Bedtime

Bedtime here lately has become an ordeal.  We keep a pretty strict routine, but night time seems to be when Savannah's meltdowns happen.  For the past week or two we have been trying letting her play quietly in her room until she falls asleep.  It never takes long.  This is what I found last night when I realized there was no noise coming from her room.

I don't think she has enough toys.  :)

Savannah started kindergarten this week.  Leading up to her starting school we weren't sure if she was excited or dreading it.  She seemed to not care either way.  We went to Open House and met her teacher who seems very nice.  After that Savannah told us that she never wanted to go to that school again.  I think that was mainly because she had to miss ballet class to go to Open House.

The first day of school was pretty amazing because I got her up and out the door with no meltdowns.

I think she is enjoying school, but of course when we ask her what she did that day her answer is always, "I don't remember."  Well, she did remember about the dead frog that she and some other kids buried in the playground.  

We are still working on adjusting to our new family and there are good days and bad days.  I would say though, that the first week of school was a success.  Savannah has been a trooper this summer with so many transitions.  I think she's handled them all pretty well.

Last weekend we met with an amazing photgrapher (Natalie Spargo Sez Me Photography).  Savannah was in a mood that morning, but here are a few of the awesome pictures that she was able to capture:

We have yet another new family member, but it's probably not what you think.  Her name is Violet and she's a cute and cuddly kitten.

She wasn't so cute when I first found her at my office downtown, scratching on the window trying to get inside.  The poor thing was dirty and worn out.  I have no idea how she got there, but I couldn't just leave her there.  I found a box and scooped up the poor thing intending to take her to a vet to check her out and then see if I could find her a home.

When I called Eric asking him to google a vet downtown for me, he asked if I wanted to keep her.  Absolutely I did, but I didn't think there was any chance he wanted to.  So I took her back in to my office, hoping she would keep quiet.  The poor thing was so worn out that she slept the rest of the day (4 hours).  After work I took her to the vet and got her all checked out.  Everything looked good so I took her home.

After a bath and a good night's sleep she was a brand new cat.  She's actually orange, not grey like she first appeared.  She loves to attack our ankles and feet.  Linus and Lucy (our dog and other cat) are still getting used to her.  Lucy is ticked that there is another cat in the house and Linus is just excited.  We can't tell if he wants to play with her or eat her so we are keeping them separated until she gets bigger.

I thought I would update about what has been going on with us now that my four weeks off of work are over.  I started back to work yesterday.  Savannah is staying with my sister-in-law during the day until school starts in the fall.  We are working on a bedtime routine, but as of yet we have not made our goal of Savannah being asleep by 8:00.  This morning was pretty rough to put it mildly.  We have to leave at 6:30 AM which makes for a grumpy girl when we have to wake up Savannah.  I'm hoping that we will get into a routine and she will eventually get tired out and start going to sleep earlier.  Probably wishful thinking.

We have less than a month until the adoption is finalized.  There have been bumps along the way, but I think everything is going to turn out fine.  Behavior-wise, Savannah is doing wonderful.  She has the occasional (ok maybe more than occasional) meltdown, but she's five.  And with all the upheaval in her life lately, I expected it.  We are taking her to a play therapist next week and we hope to learn more about how we can help her adjust and attach to us as a family.

We went to the beach last week for a vacation with some extended family and had a great time.  Eric stayed home because he had no vacation days left, plus he had to work over the weekend.  I was worn out  by the time the trip was over, but I'm glad we went.  Savannah has never been to the beach before (at least that's what she told us, I'm not 100% sure).

She has started taking ballet and tap classes and I think she is enjoying them.  We will probably keep her in them for the fall too.  Every day she asks to put on her leotard, tights and ballet shoes.

She caught two fish at once!

Super excited about fireworks on the beach.

Sparklers!

At Fort Gaines.

Sno cones!

Fishing.

Ice cream goatee.

Slip n slide!

At the dentist.  No cavities!

Ballerina.

Making popcicles.

Kindle Fire Drawing!

It's finally time for our Kindle Fire drawing!  We just compiled the list and used random.org to draw the winner.  Congrats to Jerrie Nicholson!  We will have it in the mail to you soon!

Yard Sale a Success!

Yesterday was our long-awaited yard sale and of course it happened to be on our hottest day so far.  Temperatures got up to around 106!  Despite the heat we had a steady stream of people coming to shop.  By the end of the day we made almost $700 so I think it was a success.  In addition we have some pieces of furniture that we are going to sell on Craigslist so we'll have even more money coming in.

We want to thank everyone who donated to our yard sale.  We wouldn't have been able to do it without everyone who helped us!

Updates!

So, long time no post.  Things have been crazy around here lately.  If you haven't heard already, we adopted a five year old!  Her name is Savannah.  It's kind of a long story that I don't really want to post here, but we have been seeing her on the weekends for over a month and last weekend we got full custody of her.

Because of that, we didn't have our yard sale on the date we planned.  Instead we are holding it on Saturday June 30th.  I have a garage full of stuff that still needs to be priced and organized.  We are still planning on adopting an infant in a year or two so now we have two adoptions to pay for!  We still have the Kindle Fire giveaway going on too.

I'll leave you with some pictures of Savannah.