.  I heard his alarm going off at 6 AM this morning, guess he got an early start.  Why is it teenage boys believe that ALL their clothes (whether clean or dirty) belong on the floor of their room?  Mixed together.   So you have to use the sniff test to get dressed.  YUCK!  Hopefully, after all this, the wrath of Mom can be put to rest and we can have a good time together for the next few weeks.

Party Pooper

Last night we were watching the world championships of Irish dancing (think Lord of the Dance).  There were both boys and girls of several different ages, from all over the world.  I saw lots of blond or red haired girls dancing in their short dresses, curls bouncing.  I asked Mike if we should find Irish dance classes for our Asian children, since that was one ethnic group I did not see competing -wouldn't they be cute?  he was starting to comment on how cute they WOULD be but, just about that time they showed some of the back story of the reining world champ (20 years old) and it said the costume she wore tonight cost several thousand dollars.  Mike now says no, he doesn't think our kids need to take up this particular activity.

Just Keep Marching On

Steven has now finished his practice sessions for Marching Band.  First they learned to march, then they learned to march straight ahead with their bodies turned to the side and feet forward.  They have to memorize their music instead of having the little stands that fit on their horns like I remember my sister using when she did high school marching band.  Steven is so excited.  He is sore from all the marching muscles he is learning to use, but he likes the high school band kids.  He is having a lot of fun.

 He told me last night that he does not understand WHY they have to march forward with their bodies sideways, they could just side step. 

Steven, it would not look the same. 

Well, Mom, you have no idea how HARD marching band is with all the marching, and holding your arms up, your instrument steady, memorizing the songs.....

Steven, my sister and some friends did marching band.  I think I know what you are doing.  What you mean to say is that YOU had no idea how hard marching band would be.

Oh........yeah.

Now he is done for a month until Pre-Band Camp starts in July.  Then he has regular band camp in July.

Great!!

On most Saturday mornings, Mike and I get up and make breakfast for the kids.  It's the same thing every week, but they love it.  Whoever comes downstairs first puts biscuits in the oven then Mike makes sausage patties and I make the eggs.  Since most of us do biscuit sandwiches (Zach likes to keep all his food seperate), I scramble the eggs, but cook them more like an omlette, without the omlette ingredients, but the egg stays on sandwiches that way.  Last Saturday we decided to shake things up and make breakfast burrittos.  Mike crumbled the sausage and cooked it, and  I did scrambled eggs the traditional way.  Zach was really impressed.  He still did not mix his food to make a burritto, but he thought the "crumbley" eggs were really good.

Mom, you're a really good cook, right?

Yes, Zach, I am.

Good thing he's still young enough to be impressed by the little things, like a different way of cooking eggs.

You're Doing That NOW??

Every school day my routine was to get up with Mike when the alarm rings, go wake up the kids and then come up to make Mike's lunch and make sure everyone gets breakfast.  The kids are usually hard to wake up, especially Zach.  I come into bedrooms singing some kind of good morning, wake up song (I have 2 or 3 I switch between) and with some tickling, and threatening to decide for Zach what he will wear to school, it takes about 10 minutes to get kids out of bed.  Now that summer vacation is here, everyone's bed time got pushed back about an hour.  With that they get to sleep in.  The last 2 days, Zach has gotten out of bed before Mike and I and even come downstairs.  I come down to find Zach on the couch, under a blanket, playing his new game boy he got for his birthday.  Now WHY could he not have been so easy to wake up when he was going to school?  He used to complain that he was TIIIIERD (you have to put a little whine into that to get the true feeling for it) and wanted to go back to sleep.  Now I want to go back to sleep after I make Mike's lunch, and before I have an toddler in the house again - we all know they never sleep in.......

You Know, Those Moon Shaped Things

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to distract Zach from something he wanted to do, so I reminded him that we were going to the Chinese restaurant for dinner. 

What are you going to order, Zach, those steamed dumplings you always get? 

Yeah, and rice. 

