Three Word Wed. - Trouble Times Two!

Keepin' Busy

Okay, the pace has got to slow down around here soon! Most of it is just the madness of the holiday season. Some of it is self-inflicted - I have taken well over 1000 pictures in the past 48 hours with my new camera. I am trying to shoot my pictures in manual mode instead of automatic mode so that has meant a ton of blurry pictures and a lot of frustration! Anyway, I am not going to post all 1000 so don't panic; here are just the ones that go along with what we have been up to. If you start to feel ill, it is probably because your eyes are tired of trying to focus pictures that will never be in focus. I apologize in advance!

Our new landscaping first... we now have a football "stadium" next to our house thanks to my husband, his dad, and our neighbor who allowed goal posts to be put up on his lot. I am not sure my husband ran the idea past the neighborhood housing committee... not sure bright gold goals are in line with the "rules." The kids are enjoying it and I am sure there will many football/soccer games taking place there; maybe I can make some money by opening a concession stand.

Here are Brynn and Flower... her new good friend. Flower was a Christmas gift from Price. As you can see Flower is busy being a computer buddy, a biking partner, and a hood ornament. I am not sure Flower is happy about her new "clothing" however.

Here is Nyah and her daddy having a bit of fun. I wish the pictures were clearer but even fuzzy you can see how much she loved "flying."

My brother, sister-in-law, two nephews, and neice are in town for a visit so we have spent a lot of time at my parents and I have had fun trying to take pictures of all the activities, and my kids have enjoyed that I have others to take pictures of and therefore, are stalked slightly less than usual. Here are a few of my favorites...

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Ginter Park Botanical Gardens this evening. I wish I had more but I had a fussy toddler and the inside places where I might have taken group pictures were really crowded. I love how the kids turned out the colors of the lights they were around in these. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a fun evening!

Have a good night!

Kate

Our Christmas Adventures...

I'll start by confessing that this post could have been done earlier except today I spent a lot of the day stalking my children with my new I'm-in-above-my-head camera (I've got lots of fuzzy pictures so far), pretending not to be a soccer mom with some serious jamming on Guitar Hero (that is until I was shot in the eye - a direct hit - by a child who wanted to play and who received a bow-and-arrow set - soft arrows, luckily - from Santa), and trying to earn Webkins dollars by playing pre-school age computer games (for the past 3 hours!!) for my daughter so she can wake up in the morning able to purchase new virtual items for her new virtual pet horse. I think I have lost my mind.

So with a bad eye and sore fingers I am finally typing up our Christmas adventures, which really are not over yet since tomorrow my brother and his family come in from New Jersey for a few days.

Christmas Eve was the traditional fish dinner at my mom's, who cooked up a storm but was too sick with this stomach bug to eat. The dinner has been lobster and shrimp the past few years and it is always delicious! Nyah walked into my mom's house and looked shocked that all these people she knew were in one place. Brynn tried the lobster this year and gave it the thumbs up and Nyah ate her weight in cheesecake. While the boys played with Grandpa's toys and played football/tackle with Uncle Darryl and Josh, Brynn could not pull herself away from the Norad Santa tracker except to take a nap in my lap around 6pm... the excitement of Santa coming wore her out!

On Christmas morning Caleb was the first up at 6am, Price next at 6:30, Brynn and Nyah at 7 with Evan, typically our earliest riser, up shortly after that. Stocking were first, followed by the breakfast of champions... DONUTS! Once the grandparents arrived, the madness began. Let's just say our children are spoiled... big time!! They all have new bikes and the boys now enough video games to open an arcade. Brynn has not let go of her new, very large, stuffed unicorn she named Flower and Nyah's new watertable is a hit with all the kids except for her; she prefers her new $3 Magna-doodle.

We went to Doug's sister's for dinner on Christmas afternoon and that was a great way to end the day. I was worn out, though the kids were not... how does that keep happening?

I'm not sure what Nyah thought about her first Christmas; I just know we loved having Christmas with her home. Her spunk is so entertaining. We got a good giggle as she tried to put the paper back on the presents as Evan "helped" her rip it off. She seemed to love having so much going on around her. The more action and commotion the better (she never really gets overwhelmed) as long as I stay within shouting distance.

Tomorrow I am headed outside to take pictures of Doug and his dad's big project from earlier today... it's not exactly Southern Living landscaping but with all these kids around here, such landscaping probably wouldn't last long anyway.

