Christmas 2008 is now a thing of the past....

We had a great Christmas. It started on Sunday evening making and decorating the Christmas cookies at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Olivia really got into it this year.
Then on Christmas Eve we got up and went to Grandma and Grandpa's for breakfast and gifts. Olivia and Sophia each got a school desk which were a huge hit! They also got a markers, tape dispenser (I was tired of them using all my tape!), stapler, 3 hole punch and construction paper. They have had a ball with all of them. Once we got home from G-ma and G-pa's, they got to open a gift from us. It had new pj's and a dry erase board (it has a blank side and a side to practice writing words). Normally we would have my family here on Christmas Eve but since my dad wasn't leaving FL until then we waited to have my family over until Friday. My mom, my nephew Josh and his girlfriend came over for dinner anyway. After dinner, we went to church and Derek and Adam came over. (Derek and Adam are David's step-children from his first marriage.) Finally, Christmas Eve has come to a close.

Christmas morning we had donuts as requested by Olivia. After breakfast, we opened gifts. Olivia got a new bike and helmet, Pixos and a Panda bear from Santa and clothes, books and movies from us and a snowcone maker from Sophia. Sophia got the Cherry Blossom Market, V-Motion game and a baby doll from Santa along with clothes, books and movies from us and a book to go with the Tag Reading system she got for her birthday from Olivia. The book Olivia got her was.....Olivia -- imagine that! After that we went to David's extended family lunch. The kid's got gifts and we sang/acted out the 12 days of Christmas based on your birth month. Sophia didn't want to participate but I think a fun time was had by all.

The day after Christmas was spent lounging around and waiting for my family to come over. My dad did make it over about 1:30ish and he came with a project. He and Olivia (Sophia got uninterested real quick) spent some quality time together making chocolate covered peanut butter crackers. Olivia had a blast and it was nice to see my dad taking an interest in the girls. I have another post for another day on that subject. My brother and his family (and my mom) came over for dinner and gift exchanging. A fun time was had here as well.

Yes, I have pictures of all of these events and will post them soon. My laptop is in the shop being repaired and I hope it gets back soon. I soooo miss my laptop.

I really, really hate this time of the year.....

Well, I finally have one better then the other one gets it! Ugh! Since November 1st we are on our 5th round of antibiotic -- 3 for Olivia and 2 for Sophia. Today Sophia was great. She went to gymnastics and then we went to an International Adoption playgroup sponsored by a local church and as the play time went on she started hanging on me and not wanting to play. We went to lunch with our friends and while we were waiting to order she climbed into my lap. I laid my cheek on her head and I thought she felt like she had a fever. Well, since Olivia and Kaden had strep and she had been around both I called the doctor. They called in an antibiotic for her. Ugh, I am ready for April!

I'm beginning to hate winter....

I am beginning to hate winter and all it brings with it. Olivia had a snow day yesterday and is home today and tomorrow with yet another bout of strep throat! This is her third one since November 1st. Ugh! She slept a lot yesterday but I didn't think too much about it since we had a busy weekend and I just presumed she was trying to catch up. Then my MIL called to tell me that our nephew had strep throat and he was around the girls on Sunday so when Olivia had a temp of 100.8 at 1:30 am I knew what was coming. Thankfully Kaden and my girls go to the same pediatricians office so they called in a script for her and I didn't have to take her in. She is feeling better but has not totally gotten rid of her fever so no school for her tomorrow. And boy is it COLD here! Is it April yet??

The hair story

Well, as I said a couple of posts ago I went to Gatlinburg for a long weekend. A fun time was had by all. My SIL got a nice pair of houseshoes made out for Kotex with Santas on them!
Now for the hair.....Olivia has just recently been allowed access to her scissors any time she wanted them. Apparently they were absconded by a certain little (now 4!) girl. On Sunday we went to the grocery when I got home, came back gave the girls a bath, got them ready for bed and said the prayer in Sophia's room as is our routine. When I combed her hair after her bath I thought something was different about her hair but just assumed that either she had a lot of new growth or her hair was breaking because of the pony that goes in the top of her hair. Well, I was in Olivia's room having some time with her before bed and David yells for me to come into Sophia's room. Between her chest and bed were the missing scissors and a lot of hair. David was hoping the hair was from a doll but I knew the truth -- Sophia had cut her hair. She cut it right from the front. You really can't tell too much but because I know I can tell.

Happy 4th Birthday Sophia!

