http://www.tgik.aboutpillsc.com

http://www.fxut.aboutpillsc.com

http://www.rmvj.aboutpillsc.com

http://www.cfzo.topcand.com

http://www.rni3.xmedx.com

Down the drive and through the snow... Christmas 2009

Our Christmas 2009 morning took off well. NOT!!

I had so carefully planned ahead and had gifts all ready at Grandpa's for the kids to find there when we came over Christmas morning. We had decided to celebrate there since it is easier for us to get out and be out of our own comfy chairs, than it is for him to do at 81. At least I thought I was carefully planning....

Since having my wonderful Aztec ( which we lost this summer due to being T boned) snow has not been the slightest problem for me. I could go where I wanted to without getting stuck or sliding. When I bought my RAV4 to replace the totaled Atec, I was assured it would handle just as well in the snow. WHOAAA..... After buzzing out Christmas morning and taking out of the garage like there will be no problem driving the block or so to Grandpa's on the new snow and promptly getting stuck at the bottom of the drive, despite all my best attempts to rock myself into moment, NO it does NOT!! It is lower to the ground and when the snow is higher than the car, well... it means kids have to stay at home without their Christmas gifts!

Thankfully, I have a very kind neighbor who helped me get back up the drive or we might have had to leave the car in the street. This was a morning I really regretted being a single mom with a bad leg!! The snow in the street was over my knees. Not easy for me to move in, by far. It had drifted, because we were actually under a blizzard warning, and was way too deep for us to even think of safely walking to Pop's.

Pop was OK and if he needed something, we would have to figure out a different game plan, but everyone was able to be safe at home and warm! Our power had actually gone off for over 5 hours that morning as well, so we took it as a blessing that we were not freezing!

Ham dinner aborted, presents postponed, we still had fun though. The kids played in the snow and then came in for hot roast and rice. We had a good day celebrating the birth of our Savior and enjoyed being with each other, which is what the holiday was about in the first place.


Christmas 2009, will hold good memories and it is doubtful that they will be forgotten!

Unimaginably behind.....

There is no way to begin to catch up, so our past few months will have to be shared in just a few pics ( and some pretty poor pics at that) and a few words..... My health has kept me very tired when the work day is done and even on the weekends, but since I now have a reason to account for why I feel this way, as in several combined autoimmune disorders, I don't feel too badly about trying to catch up now. Don't worry, I will be fine. I am just pacing myself more, rather than trying to be superwoman and ending up flat as a pancake with ulcers and hives :-)


October... Halloween, more specifically. Aubri wanted to go to the amusement park rather than Trick or Treat. She is a big kid now!





Grandpa took the little ones to Trunk or Treat at church, and forgot his camera, so the only photos I have are what I tried to grab at school..... They were cuties though!


Sera- 2 years ago in October. Here she is at her SWI watching another child be adopted.

Here she is traveling to her SWI. 'Proof to her kindergarten class that she is Chinese :-)
Some day soon, I will post my thoughts on the past two years, once I get time. She is such a special little one and deserves to have her changes recorded. We first met her on November 9th.... She has changed so much!Thanksgiving at Grandpa's. I cooked a simple meal and we just enjoyed being together! Time with Grandpa is always good time!


A trip to the mall to see Santa.... Now if I could only find the pictures we took with him!!


I promise to set aside more time to simply put the camera battery in to charge before picture worthy events and not rely on my cell as well as to just write a few words. These little ones are such special blessings and whether or not anyone else wants to know what they are doing.... I want to REMEMBER :-)

Pre flu photos

I cannot believe how fast they have grown! Aubri is just 11!! Each year she has shot up at least 6 inches! Andy is now almost 4 ft tall and where did my tiny little one go??


We did the pumpkin patch trip last weekend just before the flu hit Sera hard.... She has been such a sick little girl this past week with a high fever and breathing troubles. She has been up with breathing treatments at least 3 times each night and needed to have her 02 levels monitored closely. All kind of nebulizer meds and oral meds.....Thankfully, I was able to keep working a few days out of the week, since Aubri was able to care for her very well and get her home school assignments done with Grandpa's supervision. Now Aubri has had a fever and got a cough and is feeling pretty badly though.... So far, Andy seems to be doing OK with just a minor coughing fit once in a while and no fever yet. I am not too sure what I feel like. I am too tired to notice :-) Grandpa wore a mask while the kids were with him and I pray that he will not get it. He has Tamiflu, just in case, though!

