Chan’s Chinese Antiques Lighted Building
We can't believe that stores are already displaying Christmas decorations! We mocked at first then we started browsing the isles. And, look what we found:

Today At Michael's Craft store we found this cute addition to our Christmas Village. No, it's not a Dickinson piece, it is a Lemax but we couldn't resist!! Our collection of Lemax is fast overtaking Dickinson pieces! Also, somewhere out there is a similar Lemax of a Chinese Restaurant and now we are on the look out!! Collectibles are fun!

This last Christmas we were unable to find our Lemax Christmas Villagers. A few weekends ago we were cleaning out the basement and found their missing box!! We are both excited about creating our 2008 Christmas Village~ we will hold a reunion with our "old" villagers and our "new" foreigners! I wonder if they will all get along.

The Baby Gardner, Gifts All things Baby
Now, y'all know I Love all things creative and unique! A very good friend of mine creates this adorable vintage style charm bracelets in several different designs. One of her most recent is of a vintage PANDA!! We are ALL about the Panda!! She even creates Mother Daughter matching charm bracelets! I wish some of her creative juices would rub off on me!



Also, check out the website below. If you like all things vintage baby you will be in heaven! Different artists create their designs especially for the web site! It's a must see:

http://www.thebabygardner.com/productpages/jewelry/jwpandamombrclt.html

Who Wears it Best?
Devil Dawg - Halloween Costume 2008

Matt and I found a cool website for Halloween costumes. This year we decided that not only will the dawgs get to play dress up, but we both will too (more on our costumes a little closer to the big BOO-day)! And, with Halloween soon approaching, we forced the Chi's to try on this years Halloween costume~ to see who wears it best...

Nacho seems to be enjoying himself and even appears to get into character...

Penny is humiliated & doesn't want to play with such evil forces...

Sierra doesn't seem to mind, which is good because it certainly fits her better (sorry Nacho). And, she manages to look Noble in her other wise humiliating get-up.

Another Layout for you... again, our trip to NYC. Here we are in Central Park

Patience & Fortitude

This past weekend I was able to spend some time with friends at a local scrapbook store. Here is one of the Layouts I completed of our NYC trip. These Lions sit outside the NYC Library guarding the stairs. And, though their names have changed through the years currently the names "Patience & Fortitude" have stuck (named by the Mayor)

Three, Two, One, Contacts!

This self portrait was taken to show off my EYES!! Look Ma, no glasses!! And, check out my long lustrous hair! :) Which is much longer than it look in the picture. My hair goes all the way down to my ankles (just kidding). Now, if I can just find a long term solution to covering my gray! HA!

Most men would be jealous of Matt's cucumber! (He MADE me say that!, LOL) Every day Matt goes out to our garden patch to water and check the veggies. Somehow he overlooked this big daddy of a cucumber!

If you like this, you should see his tomatoes!
And, don't get me started about his peppers!!

Fight Club Bruises

As most of you know, the past two months Matt has been taking classes in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Three days a week he leaves the comfort of our air conditioned home to participate in an organized "fight club" (as I like to call it). When he comes home we go through our "bruise check" ritual. We joke that if there isn't a new bruise he isn't training hard enough. Behold, one of the latest additions to his collection:

It's a Beaut!!

Again, today we are sharing our third ornament in Baby E's collection. This one puts us up-to-date on our ornament messages. We are very excited to check out the 2008 Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments! I'm sure there will be more than a few that will speak to us for the perfect addition to her/ his collection (only one for her/ him, and the rest for us, LOL)

Christmas 2007

“China, Joy to the World”

We have shared with our Friends and Family this ornament tradition we are starting for you. And, this is the VERY first ornament gift to you from Mommy’s Best Friend~ Connie. Just like everyone else, she can’t wait to meet you! Because she is so dear to us we want you to call her Auntie Connie. Auntie Connie has been Mommy’s confidant through the adoption process. And, she knows how important you are to us! She told me that when she saw this set she just HAD to get it for you. Thank you Auntie Connie! PS: We liked the ornament so much we bought one for our Christmas tree too!

Continuing with yesterday's subject, this ornament is the 2007 (ornament #2) ornament in "Baby E"'s collection.

Christmas 2007

“Great Getaways”

A little over a year has passed from our LID and we are still waiting on your referral from China. Every day we pray for you & your birth families health. We know that God is knitting you in your birth Mother’s womb especially with us in mind to be your Forever Family/ Mommy & Daddy. The next step for us will be to pack our bags to pick you up and bring you home. We still are not sure when that day will be. However, that doesn’t keep us from thinking of you and dreaming of you in our arms. This ornament seemed very appropriate. Our suitcases look EXACTLY like this years ornament!!

