It's Almost Here!!!!!

My iPhone doesn't take great 'moving' shots....but this one was cute!

While we were waiting for the Polar Express, the kids made their own wrapping paper:)



A week from today will be CHRISTMAS!!!!! My absolutely, positively favorite time of the year. I love it so much that I decided to get married on Christmas Eve 14 years ago:) We will be leaving for home tomorrow afternoon-my sister is already there from Alaska and my 2 brothers, sister-in-law, and niece/nephew arrive on Monday. We will have 18 hours together before Rebekah has to leave. My fink-of-a-brother Blake, who only lives 4 hours away, isn't coming until AFTER Christmas. I am not at all happy with him. And he knows it. Being the oldest of 5, my happiest times are when we are all together - it usually happens every 2 or 3 years. Guess we will shoot for next year.

It will be especially great because all the grandchildren are at awesome ages. Lucy is 1, Bella is 2, and Liam is 3. I am sure there will be many slaps, punches, pushes, and hair pulls but it will all be worth it:) Sadie is also coming to visit and she turns 2 in January. Luckily, she is the docile one-hopefully she will rub off on the other 3. I promise to post lots of pictures:)

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

"I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE TO SLEEP!"

No, that is not something I would say..for those of you who know me-I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to sleep. This was Isabella's mantra 2 nights ago, along with "I AM NOT GOING TO SHUT MY EYES!" Just ask me what time this was....go ahead, I dare you! IT WAS 11:45 PM!!! The kid could pull an all 'nighter' every night if she had to. I swear she is all tired out and ready for a nice long sleep and WHAM! she is wide awake and bouncing. Last night we pulled the tough love approach. I brushed her teeth, got her jammies on, read to her, and tucked her in to clean flannel sheets. She was falling for it until I got up to leave and she told me she was wanted to sleep in my bed. With that, I left the room and she cried for 2.5 hours. Screamed her bloody head off for 2.5 hours. Oh...except for the 10 minutes she escaped, got into our bed, and then called me from the upstairs phone to the downstairs one. Very funny. She was returned to bed where she continued to scream until after 11....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! That is all I have to say......

Sad news about Karin

After only 3 months of fighting her battle with cancer, Karin Faulkner died last night. If you want to read more about her struggle and her unwavering faith, please go to Karin's Updates. If you would like to read about their journey to their Vietnam babies, go to Journey to Our Babies.

Amazing happenings in our home....

1. Yes, you see it correctly...ELISABETH IS ACTUALLY READING!!!!! And, hold your breath people, she is reading WHILE she is eating dinner. And furthermore, it is the new book "Twilight" which is about 500 pages long!!! U N B E L I E V A B L E!!!!!


2. We finally discovered how to get Isabella to sleep. No explanation needed except that the box you see in the video is the toy box in our computer room and she climbed in there all by herself:)

Pictures from the weekend :)

Grateful....

In light of what is going on with Karin and her family, I felt the need to spend the entire day with the kids. I think we all take family and togetherness for granted. I think we get caught up in our every day lives and don't ever live like we should. Karin honestly thought that she would share many Christmases with her babies and look where she is.....we can pray for a miracle, which is what I am doing. I am going to try and look at each day as a gift from God-exactly what it is. We will never know how is His plan will unfold and we certainly can't go back and do things differently. Live for the moment.

Anyway, we got up yesterday, got dressed, and went downtown to have breakfast at the Corner Room with Santa. I don't think there is a year we have missed it. The kids grumbled and whined-all of which I ignored :) We got our favorite table and a picture with all of us with Santa (seeing that Bella HATES the magical man). Then we went and heard the Polar Express at the library and took a ride on the Polar Express to Santa's workshop where all the kids got to spend their special coin on a Christmas present (amazingly, this was all in a 20 foot radius-who knew Santa's workshop was in our town!!!!!). After that, we drove to our favorite restaurant in the next town-we used to go there all the time when I was pregnant for Elisabeth-I would throw up on the way, eat, and then throw up all the way home!!! Amazingly, she LOVED the spaghetti?!?!

