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!!!!!

Bill and Ping sleeping.

Bookends.

Chinese New Year card from Miss Jillian.

The card.

Red envelopes stuffed and ready to go to school.

One of the dragon cards.

Ping and her Daddy's hat from Chinatown in TX.

Ashly showing how to make pizza. This is from the week before.

Dinner

Friends chatting.

Beautiful Catherine.

Manny and Katie. Adorable.

Jess with Katie and holding Yamira. So cute.

Miss Emily with her friend.

The group.

Manny at the bookstore.

Explaining the dance she is going to do.

Dancing.

Showing the kids how to dance.

Ping dancing with a scarf.

Big chair.

Big enough for all.

Why do I only seem to get caught up on Sundays here?

What a day. Bill worked at the Fire Department today. He just got home after running to Walmart. I have cleaned the dining room three times, the kitchen, the inside of the refrigerator, my office and a few other places. I am sitting down, but I am still doing stuff. I promised myself that today I would sit and enjoy my People magazine. I always feel like if I get it all done today, then tomorrow I can relax. It's been how many years I have said that to myself? I still have tons to do the next day. I loved my parents with all my heart, but keeping busy 24/7 has been a curse that they passed on to me. However, I never see it changing!

So this week in review. Monday was a regular school day. Bill got an opportunity to work at the Fire Dept. for the day, so I stayed home with Manny. I didn't get to swim. Not a big deal, but I like to get there daily. It's more important that Bill works though, so truly I did not mind. Bill came home after 6:00 pm, but was actually on call for the rest of the night till 6:00 am. I took Ping to Daisys in the evening. A fairly busy day with the three, but manageable.

On Tuesday, I dropped the girls off at school and took Bill to the hospital to have a colonoscopy. I then left him there and went home for a short time and then back out to get Yamira at school. Then I had to go back to the hospital to get Bill. A lot of running around in a short period of time. I did a quick errand with Bill and the kids staying in the car and then we headed home. Bill went straight to bed as he was tired. I took Yamira and we went to get Ping at school. We then went to skating. I don't think I was ever home more than 15 minutes at a time this day. I hate days like that. I feel like I don't get anything done. I do, but it's all driving around. So that is not really tangible to me.

On Wednesday, I also couldn't go swimming. I could not go yesterday because of Bill's test, so that was day two of not being able to go. I was due to help out in Ping's classroom in the morning, so now we are at day three of no exercise. Not the worst thing, but I really like to be in that routine. I find it helpful. I do enjoy helping out in Ping's class though, so I am happy to go. I love getting to know her friends and classmates. Her teacher is a dear. I left there around 10:30 am and headed home for a few minutes. Then I had to go back to the school to get Yamira at 11:00 am. We then had a fun play date at Ashly's home. Yamira loves seeing her best friends Sophie and Skylar. So we went over there and the girls made pizza. They loved that. Then they played and had some delicious cookies that Bridget made. Ashly is such a relaxed mom. Wish I could be that way. I have tried, but so far it's not working!!!! Before we knew it, the time was late and I had to leave and get Yamira home to change into her leotard for gymnastics. Bill and I literally ripped the clothes off of her and redressed her because Bill had to grab Ping at 3:00 pm and it was 10 minutes till 3:00 pm. So they headed off to get Ping and then went to gymnastics. It was nice to be home for a short time without the girls to get a few things done. Manny was here with me, but he was busy playing for the most part.

I had decided that Thursday was my day to go swimming. Well Mother Nature said no. She clearly wanted me and the kids to stay home because she decided to snow and snow hard! It was an okay day. It's hard being home with the three. They have so much energy. They need to be moving constantly. Ping went out and played in the snow while Daddy used the snow blower. The snow is too high for Manny. He gets frustrated and Yamira wants to go out but she can not handle the cold for more than 5 minutes. I got them both a project and they were pleased as punch! Once Ping came in, she was frozen stiff. Bill went off to the Fire Department for a few hours and so we did some craft projects and they watched some movies. I worked at my desk. Don't ask me what I did. I don't even get where I get all this stuff to do. In the afternoon when Bill came home, we ran to do a few errands. He drove, the kids sat in the back and I did all the running in. He then had to go back to the Fire Department to set up for a wake and funeral. I put the kids to bed and that was that. I passed out in my chair when I finally sat around 10:00 pm or so. I have to say that the day was okay, but my social worker was really rude to me and I find that unacceptable, especially since she accused me of something I had nothing to do with.

