Dizzy yet???

I am and I can't stop myself and I don't think I am done yet! Still not quite the look I want but boy am I having fun trying!!! Hang in there with me:)

The Perfect Princess Party!!

Princess Em finally had her long awaited for and greatly anticipated Princess Party. She has been talking about this party for a loooooooooong time!! She only wanted to invite a few of her friends because she didn't want to have to share her baby dolls with all her friends! Well, at least she is honest:)

So, I think yesterday must have been the longest day of her life - or mine - I am not sure who suffered more!! The party didn't start until 3:00 so we spent the time decorating the house and then bribing the girls with TV so they would stay away from the balloons,





and getting gift bags ready!




The cake, however, was a different story! Em decided that she wanted a white cake with white frosting and "Happy Birthday" in blue, so a white cake with white frosting is what she got. However, it never quite made it to the "Happy Birthday" part because...



It started with a small crack and then fell!!! Completely fell!!! (insert Taps playing here) In my former life I used to be, you know one of those people who you know, um, cooked for other people. Yes, a caterer and while I was not the world's best caterer, I could whip up a mean Hummingbird Cake. It was one of my specialties and was a big, yummy, 3 layer cake. I'm just saying!! Now Miss Em had been planning this Princess Party for what seemed like forever! Check it out here. There was NO way I was brave enough to tell her that the cake for her Perfect Princess Party had fallen, so I was a complete chicken and hid it!! Of course, yesterday morning, all of my annoyingly inquisitive kids began the inquisition, relentlessly asking, "Mom, where is Em's cake?" They can't remember to brush their teeth but cake, they remember!!!!! UGH!! Anyway, off to school they went faster than usual and off to the store I went faster than usual to get one of these,



and then I pulled out the big gun...



and got this...



Thank you Duncan Hines!!!

After that particular crisis was adverted, it was time for the party. There were games like Pin the Crown on the Princess,




and pop the balloon with your bottom game!!




Little Miss Lizzie won that one to every one's surprise, despite her brother, the cheater!!!



There were Tiaras to decorate,



Ahem, for the girls!!!



There was a silly Daddy!!



and, of course, presents to open.





Complete with pretty, pink soccer cleats,



cause if you will please notice the black eye and the cut under her chin, you will see that as much as she says she loves princesses, she still likes her,



and her,



Hehe!!! In the end I think Em had a great party and proudly wore her new pretty, pink soccer cleats to bed that night complete with her Tiara and her Batman Big Boy pants!!! That's my girl!



It seems like just yesterday that you were my first baby girl in a sea of doting big brothers,



and just look at you now, 4 years later!!



You are my funny, sweet, beautiful, tomboy princess and you are such a bright ray of sunshine in my life!!! Love ya, my darlin' baby girl!!

Oh and if you wondered what happened to the incredibly shrinking birthday cake...



we ate it!!!!!

PJ Day

Today was PJ day for Lizzie at school! She was sooooooo excited and couldn't wait to get to school in her PJ's and eat all the foods that started with the letter P. As the teacher began to tell me their P food menu, I realized that Lizzie's short list of food favs include mostly foods that start with the letter P! Pizza, pancakes, popcorn, Popsicles and potato chips!! HUH!! Go figure!!

P! My new favorite letter:) Anyway, as she was changing at home, because this afternoon was big sissy's 4th birthday party, Lizzie wanted to take her pj top off "all by myself!" This is what that cute little charmer did,



Oh my darlin'!!! That day will come way too soon for your Momma!!! Pics of Em's Perfect Princess Party (there are those P's again) to come tomorrow. Who would have thought that chasing after 5 little Princesses would be so tiring!!



Nap anyone????? Hehe!!!

Opposites

This is how we teach the girls "big and little!"




Tazzie, BIG. Lizzie, little!!!!! Hehe!!

And geography???? Got that covered!!





This puzzle clearly states on the back, "for ages 5 and up!" HMMMMM???? Um, obviously nobody told Miss Lizzie that!!! She will work at this puzzle until she is done and she will tell me, "No Momma, I do it all by myself!!" Cannot wait to see what this spunky little girl has in store for us! I think???? Hehe!!!

