The only one left....

Rebekah is back in Alaska...sicker than a dog; Shane, Jen, Liam, and Lucy are back in CO...both kids have pink eye; Blake and Ali are in Mexico...he fell on mom's front step and injured his back; Aaron is in Ottawa with his girlfriend (pictured below)....hopefully he is well:) Todd is on his way back from Florid....his first flight was delayed so hopefully he will be getting out of Newark on time. It wouldn't be very much fun to celebrate the new year without him!

The picture at the bottom is Rebekah as the transformer named Bumblebee. I think if she gets married, she should wear this instead of a veil.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas:) Tonight we are all sitting together, under one roof, and it feels wonderful. To think that we grew up in this house...shared bedrooms, ate eggs every Sunday morning, did HOURS of homework and practiced HOURS of instruments, went to swim meets, cried about boyfriends (girls only). For this one night, we are together and laughing and talking and catching up. It is really neat. Three marriages, 4 grandchildren, 5 grand-dogs:), and many, many miles that keep us all apart. Okay..I am getting way too sappy but it is nice. And it even makes me cry a little that we can't have this all of the time. If only Maryland, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York, and Alaska were all right next to eachother:(

Polar Express

The Saturday before Christmas, we did our yearly breakfast with Santa and the Polar Express. I won't go into details other than I think we will skip this special day next year. Bella was a MONSTER and refused to even glance at Santa. She fixed the menu so it sat straight up between us and then looked ahead and refused to eat. She also whined the entire time we were listening to The Polar Express (except for the 5 minutes when Todd was taking pictures) and cried the entire time we were on the 'train' to the 'toy shop'. The kid was so tired from all the stress, she feel asleep for 3 hours.

It's getting closer.....

I can't wait!! Christmas is my all time favorite. My tree and decorations went up at the beginning of November and they all came down yesterday:) The house is back to normal, the presents are wrapped and in the van, and all I have to do is pack our clothes, tidy up the house, and then we will be on our merry little way tomorrow after school. Rebekah, Shane, Jen, Lucy, and Liam left CO this morning and will arrive in Syracuse sometime tomorrow. Aaron flies in on Wed. and Blake and Ali arrive the day after Christmas. For the first time in a few years, we will all be together:)

New Do...

Thank you, GOD, that there is such a thing as SLEEP

It was either sleep or a slow boat back to Vietnam. Isabella was HORRIBLE today. Horrible with a capital H O R R I B L E. If she stamped her foot once, she stamped it 100 times. If she said the word "hate" once, she said it 1000 times. It all started this morning over the potty. "Please go to the bathroom, Isabella." "I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!!! I HATE THE TOILET. I AM NOT GOING TO THE BATHROOM." Meanwhile, I pick her up and put her on and she GOES!! BUT, she screams the entire time that she HATES going to the bathroom. The crying continues the entire time I do her hair, put her tights and dress on and slip on her shoes. I finally can't take it anymore and put her in her room to cry it out.

It didn't get much better this afternoon. I was racing around getting everyone ready for a video shoot at our church (they are doing a piece on adoption and encouraging everyone to give 1% of their income). They wanted to video tape us talking about our experience. I told Isabella that she either had to smile and be good in front of the camera or get a spanking. I soon hear her say, "Spank me. I don't want to smile." Luckily, she was adorable, if not a little wild. That cute behavior ended, though, when we got to dinner. She spilled her milk ALL over our feet, sucked the butter off of a sharp knife, cried about 5 times, and refused to eat her dinner. Nice. I actually drove about 20 minutes off the beaten path hoping she would fall asleep before we got home. I drove so long, Elisabeth feel asleep! The monster finally closed her eyes about a mile before I was ready to give up.

And you wonder why I am still up at 11:40??? Enjoying the peace and quiet!!!!

Isabella's Best Friend

Isabella's best friend at school is Ellie. They are either loving on each other or hating each other. Sometimes the teachers have to put them on separate floors so they won't get into it. I got brave and invited Ellie over to the house for a play date (I hate the phrase, but what else do you call it??). Every room they went in looked like a cyclone had it. Apparently Ellie had never been to someone else's house to play. She was a little enthralled by everything new. When Elisabeth came home, we bundled them up in their princess clothes and took them to see "The Princess and the Frog". They were very good through it until this evil man appeared and then both of them started crying and shaking. Even Elisabeth was rattled. The movie should have been rated PG. The movie was cute, regardless of all the black magic. And the girls had a wonderful time being together. I now have to go and clean up their messes:)




















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