Adoption News - moving right along

Good news on the Adoption front. We meet on Thursday to discuss our adoption subsidy and sign an Adoption Placement Agreement. The subsidy is getting the paperwork done to insure that David will continue to get state medical insurance even after our adoption and figuring a monthly stipend. The Adoption Placement Agreement is the paper we sign to take David out of foster care and place him into our home as an adoptive placement. Most importantly, this is really the last step before court. So I'm guessing we'll have an adoption date soon. This is one more huge step forward! Hooray!

15 Year Afghan - Finished!

I started this afghan about 15 years ago. It's actually the very first crochet project I ever started. That's 130 brown-eyed-susans/sunflowers crocheted over the years and finally assembled and border added. I still LOVE it. Much more now that it's done and not just hanging over my head!

My kids asked a lot "who is that for?" and, as always, this afghan is for ME. It's on laying on the couch now. Every memeber of the family has cuddled under it at one time or another! It makes me smile just to see it!

It's Finished!!!!

Remember when I started this one? (It was back in January - you can see progress pictures in January and February 2008.) Well, I'm finally declaring it truly done. I obviously had some problems counting stitches and it was starting to ruffle a bit. I didn't really see my pattern through to the end, but I may try it again someday in a more friendly yarn. :) I like the way it turned out, though!

Quick adoption update - the social worker visited for our home study update. She's hoping to have that report turned in so that they can hold a "best interests" meeting before the end of year. This is where a team of people look at our home study and David's file and decide if they think we are the best adoptive family for David. We are one more step closer!!

Craft update - I have material to make the canopies for the girls' doll beds. I have the beads to string on Gladys'. I just have to want to sit down and do it! Random crochet projects keep calling my name!

Masterwork: The Snowman Hat and Adoption Update

I think this is my masterwork to date. :) I made a winter hat for David that looks like... a snowman wearing a hat. He wore it on the walk to school on Monday and to and from Jazzercise and got tons of attention. It turned out really well!

Also, just a quick adoption update... we turned in physicals for T and I and for Z, H, and G. T and I were fingerprinted and already got clearance for that. Now the next steps are:

• social worker updates homestudy we used for H's adoption last year
• subsidy negotiation with the state
• social worker submits our adoption packet to the state
• the state approves the adoption
• a court date is set
• adoption in court

I'm guessing we'll be done by June. The stuff that's left isn't hard at all. It could probably be done in a week per step (except for scheduling the court date, that can take a couple months). However, everyone involved is very busy, so it wouldn't surprise me if it stretches out to June. I'll keep you posted.

The Bed Project

So, the girls are getting dolls for Christmas. G picked out a ridiculously expensive bed that she really, really liked from the catalog. (Just $119, plus shipping and handling.) Yikes.

It is cute, though. So I did a little research and found this beauty at Walmart.com:

And it was $29.99 with free shipping if I was willing to pick it up at my neighborhood Walmart. (I was!). So I got two, one for H and one for G. Knowing I was going to trick them out to suit the girls' tastes.

Here is a picture of one of the beds put together, without the provided bedding. I also left off the arch that goes on the on the top of the bed.

I went to the craft store today and bought some beads for G's bed. I chose blue, red, and green, since that will match the blanket my mom is making. H's doll blanket will be more in the pinks and pastels, so I think I'm going to use the canopy and draping they provided, but I've got some really cute pink and white ribbon I could glue gun onto the side of the bed, and I think I'll add additional sliding curtains for the sides of the bed. I'm looking forward to this project that will be worked during the day while the kids are at school. :) I'm also finishing up some crochet projects, too, as well as trying to work in some Webkinz crochet requests. G got a new eagle. And informed me that it's a boy. So that's kind of a challenge to my creativity. :)

Happy Halloween!

H, our bride (for the 2nd or 3rd year in a row!); G, our cat (she was a gymnast at school, but changed her mind by supper); Z is a Ranger's Apprentice, a character from a series of books he's been reading. (Oh, and I made the ranger's cloak on 10/30 out of an old sheet - thankfully we had one in oak leaf green, like the rangers wear.)
Here's D! This picture wasn't actually taken on Halloween, but he wore this outfit a lot in October!

