Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Here we are at Sunday again!

Every time I tell myself that I better get caught up on the blog, it's Sunday. It's becoming a new ritual!

Monday of last week was a good day. The girls had school and Bill was able to work for the day at the Fire Department. In the evening, I went to the movies with Meri. We saw "No Strings Attached." Predictable, but very cute movie.

Tuesday brought snow. A lot of snow. I had planned to take Manny to a Meet Up with other moms at a cute play place, but it was canceled. The girls had a short day. Yamira got out an hour earlier than she usually does. They dismissed Ping at the same time. So she got out of school about 4 hours earlier than she should. Just as well as the driving was less than decent. Yamira and Ping worked on crafts for the day. Ping had dragon cards to make for Chinese New Year and Yamira had Valentine's Day cards to work on. So they were happy to sit at the kitchen table and craft away. Manny had a good nap and played with his train table. Unfortunately, skating lessons never get canceled, so at 3:15 pm we threw the kids in the car and made it to the Worcester rink. There were barely any people there. They both had a good lesson. I just wasn't thrilled we had to go out in the weather. They have no make ups though, so if you miss, you miss. It's frustrating, but it is a winter sport.

On Wednesday I was supposed to help out in Ping's classroom, but school was canceled the night before due to the snow that was still flying. The kids watched a few movies and did some more crafts and played with more toys. At 3:00 pm, Bill took the girls to their gymnastics class while I stayed home with Manny and made some important phone calls. It was a long day. I was glad to see the kids go to bed and very happy they were going to school the next day.

Thursday brought a full day of school. Yay. I was going to go swimming in the am, but Bill and I had a Kindergarten conference with Shayla's teacher at 9:00 am. Ping is doing well. She is having some difficulty in some areas, but all in all, she is doing very well. Manny was well behaved, but that is only because I brought him a bunch of snacks to munch on during our appointment. We then headed off to do a few errands and then went back to the school to get Yamira. We brought them home to feed them lunch and then we headed out to do a few more errands. We then had to head back to the school to get Ping. There are too many hours between the pick ups not to do anything, but not enough to do a lot of stuff. Very frustrating, but it is what it is. After we got Ping, we headed out to finish up our errands. We didn't get two done. That wasn't bad. One place wasn't open due to snow on the roof, so we need to go back to do that at some point this week. It was an exhausting day, but a good day because we got a lot done including some much needed tile shopping.

On Friday, I dropped the girls off and went swimming. First time I was able to swim all week! That is becoming a very bad habit. I have just had so many things to do every day in the am, that I don't get the swimming in. This week I am taking it off to try and get some errands done. After swimming, I picked up Yamira and took her to therapy. Bill put Manny in for a nap. When I got home, he went outside to chip at the ice and then it was time to pick up Ping. Yamira and I headed off to grab Ping and went home. I had wanted to go look at more tile, but that didn't work out.I had a little cleaning to do anyway. That night my friend Bridget and Ashly came over. They are the mom's of Yamira's best friends. We had a grand time chatting and chomping on snacks. I couldn't really chomp too much, but did have a few crackers with cheese and such.

Bill and Ping headed out at 9:00 am on Saturday to Rocky's Hardware. They were there to sell Girl Scout cookies. They stayed for three hours. The two youngest stayed home and played. I was really thinking we were going to go tile shopping in the afternoon, but it never worked out. I put Manny and Yamira in for a nap. I rarely put Yamira in for a nap, but we were going out that night and I wanted her to be well rested. Ping did some craft stuff while I actually sat down to watch a little TV. I passed out for a few minutes. Before I knew it, Manny and Yamira were staring at me. We all freshened up and headed out for Chinese food. We and three other families were having dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. We had a great time. The kids did some coloring and crafts and everyone got a red envelope that I stuffed with stickers, a lollipop in the shape of a rabbit and some firecracker thing with candy in it. They all seemed to love their red envelopes. The two youngest were not well behaved. I am not sure why, but both Manny and Yamira have really been struggling with behaving. This has been going on for a few weeks. I am hoping it is just a streak. We have weathered them before. Before we knew it, the hours had ticked on by and it was time to go home. The kids went to bed over 2 hours later than normal, but it was okay as we had a great time. The kids love the older girls and love to sit in their laps and chat away. Who can tear them away from that?

Today Bill had to work at the Fire Department after the girls went to Sunday School. I fed the kids lunch and took them to Barefoot Books in Concord. There was an explanation of what Chinese New Year is and a little dancing from a freshman in high school. She was very good. I have to say that she did a fabulous job answering questions, dancing, explaining things, but both her and her father were almost rude. Ping put her hand up and said she had the same beautiful fan as this girl did. The girl said back "Hmmm, really? I doubt it as I got mine in China." I was a little floored by how she said it. Very standoffish and rude. After she showed a little bit of the dancing, I said to her "That is the same exact fan that my daughter has and we got ours in China too!" I was just really put off by her and her dad. Like I said, she did great with the kids, but one on one, she was unfriendly as was her dad. There were a few things that was said while I tried talking with them, so I am not basing my thoughts on just that one thing. We had a nice time and Ping got a dragon and a book out of the deal. I was going to get the two little ones something too, but the place was way overpriced. I thought Ping's two things were on sale, so I was shocked when they were not. However, the event was free and I felt like I should buy something to show our appreciation. We came back to town and headed to CVS and to drop off something at Ping's friend's house before coming home. I gave them dinner and then Daddy walked in. He said hello and then there was a tone from the Fire Department, so back out he went. After watching a little TV, I put them to bed after reading them a book. Daddy was home in time to put cream on them and to give them kisses. They missed Daddy today. Now I am here catching up on the blog. I am going to go post some photos and try to watch some TV. I have a couple of movies that I have DVR'd and I should take the time now to watch them.

Tomorrow we are hopefully going to look for tile in between the school drop offs and pick ups!

Have a wonderful week.

Mama Out!!!!!