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

Last week I barely had any internet service, so I was unable to catch up here.

Monday I was supposed to have some work done on my car. It wasn't done. The guy cancelled again. Shocker! It's only been 7 or so times he has cancelled on me. Unacceptable.

On Tuesday, the car was supposed to be done, but the appointment was cancelled again. Do you see a trend here? Ping and I did errands on Monday and then turned around on this day and did some of the same errands. Unbelievable, no? In the afternoon, I took Ping to skating. On the way to skating, Ping asked me what color our trip was. I told her I wasn't sure what she was asking. She kept asking what color our trip was since we were leaving for New Hampshire on Tuesday. I was getting really frustrated because she was getting frustrated with me not answering her. I told her that I really didn't know what she meant by what color our trip was. So my sweetie says to me "Mama, you are not listening to me!!!!" This was said in a very annoyed tone. It was funny, but at the same time I was annoyed. I was listening, I just didn't know what she meant. I asked her what color our last trip was? I thought that would give me a clue. She said she didn't know!!! She then said "Is it brick?" So I said that I thought it was white. I think she wanted to know what color the building was that we were staying in. Since I have never been there, I didn't know. It was technically tan!

Skating went well. She finished her second session. She has to repeat the Tots 2 class. Everyone in class has to repeat it. There is a lot to learn before she can move on. When I got home, I got an email from a friend of ours telling us that they were going to surprise us and join us on our trip, but decided to tell us they were going so we could meet up. I was beyond excited. I truly was so thrilled.

On Wednesday, we had a crazy day. Bill went to work and I cleaned up the house so we could leave it in a good state before heading out for our trip. At 8:45 am, I got a call from my neighbor complaining about Charter and asking if our internet had not been working. So we both complained about that and I told her I had a 9:00 am appt. or so with them. A woman tech from Charter came. She was here for about two hours. Nothing was wrong with our equipment, however, she replaced all the connections anyway. She thinks it's an intermittent line issue. We have to call and tell Charter to come out when it happens next time. Oh sure, they will just jump for us!!!!!!! Anyway, Bill came home and we rushed around doing as much as we could and then jumped on the road for noon. The place was only an hour away, so it was a quick drive.

We got to the Inn at East Hill for 1:00 pm or so. We went in and got a tour. They told us to go into the dining room and have lunch, so we did. Then our friends came in. We decided to walk around and feed the goats and also try to get an egg from the chickens. They have a good size coop and you are allowed to get yourself two eggs a day. You can keep them in the fridge in your room and bring them home or you can have them cooked for breakfast. Needless to say, we never got an egg while we were there. It was too cold and there were very few. Alexa got one though. After we toured the place, we went to our rooms to check them out. We then decided to walk around a little more. We then took the girls swimming at the indoor pool and had dinner. After dinner, there was a DJ for the kids. Ping, Alexa and Stephani did a little dancing and then we all went back to our rooms. The kids were tired from swimming. There was no TV as promised and zero cell phone reception. Needless to say, I got into bed for 10:00 pm. I never go to bed that early. I ended up staring at the ceiling!

