Hide the WAX!!!

WHO would have thought to hide COLD wax from a 3 year old???? Not me!!! I sent Little Miss Pissy Pants (she has been so MOOOOOOOOODDDDDDYYYYYY lately) into the bathroom to wash up after she decided eat her ice cream with her right hand. I left the eyebrow wax out with the fabric strips NOT ever thinking ANYONE would touch them. I should have known. I was enjoying the peace and quiet until I realized that peace and quiet meant Isabella was usually getting into something. I ran into the bathroom to find her with one large strip of material sticking to her forehead. Did you know that cold wax could actually be pried out of a jar?? And swiped across the forehead?? And stick to a wax strip??? With ease, she held one side of her head with one hand and with the other hand, she ripped the strip off just like she sees me do to Elisabeth. Unreal.

The good news....she didn't place any wax near actual hair. The bad news....on the way up the stairs to remove the wax, she covered herself from head to toe in wax remover.

Now I see why I didn't adopt twins.

And away we go again!

Tomorrow we leave for Florida....Toby, Todd's beloved grandfather, is turning 100 on Thursday!!! Unreal!!! His parents live there and his brother and sister are flying in on Saturday (we haven't seen them in almost 3 years). It will be nice for everyone to be together again:)

I am a little nervous about the plane...please pray for me. Todd will be oblivious (sorry, hon, but you are NO help on a plane) and Elisabeth will be comatose with her headphones on. I packed enough things for Isabella to do to cover a trip to Vietnam and back. My guess is that she won't play with one thing.

Daniel

Last week at my grandmother's funeral, her bible study leader stood up and spoke. She talked about how Gram LOVED the book of Daniel from the bible. Out of all the biblical characters, she was most intrigued by him. When this friend went out to visit my grandmother just before she died, she whispered, "You will get to meet Daniel, Freda!"

Last night, exactly a week from the day she died, Isabella found a children's Bible in her bookshelf. It has been sitting there for years but she finally noticed it, picked it up, and asked me to read it. It had about 10 different stories from the Bible - all simplified for children to understand. Out of all those stories, which one do you think she decided to obsess about?? Daniel and the Lion's Den. A coincidence?? I don't think so. She must have asked 100 questions...how he got in there? how he got out?? who put him in there?? why didn't the lions eat him?? how did God protect him?? It went on and on and on until I finally went to YouTube and found a cartoon about it. She was still talking about it when she was in the bathtub.

I finally said to her, in a very loving voice, "You know who else loved Daniel, Bella?? Grandma Freda!"

Her reply: "She's dead, Mom."

Like I didn't know that.

Photo contest

Which one do you like of Elisabeth??

The Aftermath

I never realized how long it would take to come down from something as traumatic as a death. Never having actually witnessed someone dying before, I actually thought I would be able to return to normal life without too much effort. I was wrong. I am hoping to snap out of it before we have to get on a plane in 5 days to Florida. Maybe some sunshine will do me good:)

In Remembrance

Posted: May 16, 2010

BLAKSLEE, Freda Winona (nee Collins) - Ever so grateful for such a wonderful life, Mom passed away peacefully at the home she loved on Gould Lake surrounded by her family on Sunday, May 16, 2010. She is now with her devoted husband and the love of her life, James (1993). Survived by her loving daughters Elizabeth Connors (Frank) of Syracuse, NY, Carolynne Blakslee Dancer (Terence) of Vancouver, BC, and Jacqueline Miller (James) of Perth Road. Dear grandmother to Jim Florence (Wendy) of Barrie, Catherine Connors-Kos (Todd) of Pennsylvania, Blakeslee Connors (Alison) of Maryland, Rebekah Connors of Alaska, Shane Connors (Jennifer) Colorado and Aaron Connors of Colorado. Great-grandmother to Sarah, Elisabeth, Isabella, Liam, Lucy, Talia, Skyler and Calen. We would like to thank Rebekah for the incredible loving care and devotion she showed her grandmother during her recent illness. She made her dream of living out her final days at the lake come true. Family and friends will be received at the James Reid Funeral Home (1900 John Counter Boulevard) on Monday, May 17 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm and from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel on Tuesday, May 18 at 11:00am with Reverend Mac Steinberg officiating. Interment to follow at Sydenham Cemetery. As expressions of sympathy memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Diabetes Association would be appreciated by the family.

Poor, poor puppy

Gram Update

Summer 2009





She has stopped eating, drinks only a few sips a day, sleeps for over 23 of the 24 hours in a day, but is at her very favorite place on earth....the lake. She and my grandfather spent most of their retired life on this lake...he died of a heart attack there and now she is dying. If you had to choose a place to live out your last days, it is the perfect place:) She is warm, comfortable, and pain free. My incredible sister has been taking unbelievable care of her along with my mom and aunt. Right at this moment, she is sound asleep in her favorite chair in front of the fireplace with everyone around her. When she wakes up, for the very short periods of time throughout the day, she sees someone who loves her. She is not plugged into machines in a sterile hospital room. She IS where she belongs.

