Hi Blog

Wow, I miss blogging.  I love looking back on the funny things the kids have done or what life was like last year.  Maybe, just maybe I can get back to it regularly.  It's not like the kids have stopped doing crazy stuff... I guess I post the best ones on Facebook though.  Now I need to figure out a way to get it all in one place... maybe make a book from it all.  I think it will be easier once I can post baby girls pictures.  She's in all our family pictures and if I want to post them I need to hid her face... it's a bit of extra work and I don't think I have the time. 

Last we heard we may be able to finalize her adoption this summer.  All is going really well with that.  She's a little energy ball and drives me crazy but I love her.  She's hit her "terrible twos" in full force and early.  She's only 19 months but she acts 2 1/2.  It's exhausting dealing with her attitude and her getting into everything at every moment, home-schooling Tori and dealing with her being VERY emotional, and Siah's non-stop boy energy... well you can just imagine.  Add to the mix a constantly barking dog, 4 needy chickys, 1 cat, 1 frog... cause the other one went missing, 1 fish, a cage full of crickets, and a garden- WOW!  Life is nuts.  That's just at home.  I didn't even mention all the stuff outside of home.

Time to get off the computer... a few chores/kids/pets are trying to get my attention.

Catch Up... or maybe not

For some reason... or reasons I am just not able to keep up with my blog this year.  I miss it though so I thought I'd do a quick recap of the year so far.

That's the sentence I wrote this morning it's now 11:30pm... I didn't get too far.  So here are some pictures from January.  I'll try again another day.  I've got tons of fun Disneyland pictures to share.

R U scared of Reindeer?

So, last night Jeff and I were watching the movie Red and in the opening scenes there were Christmas lawn decorations which reminded me of a funny thing that happened back at Christmas time.  (I figured I'd better write it down cause it would be a bummer to forget the funny little things my munchkins say and do.) 

One evening before Christmas we went on a "sleigh ride" California style- we rolled down the windows in the minivan, drank hot cocoa and munched on candy canes while touring the neighborhoods.  Not long after our tour began Siah started crying and shouting "roll window up" actually it sounded more like, "woll indo".  So of course we did but we couldn't figure out why he was so scared.  Out the window there were some happy mechanical deer... you know the ones- white with tiny lights that move their heads up and down.  This scene even included Rudolph. 

After a bunch of guesses, we were able to figure out that he didn't like the reindeer but we weren't sure why.  We continued the sleigh ride and he continued to freak when he saw the reindeer... and they were everywhere.  Eventually he said, "it's pooping!"  us- "What?  What's pooping?  You?"  S- "no, the one with the red nose!"  So after much guessing as to what was going on in his confused little mind we finally determined that he was afraid that all of the reindeer were pooping on the peoples lawns... especially the one with the red nose!  Wow, I think this kid has stepped in dog poop too much.  He knows how gross it is to have poop on the lawn.  So for all of you that put reindeer on your lawn... watch out for the poo.

Next story I need to blog about will involve poop as well... snake poop to be exact.  Stay tuned... it's a dozie.  (Is that how you spell that?)  I can't believe I actually got this written.  I was interrupted a minimum of 30 times and that's just by the older two.  The baby is asleep.  That's why it's February and I'm blogging about December.

Christmas came and went... time to finally post some pics

Oops, I forgot... I can't post my Christmas pictures here.  Hop over to Coffer5.blogspot where I'll post pictures of baby girl.  It was a lovely Christmas and a wonderfully warm January.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

No, Samson doesn't usually cuddle on the couch but, it was just too cute. 
Look closely and you'll see kitty looking in on the scene.



Reindeer games




We went to a super fun Christmas event.  The kids loved the petting zoo.




This little alpaca was the cutest little guy. 
Super soft fur and an adorable face.




Hayride



Bringing home crafts



This day Tori had joined me at a luncheon, then went to a fun 5 year old birthday party, followed by the beach with friends, and a Christmas evening.  She was DONE!




DONE!




and DONE!

(Just a reminder... I still can't post recognizable photos of baby girl on this blog so I don't post often.  You can check out our other blog though and see family pictures and stories that involve her.  Just e-mail me if you need the link.)



Really?

I don't normally ask Tori to change outfits but this one was a real piece of work.  After she posed for a picture I tactfully asked her to chose her favorite piece of clothing and then we worked together to pick out something more appropriate.  WOW- that's an amazing combination!

She's a soccer player now

It took a couple weeks but Tori is finally a soccer PLAYER. The first two weeks were high drama. For the month leading up to the first game she tried to erase the date off the calendar. On her first day she held my hand and cried. She stood on the field for a moment with tears running down her face. We continually debated with ourselves why we were doing this and then we remembered that she was super excited at one point to give it a try and we knew she would love it once she got use to it. So, we returned the following week and she clung to me for the first half of the game and then stood on the field and watched the ball for the second half... with out tears. For some reason half way through the third game she really started to play. She ran towards the ball instead of away from it and she attempted to kick it. Yesterday she immediately took to the field without us by her side and she played the game. She ran after the ball, she smiled the entire time, and she kicked the ball a lot. She even made a GOAL... on her own team, but who cares! It was a goal. It has been fun to watch her progress. I am now officially a SOCCER MOM. I even have a Tori picture button, 3 kids, and a minivan to prove it.

Thanks Auntie Shelley, Auntie Len, and Mimi & Papa for coming out to her games. I know she loves the attention.