Well, It's a done deal. There is a new member of our little clan. This expands us to 6. We're getting bigger and bigger. We all went together as a family to the court, sat in front of the judge and said this is what we want. We want this little guy to be a full-fledged member of our family.

Some things came to mind as I sat there.

I'm 45 years old and this is the first time I've had to appear before a judge. I guess I've done OK in that regard.

Also, this was probably one of those hearings that a judge looks forward to presiding over. I'm sure he sees lots of crap throughout his day and to have a room full of smiles and mom's crying tears of joy probably makes his day.


My brother-in-law was there with his camera taking pictures of this momentous event and the judge just smiled. Also, I am sure, not a common occurrence.

Preston's case worker wanted to come and watch as well. I was thinking, "You did good, lady. You did a good job with this one."

After it was over Sheila wanted to go out to lunch to celebrate so we went to a restaurant that I have never been to but Sheila and Hana raved about it. Cold Stone Creamery. I knew they served ice cream since that's what they're known for but I also figured they served maybe some small sandwiches of some kind since that's where my wife wanted to go for lunch. Alas, once again, I was wrong. No sandwiches. No hot dogs. No meals of any kind. Unless, that is you consider a big bowl of ice cream with fudge, chocolate chips, and sprinkles, all served in a waffle bowl a meal. Apparently my wife a daughter do. I must admit, it was the best ice cream I have ever had. I had Cake Batter ice cream with white chocolate chips and pieces of Heath bars in a regular waffle bowl. My word, was it ever good.

After the ice cream we were gonna take Preston to the mall cause he wanted to get his ears pierced and he wasn't allowed to do that while he was still a foster child. But we ran out of time and had to go straight to the movie theater. What a shame. ;)

So we went from ice cream to an arcade at thye theater and played a couple games, bought two big bags of popcorn, with two big jugs of Diet Coke and went in to find our seats.

The kids wanted to sit in the very back and this is one of those cool theaters where you can see over the person in front of you so we said sure.

Turns out one of my bosses was in there with his family as well.

We saw the new National Secret movie. It was pretty good. Not as good as the first one but then they very seldom are, right?

After the movie we were all pretty wore out so it was off to the house to try to find soemthing for dinner.

Can you say FULL?!

Nobody could agree on what they wanted so I pulled an executive decision moment and said, "You're all on your own."

Preston and Isaac had frozen Bagel Bites.

Hana wanted something from Lil' Bella's which either has or will change it's name to Payne's pizza or something like that.

Sheila, Ben and I wanted to Chinese so it was off to the Jade Palace for our regular fix. (Hana doesn't like Chinese food. I keep asking her how she could be my child and feel that way.)

General Tso's Chicken, Pot Stickers, and two orders of Beef Lo Mien with varying degrees of spiciness. We sat down and watched a few episodes from the first season of Seinfeld. I made it through the first two and then I was asleep in my chair. Can you say 'Archie Bunker reincarnated'? I told Sheila that National Secret was the first movie I had stayed awake through in several months. Yes, I regularly fall asleep in the movie theater. I'm a lousy date. I fell asleep during Saw4. Sheila woke me up by stabbing me in the arm with her fingernails. Either it was an intense scene or I was snoring.

Well, that's it. Life goes on in the Prozac belt. See ya next time.