I've been enjoying my normal October activities - Christmas shopping. I like to have it all done before Thanksgiving, so I don't have to be in then stores during shopping season any more than I have to! I'm doing pretty good, and should meet my goal. :)

T travelled twice in the past 2 weeks, and I am SO glad that's over and we don't have any more trips scheduled in the near future. Even with all the kids in school, and even with T's parents here to help, it was exhausting to handle all 4 kids.

Next up... flu shots for the kids. D should have his on Tuesday and the rest a week from Monday. That will be quite an adventure. G has major issues with shots, and Z is nearly as bad, and H has issues with people crying because they are hurt. So it's a pretty messy combo, but I refuse to make 3 separate trips. :) I'll let you know how it goes...

D continues without IV meds. I may hear more about that on Tuesday.

Finally, on the adoption front, we got our fingerprints taken - and now wait 6 weeks to get results back, and we got our physicals done. Our homestudy will be updated, and then we move forward...

Crochet for Webkinz!

I've had quite a break from crocheting, but got the urge a while back and have been doing small projects off and on, mostly webkinz clothes. I finally got some pictures taken and thought I'd share! They are featured below in the order they were created.

First up is a strappy green dress worn by G's Jewel. The skirt is nice and fluttery. I actually made the skirt a while ago - back when I crocheted for H's bigger white teddy bear. Jewel wore just a skirt (which was quite cute on it's own) until I finally attached the dress top that G requested. I think it may have been cuter just as a skirt, but it still turned out well.

Next up is this wonderful blue dress worn by H's Cupcake the panda bear.


The side view shows better how cute it is. I made it with some "Elf Eyelash" Hobby Lobby yarn and that was a nice challenge. (and no, I will not be making anymore items out of elf eyelash - though the white would make a nice trim on a santa hat) It *is* quite soft, though, and wonderfully set off by the two white stripes. I added them when I thought I was done, and they took it from a minidress to a ball gown and much improved it!

Z's koala, whose name I can't recall right now is wearing his fuzzy black sweater with skull emblem. The skull is the only thing I used a pattern for and it didn't turn out that well (maybe I should have acutally followed the pattern? eh.) Thankfully it's a big hit with Z and Claw. Oh! Claw! That's his name. Claw the koala. Hope I got the spelling right. Sorry Claw!

One more note on Claw's sweater - it has a matching fuzzy beanie/skull cap, but it doesn't stay on very well. I may have to put on a strap and change it into a helmet.

Here we have G's 2nd webkinz, Snowy, modeling her birthday dress. I really felt like I made quite a step forward as a designer, taking advantage of the plain-ness of the yarn to show off some intricate stitch work.

This back view shows off the halter tie nicely. It matches the bow detailing on the front of the dress and the nice hair bow as well. G picked out the yarn, which really is a good color for Snowy. The dress was a birthday present to G, and was very well received.

Here we have H's newly earned reward, Cuddly the manatee. I was immediately inspired by Cuddly's natural body shape to go with a mermaid cut gown. The yarn choice was a no-brainer, because if H likes this yarn (which she does) she may as well have it, since I can't imagine anyone else who would! Although, now that it's done, I feel like it would have worked up nicer in a solid colored yarn. The varigated coloring makes it hard to see the flower detail up near Cuddly's head.

While this photo doesn't show Cuddly's face very well, you can nicely see the mermaid shaping with a double ruffle at the bottom. The ruffled detail wonderfully sets off the shape, and also used up nearly all of this *ahem* wonderful yarn. I also like the way the yarn comes together up the front, in a nice inverted v, which adds some unexpected sophistication to the gown.

I'm not sure what's up next. My own elephant, Electrona is without any special occaison wear (or any other clothing for that matter - you know what they say, the cobbler's kids always go with shoes!) But Z also has a lizzard, and a bat, and a couple others, too. I think the bat may be next, as I'm intrigued to work up something boy-ish and able to work around his wings...