Photo Monday!!!

Here are some baseball action shots!  Daddy was the pitcher, I was the "people" as Jackson put its. 

 This one is my favorite, the passion...the focus...the excitement!

A preview of Halloween!  He can't decide between spiderman and a hockey player.  Since I bought him a Capitals jersey, he will probably select spiderman :)

 Fireman going to an emergency in the living room.

 Mommy/Son day last week.

Decorating Halloween cookies with Mom and Dad.  He ended up with more on his shirt/face/hands then was on the cookies.

 Making a scary eyeball.

 Eating the hard work!

Today Jackson's school was closed because of Hurricane Sandy.  He and I stayed home and watched it rain and the wind blow.  Poor kid was bored stiff because I still had to work!  Looks like the worst has passed us by, so hopefully the weather will calm down from here.
I have been traveling a lot lately, but am home all week!  Next week I should be gone again, but I am enjoying this week with the family.  Jackson enjoys the "prizes" I bring home for him.  Last price was spiderman slippers.  The week before was new hockey skates!
I haven't heard anything about our last post placement report, so I assume it passed and has been sent in. On second thought, I better follow up on that again!
All is well in the Curran household, hope it is in yours too!

Final post placement report

Last night we had our final post placement meeting with our local agency for Russia.  I can't believe Jackson has been home 3 years, double the time that he was in Artem Baby Home #2.  The meeting was probably around 45 minutes long and it was with a new Social Worker that we had not met previously.  Jackson was being shy, but it was closing in on his bedtime and he really just wanted Daddy to play hockey with him instead of sitting at the dining room table answering a bunch of questions!!  We hope to have that submitted this week.  I do have to say, I am disappointed in our adoption agency.  Not once were we reminded to follow through with this, if we wouldn't have pushed both agencies to complete the reports I don't think anyone would have ever said anything.  Why this is unfortunate, is it effects future families adopting from Russia.  We followed through for those families in process, just as the families before us followed through to our benefit.  With that said, I am glad it is our last report!

Today Bill had to work, so we had Mommy/Son day.  We played golf, cars and big trucks.  Then we took a nap and went out to have lunch together and went shopping.  Jackson picked out some "super fast" shoes and a few pair of fuzzy PJ's.  Of course, what is Mommy/Son day without ice cream???  When Daddy got home, Jackson lost his mind he was so happy.  They went outside and played baseball and did donuts (yep, that's a new trick) on the John Deere tractor.

Tomorrow we will have a family date day, but it is undecided on what we will do.  I travel again for the next 5 days, but after that get to be home for awhile.  It seems I dread travel more and more these days.  I don't want to be away from my family and home anymore! 

Jackson's testing was last Wed - Friday, so we hope to get the results of that early next week so we can make some decisions.  I am still leaning towards him staying where he is and repeat next year if it is necessary.

Fifer Fall Fest

Last weekend we made the trip up to Dover to see Nana/Papa/Aunt Carolyn/Uncle Jeff and Cousin Emily.  Jackson loves, loves, loves to visit Cousin Emily and they always have a really good time together.  We went to the Fifer Fall fest and the kids jumped on bungees and did snow angels in corn.  They had a couple corn mazes and we at the best fried donuts in the world.  Although it was just a short overnight trip, it was worth it!!

In other news, Bill and I are trying to make some decisions on Jack's school progress.  It has been suggested to hold him back a year.  Right now, he is in the "4's" class, and his teacher feels like he should go back to the 3's class, next year go to the 4's, then the year after start Kindergarten.  He is struggling with his colors and his letters, but just in the last few weeks he has learned so much.  I am leaning towards having him finish the 4's, and asking for special accommodation's because it is very tough on him to have any type of disruption in his schedule.  Bill and I will have to continue to do nightly homework and step it up at home more so than usual if we go this route.  He has testing next week where he has to rhyme, recognize 17 of the upper case letters, recognize his name, write his name, etc, etc.  We will see where he is on the testing, and make a decision after that.  He has a late birthday (July), he is small for his age, and given the delayed start we knew that he would probably have a repeat somewhere...but still breaks our hearts.  Given his start in life, his maturity seems that of his peers, and he is very smart.  He remembers everything...and I mean everything.  I have every confidence that he will catch up!  Now, how do you make learning look like a hockey stick and puck?  THAT is how he will learn!!