Seriously....You can't make this stuff up!

Look at me!

2012-01-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

The little girls wanted to show their Daddy how cute they are today.

Look at us Daddy!!

Finally got dressed

Watching the screen saver

Look at my ribbon!

Dancing

A girls gotta eat!

I picked this out myself!

Making some calls before my nap

TinyDancer is weekending with Grandma and Grandpa and doing big kid stuff.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:46:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas from one of my angels!

Middle Angel

9 years

2011-11-30T13:59:00.001-05:00

Happy anniversary to Stranger! (And I guess to me too!)

Nine years. Wow. It feels like 10 minutes (under water). 8 )

We could never have imagined the joy and the heartache that we've experienced over the past 9 years. What a ride it's been. I can't even imagine what the next 9 will bring.

Happy anniversary to my husband!

Remembering

2011-11-03T19:10:00.001-04:00

Today we remember our sweet, perfect daughter. Four years ago today our princess passed away so peacefully in my arms.

Finally a family of four

Finally a big sister

A leaf from my big sister

Remberance Garden

A perfect flower. Made to bud on Earth and bloom in Heaven.

We miss you. We love you. We are hollow without you. We think about you every day. We patiently wait to be with you again.

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy

Halloween in Strawberry Land

2011-11-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

I'm too tired to write anything witty - but enjoy these photos anyway!

What it takes to get three little girls ready to trick or treat

Strawberry Shortcake

Blueberry Muffin

Apple Dumpling

Some attempts to get all three of them to look at the camera and smile -

I can't wait to see what they dream up for next year!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm sure that I'll have more pictures to post later, but here is how we started our day -

Ready for school!

Sisters with matching ribbons!

An extra dose of cheese!

Check back later for more photos from Strawberryland (that's a preview of their costumes for this year!)

Four

2011-10-19T19:47:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet SleepingAngel.

She'd be 4 today if we were lucky enough to have her with us. Instead she is sleeping in God's hands - waiting for us to join her when it is our time.

Two sisters sitting on the couch.

The baby that wasn't supposed to make it out of the delivery room.

Sleeping - holding onto the necklace that her big sister made for her.

We miss you sweet baby. And we'll never forget you.

Rapunzel's Crown

2011-09-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

Three Rapunzel's

A few days ago the girls and I did a craft from Family Fun magazine. They had a good time and the crowns came out pretty cute.

TinyDancer made hers look just like the real crown - complete with the jewel in the back.

Jewel in the back

EasternStar was very proud of the job she did "all by herself".

All by myself!!

Check out my shoes!

I made RainbowBaby's for her -

The girls had a good time and even Daddy joined in.

Cute little hands

2011-09-13T20:06:00.002-04:00

How cute are these little hands?

Today was EasternStar's first real day of preschool. Technically they started yesterday, but it was an abbreviated day. Half of the class came for 1 hour and did 10 minutes of each activity. Then the second half of the class came later for 1 hour and did the same thing. Today the entire class went for the full 2.5 hours.

I wish that I could have been there to see her off. Sadly I had to work and Stranger was the lucky one to take her and pick her up. It sounds like she had a great day and made this picture all by herself. She was most excited that she used the potty and got to have her cheese & pretzels at school.

I am so excited for her to start something new all by herself. She is really growing into her role as a "big kid" and sometimes wants to do things on her own. I hope that school will help build her confidence in herself and her skills. If nothing else, I hope that going to school will teach her that Yes, she can pull down her own pants, climb on the potty, wipe, pull her pants up and then wash her hands. All. by. herself. Please God. If nothing else, let us finish the year mastering using the potty alone. 8 )

Second day of first grade

2011-08-26T08:08:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos of our second day of first grade. I love this cute sweater. Although I don't really get it. It's a sweater .... but it has short sleeves. Why would they make a short sleeved sweater? Shouldn't sweaters have long sleeves? If it is cold enough to wear a sweater, shouldn't you be wearing long sleeves? Won't your arms be cold? And on the other .... errr - arm ..... If it is warm enough for short sleeves, won't you be hot in a sweater?? That's my thought to ponder today..... on to the pics!

Second favorite "go to" pose.

How cute are those shorts - right? And those completely impractical for running around at recess but adorable shoes?

Goofing off while waiting to leave for school.

Adorable!

I hope that her second day is as great as her first!

To celebrate the end of summer, tonight TinyDancer and EasternStar are packing their bags and heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tomorrow they are headed to the track to ~~make us some money!~~ ~~bet on the ponies~~ see the horseraces while RainbowBaby, Stranger, and I get to make up for goofing off during the past few weeks and catch up on laundry and clean.

First day of first grade!

2011-08-26T07:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was TinyDancer's first day of 1st grade. Can you believe how grown up she looks in her uniform?

Proud first grader!

Don't you love that pose? That is TinyDancer's new "go to" pose. Lately the only photos that I have of her include that pose. And don't you LOVE those knee socks?? She is very proud of them!

The kids have been excited to see summer come to a close and get back into the groove of school. EasternStar doesn't start for a few more weeks (which she is very put out about...) and TinyDancer has been counting down the days.

Here are some more pics of the morning -

French braid for her hair.

Only RainbowBaby was up early enough to say good-bye. EasternStar woke up and immediately asked for TinyDancer. She was not happy that TinyDancer got to go to school while she had to stay home. 8 )

Right before the scramble to leave for school / work.

We brought her teacher this cute plant -

Plant.

Card.

TinyDancer had a great first day and was full of excitement when she came home. We're looking forward to a great school year!

Rainbow Birthday

2011-07-26T20:54:00.032-04:00

What type of first birthday party could a RainbowBaby have other than a Rainbow Party of course? We had a simple party for RainbowBaby - just cake and presents in the backyard - but what a cake it was! I found several cool examples of rainbow cakes online and had to try my hand at making one.

Birthday cake - outside

RainbowBaby blowing out her candle.

Birthday cake - inside
How fun is that?

RainbowBaby even got her own rainbow cake all to herself!

What do I do with this?

Eat it???

In addition to cake, we had umbrella and raindrop cookies and cupcakes with suns on them.

Umbrella and raindrop sugar cookies. Yum!

Sunshine cupcakes

The cupcakes didn't turn out exactly as I'd pictured them in my head. I used those sugar covered orange slices that you find in the candy aisle. I flattened them with a rolling pin and then cut them into strips. Some of them got stretched out making them look kind of like octopuses (or octopi? or an octopus?)

We also had party hats and decorations. I loved the idea of making these tissue paper flowers, but then discovered that we didn't have anywhere to put them. Oh well - they looked fun on the fence!

Birthday girl in a party hat!

We had so much fun that the birthday girl fell asleep in her swing!

Oh when the mighty fall!

I can't believe that it's been a year! Well, over a year now......RainbowBaby is 15 months old!

