Friday, December 31, 2010

Counting Our Blessings

As we were driving in the van with our family today, my husband and I were discussing our year in 2010. For us, 2010 has been a good year. There haven’t been tons of huge milestones this year, but just good times.

Milestones for the year…celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in August, and K started her first year of preschool--nothing out of the ordinary, but wonderful times, nonetheless.

Our children turned 1, 3, and 5, respectively. MJ finished 3-year-old preschool and started pre-K. K started 3-year-old preschool. M learned to walk and is starting to talk.

We are blessed with a wonderful church family, and have met a number new friends in the past year.

As the hymn says, “Count your many blessings…” And many blessings, we truly have.

I just pray that 2011 goes as well as 2010.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

A Day in the Life

Let me preface this post by saying that today was not a normal day. I usually don’t do all of this in one day, but the rest of the week has been pretty full, so all of the necessary stuff kind of landed on the same day.

In the course of today, I have vacuumed and mopped the floors, changed all of the sheets on all of the beds, washed the dirty ones, washed the girls’ comforters, and cleaned the bathrooms.

Somewhere during the course of the morning, K informed me that her ear was hurting. All 3 kids have had a runny nose and a cough for a little while now, but as usual, with the other 2, it ran its course, but with K, it settled in for a while. So, I had to call and schedule her a doctor’s appointment. Thankfully, our pediatrician’s office knows us and made a place to squeeze us in, which was especially nice since they were closing early today. So in the midst of my already busy day, there was a trip to the pediatrician’s office. (She has a sinus infection and an ear infection; although you would never know it by the way she has been playing today.)

On top of that, I made the grocery list, including gathering all of my coupons. Then I took M with me and made a run to the grocery store for the week’s groceries and K’s prescriptions.

Looking at that list, it usually takes me about 3 days to do what I did in one.

I’m tired…

I’m also very glad that the next couple of days will be more fun. :-)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Sunday Snapshot: {Christmas Day 2010}

We usually travel at Christmas time, but with the school calendar and church calendar the way they were this year, we celebrated Christmas at home as a family of 5. Here's a summary of our day...

Santa came!


And Mama made pictures of children with bed-head...


Who were very excited to see what Santa brought!






And then a breakfast of yummy beignets...


Complete with powdered sugar.


And some time for a little reading before...


More presents from us and their grandparents...






And then a few cartoons, which are best watched while sitting on top of both of your big sisters...


And then more playing with Christmas goodies...




And then Daddy fried a turkey for our Christmas dinner...


While the playing continued...




With a pause for Christmas dinner...


And then a little more playing...


Before bed time (in new pajamas, of course).


Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Ni Hao Y'all

Saturday, December 25, 2010

"Not Me": My Very Own Christmas Edition

With apologies to MckMama, here is my very own Christmas edition of "Not Me."

*I didn't email my graphic designer sister a picture of the girls and ask her to please Photoshop the boogers out of my child's nose, since it is otherwise a very cute photo. Nope, not me!

*I didn't spend part of my Christmas afternoon hand-washing the good china to use for Christmas dinner, only to forget what I was doing and fix my own plate on one of the regular dishes. Then, I didn't proceed to eat from that regular plate, while the rest of the 3 and up family members were using good china, only to notice this after a photo of the table was taken AND after we had pretty much finished eating.

So, there were only two, but they were too good not to share.

Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Different Christmas

This is an unusual Christmas season for us. Normally, we would be planning to travel to Louisiana to visit my side of the family, but the calendar just did not cooperate this year. Christmas is falling on a Saturday, and the girls’ school Christmas break started on Friday and ends on January 2. Since hubby has to be here for the Christmas Eve service on Friday night, and it is a two-day trip out there and back, we just wouldn’t be able to stay long enough to justify the travel time. So, we are staying here for the holidays.

This is the first time since 2002 (I think) that we haven’t been with my family for Christmas. I’m handling it okay right now, but I have bouts of homesickness occasionally. Holidays with extended family have been a big part of my life, so this is a change for me.

So, Christmas 2010 will be one where we make memories here, with our family of 5. We’ll go to the Christmas Eve service on Friday, and then spend Saturday opening gifts, reading the Christmas story, and eating a kid-friendly Christmas dinner. (Kid Friendly=plain green beans instead of casserole, no dressing because hubby and I would be eating leftovers for the next month…you get the idea.) For once, our kids will be able to spend all day playing with their Christmas toys if they so desire, instead of us saying, “What do you want to take with you?” so they can play with them on our trip. So, there are positives, and I fully intend to make the best of them.

But that doesn’t mean I won’t miss traveling home…

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Sunday Snapshot: {A 5th Birthday Party}

Turning 5 was the big event in our household this week, complete with the big Dora party on Saturday...

There was cake...


And candles...


There were games for the birthday girl...


Her little sister...


And all of her friends...


And many, many presents...




Thanks to all of the friends who made our girl's 5th birthday a special one!

Ni Hao Y'all

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Difficult Part of a Birthday...

I said yesterday that I would save the serious side of the birthday post for today, so …

MJ, right now, has a 5-year-old child’s perspective on adoption. She knows she has a birth mother, and she knows that she (MJ) was a baby in China and that she needed a family. She does not comprehend all of the ramifications of that just yet. She doesn’t understand the loss that she experienced as a newborn baby. She doesn’t understand the loss her birthmother experienced.

