Well, it is 12:30 EST and we just rang in the New Year with several of our friends and family...Erica, Brent, Carrie, Shane, Kevin, Ann & Jake!!! We also had Haylee here with us along with our neighbor's kids from across the street...Alex & Logan. Pretty low-key night with dinner at Red Robin (since they cater to kids) and games in the basement. The kids fell asleep pretty early.

Christmas was great. We went to my brother, Doug's house in Aldie, VA for Christmas Eve with many members of the Nail clan in attendance. My nephews, Jake & Joe, and my niece Julie were full of energy and we spent the evening playing ping-pong, air hockey and foozball. Then, Christmas day was spent at Andrew's parents' house in Springfield, VA. Both days were very relaxing and fun!!

On Wednesday, we drove up to Pennsylvania to visit with Andrew's cousins who were down from Canada visiting family outside of Philly. Andrew & I went with Haylee & Beth...roadtrip in the Sienna, oh yeah!! It was great to see Todd, Casey & Riley...and Cheryl, Kyle & Lucy too. Wish that we could have seen Wendy as well. We hope to have a family vacation this summer in Canada if we can.

Got an email from our adoption coordinator a few days ago...this is what she wrote...

"heard from Yuri. He said there are no worries (which is good) just more time. Happy new year in anticipation of your baby!!"

Happy 2006 and here's to more waiting!!

Hello all...no these are not our newly adopted Russian babies :) These are my kitties, Perkins & Sox and they are the lights of my life...when I am feeling blue or anything, all I have to do is snuggle up next to one of them and my day is brighter. They love to both sleep on Andrew's legs and are content to stay there for hours on end. They are our babies and always will be :)

There is no news on a little russian baby for us yet. So hard to remain patient and upbeat about it all. I realized on Tuesday that the last time I even heard anything from our adoption coordinator was on October 20th with the "no news is good news" bit. Hmmm...that is getting kind of repetitive. I emailed her on Tuesday to see if anyone had heard from Yuri and as of yet, I have not heard back from her. I wasn't going to vent on this blog, but several people have told me that they have repeatedly checked it for news and would rather hear anything than nothing...so venting it will be...

Have you ever taken an exam only to have the professor not grade it for what seems like forever? Well, this is worse...ten times worse. We seem to be putting everything on hold "just in case" we get "the call". We didn't go on the annual beach trip to Duck, NC with our friends this summer even though we really wanted to...we didn't plan any other vacations except for a couple quick weekend trips for weddings of family & friends...

Well, no more!!! I am going to make plans and go on with our lives as though we are not waiting on pins and needles...and if we have to fit a trip to Russia in around other trips, then so be it. Andrew doesn't want me to go on a girl's trip in the spring for a friend's 30th birthday celebration because "what if we get a call to go to Russia?" Well, then I will just cut my trip short or fly out from wherever I happen to be. Deal with it when the time comes.

So, now that I have vented a little bit, onto more cheerful stuff. Christmas is almost here...we have decorated the inside and outside of our house and it is so cheerful. Our little 5-year old neighbor kept asking us when we were going to put our lights up...starting the day after Thanksgiving :) We put them up shortly after that.

We are having our holiday open house on Saturday...for the 2nd year in our "new" house. I love this house and I love being able to entertain. We have great neighbors too who will be joining in the festivities along with our family and friends.

Well, I had better go to bed...Andrew will wonder where I am if he wakes up and I am not there. I can't seem to sleep lately. A million thoughts racing through my mind.