I'm A Little Bit Famous

At least that's what it felt like Friday night when a group of friends from high school went to see one of our fellow softball teammates get inducted into the Belmont Hall of Fame! Yes, that's right I once played with a hall of famer, so that makes me a little bit famous :)

Today has been a super busy day. This morning AP and I went to get fitted for bridesmaid and flower girl dresses for my cousin's wedding in October. While we were doing our girl thing, Hubs and C went to buy baseball gear for C's upcoming season. C is very excited about being old enough to play baseball.

Then this afternoon C and I took a meal to our friends who just had a baby on Monday. Little P is just perfect, don't you think?

Then tonight Daddy B and Grandma got here. They will be visiting until Wednesday. The kiddos love it when their grandparents come to visit!

AP Adoption Day

Two years ago today we met our feisty little pumpkin. Words cannot describe how much she has grown, changed, and learned over the last 2 years. She is so very different from the infant-like 10 month old that we met that day. But, in some ways she is so much the same. Her spunky personality was with her even in the attention-starved environment that she came from. She has been opinionated from Day 1. In the videos that we saw of her at 5 months old, she was throwing a full out fit when our facilitator tried to put her down. She is still very much that way. She is a strong-willed determined little girl. That will be such an asset for her. It does make parenting her very interesting, but I would not change her a bit. She truly is an amazing little girl, as is her older brother. I can hardly remember life without her. She is such a blessing to our little family. I posted this last year, but here is an excerpt from our travel journal on the day that we met...

"We are here and all accounted for! There is so much to say that I don't even know where to begin. Let's see...somewhere between Nashville and Chicago I developed pink eye! But, by divine intervention, our flight landed in the same terminal that housed the Univ of Chicago Med Ctr clinic. I was able to walk in, see a doc, confirm that I very much had pink eye, get meds, and move on. We made it just in time to board our flight to Istanbul. I knew that pink eye would more than likely spread through all of us and I didn't want to leave the US without eye drops. Anyway, the rest of our flights were smooth sailing. Turkish Air was really nice. They gave C a backpack full of little activities and we all got slippers and toiletries, much nicer than I expected. We met the the other family in Turkey. We all made it to our hotel in Bishkek at about 3 am on Sunday. Our trip to the orphanage was first, so we had to be at b'fast by 8. We slept (or pretended to) for about 3 hours, then we were up. We left at 9 to go to AP's orphanage. It was about an hour drive, not too bad. We passed so many animals along the way that C asked if we were at a zoo. We finally got to the orphanage and when we walked in the staff were distracted and we picked our girl out right away. She seemed so happy to see us, although we know now that she is just a happy baby. She also thinks that A is funny looking. All he has to do is look at her and she starts laughing. She is smaller than we expected, but most of the 9 month clothes are fitting. She is starting to grow hair. Basically, she is a beautiful little princess. She stays in bed throughout the night, but she woke up about on the hour. I think this is mostly b/c we don't have the best sleeping arrangements quite yet. C has been such a trooper! He is a great big brother. The hardest part for him has been adjusting to the time difference. I think he has told me that he was sleepy a million times. We are all sleepy. Right now both the angels are asleep, I hope they stay in sync like that. AP can crawl and is into everything. We almost lost our entire dinner last night when she decided she needed the tablecloth. Ok, I am rambling and paying by the minute to update everyone. We are all here and happy, kind of healthy. Did I mention that C got pink eye too? I'll try to update again soon."

I don't have any pictures of that day, and most of you that have been reading this for a while know why. Our camera was stolen out of the diaper bag that we were wearing while in Almaty. But I get to take pictures of her every day! Here are the many faces of AP two years after joining her forever family...

Last night we made cupcakes together for her to share with her friends today.

AP blessing her cupcakes at church tonight :) Then passing them out to her friends.

A little cuddle time with daddy before bed.

Spring Tees

Check out new spring tees at With Sugar On Top.

Pancakes and Parting

One of my favorite things about Nanna visiting is her breakfast cooking. Yesterday she made blueberry pancakes (mmm). Saturday morning she made my favorite b'fast, gravy and biscuits. I have tried a number of times to replicate her gravy and I just can't do it. Anyway, after b'fast yesterday the kiddos showed off their dancing skills while we cleaned the kitchen.

Then it was time to get cleaned up. Too much cuteness in one bathtub!

My sister always has to make a very important pitstop before heading back north. Here:

Apparently, they don't have "gutbombs" up there and she loves them. I don't like them at all, but can tolerate a Chik.

We miss everyone already!

Nertz Night

Last night Hubs and I taught the fam how to play Nertz, the card game we had learned the night before. It was...entertaining, to say the least.

Then this morning my niece was up bright and early before the rest of the kiddos and I had fun taking pictures of her sweet little face.

Reunited

Hubs and I had fun with friends sans children last night. I wish I had had my camera. We had a great time playing Rock Band, Catch Phrase (the girls dominated), and cards. I learned a new card game, Nertz. It took a while for Hubs and I to catch on, but it was pretty fun.

Shortly after we got back home (thanks Nanna for hanging with the kiddos), my sister, BIL, and niece arrived. They made a last minute decision to come down and spend the weekend with us as well. The kiddos stayed up late to see them. AP was so excited to see S. She sure is in love with her cousin!

Pajama Day

Yesterday was pj day at C's school. He was very excited to not have to get dressed for the day, but I think it made him more tired to have his pj's on. He moved soooo slow all morning. I wonder how wearing pj's affects their behavior at school? It was interesting that C took a nap yesterday at school, when he normally never does that, I think it was all because he was wearing pj's!
Right after we got home from school yesterday, Nanna arrived! She is in town to visit for the weekend. AP was a little upset when she figured out that Nanna didn't bring Baby S, but she quickly got over it.

Here is AP helping Nanna with some work on the computer.

Race Car Driver Knight made an appearance last night.

Then this morning AP was pretending that she was the mommy and Nanna was the baby. She begged Nanna to get in her lap! I'm sure those two will have fun today.

The End of a Peanut Butter Era

And no I'm not talking about all the salmonella going around! Somehow when C first came home, Hubs and I got in a habit of yelling "peanut butter" to distract C if one of us or the TV had said something that C should not hear or dwell on. For example, if a not nice word slipped out of my mouth, Hubs would yell "peanut butter" and then C would be distracted and thinking about why his dad just yelled that, rather than thinking about what his mom had just said. This silly habit spread to all of our family members and gets used a lot. (We really aren't a bunch of sailors) Anyway, yesterday the kiddos and I were at uncle and aunt's house and my cousin was on the computer and he said something that was not very nice, I yelled "peanut butter" because C was standing right there. C looked up at me and said "Mom, that does NOT distract me anymore!" Ha! He apparently had caught on to what we were trying to do a long time ago and just decided to let us in on it. Silly boy!

Bouncing, Painting, and Dancing

We had a busy Presidents Day today! We started out by meeting friends at church and going to try out a new bounce place, Monkey Joe's. Their inflatables were a lot more elaborate than our little small town jump place, but it was also way more crowded. With all the things to jump on, my kiddos were drawn to the put-in-a-quarter rides!

We went with our friends to lunch and then the kiddos had to go with me to get my annual TB skin test for work. That's always lots of fun :)

This afternoon we painted a canvas together to add a little artwork to the kiddos' bathroom. If you can't tell, the red hands are C's and the blue hands are AP's. I love the way it turned out!

Then tonight we had a little dance party in the kitchen. It was a great way to end our day. Now the dishes are clean, the laundry is done, kiddos are in bed, lunches are made for tomorrow, and the Bachelor is on TV. It doesn't get much better that that.