The End Justifies the Means....I Think

The rearranging of rooms is nearly complete. My "new" room, the sun room, playroom, and den need to be painted. All the above mentioned rooms need to have artwork hung, and some day the hardwoods will need to be refinished,etc...but for now, I am calling it done.

While The Older Fogas Family Members Were Hard At Work.....

While hard at work, we noticed that we didn't hear Maggie playing. We immediately sent out a search party. Sleeping Beauty was simply catching up on her beauty sleep.

TRADING SPACES-FOGAS EDITION

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor (LITERALLY)
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

Phew!!!!! Time for my daily dose of Alleve. The Fogas Edition of Trading Spaces in nearly complete. We (well, the boys and I) have torn up all of the carpeting in our upstairs, pulled up countless staples, nails, and floor boards. I actually see them when I close my eyes. The boys are in the master bedroom now. I took their room. The study has been made into the playroom. The old playroom is now the sun room. The den has the furniture from the study in it. Who is conspicuously absent from these pictures....Just a hint at who did most of the work.

You Have to Kiss A Lot of Frogs Before You Find Your Prince

Much to my surprise, and delight, Hayden (aka. the Frog Hunter) rescued this enormous amphibian from certain death by chlorine after fishing him out of the Richardson's pool. She then released him back to the pond on their property from whence he came.

The Baby Reunion

Leg two of our journey to Illinois involved our annual trek to Yorkville where we get together with the other families that we traveled to China with when we adopted our daughters. This is our fifth year to get together. One family wasn't able to make it this year, which is sad, but we had a WONDERFUL time nonetheless. There are no words that can express the joy I have in my heart over the fact that we have been able to remain close to these families and that we have been able to continue to get together year after year. It is truly the highlight of my year, every year. As usual, we attended Yorkville's 4th of July parade, the best hometown parade in America and went to the firework display in the evening. Every year, we take the girls to the same little Chinese restaurant for lunch. And of course, last, but not least, we have the annual boccie ball tournament. The rest of the time was spent around the pool and in a comfortable ebb and flow of fellowship.

WHEN IN ROME.....

"I opened up my window, and my soul flew free.
I hope she'll take some video to show me.
She's gone for now, She's gone for now.
Gone, Gone..
I hope she's back before dinner.
She's been asking to get out more,
But it's a dangerous world....
She's gone for now. She's gone for now
Gone, Gone,
I hope she's back before dinner.
Maybe she went to the horse track
Maybe she went to the show.
Maybe she's staying out all night dancing
at a couple of clubs I know.
I opened up my window, hoping she'd return
and show me all of her video and the lessons we learned.
She's gone for now, She's gone for now
Gone, Gone...
I hope she's back before dinner."

Back Before Dinner, by Fingers










"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Since everyone is Savanna seemingly has a tattoo, or two or three or four...Hayden and I decided to get tats. I set out to get a heart with my kids' names in it. However, I had to go first and was afraid of the pain, so I started small. Hayden designed mine and hers. It turned out to be quite the family affair, before it was all over, my dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, his wife, and Maggie were all there to witness the sacred event. Now that I know the pain is totally manageable, I will get the original one I set out to get. The real kicker is that we got the tattoos at a biker bar called Poopy's...yes, Poopy's. My cousin has had several of his tats done there, so he was there to oversee the whole event.

ROAD TRIP TO ILLINOIS

The Fogas girls made their first "official" road trip. We left Roswell on June 28th and drove to Savanna, Illinois, the rural, farming community where I grew up. There, we visited my dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma and grandpa. The whole time we were there, we were without a phone signal and very LIMITED access to a computer. As it turns out, there is one place in town (population 3,500) that has WI-FI and is owned by someone I went to high school with. Not only that, but his sister and I were cheerleaders together. Small world......but in a town the size of Savanna, those words take on a very literal meaning. These first pix are of the farm that my mom grew up, what is left of it anyway. The brook is just down the road from there farm. AS a child it was always such a peaceful place, and we used to throw rocks into it from the bridge. Life was much slower then. The picture of the Dry Goods store is across the street from the gas station we finally found after almost having to put the Prius to the test to see how far it could actually go with no gas and just running on the battery. Suffice to say, no trip home would be complete without getting lost out in the country in the middle of farms and corn fields with only gravel roads to lead the way.