Month: July 2012

I knew Alex was playing outside, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I finally looked up from dinner preparations and realized he had attached the tie-down straps to the furniture cart and was “moving” it around the yard. Smart kid (if I do say so myself)

After a week away, Alex and I were both ready for the pool. Abram and Riley joined us too. Riley and Alex saw me with my camera and kept “requesting” pictures – such as one of their feet and one of their bottoms. Silly boys.

Alex and I drove in from Paducah and made it just in time to celebrate Grant’s 1st birthday!

We attempted a group photo but that’s always hit or miss (this time a miss):

Wade made a crazy optimistic to do list while Alex and I were out of the house. He sent me a copy of it so someone else could show some excitement for his accomplishments.

(I was suitably impressed.)

While I am in Paducah, Wade is in Milwaukee working on projects. The big one is Alex’s new rocket ship bed, but there are a ton of others we want completed before we bring Teague home. When I talked to Wade tonight I asked him if we’d gotten a letter from Homeland Security. (It turns out he hadn’t checked the mail in days.) He went to the mailbox and there it was! We now have US approval to bring Teague home. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was reading (it is a government letter) so he sent me a picture so I could read it too. Our timeline now looks like this:
1. Accept referral – 3/5/12
2. Receive legal papers from Korea – 4/12/12 (and a missing paper on 6/20/12)
3. Send legal papers to State of WI – 6/20/12
4. Receive approval from State of WI – 6/28/12
5. Send legal papers and approval from State to US Immigration – 7/1/12
6. Receive US immigration approval – 7/27/12
7. Submitted for EP in Korea – 6/20/12
8. EP approved – 7/4/12
9. Visa medical exam – 7/5/12
10. NVC in –
11. NVC out –
12. P3 –
13. Visa Interview –
14. Travel Call –
I added a few more minor steps, but they should be completed in days. The big question now is how long before we get our travel call. We are desperately hoping Wade can make his trip to China, but Teague will always rank higher in my book!

I am spending a few days with my Mom and today we drove to Franklin to visit my sister. Melissa has a new house and I couldn’t wait to see it. She also happens to live near some good antique stores. I have been looking for a chest for quite a while (and by looking I mean thinking I would like one – not actually shopping). We walked by one the minute we stepped foot in the building. Sold! I’m pretty sure I can get it to Paducah. Getting it to Milwaukee is going to take another trip (with either a trailer or no car seat in the back).

Madison and Tabit always seem to know when Wade is traveling (and they get to sleep in the bed). I came upstairs one night while Wade was in Memphis to find them on the bed. I made them move over enough to share.

My neighbor, Laura, offered to show me how to make bread (She used to work at a bakery). Her recipe for whole wheat produced two loaves and enough left over for breadsticks. Yum!

Everyone’s gone and today was just for me. I woke up and did a few things around the house before driving to Chicago. I stopped at Pottery Barn Kids and Hanna Andersson (not to mention a few other stores). Then I thought to look for a Hobby Lobby – there was one conveniently a few miles down the road. Then I thought to check for the location of my favorite restaurant – Claim Jumper. Again it was located just a few miles away! After a yummy lunch I drove back home with another stop at the outlets. I had a very successful day of shopping. I have completed all of my shopping for Korea gifts and picked up most of the final touches for Alex’s and Teague’s rooms.

I love chocolate chip cookies – of most any kind. I’m always trying new recipes but I have four that I make consistently, but for various reasons. (See recipes at the end of the post.)
As Dough (my preferred cookie intake)
1. Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Crinkles
Cooked (Holly’s)
1. Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Crinkles
2. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cooked (Wade’s)
1. Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Crinkles
3. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. NY Times Chocoalte Chip Cookies
Difficulty to Make (Easiest first)
1. Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Crinkles
4. NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies (x10)
Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies:
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1 c. oats
1 small bag chocolate chips
Mix all together. Bake at 350 for 10-12 mins.
Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Crinkles
1/2 c. soft butter
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 t. cream of tartar
1/2 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1 1/3 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips
In a large bowl cream butter with sugars, vanilla and egg.
Beat in cream of tartar, soda and salt.
Add flour, mix dough until stiff.
Add chocolate chips.
In a small bowl combine:
2 t. cocoa
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. sugar
Form small balls of dough and coat with cinnamon mixture
Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes.
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies (courtesy of Krista)
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1.5 c. chocolate chips
1 c. crushed rice chex cereal
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 c. oatmeal
Bake at 340 for 8-10 mins.
NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 c. plus 2 T. (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Stir all chocolate into dough using a wooden spoon. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls on to the cookie sheet, then sprinkled lightly with sea salt and baked until golden brown, but still soft, 10-12 minutes.