All in all, we had a wonderful day as a family. I never stopped praying and thinking about Karin and what she is going to miss and what her children are going to miss. I am so grateful for what I have.....

Very sad news for another family.....

K. and her husband adopted their first son from Russia 4 years ago and upon returning home from Vietnam where they adopted their 2nd son, K. was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She had had back pain for many years but didn't realize it was anything serious. Unfortunately it had spread to her bones.

She started treatment immediately and has had some very good days but got extremely sick at the beginning of this week and was hospitalized. Today her husband, via his blog, tells us that her liver has failed, her heart and kidney have mostly failed and not recovered. The kidney doctor said in all his years he has never seen such a strong patient fade so rapidly and he cried.

She is on a respirator and sedated and has no clue how badly she has failed.

Her husband just returned from Vietnam 2 weeks ago with their baby daughter (due to paperwork difficulty, they were not able to bring her home when they were there in August getting their little boy). Luckily she got to meet her, kiss her, and hold her before she was hospitalized.

It doesn't look good.....please pray for all of them. I can't imagine going through this kind of pain and heartache, especially at Christmas. Three precious little kids growing up without their mommy is unimaginable.

Wild-Riding Lucy

We got this present for Lucy on her 1st birthday. I think she likes it :)

14 years and no ring....

Todd and I will be celebrating 14 years of marriage....and my ring is gone. Not gone-gone....just at the jewelers. I was pulling my hand out of a plastic bag holder and I heard a 'snap'. I caught my diamond on the plastic opening and it ripped the diamond off of the setting. I looked down and screamed....praying that I could find the diamond in the 100 bags I had shoved in there. I found it-whew-and it is at the jewelers as we speak getting fixed :) Ironically, Todd and Bella went shopping this weekend and bought me an early anniversary gift - a silver and gold ring :) Bella was so proud when she brought it home-she unwrapped it for me, opened the box, and put the ring on my finger. Elisabeth, not so happy she wasn't involved, told me she was the gold part of the ring because she was worth more!! Oh....if she only knew!!!

If you have the time, please visit Ashley's Story. This incredible family has 3 children-one of which is facing major medical issues. They could really use some prayer!!

On the mend

Isabella is finally on the mend. The sores on her face are healing slowly but the ones on her lips and on her tongue have gotten much better. She had a ROUGH night last night-tossing and turning and crying. I almost went and slept in the car. Todd woke up complaining and he doesn't even hear her!!! Add that to the mix, and you have one tired mama this morning! She is off to the babysitter's-hopefully she will whip her back into shape:)

Elisabeth has settled back into school. She just got her German workbook back and got a 59/55!!! Didn't know you could do that!!! She starts Spanish next week for 12 weeks and then on to French. We also signed her up for indoor soccer, which starts in January. Todd is planning on coaching her team AND playing on a men's team. Now this I will have to see!!!! :)

Sadie and Elisabeth...

Isabella, Elisabeth, and Sadie making noise on Mom's piano....

Posing in front of the tree...

Isabella in the dog cage with ONE of Mom's dogs (she has 4 of them:)

CRUISE PICTURES

Sick AGAIN!!!! When will it end?????

Elisabeth and Elizabeth are back from their cruise :) They arrived on Thursday, we left for Mom's on Friday, and just got back yesterday. They had a wonderful time although the ship had to skip Jamaica due to stormy seas. I will post pictures later!

Isabella is sick :( She has had a cold for 2 weeks, a fever started last Thursday, and then on Saturday she broke out in sore on her lips, chin, and tongue. She has been MISERABLE for the past few days. Horrible with a capital H!!! Whining, crying, moaning, clingy.....I was so stressed after the drive back yesterday I actually had a DRINK...and not the soda kind:) I am home with her today-she looks like she was hit by a truck. Poor baby. I took her to the doctors and for the first time in 2 years, she did not scream once. She let them look in her ears, listen to her chest, look in her throat....and without crying:) We got some good ole' antibiotics so hopefully she will start feeling better soon.

