Aanika with Cameron and his Jeep

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We had a nice day at Kevin’s boss’ house which is north of Houston and about a 1.5 hour drive from our house. They were kind enough to invite us but had a crazy turn of events…it was a beautiful sunshiny day and they had no power! They have no idea why but they made the best of it. Luckily, they have a gas stovetop and grill so they could finish cooking everything. The power eventually came on after everything was finally cooked and going on to the table. Isn’t that usually how things go? :) Aanika had a ball with their grandson, Cameron, who is almost 5 years old. They have lots of toys for the grandkids so they had plenty of things to keep them occupied. The best toy is in the picture above. Cameron has a battery-powered Jeep and was more than willing to take Aanika for a ride in it. We got some great video of Aanika riding next to him with her arm around his shoulders! He’s a very polite driver…Aanika had been holding a chalkboard eraser and accidentally dropped it while they were riding. He turned off the jeep, got out and picked it up for her and then hopped back in and put on his seatbelt and off they went again! What a hoot.

Other than Thanksgiving, it’s been pretty quiet around here this week. I’ve done more painting (our bathroom) and have started getting the house ready for Christmas. We’re having a couple of get-togethers here for the holiday season so I’m trying to get everything finished ahead of time. I don’t generally work well under pressure so I try not to procrastinate too much! Kevin’s going to help me hang some lights on the house today because I’m too chicken to climb to the rooftop! I’m also planning on painting Aanika’s bathroom today too as well as getting out for a bike ride. It’s absolutely gorgeous weather today (sunshine and low 70’s) and we’re planning on getting out to enjoy it! The little one’s a bit under the weather today but hopefully the fresh air will do her good.

Gotcha Day - First Anniversary

Homemade ballet shoes

Have I mentioned lately that Aanika is growing like a weed? All of a sudden it’s like she’s turning into a little girl (who loves dance) instead of the sweet little baby we went and picked up almost 1 year ago. Yup, this time last year we were in Beijing, China and getting ever closer to meeting our little sweetie. Gotcha Day is on Tuesday and we’re planning a fun evening out at one of the restaurants here in town.

The week has been kind of crazy around here…I’ve been in a purging mood and have stripped out all of the closets and dresser drawers and starting pitching things. We both had our things to be gotten rid of - for me, things that are much too small (face it, I’ll never be that skinny again!) and for Kevin, he had things in his drawers from as far back as 1988! I swear the man is a packrat. On top of that, Aanika’s room has had a once-over as well. One of her walls has now been painted purple, her closets and drawers stripped AND her toys have finally found some temporary form of organization (let’s see how long it lasts) so that they actually have a place to be put other than on her floor! The only thing left is to go through years of papers and lack of filing in the office. Does everyone put off the worst task for last? : )

Pigtailed Cutie

Another week has come and gone…boy, how the time flies. Not much has happened since our last update. Aanika’s hair is finally getting long enough that we finally have been able to put her hair up in pig tails – totally changes the way her face looks…And how totally cute she is with them!! Halloween was interesting for us this year. We don’t normally celebrate it (that’s a whole other discussion) but Kevin thought that we should pass out treats to the little ones. So, to avoid having people ask us why Aanika wasn’t dressed up, we did her up in one of the outfits we bought for her in China. Boy, did she look cute!

The weather here is finally changing to feel like autumn. Apparently we had one of the warmest October’s on record. The rest of this week and weekend look like they’re going to be beautiful with temps in the mid 60’s-mid 70’s. The other thing we’re getting accomplished around here is adding some furnishings and changing out some of the curtains that came with the house. We’re just not navy blue kind of people! The house is really feeling homey and cozy now that we’ve added some warm lighting and warm/dark woods into the mix. We just never really had the space for much “stuff” in our other homes before so it’s been nice to be able to finally fill the rooms with more than just couches.

The only other thing that’s going to happen around here this week is to put up Aanika’s new purple curtains in her room. We’re getting ready for the transition to a regular bed and have started purchasing the bedding and décor that will be used. Right now it’s pretty much a blank canvas so it ought to turn out to be quite a cute room when it’s all done.