*** Please note that we really do buy Evan pajamas that come with shirts. Between this post and Wednesday's you might think differently. Let's just say we waste our money doing so as he much prefers to wear just pajama bottoms, if even that much, to bed. He is not the only one but his brother realizes I take pictures that might show up on the blog and puts a shirt on for the camera. Evan prefers to show off his muscles.

Merry Christmas!

Our 2008 has been filled with joy and peace (just not the quiet kind).

Wishing you and your family both in 2009.

Love,
Doug, Kate, Caleb, Price, Evan, Brynn, & Nyah

Wordless Wednesday

Adventures in Richmond...

The S family went on a big family trip yesterday and today... one hour away! My good friend/college roommate (U of R... see below)/sorority sister (Delta Gamma)/maid of honor was traveling from Rochester, NY to Florida so we just had to meet up since it has been WAY TOO LONG since we have seen each other. So we checked into the same hotel as Meg, her husband Ken, and her two children (Pete, 4 & Mary Kate, 2.5) and were able to spend time with them at dinner, at the pool, and at breakfast the next morning. In spite of us not bringing one of the suitcases (the girls' one - a certain toddler wheeled it across the house, mommy was getting a hair cut, and packing-the-car daddy didn't even know it existed), a night of no sleep due to a toddler who loves her crib (and only HER crib) at nighttime, and a child who had a 2-hour stomach bug around 10:30pm, we had a super time. Then again, I was with Meg so that guarentees a good time!!! And bonus to the hotel worker who told us where it was $1 burger night and took us there in the shuttle (the burgers were super too; finding cheap food was just like being in college again - well, except for the 7 kids with us). The worker even gave us coupons for free breakfast in the morning. Sweet!

The time with Meg was WAY TOO SHORT of a time though so we are planning a meeting 1/2 way between us for the spring.

The trip was the first time Nyah has been in a pool (as far as I know). I didn't think she would like it but the odds were in our favor when the pool was hotter than the hot-tub and had a large 1.5 feet deep shallow end. Nyah laughed and smiled the entire time... almost 2 hours. And she wore arm-floaties without fuss (I didn't let go of her in the deep water, rest easy Nana... they were more for her to get used to wearing them for next summer than for use as a swim aid). Could I be so lucky to have 5 out of 5 children who love to swim and who enjoy being independent and not clingy in the pool? We are going swimming again next week so hopefully we will be as successful.

After we left the hotel, a few of us went one direction shopping and the rest another. Doug, Evan, and Price ran into the University of Richmond head football coach, Mike London, while shopping...

In case you missed it, last week the school's football team won the National Championship! We didn't make it to a game this year but we certainly watched that game on T.V. So seeing someone in person who they just saw on T.V. was a big deal for the boys. And when Doug introduced himself, the coach knew who he was (one of the students at Doug's school will be playing ball there next year) so that was a big deal for Doug! WAY TO GO SPIDERS!!!!

Santa? Visits the Preschool

Last night Brynn and Evan had their Christmas performance with the preschool. Well, only Brynn actual sang in it; poor Evan was hit with the stomach bug and only made it to the church doors before he, well, lets just say, had to go home with Doug (lucky dad, who also took home the tantruming Nyah). He was sooo upset but promises of ice-cream when he is all better helped helped him perk up. Also, the fact that the preschool director was not able to attend because she has the bug made him feel better (sorry Ms. Susan!).

Price and Caleb stayed with me to watch Brynn sing. She sang the first song beautifully and after that became more obsessed with the boo-boo near her mouth - picking at it, covering it up, hitting it, stressing about it, etc. that she hardly sang at all. So good thing I got some photos of the first song, albeit dark ones and very fuzzy since I cropped out her classmates (except Carter because her mom blogs too!), to cover the evening.

After the singing there was a sweets-filled gathering, complete with a visit from Santa. Only Brynn keeps saying, "Remember when we saw the Santa with the white beard? This Santa has a gray beard." I personally think it is a little blue-ish myself. I shared with her that Santa is a very, very busy man and that sometimes, he may need to send elves in his place so he can keep checking up on all the children of the world.

It was fun, but not the same without Evan. He spent so much time writing out the cards for his teachers and I think he was more upset about missing delivering them than missing the singing. Today he is running around the house full-force... if only adults bounced back so quickly!

Wordless Wednesday

The Recital...

