Busying ourselves....that is our main priority of this coming week.  (Besides packing and flights and hiring a guide and buying the gifts for the nannies and such.)  We are figuring the busier we keep ourselves, the faster time will fly, so the days will pass quickly until we (they; mom, Kylie, dad) travel.  We've been decorating for Christmas, putting up our tree (as we do every Thanksgiving and the days that shortly follow it), and putting up decorations outside, and doing yard-work (blah).  We've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping as well!  :-D  So hopefully, it will seem like no time before they're headed to the airport!  (They are taking the same flight route that we did to get Kenzie, by the way.)

YAY!

Okay, so yesterday, we were out shopping like all day (I would never miss a chance to go shopping on the biggest shopping day of the year, and miss all those sales), so we obviously weren't home.  Yesterday (in the late afternoon), my mom's friend (she's in our travel group for China) called, to tell us that she got her TA and so did we, and I think the rest of the people in our group.  So, my mom's really excited, because like I said, this means she can leave this Thursday.  YAY!!!

 

TA!

We got TA today!  I'll post more information later, when I have more time.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

Everyone enjoy and have a great Thanksgiving weekend with your families! My dad and I are cooking, and some of my family is coming over (my dad's brother and his wife, my mom's sister, my mom's mom, and my mom's dad and her stepmom) and (of course) we're celebrating Kenzie's birthday. (My parents are getting her Curious George stuff, and we're having a Curious George party, instead of what we were originally planning, Elmo. I baked the cake today, and we're going to decorate it tomorrow.) My mom is pretty sure they're leaving next Thursday, the 4th, so we'll (hopefully) be getting TA very very very soon, and purchasing tickets for the flight very soon. Anyway....Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! Enjoy your day!

Cute Videos Of Kenzie

Pics

Here are some pics from the recent week. =D The 1st few are Kenzie at Keaton's end-of-year baseball party, and then there's Kenzie playing around in the car and (yes, really) in the dog cage. (This was her choice; she climbs in there all the time and plays around...this time she actually asked mom to take pictures. Which is a first, to actually want pictures, I mean. And the stuffed animal in her arms is the one, the only, George.)

Well, my mom is pretty sure she's going to buy the tickets (I think) tomorrow, seeing as she is like 95% sure she will be leaving on December 4th...it's coming up so soon!!!!  Wow!  I can't believe the date's almost here....and also Thanksgiving is this week!  :)  It seems like not too long ago, Kenzie was spending her 1st Thanksgiving with us!  Like I said, my dad and I are cooking and inviting the family over, and also having Kenzie's birthday party, since he real b-day is the 4th (of December).  Mom has made a packing list, and she and Kylie have been contemplating what to pack and how to fit everything they need to pack...determining what to bring for a 3-year-old is tough!  Everything she needs will most likely be far different from what we brought for Kenzie.  Now, if we could just get that TA....I'm soooo ready to have Karli home!  Going 2 weeks without mom?  Without the woman, whom Kenzie is most (i.e. completely!) attached to?  That is going to the be the adventure us fortunate ones being left at home get!  (Heh*heh*heh)  And, Christmas (as well as the start of the New Year) is on its way, too.  In the hecticness of Christmas, it's easy to get caught up in life and forget all about the true meaning (the birth of Christ) and making sure to spend time with your family and loved ones.  Take some time this holiday season to let everyone you appreciate and love, know that you care.  :)  So, yeppers...ugh sadly that's about it, lol.  I'd like to say that we're on our way to China, or have some news on TA's and when they may be coming in.  (Soon, maybe?!)  TTYL.

Well my dad picked up the stuff from the consulate today, so we now have our visas!  Yay!!!!!!!  My mom's soooooo happy!  (And so am I.)  That was the only thing standing in the way of us and China...once we get our TA.  (Whenever that may be, heh*heh).  So, yep!  We are still stuck waiting.  :-(  At least what we are waiting for is worth it.  I can't wait to have Karli home with us!!!!  It's going to be quite an adventure...I mean, having a new sibling (that means our family will have five [yes, FIVE] kids) and taking on a special needs child...(not that her need is that severe).  But, I still can't wait, even though I will have to.

Passing the time....

Well, we are expecting them to be leaving in either 11 days or 18 days...hopefully 11 (Thanksgiving) but it will probably end up being the 4th of December.  (Which is also Keeny's birthday.)  Kylie has about $1500 dollars saved up now, and that was her goal.  It's really great that she could reach it. :-)  My mom & Kylie have already been planning their  itinerary and mom has been looking for a guide to use in the Beijing part of the trip (our agency doesn't cover that part) and has also been in communication with the other people going on the trip.  There isn't much news, but I felt like writing something....I have to do something to pass the time while we wait...ugh...We are all in need of something to do right now to pass time until we have Karli.

New pics--random pic, on the soccer field, Kidz 'n Action, first haircut, and Halloween!!!!

Updates and waiting for visas!

Today, my dad dropped off our passport and visa applications to get our visa, at the Chinese Consulate.  They say it takes four working days (count today), so we should be able to pick them on Monday.  Good news: my dad's going, too!  Well....not for the whole trip, but for the Got'cha Day (which is Monday) and the day afterwards.  So he'll fly in on a Sunday.  My mom is happy because this makes it a lot easier later in the process and I think my dad will enjoy it, too.  My mom is now thinking we may get our LOA next Friday (not the one in two days, the one after that) and she wants to leave Thanksgiving day...but we'll see how that works out.  Some people have been getting their TA in about 3 weeks, so you never know!  =)  We have been telling Kenzie over & over (i.e. possibly a million times a day?) that mom will be leaving with Kylie on an airplane to go and pick up Karli in China, and that she will be staying here with me (Kayla) and dad and Keaton.  Being the little smarty pants she is *heh*heh* she actually comprehends this and I think she understands.  Although half the time, if you say, "Where's Karli?"  She responds with, "Her room."  (They share a bedroom.)  But she's finally getting that she's in China...pronounced "tie-nah" in Kenzie-language.  And Kenzie knows that she came from China.  Just this week, she has been talking much more fluently and in sentences more & more.  She likes watching TV a lot (she actually sat through about half of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End...shocker :-o) and her favorite TV show is (who knew?) Curious George.  She actually has a stuffed Curious George monkey my dad bought her and she is in love with that thing, let me tell you...she even puts it in her crib and turns on her music and goes, "George night-night."  Aww!  I can't believe Keeny's almost two!!!!  Wow.  (When we got her, she had just turned 10 months old.)  On Friday, she had her first haircut...she screamed and cried.  I wasn't there, but my mom has pics and they're pretty hilarious.  :-D  She is true-born actress...the tears can come on & off like water coming out of a faucet.  I'll put some of the pictures on when I get a chance.  I haven't got a chance to update this much lately, so I need to put the pics of us on Halloween too.  Kenzie was a cowgirl (the most adorable; everyone kept commenting on her outfit, saying how cute she was), Keaton was a power ranger and Kylie was herself...like me.  The kids (by kids I mean Kenzie, Kylie, and Keaton) went to a birthday party at a place near our house called Kidz 'n Action, which is like a place strictly for kids.  They have gymnastics mats, and slides, and bars, and rings to swing on, and Kenzie was (again) the highlight of it all.  We got some cute pics of her there, as well, so I will try to have those in my next post, too.  Soooo....I guess that's it for now.