Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday Marshall

The end of November through January is a crazy busy time for us. This Thanksgiving we were blessed to spend it with my brother and sister-in-law who are moving back to the area from Asheville. We were invited to spend it at Bert's Bar - a landmark old Florida dive bar neat Ft. Myers. The kids had a blast being with their cousins and fishing on the intercoastal. We opted to camp overnight in a nearby public park. Yes - in a tent. Of course it was the coldest night of the year and Mom was NOT prepared. The temps in the upper 40s was WAYYYY out of my comfort zone! I am still the biggest cold weenie. At 2 a.m. Jim switched sleeping bags with me in an attempt to warm me up.

We started putting up the Christmas decorations on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We even went to Home Depot and bought the tree (that is what we do with no tree farms available in sunny Florida!). We brought the tree in, put it in the stand and thought the stand was leaking so we decided to let the tree sit over night before decorating just in case. Lily and Hunter were crushed that we would not decorate immediately. Monday night Jim and Marshall strung the lights before going to Boy Scouts and left me with the munchkins to decorate the tree. Hunter was so over the top excited, I thought he was going to bust. I unwrapped ornaments one at a time and handed them the unbreakables to hang on the tree. As I opened one, I knew it was the one I bought for last year with Hunter's name on it, thinking that he would be home or at least he would have an ornament on our tree. I called him over and told him to unwrap it. He got the most stunned look on his face and he completely lit up. "Mom - for me?!! My name!! MY NAME HUNTER!!!" he said over and over with such pure joy. He put it on and off the tree at least 5 times last night and once the next morning. Each time he brings it to one of us to show it off with pride that it has HIS name. I told him how I cried last year waiting for him and how this year I have tears of joy he is able to share Christmas with us. We have several Chinese ornaments we bought for Lily in China and as she hung them she asked, "Mommy, did you cry for me when I was waiting for you in China?" "Yes baby - I did," I tell her.

My oldest baby turned 12 last week and he had a fun sleep over with his best buddy Max. Next week Lily turns 5. Tomorrow we have the Vietnamese adoption decree recognized by the Florida courts and change his name. The paper work will be done at last!!! I know right now my Christmas cards will be late - go figure! :) Enjoy the season.