What a beautiful day out today!!!

I went to bed much later than I said I was going to last night. Then when I got into bed, no matter how tired I was, I could not fall asleep. I think it's because Bill was asleep on the couch and refused to move for me when I told him it was time for bed. When he doesn't come upstairs, it is very frustrating. Ping always wakes up crying and wants her Daddy. She then jumps out of bed and goes to find him. I know this is going to happen, so I believe I don't bother falling to sleep since this is going to occur shortly anyway. I don't remember when she woke up, but sure enough she did! I think it was after 2 am. Once Bill was in bed, I passed out. I was up really early this morning though. Bill had some training he had to go to in Sturbridge, so he had to be up early. I needed to get up early too because Ping and I had plans for the day. Due to unforeseen delays, we never made it to where we were going to go, but we did go out.

Around 11:30 am, Ping and I went to Target. We then went to the bank and McDonalds for an ice tea for me. We dropped the stuff we got at Target off at the house. We then met Ayi Meri at the YWCA for a puppet show. The kids played in the children's gym for 15 or so minutes and then we went upstairs to the puppet show. The show was great and Ping had a blast. Right after the show there was a bake sale, so I got Ping a snack and a drink and we sat so she could have her treat. I followed Meri back to her house and then the four of us had lunch at Friendlys. It was a nice afternoon out, but I have had a boatload of anxiety this week and I felt really at odds today. I did feel a little better after lunch, but it seems to have returned.

When I got home, I asked Bill to clean up his garage a little. The man does not know how to put things where they belong. We have at least 20 empty bottles of soda just hanging around the garage. Dude, put them in a garbage bag and return them. It's so elementary to me! It frustrates me that we have to clean this garage from head to toe every spring or summer because he doesn't maintain it all year. It wouldn't be a big deal if he just put stuff where it belongs. So Bill cleaned a little bit of the garage and I walked with Ping while she rode her tricycle around the area. It was good to be out walking, but I haven't walked in so long and I felt it. It really bothers me because I was walking 4 miles regularly just over a year or so ago! I guess I am going to have to get back to that at some point.

Bill fed Ping dinner. We didn't have dinner at all. He put her to bed at 8:30 pm. Haven't seen him since. It's now 12:30 am. I don't think he is coming back:)

I was hoping to see him. We have a few people coming over for my birthday tomorrow and I really wanted to pull some stuff out and could have used his help. I guess maybe tomorrow we can get these things done?

I got two mosquito bits on my face tonight. Grrrr. I am so itchy!

Well that is about it.

Mama Out!!!!!!

This was inside the children's gym.

Bounce house fun.

Puppet show. Same guy that did the birthday party we went to in March. He is excellent.

Waiting for the show to start.

One of the puppets.

Love this photo. Meri took most of them at the Y today. They are just doing the same thing and it's cute.

Ready to dance after the Puppet show.

View from country club up the street.

My lovely girl. Still waiting on the bangs.

Squinting from the sun.

I wish this wasn't blurry because I liked the photo.

Hanging on the fence.

Are we done yet Mama?

Loving her trike.

Walking and biking over to the cemetery.

This is Ping and Cris. Cris watched Ping with her grandmother's help last Friday when we went to the dinner theater.

Ball playing fun. Ping had a blast!

Yawn

Damn I am tired. I think I will head to bed a little early. I have to get up early anyway. I wonder if I will ever learn to go to bed early? I have a feeling I won't!!!

Yesterday wasn't a great day. I called about my ultrasound that I had on Friday and they have a few concerns. I have to go back on Tuesday for another test. The news threw me into a tizzy. I just sat here and stared at the computer shaking. I don't like to hear anything other than I am healthy as a horse. Well as healthy as I can be as a heavy woman!

I debated calling off my birthday on Saturday, but one way or another it's coming anyway. In the end, I didn't really see where I had a choice in that. The good thing is that I am having another birthday. I rather another than none!

