What's Happening?

So, what's been happening, you might ask?  We've been a busy family this fall!

First, the bad news.  Mike lost his job July 26th...the day before his birthday.  So, yeah.  We've been dealing with that.  He's been working from home, so we have been okay financially, but, he's just not cut out to be a stay at home dad.  Don't get me wrong...we have had so many family adventures together, but it's hard to work from home.  He needs an office to go to in order to feel productive.  I understand that.  So, he's been looking for other work, and we just take it one day at a time.

The good news?  Mike lost his job!  HA!  This has given us so much freedom to do things with Maelie.  We've been able to do things on the fly.  We've been able to wake up in the morning, see that it's a beautiful day, load up the car and drive an hour to a pumpkin patch!  We've had many family adventures like that...TWO trips to different pumpkin patch/farms, a few trips to lakes for pictures and playing in leaves, afternoons at the park, local touristy type attractions, shopping trips (of course), trips to the BIG lake (Lake Superior), local festivals, free movie nights, trick or treating, Halloween parties, and so much more.  This time has been wonderful and priceless.

One of the festivals, held last week, was in our small town and put on by the local community college.  It was a Mid-Autumn Asian Festival for kids.  I was so impressed that our town put on a festival that was NOT Scandinavian!  LOL!!  Don't misunderstand....I eat my lutefisk on Christmas, but to have something multicultural in a town of less than 10,000 people is WONDERFUL.  It was a great time, and there was a great turnout of kids.  The Early Childhood class did a wonderful job of creating little stations where kids could make paper fans, lanterns, have a (moon) cake walk, story time, decorate cupcakes, and learn about another culture.  I even had one of the people who helped organize it sort of apologize to me, saying that it's all not 'authentic.'  I reassured her that it was absolutely terrific that they did this!  I hope they do it again.

So, after all these trips, you can probably imagine I had a bazillion photos to sort through and 'touch up.'  We had decided not to do any professional photos this year, as they never turn out great anyway...Maelie fusses, we ALL get cranky, and end up paying too much for photos anyway.  So, we took a ton of outdoor shots and I've spent weeks assembling them.  We'll have them printed at Walgreen's, and from just the little photos I've already had printed off, we made a good choice.  I'll have to assemble a slideshow soon so you all can see our busywork.  :)

Also, during this time, we've celebrated a milestone that I neglected to post.  Bad Momma.  On September 24th we celebrated TWO YEARS since Maelie was placed in my arms in Vietnam.  Shockingly, Daddy decided he wanted to do something big this year to celebrate.  I was just going to have dinner with the family. He opted to throw a pool party at a local hotel.  It was a wonderful time, with family and friends.  Miss Maelie the Fish swam for 2.5 hours STRAIGHT.  She had a blast.  We served sandwich fixings that people could make an authentic 'Banh Me' Vietnamese sandwich if they wanted, or just have regular loose pork on a bun.  Mike made it, and did a WONDERFUL job seasoning it in a Vietnamese style.  It was a great idea to have the party, and I'm so proud of Mike for arranging it and suggesting it.  (Sometimes, these Daddies can surprise you!!!)

Things are starting to slow down now, with the advent of cooler weather.  Mike's been looking for more of a 'real' job, where he actually goes into an office and they have things like, oh, I don't know...HEALTH INSURANCE.  But, I have a feeling that this 'slow down' will pick up again for the holidays coming up.  Already tonight Maelie was running around Target checking out all the Christmas trees and lights saying, "Ahhhh....Christmas."  I have NO idea where she got that from, but it's adorable.  :)  This year Christmas should be a heckuva lot of fun with decorating, presents, Santa, and lights.  I can't wait!!!!

We've also been busy with Maelie's school.  We still only go once a week for 1.5 hours, but her class is much bigger and she has just BLOSSOMED there.  I have found some very nice mothers to talk with, which is wonderful.  Maelie marches in and sits right down in the middle of the circle and belts out her ABC song!  It's so cute.  We've done crafts this year, and she's really just enjoying it.  She did last year, too, but so much more this year.  I think it helps with having more kids in her class, too.  And, once a week in the evenings, they have something going on at her school.  Last night it was World Music night and Open Gym.  They had the cafeteria set up with musical instruments from around the world, and little crafts where the kids could make little instruments.  We brought some of the little wooden instruments from Vietnam, and the kids and their parents were really interested in seeing those.  I may speak to a few classes about Vietnam, which makes me so very happy to do.  Tonight the school had Movie Night....they played How To Train Your Dragon in the gym, but, unfortunately, Maelie wasn't too keen on it.  She was nervous about the dark....which is odd....she's never been scared of the dark before.  But, I suppose a gym filled with kids camped out all over the floor and the lights off was a little bit nerve-wracking.  So, we left.  Which is okay.  It was free, after all!

So, my dear blogger friends and family, that's what's been keeping me away from updating lately!  I will try to do better, I promise.  Mike is already hounding me for my blogger password so he can update our photos!!!  I told him NO.  I WILL DO IT!!!!  :D  And I will.  Thank you for your patience.  In fact, is anyone even still out there?????  Leave a comment!  Say hello!!!!!!!