Skating camp - Solo Program

2011-07-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

At last! My video software and you.tu.be are done fighting and I was able to upload TinyDancer's solo program.

Enjoy!

Questions that are better left unasked - Part 1

2011-07-22T08:00:00.021-04:00

I think that I'm going to start a new series on my blog called "Questions that are better left unasked". The first question will be:

1. Why is Barbie floating in the toilet?

Every kid needs a special place to store their stuff right? A place that their siblings aren't allowed to (or won't) invade to steal their stuff. Well, RainbowBaby seems to have chosen her "special place". It's not behind the couch or under a bed or even in a potted plant. Nope. She's chosen a throne. A glorious throne that unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your outlook) no one wants to reach in to remove stuff.

In the past few days I've removed a comb, a book (sorry Nina Nina Ballerina), a crayon, and today a Barbie from the toilet. Thankfully we've finally gotten my six year old to start flushing again and my three year old can't climb onto the potty by herself. Otherwise we'd have some real.... uh.....prizes on our hands!

Skating Camp - Off ice program

2011-07-21T08:10:00.000-04:00

Can you handle any more videos?

I only have two more from skating camp. Below is the off ice program that TinyDancer learned. In addition to skating, they worked on stretching and ballet and a few other off ice things. I think that TinyDancer enjoyed the dancing part as much as the skating!

Skating Camp - All Camp Program

2011-07-19T20:06:00.010-04:00

I posted yesterday the skating program that TinyDancer learned with her class at skating camp. They also learned a program that included everyone that participated in the camp. TinyDancer has decided that she does not like synchro skating because it is "too hard". 8 ) I'm sure that it is hard when you have girls at different levels all trying to do the same thing.

I hope that the video doesn't make you too queasy. I was taping and RainbowBaby kept hitting my videoing arm. 8 )

Enjoy!

Skating Camp - Group Program

2011-07-18T20:05:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, TinyDancer attended a week long skating camp. She had a blast! Each girl that attended learned a program of their own and each class learned a program. For some reason her solo program didn't upload to y.ou.tube correctly. Below is the group program that her class learned. I think that they are skating to 'California Girls' by Katy Perry. OMG I am not ready for her to start listening to that type of music! 8 )

Enjoy!

First skating competition

2011-07-05T08:12:00.000-04:00

TinyDancer started taking skating lessons in September. She has decided that she is going to be an Olympic figure skater and an Olympic gymnast and ballet dancer and a singer and a 'mom that works' (as opposed to a 'mom that stays at home') and a bunch of other things. She has also promised that she is going to live at home forever and get up with me everyday and help me make breakfast and then make the beds. I love that she has both the confidence and the innocence to believe that it is possible to do all of these things at the same time. She started taking private lessons right around January and had her first competition in March.

I love watching her skate. She has no fear in general when she is racing around the neighborhood on her bike or her roller skates or her scooter. But she really has NO FEAR on the ice. She likes to see how fast she can go which does cause her to fall. A lot! Sometimes she'll fall just right and be done with skating for that day. But most of the time she falls and gets right back up and carries on. 8 )

Here is the video from her first competition. She competed in two events - basic elements and a program.

Enjoy!

4th of July

2011-07-04T22:24:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great day and hope that you did too!

One More Year!!!!!!

2011-06-30T06:29:00.000-04:00

Yeah baby! Check out the ticker to the side!!

<<<<--------------------------------------------------

ONE MORE YEAR OF TRAINING!!!

Three!

2011-06-29T20:51:00.009-04:00

I'm really behind in my posting. As I catch up, I'll probably post things as it is convenient rather than in order. 8 )

Guess who recently turned three (in May)? In case you don't know - that is this many:

Our bright EasternStar turned three around Memorial Day. Around here, birthdays are a big deal! The birthday girl (or boy in Stranger's case) gets to pick their favorite foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner AND the type of cake that they get. They also get to pick (within reason) what they want to do on their special day.

EasternStar chose waffles and sausage for breakfast, hot dogs and mac and cheese for lunch and "cheese hamburgers", baked beans, and salad for dinner. Cheeseburgers are her new favorite food. Sometimes she'll come to me during the day and say "Mommy. I need cheese hamburgers". So cute!

As for how to spend the day, she chose to spend it at the zoo. Isn't that what we call our house?? 8 )

Here's a shot of the birthday girl at the zoo:

Look at how excited her sisters were to be there!

Ha!

In the afternoon she wanted to help make her birthday cake. She chose a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Yum!

What's a birthday without getting to lick the spoon full of batter?

Sprinkles were courtesy of TinyDancer.

I can't believe that our baby is three! She is getting so big. Her physical therapy is going great. She can jump up and down - and loves to on our neighbors trampoline -and is working on jumping forward. She can also ride a tricycle - which she has been doing at therapy for months but only just started doing at home. We are still working on her balance and her core strength. I didn't think that she would like it - but she loves to do her "homework" and wheelbarrow walk on her hands.

Speech is going well. Her big sister has taught her all kinds of useful phrases like "Oh, come on, really Mommy?" and "I'm going I'm going I'm going". Nice, huh? 8 )

Potty training is a work in progress. She stays dry most days and we are working on her pulling her pants up and down by herself.

I don't want to wish the summer away because we are having a blast - but I'm excited for her to start preschool in the fall. I know that she is going to love being around kids that can do the same stuff that she can and I hope that she'll gain some confidence in her abilities.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T20:55:00.007-04:00

Whew! The last few months have been a whirlwind! I can't believe that I haven't posted in almost 5 months. The blog needs to be updated with all of the fun stuff that we've been doing, but today, the girls would like to wish their dad, Grandpa, and Paw Paw a

Happy Father's Day!

Stranger's present was updated photos of the girls. I went intending just to purchase the cheap package - you know the one - a million copies of one pose for ten bucks. Of course, once you get there they shoot individual shots of the kids "just for fun" and then you get suckered in to way more than you need. Or is that just me? 8 )

Here is what we went for:

We also got some nice pictures of my two camera loving princesses:

(By the way, who brings a rocking chair to the beach? Well......EasternStar for one.....) 8 )

Getting shots of RainbowBaby was tough. She loves to pose for the camera at home but she was not into the professional photo shoot! She wouldn't stay on the "set" until this chair was brought out. Then she was all over climbing in and out of it!

Of course, what's a photo shoot without two of your kids fighting, right? Like RainbowBaby, EasternStar loves anything that is small enough for her to sit in by herself. Once this chair was out, the two little ones kept fighting over it. That is EasternStar's hand that you can see - reaching out to pull the chair out from under RainbowBaby. I wish that there was more of her in the photo - I'd have bought that one! 8 )

Anyway, happy father's day to all of the dads in our life!

Big girl!

2011-02-16T06:43:00.000-05:00

I will gum this pretzel or die trying!

I swear that RainbowBaby thinks that she is a big girl.