It poured for most of the day. It wasn't pleasant to drive in, but I took Ping to a craft project that I signed her up for. So I drove 30 minutes there in the rain while she snoozed in the back seat. Man, I wish she could drive and I could snooze in the back seat. I don't want her to ever be old enough to drive though. So how does one settle that predicament? Well she loved the craft. She painted a plaster piece. She chose a kitty. She painted it pink and then purple! I am not good at these types of events. I had a feeling I wouldn't be. Ping is painting away and all I want to do is grab the paint brush out of her hands and smooth out the paint. I am such a perfectionist when it comes to certain things. This is one of them. So while the other mother's are looking at their children's projects and going "ohhh and ahhhhh" I am trying to restrain myself from leaping at the paint!!!!!! I have to say that at one point, I did try to smooth it out. I admit it, okay????? All Ping said was "Mama, I don't want your help." Meanwhile, the insides of me are screaming, "YES YOU DO!!!!!!!" I will work on this. I will also refrain from trying to get my child to pick out what I want her to paint. They had ONE ladybug. "Sweetie, don't you want the ladybug? No Mama, I want this. Oh but honey, you love ladybugs, look at how cute it is." I finally realized that I needed to get over it. Of course the child across from Ping chose it! I am hoping that I do better on this front in the future. The project was $7.00. The ladybug rain coat, boots and umbrella was way more than that. Oh yeah, had to get those things. After all, we had to pass them on the way out!!!!! They just try to lurk you into the store with a cheap craft project so you will buy something else, right? It's a ploy!!!! In all honesty, the girlie needed a rain coat. Bill has seen this rain coat and boots, etc. on others and I knew that he wanted them for Ping, so when I saw them I had to buy them! I had to get out of the store because it had to be at least 80 degrees in there. So we left right after buying the rain coat. We came home and I did a few things around here while Ping watched a video! I watched a movie that wasn't great and spoke with Anita who is away on a business trip. That finished up the night.

Today we stayed home all day. I started the day off with talking to Donna because a friend's mom passed away yesterday. She was such a wonderful woman. The last 10 years have not been good to her. She is finally at peace. I have a wake to go to on Sunday now.

I did a lot of cleaning around here after I showered. I had a lot of stuff that needed to find it's home, so I worked on that. I also got up the nerve to call the doctor about yesterdays results. I didn't feel like I got a great deal of info yesterday and felt that if the doctor could be more specific, I could live the next few days in better shape than I was yesterday. She did call me back and while she couldn't say anything for sure, they do think they see a stone in my gallbladder. That actually made me feel better. How odd is that???? I will know more next week.

Bill had a dentist appointment and came home a little earlier than usual. I was thrilled because I needed a million things done around here and I wanted his assistance. I then left for a hair appointment. I went to see Karen and got myself a nice cut and a glaze. It was nice to see her. It's been too long and we had some catching up to do!!!!! I got home late. I missed most of what was on TV, but that is not a big deal. I am now catching up here and going to bed.

See you another day.

Mama Out!!!!!!

Sophie loves Ping's bean bag. She only uses it if Ping is in bed though.

Hmmm, this is not a cat bed for a real cat. This is Snazzy Kitty's bed. I think I need to buy Sophie a bed!

Up close shot of Princess Sophie!

Plaster project.

Ping refuses to smile and look at me for a photo.

Daddy and Ping feeding the birdies.

Lovely ensemble up close. Sweatshirt, Princess dress, ladybug boots and blue hair bow.

Hmmm, she knows not to sit on my table. Hurricane Ping has been in the living room.

Princess or Chef? Can't be both, can you????? Only Ping.

Hi Grammy, it's me Ping. HELLO??????? She would not stop pretending to call Grammy, so we did call her. Sadly, she can't hear on the phone, so the play phone was no different than the real deal!

I am getting too far behind here!!!!

It's school vacation week. I suppose most people would be thrilled. Not me. That just means that Ping can get into all sorts of trouble. I am doing my best to minimize it!

Sunday we cleaned the garage. I have been wanting to do this for years. Like 5 years!!!!!! We have two garages. When my Mom built on to our existing house, she had them build a garage. Unfortunately, a lot of my Mom's stuff landed in boxes and then in the garage when she moved in. I am just now trying to go through them. I am working on them little by little. It's tough. It's hard to revisit a lot of this stuff. Sunday night we had dinner with Ayi Meri, Uncle Joe and Lucas.

