London is 1 ! well, almost...part 1

Last weekend we celebrated London's first birthday! It was actually her 11 month birthday, but it's the weekend grandmommy and granddaddy could come in town. Here is her party documented in photos. 

There was too much adorable cuteness on this day to fit it all in one post.  All this images were taken by my uber talented sister, Adrienne. And believe me, they were hard to narrow down.

So, here's part 1 of the party. (part 2 to continue later this week) 

Cheers! Enjoy Oneness!

a layer cake from scratch. actually wasn't too bad to make. 

 i guess this doesn't have too much to do with the party, but i liked the image :)

this is my baby sista. i have 3 younger sisters, and this one is the babes, who isn't really a babes anymore. well, she's a babe, she's just not a baby. 

mommy, baby snuggles.

she doesn't even know what's coming ;)

to be continued...

the homestudy is complete!

I was so excited to see FedEx pull up to my door this morning and drop off our completed and approved homestudy!! (is homestudy one word btw?) i like to think it is. :)

and the paperwork. oh how much paperwork we've had the past couple of months. i'm sure there is plenty more to come.

now on to applying for EVERY GRANT IMAGINABLE. your support and prayers at this stage of the process are needed and much appreciated.

embrace the camera

here we go! 

happy warm thursday...at least i wish it was warm

iPhone style.

the FBI and my fingerprints...SRSLY???

As you know, we are adopting a little BAMBINO soon and the process is quite INTENSE.

Step #1? the homestudy. 

Step #2? Getting fingerprinted by the FBI to make sure you aren't a creep-O. 

so, who's fingerprints get rejected, NOT ONCE, but twice?? Little 'ol me. 

The reasons?  

We're unsure...probably genetic. But one thing they did say is, well maybe sometime in the past you wore off your own fingerprints...or burnt them off. 

Is there even a response for that? ?  what the heck?

Now, keep tracking with me... I LOVE a good mystery. Agatha Christie is my FAVORITE. I was reminded of her when my mom responded about the fingerprinting with, "you could commit a murder and get away with it." 

Now, don't be worried. I would never do that and it was a really funny joke, between two mystery lovers, but I feel like i need to put that disclaimer out there :)

But all this mystery talk reminded me of our trip to foggy England last year and of the setting of many of Agathe Christie's novels. So, I'll leave you with some of our photographs from England.

Oh, how i long to go back very soon...

 taken at the tower of london

the orangery at kensington palace. the best afternoon tea i've ever had

if you can guess who's house this is, i'll give you all my blow money for the month ;)

seriously though, this is the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire's house. but also the set of Mr. Darcy's house for the latest Pride and Prejudice

and, the best for last...this is one of the many fields we walked through on the way to the house

i'm in love with you England and hope to see you again soon. 

love, 

rachie

and the WINNER is...

First off, a big thank you to all who entered our etsy give-a-way last week. we were so encouraged by all who gave, encouraged and posted to their blogs about our adoption process.

and now i'd like to announce the winner of the etsy goodness...or london would like to announce the winner. :) i know there are websites that will select "at random" a winner for you, but i thought it would be more fun for london to draw a winner. and that turned out to be more complicated than i thought...

here she is drawing out of the "hat"

here i am, trying to get her to show the piece of paper she drew. 

see how this is going? 

now here, you can almost see what the paper says, right? this is a bad tease isn't it?

so finally, i do this...

and the winner is...ELIZABETH!

CONGRATULATIONS Elizabeth! 
please email me to claim your loot this week. 

thanks again to all who entered and are supporting us on Etsy. i'll leave you with a new little number i posted to the shop last night. oh la. la.