She was very offended today when the big girls had pretzel rods for a snack and she got broken up animal crackers. I picked her up out of her high chair and she grabbed mine.

It took a while, but she eventually took the entire thing out!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day from our little love bugs!

Baby love

2011-02-10T07:34:00.000-05:00

Want to see something cool?

Of course you do, right?

I have almost the same picture with all four of my girls!

Here are TinyDancer and I when she was just a few days old -

Here I am with SleepingAngel when she was 11 days old -

This is the closest one that I have with EasternStar. This picture is from our first trip to see her. It was our last day and she was not feeling well - she had a fever and a runny nose. For most of our visit, she just nuzzled in my shouler. She was 11.5 months old in this photo.

And last, here I am with RainbowBaby just a few days ago - at 9.5 months old -

Funny how without trying we've taken almost the exact same picture!

Countdown!

2011-02-08T06:53:00.002-05:00

Notice anything new about the layout of the blog?

Don't hurt yourselves now! 8 )

Look to the left - see the countdown clock?

Things have been rough the past month. Stranger has worked almost everyday since the beginning of the year. Bluch. Stranger worked 27 out of the 31 days of January and he is working everyday but 3 in February.

Seriously. This is ridiculous. I'm SO OVER training. Add to that that I didn't even want to do this in the first place AND the emergency medicine lifestyle is the anti-Me.

Seriously. I need a schedule. I need consistency. And so do my kids. EasternStar has asked for Stranger all day for the past three days. Daddy home? (When is daddy coming home?) Daddy snack? (Will daddy be home for snack?) Daddy lunch? (Will daddy be home for lunch?) Daddy nap? (Will daddy be home after nap?) and on and on and on and on......

So, to make the bleak seem less ..... bleak - I added a countdown to the end of training. A year and four months is a long time - but it will be nice to see the counter go down.

Here's hoping we make it!!

Can I add one more Blech!

Blech!

Blech!

and

Blech!

Working girl!

2011-02-07T16:03:00.002-05:00

Know the *only* thing that I miss about working full time?

Well, besides the paycheck?

Sick days!

Every girl in our house is sick - either with a fever or teething or a cough or a runny nose. Some of us have all of that or a variation of that. Blah! I miss being able to drop the kids off at daycare and come home and get better!

Everytime I bend over my head spins and I cough like a 90 year old smoker. And with a 2 year old and a 9 month old, you bend over a lot!

I want a sick day!

Or at least my mommy! 8 )

Daisy Scout

2011-02-02T08:00:00.002-05:00

TinyDancer recently had her pinning ceremony for her Daisy scout troup. Her sisters were pretty excited to stay up past their bed times:

Well, perhaps one more so that the other!

How cute is TinyDancer in her uniform? She looks so big! I love that the patches are iron on now as opposed to having to be sewn on. My sewing maching and I have a love-hate relationship. I really, really want to love sewing, but my sewing maching hates me. I'm glad that I don't have to figure out how to sew on circular badges!

Here is my big girl getting her pins!

Happy February!!

2011-02-01T07:23:00.000-05:00

Hopefully my blogging vacation is over and I'll have more time to update everyone of the fun stuff that is happening at our house. Yesterday I came home from work to three little girls all dressed up and ready for some fun! Here is a shot of one of them -

Just in case anyone is still reading.....

2011-01-31T21:17:00.003-05:00

Just in case anyone is still checking our blog -

We've been super busy with a few projects but those are wrapping up. How I've missed you, computer! 8 )

Favorite things

2011-01-18T16:33:00.001-05:00

My favorite thing that I've gotten to say to my kids so far this year:

Yes, I know that your sister is wearing a helmut. You still can't hit her in the head with your scooter.

8 )

Oh happy day

2011-01-12T22:34:00.002-05:00

Do you know what is better than being able to see running water outside, like in the video below?

Anyone?

When you can see running water *inside*!

For the last week we haven't had running water. Well, that's not exactly true. We've had water gushing out of a leaky faucet in the shower. And we've had the water turned off. 8 )

Of course, the part needed to fix said leaky faucet was only available at one plumbing supply store in the entire city - and they, of course, were out of it for a week.

I am so excited that I won't have to run downstairs to the basement every time I want to wash my hands tomorrow!!

If I were a butterfly......

2011-01-03T08:27:00.001-05:00

Way back in November, TinyDancer's school had a special Mass for Thanksgiving. The kindergartener's read the petitions and sang a song. You can't really see TinyDancer in this video as she is on the opposite side of the alter from where we were sitting. If you look really really really hard, you can see here in the center, facing the very front of the church. She is wearing a long sleeved white polo shirt.

The video is cute anyway.

Alphabet song

2011-01-02T07:13:00.000-05:00

EasternStar is working hard to learn the alphabet. Last year for Christmas she got these fridge magnets from my brother. She loves to push the button and have it sing the alphabet. Here she is singing the parts that she knows:

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:08:00.002-05:00

Welcome 2011!!

The girls had a great time ringing in the new year last night. We went to a neighbor's house for a yummy appetizer dinner and treats.

The little ones and I hit the hay early, but Stranger and TinyDancer stayed up to ring in the new year with the neighbors. I guess that I get the "LAME-O" award! 8 )

Here's to another great year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving from 2 of our little turkeys!

Andantino

2010-11-24T16:28:00.002-05:00

TinyDancer is flying through her violin book! She recently (hmmm - not sure if I can still say "recent" since the recital was the day before Halloween 8 ) ) played this piece for her recital. It is called 'Andantino'.

Since the recital was the day before Halloween the kids were allowed/encouraged to wear their costumes. She was so excited to wear her witch costume.

Enjoy!

7 months old

2010-11-24T16:20:00.004-05:00

RainbowBaby is 7 months old. I can't believe it!

She's got two teeth and recently had a double ear infection. We've managed to survive both. Hopefully she will go back to sleeping through the night in her own bed. If not, Stranger and I will once again have a little alarm clock sleeping with us. 8 )

Halloween 2010

2010-11-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

Happy belated Halloween!

The girls had a great Halloween this year. TinyDancer wanted everyone to have matching witch costumes this year. I found a pattern for a tinkerbell costume on one of the craft blogs that I like. We used that pattern/idea but made the costumes black with a purple glittery tulle skirt instead of the tinkerbell colors. We used the girls bathing suits to make the pattern for the leotards. Once we figured out how to do the leotards it was easy! Here are some pictures of the girls in their costumes:

TinyDancer - alwasy willing to pose

EasternStar - not too sure what this is all about yet. She caught on pretty quickly this year! The poor thing - we cut her leotard a little to small. She didn't seem to mind though.

RainbowBaby was all smiles. She got a suprising amount of candy! She didn't get a brim on her witch hat - we thought that would be too overwhelming for her little head.

