Dear Family

Thank you for patiently waiting. These ARE on their way, I promise. They will be in your hot little hands by Thanksgiving. Sooner, if I see you before then.

xoxo

November

It's November.

It's been November for two days now.

I am in love with November.

The 2nd day of this month won my love by having delightful weather. Weather nice enough to run a few errands without jackets. We hit up the Target, Robert's and Wal-mart. Ooh and what is that little coffee place inside Target? Is it Starbucks? Oh yes, yes it is.

Starbucks.

I love Starbucks.

I love their Caramel Apple Spice.

I partook of its greatness today. While I was running errands. In the delightful weather. Without jackets. With my sweet daughter who is having a birthday on Saturday.

I love November.

Fancy Nancy Bat Girl

Halloween was pretty great this year. Alyssa had some pretty strong opinions about what she wanted to be. First - Little Mermaid. Unfortunately the only little mermaid costumes that fit Alyssa don't come equipped with the tail. They're more the 24-mo tu-tu style costume. Not going to work for us.

Then we tried Jasmine. Again we had some sizing issues. Jasmine's smallest costume was an extra small - size 4-6. As much as we've grown in the past year... still, not going to work for us.

After much discussion and a little disappointment, we settled on Fancy Nancy.
Pretty cute right? Fancy Nancy attended the preschool Halloween party.

When trick-or-treat time came, Fancy Nancy just wouldn't do. She wanted "Super Woman" or a princess or anything but Fancy Nancy. The public had already seen that costume, after all. Luckily for us, we had Bat Girl on reserve from last year.
2009 marks the first year of real life trick-or-treating for Alyssa. She had been telling me all week that "mom, you go to the door, ring the doorbell, hold out your bag and yell TRICK-OR-TREAT, then people give you CANDY!!!" Clearly she had the method down, I didn't think she would need any coaching... ha ha.

The first house we went to, she handed her bucket to Tim and said "you do it." We lifted her on the porch, she flopped around like a limp noodle while they gave her some candy. Luckily, on our way to the fabulous Robinson household (we thought maybe she would get the hang of it if we went to a familiar place) we ran in to those fabulous Robinson's. Then in true Beckstrand style, we invited ourselves to spend the evening trick-or-treating with them. They so kindly obliged and Alyssa got to see some serious candy collecting action from the boys.

Almost every house we went to, she would come back in blissful joy "Mommy they gave me candy! Daddy look! They gave me candy!" It was like every house was a new experience. Such a funny girl.

When we had circled the block, we had to hurry home so we could answer the door when the boys came to trick-or-treat at our house. Alyssa loved handing out candy to all the visitors. When we ran out of candy and kids continued to knock on the door, she got upset that I wasn't answering it. I told her the only candy we had left to give them would be HER candy she got from around the neighborhood. Her response? "Ok, hmm... they can have this one!" Sweetie...

First Day of Preschool

Who doesn't pose like this for their first day of pre-school pictures?

Trouble. That's what we're in, trouble.

I can't even supervise it anymore because now she's all grown up and going to preschool.

For 2 hours. Twice a week.

Without me. WITHOUT ME!

By herself. BY HERSELF!

Alyssa started preschool today! Of course she did SO great. We walked to Miss Kaarina's and talked about school and all the new friends she was going to meet. We talked about sharing and listening. She found a potato bug on the way and wanted to take it school so we talked about not taking bugs in to school.

She was so excited, has been for months. 12 to be precise. Last year when I would take Evan to Miss Kaarina's, Alyssa wanted to go with him. Today was FINALLY her turn! She waltzed right in, marched down the stairs, hung up her "pack-pack" on her little hook and it was bye-bye mommy.

I managed to only shed a couple tears, and it was on my way home. I didn't blubber in the driveway like I thought I would. I had the Jason to keep me company so I wasn't completely alone.

After I picked her up and we were walking home, she was jabbering non-stop about Miss Kaarina's grandma who ate a horse and cow and bug and dog - then there was a bear hunt - then they had treats - then they got to play - and there was a girl with a pink shirt - and she showed a new friend where the potty was.

She loved it. Every second of it. I'm so happy for her. I'm so proud of her. She's so brave, so independent. She's just so fantastic all the way around. I love that little sweetie.

Smartie Pants

Several weeks ago I was teaching piano lessons. Most the time Alyssa keeps herself well entertained in the other room and isn't a bother while I teach. However, there was this one day...

She's dancing around the room, singing, talking, distracting, being your typical adorable three year old. Problem was, I was trying to teach. Gavin was trying to concentrate. It was proving to be difficult for both of us. I turned to Gavin and said "I don't even know where this kid came from. One day she showed up on the porch and now we can't get rid of her!"

Gavin (6 years old) replied "No she didn't! She grew in your tummy."

As I'm smiling about his statement, Alyssa chimes in, "No I didn't! I grew in Andrea's tummy!"

Then I think... ooh where is this going to go? So I ask, "You did? Then what happened?"

Alyssa: Well then I got out.
Me: What happened after you got out?
Alyssa: She gave me to you.
Me: She did? Why?
Alyssa: Well because you're my mommy.

She gets it. At three years old she's beginning to understand her unique story of how she came to belong to our family. She's so smart.

And lately she's taken to having babies in her own tummy.

The simplistic life of a three year old. I never want it to end.

So I Have These Friends...

Meet Brittney and Morgan

(Kim took these fabulous photos of them. Then I stole it off their profile... copyright laws being broken all over the place. Sorry ladies...)

Let's talk about Brittney and Morgan. I met Brittney forever ago. We worked together at my first "real" job in a dental office. She's a dental assistant, I was receptionist. We had some GOOD times together.

The story of how she and Morgan ended up together? SO great! Y'all should read it. In fact, you should read everything about them. You should get to know this couple so you can see if you can be of assistance to them.

You see, they've embarked on the journey that is adoption. I think they've been approved and waiting a little over a year...? Maybe? Britt? Right? They need some help spreading the word. We all know that more adoptions happen, basically through word of mouth (designated adoption) these days than actually being chosen through an agency.

They also are diving in head first to some big time, pro-active projects. One of which is going to be on August 22nd. Please click here for more details on how you can help.

One thing that I am absolutely dying for about them. They've been approached by various adoption agencies (not ldsfs) three times for possible children to come to their home. And three times they've been unable to do it because it is SO expensive. Like, over $30,000 expensive. (Don't even get me started on that.)

So, here's the deal-ee-o.
Click here to get to know them.
Add this link to your side bar if you have a list of people hoping to adopt.
Click here to see if you can help them with their adoption yard sale.

Most importantly, keep them in mind and pass along their information if and when it's appropriate. Adoption is a hard and long road. It's a little easier to travel if you know you have people pulling for you.

Keeping Me Happy

Had a mini-mani party today, just me and Alyssa. She was so funny with her little nails. She would tap and touch everything every so carefully so they wouldn't fall off. I think they lasted about 30 minutes before she had enough of them. Too hard to help mom open the mail with them perty nails on.