Protected: I went to the movies with my dad

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Sunday

Peanut had her bestie over today and G~ was in heaven! He wouldn’t leave them alone, really. This is the girl he adores at Peanut’s swimming lessons too. Little Romeo.

I was feeling a little susie-homemaker today and made lasagna AND cheese cake. Wait, I wasn’t actually feeling her…I don’t even know her.

I wasn’t sure if I could put both in together…would the cheese cake take on the lasagna flavor? Well, it didn’t so I guess I’m okay.

This is how G~ chills -  watching his other love: Dora. He’s got a box of Chicken in a Biscuit crackers between his legs too. Ya, we’re all about nutrition around here.

The sad part – when G~ sees our pet chickens outside, he always says “Bock bock”  and when he sees the box of crackers, he does the same thing. I wonder what he thinks about how the two are related. I’m sure it is just because there is a picture of a chicken on the box, but still…what about when I feed him chicken, “Do you want some more chicken G~?” No wonder he always says no.

G~ also got to meet Santa for the first time today…it was kind of spur of the moment since I didn’t know Santa was going to be at the store we went to. Normally I wouldn’t have my kids wear farmer clothes for Christmas pictures. There was no line though, so I thought I might as well try it. G~ wasn’t too taken in by Santa, but he didn’t cry either. I cropped Peanut out of the picture…she didn’t really want to go up there, but she did it for G~. He’s got the fingers in the mouth thing going…that “I don’t like this” deal. Santa looked a little crabby…I told him that G~ might cry when I was handing him off and the guy looks at the photographer and says, “Well maybe not if you hurry up and take the picture.” LOL You can see it on his face: HURRY UP!!

I think I’ll take the kids’ pictures in front of the tree this year and use that for our Christmas card. Maybe I should make it interesting and dress the puppy up like an elf. That wouldn’t really be that interesting though. Interesting would be if I gathered all our pets up and tried to take a picture. The dogs would chase the cats, the hermit crabs would all run for cover or try to burrow into the carpet, and the chickens would fly up in the tree for safety. Now that would be a good photo. We’ll see what I come up with…final exams are next week so I probably will get no where until after that.

 

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was bittersweet for me. Sweet because it was G~’s first Thanksgiving home. Last year I was still waiting to hear when I would get a giving and receiving date. This year he was there – sitting in his high chair eating turkey. He didn’t eat much…he’s more of a grazer lately…just eats all day and doesn’t eat a big meal. The bitter I was referring to has to do with what I thought I would be doing on Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. S~ and I had plans to spend it together with my family Thursday and his Friday. It still stings a bit.

I’m not much of an ice cream person…and I don’t like whipped cream either. This explains why G~ has been home almost a full year and just discovered the joy that is whipped cream tonight. Who needs pie if you can get your mom to give you a bowl of whipped cream???

Do I have anything on my face?

I love getting together with my family…everyone gets along great and it is just a fun time. My SIL usually wins at this game, but tonight I was the winner. It’s so much more fun now that both the girls can play.

This is what G~ did while the rest of us played – he got Auntie M to take a nap with him:

Other tid bits…I got a message on my home phone Wednesday from the principal of T~’s school. He called to tell me that T~ has a perfect 4.0 for this quarter and that they are proud of her. How awesome is that? At T~’s age if the principal would have called my mother, it wouldn’t have been to tell her about my grades. I had her conference last week (and I checked her grades online before that) so I already knew about the 4.0, but it was really nice of the principal to take the time to call me. I played the recording for everyone at Thanksgiving tonight on speakerphone and we all cheered for her too. What an awesome kid.

A~ is growing so tall suddenly. I think G~ and her are both shooting up right now. A~ has swimming lessons once per week and her best friend is also in swimming with her. G~ and I go there and watch while they swim. Afterwards when G~ can get up close to the girls, you should see him. That boy adores A~’s best friend. He stands there and stares at her, smiles at her, waves at her, says her name over and over, and just can’t get enough of her. It is so cute. I looked at him standing there…he was leaning against the wall and had his feet crossed while he just stood there adoring her. He looked like such a big boy and so not a baby. He’s changing so quickly and it is just flying by. He’s learning so much too. He’s starting so say more and more 2 word sentences and even a 3 word one here and there. Some of my favorites:

“Me toot”, “Me play”, “mama up”, “num num noodles”, “me poop”, “mama light” (for looking at books in the car on the way to/from daycare)

He learned a new word today and says it really well: batteries. He was taking apart a battery operated light and he kept pointing to them wanting to know what they were. I asked him to say it and he said it over and over. He’s finally fixing some of the words he’s been saying wrong too – like up. All along he’s been saying “pu” instead of “up”. I always correct him, but yesterday and today were the first days when he would then say it back the right way. I make a big deal about it and you can tell he’s proud of himself.

