Kitty, AKA Ninja Kitty (notice the mask-like face) got all decked out for Christmas:
Then she wasn't so sure if she looked good in the hat and decided to ask the human.
She decided she didn't like the hat at all and the human said it made her look fat.
So she worked to get it off
And after she got it off, the human tried to put it back on, but she thought "Don't you bring that hat near me or I'll rip your face off!" and the hat and the human was never to be seen again. Considence? I think not!
Isn't it pretty?! I promise I will get them in the mail sometime this week...honest!! Here are some of the pics that didn't make the cut:
I have no idea what Charlotte was doing here, but I thought the picture was kind of funny!
This one is cute, but I wanted a picture of her full face. And look at those cute wittle, tootsie toes!
Ben decided to relax a bit in between shoots. Cause you know....looking cute is hard work!
This one is cute, but I liked the full body shot one that I used for the card.
Ricky looks like a deer caught in the head lights in this picture, lol.
I was trying to get a picture of him looking at the ornament, but he couldn't resist looking at the camera, so that idea didn't work, lol.
I liked Markie's look in the this picture, but it cut off the top of her head.
Here's that toothless grin. It's inevitable for a youngester to loose their front teeth right around Christmas time, lol. It's only 1 right now though, so she might not have to sing that annoying song, lol.
I don't know what was up with her hair in this one.
Mark and I have completed the 2 state required classes called the PRIDE program. We were forced to do it and was a little annoyed at the short notice they gave us. They told us a week before that we were going to have to drive down to Pontiac 3 times in one week, then once the following weekend. They said it was required by law that we get Foster care licensing. We didn't want to do the Foster care, we wanted to adopt. But that was all tied into the PRIDE program, so when we finally realized that, we were OK. The classes were very helpful. We learn a lot, but some stuff didn't pretain to us, like the visitation. Since Ricky's mom has passed away we don't have to deal with the aftermaths of the visitation. The videos they showed us were some scenerios of how a child reacts after visiting with their family. I know that Ricky only got to see his mom twice when we got him before she passed away and after the first visit (which was very upsetting to some of the boys) Ricky woke up the next morning with hives. But the second visit, which was upsetting too, but ended on a good note and not quite the same type of upsetting as the first time, so he didn't show any reaction to the visit. It was nice closure for him. Anyway the class taught you how to deal with those type scenerios. We really like it. So now we have to fill out tons of paper work (we each have to complete a 20 page autobiography) and gather a lot of info like marriage license, birth certificates, physical records, even our cat's shot records, lol. It's a little tedious, but in the end it's worth it all.
We are going to let Ricky decide if he wants to keep his last name or take on ours. I think he will keep his. I think it would be a hard adjustment for him to have his name change. We asked him a while ago and he said he wanted to keep it, so we'll ask him again when the adoption is final just to make sure. Mark jokingly asked him what he wanted his new first name to be and Ricky said "Richardo" LOL. That is what Mark and a friend of ours (Anthony) calls him. He said he likes Ricky Richardo, lol.
He is adjusting well to us as his new family. He still talks about his mom and still misses her (of course, he always will), but he doesn't show any signs of being upset about anything. He's just a go with the flow kind of kid. He's still young though too, and with his "cognitive impairment" he acts a little younger than what he really is. I say he is almost like a 5 or 6 year old. Markie is more advanced then he is and she is 6. So hopefully with the help he is getting from us and his school, he'll catch up.
I just can't wait until the adoption is final. It has been hectic taking him to meetings and only 1 court hearing so far. They have another one if Feb, but I am not sure they have to be there for that one yet. But once he is adopted, I don't think we have to deal with all that anymore, so that will be a relief.
Anyway, that's where we're at with all of that. Hopefully in the next month or so we can officially call him our son!
It's been a while since I have taken the time to get on here and update my blog. I've been kind of busy and just plain old lazy too, lol. So, I will post as many updates as I can think of. Thanks for reading!!
