Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sunday Snapshot: {Flower Girl}

MJ was a flower girl in a friend's wedding yesterday, so I thought I would use Sunday Snapshot to share some pictures of her from the big day.

Here she is in the preparation phase...


And with hair all done and ready to leave for the church...


Here's our precious girl, all dressed up for the wedding...







And testing out the twirlability factor on her dress...


With the bride..


And blowing bubbles afterwards...




Ni Hao Yall

Friday, February 25, 2011

Is February over Yet?

I’m so glad that we are nearing the end of February. This has been a doozie of a month around our house. There have been good points...my parents came for a visit, MJ has had a great time playing basketball and even scored 2 goals last week, and this weekend we have a wedding of a couple from our church where MJ will be the flower girl and hubby will be officiating.

On the other hand, though, germs have invaded, and I’ve reached the point of “Stop this roller coaster! I’m ready to get off now.” It started with the sinus infections I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. We finally got past all of that, and then last Thursday at MJ’s basketball practice, K proceeded to throw up everywhere. Lovely... Thus began our bout with the tummy bug. M and I only had a touch of it, but everyone else had more, and I was exhausted from dealing with the whole thing.

And then, once the tummy bug left, all 3 kids started in with runny noses and coughs. MJ, who rarely gets sick, had a fever Tuesday night, so no school for her on Wednesday. She went back yesterday, but still had a runny nose and a horrible cough, and with this wedding coming this weekend, I took her to the doctor. She has a cold. 20 minute car ride to the doctor’s office in the next county because there were no openings at the local office, and then a copay for them to tell me she has a cold. Again, lovely... Then, again at MJ’s basketball practice last night, K started dragging around and being clingy. By supper time, she had a fever, so she is home from preschool today. Currently, she seems to be feeling much better, and for that I’m grateful.

I feel like my FB and blog posts lately are a lot of whining, but sometimes, you just have to vent. I just want our household to be well again and to move on past all of this sickness. It was getting old last week, and I am so over this now...

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for listening to my frustration. Hopefully my family will be well soon, and I can post about something more fun.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A Changing Perspective on Laundry

Two weeks ago, our clothes dryer went kaput. I was in the middle of doing the laundry, of course (when else would one discover issues with a dryer), getting ready for a visit from my parents on the upcoming weekend. So, the dryer keeps throwing the circuit breaker and seriously over-dried a load of clothes...major wrinkles.

(I also have to throw in here, because it has come up in conversation, that yes, we do live in a parsonage, but the washer and dryer are ours. Most of the other appliances belong to the church, but not those.)

The repairman came, and said it was a thermostat issue, so I could use the dryer on the timed cycles, but not on the automatic cycle until the part came in and the dryer could be repaired. He still couldn’t figure out the breaker issue, though. So, per his instructions, I tried the dryer on the timed cycle. It threw the breaker again, and I had a load of wet clothes on my hands.

So, the next morning, he came back and figured out that the problem was not the thermostat, but the motor, and it would be more expensive to fix it than to replace the dryer. Joy...

By this time, it is Thursday. Thursday night, we had a family outing to go dryer shopping, in and around MJ’s basketball practice, of course. It wasn’t like we had a big block of time to go shopping that week. We found a dryer, and my husband and father picked it up and hooked it up that weekend, and I commenced to wash the mountains of laundry that had accumulated during the whole ordeal.

I did learn something from all of this. Your whole attitude about something as mundane as laundry, even, can change, just because of perspective. I’ve done my share of groaning and complaining about laundry. With a family of 5, including 3 small children, there is a lot of laundry. Since the dryer incident, though, my perspective has definitely changed. I appreciate having the ability to wash and dry our clothes. I’m thankful that I can keep up to speed on this task and not have mountains of dirty laundry in every closet of our house. I’m thankful that I can serve my family in this way.

How’s that for a change of perspective?

Now I need to fold some laundry....

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Feeling Icky

I have been neglecting my poor blog, in spite of the fact that I have several posts running around in my head. You see, the sinus infection bug has invaded our house yet again. With me, it started late last week, with me saying, “My throat is sore, but otherwise I feel fine.” or “This gland in my neck is swollen, and it is making my throat and ear hurt, but otherwise I feel fine.” or “I sound horrible and am losing my voice, but otherwise I feel fine.” You get the idea. And it really was true. I had one symptom at a time and never really felt that bad. My parents were in town for the weekend for a visit, it was CNY, and MJ had a basketball game. I didn’t have time to even think about being sick.

But I know myself, and I know that if I don’t head off a sinus infection at the pass, it will just get worse and worse. I’ve been down this road fairly regularly during my life, but, alas, I still muddle on until I feel totally run-down and miserable before I go to the doctor.

Finally, on Tuesday, I made an appointment with a new family doctor’s office (yes, we’ve lived here 3 1/2 years, and are just now getting around to that--usually my doctor’s visits manage to come on weekends or at times that require urgent care hours, anyway). So now I’m on antibiotics, trying to knock out this sinus infection.

Meanwhile, K had been showing a symptom or two (including her ear--always the ears with that one), and MJ, who very rarely gets sick, complained of a sore throat. So, no school for them on Wednesday, and off to the pediatrician’s office. That required driving the main pediatricians’ office in the next county because our local satellite office is closed on Wednesdays. Thankfully, the wonderful nurse practitioner there told me to call if M started having the same symptoms, and she would call in a prescription, and of course, I had to take her up on that today.

And that’s why I haven’t blogged in a week or so. The kids are mostly feeling normal, especially MJ, who has the most amazing resistance I’ve ever seen. I, however, am still having that “run over by a big truck” feeling.

Today has been better, and I’m hoping for even better tomorrow. You see, we have a 5 year old birthday party to attend tomorrow night, and I’m hosting a bridal shower on Saturday. I don’t have time to be sick.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Sunday Snapshot: {China Dresses}

When we took our adoption trip to China and MJ joined our family, we purchased a number of Chinese traditional silk dresses in sizes that she could wear for a number of years. She loves these dresses and refers to them as her "China dresses."

So Friday night, our girls got all dressed up for our local adoptive families' Chinese New Year party.

MJ wore white...


K wore green...


Our 2 beautiful girls...


And here's a photo with little brother, just so he isn't left out.


Hope your celebrations are as fun as ours was!

Ni Hao Yall