No word from the happy sailors...

Not even an email telling me they are alive!!!! UGH!!! I am sure they are having the time of their lives....but come on, people, send me a signal!!!!

As far as live here at home with 1 child...things are going very well. Isabella is truly enjoying being the one and only:) We have been going out to eat every night (Elisabeth HATES eating out) and watching lots of Max and Ruby. She wanted to know where Elisabeth was yesterday and I asked where she thought she was....her reply was, "Ummmmmmmm....maybe she on a cruise with Nanny." Ummmmmmmmm... you are right!

Check out this blog!!!

After reading someone's blog that lead me to another person's blog I finally found MY CHARMING KIDS blog!!! It is the amazing story of a mom of 3 who was pregnant for her 4th baby and was told that he most likely wouldn't live due to a number of health conditions. The best news: he IS alive and thriving. Check it out!!!

Pictures from the ship....

Elisabeth as the deck of the ship as it was leaving Miami.

Their room for the next 5 days...it has a balcony overlooking the ocean.

The slide Elisabeth says she is NOT going down....I give her about 2 hours :)

The dining room where they will eat every night .... they got their own table for 2!!

Her first drink of many.....luckily Shirley Temples are part of the 70.00 dollar drink bill!

Elisabeth ready to sail!!! They stayed in a beautiful room the night before they left...it was called The Isabella!!!

Elisabeth wrote this on my mom's phone after she discovered their plane was having electrical difficulties. She was nice enough to call me and tell me that the next time she would see me would be in heaven. It really put my mind at ease!!!!

Sick on a ship....and sleepovers!

Guess who is sick??? ELISABETH!!!! Runny nose, hurting head, soar throat, painful ears. Poor baby:( Mom is at the drug store right now getting her every over-the-counter cold medicine she can find before they board the ship at 12. I am pretty sure once they get settled and she sees the 4 pools, 12 hot tubs, and all the glitz and glory, she will feel better:)

Bella had her first sleepover last night.....and Todd and I had our first night kid-free in a long time!!! She went to a basketball game with Mary and the kids and then went back to their house. At 1 AM, she finally feel asleep. I think I owe Mary BIG TIME:) Todd and I went out to dinner and to see the new James Bond movie. We both came home to a quiet house (besides the 7 dogs that were barking - 4 of them are my mom's).....and said, "Listen....SILENCE!!" All we could do was giggle:) I won't go into details about what we did for the rest of the night (LOL)!!!

Almost on her way....

Elisabeth and Mom (my Mom...not me) will be boarding a plane for Florida in 17 short hours!!! They spend one night in a hotel and then board the shop for a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise:) She is one lucky 11 year old!!! And I am oh so lucky because Isabella is staying home!!! WHOO HOOO!!!! If I could just get her to sleep and keep her that way, I could slip her into Elisabeth's suitcase:) I am only kidding-we are going to have just as much fun as they do!!! Although there will be no exotic places to visit, unlimited food to eat, or miles and miles of blue water! One of my best friends has offered to have Isabella for a sleep over. Is 2 too young for that??? I think not!!! Mary has 2 kids around Elisabeth's age (they grew up together) and they absolutely adore her and she them! They are taking her to a basketball game and then home to sleep (party). I am praying no one calls at 12 am wanting their Mama:) I'll let you know how it goes!

Fresh water...

