A Cool Guy

This morning AP commented on the paint I have all over my hands and arms that I couldn't get off. She said "you look kinda like a cool guy." I asked her what a cool guy was and she said "like a tattoo on your back and all over your arms and has long hair". Just thought I'd let you know what "cool" means to my 3 year old! I have no idea why.

3 years of AP Lovin'

Three years ago today we became a family of four! That day was a whirlwind, but is full of such awesome memories. We've had lots of talks today about Adoption Day/ Family Day/ Gotcha Day, whatever you want to call it. We talk about adoption in our house a lot anyway, but even more so today. I asked AP several questions this morning in the shower just to get an idea of her grasp of the concept at this stage in her development. She really understands a lot. She told me that she wants to go to see the hospital in Kyrgyzstan where she was born. As I dropped her off at MDO this morning she was telling her teacher all about being in someone else's belly and mommy coming on an airplane that had a baby bed. She is proud of her story and I hope it stays that way. We were in a furniture store this afternoon and she told all of the salespeople there that it was her Adoption Day and she was having a party!

Here is a look back at AP over the last 3 years. She had been home about a month and a half in this picture.This was the night we celebrated her being with us for 1 year! She's still such a baby here!Here she is sporting her Kyrgyz flag shirt on her 2 year anniversary of being our little pumpkin.And then tonight...She is so loved, so full of personality, so determined, and so funny. She has kept us on our toes these last three years and we have loved every minute of it!

Her brother loves her to pieces as well. She loves her "bubby" more than anything I think. They are each other's favorite playmates right now.

Tonight we went to dinner with Boompa and Baba to celebrate Adoption Day and to give Baba our good wishes for her upcoming trip to Haiti. She leaves next week and is travelling with a group that will fit people for eyeglasses. AP and C picked out a few treats for Baba to take with her to share with children in Haiti. Bubbles and Dumdums are the universal language, right?
The kiddos also made cards for Baba to take with her.

We went to September's for dinner. The food was good, but the dessert is outstanding!! For WW sake, we all shared 1 piece of the Banana Pudding Cheesecake, but believe me when I tell you I could easily eat the whole cake!

And for a quick WW update: down 8.4 pounds, it feels good, but there's still a long way to go

They've Got Our Number

So we didn't sign up for it, but it was delivered to our mailbox today.

I think they must have a database of every little girl who is about to turn 4.

Our little girl just happens to be obsessed with babies, to the point that if there are no babies around she has been known to start diapering and burping my water bottle.

So it comes as no surprise that she "need"s almost everything on every page of the AG catalog!

A Couple Firsts

Saturday afternoon one of C's classmates had a birthday party at Circus World. The kiddos had never been there and Hubs and I hadn't been there in a decade or so. It hasn't really changed much, so I don't know if that's good or bad :) One thing that has changed in the last few years is that they replaced the ice in the ice skating rink with synthetic ice. It was strange, but still fun.

C had never been ice skating or synthetic skating so it was a first either way. AP wasn't big enough to try.

I was amazed at how quickly C was able to stay up on the skates and zip around. He was practically running on the ice stuff. I think he would really enjoy trying true ice skating soon.

The kiddos also went bowling for the first time. Can you stand the cuteness in those teeny tiny bowling shoes?! C really liked it once we found the right ball.

And just because she was posing for me this morning :) Daddy and C went to church early. Leave the girls alone and we are sure to take a few pictures!

And I almost forgot, C's art in the last post depicted him eating candy! The only guesser was right. If C were president he would "eat candy" :)

Take A Guess

C brought this home from school today. I am guessing this was a part of their study of Presidents Day. So if C were president he would... Can you guess what he was writing? I'd love to see your guesses. I could not figure it out, but after he told me, it made sense and it made me laugh. The picture is a clue, although most definitely not drawn to scale!

This afternoon we took advantage of the sun shining and the temperatures rising! We met some friends at the greenway to get a little exercise.