I was up early yesterday because Ping was up and I can't leave her alone for more than one minute!!!!! I took a shower and then for six hours I poured through two boxes of paperwork. I went through two briefcases of my Dad's. I found old wills of my great-grandparents and grandparents. I found receipts from when my parents had furniture on layaway. I found the receipts from when my Dad was paying weekly for Mom's diamond. It's amazing what I found. It was really interesting. My parents were wonderful organizers. They were both the Executors for their parents, so we had all of the paperwork. I am grateful they had all this stuff. On the other hand, I wish I didn't have to go through it all. I was good until I opened my Dad's newest briefcase. That threw me for a loop. Then Ping put on a pair of my Dad's bifocals. He used them when he would read, otherwise he didn't need glasses. So I said to Ping, "those are Grampy's." So she went over to the Deacons Bench we have, climbed up on top of it and patted the picture of my parents hanging on the wall. I lost it then. It was just so sweet to see.

I can't believe that on Saturday, I am turning 40 and neither of my parents are here to see. It really saddens me. I really want to ask them some questions on some of the paperwork I found, but I obviously can't!

I finally had to give up the project at 5 pm as I was just so exhausted. Bill came home and had to change some locks in our doors and then we headed out for dinner with our friend Trisha and her two kids, Thomas and Julia. They were in the area. They live an hour away, but they were a few towns over for the night. It was great to see them!

I got up again early today. Ping and I ran a gazillion errands. I came home and worked on getting through a little more paperwork. I finally had to give up. It was just too much and I was tired from running all over the place. I can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday!!!! I am hoping to be able to go through another few boxes. I can't wait till this project is completed!

Well that is all for now. Hope you are well!

Mama Out!!!!

The week is over and it's vacation time for Ping!

Yesterday was a crazy day, so I didn't get around to posting. Seems like I have been having that issue all week long!!!!

I didn't have swimming because I had a gallbladder ultrasound. That went well. I won't know the results till next week though. After I left there, I dropped some donated items off at a place in Worcester and then went to get Ping. We came home after because we had plans for the night.

At an adoption Christmas party in 2007, I won tickets to go to the Newport Playhouse in Newport, RI. Ping's social worker works there as a drummer. She is lucky enough during the holidays to get tickets for two to attend. I was thrilled when we won. We have been dying to use the tickets, but Ping came home shortly after we won them and we have been so busy since.

I finally made reservations for us to go in December, but an ice storm canceled that plan. So I rescheduled for April 17th. Bill came home early from work because we needed to drop Ping off at a friends house and she is an hour away. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we had to change plans. We were not able to drop Ping off at a friend's house, so I called our social worker in a panic and told her we could probably not make it. She offered her daughter and mother as babysitters at her house. I was so unbelievably grateful. I know them both and they are wonderful. I felt awful though. So I called Ayi Meri, but she has been suffering with allergies and after talking to her, I knew I couldn't leave Ping there. So I called our social worker back and told her we were in the car and on our way! It worked out perfectly. Ping had a fabulous time and was entertained beautifully by our social worker's mom and daughter. She was there of course as was her husband. She didn't have to be to the theater till 10ish, so she was home most of the time. I had a feeling Ping would have a lot of fun being fussed over.

We had a wonderful time. We had a buffet dinner and then we went into another room for the show called "Butterflies are Free." We then moved back into the original room we were in and watched Caberet. We haven't been out alone in a long time. We had a lot of laughs!!!! After the show, we followed our social worker back to her house to pick up Ping. We were told that Ping was well behaved. That is so important to me. Nobody wants to watch another person's child and have them be miserable, right???? So we put Ping in the car and came home. I didn't go to bed until after 2:00 am.

Ping was not a happy girl today. She was overtired. An aunt of mine unexpectedly dropped by. She had her sister with her. Ping told them several times that she did not like them. Talk about embarrassing. Ping was just not a good girl today. We all have our days, right? We stayed home today. I wanted to move some furniture around and do some cleaning. Bill took Ping to the store with him to get some stuff, but other than that, we have been home! It was a little rainy out today, so Ping wasn't able to play in the yard with Daddy. Tomorrow may be better. We have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow around here. I am going to work on cleaning the garage I hope.

Well I am off for now.

XO.

Mama Out!!!!!

Wednesday and Thursday fun!

