Upgrade: From the prince to the king

Another busy month has come to a close! As you will see in our 100 Flickr pictures this month, Theo had many engagements on his social calendar. Favorites of the month included a visit to the pumpkin patch, watching the Bears (of course), visiting with friends from Eastern at a Lifelink event, Halloween, and most important, ADOPTION FINALIZATION DAY!

That's right, as of October 15, 2008, Theo is OFFICIALLY a Barrett. Legally he is now Theodore David Ha Bhin Barrett, and is eligible for a social security card, a birth certificate, and a passport. Our social worker visits have also ended, a strange realization as Cheryl left our house for the last time on October 13th. Especially considering we both expected to see her in 6 months, and 12 months after that, but we were mistaken! Oddly enough, the very important day of finalization was met with little fanfare. We did not need to make a court appearance, we did not to file any paperwork as our lawyers were doing everything for us, and we did not even know when it exactly happened until two days later. How weird is that? Our celebrations were minimal and fabulous as we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's complete with cheesy potatoes and Mickey balloons. There was no Dairy Queen involved, but did I mention the potatoes?

Another fun event of the month was an official visit from Eastern Social Welfare Society, Theo's Korean adoption agency, to Lifelink on October 18th. It was great fun to see foster mothers and social workers from Seoul. It was also so much fun to meet so many other Korean adoptive families and see a variety of Korean culture demonstrations. We plan on attending this event annually until Theo is in middle school and way-to-cool to hang out with us...

Of course the most fun we had this month (other than the NKOTB concert I attended, Hang Tough everyone) involved our festivities leading up to and including Halloween. On one of the most gorgeous October Saturdays in years, Theo, Andy, and I headed to Kuiper's Farm to find a pumpkin, pet some goats, and hang out in a corn maze. (It ended up being a bittersweet day - later that night the Cubs blew the final game in the first round of the playoffs.) We had such an AMAZING time! Our personal favorite was the dried corn sandbox. We sat in that thing for a good half hour, with Andy and I having as much fun as Theo. Feeding the goats was also fun, although Andy was extremely nervous when the goats climbed up on my lap (and on Theo) to get some treats. We left the farm with a just-my-size pumpkin for Theo, and some great family pictures. Later in the month, after weeks of debate, we settled on a Halloween costume for Theo, which ended up being Andy's Halloween costume as well. What could be more fitting for a young boy that's already the center of so many people's universes than to be The King? That's right, Theo was Elvis as was Andy. They were so cute in fact that they made the local edition of the Daily Herald. Theo spent the day with Grandma, touring Mill Creek and Storm Elementary Schools. He had so much fun with my 4th graders and even managed to win some prizes at our party. The day concluded with trick-or-treat visits to family in Batavia, and finally pizza for dinner. It was a very busy day, but what a day it was!

Please check out our latest pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157608550046469/detail/