To hide or not to hide that is the question....

First of all I want say I hope everyone had a very happy Easter today. We had a good day even though we had to wear our winter coats to church today. We went to Grandma and Grandpa for lunch and no Easter lunch is complete unless you have the bunny cake that Grandma makes. After lunch, we took the girls to David's aunts house for an egg hunt. They had a ball! Liv got one of the "golden eggs" with $5.00 -- other eggs had money in them too but the "golden eggs" had the most.

Now to my question, but let me preface by saying that we never really talked about the Easter Bunny to the girls and up until 2 days ago I didn't even know Olivia thought the EB brings the baskets. Tonight though she knows Mommy and Daddy gives them the baskets and no there wasn't anyone that told her she just figured it out. It really took me by surprise because she thanked me for something in the basket and our conversation just took its course. Anyway back to the question. Growing up our baskets were always just placed on the table waiting for us when we woke up. I was talking to my friend yesterday and she commented that she was going to leave an egg with 1 piece of chocolate with a note from the EB that they would be able to "hunt" for their baskets when they got home from church. I asked what do you mean "hunt for their basket, isn't it on the table when they come downstairs?" Well you would have thought I asked if her hair was pink. LOL She thought that everyone hunted for their basket and just couldn't believe that I had no idea what she was talking about. I did hide the girls baskets today but Olivia is such a nosey girl that she found hers before they were even allowed to look. So my question is -- do you hide the baskets or not? Leave me a comment as I truly want to know what others are doing and/or what you grew up doing and why.

Come on Spring....

We are getting tons of rain today but I am so glad it's rain and not SNOW!! We had an unseasonably warm day the day before it started snowing so after school the girls played on the swingset. Here are a few pics of the girls....

My baby and Kindergarten registration

How is it that it is time to register Olivia for Kindergarten? I mean school doesn't start until August and it is only March. She is so looking forward to going and she has lots of friends from her current Pre-K class that will be going to her school but this mommy is just not ready for Kindergarten even though it is only one more day than she currently goes. This just feel different for some reason. Tonight, we saw many of her current classmates, she took a "test" to see if she was ready for this (of course she passed;-)) and took a tour of the school. I think the highlight of her night was getting a cookie at the end.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW.......**More Pics Added**

To say we've had lots of snow over the last few days is an understatement. It started snowing about 7:00 am Friday and did not stop until after noon on Saturday. We stayed in on Friday and Saturday but today was another story. We went sledding -- well they went sledding while mommy took pictures! Olivia had a ball and Sophia not so much but then again she's not crazy about the slides at the waterpark so it makes sense. Daddy and the girls also made a snowman.

***Blogger is being mean right now so I will leave with a picture of each girl and a promise to post more soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!

I can't believe that my baby is 5 today. She is such a joy. She is however getting a little attitude on her. Ugh! I thought I had a few more years before that happened. Some things about Olivia:

• She's smart
• She's sassy
• She loves her parents (and we love her too!) and is becoming a great big sister (of course they still have their moments as all siblings do
• She fiercely loves her friends and extended family
• She loves school, gymnastics and Chinese class
• She's ready to start Kindergarten (although Mommy's not to sure about sending her LOL)
• She still takes a nap
• She is still a tiny peanut -- 30 pounds and 39.25 inches tall

We had her party last weekend which turned out to be a good thing as we are getting covered with snow today and tomorrow -- about 8 - 10 inches. We had a birthday cupcake before Daddy had to go to work this morning.

The party....

While Olivia's birthday is not until this Friday, we had her birthday party this past Saturday. We have always had a low key party for just close friends. This year we decided to have a bowling party and invite her classmates. We had a great turnout and all the kids had a great time! Olivia had so much fun bowling that she wanted to keep bowling. Here are a few pics from the day. I wish I could post more pics but they had others in them and since I don't have their parents permission to post them I can't. Bummer.

Another snow day.....

I know this is going to surprise you but we have yet another snow day today. Why does this have to happen on Tuesday night to where school is out on Wednesday when I am supposed to scrapbook with my friend T? Ugh! Seriously though it seems like every Tuesday night since January 29th there has been a storm of some sort making last night no exception! I am getting tired of driving home from Chinese class in either rain or snow! I am still working on Olivia's 2005 book and was hoping to be at a point where I can work on both girls together. One day I will be caught up but I think I am going to do 2008 digi style!

My First Meme....

My friend Marla at lifewith4js (I can not figure out the linky link thing to save my soul) tagged me with my first meme! First the rules:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Now on to my quirks/habits/non-important things....

1.) When putting on shoes, I MUST put the right one on first before putting on the left. If I put the left on first, I will not walk right all day long. LOL

2.) When I have cash(which is not often), I have to have all the money facing the same way and it must go small to large in order. Must be my years working as a manager in fast food and banking at the root of this quirk.

3.) When getting out of the tub/shower I have to keep repeating the things I do once getting out so I don't forget something and I have to do it in the same order -- always!

4.) I started bowling in leagues at a young age and bowled for years as an adult with my brothers. As a matter of fact, DH and I met at a bowling alley and married 1 day shy of 6 months later and will be married 15 years this September.