Yesterday I was so tired, I didn't get around to posting! I dropped Ping off at school and came home to shower. I skipped swimming because I had a meeting at Ping's school for 10:15 am. It went really well. I sat down with Ping's wonderful teacher and two other women. Of course their names are totally escaping me at this moment!!!! Ping is doing really well. They are very pleased with her progress. Her English is great. She socializes well. Her fine motor skills are fantastic. The speech teacher feels that she is doing above average. I really could not walked out of there any happier. She is getting a wonderful education and the people who work at her school are absolutely fantastic. Ping has three teachers in her classroom and she truly loves all three of them. I am so very lucky she goes to a good school. I love that she goes five days a week too. It can be exhausting, but it is truly good for her. I had to laugh at one point because the speech teacher said she didn't know the word Firefighter. I just could not wait to tell Bill that one! You would think she would absolutely know that word. To be honest, I was a little surprised she didn't. However, twice she has been asked to identify a Firefighter figure and she has not been able to come up with the name! Oh well. The good news is that she is doing fantastic. I immediately called to tell Bill, but I had no luck reaching him. Then he called me, but I didn't hear the phone. The message he left was "How can she not know what Firefighter is?"

After the meeting, I was able to leave with Ping and we drove straight to Holliston to go to a place called Playtown Express. Ping played for three hours without stopping. She did stop to take a sip of a drink, but that was it. This place is fantastic. They have so many different things to play with. There are little houses like a school house and a boutique. They have various things inside them. Then there is a huge bouncy house. A huge crawling type thing you find at most McDonalds, a huge inflatable slide, a huge inflatable obstacle course, a square inflatable enclosed playplace with a little slide and animals and there were three little cars that went on a track. Ping wore a Princess dress the entire time and went on everything. She actually wanted to go home after three hours because she was so exhausted!!!!!

We came home and she watched a video while I caught up with emails and such. I then went for a pedicure. My nails looked awful! I watched a Lifetime movie, but passed out till 2:00 am. Guess I was tired! I finally crawled up to bed after cleaning up some and making some copies of Ping's adoption paperwork for court. We are finalizing her adoption in the US in 2 weeks.

Today we had another busy day. After school we headed to Gymboree to see if we could use some of our Gym bucks! We got a few items. I mostly wanted to get Ping a white sweater to go with her dresses for our vacation. In case the a/c is cold, I figured a little sweater would be good for her. We then got her a hot dog and a special drink with some chips. We came straight home after. Ping passed out in the car within minutes of leaving the mall. I think she was still tired from her day yesterday. She has been sneezing a lot today. I hope she is not getting another cold. She always starts with sneezing!!!! Maybe it's allergies?

I did a few things around her this afternoon and then at 5:30 pm we went to Ping's school. They had a Spring Open House so that we could see what the children have been working on. We were not there long. Luckily we only have one child I guess. I saw too many parents being dragged from room to room because they have four or five children. I guess it's the silver lining in having one child. However, we definitely want another and it can't happen soon enough. Ping asked to go out to dinner, but I told her we were eating at Daddy's diner. Bill made dinner and I picked up toys and cleaned a little. Those two are now in bed and I am getting caught up here. I will post a few photos now. They came out awful. I had to shut the flash off and when that happens, they often get blurry. Not sure why!

Can I just tell you that I put on a new shirt the other night. I had just gotten it in the mail. I wanted to see if I liked it on. Ping was laying on my bed watching me and waiting for me to read her a story. She says "oh Mommy, you are so beautiful." Sometimes I can not hug, kiss or love her enough.

Hope you are well!

Mama Out!!!!!

Blurry photo of Ping coming down the ramp.

Inflatable slide.

Bouncy house.

Cars on ramp.

Inflatable square ring.

Little houses.

Square climber.

Running around in a Princess dress.

Coming down the slide.

Look at me Mommy.

Smiling and sliding.

Ping in the school house.

Ping in the tool shop.

Swinging in the dress.

Pretending to sleep on the little slide.

Riding the duck.

Smiling in the big inflatable obstacle course!

Easter Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!!!!!

I know I am behind on my posts, but we have truly been very busy!