As I was tucking Isabella into bed tonight, she kept saying "fres wader" which I thought sounded alot like 'fly swatter'....couldn't figure out why she would be saying that so she said it again. Then it dawned on me when she pointed to her cup... FRESH WATER! So I went and got her a cup of cold water and handed it to her. I finally got settled downstairs and I hear her upstairs again yelling for fresh water. I figured she wanted a colder cup (although she has never demanded THAT one before) and more importantly, I wanted her to shut up and go to sleep, so I brought her up another cup full of even colder water. Although she was more than happy to see me and to get another cup of water, what she really wanted was the cup that she dropped on the floor in the 6 minutes I had been gone. She was super excited to get 2 cups of water and as I was leaving, I heard her clink her glasses together and say, "CHEERS, BIG EARS!" (that statement would have come from my 3 alcohol-loving siblings at Christmas time:) Should I sign her up for AA now?

Photo update.....

This is at the hairdresser's salon....Isabella has befriended her 4 year old's son and was beating him into submission with a hairbrush:)

These pictures are out of order...this one is actually the one where she has had it and is refusing to open her mouth any more.







The coat she is modeling (which is hard to see, I know) only cost me 10.00 buckaroos on eBay ;) It is a gorgeous navy blue, wool coat with fur trimmed cuffs and hood AND it comes with a muff!

Sorry these aren't as clear as usual..I used my new iPhone to take them :) I LOVE that thing!

THE Smartest 6th Grader in the WORLD!!

Elisabeth got her first report card from middle school!!!!! We are so proud of how well she has done emotionally but look at her grades! WOW!!! Way to go, Elisabeth :)
Reading: A+
Social Studies: A+
Math: A
Writing: A
Science: A+
Tech Ed: A

"Where baby lion go?"

This was the question of the night....asked about 1,000,000 times during the new movie Madagascar 2. During the first part of the movie, the 'mane' star (get it? main/mane for the lion :), is a baby so you can see what happened in the past. In a matter of a second, he turns from a baby into a full grown lion. To a 2 year old, this makes NO sense. Hence the question - WHERE BABY LION GO???? I am serious...every 2 seconds she asked me. I answered with: he grew up, he isn't a baby lion anymore, he is a big boy now, he died, he ran away....finally I came up with the idea..."He is a big lion now like Elisabeth is a big girl!". Brilliant, huh?? After that, she said 1,000,000 times "Lion grew up, big like Elisabeth!!" UGH!! Who was it that wanted her to start talking and wondered if she ever would???????? Oh, to go back to those days of babbling :)

She did do extremely well for her second experience at the movie theater (the first one was "Horton Hears a Who"...which she hated and had to be taken out). For this one, she bounced a few times, had to pee once, but mainly sat still and ate popcorn and TALKED ABOUT THE MOVIE. I was so ready for nap by the time we got home... shouldn't movies be relaxing????

1 VERY CUTE 2 YEAR OLD FOR SALE!!!!

Any takers??? Besides having an adorable, loving and caring little personality, she is also EXTREMELY determined to drive her mama NUTS!!!!!! I truly believe I am on Bella-overload! With Todd being busy getting ready to go for a week and then being gone for a week and then having to work on work-stuff because he was pre-occupied for a 2 weeks, the caring and nurturing of Isabella has rested mainly on the shoulders of Elisabeth and me. Yesterday, she kicked poor Jayleen on the way through the door after chanting, "I DON'T LIKE JAYLEEN. I NOT PLAY WITH JAYLEEN. I DON'T LIKE HER!!!" for 2o minutes in the car on the way to Bonnie's. Then when Bonnie told her to stop whining at lunch, she said, "NO BONNIE, YOU STOP WHINING!". Not a good thing to say to Bonnie. That one almost landed her little butt in bed without lunch. NOTHING is making her happy. I make her french toast, she wants waffles. I hand her chocolate milk, she wants juice. I get her dressed in a color coordinated outfit, she takes it off (including her socks and shoes) and puts on purple and red. I turn on Calliou, she wants DORA!