Charity Walk

2010-11-17T07:23:00.000-05:00

Every year our local children's hospital has a big fundraiser. A BIG one. We've participated the past few years to raise money for the hospice program that helped us with SleepingAngel. Hospice of course is not a big money raiser for the hospital. Or any money raiser at all as all (or at least most) of the services are provided free of charge to the families. It is an organization that is close to our hearts.

Here are some pictures of us before the walk. The walk is pretty easy - just a flat 1 mile or 2 mile walk around a historic amusement park in the area. I'm so proud of EasternStar - she insisted on walking the entire course!

You can see that we made special shirts for SleepingAngel. RainbowBaby wasn't big enough for a picture of SleepingAngel so she just had a picture of a flower on her tummy. The girls shirts say "My little sister" and "My big sister". On our backs we put the quote from her memorial card:

"A beautiful flower
Lent not given,
To bud on Earth
and bloom in Heaven"

After the walk there are art activities for the kids, lunch, and you can ride some of the rides. The girls chose to get their faces painted first. EasternStar wasn't too sure about it, but TinyDancer was eating it up!

There wasn't much for RainbowBaby to do, so while the big girls and Stranger rode the rides, we hung out and played in the leaves.

SleepingAngel's Birthday

2010-11-15T19:33:00.006-05:00

I took a little unplanned vacation from blogging. Good thing this is just a hobby and not my real gig! Over the next few days I hope to catch up. There are some pics of EasternStar's party and Halloween that I hope to post soon.

Here are some pictures from SleepingAngel's birthday back in October. We try to celebrate the day and the special time that we got with her.

We started out by getting bagels from our favorite bagel store and then heading to her special park to leave balloons and flowers at her special spot.

Flowers and balloons

We always get enough flowers to bring some home that way we can enjoy her special birthday flowers too.

Stranger with our flowers to bring home

The girls have also decided that they need matching flowers to bring home. They've asked for bud vases to put on their dressers for their flowers. Of course by they, I really mean TinyDancer. She does a lot of talking for EasternStar. 8 )

EasternStar with her roses to come home

TinyDancer with her roses

We usually bring a cupcake to leave on her stone. This year the cupcakes weren't ready in time so we got special chocolate chip cookies instead. We left her half of one "since she's a baby".

Birthday cookie

Our hospice program gave us a lot of suggestions on how to 'celebrate' the day. One that we really liked was to have a balloon launch and send balloons to Heaven with messages attached. We didn't do messages this year, but we had a lot of balloons!

Even RainbowBaby picked out a balloon

There they go......

Almost gone!

Cupcakes decorated by TinyDancer and EasternStar

We made it through the day and what we think of as SleepingAngel's "special time" - the two weeks that we got to spend with her at home. I guess that we are getting through it better each year. The first year I made no plans during her time. It was too hard. The next year got a little better. This year, a little better. That two weeks is still a touchy time for us. The emotions run closer to the surface. If only we could escape the real world for a few days.

A trip to the pumpkin patch

2010-10-25T07:34:00.000-04:00

We signed up to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm this summer. Every Thursday we picked up a bag of fresh produce from the farm at our local farmer's market. The farm invited all of their customers (are we "share" holders?) to the farm for a day to see where they grow our stuff and to pick out pumpkins from their pumpkin patch.

After reviewing my photos, I didn't get that many. Hmmm......must have something to do with these three kids that keep following me around! Here's what I did get:

Everyone loves inflatables, right?

Our first stop was their hay barn. I guess that's what it was. A big barn - full of hay. 8 ) They had bales of hay spread out to make a track and little tricycles that the kids could ride around on. One of my girls was too big and one of my girls was too little.

Too big, huh? Not on your life!

If only I could reach the pedals!

There was also a maze made out of hay bales and some hay bales that you could climb on. EasternStar wasn't too sure about walking on the hay. I think she was a little unsure because it was slippery and uneven. She's not too keen on uneven surfaces. She was willing to climb up and take a picture with Daddy though.

Cheese!

Then we went to the animal barn. TinyDancer deemed this "stinky" and insisted that we leave immediately. 8 )

They had pony rides, but EasternStar is terrified of ponies (up close, but she likes to look at them from far away) and TinyDancer is still reeling from almost falling off of the horse the last time that she rode one (don't get me started on that debacle). So, if was off to wait for the tractor ride. Don't the look excited to be waiting for the tractor?

Wheeeeeeeen is it going to beeeee heeeeerrrreeeee?
Can't you just hear them? 8 )

RainbowBaby was not excited at all to be on the tractor ride:

You can't take a baby on a hay ride!

It was fun to see the farm and to pick our pumpkins fresh off of the vine. Somehow, I don't have a picture of the pumpkins. Guess you'll have to wait for Halloween and see them carved. 8 )

Classy!

2010-10-22T07:16:00.000-04:00

You know you are raising some neat eaters when your oldest stands up during dinner, tilts her chair and exclaims "I've got to get some of these crumbs off of my chair", brushes off the offending crumbs onto the floor and then sits down to resume eating.

Classy!

Paper bag pumpkins

2010-10-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

A few days ago we started on some decorations for Halloween. This craft was making pumpkins for our mantel using brown paper bags. We painted the bags orange (obviously) and used popsicle sticks for the stems.

I am so proud of EasternStar! She helped to stuff the bags and then tie them with green pipe cleaners. Then when I busted out the paint, she knew just what to do. She had her own ideas of how to paint - dip the brush in the water, then the paint, then the water again. 8 ) But, she got the job done in her own way.

We have four cute pumpkin bags on our mantel. One for each of my darling pumpkins. 8 )

Look at how proud she is!!

Beautiful work baby girl!

Matching jammies!

2010-10-20T06:53:00.000-04:00

What's more fun than leopard print???

PINK LEOPARD PRINT!!!

How about three sets of pink leopard print??

The girls love their matching jammies. Stay tuned for their Halloween jammies. Hopefully we'll have a photo shoot this week.

Notice how RainbowBaby is always on alert when she is photographed with her sisters. Hee hee hee!

3

2010-10-19T06:27:00.000-04:00

Every year October seems to sneak in. And with it comes the increase in the neverending ache. The grief. The girl we were only meant to know for a short while. The what ifs and the why nots. The foot stomping and the heart breaking all over again. The desire to lay down and throw the mother of all tantrums. Would it help to roll around and pound my fists into the ground like EasternStar does? The heaviness as we force our bodies to plod through the day. Focus on the chores that need to be done. Focus on meeting the need of the child that is standing in front of you and crying. Focus on checking off the tasks so that you can make it through the day. The days grow shorter and our bodies grow heavier. It could be seasonal drepression - 'cept that this always used to be our favorite time of year. We used to be in our element - energized by the crisp air, the falling leaves, the hint of wood burning in the air. Now we just feel tired and old. Old. Tired. If we can just make it to November we'll be ok. Don't think about what we should be doing. What would we get her for her birthday? Which weekend would we have her party? What would she be into?

Even without consciously thinking about it our bodies feel it. Why do I feel so crappy? You look a the calendar. And it hits you. It's coming. Even TinyDancer feels it. Out of the blue, after days or weeks without mentioning her, SleepingAngel becomes the center of her artwork. Suddenly, where she drew princesses and castles; now she draws angels. Lots of angels. Only angels. Are you talking about angels in school? No. I just felt like drawing them. The focus of her questions. What is she doing up in Heaven? Is she watching us?

Three.

Three years today. Is it three years old today? Do you say that someone is three years old if they died at only two weeks?

There has been healing for us. Finding our daughter EasternStar, giving birth to RainbowBaby. There has been healing. But some wounds never heal completely. Call me greedy, but I want all three of them. Why couldn't we have all three of them. Together. How much fun would it have been to have all four of them?

Happy Birthday sweet baby.

We love you. We miss you. We wait to spend an eternity with you.

6 Months Old!

2010-10-18T20:07:00.005-04:00

Can you believe that RainbowBaby is 6 months old already? Me neither!

She is the perfect baby - easy going enough to be drug all over town for her older sister's activities with just a touch of crankiness to keep us on our toes.

Here are some fun facts that we've learned about her:

- Stranger took her to the doctor today for her 6 month visit and she is cruising along in the 10% percentile for weight. What a change! TinyDancer was always at the top - between 90th and 95th!
- She loves to sing and dance. Most night she sings for her supper.
- She can fall asleep just about anywhere! A good trait for the youngest!
- She can eat her weight in squash.
- Carrots make her spit up. Good times! 8 )
- She prefers to be held facing outward. Gotta stay on alert! You never know when big sisters will attack with kisses.
- She has learned to roll in all directions and uses it as a means to get around.
- She loves her bath and could stay in the tub all night. A girl after my own heart.

Here are some recent pictures:

Lounging while EasternStar does a dance for her.

Just finished dinner. Pardon the squash on my shirt!

A new stage....

2010-10-06T13:29:00.002-04:00

We've reached a new stage in our house.....it's called "Crayon in the nose". For the past two days, every time EasternStar has colored, something has ended up in her nose.

I really want to take a picture but that would only encourage her more. 8 )

Princesses

2010-10-05T21:29:00.000-04:00

I love coming home to this! RainbowBaby can't wait to particiate. They try to include her now but she usually just drops her wand and cries. 8 )

Super girl

2010-10-03T21:16:00.000-04:00

EasternStar has recently started a super hero phase. I love to her her say "Super (her name)." Cracks me up every time!

Apple picking

2010-09-29T21:13:00.009-04:00

Last weekend we went apple picking. The girls had a blast and we ended up with 50 lbs of apples. That's a lot of apples!!

So far we've made 14 pints of homemade applesauce and about 3 gallons of apple juice. I'm planning to also make a few pies. I hope the pies last until Thanksgiving. I might have to store them at my moms house to make that happen. Stranger is a big fan of pie! Although my dad likes pie more than Stranger likes pie, so the pies might not be safe anywhere! Poor pies!

EasternStar was much more excited about the apple picking than she was about strawberry picking. Apples are one of her favorite foods! I think she ate two or three right off of the tree. She was not happy about walking on all of the apples that had fallen off of the tree though. All of that uneven terrain was good PT though! 8 )

Success!! Can I eat it now?

RainbowBaby had a good time hanging out in the wagon.

TinyDancer found "the best" apple for pie making

Yum!!

Just waiting to be picked.

1/2 bushel of apples - enough to make 14 pints of applesauce!

A pot full of baby!

When babies attack!

2010-09-29T21:02:00.003-04:00

It might be time to retire the bouncy seat soon!

A most inconvenient place to sleep

2010-09-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

What do you think would be the most inconvenient place for your child to fall asleep?

On your lap? Maybe.

On your lap while you are going potty? Hmmm......that would be pretty inconvenient.

On your lap while you are going potty in a public restroom?? BINGO!!!!!

On Saturday, the company that Stranger and I work for had their company picnic. Our company is HUGE - over 10,000 employees and the picnic was at a local amusement park. Because of other activities that we had going that day, we let EasternStar skip her nap and headed out to the park in the early afternoon.

After a few hours of walking in the humidity and the excitement of riding the rides, EasternStar was done! I dashed into the potty as we were packing up to go. She climbed into my lap, shouted "Loud!" (not me - the bathroom had those hand dryers that sound like jet engines), put her head down and fell asleep!

That's a cool feeling!

I sat there for a few minutes, dumbfounded. I called Stranger but all he had to offer was chuckles.

She was tired as she slept through the finishing up, hand washing, and the trek back to the stroller and being fastened in the stroller.

Next time, I'm going solo!!

Knock knock!!

2010-09-14T06:45:00.000-04:00

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?

Orange you glad I'm so cute?

Potty training - Day 1 - Recap

2010-09-13T21:42:00.004-04:00

Sooo, potty training today only lasted about 3.5 hours. Our stats weren't too good - 3 hits and 7 misses. At least towards the end, EasternStar realized that she was peeing, so I guess that is progress.

We were going every 10 minutes, so I think what hurt our stats is that the volume wasn't very much. If she's not emptying her bladder, is that a sign that she isn't ready? Hmmm..... Even the accidents were very small volume.

You'd think with a pediatrician for a husband that he'd be able to offer some insight. But, you'd be wrong. Seven years of medical education and I'll be consulting a book - or better yet, my neighbor that's trained her three boys! 8 )

Mommy bliss!

2010-09-13T13:08:00.001-04:00

Mommy bliss - everyone sleeping at the same time!!!

Yay!!!

Potty training - Day 1

2010-09-13T10:07:00.004-04:00

Today is day 1 of potty training for EasternStar. I don't really know what I'm doing. Potty training for TinyDancer went like this:

- What are those?
- These are big girl panties. When you are ready, you can start going on the potty and you won't have to wear diapers anymore.
- I don't want to wear diapers anymore. I want to wear those now.
- Really? You want to go in the potty?
- Yes. I have to go potty.
- Now?
- Yes!
SUCCESS!!

I'm not sure that EasternStar is going to be so easy. First I have to convince her that she only needs to wear *one* pair of panties at a time!

I've got a timer, a big stack of books, a giant stack of dry clothes and a big glass of water. What else do we need?

A year ago ....

2010-09-12T22:37:00.004-04:00

What we were doing a year ago -

Waiting to board the plane home in the airport in Moscow

Passed out in the airport at home. Being up for 17 hours straight will do that to you!

She slept through the entire flight from Dulles to home,

getting off of the plane and into the stroller, walking to baggage claim,

meeting her sister and grandparents,

going into the car seat, and the car ride home!

Our first family photo

A new record!

2010-09-04T21:13:00.003-04:00

A new record was set tonight! 51 minutes to get three little faces washed, three little girls changed into pjs, and three little girls to sleep.

Oh yeah!!

Happy Adoption Day EasternStar!!!

2010-09-03T21:15:00.008-04:00

A year ago, we were in a small court room, standing before a judge, hoping that we would be granted permission to adopt a beautiful little girl. Hoping that we were making a good case for the required 10 day waiting period to be waived so that we could bring our little girl home and start our new life together as a family of four and start getting her the therapy that she needed. I can't believe that it was only a year ago.

When we started the adoption process, a friend of mine shared with me that two of her sisters were adopted from China and people always told her how "lucky" her sisters were because they were adopted. And she always thought that the rest of her family were the lucky ones. I totally agree. Right after we brought EasternStar home, so many people commented on how lucky she was to get adopted. Truly, without a doubt, we are that lucky ones. We get to raise this beautiful, stubborn, sweet, funny little girl! We're the ones that get to hear "Wuv you too" when we say I love you. We are so so lucky!

There were so many days during our adoption when we just sat and prayed that we were on the right path. Were we understanding God's directions for us? Did we interpret his calling correctly? After filling out paper after paper after paper and racing to get them notarized, certified, apostilled, would we really end up with a daughter? Did we have the stamina to complete the marathon?
.

Looking back now, we were so blessed to have such an easy adoption! Of course, it didn't feel like it at the time. I think that one of the hardest parts of adoption is that you never know when your end date will be until it's there. It would be so much easier if at the beginning, someone could tell you - 'OK, just be patient for 13 months. Good things are coming your way.' Or 15 months. Or 20 months. The not knowing when you will meet your child, leaving them and not knowing how long it will be before you will get to see them again, not knowing when you will get to bring them home.....lose are the hardest things!

Looking back, we were so lucky! The things that were big at the time - 4 months to get our homestudy written after the last visit! - 8 weeks to get our INS approval! - Another chest x-ray! seem so little now! Every little bump happened for a reason. Every little bump lead us to our EasternStar.

I can't believe that it has been a year. The time has gone so incredibly fast. And yet it feels as though she has always been with us. She may have been 15 months old when we brought her home, but I don't think that we've missed anything! I've watched this little girl go from just being able to sit up to running! From not uttering a sound to picking up the phone and saying 'Hi mommy! Hi daddy! Hi puppies! Bye bye!' and responding to 'I love you' with a totally cute 'Wuv you too!'.

We celebrated today with an ice cream cake for dessert. Enjoy the pictures!

Hmmm.... which one do I want?

This one looks good!

MMMMMMMM!

The cake, before the action started.

A year ago, all dressed and getting ready to

leave the orphanage and start the long journey home!

Tooth Fairy

2010-09-03T21:09:00.003-04:00

The tooth fairy is coming to our house tonight!

No, not because TinyDancer lost a tooth - well, not the usual way. About a year ago, we learned that TinyDancer had an extra tooth in between her front top incisors. Unfortunately, the tooth was upside down AND causing one of her permanant teeth to be crooked. Super crooked. Like, turned completely sideways crooked. Bummer!

Today we had her extra tooth extracted. She was not happy when she woke up and she couldn't feel the roof of her mouth! But she is now feeling better after spending the day resting on the couch, watching movies and eating fudgesicles.

Hmmm....I wonder what the tooth fairy brings if you have to have your tooth extracted??

First Food

2010-09-03T20:26:00.008-04:00

RainbowBaby started eating cereal last week. This is waaay earlier than we started TinyDancer on "solid" foods, but she has been interested in watching us eat for weeks. So interested that if I was holding her and eating something, she would lean in and open up her mouth as I brought my food to my mouth!

So, last week week we decided to give cereal a try. RainbowBaby was pretty excited to put on her bib - I wonder if she knew what was coming??

I promise, she really was excited!

MMMM a bowl full of mush!

And a disappointing first bite!

I bet she was expecting it to taste better than it did! Soon princess, you can move on to something tastier!

We settled for just chewing on the spoon!

This week went much better and RainbowBaby even started to enjoy the cereal. Next up, sweet potatoes! TinyDancer is going to help me make a batch of sweet potatoes and we'll stick some sweet potato ice cubes in the freezer to enjoy over the rest of the month.

Yum!

Postpartum arthritis

2010-09-02T13:46:00.002-04:00

Ever hear of post partum arthritis? Yeah..... me neither! Apparently it exists because after weeks of pain in my hands and wrists I finally got a diagnosis a few weeks ago. I'm so glad to know that this pain isn't just all in my head!

Prayers for this to go away soon are appreciated!

The loudest house on the block

2010-08-28T22:04:00.004-04:00

Have you ever hat the chance to sit outside on a nice evening, where the the weather is perfect - not too hot or humid. Perhaps there is a nice gentle breeze blowing every now and then. And the air is still and quiet. So quiet, that you can hear the birds chirping and the crickets .... er .... cricketing?

Well....if you live in our neighborhood and we are home, you will never get one of those evenings! 8 )

The girls are enjoying the last days of summer and they want to make sure that all of the neighborhood is too! 8 ) This evening after dinner I took the girls outside for some swimming and water table playing. We pulled out the bubble machine, too.

TinyDancer discovered that it is super fun to pour a bucket of water down the slide (which is on the swing set) and then stack buckets of water at the bottom of the slide. Thus enabling her to shoot down the slide and hit the buckets of water with her feet, making the water shoot up into the air and then come down on her head. Afterwards she would shout "THAT WAS AWESOME!" And then do it again.

This was paired with EasternStar swinging in the swing and shouting "PUSH!" over and over. Stopping only when the wind changed and the bubbles from the bubble machine would blow into her. Then she would shout "Bubble world!" over and over. Well, an outsider might not understand the word "world" or even "push" for that matter...but that's what she was saying nonetheless.

Not to be outdone, RainbowBaby was propped up with a boppy in a lawn chair and a set of keys. Those keys were serenaded to like keys have never been serenaded to before!

I wish that I had had the video camera to show Stranger what he missed out on! 8 )

I'll be sad when it is too cold to play outside and all of this noise is trapped within these four walls! 8 )

First day of Kindergarten

2010-08-24T16:08:00.010-04:00

Here are some shots of TinyDancer from this morning. How can she look so big and so little at the same time?

All dressed and eagerly waiting to go!

Smiles!

With Mommy

With Daddy

With RainbowBaby

No pictures with EasternStar! She has been sick so we let her sleep in instead of waking her up just to walk to the bus stop.

I think that TinyDancer was nervous about school starting......until today! She had asked that I follow the bus to school and walk her in (which I did) but I think that once she saw the bus and got on she was fine. As you can see below, she was "too big" for a picture of her in the window. We didn't even get a kiss goodbye at the bus stop, or after I followed the bus to school and walked her in!

See the tiny smudge of hand in the front window? That's her!