Easter Sunday:

Ping woke up and then woke Daddy up. They hunted around the house for Easter Eggs. When I got up, I showered and then gave Ping her Easter Basket from the Easter bunny. She was thrilled. She got two coloring books, 2 videos and a Princess purse that goes around her waist that came with fake lipstick, eye shadow and sunglasses. She also got a bunny that rides a bike and has jelly beans in an egg behind him. She had Skittles and peanut M&M's in her eggs. She was a happy girl. We immediately left after she looked through her basket. We went to the cemetery and put a card at my parent's headstone. We then went to Sarah and Brad's. Sarah and Brad requested to use the Community room at their condo. It's a great room with three tables that seat four people each. There are a few chairs and a couch. There is also a big TV and a kitchen. There are bathroom facilities as well. They put together a buffet of sandwiches, chips and mini quiches plus plenty of desserts. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and with their family. Ping was fairly well behaved. Sarah and Brad gave her some wonderful goodies. They gave her a cute pail that said Miss Ping on it. There was chocolate inside and a stuffed Easter duck. They also got her a two piece tiered Easter bunny that was filled with chocolate and spice drops, etc. Yummo. She was thrilled. Sarah bought me a book she wants to read. They are the best. I can't wait to read the book.

After visiting with them for several hours, we headed over to Ayi Anita's parents house. We sat and visited for an hour with Anita, her parents and her grandmother. Uncle Robo was there visiting as well, so it was so nice to get to see them both.

We then came straight home. We were exhausted!!!!

Monday:

Ping had school and I had swimming. After I picked Ping up at school we went to my friend Christine's house. She has four beautiful children. Two of them play with Ping as they are six and three. They are Benjamin and Joshua and cute as buttons. We had lunch and then headed outside to play. They have a nice yard and have a trampoline we gave to them last year. Ping loves to go on the trampoline. They also have a swing set and another climbing piece of equipment. Unfortunately, shortly before leaving, Ping got hurt. We don't know what happened exactly. We were right there chatting and watching, but they had all gone down the slide and were in front of it. We could see them, but not completely from head to toe. All of a sudden, little Ben comes over and says that Ping is crying. We thought they were all just chatting and being loud as kids usually are. So we both ran to Ping. All I could do was hug her and assure her things would be okay. We asked what happened and she said that Joshua threw a rock at her. I am sure it was not intentional. They are such sweet kids. I am sure they were just playing and things got out of hand. Like I said, we were right there. It's not like stuff was being thrown back and forth!!!!! We then had to leave so we jumped in the car and headed to Walmart. I had a few things I needed to get, so I had to go. We were pretty wiped out. We headed home for the night after Walmart. Bill had work, then they gym and then the Masons, so he wasn't home till 11:00 pm. So I fed her and got her into bed. That is usually his routine. She usually is unhappy if it's me, but she was fine with it. We both passed out. I got back up within the hour and came downstairs to do some stuff and to watch a little TV.

Tuesday:

Today I had a few errands to do. After I picked up Ping, we headed to AC Moore and Target. I wanted to get some sliders to we could move a piece of furniture without having to inconvenience a friend. We are okay with some pieces, but occasionally Bill needs help when I can't pick the piece up. We then had a quick return to make at AC Moore and then we had lunch with Jenn and Jillian and Sam. It was a spur of the moment thing. We were both looking for something for lunch and we were talking on our cells and decided to meet at a local place. I ordered a burger. Unfortunately, I found a hair in my burger and that ended that lunch. I couldn't stomach eating anything after that! I swear all we did at the place was take turns using the bathroom. Jenn would go in with her two and then I would go in with Ping. We did this twice!!!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at home. We got home around 3:00 pm and I had to make a few calls. Bill came home around 5:00 pm, but he has already left for the Fire Department. There is training tonight. So I am putting Ping to bed. I might just pass out again. I am tired.

So that is basically it. I will upload some Easter photos now!

Hope you had a nice holiday!

Mama Out!!!!!

My new videos.

My new coloring books and bunny with jelly beans.

Brrr, it's cold outside.

Windy!

Losing patience with Mama.

Posing with the Easter bunny.

In the car on the way to Sarah's.

Ayi Sarah and Ping.

Opening her Pringles from Ayi Sarah and Uncle Brad.

Hanging with Daddy.