Mother's Day 2010

My 2 favorite little people in the whole wide world:)

Sad family news

My 93 year old grandmother, the only one I have left, has just been diagnosed with advanced stages of pancreatic cancer. She has been in a great deal of pain over the last few months and after a serious of tests, she was diagnosed with this horrible disease. My sister, a nurse who lives in Alaska, is with her now, along with my mom and my aunt. They are taking it one day at a time. Thankfully, she is on medication to control the pain and still has enough strength to go out to eat once in awhile:)

She is loved by 2 daughters, 7 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren.

Brace Face

For a mere $4600.00, our beautiful daughter will have a beautiful smile. Unreal. And her teeth aren't even that bad!!! I would seriously like to know what costs so much?!?! Our first appointment was 75 minutes long and she got both the top and bottom braces on. Oh...and she got a free toothbrush, toothpaste, rinse, and wax. Her next appointment isn't even until the end of June and she is supposed to get them off next June. I think I am going to become an orthodontist in my next life.

Soccer Game #2

Can you say, "Waste. of. time." ?? After last week, I thought 'the coach' (I use that term lightly) would step it up a bit. I guess she did...she lead them in a warm up routine for all of 3 minutes. It was then time for the parents to take over. In the brochure, it said that parent participation was required. They need to change that to 'parents do everything while the coach stands and watches'. Regardless, all Bella wanted to do was play with mom's dog. I finally had to get out there, with my 2 inch Dansko clogs on, and play with her. If it had been up to her, she would have spent her time balancing on her tip toes and twirling. $35.00 down the drain.

My questions answered....

We finally got the answers to many questions regarding Isabella's birth, adoption, and family in Vietnam. When we adopted, there was much talk about whether it was legal and many people in the adoption community threw BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC stones at our adoption agency. We always thought that everything was as they said it was but you never know. Here are a few things we found out...

Bella's birth father was 29 years old and her birth mother was 22 years old when they got married. They both grew up in Lang Son. They were married in 1981; they have been married for 29 years.

Isabella has 5 siblings: a sister who is 26, another sister who is 21, a brother who is 18 years old, another sister who is 14, and a younger brother who is 10.She also has a niece born in 2008 and a nephew born in 2009.

Isabella was born at home at 6 am in the morning. Her father was at her birth.

Her birth father has 4 brothers and 4 sisters and her birth mother is the youngest of 7 children; she has 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Her birth father's mother is still alive:)

And most importantly, they WANTED Isabella to be with a family who could care for her and give her the life they couldn't. They are happy, we are happy. Amen.

Boobies

Isabella: I want to buy this dress. I think I will look pretty. (Women's, size 6)
Me: You need boobs to fit in that dress. You don't have boobies yet.

Isabella: I'm gonna get boobies.
Me: When??

Isabella: I'm gonna wish upon a star and get big boobies.
Me: I'll buy you the dress when your wish comes true.

Isabella's new favorite book

I just bought this book for Isabella. It is THE sweetest book I have ever read and it tells the story of a little spider who can't find her mother and discovers that a beetle named Betty is really the mom who she has been looking for. She wants me to read it over and over and over....but I have to skip the page where Miss Spider is almost fed to a bunch of baby birds.

Questionable Medical Advice

I, once again, burned my frickin' fingers on the stove again. And, no, I wasn't even cooking dinner-I was making Rice Krispie Treats. Anyway, they were really throbbing when Nurse Isabella came over. Here were her instructions:

"Mommy, suck on your fingers. No, don't suck on both of them-suck on one then the other. Okay, now blow on both of them. Now wipe it on this cloth."

ME: "Where did you learn how to do this, Bella?"

"At school. In English. Uno, dos, tres."

ME: Huh??

Isabella's 1st Soccer Experience....

and Elisabeth wanted to shoot her! She wouldn't keep her little hands off the ball despite Elisabeth keeping her arms behind her back. She would kick it and then, when it veered the way she didn't want it to go, she would adjust it to her liking. Elisabeth finally gave up and went to help someone else who was more willing to listen to her.

Sleep Tight

My dad sent Isabella this sleep mask-he got it free on Jet Blue. For some odd reason, she can't sleep without it. Once that mask is on, it is nighty-night!!! Works like a charm. I think she has discovered it is more comfortable to wear upside down so that the nose piece doesn't block her breathing:)

A puppy and his best friend

Sick Kids :0

In 4 years, the kids have never had the same illness at the same time. On Sunday, both of them were up at 4:30 am coughing. They seriously coughed every 10 seconds. And guess whose bed they both ended up in?? I finally couldn't take it another minute and put them downstairs together in the big chair to watch TV. After a trip to the doctor on Monday, it was declared they only had a virus. The doctor in me could have diagnosed that but I thought I had better trust the professionals. I am sure Mrs. Meddling Wal-Mart would have been proud of me:)