Article 5 Pickup!

Our Article 5 was picked up today! The Article 5 letter lets the CCCWA know that our immigration file is complete for the adoption. It is basically a second copy of our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) signed by someone at the Consulate. 

So what that means is we are one step closer to holding this precious girl!

All we have left before we leave for China is to wait on our Travel Approval, which is China's approval for us to come on over! Our agency has told us that it takes about 1.5 to 3 weeks for Travel Approval to be issued and that generally families will travel 10 - 21 days after their approval! We are getting close!!

Mig is FOUR!

Mig turned four earlier this month. Here are his sweet four year old portraits!

This year Mig has fallen in love with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and wanted to have his friend Leonardo in his portraits. 

He also LOVES mustaches! 

At Selah's 6 year old appointment this year, she weighed 34 pounds. At Mig's four year appointment he weighed 35 pounds! We knew he would eventually out-weigh his "big" sister! 

Mig has a thankful spirit and loves to make us smile and laugh! He is a blessing to us and a fun part of our family!!

Birthday FUN!!

Mig turned 4 on October 12th!! Boy did we have a FUN time celebrating him this year!

On the Friday night before Mig's birthday, GiGi and PopPop drove up. They got in after all of the kids went to bed, so that Saturday morning they were all super excited to see PopPop asleep on the sofa bed!

This soon ended up as a tickle war and a pillow fight. Of course!

When I asked Mig what he wanted to do for his birthday this year, at first he said Chuck E. Cheese, then he changed his mind to going to the pumpkin patch. So at 10:00 we had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake and present time!

When you have triplet cousins, they end up being built in party guests, too!

Aunt Barbie sent books, coloring books and craft supplies! Thanks, Aunt Barbie! (Or as Mig calls her, "Aunt Barbie Q."!

Frankie the dog likes to be part of the party, too! (He is GiGi and PopPop's dog).

After the presents were open, we all went to lunch at Fuzzy's Taco Shop (PopPop's new favorite restaurant).  Then we went to our local pumpkin patch!

Such a pretty girl!

Triplet fun!

Next year we will have 4 in the pumpkins!

Handsome boy!

Mr. Four!

And one for GiGi!

Uncle Byron photobombing!

Tali:

Charli Kate:

Adrik:

PopPop had as much fun as the kids!

Ride 'em Cowboy?!?

Hay maze:

Cut outs!

Face painting!

We love Duck Dynasty!!!

Such a fun day and a fun way to celebrate MIG!!

The Texas State Fair

Last year the Stepanovs came up for the second weekend in October and we all headed to the State Fair. This year, we decided to do it again! BUT this year, we had a surprise for the kids! We took the train to the fair!

Both boys said the train ride was their favorite part of the whole day!

Since the year we moved back to Texas (2009), my sister and her family have been coming up to stay the weekend of the UT/OU game. Will is a die hard UT fan.

We went the Friday before the big game to the State Fair. We were able to say "Hi" to Big Tex.

And go to the ever popular car shows. Gabe was super excited about this cowboy robot that hosted a few interactive games. 

We saw a dog show and went to the petting zoo.

Since the "HUMP DAY"! commercials started, Pop Pop and I send a camel picture to each other on Wednesdays - so the kids made sure I got a picture of the camel for Pop Pop! 

We ate some deep fried, overpriced, yummy food and had a great time!! 

We were all exhausted by the time we got home that night and dreamt happy dreams of train rides, giant cowboys, football rivalries and fried everything! Such fun!!