Some of you may remember that in 2006 we decided to start our own Christmas Ornament collection for Baby Emma/Emmit (not really Emmit, we just can't decide what name if it's a boy and Emmit rhymes with Emma). Inside each ornament we will write a little message to her/him. And, we finally got around writing the messages for the last 3 ornaments. Here is a pic of her first ornament and the message is below:

Christmas 2006

“Holiday Mail”

This year Daddy and I have been very busy preparing all the paperwork necessary to start our family with you! We decided in November 2005 that we would proceed with your adoption in Jan/Feb 06. In January we researched agencies and February we signed the application and began the arduous, yet exciting, adoption paper trail. We are so very excited to receive our “Log in date” (LID) from China (September 18, 2006). That is the date that China received our paperwork and logged it into their system. We are OFFICIAL “Parents in waiting”. When we saw the mail box ornament we both KNEW it would be the very first ornament in your collection! We are anxiously awaiting your referral from China!! USPS and FEDX have been very active on our behalf (delivering and mailing all our paper work pieces). We LOVE you so much!

The Number Eight & 8/8/08!!

I found this article on yahoo news and found it interesting. Then, read to the bottom to see our thoughts on this!! Exciting news!!

BEIJING (Reuters) - August 8 promises to be a lucky day for Liu Chuan who is getting married and has a ticket for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Liu and his bride will join thousands of Chinese couples queuing at the marriage registry on Friday, an auspicious day for weddings and births because of the number 8, which symbolizes wealth in Chinese.

August 8 is also China's big day, when the Olympic Games open in Beijing. Organizers added an extra eight for good measure by scheduling the opening ceremony for 8 p.m. "Chinese are partial to the number 8, and Friday is three 8s in a row - the eighth day of the eighth month, 2008. Also, we picked it because of the Olympics," said Liu, a Beijing resident. "I got a ticket for the opening ceremony that night, but it was only possible to get one, so I will go to the Bird's Nest (stadium) and my fiancee will watch it on TV at home."

So many couples are planning to tie the knot on August 8 that Beijing's marriage registries set up an online service for couples to file paperwork in advance and speed up the process. An estimated 9,000 couples in Beijing alone will get their marriage certificates that day.

"Whenever you get here, you will have to wait. The bureau opens at 8.30 in the morning and some people will come a lot earlier than that to get in line," said a staff member at the Tongzhou registry, on the outskirts of Beijing, which has booked 500 appointments for Friday.

But despite the flood of weddings, many banquet halls are facing a drought of bookings. Many Chinese get their certificate and hold their banquets on separate days, and August 8 is usually a popular day to hold banquets.

However, most couples will delay the banquet for another day to avoid being upstaged by the opening ceremony, which will feature thousands of performers and extravagant fireworks.

"We thought about holding the banquet that night, but we figured it was inconvenient," Liu said.

"Since it overlapped with the opening ceremony, most guests probably wouldn't have the time or the interest to come to our celebration."

Couples are also worried that transportation could be snarled up on Friday, when about 100 world leaders attend the opening ceremony, said manager Kang of Jinri Jiari Seafood City, where the banquet room is empty on Friday night but fully booked on Saturday and most weekends through October."

Okay, so back to our adoption, I can't help but think about this... we expect our referral possibly Late 2009- early 2010. So, with this insight on 8/8/8 is it possible... could we... hmm.... okay, I don't want to say the words because it seems so disrespectful. So, let me just put the pieces together for you and let you figure out what I'm thinking here...8/8/8 + 9 months = May 2009 + 10 month old (age we expect to receive) baby Emma= December 09-March 2010!! Oh my! Is it possible? Baby Emma is soon to have a beating heart?? WOW!

The Art of Chi War

The Tale of 3 Chihuahuas.
Bonus stories: Hootie & The blowfish Hair; Laundry day

Late afternoon, Sierra was chompin' down on a chewy while Nacho breathed over her shoulder, not letting that chewy out of his sight- he vowed, at all cost, HE would soon be savoring the delicious treat. Nacho quietly declares, "It will be MINE"

Penny, always the innocent bystander, takes no particular side and wants nothing to do with it.
She thinks to her self, "I am not here, you do not see me."

"Huh (?) What's goin' on? I can't hear anything over my jaw jackin'. Where did everyone go?Why are the lights out? I can't seeeeeeeeee.....

VICTORY IS MINE, declares Nacho! My stealthy ninja ways have served me well.

The End

Bonus story #1
Hootie & The Blowfish Hair
Julia getting ready for the Chastain Park Hootie & The blowfish concert Friday night.
The Bigger the Better.

But, I promise I didn't leave the house with that "Texas Hair".

Bonus story #2
Laundry Day

A little help goes a long way... Penny helping Daddy fold Laundry