I just realized it has been over a week since I last blogged! Don’t worry I will get you all caught up with this post. Continue reading “Apparently I have been busy!”
Matt Kicked out of the house
Is what Stephanie wanted to post. But It was a mutual decision.
So some of you may know Our Design firm has been getting busier and busier. Lots of new projects, great clients, and so on. We have out grown the concept of working in Matt & Stephanie’s house. I’m excited, but I think Stephanie may be more excited.
So as we are growing in staff members, More space is needed. Today was a long day as we have moved to some great offices.
Check out the pics.
(click for larger image)
The Lobby
The Conference room
Matts Office
Other offices are not ready yet. but will look the same.
Maybe Matt is Right
A while back he said I blog too much. What do you think?
2008 Goals
Matt and I have never really made New Year’s Resolutions. Recently while reading another blog I realized why we don’t do resolutions. We are both goal oriented people.
Concrete goals don’t evaporate in the face of adversity, hardship or laziness. Resolutions are broken — and usually abandoned — with one misstep; goals are such a long journey that bad footwork days are to be expected. There have been goals that have taken several years to accomplish but that have been achieved over time.
Random Stuff
Jackson looking quite perturbed at the most recent business figures. Who needs an accountant when you have a cat?
One of my favorite Christmas gifts.
I never had the privilege of using a food processor before and I am in love! I asked for it in hopes of making baby food, but last night I had to give it a try. I chopped up an onion and graded a block of cheese. It was super quiet and fast, and not nearly as whiney as the hubby! (Actually Matt can be very helpful in the kitchen, so I shouldn’t complain about him.)
My mom got braces today. I am totally shocked! I am also probably spilling the beans for her, but she should know I blog about almost everything. She is discovering the joys of what you can eat with braces and the lovely soreness that you usually have for about a week after each appointment.
Merry Christmas!
So some of you are thinking has Stephanie lost her mind? It is way past Christmas, plus she has already done a Merry Christmas post.
No, I have not lost my mind. Today, January 7, is the day they celebrate Christmas in Ethiopia. I hope to celebrate it next year with Tom and Jerry and a traditional Ethiopian feast of Injera and Dora Wat, and maybe with some fellow Ethiopian adopters.
Here is a little info on Christmas in Ethiopia and some more here.
Another Step Completed
We finished our dvd course this afternoon and past all of our tests! It was supposed to take a week to find out the results of our last tests, but we found out the same day we took it. Thank goodness too because I was fretting over my answers to some of the questions.
We Are Certified!!!
We are certified to adopt by Pinal County! I was starting to get a little frustrated as it had been almost a month since we submitted our home study for approval. They actually certified us on Christmas Eve, but didn’t notify us until today. I guess they didn’t understand how patiently I was waiting for this. The next step is for our certified home study to go to Citizenship and Immigration Services to get our I-171-H (we are basically asking for pre-approval for our children’s visas to come home – at least that is how I understand it). I heard from another couple that this part of the process should take about 4-6 weeks. We have a lot of paperwork to gather in that time and we need to finish our 10 hour dvd course. After all of our papers are gathered and we have received our I-171-H we will be getting them certified by the Secretary of State in Arizona. After that our dossier has to be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Then our dossier is off to Ethiopia! I am just excited we got this step completed, it was weird being on hold for a month.
NHL Winter Classic 2008!
I am super pumped about this. On New years day, the NHL is holding the first US outdoor, NHL regular season game in history. The game is between the Penguins and the Sabers, and should be a great game.
The game will be held in front of 70,000 fans in the buffalo Bills Stadium (tickets sold out in minutes).
The preparations have been impressive.
Last year the first NHL game held outdoors was in Alberta Canada, and the temps were in the -20° range. This year it should be a bit warmer at 24 – 30° at game time.
This is exciting for me, as my best friend and I lived on the pond hockey rink for 4 months each winter as kids. If we weren’t in school, you could find us on the pond. It was a great place to play hockey, and most of the NHL players playing in this game are also just as excited.
Merry Christmas!
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We celebrated on Christmas Eve because my dad had to work Christmas day. We had a lovely feast of tacos and tostadas, put on our pajamas and opened gifts. We played the new games Michelle and I got after all the gifts were opened, and we ate Matt’s creation for dessert, let’s just say it was really, really sweet.
My mom hard at work in the kitchen
Jason and Michelle
My dad and his new wooden fire truck
Tom and Jerry even scored some toys.
Matt and his mega block fire truck (he admitted he would have trouble sharing legos)
Me and their new fisher price train
They even got a singing and dancing Christmas frog for their bathroom from Great Grandpa And Grandma Adams
I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas. We wish we could see all our friends and family for Christmas. Love and miss you guys!
I have uploaded more photos to the photo gallery.
The Tank Award
For those of you that have had the great pleasure of meeting our black lab mutt Tank, you will get this great comic. The trophy image is also appropriate.
For those that dont know, Tank is a little special when it comes to people, and behaving. He either likes you, or he doesnt (Just ask Stephanie’s brother Jason). The dog also has separation anxiety, making for more issues that we should allow.
F-minus is the greatest comic since farside.
Christmas Goodies!
We have spent the last two Sundays baking goodies for Christmas. We had a lot of fun and have lots of goodies! I thought I would share some pics.
Last weekend we made goodies to give away. (and yeah we ate plenty ourselves)
Here is my sister-in-law Michelle holding one of her beautiful candy trees and the trees themselves are below.
Matt really got into making the trees!
Me making some kiss and peanut butter cookies.
Jason, my little brother, got to help out this Sunday. Here he is making peanut clusters.
I think Matt and Michelle are addicted to making candy!
Me entertaining the dogs, who never got in the way. (yeah right)
Snowman cookies!
I cannot wait to make cookies for Santa next year with Tom and Jerry!
Thought I'd Share
Two blog entries that made me smile this week:
A website that tells you how green the candidates are:
Musical Christmas Card
Today I got one of those cute musical Christmas cards from some dogs I take care off. I thought I would share Tank’s opinion of it: