Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: We are in the final days before Christmas!

Well as I mentioned in my previous post, we didn't go to LaSalette. It was just too cold to go.

On Friday, I took Ping to dance class. She loves it. I am not a fan of going due to the other parents, but I suck it up for my girl. Again this week it was about having the badge of honor of birthing their children. Get over it people. Not everyone cares.

Friday night was as boring as boring can get. We have a new financial advisor. When my mom passed, I sought help from our bank. That gentleman has moved on and so our accounts have fallen into another person's hands. He feels he can help us manage our accounts better. He is helping Bill with a better 401k profile that Bill has through his work. It's so boring to me, but it's necessary. So we had a meeting on Friday night. He was here for hours. He is a nice guy, but frankly I find the subject matter pretty boring!!! We could manage the accounts on our own, but since I don't really know what I am doing, it's safer to have someone help. He can divvy up a dollar into the best accounts so we don't lose as much as we have due to the economic situation in the world. I always had a 401k through work. I just signed up and contributed. I never gave any thought to it. I did know that I could pick which stocks/bonds and such that I could put my money into, but never had the full grasp of the situation. I still don't, but I will get there hopefully one day.

Could my hands get any drier? I can't stand how dry my hands are. I am not a fan of lotion either. I suppose I wouldn't have this issue if I would just use some lotion. Part of the reason why my hands are so dry is because I al always washing them. Especially when Ping has a cold. Ping has a rotten cold now and I know she is going to be kind enough to pass it on to me. I can already recognize that wonderfully dry nose, etc.

Despite the cold outside and Ping's cold, we left at 2:00 pm to drive to Lowell on Saturday. We met Berj, Marghrit, Armig and Noushig at Santa's Magical Playground at 3:15 pm. I saw this place advertised on TV and thought it would be fun to check out. Needless to say it was basically a carnival centered around Santa in the cold!!!!! The kids had a wonderful time. We agreed that it was wonderful to get together, but we won't be returning next year. I have a ton of photos that I will post. After leaving there, we had dinner at the apple restaurant known as Applebys. Ping calls it the apple restaurant. It was nice to sit and relax and be warm!

On Sunday, Bill took Ping to Sunday School. I joined them at 10:45 am for church. The kids had a pageant in addition to the service. Ping was a donkey. Most adorable donkey I have ever seen. We were then going to go to Meri and Joe's because it was Lucas' birthday party, but the snow that we had started getting after 2:00 am was still coming down. Bill had to clean the driveway. Ping still has her cold. I had to do some wrapping, etc. So we stayed home and got things done. We would have preferred going out, but it was really cold and crappy from the snow. I got all of the wrapping done for the most part. I watched two movies and then it was off to bed for me.

Now it's Monday. I decided to let Ping sleep in because of her cold. 10 minutes later she was harrassing me about going to school. I should have sent her. I ended up wanting to kill myself and her before the end of the morning!!!!! Now she is watching TV and relaxing. I am catching up here and then I have got to get a few things done. We are supposed to drop off our DVD player to Meri and Joe who are borrowing it for their trip to Florida. We are then heading to LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro to see the lights. I think it's too cold to go, but I don't want to cancel our plans with our friends!!!!

Wish us warmth.

Mama Out!!!!!!