handsful

First, we took Hello Kitty and Spiderman downtown, to score treats from the local businesses on Main street.

Perfect weather, lots and lots of kids.

Come nightfall, Marley’s friend Kylie arrived while the other kids were busy getting themselves transformed.

The whole gang…we dropped them off at a friend’s house, since our neighborhood isn’t so great for trick or treating. We walked the little kids around there, too.

Abbey’s group, complete.

We now have more candy in this house than I care to admit. It’ll be a daunting task to make sure nobody eats themselves silly. Myself included!

Next up, preparing for Thanksgiving!!

He tells us all the time…”I’m BIG”

I’ve not weighed or measured him lately (gotta do that), but it’s obvious he’s growing. He eats much better these days, and is most definitely getting taller.

Favorite phrase these days? He says “dub-a-duh”. Which means “it didn’t”. So, if he falls down (which he does a lot), he jumps up and says “dub-a-duh hurt”, with a huge smile on his face.

The boy LOVES his overalls. Which, he calls, his “wovi-waws”. That’s just cute.

Happy 11 months, Dylan…can’t wait to celebrate a whole YEAR!

It’s what I do. I’m constantly making changes, cleaning out closets, drawers, re-arranging something to try and make more room in this house. I’m a self-confessed PURGER…if I don’t love it, or it hasn’t been used in awhile, it’ll end up in the charity pile.

All that to say, I love breathing room. Clutter is my enemy (I think it’s Satan’s cousin?), and I’m in constant battle. With 8 people in a house, it’s hard fought!

Recently, we decided it was time to make a little extra space in Lainey and Dylan’s room. There aren’t enough bedrooms in our house, so they have to share. Hoping we can find a larger rental before they get TOO old for that. Dylan had been sleeping in what used to be a bottom bunk, so we brought the top bunk in from the storage room and set it all up. I love it! And, so do they…

Here are before shots:

Lainey’s side of the room. Can you say cluttered? That desk, the box that her radio sits on, etc. Blech.

And, Dylan’s side. Nothing much to it, his bed, bins underneath, and his Cars decals (oh, the boy loves Cars…)

And, here it is after we just got the bunks up so they could go to sleep. We were able to have rails on both the top and bottom (Dylan flails all over the place, so that was a must).

Next day, after we finished the whole thing. Love it. Ignore the unmade beds…it’s never been my strength to either do those or teach my kids. One of my many flaws.

Look at all that ROOM!? They can pull out those bins and have room to play.

Night night :)

We grew up going to the NC State Fair. Missed a few years while in Florida, but we’re back on track now. We took the crew, plus a tall boy, my good friend, and her daughter.

A little tree climbing while we ate

We arrived right at lunch time, so off to the Apex Lion’s Club booth…a fair tradition for 20+ years. They serve PIIIIIIEEE!!

We let the big kids go off on their own for a few hours, while Randy, Kelley, and I took the littles to the kiddie rides.

Meeting up with the big kids, they (including Randy) rode this crazy ride that went all directions and at the speed of sound. I watched from the safety of mother earth.

A little bungee jumping for L and D

On the midway, the kids played a few games, Abbey got a henna tattoo of “love” in Mandarin, and Payton had his artwork turned into an airbrush tee. He drew Harry, they enlarged it, and the guy traced it with the airbrush. So cool!

We ate at the fair. You just have to, there is so much to sample and enjoy…and try not to regret later. Payton and Ethan wanted to try these last year, but we talked sense into them. This year, we thought “why not?” In this picture, my dear readers, is a hamburger made with doughnuts instead of buns. Can you imagine?

We had a blast at the fair, and spent almost 10 hours there. It was a late ride home, but oh so worth it.

Which is why my wimpy butt wasn’t in it. The lake, I mean.

But, these guys weren’t phased in the least by the 71 degree water temp.

The boys and their good friend, Ethan. He’s the son of my friend, Melinda.

Interesting story here: Years ago, when we first began our journey to Lainey, we joined an email group of other families adopting from China. One of those friends was Melinda, who at the time lived in Ohio. We moved to our small town near Charlotte 17 months ago – Melinda and her family moved to the SAME small town a few months ago. And, our boys are becoming fast friends. God is so good.

It’s a rule. When you ride our tube for the first time, you get thrown off – it’s sort of an initiation :)

Lainey has that “gee, this water is chilly” smile going on.

The boys decided to try and jump tubes while riding.

Almost every boating day turns ends with Ethan wakeboarding.

I was the only “sane” person who stayed dry on the boat. The water will still be there next summer.

We loved living in Florida for 5 years…really, we did. Day trips to the beach were very nice. But…

this I missed. If given the choice…mountains or beach? It’s always mountains for me.

And, day trips to the mountains make me a happy girl. We ventured over to Sugar Mountain, in Banner Elk for their annual Oktoberfest. Food, vendors, music, beer. We avoided that last one. What we really went for was the chair lift rides up the mountain. What better way to view all the gorgeous Fall COLOR…

Almost to the top

We spent some time on the top of the mountain…

Hiked through the woods a little

And, suddenly we were right on a rocky edge. I stayed away from the edge. Heights aren’t my thing, but the chair lift didn’t bother me too much.

The big kids, however, aren’t phased at all by heights and climbed with wild abandon. I tried not to watch.

Love this shot that Randy got.

Time to ride back down…

Cool air, killer views, color beyond belief, and hanging out with my family. Love.

This year’s Autumn Moon Festival holiday in China was on Sept 11th.

We were supposed to get together with our local Families with Children from China group a couple of weeks ago, but the weather didn’t cooperate. So, it was postponed till this past Saturday.

No, the moon wasn’t full – a nice crescent shape, actually. But, we still had tons of fun at a local farm doing the pumpkin patch thing, making lanterns, having a parade, playing, eating our own version of moon cakes, and roasting s’mores.

Here are the pics to prove it.

Josh joined in on the fun, too. Let the silliness begin.

We took a wagon ride around the property, and ended up at the pumpkin patch. They had all kinds: regular, squatty (which I later found out were for pies), white ones, splotchy gourds, etc.

Dylan went right to work, and found his pumpkin on the edge of the patch.

Lainey was all over the place, trying to find JUST the right one.

We all ended up getting one, except Randy who was too busy helping everyone else. Mine was the squatty one, but I doubt it’ll end up being pie. None of us are fans of pumpkin pie. Gasp, huh?

Contender for our Christmas card photo…

Have no clue what these little “leaf balloons” are, but aren’t they sweet?

Arms outstretched, enjoying a pleasant fall day. Truth? The boys were pelting him with patch debris. Heh.

Back on the wagon…

Lainey and Dylan won’t mind me putting this cute pic in. The one of Payton and Marley? They’d mind. But, I DID take it…

And, over to the silo playground. All us kids had a blast…

The following is a series…

Woo! That was fun!

Hey, where’s Dylan?

Oh, THERE he is!

After we played ourselves out, we sat down to eat the dinner we brought with us. We first got permission from some residents of the farm.

I’m not sure the chickens saw the irony here.

Time to get the bon fire started. Break out the marshmallows.

After Lainey and Dylan…with lots of help from mom and dad…finished making their lanterns, it’s time for the parade.

Marley found another use for the lanterns…

Parade over, time to pack up and leave. The girls decided to ride these horses…backwards.

Wonderful, fall day celebrating the harvest season in China…Happy (late) Autumn Moon.