MMMM that sounds good

And what are those orange, moon shaped things?

hhhhmmmm, I guess you and daddy will have to talk to the lady who runs the restaurant to see if they know what you want (sometimes he remembers stuff he ate while living in China, that's how he started eating dumplings, they figured out that was what he wanted after he described it to the lady who owns the restaurant.)

No, no.  Never mind, I don't want that.

So we go to the restuarant, order his dumplings and rice.  I then look at the menu trying to see what I want (you mommies know that you get the kids set, and THEN can figure out what you want) and Zach got really excited. 

I want THAT!!!  (pointing at a picture on the menu)

OH, shrimp.   Yep, orange and moon shaped.  He had talked about eating shrimp a couple of weeks ago when he saw a Red Lobster comercial on TV, telling us he likes those.

Cancell the dumplings, order the shrimp.  And because the owners of the restaurant like Zach (he's so cute, who doesn't like him?), they gave him a bag of  Chinese Almond cookies for his birthday.  He was a very happy camper on his birthday.

Happy Birthday Dear Zachary

Today is our very first birthday celebration with Wu Ke Ji (in China the surname is first), soon to be known as Zachary KeJi Lee.  We let the kids pick a restaurant to have dinner at on their birthday.  I told Mike to prepare, Zach just might pick McDonalds, he is in love with the playland.  I started listing all the restaurants he likes to eat at and he ended up picking ....... Chinese food, or when he lived in China - food.  He loves steamed dumplings.  Not Pete or my favorite type of food, but we have found things at the Chinese restaurant that we like.  Then we will go have some ice cream.  He is really looking forward to his birthday party on Saturday.  We got him a used Nintendo DS,  the thing he has been asking us for, as his gift.  He has been living with us for 10 months now,  grown 2.5 inches in that time and his English has improved dramatically.  He's the love of our lives, as much as any biological child could be.  Happy Birthday, Zach, may be have 50 more years together of celebrating birthdays!!!  We love you!

Mom, let's play

Have you ever noticed how cute kids are when they are playing something they actually know about?  Last night, my baby boy (on his last day of being 6, today he turned 7) asked me to play doctor with him.  OK.  He got a popcicle stick out of the craft drawer to use as his tounge depresser and his flashlight to take a look.  He checked my throat and my ears.  Then he got out a dry wash cloth, to take my blood pressure.  I told him my problem was I had stubbed my toe, so he put my foot in a "cast" made from construction paper, and put an orange cone on my foot to protect my toe.  Then he brought over a clipboard, paper, and pen and told me I needed to sign here. I think this means he's been to TOO many doctors when he makes me sign for my treatment!!!  He gave me a "shot" and when I "cried" he handed me a toy to make me feel better and rubbed my arm telling me it was all going to be OK in a very soothing voice.  Then I got a sticker at the end for being a good patient.  Paging Dr. Zach, Dr. Zach please report to exam room 1, I think my funny bone needs checked today.......

Relax!!

After some busy times these last few days, I have made the executive decision to declare today a day of rest.  Friday we were packing up the needed items for the Port-A-Pit fundraiser.  I sold about 20 headbands / barrettes / baby socks on Saturday, to put an additional $70 in the adoption fund, above and beyond what we would have brought in.  Saturday we were selling chicken all day, until 5, then home to collapse after we vacuum sealed the left over chicken.  Sunday we took the left over chicken in to Mike's church, to sell at a discount to members of his congregation.  Then we had to clean all the coolers we brought home from the sale.  Nelson's puts the chicken in coolers after they cook it.  When they are done cooking, they take away any empties and the rest we take home to clean, then return them to the next Port-A-Pit location.  It's really a great system.  Monday brought cleaning out the camper since we took it out to the Port-A-Pit site for the kids to play in, a place for the grown ups to rest, and just a handy thing to have up there.  Unfortunately, it was muddy where we parked, so I had to mop the camper after unloading and sweeping it out yesterday.  So, since the boys and I have been working hard on all that, today we will rest.  They can watch TV, play with their pets, play video games, or even play together (God forbid).  I still have laundry to do today, but if that is all I have to do, then that is pretty relaxing for me too.  It's going to be a beautiful, cool, sunny day.  Great for hanging clothes on the line,  bicycling, swinging or sandbox playing.  Maybe I will get real motivated today and make play dough.