In any case, we had fun at the pumpkin patch this year. Grandpa went with us, but stayed in the car due to the wind. We liked having him with us all the same! Sera knew what to expect this time and was so excited to go play there and the other two... well, they definitely know how to have fun in the hay :-) I am so glad we did it before the flu hit! There is no way I would take Sera there now.... Seeing her struggle to breathe just rips me apart! She will not complain but is so thankful for her breathing mask that helps her feel better. I so wish that her little lungs were not so fragile...

New look!

Isn't he so handsome in his new specs? I certainly think so! He is so happy to be able to see things on the board at school and see details he was missing before. He also thinks it makes him look like a different person and was worried that people would not know him. Now he knows that they will and is now happy to be a member of the four eyes club like his mom! 4 eyes are always better than just 2! He understands that math!

Unbelievable!!! I don't understand!!!

As I sit to write this, I am wondering IF I should write it at all AND IF it really happened..... My mind wants so badly to believe that it cannot be possible!!

Andy has weight issues. Not that he is too skinny, but that he is very thin, no matter how much I feed him. His metablism and his constant movement just seems to burn it all off. Since he takes Adderall which also decreases his appetite and I wanted to make sure he was eating at lunch, I have been packing him thermoses of his favorite high calorie comfort foods in his lunch daily. He generally eats about half of it. There just isn't time for him to eat and talk durring his 20 minute lunch.

I had been praising Sera for eating all of the lunch I had been packing for her each day to help encourage Andy to try to eat more. WOW did that ever backfire on me!! He evidently decided that he wanted to be praised too, but that there were other ways of accomplishing that... He simply dumped the leftover contents of his thermos behind the dog food bag in the garage before bringing in the thermos to proudly show me he had eaten everything!! I found this spoilage on Saturday and sent him to his grandpa's, because I was so put out that I truly could not be around him with out feeling like I would steam over.... I cannot stand lying! Evidently Grandpa mentioned to him that leftovers needed to be put down the garbage disposal.

Well, this morning, after telling Andy to bring in his lunch box so that I could pack it, I was doing Sera's hair in the bathroom. I heard an odd sound, kind of like a chair scooting on the floor that was loud and short. I didn't think much of it. When I walked out of the bathroom though, I noticed water and chicken noodles covering my hall walls. It appeared that someone had made snow angels on the walls, ALL down the hall with wet arms. I immediately yelled at Andy.... YEP!! He had taken a wad of wet paper towels and stuffed them in the garbage disposal drain, then poured his left over soup on top and tried to run the garbage disposal before I could get out there. Yep. That is my boy!!! Sneaky Petey!!

I kind of understood this, because of what Grandpa had told him, even though I was so frustrated I could not see straight. We came to school in a hurry, after I cleaned up as much as I could and he now has to come eat in my classroom where I can see him eat. I don't know what else will happen, and I think just wondering has him very worried, almost better than knowing a punishment. I don't think there will be much more of a punishment for the garbage disposal, since he was actually doing what he feels he was told to do. I semi understand it, even though I am not happy about having to replace a garbage disposal. It could be worse! His hand could have been in there!!

BUT, can anyone explain what this kid was thinking while making snow/ soup angels ALL OVER my walls!!!!!!!!!!?????????

Fall is here!!

We went out for a drive today after church to enjoy the crisp air and beautiful hues of fall. Aubri had wanted to Picnik a photo for Halloween, and a local cemetery seemed like a good setting. I had some pretty scary looking zombies ready to be altered, but once they saw what they were changed into they were not so thrilled.... Since Aubri has been devouring the Twilight series, of course she preferred to be a vampire. Oh well! We had fun and I have to admit that I like my little ones in their current "scary" form :-)

BTW, Sera's dress is a Poppydip! She adores this dress and with leggings it is great for the fall. Check them out if you have a little one who loves twirly dresses!! Your purchase will help bring home a sweetheart from Ethiopia!