SNOW in OCTOBER!?!?!?!?!

Elisabeth's First Costume Party...

The Day in a Life of a Peacock

State High Homecoming Parade 2011

Elisabeth is part of the Fine Arts Club. This is the float they made in honor of Doug Sweetland, a State High grad, who is now a Pixar animator. He is the dark haired man in all of the pictures...

Guess who is turning 1????

Household Happenings.....

This poor blog is suffering because I am so busy. The worst offense is that I forgot to write a post about Todd's 44th birthday on October 8th:) I did, however, make sure he enjoyed his special day to the fullest. He went golfing with Elisabeth for 5 hours (her first time) and then did absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. He got new UGG slippers, some new sweaters, Blue-Ray movies, and a delicious cake.

Big news on the Elisabeth-front....she joined a cheer team!!! I had to medicate and then drag her by her hair to the gym but she tried it and LOVED it!!! Now she just needs to figure out how to do a back flip. She is on the limited travel senior team (it goes by age, not level of experience) and will have 5 different competitions over the next 5 months. Besides having to wear butt-ass ugly cheer shoes, she is quite excited about the uniforms and hair bows!!! I truthfully think that is why she is doing this whole thing!


Isabella is still dancing (aka twirling) every Tuesday and goes to art class every Thursday (where she runs around with paintbrushes and no real supervision for 90 minutes). We went to the pumpkin farm on Saturday with her twin friends Olivia and Haley. How can a pumpkin farm be so tiring?? Maybe it was the 20 minutes of bunny petting or the 30 minute wait for the stupid tractor or the 20 minutes ride ON the stupid tractor to the pumpkin field or the 1,000,000 pumpkins we had to search through for THE perfect one. I needed a nap.

Perfecting the art of balloon blowing....I think the outfit helps!

New Hair

Elisabeth hasn't had her mane cut in 5 months. I decided to check out an expensive salon in town in hopes that they would know how to cut curly, thick hair. Two hours and 65.00 dollars later...here it is....

Halloween Costumes

Somehow, as I was looking for costumes for Isabella, she caught site of the peacock one from last year's Gymboree line. I checked it out on eBay and they were going for over 100.00 dollars!!!!! Of course, that is the ONLY costume she wanted. I convinced her to change to the Peacock Princess from Barbie Island video. I ordered it from Amazon and got her the matching light-up rose/wand. In the mean time, I went to the Gymboree outlet and FOUND THE PEACOCK OUTFIT FOR LESS THAN 40.00 DOLLARS. Unreal. I almost peed my pants I was so excited. I brought it home, put it on her and she loved it. Yeah! I could return the other one or sell it on eBay and make some money. Right. It arrived in the mail and she was beyond excited. She can barely stand it on because it itches so badly, her boobs hang out of it, and the wings won't stand on...it can't compare to the beautiful Gymboree one but she is determined to wear them both. I'm half tempted to leave it on the floor and have Allie use it as a chewing toy;)

Here is a sneak peek of the amazing Gymboree one...

Terrible, horrible, no-good blogger....

To say we have been busy is an understatement but no excuse for going over 2 weeks without blogging!!! Thank goodness I didn't do that thing where people promise to blog every single day. I'd be in real trouble.

Besides every day life, I have never worked so much...new school and new kids to learn. Elisabeth has homework every single night and spends up to 4 hours working on it. She also joined the Art Club at school and will be doing a float for Homecoming:) Isabella is in ballet on Tuesdays and in an after-school art club on Thursdays. We gave up on puppy class....I was starting to hate it and Elisabeth was beyond hating it. We spent most of the time trying to prevent Allie from barking (which she NEVER does) and pulling on the leash.

As you can tell from the pictures, we went home this weekend to Syracuse. We haven't made a trip there since the summer. My poor mother spent the weekend following us around while we shopped for clothes. State College is lacking in anything fashionable. We are now dressing with the times:)

Then and Now

Six years ago, we decided to adopt a baby while picking apples:) Every October since then, we have gone back to the same place. The first picture was taken in 2006 and the 2nd picture was taken today. Some of us have gained a little, some of gotten a tad bit gray, some have gotten prettier (if possible), and some are just as cute as the day she was born:)

Falling asleep reading bible stories:)


Puppy class....yes, they are both as bored as they look!


Waiting for mommy to finish her work so we can get the hell home


Showing off on her 2 wheeler

Ballet

As you can see, we have one happy ballerina. We finally found a place that lets the kids dance and play and be themselves. Isabella had a fabulous time:) She is in the class with 2 of her best friends from kindergarten, Olivia and Haley, twins who were adopted at 11 months from Guatemala. They are all so cute together.

5 years ago today....

we became the parents of the most beautiful baby girl in all of Vietnam. Five years ago, we spent most of the day driving to and from the ceremony on top of figuring out what made our new baby tick. I remember almost freaking out at one point when I realized she would be ours forever. Today, we drove to kindergarten together (after a lengthy argument about what she was going to wear), celebrated her special day with her class, and played outside afternoon. She was the one, however, freaking out when she found out she couldn't watch tv all afternoon because she argued with me about her clothes:)

Happy Adoption Day, Baby!

We survived.....

the first week of school!!! Elisabeth and I both thought we were going to die the first night. We had a nap (big mistake) and woke up crying and dreading the thought of having to repeat the day 3 more times before the weekend. Luckily everything got better. Isabella had a great week. She is happy going, happy coming home. On top of having our #1 pick for a kindergarten teacher, she is in the same class as twin girls adopted from Guatemala (I met their mom through an adoption group). Of course, they could all give a hoot where they were born and if they were adopted or not. What matters in Kindergarten is what they are having for lunch and playtime:)

First Day of School 2011

Elisabeth's 1st day of high school was yesterday. She was a little happy but mostly scared to death. She wasn't a happy camper when she got home last night, either. First days are always awful. She saw kids she went to grade school with and they didn't recognize her....3 years ago, she was 5 feet with short hair. She doesn't look so much like that now:)






Isabella had one hour of school yesterday. Not sure how much sense that made but she had a good time.



Isabella's first day of school went off without a hitch...I hope! I am writing this and she has exactly one hour left. I imagine she is going to be quite TIRED tonight:) I am hoping we can keep her awake until 7. I peeked in on her a few times and she seemed to be having fun. Most importantly, her name wasn't on the board for a time-out yet!!