Then tonight we went to celebrate Baby Pretzel turning ONE! Her name is not actually pretzel, but that is how AP has pronounced her name since she was born and the nickname has stuck! She has had a full first year of life, too. This is the little fighter that had heart surgery about 6 months ago. You would never guess that today, she's a perfectly healthy little pumpkin :)

C and his friend having a face-off!

One moment these two are best friends, the next moment they don't even want the other one to look at them. They are so much alike!

Here comes the cupcake!

And, for the record, she's not a fan.

Happy Birthday Little Pretzel!

Groundhog Day

Not the holiday, but the movie. I feel like we have been reliving the same thing over and over. More snow, no school, more snow, no school. I think we are on snow day #7 today! We haven't gotten that many since...ever! Don't get me wrong, I love having the kiddos home, and I love not having to be at school by 7, and I love not having to drive 2 towns over to go to speech (AP's speech therapy is in the school system). However, I have missed THREE very important meetings at school, 2 for AP and 1 for C, due to the snow. These meetings take forever to reschedule. It's starting to irritate me. And this time there was not enough snow to play in and way too cold to enjoy it. I think the high yesterday was 20 something.

Ok, now I am done venting. The snow is very pretty to look at. And I have been very productive in the down time, even got to have a kid-free dinner with a girlfriend last night all. by. ourselves :)

Celebration of Love

To put it in C's words, I hope you are enjoying this "celebration of love"!

Love From the Grands

You know it's going to be a good Saturday when it starts out with surprise roses from your husband! I forgot to take a picture, but they are pretty (as most roses are). After the roses, I spent most of the morning trying to figure out a way that we could make a trip to a warmer climate ASAP. I'm still working on it...

It was brought to my attention that I failed to mention here that last weekend C ended up with staples in his head! The kiddos were playing in the playroom and gave conflicting stories of how C's head ended up hitting a little wooden table, but it did. And it was not good. He was very brave, though! And today he was just as brave as they pulled those staples back out. It healed beautifully. I actually took a picture last Saturday, but I will spare blogland the bloody staple picture.

After the staple removal, the kiddos went shopping to spend the Valentines Day money that Daddy B and Grandma sent them. They both picked out sunglasses, which they both felt like they needed to wear immediately even though it was dark. AP also needed to change into her new shirt that she picked out right then.

We met Boompa and Baba for a V Day dinner. The kiddos got Hawaiian gifts from Baba's recent trip to Hawaii. Maybe we should go to Hawaii so they can wear their new shirts :) (see I'm still trying to work in that warmer climate...)


When we got home from dinner there were big boxes on the front step from Nanna! The kiddos loved their "I love you" bears.

Thank you to all the grandparents!!!!

Weird But Good

We've been getting ready for Valentines Day at our house. This weekend we finished making C's "mailbox" for his Valentines.

This afternoon we made red velvet cupcakes for the Puggles to decorate at church tonight. After C tasted the red velvet batter, he decided it was "weird, but good." I think if you didn't know that was red velvet batter, then you might think he looked a little like a Cullen :)

After putting little treat bags together for C's class and AP's MDO class I decided that it would be fun to paint cookies with Royal Icing to match their treat bags! Yes, I know it's a little OCD, but it was fun!

Hopefully, there will indeed be school tomorrow so AP doesn't miss her party!

Speaking of Snow

I love your lovely snow in the winter

I love your lovely leaves in the fall

I love your lovely flowers in the spring

I love your lovely sunshine in the summer

Amen

(C's bedtime prayer last night, as in this poetry spontaneously came from his mind...amazing)

It's Baaaack!

It keeps snowing and snowing and snowing! We are out of school again today. I don't think middle TN schools have missed this much school in a long time. Of course, I haven't had a school-aged kiddo until this year, but I used to work in the school system, so believe me when I tell you that I looked forward to snow days then too!

Was there a game on last night?

Because I spent the night chatting with girlfriends about paint colors, decorating schemes, Romans, and trying to name my friend's baby girl that will make her appearance in just a few short months. When I wasn't chatting or snacking, I was taking pictures of the cute kiddos as they ran by!

This little pumpkin crawled for the first time, even though she wasn't very happy about it!

You can see the Super Bowl was on in the background, but the dancing kiddos are way cuter!