Odds and ends

We are finally enjoying beautiful weather - upper 60's to low 70's. It's been wonderful. We have spent a lot of time outside the past two nights and have planted more perennials (should wrap up tonight with all of them around the outside of the house!) and weeded the beds. Our lawn is coming in too - the ground is pretty 'fuzzy' with the grass seed taking hold. Most importantly, we've played a variety of outdoor games - catch, baseball, Frisbee, etc. - with Carson. He's had a great time with some of the neighbor kids too. It looks like it will be a nice weekend, so we're hoping for a lot of productivity outside, along with some playtime...maybe getting out on our bikes?!?

Travis has wrapped up classes at MSCTC, so it's great to have him home in the evenings now. :-) He is teaching a class in June - July, but it's morning and only two days/week.

Carson is running in the Youth Run of the Fargo Marathon tomorrow. His race isn't until 3:00 p.m. Thankfully, nice weather appears to be in order for the marathon.

Our anniversary was nice. We met with our social worker and went out to lunch (since Trav taught class in Wadena that night). We had a two hour visit with the social worker in her office. It was a great visit and very relaxed. Our next visit is in our home a week from today. I'm taking the day off - she'll be here from 1:30 - 4:00 or so. She tried to reassure us that it's not the 'white glove treatment' and that she doesn't look under our beds and in our closets. :-) We like to think that we keep a pretty clean house on a 'normal' day, but of course, we'll give the house a good cleaning this weekend and into next week. She also shared we don't need to have a baby's room ready, the house babyproofed, etc. They understand that comes with time. We're pleased that everything is moving along so quickly - we feel we're making good progress. Our next homework will be the profile. That will be a biggie. Essentially, it's our sales pitch to prospective birthparents and in four pages of pictures and words, we need to sum up who we are. No pressure...

Of course, it's all a part of the process and we understand that. It is how it works. It's how a match happens. Something in our profile will hopefully catch the attention of a birthparent or birthparents and the connection will be made. We know that the profile is another aspect of adoption 'labor' and it will truly be a labor of love. It's hard for us to put a timeline on the profile. It's something, like the application, that is impossible to turn out in a weekend. I'd like to think we could have it ready by the end of June - mid-July. We'll see how close we come on that!

In the matter of timing...once we wrap up the profile, we'll turn our attention to the interior of the house again. We're planning to put a fireplace in the family room (in the basement) in July. Apparently fireplaces go on sale in July (who's thinking they want to cuddle up to a fireplace in 90 degree heat, I guess?!?). Then we (Travis says I have a pronoun problem as this won't be a 'we' project!) will start sheetrocking. After that - tape, texture, paint, and finish work of doors, trim, etc. Finally, the carpet. Once we get Carson's playroom downstairs in the other part of the family room (it's a huge space) we can start on the baby's room. We plan to paint the walls (not sure what colors yet) and get a few things set up. I'd love to do a mural of some sort on one wall, but I'm not talented enough for that. I might have to ask/pester someone who is artistically gifted. ;) We need to buy a dresser and a stroller, but other than that (until we know gender), we're in pretty good shape. It's all so exciting to think about! Of course, I know the aspects of finishing the family room aren't going to happen overnight - both from a time and financial standpoint. I need to be patient!

So, there's my odds and ends post for the day. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!