On Friday, I took the kids to school and finally got to swimming. It felt good to be there. I then headed to the store to return something and then home to shower. Bill had left at 11:00 am or so because he had to go to the wake for the entire day and evening. Manny and I picked up Yamira from school at 11:00 am and off we went for a therapy appointment for Miss Yamira. Manny played in the waiting room. I tried to read my favorite magazine, but it didn't happen. Shocker. Once home and fed, Manny napped. We had a 4:00 pm appointment with our social worker from DCF which was very frustrating. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about a few things. Crazy stuff for sure. One thing was that she disapproved of us doing an addition before we finalized the adoption. She thought it was too disruptive. Seriously? Like finalizing is going to bring different children? If they were disturbed before, they will be disturbed after. However, it has not been disruptive at all yet. Who does she think she is for telling me when I can do an addition. That is stepping over the line. There was a lot more to this awful meeting, but I don't want to write a novel here!

Once our worker was gone, I put the three kids in the car and headed to the wake. Bill watched the three kids in a private room while I paid my respects. It worked out fine. I brought the kids home, fed them and put them in bed. Bill got home around 9:00 pm or so. I was supposed to go to a book party, but had to cancel due to Bill being gone all day and night.

On Saturday, my neighbor came over to watch the kids so that I could go to the funeral. Bill left at 8:30 am and so I got myself ready, the kids ready with play stuff and got their lunches made. Once my wonderful neighbor showed, I headed out to the funeral. I wasn't able to go to the cemetery because my neighbor had plans and we did as well. The funeral was beautifully done. Once home, I got the kids ready and we headed off to the Dumpling group at WPI. The kids had a great time. I always love going, but it's very, very hard to go with three kids. Ping is older and wants to do the projects. The two younger want to run around like crazy kids. It's hard to manage them all. I did get some help from the older daughters of some dear friends. I was so grateful. I just felt awful as I had to keep yelling at the two youngest ones. I am sure they all thought I was a crazy lady. Hell, they probably thought I was crazy before this. The Chinese students are fabulous and helped out as well. However, even they were getting frustrated with the balloon punching and such. I was grateful for anyone that helped though, truly. I did not want to miss it for Ping's sake and mine. I enjoy being with others who have adopted and I love the students. They are phenomenal. They are so giving of their time. Ping made some Origami cranes and candy boxes. Fun. Then they had two little girls come in and show us their Chinese dancing. Then we did some Chinese New Year signs. At that point though, the little ones were off the walls, so we had to leave.

Once I got home, Bill was there so I told him the kids were all his. I needed a break. So I came in my office and got caught up with some things. Felt good. We got the kids fed and into bed. Before I knew it, the exhaustion I had turned into energy. I was able to sit here for a few hours doing stuff. Where that energy came from is beyond me as I was thoroughly exhausted when I came home from the Dumplings. I even sat at 11:00 pm and watched a movie.

Today Bill took the girls to Sunday School and then headed off to work. He worked at the station today. It's an abnormal week as he does not usually work at the Fire Department. I was home with the kids for the day. I think I mentioned earlier that all I did was organize and clean and clean and organize. The kids played all afternoon and watched a movie with some popcorn late this afternoon. The two youngest went to bed because they were pretty beastly for most of the day. Ping stayed up so she could hang out with Daddy. As for me, I am still at the blessed computer. I have been here catching up and on FB and email. I have gotten a ton done and I am very pleased about that. I am watching a Hallmark movie at 9:00 pm though, so I best post some pictures and get out of here.

Have a wonderful week.

Mama Out!!!!!!!!!

My gorgeous baby!

Gymnastic time.

Snow day.

Manny ready to play with his blocks.

Yamira tracing her doll stuff.

Shoes for sale.

Ping craft. Nice job!

Hubby going off to the wake.

Neesha.

Sophie.

Sasha with Daddy.

Casket on the fire truck.

Bagpipers.

Bill on the right.

Loading the casket.

Ready for the cemetery.

Flag over the cemetery.

Origami.

Yamira with Chao and Simone.

Chinese dancers.

Chinese dancers.

My dancers.

Mom and baby girl.

Daddy and sleeping baby.

Daddy and sleeping baby.

Snow from the front porch.

Skating 1

Skating 2

Skating 9

It's Sunday again!!!!

Another week down. This week was a toughie. We got a ton of snow and the kids didn't have three days of school. Having them around should have been somewhat delightful. NOT!

Monday was Martin Luther King day, so the girls didn't go to school. We stayed home for the day and did some crafts and they watched some movies. Not a very exciting day at all. In the evening, I took Ping to Daisys. She got two new petals that night. So I took a magazine with me and just waited until the ceremony at 6:45 pm. The little ones were in bed. Ping stayed up to finish something she was working on earlier and then she went to bed.