My laundry helper

It’s better than when he had the blanket on his head last week…and walked into the wall. At least this way he can sort of see.

G~’s first ice cream sandwhich eaten by himself…

I didn’t know all my kids could fit in one chair…

Half full

So I woke up another year older today. That’s not really true…I woke up only a few hours older than when I fell asleep. But I looked at myself today more closely. I thought to myself, being a few years shy of 40 sucks. When I look closely in the mirror I see that I have more hair on my upper lip than I want. I don’t know if it is more hair or just more noticeable hair. I started waxing it last year. I also see that I have wrinkles in the corners of my eyes…maybe not all the time but if I smile they are there. My b00bs are not as perky as they once were, and it seems I can never find a bra that makes them appear that way either. I have a bunch of little hairs that stick up from the top of my head. They are more coarse and don’t want to lay down with the rest of it. I think if I look closely, I’ll probably find that they are gray in color. My skin has lost its natural glow and now has uneven tones, mostly red tones that I find I have to fix in pictures. 

But when I step back from the mirror, and look for the positives in my appearance, I find something different. I look healthier and better than I did a year ago. I am 30+ pounds lighter. I also like my hair, minus the little wiry ones. My teeth are still white and those lines by my eyes..they are from laughter. I like to laugh. I look to my left and I see my beautiful, slobby, funny, smart children. All three of them. They are in my bedroom getting ready to start their day. One is eating sausage links, one is eating graham crackers, and the other is brushing her hair….all are sitting on my bed watching cartoons…in our home -our beautiful home that I have worked so hard to have. I may be another year older today, but I am blessed. If I died today, I would die happy knowing that I lived a life full of love. Who cares about the rest? I think if you really look, you will find whatever it is you want to find.

G~’s new love

I have roughly four weeks of this term left at school…the hardest 4 by the looks of it. I’m still barely passing one class with the instructor from hell. The other one is actually kind of fun but still lots of work. I will get through this.

The kids are doing great. T~ just got her ears pierced (again) because we made a deal last summer that if she got straight A’s I would let her get her ears double pierced. Well, she did it. I have a horrible memory – I thought I meant straight A’s for the year, but she swears it was just the term. I don’t remember what the heck I said, so I’ll take her word for it. I really don’t care much if she has them double pierced – but that’s as far as I’ll go. Only the ears, nothing else. It looks nice on her. I also bought tickets to New Moon for the midnight showing this week (the day it opens, but we go on Thursday night and catch the very first showing). Boy will I be tired on Friday! A~ also got an excellent report card. My kids rock!

G~ has a new love in his life. Her name is Dora. I bought him a DVD and now it’s out with SpongeBob and in with Dora. We also picked up a Dora doll for the tub last weekend. He won’t put them down. In the picture below – he is holding Dora and Boots and watching the Dora DVD…he wouldn’t take his eyes off of the screen long enough for me to take a picture even. LOL

The pajamas that he’s wearing have dinosaurs on them…but he points to them and calls them “kitty” over and over.

I had a proud parent moment this morning too. G~ came up with a new sentence – he pointed to his bottom and said, “Me toot.”  

I’m feeling much better about the recent break up. Suffice it to say I overlooked a lot of things about S~ that would not have worked long-term anyway. I cut him a lot of slack because he is Peanut’s dad. I guess it is all for the best…I wish my heart could see what my head does. But I feel better about everything and don’t dread coming to work anymore. He’s being “nice” about things and his family is still as kind as ever to me. I’ll be fine…when one door closes, another one opens. It’s all good.

The countdown is on…

There is a boy in China who waits for a family. He will age out of the program next month when he turns 14. He has medical issues that need to be addressed soon. This boy was being advocated for by my agency for a while now and they have finally found a family for him. This family is also adopting another child from China, so they now have double expenses. China is working with this family to get LuShi a home before it is too late. The family could use some help with the suddenly urgent costs. You can read their story and see a picture of this handsome young man on their website here: http://afamilyforchristina.blogspot.com/2009/11/we-desire-to-give-lushi-home-second-pa.html 

There is a chip-in button too. Any and every amount helps!

Puppy love

This is Sasha. She is one of the two puppies that S~ and his nephew got when they were staying with me. So when they left, they left them behind. I found a new home for Daisy – she was crazy hyper. I don’t have time for two puppies, but I have time for one. This one. She is so sweet. She is just one of those dogs that you know is special. She’s calm and she doesn’t jump on G~ at all. She doesn’t chase the chickens (the other one did). She carries her toys around and places them all on her rug in the house. Okay, they are mostly G~’s toys, but they are the ones we let her have.

She is loved.

She is not quite 5 months old. She is huge. Her father was half St. Bernard…so I have no idea how big she’ll get.