Update!

I just received this email from Josh over at Small World Adoptions. It makes me very sad.

Overnight they (CCAA) removed all children that have been with us for more than three months. So, Anna is no longer on the list.

Our list now has 8 children, three of which are matched and 5 of which we hope to match this week before they are removed.

I can only imagine how hard it will be for sweet Anna (as well as all the other precious ones) to get adopted from the huge shared list. She sat on Small World's individual list for so long and I think her SN sounds scarier than it actually is. Please keep all these little ones in your prayers!

UGH!!!!!!

Once again, I am having trouble with my !@#$%^&* computer!!!! I need one of these,



Mine died a slow death but after many nights of twisting and turning to get just the right position (the power cord not me), it finally bit the dust! I have ordered a new one but it won't get here until later in the week!!!! Have I mentioned here before that patience is not something that I have a lot of or, um, any at all!!! It's true! Just ask my hubby or poor Karla at our adoption agency!! I know she was glad to see Lizzie come home!!! Hehe!!! So here I sit on an unfamiliar computer with about half of my stuff and the other half in places I don't have a clue how to get to and I am frustrated!!! Poor Hubby did everything thing he could to save the cord and all of my stuff but even his gallant efforts weren't enough and he got what he could before my computer completely lost power without it's POWER CORD!!! So UGH!!!!! I just wanted you all to know that until I get my computer back, I may not be posting quite as much! I am going to try and get my waiting kids up but that may be it until my new,



gets here...

and then I will,



Well, ok ,maybe not that, but definitely this!!

A new "Do"

Like the new look???? I am not sure that I do! Should I keep it, try something else or go back to the ole tried and true??? Maybe I will play with it a bit more tonight? Wish I could figure out how to put pics in my header? Anyone know how to do that?? If only I had about a bazillion hours in every day, I might be able to figure it out!! Hehe!!

Little Lizzie

So just how little is our little Lizzie May?

This was taken a couple of months after we got home. Notice what Lizzie is sitting in? It is Em's baby doll stroller! We used to let her sit in it when her poor skin was struggling so after her clubfoot casting began. While we were waiting for her skin to heal in between casts, she could not put any weight on that foot at all. So there she would sit when our arms got tired! She had some great rides from her brothers in that stroller. Picture taking corners at MOC 10!!! Hehe!



Here we are just last week. Know what she is sitting in here??



You guessed it! Em's baby doll high chair!!!

Oh well!!! Good things come in small packages, right??? There is a ton of love, laughter, determination and spitfire packed into that cute little 24 pound frame!!!! The funny thing is that my Aunt (my Mom's sister) is a petite little, black haired, brown eyed dynamo and my Mom is very tall, blonder, and grey eyed (just like Em). Hummmmmm, almost like it was meant to be:)

Sad

I am sad tonight. I am sad because I learned of a precious little boy (among so many precious ones) in one orphanage in China (among so many orphanages) who left this earth and is now Home. Truly Home. On this earth, he never knew the love and comfort of a family. He does now and that alone gives me comfort.



I have been following the blog of a very special young lady who is volunteering at an orphanage in China. Anneli's China Journey can be found here . I do not know her and cannot even remember how I found her blog but it has been interesting and inspiring to watch and up until today it was really just another blog that I would check from time to time. Today, however, I happen to check in after not having followed in a week or so to see the post title, "He didn't make it..." He is little Tristan. He was a beautiful little boy with a heart defect who lived his incredibly short, precious life without the love and comfort of a family. As I read that post and saw his beautiful face, I cried (am still crying) and I think his heartbreaking story touches my heart because he mattered and because they all matter and because I cannot imagine my life without the love of my family and I cannot imagine my kids' lives without the love of their family and I am sad, so incredibly sad for all those precious ones who will never know that love and some of whom will die in some hospital - alone. The luckier ones will have their nannies with them but not their Mommies and Daddies and again, I am so very sad. As I am burdened with everyday challenges (money being a biggie) I was jolted back to my reality tonight and to their reality and I feel foolish. I thank God for our unbelievable blessings and I thank God that He will be there for these children and will be their ultimate family and while Tristan is now at peace and is finally Home, I still grieve for him and all the others because they matter!!! I can never go back to my reality before Lizzie. My eyes and my heart have been opened and I can't close them again without knowing that I tried, tried to make a difference somehow to some little one, a world away. I am writing this post because of this little one whom I didn't even know existed until tonight and is now gone. I am writing this post so that others might understand that these pictures of these adorable faces are real children who hurt and who laugh and who cry and who love and who sometimes die and therefore, be moved to take that leap of faith and add another beautiful soul to their family or just sponsor a child who desperately needs a life saving operation or a nanny to love them or a school to attend and not just China but all over the world. My heart just lies in China because I have seen those faces in my apres' Lizzie reality and cannot forget them. That Red Thread is strong and is tugging, again!!! Please forgive this very sad post but I could not help but to be sad and I could not help but to post. Pray for sweet Tristan tonight and for all the others who wait.

