Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Are you wondering if I have dropped off the face of the earth?

Nope. No such luck my friends. Just busier than usual. I find that hard to believe, but it's the truth.

I wasn't going to update today. In fact, I was not going to have to update because for the last week I have been trying to do it. Today I had some surgery and thought for sure that I couldn't get it done today. However, even though I am still woozy and not worth much around the house here, I decided to give this a try. I can sit on my rump and I can recall (badly) and get my blog caught up. It will make me feel better when it's done, right. If I don't seem to be making sense, please ignore me.

So, I have not been here since September 29th! I haven't stopped in since October. That is pretty pitiful. Let's see why?

Well Friday the 30th was a big day. We went to the Big E in Springfield with the Stand family. The weather was gorgeous. We had a great day. The kids were really overtired as it was a long day, but they had a great time. We walked around looking at all the crafters and we also went into the state buildings. It was my first time there. It was pretty crowded as it was the last weekend, but it was manageable. People have told me that they can eat their way in and out of that fair. They are not kidding. I didn't eat anything, but had a few samples of cheese and other assorted things. The corn on a stick and the potato stations called me, but I did not dare!!!! We didn't get a chance to catch any shows and we didn't do any rides and yet we were there for the entire day. Looking forward to going back again some day. It started to pour rain right as we were leaving. It is so nice to have a great family day with another family you love.

Saturday brought soccer at 9:00 am. I didn't attend. I felt awful I didn't go. Bill took Ping. He is her coach. It was just too cold and rainy to take the little ones. It's hard as they are old enough that they want to run around like Ping does and it is hard to contain them. That coupled with cold and wet feet, I just decided to keep them home since we had a busy day ahead of us.

Soon after Ping came home, we fed them lunch and put the little ones to bed. Ping and I jumped into the car and dashed the rain drops at the Fall Fest. I saw a bunch of friends there and scored 4 Halloween costumes for four dollars. Talk about luck. Great idea of recycling costumes. I got a purple dragon for Ping. How perfect is that for a dragon loving girl. I got Yamira a red and black spidery witch type costume which she loves and I got Manny a Pablo from the Backyardigans and a pirate costume. He loves both of them. I loved looking at all the scarecrows on the common too. After an hour or more we headed home.

The younger set was up and waiting for us. We all got ready and left for the Autumn Harvest Moon Dinner in Taunton. We went last year and had a ball. It's a Chinese holiday. The dinner is at a nice Chinese restaurant in a huge function room which you don't see often. There is a buffet, a DJ for the kids and all sorts of silent auctions and raffles. It's a great time. I won tickets for Story Land in NH. A moose tour in NH. Seekonk raceway tickets and Zoo New England tickets. So that was fabulous. They were all silent auction items. We left late and so the kids zonked out in the car. Everyone had a ball.

Sunday brought a 10 am appointment for me and Sunday School for the three. Bill takes them down and hangs there for an hour while they do their crafts and so much more. My appointment was to meet with the gentleman who is doing Ping's video. We needed to change a few things. Thought I would be there for an hour to two hours. Six flipping hours later, I left. He didn't save all of the changes we painstakingly made. He thought he did, but didn't. What a long day. The video is still not done, but I am doing the next part. I have to get all the music together. It was at least a fairly quiet day given how hectic we were for the two days before that.

Since we were going away Thursday night, I had a ton of my plate to do, so I had Bill bring down all of the Fall/Winter clothing. God I loathe that job, I really do. Unfortunately, the containers just stared at me when I walked by. I had too many other things to do between shuffling the kids back and forth to school a few times and Shayla having an ice skating lesson and then Daisies after. That was the last ice skating lesson for a short time. Not for this reason, but can I just say that people are so rude. My six year old held two doors for a woman and her son. Neither said thank you at either door. How rude is that? I was appalled to say the least. Why don't people have manners anymore. When I was growing up, I had to have impeccable manners as did my husband. Anyway, I have decided not to carry on with lessons because I am trying to take a different approach to things this year. We spent approx. $4,000 in extracurricular activities last year between gymnastics, swimming, skating and what not. Diasies is cheap and wonderful, so no complaints there. Anyway, between the amount it cost (which doesn't bother me that much) and the time it takes to get to these things weekly (which bothers me the most) I have decided to cut way back this school year. So far so good. I didn't sign anyone up for any long commitments. Ping is doing soccer and Daisies. She also had ice skating. Now she is doing tennis and it's only a few weeks. So I dropped ice skating for that. Soccer ends in two weeks. Yamira has two types of counseling which keeps us busy. Manny at this time does not have an outlet. I will find him one. I am also looking for different things for Shayla. Not just sports stuff. However, there aren't a lot of offerings for what I am looking for. Maybe in the spring there will be more? Bill is in school and I signed up again to be a Tastefully Simple consultant. It's just too much to run them to activities every single day practically and for the entire year. So I am changing things up and it's working so far. Anyway, I never got to the clothes that day and that bugged me, but I am only one person!

On Tuesday, I got a hair cut in the morning after the kids went to school. Then when school was over for Manny and Yamira, I dropped Manny off to be with Daddy and I took Yamira to her OT appointment. After OT and lunch, Manny and Yamira had a nap and I headed off to my ENT appointment to see if I still had this cyst thing in my nose that is abnormal. I was lucky that Daddy had the day off from school, so I could go to the appointment alone. They did find that the "growth" was still there and wanted to remove it. It does not look normal and yet it doesn't necessarily look awful. I am anxious to hear what it is. Will know soon. The rest of the day was spent at home. I finally got going on all the Fall/Winter clothes. What that means is that all three kids have to try on almost all of their clothes to see if they fit. If they are the same size and maker, they don't. However, they have to try on almost everything and that takes forever. Two hours and we were not done, but most of it was done. I also have to clear out all the Spring/Summer clothes in their bureau and pack them up. Then I have to split into piles of what will fit next year for all seasons, what we won't ever wear again and choose to give away through Freecycle or hold for another special little one if we are ever so lucky. It's just an awful task. I wanted to get it done though as I figured it would be cold in Vermont. Mind you it was the best weather ever!

Wednesday I had a few appointments. I had one at 9 am and one at 10 am. I also had to make a few business calls. In addition to that, I wanted everything clean in the house, everything organized, all calls made, all clothes packed and so on and so forth. I got a lot done, but still knew I would have to get a lot done tomorrow.

Thursday was here before I knew it. I got us all packed and did all those last minute things that have to be done. Bill was at school for the day. I let the kids stay up. We got a deal with the hotel that if we paid for three nights, the fourth was free. So it made sense to go on Thursday night. Unfortunately, we didn't leave till like 10:00 pm. Bill came home and packed the car. We got the very tired kids in and drove away. It took forever for Ping and Manny to fall asleep. Yamira made it nearly all the way. None of my kids sleep well in the car. Ping did when she was younger. They all can do a short nap, but nothing long term unfortunately. We were running out of gas quick. I thought Bill got gas during the day. I was wrong. So we got off the highway only to find out that there were not any stations open for miles and miles. That was a little concerning. We are on these quaint back roads and I wasn't ever sure we would get a cell signal. I said to Bill "Um, do you think AAA could even find us???" We did finally find one that was open 24 hours. Of course the bright lights, the cold breeze from the door opening, the door slamming shut all woke up the beauties. An hour later or so we arrived at Smugglers Notch in VT. We were sort of hell bent on not returning to VT after last year, but I got a great deal. In addition to the four nights, they have an indoor pool, a fun zone, babysitters and a day care center! Can't go wrong with that. So Bill ran in and got the keys that were left in an envelope and we went to our room. Nice place with a kitchen, dining and living room combo and two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We put the kids right in bed as it was 2:45 at this point. Bill brought everything in, but we left the stuff in the suitcases. It was just too darn late to get into emptying everything.

We woke up on Friday fairly early. Bill and I were dead to the world, but the kids were greeting the day like any other day. Bill got them breakfast, I unpacked and hit the shower. At 11:30, our babysitter showed up at the room. I had booked a babysitter through the hotel so that Bill and I could go ziplining. I have always wanted to go, but never have. So the babysitter was there to watch the three. They ate, the younger two napped and they went for a nice walk to play at the day care. They had a great time. So did we. There was about 10 to a group. There were two groups. We got all geared up and then we did a practice zip. After that we boarded a van and off we went into the woods to begin our adventure. It was fantastic. I wasn't scared. I was a little anxious that the equipment would hold me, but after testing it once, I was good to go. It was a gorgeous day out. Everyone had a blast. I am so glad we did it. Once we were done, we headed back to the room, talked to the babysitter and sent her on her way. We then all jumped in the car and went to get a few things I forgot. Socks. How did I forget socks? That and Bill forgot his razor. After getting some supplies, we had dinner and then went back to the hotel. Shayla was bummed as she really wanted to go to the fun zone, but it was late. They all passed out in the car within five minutes of us driving away from the restaurant. We put them to bed and turned on the fireplace. Bill did a crossword puzzle and I sat down and devoured a whole People magazine. Pure bliss!!!!!

Now this is a family vacation so I was very leery on doing this, but I did it. I had booked the day care for the entire day for Manny and Yamira a week before we left. I decided that we needed a little alone time with Ping and her with us. That and we were taking Ping to Canada. Can't go to Canada without a birth certificate or a passport. So Manny and Yamira could not have come with us anyway. They never would have been able to nap and they would not have as much fun as they would at the day care. So we dropped them off at 9:30 am and headed to Montreal. The day care is a state of the art facility. There were only maybe three kids there and three adults. They were so excited to be spending the day there. Yamira actually said "When you leaving mom?" Nice, eh?

The drive to Montreal was supposed to be under two hours. We got to the border with no issues, but then we hit horrible traffic. We had a small issue at the border too. The woman asked us to put the back windows down. We didn't care. She asked why we had two extra car seats. That was fine. However, she started to question us about Ping. Clearly she is adopted. She asked where her adoption papers were. I said they were at home. She said she would let it go this time, but in the future, we needed to have her adoption papers with us. That is bull. Absolute bull. If we had Yamira and Manny with us, she would not have known they were adopted and we would have been waved in. However, because Ping is Chinese and looks different than us, she felt she had the right to ask where her papers were. Not for nothing, but you can't get a passport without having all those papers submitted. So as we drive away, Bill is saying "she is probably right" and I am yelling "hell no she isn't." I have been meaning to call them to straighten it out. I would have debated there, but wanted to get in to have a nice day. The US declares her adopted and a US citizen. They took all my Chinese paperwork and held it while everything was verified. Do you know how scary that is as you can't replace that paperwork!!!!!! Anyway, Bill finally agreed. He didn't really get what I was saying, but I have a way of going on and on till you get it or say you get it. Too funny! So we sat in traffic forever on the bridge. Ping was less than thrilled. We went straight to the Notre Dam Basilica where Celine Dion got married. We wanted to tour it. It was closed as they were having a wedding. I knew it. I told Bill the night before that the one day we were going, it would be closed. So we peeked in and then headed off to find a bathroom. We did a little store shopping, had lunch and then walked down to Chinatown as it was only 5 minutes away. We bought two hats for Ping and some special candy made right in front of you called "Dragon Beard." Ping was of course delighted by the candy and the name of it. We then stopped at the fire station so that Bill could look around. It was in this huge building. It was so weird and the fire engines were very European. Then we walked to an store that featured all Indian products. We bought a bench and three cushions to go into the play room. I want to make the play room very ethnically diverse and this fit in perfect. The room is basically done except for a TV and one empty wall. We then packed the car and headed home. What a fabulous day. Just gorgeous out and we had such a nice time. We got back to the day care to a group of about 30 kids. The day care closes at 4 or so usually, but because it's a busy weekend, they feature a kids night on that Saturday during Columbus Day. So while parents are attending a nice wine and cheese event or wherever they have decided to go, the kids from 5:00 pm - 9:30 pm get to decorate pumpkins, go out to dinner, go out to the fun zone and have ice cream and movie time. Ping wanted to have ice cream too when we got there, so we left Ping there and went to the room to empty the car. Bill walked up to get them 30 minutes later. We immediately tucked them into bed. They all had a fantastic day! Score.

On Sunday we got up and headed out to a craft fair we usually enjoy. Well dumb us didn't remember that Hurricane Irene devastated a lot of Vermont. So there we drive the two hours to the craft fair just to have to keep turning around at the road is washed out. You would think there would be signs, but there wasn't. So it took us 5 hours to get the the craft fair that was actually awful. Hardly any vendors. What a day in the car with three little ones! We headed home another way and had dinner and then Ping went to the fun zone with Daddy while I tucked in the two tired cherubs. I then proceeded to pack all of our stuff while I waited on Daddy and Ping. Once Ping was in bed, I sat down and devoured another People magazine. Yummy! Finally got caught up as I was five magazines behind.

On Monday we packed up the car, checked out and headed to a great place for apples and cider donuts. The kids and Bill had a hot dog soaked in apple cider, apples and donuts. I ran across the street to a convenience store and found soup. It was really good. We then got on the road to head home. We had to get the kids home, fed, in bed and ready for school the next day. The ride home was awful due to traffic. Took us forever. However, the weekend was wonderful.

On Tuesday, Bill took the kids to school and I proceeded to get ready as I was manning the desk at their school from 9:00 am-11:00 am. I folded a bunch of things to help out and then I brought Manny and Yamira home. They get out at 11:00 am so it was perfect. I dropped Manny off with Daddy and took Yamira to OT. We then went home and they had lunch and took a nap. I spent the rest of the day emptying out suitcases, catching up with phone calls and doing some paperwork. We got Ping at 3:00 pm and came home to do homework, a few other things, dinner and bed.

On Wednesday I drove to Kimballs Farm to return something and purchased two gifts. I then met my sweet friend Kirsten at Panera in Worcester for some girl time. We had a great lunch. I then had to go home as Bill had to get to school. The kids and I went and got Ping from school and then did a bunch of errands. We ran to Target, Green Thumb and Babies R Us. We then came home and I fed the cherubs dinner and tucked them into bed. It was a long day of running around.

Thursday Bill took the kids to school. Right after school I took Manny to the doctors for some shots that he should have had in August. Not sure why he didn't. Anyway, the poor little man had four. He was a trooper. He screamed for three. Got two lollipops and was a happy boy by the time we were in the car. So proud of him. We then headed home for lunch and nap time. Ping started tennis today, so I had to pick her up at 4:00 pm vs 3:00 pm. She had an absolute blast. We then went straight home to meet with Miss Ding for some Chinese lessons. Ping did great. She loves Miss Ding and her iPad! I am surprised Ping has yet to ask for one for Christmas. There is still time and the answer will be the same. No way!

On Friday, Bill and I took Neesha and Sasha to the vets. Sasha was fine, but Neesha was a hissing and snarling mess. She isn't like that usually. Not sure why she was that way, but she regrettably was. She and Sasha had blood work done and shots. We were there for nearly two hours. I was freaking out as we had an appointment at the house and we had to get Yamira and Manny. We were right on time to get them from school. As for the appointment, they were running late too. Thank goodness I reached them on their cell. Once we got the kids, we drove home and literally walked to Bill's car so we could do a quick errand to Walmart. That took forever so Bill had to drive Yamira and I to Yamira's therapy as there wasn't any time to go home! He then went home and put the stuff in the freezer, came back to get us and we headed off to do a few more errands. I hate days like thing. We had some snacks for the kids, so they were not starved, but we did not get home till after 3:00 pm as we still had to pick up Ping at school. Just makes for a long and aggravating day. However, you have to do what you have to do. After the kids went to bed, a few girlfriends came over for snacks and good chit chat! Great night.

Saturday started off with soccer for Ping and then Tower Hill with Ping for a small Daisy event. I felt awfully guilty, but decided to skip soccer. I had a bunch of things to do here and we had a full day on tap. I did feel so awful about it, but I am trying to stop doing so much. It is getting out of control. I had to get myself ready, Manny and Yamira ready, cut and plate a dessert, pack up lunch for Bill and the kids and toys for the kids to play with while hanging out at grandmas's for the day. That took up the two hours I had. I met Bill in the next town and we parked his truck for the day. Ping changed in the car and then we headed down the highway to his Mom's in Foxboro. I went in and said hello, got the kids their lunch and left. My mother in law said "Are the kids going to be okay with their lunch." I said "yes, and if they are not, their Dad is right there on the couch!" She is 82 and very old fashioned. She is sweet, but these comments drive me batty. I left for Norwood as I had a Girl Scout Reunion to attend. I had a wonderful time. It was so nice to see the ladies after all these years. Our two main leaders were there. They were wonderful then and they are still wonderful. They brought tons of albums and charts and old camping gear. It was hysterical. We had soups, breads, salads and desserts. We did a craft and we read special memories we had printed out from one of the hostesses. She also put all of those memories in books for the ladies. The craft I did took the longest. This is why I don't get involved in these things. As usual, I shoot for the longest way I can possibly do a project. So I sat there alone for a good portion of it. After saying goodbye, I headed to "Fancy That" to give Sarah her long awaited birthday present. We chatted a bit. I couldn't stay long because Bill was with the kids alone at his Mother's house and he had been there for hours and the two little ones were awful as they hadn't napped even though Bill tried to get them to nap. I was surprised they were not fed dinner, but it wasn't offered. That was very disappointing because we had an hour drive ahead of us. While there the MIL said to m " I don't know what my husband would have done had I left three of my kids home alone with him." I know she didn't mean it meanly, but she put her hand up so Bill didn't hear her say it to me. Am I a jerk because I left them in his car and went off for the day? I never do that. It was frustrating to hear. When we first got there she said "I was wondering when you were going to get here?" It was 1:00 pm! UGH. Anyway, we got the kids in the car and once home they had a quick dinner and off to bed they went. Tired little buggers.

Sunday morning came and Bill headed off to the station for Open House. I feel asleep the night before on the chair, so I never did get upstairs to get any real rest. The kids were watching a program and as guilty as I felt, it had been a busy couple of days and we had stuff to do today so I didn't take them to Sunday School. Bill usually takes them. When he can't, I will. However, I just didn't take them. Again, guilt. However, it is all too much sometimes. I took a shower and we went to CVS, dropped off some TS catalogs and then headed to the Open House. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing a few things around here that absolutely needed to be done. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel after surgery on Tuesday, so wanted to get as much resolved as possible. Didn't get it all done, but got some stuff done and felt good about how my desk looked.

Wow, can't really believe I remember this all. This has taken I don't know how many hours to catch up and I have yet to get onto photos. Oy Vey!!!!

On Monday, I had a full open day. Yay. Bill took the kids to school. I got up and started working on a bunch of things for TS. I sorted nearly 200o photos. I don't even remember everything I did. Bill was at school the entire day, so I had pick up at 11:00 am for Manny and Yamira and pick up at 3:00 pm for Ping. After doing homework with Ping, I fed the kids and we headed off to Daisies. I wanted to get there early to greet the parents as I am responsible for the fall product sale this year. Bill met me there. I didn't feel so great, so we left with Manny and Yamira and Ping came home a little while later with Kirsten who offered to drive her home. Somewhere around 8:30 pm, I hit an absolute wall. All of a sudden I was super duper tired. So I decided to sit and try to watch some TV. That seemed like a waste of time because I could do some stuff while watching TV, so I got a lot of those pictures that I started on earlier figured out. They aren't done, but they are nearly done! I passed out mid program at some point and woke at like 3:00 am.

This morning I got up early and got the kids up early. We dropped the kids off at 7:50 am. I didn't know that Manny and Yamira couldn't be dropped off because they were preschoolers. However, due to the fact that I was having surgery, they took them. Thank goodness for that! Bill took me to the surgical building and after some quick paperwork, I was hooked up and ready to go. I woke up about 30 minutes later. I felt okay, but really wanted to sleep longer. Got to grab sleep when you can, right? I felt like I had a ball of nails in my throat. Surprisingly, my nose didn't hurt badly as I was having something removed from there. Bill came and got me after he picked up the kids. We stopped at Panera so that I could get some soup. I was told no hot food, but I had to give it a shot. Had to eat at some point during the day. I have yet to have it. I had soup that I had from yesterday. So I will have that tomorrow I suppose. I fed the kids while Bill did homework and proceeded to try and nap for an hour. Did not work. I thought the kids will nap and I can nap for some if it so I feel good for the rest of the afternoon or at least better than I was as I was tired and woozy. The phone kept ringing and the kids ran in and out, so no nap for me. Bill left for school and I came downstairs. I had to wait for Ping to come home. My sweet friend Renee was bringing her home for me. In addition to that, my awesome contractor was coming to pick up our family room furniture as I sold it to someone. They were coming for 2:30 pm, but did not get here till after 5:00 pm. I am not complaining as I am so grateful that he was sending his men, but I could have tried sleeping for nearly an hour more. Oh well. With the exception of talking with Renee when Ping came home and the guys coming to get the furniture, I have been up and slowly doing things. This blog seriously has taken me hours. I am just grateful it's caught up. Pictures take forever, so I think I am going to take a short break and then come back to them. The day has gone fairly well. I am tired and woozy. I am moving slowly and my nose is dripping blood, but in all honestly, I am not really in any awful pain or anything. Tomorrow I will get my meds even though I won't take the pain meds as I don't think I need them. However, I do need the nasal spray I am supposed to do every hours since leaving the center and I need to take a preventative antibiotic. Bill was going to go at 1:00 pm, but forgot. When he got home at 9:30 pm, I found out he completely forgot my meds all together. So I will get them or he will tomorrow. Frustrating for sure, but it is what it is. Well I am going to go see if I can't catch a little TV. I will be back to post pictures soon.

Well since it is Wednesday I figured I would add in what is on tap for today. I am determined to work on the 2,000 photos and get them into their respective albums. I am determined to get cracking on the Girl Scout fall products that I am in charge of and I am planning on now getting some photos uploaded here. So I better go and do that now.

Mama Out!!!!!!!!