Today my baby turned 4! Sophia is a spunky little girl that can have an attitude at times. She is also so loving and caring. She's had a few sleep issues but we think they are resolved. This weekend she got some scissors and cut her hair -- I will do another post about that! Anyway, Happy birthday baby girl! We love you!! BTW -- yes she had a cupcake for breakfast! Daddy works more of a 2nd shift so we didn't want him to miss out on the cake/candle thing!

New look...

I have to give props to my girl Marla for my new look! She does a wonderful job on my blog. Thanks girl!

Well, I am about to head out for a girls weekend with my wonderful MIL and her family. We are headed to Gatlinburg for some shopping, fun and destressing! I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures for blackmail later. LOL Have a great weekend everyone!

Gymnastics

Olivia had her first gymnastics meet last month and did great! Her favorite is the bars but was better at the beam for this meet. She had a mishap last week during practice and fell off the beam. She hit one arm and the inside of one leg near her private area which had a nice little bruise. Here are a few pics.

5 Years Ago......

Five years ago today we got the call that would forever change our lives. Suzanne (a family coordinator at our agency) called me at work. Just as I was e-mailing a fellow travelmate that I guess we would not be getting our calls that day and that it was hard to bear as most of our February Firecrackers DTC group had already gotten their calls (Hi Marla!!) two days prior so we were about crazy with wonder when ours was going to come. Just as I was telling S that I knew it was all in God's timing but tell that to my heart the phone rang at work and I heard the receptionist say "May I tell her who is calling? Just a moment." I quickly typed "I'm on the call now!" to S. It was our agency telling me we had a beautiful daughter who was 7.5 months old and in the Jiangxi Province. I tried to call David and my BFF (at the time) and got neither. I finally got both of them and we made our trek to our agency to see our daughter for the first time. She was a tiny peanut and still is today. She is now 5.5 and enjoying Kindergarten.

At what age??

Question for all who have nieces and nephews that are adult age -- At what age do you stop buying Christmas gifts (actually mine prefer money) for them? I have a nephew that is now 20 years old and of course I will be giving him something this year but I am curious as to what everyone else does. Leave me a comment and give me your opinions.

Tagged.....

I have been tagged my my friend Marla at Life With 4 Js to tell 8 interesting things about myself. I don't remember what I have told before but here goes nothin':

1.) I am the oldest of 3 siblings. I have 2 younger brothers.

2.) For the first time since turning 13 I got a birthday card from my dad this year. He usually forgets but he has no excuse now since I gave him a calendar with all the family birthday's on it for Christmas last year. LOL

3.) I love to take pictures and would love to take a photography class to learn more about my camera. I once worked in the Sear's Portrait Studio.

4.) Unlike Marla, I hate coffee. I love the smell of it especially while its brewing but I can't stand the taste of it. Also, the coffee aisle is our favorite!

5.) I got braces when I was 23 years old - on my youngest brother's 18th birthday.

6.) I loved school especially math. I used to keep ALL of my old school papers and am now keeping all of Olivia's. Is there a 12 step program for that? LOL

7.) We live next to my in-laws who happen to be the best in-laws any girl could ask for and I'm not just saying that because they read the blog. LOL

8.) I am really good with remembering numbers - birthday's, phone number's etc. My friends used to just call me when they need a number because they knew I'd remember it!

Well, that's 8. I am supposed to tag 8 people but I know this has gone around so if you haven't done it and want to participate leave me a comment so I can check yours out.

3 years ago today.....

.....this lovely girl was placed in our arms! It is hard to believe that 3 years has gone by. Sophia is a funny, smart, beautiful little girl that loves her family, gymnastics and sports. Some things about Sophia:

She's counting to 20 skipping 15 just like her big sister!
She loves to color and she is actually quite good for her age.
She loves her Leapster and has learned so much.
She is really starting to play with baby dolls all the time.
She has quite a temper at times.
She is currently 36 pounds and is about 40 inches tall.
She is working on writing her letters. Her teachers are commenting about how good she is. Of course I think having a sister in Kindergarten is helping a ton with this.

We are hoping to go out tonight to celebrate her Family Day but that might have to be on hold. Olivia started getting a fever last night and complained of a tummy ache. She still had the fever this morning so we went to the doctor and came away with a positive strep culture and a precription. She still has a fever and if it doesn't go away soon we won't be going out tonight. I had planned on taking the girls to a local forest/park today for a photo shoot but with Olivia being sick we decided to put that on hold. I am hoping that Sophia doesn't get sick too as she slept in Olivia's room for the first time last night. Even sleeping with Olivia didn't help the coming into our room. She still came in there about 5:44 this morning. I hope I will have some pictures of Sophia from today to post later tonight but for now enjoy these two -- one from Family Day in 2005 and the other from the end of September.

Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone has a very happy halloween! My girls will (most likely) not be going out tonight but don't worry they have plenty of halloween candy! We went to the zoo earlier this month and our church had a fall festival complete with Trunk or Treat. Going door to door with my kids is just not something I am very comfortable with. It is different these days than they were when I was a young kid. Also, we do not live in a subdivision so I would have to drive to one somewhere. Olivia has only gone out once and that was in 2004. I did go to a friend's neighborhood (no longer friends) then but in 2005 we were in China getting Sophia. My kids are so scared of a lot of the decorations and costumes that it is way easier to stay home. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post -- Sophia's family day!

Miss O's first report card....

Miss Olivia got her first report card this week. She did very well. She knows all 80 of the Kindergarten sight words, can count to 100 by 1s and 10s, knows her shapes, can do a pattern and many other things. We have a conference on the 6th and I can't wait to see what the teacher says. I know one thing she is going to say -- she needs to talk less! Olivia is really close to reading. She has read a few small (easy) books. I am so very proud of her!

Cute shirts!

My girls are having a photo session with their friends and in trying to find a "photo theme" one family had shirts given to them that we decided to go with they are cute. Well our shirts arrived today and I am so happy with them! All the girls are going to have different bow and thread color for their name. I ordered them from Mollygram on ebay. She is great to work with and very fast!

Another great new look......

I have another great look courtesy of my great friend Marla. She loves to experiment and I love to let her! Thanks Marla!! And if this works, she will have taught me how to do the linky thing! Yay!

A new issue.....

There is something going on in my sweet Sophia's head that I wish I knew what it was. She has been waking up in the middle of the night for about a month and a half maybe longer. She would go back to bed but she heard some friends talking about sleeping in their parents room if it stormed and so she wanted to do that. So I agreed that if it rained/stormed she could sleep in my floor. Well she is coming in our room every night and most nights I don't even know she's there. She sleeps on the floor between my side of the bed and the dresser. I tried putting down a blanket so she would have something softer to sleep on but she put it back on the cedar chest it had been on before. What is it about sleeping on the hard floor in my room she likes so much? She has also still clingy at drop-off for school. She hold onto my leg and doesn't want to stay but if I leave the room she is fine. I don't know if it is a separation anxiety she's going through or what. My MIL picked Sophia up at school last Wednesday and when she got home she kind of cried, hugged me hard and said "Mommy, I missed you so much."

Are you a chatter box?

Olivia is and has always been quite the talker. She started talking at about 15 months old and has not stopped. She has gotten in trouble a few times in school this year for talking. At first I was upset about it but someone said at least she is making herself known. She said I don't think the teachers know who my child is as he is so quiet. Anyway, I saw this shirt that said chatter box on it at Gap and it made me think of Olivia so I bought it for her. She has worn it to school a few times. I saw Olivia's teacher at the school's fall festival and she asked me if Olivia told me what happened one time she wore this shirt. I said no and was quite cautious about what I was going to hear. Well, apparently they had an assembly with an author that lives here and the author saw her shirt. So she asked Olivia if she was a chatter box and guess what Olivia's answer was......It was "No, I'm Chinese." I thought this was so cute! Oh how I love this girl!

Introducing Lucas James

My (baby) brother and sister-in-law welcomed a beautiful new baby boy into the world at 7:52 last night. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 21" long. He has an 8 yo very proud big sister and a 20.5 month old big brother. He is such a cutie and I can't wait to see this little person grow up.

Power Update!

Well, the girls have been out of school all week so far but it looks like they got the last 2 schools up and running today as they HAVE school tomorrow! Yay! They started with 5 schools out on Monday and as of last night only had 2 out. The neighboring county still has about 49 schools without power and are closed the rest of the week. They still have about 152,000 homes in the dark -- several of our friends included. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Our weekend and Ike

We had a wonderful weekend in Nashville. We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe Friday night and shopped in Opry Mills. We found a great Chinese store there and bought the girls new outfits for Chinese New Year. Olivia can't get any taller or hers won't fit come February! Saturday we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, walked downtown and ate a late lunch/early supper. After taking a nap, we went to the Opryland Hotel and took their little river cruise. Sunday we ate breakfast and drove home.

On the drive home, we experienced some rain and lots of high winds. We had 65-75 mph winds here and once we arrived home found out we were powerless. Our power was out for about 3.5 hours. Apparently our county still has some schools without power as school is cancelled again tomorrow. Our neighboring county has 100 schools without power and 301,00 customers in the dark. This does not bode well with the Ryder Cup starting there tomorrow! They expect it to take 10-14 days to restore the power to every one.