Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

What a day, but I will get to that in a minute

First of all, yesterday was a great day. I took Yamira and Ping to a play date at Bridget's house so that the girls could play with Emma and Sophie. Sophie is Yamira's friend at school and they have been dying to play together outside of school. So yesterday we went over and the girls had so much fun. They even had a little tea party after they got all dolled up. We could have stayed for the entire afternoon, but we had plans with Mindy, Joe, Connor and Ciara at 4:30. After a quick ride home to get Manny and Bill, we headed on down to Holliston to Fatima. There are Christmas lights all over the property, so we went to walk around and enjoy them. We then went back to Mindy and Joe's to eat. I ordered a salad. The others got subs and the kids had pizza. We really had a fantastic day!

Today didn't start out so hot. Ping and Yamira carved pictures into Bill's bedroom night stand. They gouged it. It needs to now be repaired. I was horrified. Ping is no angel, but she never does anything like that. Both of us were shocked that she did it. Needless to say, the two girls earned themselves a day in their rooms. They came down for lunch and at 5:30 pm, I let them come down for dinner and a little TV watching. Ping was absolutely devastated that we had to punish her. Both Bill and I ended up in tears. It hurt us to punish her because we hardly ever have to and she took it so hard. She cried all day long. Yamira didn't seem to much care. That was bothersome too. Ping did at least apologize over and over again and said she was heartbroken that she did that to our furniture. They know better than to do something like that. Wish I knew what possessed them to do it!

While the girls sat in their rooms, Manny played at his train table. Bill and I cleaned and organized for hours upon hours. Not the most fun way to spend the day, but totally needed to be done. Cleaned out my Mom's closet and neatened things. Cleaned out the toy closet and neatened it all and threw a bunch of things away. Also cleaned the playroom a little. It's still chock full of stuff, but it's looking a lot better. All in all not the best day, but it's just a day.

Mama Out!!!!!

Sophie, Ping, Yamira and Emma in blue. Sam is looking on.

Beautiful, no?

Princess glasses.

Tea.

Fatima.

Fatima with Ciara.

Fatima.

Ping at the microphone.

Sophie under the tree.

Silly Sasha.

Hot cocoa.

Our tree.

Vera Bradley.

Sophie under the tree. Look at the tongue.

Damage!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Fun vacation week so far

Today we had a 10:00 am play date with Christine and her wonderful kids. We had the best time. Christine is quite the cook. She made brunch for everyone. I wasn't able to partake in any of it unfortunately, but the kids ate well! Christine made toast, big pancakes with chocolate chips in them and an awesome egg with potato, sausage and cheese casserole. Ping asked for seconds because she was so in love with the egg dish. Anything with sausage works well for Ping.

For the most part, everyone behaved themselves really well. Ping is over tired from all the excitement of the last few days and so she was a little weepy when she had her feelings hurt. She was just being really sensitive. It was over within minutes. Yamira couldn't stop flitting around with all the excitement of the dog and the kids getting together and Manny actually did pretty well playing with everyone. He was in love with Christine's older son TJ. Manny didn't want him to leave his side. Yamira didn't either for that matter.

We had a wonderful time catching up. We don't see each other nearly often enough. She and her husband have four kids and are expecting baby number 5. I can't wait to meet the new baby. Christine also home schools the kids and works when there are hours available at her job. So she is a busy lady. It was so good to see them all today. Nice way to spend a few hours on our vacation week. I didn't get any pictures of the kids playing unfortunately, but I got a few pictures of their adorable puppy Monk. I included them in a post that I did earlier today. They are trying to re-home him because they don't have the time to spend with him right now. He is a love bug.

Hope you are enjoying this holiday week.

Mama Out!!!!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

We are fast approaching the new year!

I guess I should get back on the ball and blog regularly. Seems like I only do it a week at a time now. Maybe that will be one of my New Years Resolutions? Just a thought.

So to share what we have done since I have last checked in here, I will start with last Sunday. We went to Ayi Anita's mom and dad's home for a little Christmas celebration. We visited with Ayi Anita, her brother and his wife, their kids and Anita's parents. There were a few uncles there and her grandmother was there as well. We had a wonderful time. We all sat around the table and snacked on nuts and fruit and then we exchanged gifts. I got the Bailey Uggs I wanted to badly from Anita. She rocks, no? She gave Bill a beautiful bird feeder and some bird feed. She gave Ping a gingerbread house to make and some music CDs. She gave Manny and Yamira a few CDs as well. They were so excited over all of their stuff. We were all thrilled with our loot. We made out well! We had a nice time and it was so good to see Ayi and her family.

On Monday, I skipped swimming and went to have a mammogram. Sadly, Bobby-Jo wasn't my technician, but it got done and that is the important thing. I then went to pick up a gift for a friend and then I proceeded to do a bunch of errands. Ping had a fun Daisy meeting. She could wear pajamas and she made a bunch of Christmas stuff. So she had a blast!