On Saturday, Brynn had her first dance recital. Earlier in the week she had two rehearsals... each THREE hours which was long for many of the little girls but Brynn seemed to love it. These pictures are from the 2nd rehearsal night... her tap dance is the 2nd in the show and the tumbling/ballet was 26th (out of 28) so those pictures are slightly better since I pretty much could sit wherever I wanted since by then most of the rehearsal audience, and performers, left. She waved to me while on stage and ballet-danced her way back to the line during the tumbling part during the rehearsal and during the actual performance I got two "Hi Mamas!" She seemed so happy. The pictures are also fuzzy because I cropped her classmates out of the ones that clearly showed faces since I don't know how they feel about me posting pictures. Yesterday Brynn had her class again and she was a bit disappointed when she could not wear her sparkly costume and that she would not be on stage. She loved it that much!

Sunday Caleb had his first wrestling match for the season. He did well, but not as well as he would have liked, and it is SO hard to see your child so disappointed. No pictures because the gym was a madhouse and we had to sit a mile away and because I was having my own wrestling match in the stands with a 1 1/2 year old who doesn't like to be still for a split second!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that when I am exhausted by Brynn's nonstop chatter and from a day spent trying to outwit an into-everything Nyah, that both girls have one thing in common... a love of a warm, bubbly bath. I am thankful that it is the one time of day that the girls actually get along for more than 2 minutes. I am thankful that it not only is a time that I can catch up on emails and Facebook (on my laptop sitting on the bathroom floor - safety first of course), but it also a time that I can get pictures that melt my heart and remind me of how precious my girls are. Here they are squeaky clean and adorable...

Wordless Wednesday...

Two-Steppin' it...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Can't Pick Just One... or Two...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hot Chocolate Spittin' Funny...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Friday Five+...

Okay, so I am definitely in a blogging rut. Both posting to mine and reading others. I can't even say it is because I have been very busy this week 'cause I haven't been busier than any other time. Hopefully I'll be over it soon. Here are five great things that have happened recently:

1. Caleb's mystery bumps on the back of his neck have a name and the dermatologist says they are not contagious, will not get worse, and are not life-threatening (I was not worried because I am not a worrier but he was worried he would have to have his neck amputated or have to get a shot). They should clear up in 4-8 months on their own.

2. Brynn's eye-patching over the past three months worked and her sight in her right eye is now much stronger and, much to her disappointment, she does not need glasses. She likely will by upper elementary school for near-sightedness but for now she is good to go. I bought her a pair of sunglasses in celebration.

3. We have begun the child-study process with Brynn for her speech and part of that was to have some "testing" of her cognitive development. I really had no idea how she would do; with Evan being only 7 months older than her I often compare the two and well, Evan can add two-digit numbers in his head and is smarter than me so that is totally not fair. Well, I was told she was right-on-target for her age so that was great news.

4. I had a great time on Black Friday shopping with Doug's mom and sister and scoring a few good deals was great, but the day away was the best part. And I finally found the outdoor decoration I have been searching for 2 years... I have wanted to add color to our outside decor for the holidays for years but I don't want to give up my white-light stars for the porch and so I needed something that had both white and color and I finally found the twig tree that flashes both (I won't wear gold and silver together either unless one jewelry piece has both colors... odd, I know... fine for other people to do it, just not me). So next year, I can start going a bit crazier now that I have my "transition" piece... while I think stars and snowflake decorations need to be white, I prefer colored lights and outside, lots of them.

5. Nyah's foster sister is about to have her life changed as her family is in China now and will meet her on Sunday. I am so excited for them so if you get a chance, visit their blog and say hello! Nyah spent her first 1 1/2 years of life living with JinJue and I am so thrilled that she will have a relationship with someone from her time in China for years to come. (Okay, these are in no particular order... this highlight is FAR more important than the color of my holiday decorations!)

6. One last one, I ordered our Christmas cards and they came in today and they came out how I expected... which is great since I get so nervous when I order that I have made some typo or edited someone's ear off without noticing when cropping and retouching the pictures. I know, a silly stress, but, it is what it is. This isn't the picture we used... I snapped this one the other day... I really can get a picture of all of them! I'll post the card pictures closer to Christmas.

Have a great weekend everybody!
Kate

How would you title this??

I need to do a long post about our busy weekend but I'll get to that tomorrow. I couldn't save this picture for Wordless Wednesday either because it does require an explanation. This is from last Wednesday. It was a fundraiser at the high school where the students purchased pieces of duct tape to tape the principal (who happens to be my husband) to a wall, which ended up being a pole because, apparently, he wouldn't stick to the wall. He was like this for over an hour. The assistant principals are looking pretty pleased aren't they? He said he was more sore that night than after our 1/2 marathon.

How would you have titled the post? I had too many ideas so I just gave up.

p.s. I updated Nyah's blog today... 3 months home!