Batchelors do Disney

Thanks to my sister-in-law Shanelle, we totally rocked in the costume department this year. We celebrated today with Music Makers in the morning and a church party in the evening. I love doing the church Trunk or Treat because it saves us from having to go door to door to people we don't know.

Jalen was a less than enthusiastic (but totally adorable) Mickey Mouse.

He got used to the costume eventually.

Baylie loved being a beautiful little Snow White.

For the church party, we stuck to the theme. David took on the role of Walt himself and I was the princess castle (think low effort).

I love Baylie's pose in this picture.

We had a fun-filled, but exhausting day.

P.S. Baylie has already stuck at least one M&M up her nose...

Pumpkin Carving

We went to a pumpkin patch, but I forgot my camera - and the pumpkins were ridiculously expensive. Our pumpkins are from Wal Mart.

As you can see, David likes to carve pumpkins...

...apparently so does Jalen.

Although Baylie looks less than enthused, she had fun too. It was a bit of a power struggle between her and her daddy to decide who was going to draw on the pumpkin - they both did. Hers was in green highlighter, so it didn't show up.

Baylie and her daddy had lots of fun making cupcakes. (We had to make them because I accidentally dropped the free one she got at Wal Mart in our parking lot.)

Jalen also likes cupcakes, mixed with carrots.

I just had to throw in this one because we took Baylie's hair out of braids tonight and the result is always an awesome head of hair.

For Tiffani who asks when I find time to blog: it's 11:09 p.m. and I'm watching Season 4 of 24 on Netflix.

When Things Don't Go As Planned

This was us 15 minutes before time to go to church.

Everyone was dressed, happy, ready to go.

I made the mistake of mentally congratulating myself on how "together" we were for once. Just then, I got an e-mail asking for help. I spent 20 minutes trying to find someone else who could help, but it didn't work out. Things went downhill from there.

• I dropped off David and the kids at Church, upon which David realized he was still wearing his slippers instead of his Sunday shoes.
• What could be worse? There was a hole in the toe of one of his socks.
• What could be worse? He was playing the organ that day in church and would have to go up in front of everyone.
• What could be worse? He was also singing with the choir that day.
• What could be worse? We were both assigned to speak.
• What could be worse? I got back to church five minutes late and had to march in with David's huge shoes in hand.
• What could be worse? My family was sitting on the very front row.
• What could be worse? Just as I stood up to speak, we discovered that Baylie had peed clear through her dress and onto the bench.

What could be worse? Actually, nothing, things got a little better after that.

The Joy of Open Adoption

Back in May, we traveled to Virginia to see Jalen's birthmom. It didn't work out and we weren't able to see her. At that time, I figured we wouldn't try to visit her again. But in my heart, it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like it was fair to her or to Jalen. David had fall break this weekend so we asked L if she would like to meet with us. She was excited at the opportunity, so we drove the five hours to Roanoke to see her. It's a beautiful drive and the time went quickly. (Ironically, it is much cheaper for us to drive and see her than it would have been for us to fly and see her if we had gone to school somewhere else.)

From the time he woke up in the morning, it seemed like Jalen knew something was happening. He was really excited and couldn't contain himself - kicking and squirming and squealing. Jalen doesn't normally take to strangers. He keeps a very straight face and stares them down. Sometimes it's a little embarrassing. But he took to L from the very beginning. He knew she was someone special.

We were also able to meet Jalen's biological sister. She and Baylie got along really well. We spent a lot of time trying to explain to Baylie that L was Jalen's birth mom and had carried him in her tummy. We've been trying to explain to her about her own birth mother. I'm not sure if she is understanding or not, but we hope this early exposure will make it a normal and natural thing for her. I only regret that she can't meet her birth mother since V wanted a closed adoption.

Jalen's biological sister, J, has heard all about him and looks at the pictures we send to her mom.

It meant a lot to us to have L tell us that she is happy with her decision and knows she made the right choice. Her family has not been very supportive and I think she is a strong woman to have made the choice and to stand by it. We learned a little more about his birth father, but he's still not happy about the adoption, so we won't be able to meet him for now. We learned that he is short, stocky and has a gap in his front teeth - just like Jalen!

We also learned that she had looked at other couples before us, but never felt right about it. She said that once she met us, she knew we were the right family for Jalen. I told her that him joining our family was truly a miracle for us.

I wasn't sure what this visit would be like, but it couldn't have been better. It was really wonderful for all of us. I look forward to future visits and am so happy that Jalen will know his birth family. What a blessing.

These next pictures are my favorites.

Pumpkins by Picasso

I was trying to find a fun Halloween craft for Baylie to do. Most of them were a little too advanced for her, so I decided to create my own. I cut out black eyes, nose and mouth and had her paste them onto orange paper. It seemed pretty simple.

Here are her creations.

LOVE THEM!

Grandparents Gone Wild

My dad had a conference in Atlanta last week, so he and my mom took advantage of the opportunity to take a side trip and visit us. Baylie and I have been looking forward to their visit for weeks. Every day last week Baylie would ask if she could go to Grammy's house. Baylie couldn't wait to take Grammy and Grandad to the zoo.

Once we got there, she made sure we knew where we were going.

Grammy and Grandad got to feed the giraffes. Baylie still won't do it, but she loves vigorously washing her hands as if she had.