I have known for a while that the sensor on my camera needs cleaning. I even called to ask about having it done at the local camera store. Then they told me they would have my camera for three days and I said “no way.” Today seemed the perfect time to take it in. Alex and Wade are gone for the week and I don’t need my camera.
Below is a picture showing what needs cleaning. See all of those black marks and dots showing up in the sky portion?

There is no doubt that Alex has turned into a Daddy’s boy. He wants to be with Wade all the time (constantly asking “Where’s Daddy”) and imitates everything Wade does.

(When I went outside to take the picture of Alex painting, he still had on his t-shirt. I was going to take the picture and say, “Only a Dad would let a 3 year old paint in his clothes.” Wade had the shirt off before I got outside, but didn’t see the need to take of his shorts too. I should point out that Wade will paint in his regular clothes (and rarely gets any paint on him) whereas I ALWAYS put on paint clothes. Even for a tiny touchup.)

While Alex and I were playing trains, I used the word “cargo” when I couldn’t think of freight. Alex now calls it “chicargo.”
I know I used the word “interesting” a lot. Alex now uses it but says, “entering.”
Alex is having a babysitter tomorrow and keeps calling her the “babing sitter.”

While at the pool yesterday, Alex and I ran into Tristan’s Daddy (Will). Will told us Tristan had been asking for a playmate since church on Sunday. We arranged to get together tonight for dinner. The boys could barely eat they were so excited. They played and played and then I gave the 10 minute warning. The boys ran upstairs and the adults slowly followed. This is what I found:

We’ve recently added a cup to our upstairs bathroom (after one too many of these). It has provided lots of entertainment for Alex. Today he got his toothbrush, comb, and cup. He filled the cup up with water and proceeded to “cut” his hair.

We spent the day outside hopping from activity to activity.

Teague has monthly check-ups (until he turns 18 months) and we get a standard form with updated information. In case you were curious, here is what the form looks like (from July’s checkup). It charts development milestones and occasionally has personal details.

In another effort to solve the nail biting (see here) we got Alex the yucky tasting nail polish.

It turns out it works really well, but we didn’t factor in how often Alex puts his hands in his mouth for other reasons (for example – eating finger food).

We took a few days off from the pool so we were ready to go again today. Alex has been begging to play with Riley so and thankfully he was at the pool!

Just us – hanging out.

Alex and Abram both showed up to play outside with their scooters. They quickly switched and off they went.

We got several emails over the let few days and things are moving much faster than expected with Teague’s paperwork. The only big item left is receiving US approval, which will probably still leave us in the September range.
1. Accept referral – 3/5/12
2. Receive legal papers from Korea – 4/12/12 (and a missing paper on 6/20/12)
3. Send legal papers to State of WI – 6/20/12
4. Receive approval from State of WI – 6/28/12
5. Send legal papers and approval from State to US Immigration – 7/1/12
6. Receive US immigration approval
7. Submitted for EP in Korea – 6/20/12
8. EP approved – 7/4/12
9. Visa medical exam – 7/5/12
10. Travel Call

We had one last swim in the pool before packing our things and heading home.

This is what our car looked like on the drive home. My Mom and Aunt recently sold my grandparents farm. Wade had always wanted the milking apparatus (my Granddad was a dairy farmer) but had never brought the tools to remove it. This was his last chance and he was determined to take it with us to Milwaukee.

Today was a lot like yesterday minus the trip to the quarry.

Alex got to stay up a little later today and asked B to get the car out. Alex rode in it a few minutes but then decided it needed fixing. At one point he decided he needed tools and ended up raiding the doctor kit inside.