Bonus - video of the walk to the bus stop! 8 )

First Day of school - Done!

2010-08-24T11:47:00.003-04:00

Well, TinyDancer survived her first day of Kindergarten. Or rather, Stranger and I survived her first day of kindergarten! 8 ) The first three days they are going for 1/2 of the day and then on Friday they start staying all day.

Her report from the first day - we played some, then we sat in our chairs and learned, then we walked around the school, then we had snack, then we went to the church and they told us not to turn on our cell phones at school, then we went to the playground, then we learned some more, then Daddy picked me up!

Pictures to follow tonight after the kids go to bed.

31

2010-08-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Today Stranger turns 31.

Happy Birthday Stranger!

Love and kisses,
your girls

Back to school cake

2010-08-23T21:07:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow TinyDancer starts kindergarten. I can't believe it. In fact, Stranger and I are pretty sure we are in denial. 8 )

To celebrate, we made this school bus cake:

We took it outside to share with some of her friends. Don't they look excited?

4 months old!

2010-08-17T19:59:00.002-04:00

Today RainbowBaby turned 4 months old! My how the time flies!

I cannot get over how different she is from TinyDancer. Of course, every child is different and unique, but I had no idea that we could make a sleeper! TinyDancer did NOT sleep - ever! I am so grateful that RainbowBaby sleeps through the night! AND she will allow herself to be put down on her playmat or swing or bouncy seat!

She is working hard to sit up although she is still weeks away from being able to do it by herself. She does enjoy sucking on her fingers and putting things in her mouth. And she is fascinated by her feet. 8 ) She is really interested in food but we might hold off on that for a few more weeks.

Tomorrow we are off for her 4 month doctor visit.

Enjoy some video of her from tonight!

Road trip!

2010-08-16T17:00:00.003-04:00

We took an unexpected car trip last week - Stranger's grandmother had been sick for almost 3 years and passed away last week. We spent 4 days in the car (2 days there and 2 days back home) and only had 3 meltdowns - 2 baby meltdowns and 1 toddler meltdown. Unfortunately the toddler meltdown and the baby meltdown occured at the same time. That makes for one loud car!!!

Here is how we spent the drive through Mississippi:

The family that dances together.....

2010-07-26T22:55:00.003-04:00

Every night after dinner, while Stranger and I clean up the kitchen, the girls dance in the living room. The living room has been divided into an "on stage" area and a "backstage" area. TinyDancer serves as director, narrator, choreographer, and lead dancer. EasternStar usually runs back and forth from "on stage" to "backstage" and twirls and falls down.

If you can hold out to the end, even RainbowBaby makes an appearance! 8 )

Just in case you can't hear the music over the giggling, they are bustin' down to 'I like to move it, move it' circa 1996.

Grins and Giggles

2010-07-26T22:38:00.002-04:00

Here is some video of RainbowBaby - she just started "talking" last week. 8 )

200 posts!

2010-07-26T22:30:00.001-04:00

Yay! We made it to 200 posts! 8 )

My brains awake!

2010-07-20T17:37:00.002-04:00

A few mornings ago, Stranger, TinyDancer and I were eating breakfast. Suddenly, TinyDancer looked at me and said excitedly "I think my brain just switched on!"

Really? Mine hasn't yet! 8 )

Vacation photos

2010-07-20T17:00:00.013-04:00

Whew! We have been busy!

Here are some photos from our vacation at the beginning of July. We didn't have much time (or money for that matter!) but we wanted to start doing a family vacation every summer. This year we decided on 4 days (3 nights) at an RV park about 3 hours near our home. The park is close to an amusement park, which honestly is why we chose it, but we would have had a great time just haning out at the RV park. We stayed in a 2 bedroom cottage that had a kitchen and it was perfect. It was *just* big enough. Seriously - the girls bedroom was just big enough for their twin bunk bed and a chair. Our bedroom was just big enough for our double bed (with a bunked twin bed) and a chair.

The RV park had a swimming pool, a jumping pillow, a playground and a lake. We didn't have room for our fishing gear (shucks!) but we did do some swimming and a lot of jumping and swinging!

For as much as she loves to jump on the trampoline, EasternStar did not like the jumping pillow. TinyDancer, however, loved it!

We had a campfire each night thanks to Stranger!

We didn't have enough room to pack EasternStar's pack 'n play in the car so she got to sleep in a big girl bed. She also got to fall out of a big girl bed! The first night we didn't hear her fall and she was so tired that she didn't make a sound. We found her in the morning on the floor, using a pair of dirty socks for a pillow. We won't be sending this one to Russia with our 12 month report!

RainbowBaby pondering 'What kind of parents take a 3 month old

to an amusement park on a 99 degree day???'

EasternStar wasn't too sure about this ride at first. Once it got going, she had a blast!

EasternStar's first amusement park ride.
She cried and shouted "GO!!" after each ride stopped.

They loved these rides!

TinyDancer and EasternStar really wanted to ride this ride. EasternStar wasn't tall enough to go on her own, she needed a "responsible adult". I drew the short straw. 8 )

4th of July

2010-07-06T14:28:00.009-04:00

Happy 4th of July - a few days late!

We just returned from our first vacation as a family of 5. We went "camping" at an RV park a few hours away. I say "camping" because we stayed in a 2 bedroom cottage that had a kitchen. More on that later.

Here are some photos of our 4th:

The girls started the day at the playground at the park. EasternStar wasn't too sure about the jumping pillow, but TinyDancer was all over it! Luckily there were swings so EasternStar was happy. She'd swing all day if we let her!

TinyDancer and I made tulle skirts for the girls to wear. Their matching shirts are from Granny and Paw Paw.

Stop growing up so fast TinyDancer!

The ramp to our cottage that EasternStar liked to walk up and down.

RainbowBaby didn't enjoy the heat on the 4th. Neither did I!

Me with the girls.

We took one photo too many for RainbowBaby's liking!

Stranger with the girls.

Have you seen my shoes?

2010-06-26T22:29:00.003-04:00

While the girls were at tumbling class this morning, someone "stole" TinyDancer's sandals!

The kids put their things in open cubbies outside of the gym while they are in class. Stranger and I don't think it was malicious - whoever took the our shoes left their shoes a few cubbies over from ours and they looked almost identical. Sadly, the shoes were two sizes too small for TinyDancer's feet so we had to make an emergency stop at the shoe store this morning before we headed to the mall to buy birthday presents for a party this afternoon.

Since the shoes looked so similar I understand how this could have happened, but I still have to ask - How can you not realize that you are wearing someone else's shoes? 8 )

Strawberry picking

2010-06-26T21:43:00.007-04:00

At the beginning of June, Stranger, Grandma, and I took the girls strawberry picking. I'm just now having time to post the pictures. I had hoped that if EasternStar got to pick some strawberries that she might have some interest in eating them. No such luck. But, she had fun anyway!

