Pumpkin Patch Fun!

In Memory and With Love

32 Years ago this month a beautiful girl was born on the 20th of October. Her name was Heather Montgomery. She was funny and smart and sweet. She caught the eye of my brother, Jeff and they were married. They had two children together, Lauren and Jake, which I baby sat for them when we lived in Kentucky.

4 Years ago on Halloween eve as Heather was driving to our house to pick up the kids, she was hit by another vehicle and was killed less than a 1/2 mile from us. She left behind a family who loved her dearly, two small children ages 3 years old and 7 month old baby. She was a wonderful mom, loving wife, faithful friend, caring coworker and best of all, a child of God. We miss you Heather. Until we meet again, Happy Birthday and we love you...

6 Months

Can it really be that 6 months ago today we met our Katiebug for the very first time? She was so tiny and scared, but she sure did smile alot which was a blessing! Most days it feels like she has been in our family forever. Surely we have had her with us longer than just 6 months. I guess since we have carried her around with us in our hearts for years it makes time stretch out longer. We can't imagine a day without her or how we even lived without her for so long. My heart aches for everyone who is still waiting because I know how frustrating the wait is when you just want your child to love on.

We miss China and all of the people we met there. Our group is scattered all over the country and it's difficult to stay in touch but if any of our travel mates are reading this, we miss you guys and think about you often!

We are so blessed. We LOVE you Katiebug!

A Bad Habit

What's wrong with these pics? I'll tell you what's wrong. I have a ba-jillion digital photos of Katie. I made the terrible mistake of showing her the video screen of my camera one day after taking her picture. Now, whenever she sees me grab the camera to take her picture, she immediately stops doing whatever cute thing I was going to take a picture of and points and grabs for the camera. I guess I will have to put the darn thing away for a while and hope she forgets about it! - Yeah, right...

A FIRST...

Ever since we got Katie, I couldn't wait until her hair was long enough for a pony tail. Well, as you can see, she doesn't have alot of hair and what she does have is very, VERY fine.

I just love my cyber friend Kim's little girl, Miss Kate (see 3 Peanuts link). Her hair is so thick and she always is very fashionable with a bow to match her outfits. Katie will not keep a bow in her hair and even if should would, it would slide right out. I have been green with envy of all these China cuties with heads full of hair! Today I tried the pony tail. She didn't bother it for about 3 hours then she yanked it out. She reminds me of Pebbles from the Flintstones! We shall press on and continue trying to make this hair thing work.

It's Official....Again!

One more adoption journey destination reached. Today we had a court hearing on the readoption of Katie. Here in Orange County it is first come, first serve in family court. We were told to be at the courthouse by 8:30 am. We were there even before that and the line to get through security was about a mile long. We were worried we wouldn't make it! Once we got to the family court waiting room there were about 15 or so people ahead of us for various matters. Our attorney was able to arrange for us to be the first appearance, so that was nice! Luckily, no one waiting complained as Katie was just so darn cute walking around in the waiting room, I guess she won everyone over.

The judge asked us questions about our adoption process and then reviewed our homestudy. He asked how Katie had adjusted to life here. At that point, Katie was ruling the court room as she had wandered up in front of the judge's desk and was doing a little kind of dance and pointing at things. He immediately said, "Well, I can see that she has adjusted beautifully." It was a really nice ceremony and the judge told us as he neared the end of the proceeding that he deals with ugly matters most every day, all day in court and it was an absolute pleasure to be able to start the day off with something so wonderful today. They had a little congratulations card for Katie's scrapbook and took pictures of us with the judge.

Now we just wait for her birth certs which will come as a result of the proceeding today. Whew!

Being Silly With Dad Before School

First Day of School!

Uncle John

This is the first time Katie has seen her Uncle John who lives in the beautiful State of North Carolina. His buddy Jake was kind enough to take the picture of all of us. She didn't want to have too much to do with him until he had to leave and then she wanted him to hold her. I think she was fascinated by his mustache and beard :) Next time he needs to bring Erin with him!

The first day of school is tomorrow for us. Cody heads off to highschool where he will be at the bottom of the food chain as a freshman. Taylor is off to 2nd grade where I am sure she will rule the roost as she did last year. We will post pics of the first day of school fashions tomorrow.

Family Pics

Bathing Beauty

These pics were taken right before we went to the pool today. She looked too funny with her floppy hat on chasing the dog with a paper towel roll. Ahh, the little pleasures of life...

I threw in some pics of my new hobby of making beaded jewelry. Right now I'm making lanyards for teachers and nurses etc. They have been a hit so far!

The Mackey Grandchildren

Aren't they cute??? Jake, Katie, Cody, Taylor and Lauren.

Good Times!

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Taylor got "the look" when she tried to touch Katie's new quilt. She is VERY protective of it!

I made this for Katie from fabric squares that I exchanged with other adoptive families while waiting for our referral. I have a big one that is still unfinished but I did a smaller one so it would be ready for her when she came home. I wanted it to be bright and colorful and this one is! I decided to pull it out and show it to her yesterday. She went nuts when she saw it - I was so surprised! She sat on it for 20 minutes pointing at all of the the squares and checking out what was in them. You can see in the picture at the top that she does not want ANYBODY touching her blankie. You get the evil eye if you dare put your finger on it. I guess I have to get busy on the big one and get it finished since she likes it so much!

Latest Beach Trip

Stars and Stripes