Toadfrogs and Elephants

We had a kid-friendly New Year’s Eve Party tonight (Attending were the Strouds, Kubickis, and our favorite babysitter Amy). Alex was really excited to fix his own plate and made sure everyone had chips on their plate all night long. With lots of food and laughs we toasted the New Year at 9 pm.

Wade and I got Alex in bed, everything cleaned up, and were on the couch watching “Cowboys and Aliens” by 10. We only realized it was midnight thanks to some neighbors making loud popping noises outside.

We’re still waiting, but the numbers are getting smaller. We were recently told there are 35 families waiting to be matched with a baby. 6 of those families have a home study completed in 2009. The remaining 29 have a home study completed in 2010 (the program was put on hold for 2011). We are not given an exact place, but our guess is we are about halfway down. There are still no guarantees on how long we will wait. Our hope is to be matched with a baby by spring, but it could always be longer. Still waiting….

Wade spent the day flying just to fly. He was four segments short of making Gold status and had an extra ticket. Obviously he was gone most of the day so Alex and I ran errands and then had Abby and Asher over for dinner.

I spent the day trying to find homes for everyone’s new Christmas gifts. Alex spent the day playing with toys.

He didn’t even notice when I packed up three bins of old toys for the attic. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make it to the grocery.

Wade and I called this the best, horrible drive ever. We left Granny and Pop’s house at 8:30 am and pulled into our driveway a little before 9 pm. Thankfully we had great weather and no traffic. Alex was awesome throughout the drive but did have to stop for the bathroom an unusual number of times. Then I counted up his drinks and realized he drank over 75 oz. throughout the day – oops. Here we are getting ready to leave.

The best part of the day may have been finding a chick-fil-a for lunch!!

We had initially considered stopping for the night but we all just wanted to be home in our house and our beds.

Today was a nice and relaxing day in Collierville. The weather was nice so Alex decided to change the tires on Granny and Pop’s minivan.

Later that afternoon it was back to the construction site.

We ended the day by getting together with the rest of the Burch family. Alex wasted no time in attaching himself to Marie and Tina.

Alex woke up on time (his clock turns green at 7) and couldn’t wait to see run into the living room and see what Santa had brought.

After church Alex convinced Pop, Aunt Emmy, and Uncle John to read his new Curious George book to him.

Then we had Alex pass out all the stockings. He loved pulling things out of his stocking, but was much too quick to unwrap any of the small gifts.

After Alex’s nap it was time to exchange presents. The Stomp Rocket was a great gift!!

Alex and Harper had plenty to keep them entertained at Dad’s house. We weren’t up too long before the rest of the family appeared for a family breakfast and then lots of playing!

We returned to Mom’s house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with her side of the family. Alex loves having older cousins and they are wonderful about entertaining him. They even found a TV show for him (Beethoven’s Christmas special). The problem arose when it was commercial time. Alex freaked out that someone had turned off the show (and wouldn’t be convinced it was coming back until Wade and I verified it). The only shows he watches at our house are on Netflix or PBS (no commercials). Poor boy. The most entertaining gift of the night was the Socker Boppers. The kids loved them and we loved watching them. I have already been informed Alex is getting his own for his birthday (and a second set for a friend to play with).

Then Wade and I loaded up the car and headed for Memphis.