5.) I saved every math work/homework I did from 6th grade until I graduated. I loved math and had wanted to teach HS math but I would never have made it with the way some kids are today.

6.) I used to have 2 freckles on the top portion of my ear and one childhood friend called me snake bite as a result.

Since most of the blogs I read have already done this in one way or another I am only going to say if you are reading and want to participate just leave me a comment so I can check it out!

Mommy's got a new toy.......

Yes, that's right Mommy got a new camera! I love photography and have been wanting a new camera like this for quite some time. I had a hard time deciding between this Canon Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40x and the Canon won out! I wanted something that would take better picture at functions like school programs and gymnastics where we are farther away from the action. My next goal is to take a photography class to learn my new camera better!

Here are a few more pictures with the new camera. These were taken at our reunion weekend with Olivia's travel group this past weekend. We get together with her group every year around the time we traveled to get our girls. We have formed such a bond with these families and we look forward to seeing them every year.

Sick girls and another snow day

Well, we had another snow day today which is probably a good thing as both girls were sick. As I said in my previous post, both girls were getting over illnesses. Olivia has been fighting a fever since early Saturday morning (with a high temp of 105.8) but tested negative for strep on Sunday. The doctor said it was a virus and to just keep giving her tylenol and such to treat the fever. Well she woke up about 4:45 this morning with yet another fever (103.8) so I gave her more tylenol. Sophia woke up about 5:30 with a fever of 103.2 so she got a dose of medicine. I put her back in bed and after about 30 minutes she told me her ears hurt. So at that point I decided to take both girls to the doctor this morning. Unfortunately, it (plus the fact that school was closed again) totally messed up my plans for the day as we (my girlfriend and I) were supposed to do some shopping for supplies for our FCC Chinese New Year celebration on Saturday. She and her wonderful husband did some of the shopping today and I hope to finish up the rest tomorrow. It was determined that Olivia had an ear infection in both ears and Sophia just had an infection in her right ear. The Dr. was surprised that Olivia did not complain about her ears hurting. They both seem to be doing much better with the antibiotic in their system. Hopefully they will feel well enough to go to school tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures with my new camera. I just love it!!

Now this is a snow day!!!

This is snow we received last night which cause the schools to close -- even the major county around us including the Catholic schools (which never close). It started around 4:45 pm. We left gymnastics at 5pm and it took us 4.HOURS.to.get.home. Ugh! Both kids are getting over illnesses and I am hoping being in today helps that. They stayed in their pj's all day long. I had hoped the girls would be able to play in it but no such luck. We had some freezing rain on top of the snow which made it hard.

Has it really been 4 years already???**PHOTOS ADDED**

Has it really been 4 years since we went to China for the first time and became parents? I remember that night vividly. We spent the day in Beijing. We went to the Jade factory (where one of our travel mates got sick), the friendship store for shopping and lunch and lastly, The Great Wall before going to the airport to catch our flight to Nanchang. After we got to our gate, our guide Peter said I have some news for you and I could be bribed to share it for ice cream. I looked at him and said we're getting our babies tonight, aren't we? He looked at me and said how did you know? I had heard of stories where that had happened but I never imagined it would happen to us. We landed in Nanchang about 8:30 pm, got our luggage and got on the bus. On the bus ride to the hotel, our awesome guide Sissi gave us some information about our babies, pictures that were taken the previous week, information about Suichuan County and our hotel room keys. We arrived at the hotel about 9:00 got up to our room about 10 after and we were told to meet them at room 1115 at 9:30. I was so nervous. I wondered what she looked like, if she would cry, if I would recognize her. Unfortunately, our camera was not on the right setting and most of my China pictures were not the greatest and I only have one picture of her from that night where she finally fell asleep in my arms. She loved to put my shirt to her lips and suck her tongue until she fell asleep. She was so tiny that I called her peanut. She is still tiny but not the smallest out of our group of 14. We have a reunion every year around Family Day and this year will be no exception. We will meet some of our group in Lexington the coming weekend for our annual professional photo shoot and birthday party.

Although Olivia's "git 'cha" day (what Olivia calls it in her best southern accent) was yesterday (Feb 2nd), we celebrate today as our Family Day as it was the finalization of her adoption. Today she got to do what she wanted to do. After church, we came home and ate lunch, went to Chuck E Cheese's, ate supper and then went for an ice cream. She had a blast and so did we.

I will have to come back and add photos because Blogger is being mean right now........

Sophia's new song

This past weekend Sophia decided to give us preview of a new song she's learning at school -- at least I think that's where she's learning it. It is sooooo cute. She does still have some work to do with regard to her speech but this is great!

Sigh.....Another Snow Day......

Today we had another snow day. Thankfully we weren't the only county this time but we still just had the less than an inch we had last week. We did not go out and play today as both girls are battling a small cold and I didn't want it to go into a full force cold. So instead of going outside we stayed in and baked a cake! They had fun and so I. The picture above is today's snow......

A Snow Day? For THIS????

This is how our road looked this morning and for this we had a snow day. I couldn't believe it when I saw that our county schools were closed -- and they were the only county around that was closed. Olivia enjoyed her day off from "school". Here are a few pics from the morning as the snow was gone when we got home from an errand we had to run.