We (E. and I) decided to go on strike last night after returning home from the mall where we attempted to buy a winter coat for the little monster. She got out of her stroller (yes, MOM, she was buckled in!) about 100 times, ran barefoot through every store, and re-arranged about 20 beautiful Christmas displays. We walked through the door of the house, handed her to her father, and told him we were DONE. True to her adorable nature, she screamed for 2 FULL hours when he put her to bed. I do believe we may be leaving her at home with her father tonight and going out for dinner and a movie :)

You know your chest is too big when.....

your 2 year old, who is sitting on your lap, puts her tiny toys on them like they are a shelf and they stay put!!!

Funny Bella Story

Every night I like to sneak upstairs to take a bath. If Isabella catches me, I forgo the little solitude I might have for that evening. Last night, I signed to Todd, "I am going upstairs...bring her up in 10 minutes." I hop in the tub full of hot water and just settle down when who should appear??

Me: What are you doing?
Isabella: Takin' a bath with you.
Me: WHERE is daddy?
Isabella: Doin' somethin' downstairs. He be right back.

With that, she stripped down to nothing and hopped in. Todd came up seconds later looking for her. Apparently she escaped when he ran to the kitchen for something :)

Sadie Update

Sadie's on her way home from the hospital tomorrow:) YEAH!!! She still has a great deal of healing to do and may require some home health care but she is back to her old self! Praise God:)

Ruby and Max

The kids and I went to a see a Ruby and Max play yesterday. About 5 minutes into the first scene, my friend leaned over and said, "I think I need a drink." I don't think she was talking about Diet Coke, either. The kids were absolutely mesmerized by the 6 adults wearing bunny ears hopping around the stage singing and dancing. I wanted to do more than drink at the end of the hour.

Todd got home on Sunday morning at 7 am. They left GA at 4 pm on Saturday and drove all night. He spent much of yesterday catching up on his sleep :) It is going to take us girls a few days to get used to having the man back in the house. When he was trying to talk to Isabella this morning, she said to him, "Go away, dude! I watchin' princess movie!" No man should ever mess with a princess watching princesses :) Poor Todd..he is so outnumbered!!

Reading and spinning....
How close is too close???
Reading and exercising....
Elisabeth and one of her best friend's doing crafts like they were kindergarteners:)

Update and Videos

Sadie is doing well :) She is in the pediatric ICU and had a rough night last night with the morphine they gave her but she is doing much better today. When I called a few hours ago, Jacqueline was holding her for the first time in 24 hours :)

Last night, the girls decided to amuse themselves with Todd's computer chair (it used to be Elisabeth's but now has his butt permanently imprinted on it). I was getting sick just watching them spin!

Sadie's Surgery

Sadie, Jacqueline, and Jim drove to the hospital yesterday where she was admitted. Surgery started at 7:30 am and just ended an hour ago...11 hours long! Without going into too much detail, Sadie came from Vietnam with many internal issues that required very complicated procedures. She will be in the recovery room for 4 hours and then in the pediatric intensive care unit for a few days. My mom will be driving there to help out. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers :) She has a great deal of healing for such a little pumpkin.

UPDATE: When Todd's Away....

Isabella will wake up with 102 degree fever!!! UGH!!! How is this possible?? On one hand, I don't mind staying home but it could get quite old quickly without someone else to help out. Plus I have a gyn appointment today over lunch-guess I will put her in her stroller, face her towards the wall, and give her lots of chocolate ;)

When Todds Away....

the girls will play!!! WHOO HOOO!!! We will miss him when he leaves for GA tomorrow BUT I have a feeling there will be good times to be had in our all girl household. Elisabeth and I had the day off from school but we were very bad family members and sent Bella to daycare. Given the fact that I will have no help for the next 6 days (not unlike every day of the year-kidding, Todd!!), Elisabeth and I decided to have a BFD (Bella Free Day) and it was NICE!!! I went to lunch with a friend and then shopping and she had a friend over and they got manicures. I love that baby more than anything but boy, is she a TON of work lately. Because she is always an angel with Bonnie, I think she saves her naughtiness up for her mama when she gets home. Lucky me!

I LOVE MY CANDY!!!

The Monkey and the Bee

My niece Lucy and nephew Liam....