Zach's Day

My poor baby.  Yesterday I was checking e-mail when I heard a thud.  I listened after that, and upon hearing nothing else, I assumed that Zach must have slammed his door - I had sent him to his room to change clothes.   Soon, though, came the WAIL.  I rushed from the desk to find Zach wiped out on the steps.  He had slipped down them as he was coming back up from changing clothes.  Now, my heart ends up in my throat when ever the boys fall down the stairs- ever since Steven broke his elbow so bad that he needed surgery when he fell down the steps of the Prospect St. house.  He kept touching his mouth, looking at his fingers like he thought he would see blood.  Please, please, don't let one of his permanent teeth be damaged!!!!  Since all his limbs appeared to be in working order and no major blood was seen, I picked him up to carry him up to the living room for some Mommy Kisses to speed along the healing process.  We rocked until the tears stopped, Pete brought us an ice pack, and Steven gave us a blanket.  When I was finally able to assess the damages, he had skinned up his shin, skinned his chin, and a tiny bit of blood around his gum line.  No loose teeth (at least none that were not loose before) and no chipped teeth.  He'll be looking pretty for the fundraiser tomorrow.

On the bright side, he was feeling so good after dinner last night that he leaed a new trick.  Over the winter he had learned to do summer saults.  He can do bunches of them in a row to cross the floor.  Last night he was messing around and ended up doing a backwards summersault (purley an accident)!!  After he got over his surprise, he tried it again and again and again!  What fun.  Today he showed his brothers what he learned to do.  Do I hear Olympic team of  2020?

It all SOUNDS so simple

I just told Pete "I suggest you take your I-POD tomorrow"
Pete -why?
Me - because you will be out by the road most of the day holding signs to attract attention to our fundraiser
Pete- I don't have an I-POD
Me- (Sigh) whatever, your MP3 player
Pete- remember it broke
Me- Oh, well I guess you'll be bored
Pete- can't I use YOUR MP3 player?
Me- there's not music on there that you will like
Pete- I can put some of my music on there
Me- no
Pete- seriously, I can take off your songs, put them in a file on your computer, load my songs for tomorrow, when we get home put my songs in a file on the computer, load yours back on, then put mine in the recycle bin, and then empty the bin.
Me- I'll think about it

why is it that when things sound that easy they never are?  Let me count the way things could go wrong with that plan........

It's Here

Summer vacation has begun.  The boys' last day of school was on Wednesday.  Today is day 2 of vacation, and my resolve to have the kids watch less TV is already slipping.  Zach and Pete are already fighting.  Steven is keeping himself locked in his room, because, since he is 14 he can not stoop to the level of playing with his younger brothers.  Zach has somehow lost his Game boy and was telling me that he has NOTHING to do.  So, on came the TV to his cartoons.

 I know, I know, bad mommy, but I have been getting things ready for our fundraiser tomorrow, I am going to have my hair bows there, so I had to get those out, along with all the stuff to display them.  I am making sure we have enough change for tomorrow.  The big boys are out washing the camper now, since we are taking that to the gas station with us - a good place for Zach to sit and play when he is bored, and a good place to warm up, or cool off, or dry out depending on the weather for the grown ups.  Yesterday I cleaned the inside of the camper so it was ready, put all our signage, tables, chairs, etc in the bedroom, and made sure everything was put away - somehow if I sent things out with the boys to go into the camper, it all ends up on the floor right in front of the door.

Tomorrow is our last big fundraiser to adopt Zach and Molly.  Everything seemed to cost more that we were told it would - losts of surprises.  We are now down to just needing to raise money for the plane tickets, which seem to be getting more expensive every time I check on them.  It sounds like the weather should be pretty good tomorrow - chance of rain in the afternoon, so our fingers are crossed for great weather for the first weekend of summer vacation.  Hopefully lots of people will be out and about and in the mood for great chicken!