On Thursday morning, we met Stephani, Mike and Alexa for breakfast. We then went and fed the goats again. We were going to go sledding, but there wasn't enough snow. Our friends had to leave as it was snowing in CT, where they live. After we said goodbye, we headed inside to do a craft and then we had lunch. After lunch we hung around a little and then went to our room. At 5:00 pm, Bill walked Ping up to her party. There was a party for the kids from 5-9. We hired a babysitter to watch her at this party for the four hours. You have to do that if they are little. When Bill and I walked up for dinner at 6:00 pm, there was Ping and her sitter outside walking around. Ping didn't have a coat because Bill decided to carry it for her so she wouldn't have to worry about it. So I asked them what they were doing? Ping said they were walking down to where we were staying to see if there was anything to play with. I was so confused. I said, "Why aren't you downstiars playing and doing arts and crafts with the other kids?" The babysitter said nobody was down there. I was totally and utterly confused. So Bill took the two of them downstairs and then we sat down for dinner. Dinner was good. We sat at a long table with people all around us. The people were nice, but not that chatty. I guess it just depends who you sit with! Bill checked on Ping a few times since she was just downstairs. At 9:00 pm, we picked up Ping and told the babysitter we would return. I didn't bring my money to pay her, it was in the room. As we walked down the hill to our room, Ping started to complain she was hungry and that she didn't have dinner. I told her that she did have dinner and asked what she had. She kept insisting she hadn't had dinner. I thought for sure she just didn't know how to communicate that she did have dinner, but was hungry again. So I said to her "Did you have a hot dog?" She said "Sure" and began to bawl her eyes out. I put her on my lap and hugged her and told her that she didn't have to say "Sure" if she didn't have a hot dog. So I turned to Bill and said that we were all going back up to talk to the babysitter. Could Ping really not have had dinner????? So when we got up to the Inn, I asked her babysitter what Ping ate? She said she had some Goldfish. So I said "What did she have for dinner?" She said "You fed her." WHAT???????? It all became clear pretty fast. I asked her if she had ever babysat at this place before. She was about 14 or so years old. She said she worked in house keeping usually. I asked her if anyone told her what the program was for tonight. She said that nobody told her. Remember I said that they were downstairs and didn't see any kids and it didn't make any sense? That is because she picked up Ping in the dining room and took her downstairs. The kids were eating upstairs and then went downstairs. The poor girl didn't know! So Ping wasn't fed. So I told her that I wasn't mad at her and not to worry about it. I was livid though. We got Ping a big orange, some lemonade and hot chocolate. Since it was late, that did the trick. We then brought Ping back to the room to go to bed. Getting her to settle down was hard. Bill and she fell asleep and I stared at the clock. I wanted to see the ball drop, but again, there was no TV in our room like we had been promised!!!!! So I stared at the clock. I closed my eyes after 12:00 am. Happy New Year to me! Lol.

We got up on Friday morning and headed to breakfast. I then went to pay the bill and check out. I spoke to one of the owners about the various things that had been promised and not delivered. She took a good portion of the bill off. I was thrilled. We deserved it. The babysitter wasn't what was promised. I asked for an experienced babysitter, preferably one that was confortable with young children and might have had a babysitting course. The one Ping got was fine. She was sweet. However, I was mad that she wasn't given the skinny on the activities, that is just wrong. I was told there was a phone and a TV in the room and there wasn't. I was told we could do a sleigh ride and a trail ride and we couldn't. There were a few other things that went wrong. Kind of funny because everyone that we talked to was on their 10th or 14th or 20th trip. People love it there. We may try it again. It was a cute place to go to, but rustic. You have to expect that. It's not a top notch vacation, but it's a nice quick getaway place. We left after feeding the animals again and checking for eggs. We loved seeing the animals the most!

We got home a little after 1:00 pm on Friday. We did some laundry and cleaning. Nothing great, just stuff that needed to be done.

On Saturday, we did a lot of cleaning. Bill and I went through all of his jackets and now I have a huge pile going to a coat drive. We also have a pile of his shirts that I am going to donate. I have some shoes I am going to donate. We did a lot of work around the house.

In the evening, our friend Anita came to visit. It was so great being able to catch up with her. We sat and chatted for hours and then we watched "Four Christmases." Really funny and cute.

Now it's Sunday. Bill and Ping went to the free breakfast at church and then Ping had Sunday School. The rest of the day has been about doing the little things that need to be done around here. Catching up on laundry. We made cookies from a mix that was given to us, but they came out really bad. Not our fault. Ping went for a walk with Heidi our neighbor. Ping is now coloring and cutting. I told her I was watching her use her scissors and she best be keeping them on the paper and not her hair. I am catching up here and checking on places to donate things too. We have hung a photo, put away some additional Christmas things, cleaned the dining room, kitchen and living room. Just all the little things that we don't have time to do are getting done. Yay!!!!!

Well I must get off this blog and get some things done. First I will post some pictures. I hope you have a wonderful 2010!!!!!!!!

Mama Out!!!!!!!