Happy 7th Birthday Caleb!

I cannot believe that my baby boy is 7!! My sweet little Caleb in his 7 years of life, has had his challenges. As a baby, we discovered that Caleb had reflux - bad reflux!! He was spitting up and pooping blood - yeah bad!! We got him on some meds for reflux and the blood stopped (always a good thing) but he was still not nursing well. Back to the doctor where we found out that he was severely tongue tied! The doctor said and I quote, "This is probably the worst case that I have ever seen!" Of course:)

Well we got past all that and thought we were in the clear, however Caleb had other plans! One night when Caleb was about a year old, as I was feeding him, his little body stiffened and he began to twitch and shake. He had been sick but I was so unprepared for this. Hubby was, wouldn't ya know it, not at home and I was terrified as I watched my sweet baby have his first febrile seizure! Didn't know it was a febrile seizure at the time but after a trip to the ER in an ambulance, we discovered that it was indeed a febrile seizure. He had 4 that month and then never again!! Whew!

Then there was the trip to the ER when Caleb decided that running in Pet Smart was cool, until he feel and hit his head on one of the displays. Ten stitches later... so not cool!!! Hehe!!

Now fast forward to last year. After 6 uneventful years, things were going along just fine until Caleb had to go and fall off of the playground equipment at school! I got a phone call from his very sweet teacher telling me that he was dazed and confused and could not remember his brother's names! OK, here we go again!! I rushed to school and whisked my boy to the doctor where they proceeded to do x rays and a CT scan (just to be safe)! Then came the words that you really don't want or expect to hear about your beautiful baby boy, Caleb has a growth on his brain!!! Um, xcuse me! A what on his where????? Yep, a growth! A tumour! Why do docs say growth instead of tumour? Doesn't really sound all that better, does it? Anyway, on to the imaging place to get an MRI done! Yikes, now I am panicking a bit, but we make it through and find out that it is a begnin tumour (I mean growth) and we just need to watch it to make sure that the "growth" doesn't, well, grow!!

So here we are, 7 years after our sweet boy came into our lives and through it all, our Caleb grew from my little baby boy,



to my big, little baby boy,



and what complete joy he has brought to our lives.

He is the greatest little brother, adores his bigger brothers and can "hang with the big dogs!" I can, on most days, look out the window and see my Caleb right in the middle of his big brothers' pick up football games. My little 7 year old could teach some of those big 10 year olds how to play - well!



Caleb is also an amazing big brother and his sisters worship him!! He can think of the best games to play and can get them pumped up to think that even cleaning up is fun!! Gotta remember to ask him his secret:) Hehe!!



We had his party at the park (thank you Mr. Sun) and he had a blast playing football (of course) and just hanging with his buds!




Boys!!! Why does it always turn into a wrestling match?????



Ok big brother, you are supposed to be setting the example!! Geesh!!!



Here's the starting line up,



Some last minute instructions,



then it's time for some football!




The girls didn't want to play football (believe it or not) but they did have fun getting dizzy:)







Afterwards, there was cookie cake,



and presents,



lots of presents,



but the best gift was...



What do ya think? Does Caleb look like his dog??



Love ya sweet boy! Let's make your next 7 years, um, uneventful???