Grammy and Grandad also fed the lorikeets. Baylie wouldn't even go through the door. She's still a little freaked out by them.

Grammy and Grandad saw the lowland gorilla. Baylie did venture to see him this time, but she didn't last long. Thank goodness since he charged the glass and made the little kids that were there scream and run. Glad she missed that demonstration!

Baylie loved showing Grammy the carousel. They rode it twice.

As usual, Jalen just chilled out in the stroller most of the day. Sometimes I worry that he's going to think the zoo is just plants and fences since that's probably most of what he sees.

We had a great visit with Grammy and Grandad and we miss them now that they're gone. Baylie is still asking for them every day. Christmas seems awfully far away!

Two Years Ago Today...

... we were sealed to Baylie for time and all eternity.

South Carolina 35 + Alabama 21 = Amazing Football!

Warning, if you are not a football fan, this post will be boring for you.

I have heard a lot about SEC football since coming to South Carolina, especially about Gamecock football. People around here do not seem to really care much about football outside the SEC. They do seem to live and breathe football within the SEC. It would appear that everyone is a fan.

Today my dad and I were able to go to the #19 South Carolina vs. #1 Alabama game. It was the most amazing football experience I have ever had. Here are some of the reasons why.

Tailgate parties stretch for miles around the stadium. We had to park about a mile and a half away because everything closer was for tailgating. My definition of tailgating has completely changed. People had huge spreads of food, big-screen tvs, electric fans ...

...and in this case, even chandeliers. People arrive first thing in the morning to start tailgating. The guy who sat next to us at the game had set up at 8:00 in the morning (game time was 3:30 p.m.).

Sell out crowds of 80,000 plus people are the norm, not the exception. People are in their seats before the game begins.

Nosebleed seats still offer a great view and atmosphere (four rows from the top).

A band that can spell.
Final touchdown to give USC their first ever win over a team ranked #1.

Fireworks after every touchdown.

Free tickets for undergrads.

Fans who only sit down during change of possessions, in between quarters and at halftime.

Fans so loud, the stadium literally rocks - you can feel it!

Fans who don’t leave the game early and stay glued to their seats well after the final whistle has blown.

Getting high 5’s from total strangers who feel like friends by the end of the game.

Beating a quarterback that hadn’t lost a game since junior high school.

Fans of opposing teams who still manage to enjoy a game together.

Well deserved reputation for the coolest entry in college football and one of the loudest stadiums. (In the below video, Alabama timed their entry to interrupt USC's entry. Not cool, but kind of ironic since it was the most exciting thing Alabama did the entire ballgame.)

Eyeing the Problem

Yesterday morning Baylie woke up looking pretty much like she does every other morning. But within a few hours, she looked like this.

I think she must have been bitten by something. I decided to wait and see if it would go down overnight, but this morning it looked like this.

We gave her some Benadryl and are hoping that will work. If not, we'll have to go to the doctor tomorrow.

And here's a picture of Jalen, just because he's so dang cute and because I didn't post pictures of him last week when he had bites from something on both sides of his head.

Random Thoughts in No Particular Order

• I have learned that the word "barbecue" means a VERY different thing in different places. In Texas, it's brisket; in Utah, it's hamburgers and hotdogs; and apparently in South Carolina, it's pork butts (what are those?) with a mustard based barbecue sauce. So when David and I were asked to throw a barbecue for our church group when we have never been to a South Carolina barbecue, we were a little intimidated. We decided to change it to a tailgate party and simplify. Hopefully people aren't disappointed.
  
  
• South Carolina drivers are very courteous. I don't think I've heard a horn honk since we've been here - even when it was warranted.
  
  
• In South Carolina, no one seems to be in a hurry. The speed limit is 55 MPH and no one races by, even on the freeway.
  
  
• Boiled peanuts are disgusting. They're a hit here, but seriously they are gross. They are dark, soggy and must be spit out at once.
  
  
• There is no good grass here. The land around parks and homes looks more like forest ground. I miss grass.
  
  
• There is a lot of water here and many directions are given based on a water landmark: i.e. Broad River, Bush River, Lake Murray, etc.
  
  
• We may never pay for television again. We get movies from Netflix streamed to our TV with a Blu-Ray player. If I really want to watch a current program, I use hulu.com. For ballgames, there's channelsurfing.net. We have 100% control over what comes into our home through the television. No more inappropriate commercials or other surprises. It is great. Plus, I don't waste time flipping channels and watching something I didn't really care to see.
  
  
• I love having some diversity. There's not as much as in Houston, but definitely more than in Utah. I love that my children see black faces every day, even in church.
  
  
• I think I’ve been feeding the hummingbirds boiling water. Can the sun heat my hummingbird feeder to unacceptable levels?
  
  
• "Palmetto bug" is just a nicer way to say "big roach."
  
  
• Turtles stacked up on a log are cute.
  
  
• Baylie is a wild sleeper. The only person who comes close is my sister Tiffani.
  
  
• Jalen is a fast crawler. The only person who comes close is my nephew Asher. (Same goes for wriggling ability while being changed or dressed.)
  
  
• Does anyone think “catfish nuggets” sound appetizing? (They sell them in grocery stores here.)
  
  
• I am seriously stoked that my dad splurged and got us tickets to the South Carolina - Alabama game. Now I just hope the aforementioned tailgate party doesn't conflict with the game.