If you would like to follow us to China

I will be blogging about our journey on a different site because Blogger is censored in China and is often really hard to access. So you will be able to follow us for our time in China at http://www.journeytome.com Go to the Public journal section and Journey to Paige will probably be on the first page. If it isn't then just type in Paige (in the child's name box) and China (in the country box). Please post messages to us there regarding Paige. After our trip we will be ordering the journal on CD to keep for her.

For a little while I felt like we were home...

Caden's pre-school went to a farm/pumpkin patch today. It wasn't very far from our house but it felt like we were home. It sat in a little valley with TREES all around. All of it really reminded me of places back home. The boys had a lot of fun running around and even learning quite a bit about the farm animals. In the end though it was the kittens that won their attention! Trace was in tears as we left because I wouldn't let him take a kitten with him. I think it was the first time they have ever held tiny kittens! 

 

What a couple of good looking boys! 

There were six kittens rolling around and playing together in the warm sunshine! I could barely drag the boys away. 

How am I supposed to say no to a face like that? (either of them!) 

An exciting day!

Trace and his best buddy at Taco Bell! For his 8th birthday today Trace wanted to go see Open Season and then go to Taco Bell for dinner. He had a great day and can't wait to play his new Playstation games after school tomorrow - good thing it's a half day!

We also got the news we've been waiting for! Our agency wants us in Beijing on November 11th! We are going to leave on the 9th (which actually gets us there on the 10th) so we have one day to go see the great wall. We will get Paige on the 13th!! Our arrival home is scheduled for Thanksgiving day! WooHoo, this is getting exciting (and scary!). 

Look what we got today.

The flowers aren't even ready! 

It was pretty, but come on it is only October! 

Awww... no school picture yet but isn't he cute!? Almost eight and growing up too fast! 

I think Trace looks just a little too comfortable in that position! Just think only 8 more years! 

If Caden has his way he'll be driving one of these in about 15 years! I hope he changes his mind. Afterall his other future occupation of choice is 'donut maker'!

Hope you penciled us in.

That would be in your address book! Those who know us well won't be surprised, but our house officially went on the market today. We made the decision about a week ago. The straw that broke the camel's back was the notice from our mortgage company that they underestimated our escrow by over $1000. We paid $6200 in property taxes last year! Needless to say we have to get out of Illinois. SkyWest verbally agreed before we moved out here that once we had actual cost of living numbers they would discuss it with us. Well their 'discussion' was pretty much like it or lump it. So after a lot of talking and debating our many options, we feel it would be in the kids best interest to move them back to Vancouver (PERMANENTLY). Having Rick commute to Chicago four days a week is far from ideal but not being able to buy groceries or build relationships with their family members is also not good. In Vancouver I have the ability to earn an income, we have the physical and emotional support of family and above all else we could actually afford to live! That being said, we don't expect this house to sell any time soon and things can always change but we don't expect them to. We will keep you posted on our where abouts!
We are still waiting for our travel approval from the Chinese government. Nothing out of the ordinary it can take up to five weeks. I am thinking it will arrive sometime near the 25th - but that is just a wild guess! Our agency is still predicting we will spend Thanksgiving in China, but that is by no means carved in stone. I would hate to miss Thanksgiving with the boys, but I just can't wait to get that baby girl in my arms too!

Back to reality!

I left Paige up for a few days, but there were other pictures that I wanted to post too. There are several, so keep scrolling down...

Soccer!

Trace is right in the middle. Defending his goal!
He played really hard!
And managed to block several goals! 

Well, for some reason they didn't all load the first time, so now you have to look at then in reverse order! Sorry!

That's my baby girl! 

The "stork" (aka FedEx man) arrives!

We spent the whole morning anxiously awaiting the big moment! Trace and Rick stayed home for the morning. We were all right there to open the door before he even made it up the walkway! I guess I don't really need to label each picture, they are pretty self-explanitory!

 

Chopstick lessons!

Caden and I bought some chopsticks in Target's bargain section one day. So naturally we had to have rice for dinner that night! The boys had a lot of fun with it, despite the mess!









Success! (Just don't breath!)

Caden's card

Aunt Chris sent Caden a birthday card that played the Star Wars theme song. He absolutely LOVED it and was totally shocked when he opened it! I think he walked around with this look on his face for about ten minutes! Thank's Aunt Chris!