 

side note:  sorry it took me so long to post this morning. i had hoped to have it earlier, and then i spent an hour on the phone with Adobe. with software issues. yuck. yuck.

thank you. thank you. friends.

so, i'll admit it. when i launched our give-a-way this week i was so nervous. being relatively new to the blogging world, i realize people don't know me and because of that...are less likely to be interested in supporting us. just being honest. all the way around. BUT, we have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the give-a-way. thank you guys so much for your financial support and affirmation.

yeah!

our give-a-way is open until sunday at midnight, so there's still time to register below if you wanna win some etsy goodies.

ill leave you with some SUPER images that my husband took this week as we played at the park. a little embrace the camera, late :)

 

IT IS TIME

for the give-a-way!!  

let's do this thing! so, as a lot of you know, my husband and i are in the process of adopting. we've completed our home study and are now raising funds to help us be able to bring our sweet baby home. 

let's be honest, adoption is EXPENSIVE and our total cost is going to be around $22,000. whoa! that's overwhelming just typing it. we've saved around $2,500 so far and are doing everything we can to get the rest as soon as possible. we're saving any additional income, applying for a TON of grants, we get to receive the federal tax credit (super helpful!) and we started an Etsy shop. 

well...

today's give-a-way is handmade accessories from my etsy shop. all proceeds from my shop and this give-a-way go to support our adoption fund to help bring our sweet baby home sooner! so, let's do this and give away some fun goodies. 

the give-a-way package includes: 

this ADORABLE headband 

this GORGEOUS pair of earrings

and lastly, this BEAUTIFUL brown speckled ear warmer

this bundle is worth $50!! 
 

that's only $10 for your chance to win $50 worth of sweet cuteness!

 wanna know how to enter? here's the nitty gritty. it's pretty easy:

a simple donation.

1 entry is $10

2 entries is $20

5 entries is $50

and so on...

so, how do you donate?

see that donate button on the left hand side? just click away, enter your donation amount and voila. you are entered in the give-a-way.

*be sure to leave a comment below letting me know you entered*

the give-a-way is open till sunday evening (midnight central time) friends.

winner will be chosen at random and announced Monday morning on the blog.

have fun!

 and please grab our give-a-way logo and share on your blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.

thank you SO SO much for helping support our adoption. we are so grateful. 

love, 

the Porters

fine print: give-a-way is open to US residents only, but you can still donate, if you live outside the US. Give-a-way ends Sunday at midnight, central time. please email me with any questions you have. 

the give-a-way is now closed. thank you so much for your support in our shop!

baby leggings

It's a sick day here at the Porter House. Little lon's doesn't feel the best, so i'll leave you with a cutie picture i took last week of her. Happy Tuesday.

and don't forget our giveaway starts thursday morning, so check back here for the details and your chance to win items from our Etsy shop. All proceeds go to support our adoption! 

the weekend.

we relaxed around the house this weekend. here is some of our fun. baby style.

discovering fire ...

longing for the outside and warmer weather...

and i LOVE this last one.  i think lon's looks beautiful.

is my baby really a toddler now??

but seriously. i really am asking that question. what age are they considered "toddlers?" I could say all the cliche stuff about her growing up too fast and time flying, etc. And those sayings are corny and overused, but they're also true. sometimes the days are long, but the last 11 months have been quick. does that even make sense?

next month, london turns one year. it feels weird to even type that. i was going back over some of her images this morning and here are some of my favorite photos over the past couple months. all taken on the iPhone, so please excuse my lack of professionalism. the 5d just wasn't around ;)

getting in front of the camera with your babes is really hard. especially when all they want to do is eat it...

bundled up bundle of cuteness. thanks to aunt chelsea for knitting this adorable hat.

 

and this morning...trying to open the fridge? or at least crawl up on it. (don't judge me for the gunk on my fridge) ;)

Adoption Update: Home study is complete. yeah! just waiting on fingerprinting by the FBI to finalize everything. and that surely IS a story for another day...

it's a Weepies...and a Prison Break kinda day.

The big snow Blizzard of 2011 is here and lon's and i are stuck in the house. So, what do we do?

We start off my staying in our pajamas ALL DAY

 

Then we listen to the Weepies and dance around. I mean, i LOVE the Weepies and got to see them in beautiful Boston this fall, but when I put them on my iPod, i'm reminded REALLY how much i LOVE their music. 

and now it's naptime. i have a ton i could do. update my etsy shop. apply for adoption grants. and all of those will get done...but sometimes i just feel like chill'axin and today that means Prison Break. :) I know I'm really late for the Prison Break train, but i started it on Netflix-watch instantly, and can't stop! i mean...who doesn't want to watch Michael Scoffield try and break out of prison on a snowy day when you can't get out of the house???