Every year when MJ’s birthday rolls around, my husband and I do think about MJ’s birthmother. We wonder who she is, where she is… Does she have the same spunky personality as MJ? What does she think about every year on December 16? And we pray for her…pray for comfort, pray that she might somehow know that the precious baby girl she delivered is well and is loved.

One day, MJ is going to start to grasp all of this, and it is going to be difficult for her to comprehend. It is difficult for me to comprehend, and I’m an adult. I just pray that we can be the best support system we can for our daughter as she faces a difficult reality.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

MJ is 5!

Today, MJ is 5 years old! That is so hard for me to believe, since it seems like yesterday we first met our vivacious little almost 9 month old girl. But the years have passed, and she has grown...

She is now in pre-k, and loves to learn. She loves art and is very creative. MJ is still our strong-willed girl, but she is learning day by day to keep herself in check. Being a helper is one of her very favorite things to do.

As with most children her age, MJ is very enamored with the whole “birthday thing.” She loves the idea of being a year older, and is all about the birthday party, complete with cake and presents. Right after her birthday last year, she told me that this year she wanted a Dora party in the church fellowship hall. She hasn’t wavered from that at all, so Saturday, we’ll be having a Dora party in the church fellowship hall.

Right now for her, birthdays are completely fun. She has not yet realized the rest of the significance of this day. I will leave that topic for now, though, and save the serious post for tomorrow. For now, we will celebrate the fact that she is another year older. As one of my China mom friends phrased it on Facebook, MJ is now a whole hand old. :-)

So, this morning, we celebrated with cookies at preschool. After her Upward Basketball practice this afternoon, we’ll take her out to her choice of places to eat. On Saturday, we’ll celebrate with a Dora party. We’ll celebrate 5 years of life for our beautiful, precious, energetic daughter.

Happy Birthday, my big girl! Mama and Daddy are so proud of you, and all that you do! We love you!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Ramblings on Preparing for a Child's December Birthday

I have made the decision that I am going to write a blog post today. So, maybe I have no idea what I’m going to blog about, but I’ve got to get back into the swing of things if I want this blog to have any readers at all. My 2 followers might give up on me if I quit writing regularly. :-) (By the way, if anyone else wants to become a follower, that would be great. At least I will know if someone is interested in my ramblings.)

This is one of those full-blown crazy weeks. You see, MJ’s birthday is on December 16. Yes, right in the middle of all of the Christmas chaos that is December, we have a birthday, and all that goes along with it. Back in August of 2006 when we and the rest of our travel group got our referrals, 4 of us received referrals for babies with December birthdays. MJ’s is the earliest of the 4, with the others being on the 20th, 24th, and 25th. One thing we figured out early on is that we would make absolutely sure that her birthday was an event entirely separate from Christmas...no combination birthday/Christmas gifts, no birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper, and her almost-Christmas birthday would be treated just like the birthdays of any siblings that had birthdays in other months. We’ve been able to stick by that so far.

In fact, we stick by it so much that when she asked back in October what special day came next, we told her “Thanksgiving.” And then she asked, “What’s after that?” Our standard answer was “Your Birthday.” And then she would ask, “And after that?” To which we would answer, “Christmas.” So when we were in Georgia for Thanksgiving, and she started to see people decorating the town for Christmas, she would ask us, “Why are they decorating for Christmas?” Followed by, “My birthday comes before Christmas!” Evidently the whole world should celebrate MJ’s birthday... (The girl doesn’t lack self confidence at all.)

So, my week is filled with the red and green of Christmas, and the pink and orange of a Dora the Explorer birthday party. (So, why does Dora wear pink and orange anyway? Didn’t anyone ever tell her those colors don’t match?) Today, I made a run to the store for Christmas gift wrap and party tablecloths and favors, and then made a stop to order a Dora birthday cake. So far, I have managed to get the birthday gifts wrapped in birthday paper, and the Christmas gifts in Christmas paper. Let’s just hope I can keep my head screwed on straight between here and Saturday (party day).

Now I’m off to assemble a “Pin the Tail on Swiper the Fox” game...

Friday, December 10, 2010

I Believe I Promised Vacation Pictures...

This is not the blog where I do a lot of photo threads, but since we were on vacation over Thanksgiving week, I thought I would share a few pictures here. I had originally intended to post this as a Sunday Snapshot, but life has been crazy for the last couple of weeks, so I'm just going to use it to get me back into the blogging habit. Enjoy!

My mother-in-law lives out in the country, and the kids love going there to visit. It is so peaceful, and this time, there were absolutely beautiful fall leaves.

We spent time walking...




Visiting with the horses...


Finding ladybugs...


Enjoying being outside...


Playing (and letting Mama make your picture) in the fall leaves...






Climbing to new heights...


Finding gigantic leaves...


Meeting new friends...


Enjoying chocolate from the local candy shop...


Reading books...


And crafting...


We didn't have many pictures for the last half of the week, as we were hit with a nasty little virus and spent a lot of time being generally miserable. Thankfully, the most of our vacation was very relaxing and enjoyable. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Angels



(Hopefully I'll be back to regular blogging soon. Still in post-vacation recovery and Christmas prep mode around here.)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010