Article 5 pick up!

Today our Article 5 (lets just be honest, I am not sure exactly what that is... )was picked up from the consulate. It is some documents having to do with immigration. So now we are in the FINAL- I can't believe I can say that- wait... which is for TRAVEL APPROVAL!! woohoo!! Due to Chinese New Year, the express mail has shut down for the week, so our documents will not be able to be delivered till next week Feb 3rd at the earliest. ~sigh~ But I am glad he gets to celebrate Chinese New year one last time in his birth country. The travel approval wait is estimated to be 2-4 weeks, however, I am hopeful that it will be closer to the 2 weeks. Our agency is very generous in their wait times.

Yesterday and today were more snowdays for us here in Michigan!! I do love the break from the monotony once in awhile. Today, however, we managed to get both of our cars stuck at the end of our driveway! Dan got the car stuck when he tried leaving for work, and after failed attempts at pushing it out I suggested trying to drive the van out of the remaining space in the driveway. Epic failure! Dan spent awhile on the phone with the insurance company getting them to come help, he worked at home for awhile and then decided to have John help him push the van out. They got the van out, and Dan left for work with me home and a stuck car!! John, the neighbor, and I were able to get the car out before the tow truck arrived. Then we were on our way. Whew! Both days we took our time getting dressed and ready, then headed to have lunch with friends and spent most of the afternoon hanging out with friends. It was fun for everyone! None of the kids had naps either day so it was early bedtime- win, win!

This afternoon when we got home I decided we should pull out puzzle we are making with the donations we received for our adoption and put it together. Not all of the pieces have been written on yet, so we could only work with what we had. John, the kids, and I made a little progress and then things went crazy so we put it away to get dinner ready. After the kids went to bed I pulled it out and asked Dan to help me work on it. He of course, came up with the good excuse that he had a "ton" of work to do for work. I complained at him a little more and he agreed to help. :) I told him he only had to do 5 pieces and then he could work again. You would think that should only take about 5-10 minutes right?! Oh no, about 45 minutes later he found his 5th piece with a big sigh of relief!! I think I found about 30 or so in that time.  Lets just say you may or may not want him on your team in a puzzle competition :) In his defense we didn't have all the pieces to work with, AND I told him its "cheating" to look at the picture while putting a puzzle together.  He was really stressed that he had to match colors and shapes (his brain doesn't work like that as easily as mine). It was good bonding time, and quality that we got to spend together. Its been awhile since we have done that.
Here is a picture of our progress.

Our puzzle piece progress

This is for all my adoption buddies, a panda bear shirt and leggings that I fancied up!!  I really enjoy sewing new things. This is Addys Valentines outfit I made for her. :)

Our Snow day "pool party"

The stuck vehicles. Kinda funny, Im sure the neighbors giggled as they drove by.