On Tuesday, I went into Yamira's class for a holiday party. I had a nice time with her making a few projects. Right after the party, I joined two mom's at the library. Skyler and Sophie are Yamira's best friends and so we got the three girls together and while they played we chatted. We both had a great time. In the afternoon Bill and I took the kids to their ice skating lessons. It was also Lucas' 7th birthday today!!!! Hard to believe how old he is getting. Not old, but older.

On Wednesday, I went to swim after I dropped the girls off at school. I hadn't been much the week before or this week, so I was anxious to go. Once I left there, I rushed home to shower and then I got Yamira from school and took her to therapy. The rest of the afternoon I was able to work at my desk at home. Bill took the girls to gymnastics. We also had the furnace cleaned.

Thursday was a free day. I took the girls to school and headed to the pool. Other than having to get the girls at school at their respective times, I was able to spend the day at home. I had a little wrapping to do. Mostly I napped. I didn't feel so hot, so I did spend a fair amount of time sitting on my favorite chair and dozing off. I more than made up for it though. I spent the entire night cleaning and doing all of the last minute things you have to do before Christmas.

Christmas Eve was a great day. I had a few last minute things to do, but other than that, we stayed home until 2:00 pm and then we headed over to Ayi Meri and Uncle Joe's house. We had a fabulous meal of roasted chicken with squash and cranberry sauce and a bunch of other things. Yum. I couldn't eat much, but what I ate was delicious!!!! We then exchanged gifts. Everyone seemed happy with what they got. My three got an easel that they can color, paint and use chalk at. They also got some paper to go with it. They can't wait till we get it set up. We will, we will. After our late lunch early dinner, we headed home to change because we had church at 7:00 pm and we were the family lighting the Advent candles and doing a reading. It was really poorly attended. The 11:00 pm service is nicer because there are more people and there is a nice calmness about it after everyone has been out for the night. However, it's too late for the kids. As it is, the kids didn't get into bed till nearly 9:00 pm. That is okay for Ping, but the two youngest are a mess if they go to bed after 7:00 pm. They aren't troopers, like Ping. They are our fragile flowers! Once they all got into bed, we did all of the last minute things we needed to do and got all of the presents out and put around the tree. It was a great day seeing friends.

Christmas day started at 8:30 am. The girls were so patient waiting for us to get up. They even let me shower before going downstairs. They were so well behaved while we sat and opened gifts. I was so proud of the three of them. They were so excited with everything. I took a bunch of photos and videos of it all. After we opened all of our gifts, we cleaned up and headed out to Ayi Donna and Uncle Brad's house. We had ham, potatoes and green bean casserole for dinner and carrot cake for dessert. I had a little of it all. I didn't feel good after two bites of the cake though. Of course not! You can't eat that stuff Jill!!!! We left fairly early at 5:00 pm and headed home. We let the kids play with their new train table and then we put them to bed. Spent the rest of the night watching TV. I had a ton of energy because it's the first year I could not over indulge and eat junk. Usually I am ready for a nap once the day is over. It was a very nice Christmas.

On Sunday, I woke up, but kept going back to sleep. I finally rolled out of bed regretfully around 3:00 pm. Mind you, I spoke on the phone for nearly two hours during the morning, so I wasn't sleeping that whole time! I got up and started to deChristmas the house. However, I didn't get far. Before I knew it, it was night time and we had to get the kids fed and to bed. Oh well, these things happen. I really wanted everything down and put away though!!!! Bill went to the fire department for 5:00 pm to put the chains on the trucks and to see if there were any calls during the storm we were having. He got home around 8:00 pm or so. The rest of the night was spent watching TV! We both passed out on our chair/couch.

I woke up at 6:00 am and crawled up to bed. The girls were up shortly after that. My friend Audra called because we had plans, but I had canceled yesterday. She called to see if we wanted to come over to her house later in the day for dinner since we didn't get together in the morning due to the streets being slippery. So after showering, suffering with terrible stomach issues for most of the morning and afternoon and taking down some Christmas stuff, we headed to Audra's for 4:30 pm. Audra cooked squash, broccoli in cheese sauce, made a salad and a wonderful Shepard's Pie. It was all wonderful. I was afraid to eat due to my stomach issues, but I had a little of the pie, squash and salad. It was so nice to be able to visit and catch up with Audra. It's been too long since I have seen her and her husband and two beautiful girls. We had a great time. Once home we put the kids right into bed. It was late for them. God knows how they are going to be tomorrow. I hope they are okay. We pay if we get them into bed late. We pay dearly.

Tomorrow/today as it's 1:00 am, we are going to my friend Christine's house. I am taking the kids and heading over in the morning for a visit. It's been too long since I have seen her and her children. I am very much looking forward to it. In the afternoon, we have to take the kids to their skating lessons. So because morning is fast approaching, I have got to get to bed.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a very Happy New Year!

Mama Out!!!!!