On Tuesday, it snowed like crazy. I think we got about two feet of snow. So everyone was home for the day. All three of the kids did crafts upon crafts upon crafts! The driving looked awful so we didn't venture outside until 3:00 pm. The girls still had their skating lessons. They never get canceled. The parking lot was never cleared, so it was a mess and people kept getting stuck. Ping's teacher wasn't there, so she was put into a class. She loved it none the less. We then did a quick errand at Michaels and came home. The roads were super slippery and I just wanted off. I wanted us all home safely.

On Wednesday, the girls finally went to school. Thank god because they can't handle being home well. I can't handle them being home either! Bill had an opportunity to work at the station from 6:00 am till 9:00 pm that night, so he was gone all day long. So I stayed home with Manny instead of dropping the girls off and then going swimming. I picked up Yamira at 11:10 am and then got Ping at 3:10 pm. We then headed off to gymnastics. Yamira didn't listen at all to her teacher and Manny was off the wall. He wasn't playing nice in the little playroom at the gym. I was really angry by the time I left the gym. We came home and had dinner and then after a little TV, they went to bed. Could not be fast enough for me. Bill finally strolled in around 9:00 pm. He was exhausted to say the least!

On Thursday, I dropped the girls off and headed to swim class. I hadn't been there all week long. I used to go five days a week. It's getting harder and harder to get there for so many reasons. All good ones. I just miss going. After picking up Yamira at school, we headed to the library for a play date with Skyler and Sophie. She had a great time as did I. I love chatting with their mom's! We then came home so Yamira could have a quick lunch and then I took Yamira to therapy. Bill got Ping from school. Once home, I grabbed Ping and us girls jumped back in the car for a dentist appointment. Ping had to have two cavities filled. What a night. Ping was beside herself crying and screaming. I was nearly in tears because my heart hurt for her. She hated the Novocaine. Meanwhile, Yamira gave me so much grief about going out to play in the waiting room, I finally gave it and told her to go. What did she do while I was with Ping? Oh, only throw everything all over the place. I was so angry! I made her pick everything up after she did that. So we were at the dentist a good 30 minutes waiting on her. She knew she wasn't allowed to take out more than one thing at a time because I had been in the waiting room with her before I had to go to Ping. So just because I wasn't there, she decided to make a mess. Just really disappointed in her. Once home, everyone had dinner and went to bed.

On Friday, it was Professional Development day for the teachers, so there was another day off. So the kids were home for the entire day. They wanted to do more crafts, so they did those. Then Ping went off to play at her best friend's house. She had a wonderful time. Bill did a lot of snow blowing because we had another big storm out there. I stayed in and worked at my desk. I literally had a large to do list. I am proud to say that I did 98% of the list! It took me from 10 am to 10 pm to do it, but I did it.

On Saturday, our friend Maura came over for a visit. She has not been to the house in 8 or so years. She was shocked at all the changes. We have built out to the left and now we are to the right. We spent the day trying to catch up, but the three little ones were really not helping. Yamira and Manny were really behaving fairly poorly. I was grateful that we could have some time to chat after the kids went to bed. Maura just moved back from Phoenix and I have missed her company terribly. I am so happy she is back home. At the same time, she really misses Phoenix and that makes me really sad. I want her to be happy. Selfishly, I want her to be happy in Norwood. I am hoping things turn around for her.

Today Bill took the girls to Sunday School and then went to Walpole to help Sarah and Brad get a washer and dryer moved. They got a great deal and needed a helper. So Bill shot down to help out. He was home within a few hours. The kids did some crafts and watched some TV, while I did a few things at the computer. What else is new? I wanted to sit down and read my People magazine, but I never got to it today. Now it's 8:00 pm and I don't think at this point I want to read it. I rather watch a little TV after doing a few more things!

It was a really tough week with the kids home so much. I have no idea, but Yamira and Manny were really rough this week. They were really poorly behaved. Yamira tested me every single day and would not give up. I swear she spent more time in time out than she did with the rest of the family. I think she must be going through one of her streaks. I call them streaks because she goes a few days, a week or a few weeks with this poor behavior and it's so frustrating. I am not sure that anything we are doing is helping, but we will keep doing what we are doing as I feel that it's the best way to work with her. I do love her and her brother dearly, but I don't like it when they are like this day after day. Makes it hard on everyone!

On top of the kids not behaving, I have had some terrible stomach burning. I am sure it will go away, but have had it for three days and it's very uncomfortable!

Well off to do one or two more things. Have a fabulous week!

Mama Out!!!!!!!!

Daisy meeting.

What the petals are for.

Ping.

Ping.

Friendship circle.

New petals.

Bottles of sand.

Ping's crown.

Ping and Yamira's new frames.

Scratch art.

Yamira's new necklace.

Manny at the skating rink.

The three.

Ping skating.

Neesha on her back.

Theresa.

Yamira.

Sophie, Skylar and Yamira.

Silly chicks.

Reading to each other.