EasternStar with her bowl of berries

Even RainbowBaby had fun!

TinyDancer with one of her treasures

3 generations of strawberry pickers

Father's Day

2010-06-26T21:36:00.004-04:00

Nothing says "Happy Father's Day" like a picture of your children hitting each other, right? 8 )

The girls and I made this banner for Stranger for Father's Day. As much as I wanted to use the above picture, we settled on this one:

Home!

2010-06-12T07:38:00.002-04:00

After many delays - Stranger's plane left 2 hours late and we had to find an alternate way to get on the highway as a train had hit something and was stopped on the train tracks - we all made it home around 10 o'clock last night.

YAY!!!

Stranger come home!!

2010-06-09T14:29:00.003-04:00

Stranger is in Canada for the week. Everyone with me now... BOO HISS!! He is taking some super exciting and interesting class ha ha for work. Thankfully, I got all of my bitching and moaning out of the way before he left. Sadly, he did not. Apparently he is not having fun. There is much bitching and moaning occuring in Canada - A!

Double thankfully, one of my aunt's was nice enough to fly in for the week to help occupy the girls. My aunt and my mom have been over every day to help with dinner and bedtime. By "help", I mean, they make dinner, clean up from dinner, bathe the big girls, and then put the big girls to bed. How awesome is that! I am very lucky!!

Despite the fun that the girls are having - on Sunday and Monday we went swimming, on Tuesday we went to a water playground at a nearby park - the girls miss daddy. When Stranger left, the girls looked like this:

However, today, they look like this:

8 )

House of parties

2010-06-09T14:11:00.010-04:00

We have a lot of parties in our house. Tea parties, birthday parties, baby parties, and of course, pony parties are just a few of the reasons we party. This morning as I cleaned up from breakfast, TinyDancer got the basement set up for a pony party. In order to attend, everyone had to dress up in their fanciest clothes:

TinyDancer wore her new pink feather boa.

EasternStar selected her fairy wings and skirt. She wasn't very interested in her boa. 8 )

RainbowBaby attended the party, and she was non to pleased that we didn't have anything small enough for her:

After I finished my work, I was allowed to attend:

I shared my boa with RainbowBaby and then she was happy.

And here is the birthday pony:

Group recital

2010-06-01T17:07:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, TinyDancer had her final group recital of the year. The recital starts with the "big kids" and the music that they can play. Then they slowly play easier songs and add in the lower classes. TinyDancer is in the begining class (Book 1) so she didn't get up to play until the end. Don't worry, we didn't video the entire recital! These three videos are the pieces that her class did.

May song

Long Long Ago

The finale-

Folk Songs

Allegro

2010-06-01T16:31:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of May, TinyDancer had another solo recital. She has worked so hard this year! I can't believe how far she has come in just one year.

Here she is playing her new favorite song, Allegro. The students were allowed to wear whatever they wanted and she chose to wear one of her princess dresses. 8 ) She has moved on to the next song in her book called Perpetual Motion (I think that song is named after EasternStar).

Enjoy!

Two!

2010-05-31T21:43:00.006-04:00

Guess who turned 2 yesterday?

Birthday Girl!

Yesterday was EasternStar's first birthday at home and I think she had a great day. She really enjoyed opening her presents and of course eating birthday cake and ice cream!

As I was cuddling with her and rocking her to sleep last night I was thinking about how different her day was last year. Last year I don't know if there was even any special acknowledgement of her first birthday. This year, she was surrounded by family and friends that love her. Never again will she be alone on her special day.

The five of us right before singing happy birthday. Even RainbowBaby participated in the festivities!

Birthday hat baby!

I Rock!

2010-05-20T22:07:00.002-04:00

I'm basking in my own awesome-ness right now. At 9:30, all of the kids were in their beds and sleeping.

It was not such a pretty picture at 7:30, or 8:00, or even 8:30. But eventually I wore them down. 8 )

Now I'm off to bed so I can keep up with my munchkins tomorrow!

Latest pictures

2010-05-19T19:22:00.006-04:00

The blog has been quiet over the past week as we enjoyed the last few days of Stranger's vacation and the girls and I attempted to settle into some sort of routine after Stranger went back to work. We're getting there.

I've handled bedtime solo for the past few nights. If you know me, then you know that bedtime is my LEAST favorite time of the day. I seriously would pay someone to come and put my kids to bed if I could! So far there hasn't been too much crying (by me). Stranger will be gone at bedtime 29 times in the next 40 days (Not that I'm counting or anything) so I figure that I'll be an old pro at this soon. 8 )

I have a bunch of pictures to upload to the blog but either blogger is being finicky or my computer is being finicky. Either way, the four below are the only ones that I could get uploaded tonight:

TinyDancer is really into dress up and playing in her kitchen right now. Today she made Daddy some pony soup:

Check out the 1970's basketball shorts that I found for EasternStar today. I was at Wal-Mart and found these cool shorts. They had them in a bunch of colors and sadly I had to stop myself at one:

She is doing great! We've been meeting with a nutritionist the help get her eating new foods. Her speech is coming along - she has decided that she wants to work on animal names and sounds so she's been learning farm animals. She knows "cow", "moo", "dog", and "woof woof" and is working on "quack". She's almost there! Her signing is coming along as well. PT is also coming along. We just switched is a female therapist as she was not letting her old therapist (a man) touch her without screaming. That doesn't make for very productive therapy! 8 )

RainbowBaby is doing great too! She had her 4 week checkup on Monday and she is up to 7 pounds 10 oz. Yay! I can't remember what her other measurements were or where she is percentile wise - as I was a bit distracted. As soon as we started walking to the room EasternStar started crying (she has gotten shots everytime she has been so I'm sure we thought that we were there for her) and didn't stop until we left and TinyDancer was hitting me with the balloon that I had blown up to keep her and EasternStar occupied.

Her neck is getting really strong and she is starting to enjoy playing more. We mostly play with her after her sisters have gone to bed. Everytime they see her on the floor they are in her face so much that she doesn't have much room to move! 8 )

Here she is playing in her new bouncy seat. Check out the look on her face - that is what she looks like most of the time when her big sisters are "playing" with her:

And lastly, while Stranger was on vacation, we went to a children's museum at the state capital. While we were there he wore RainbowBaby in our mei tai. I joked to him that this is what he would look like if he had to bear the children:

Stranger will be working the next 4 nights so I may or may not have computer time over the next few days. If I get computer time, I'll post more pics and the video from TinyDancer's violin recital on May 8th.

Happy mother's day

2010-05-08T20:56:00.002-04:00

Just in case I don't get to post tomorrow - Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there - whether your children came via adoption or you gave birth to them - whether your children are with you or in Heaven - have a great day!

TinyDancer wants to take me to a baseball game and buy me a hot dog and an ice cream sundae in a tiny plastic cup. So, we'll be at the ballpark tomorrow afternoon. All five of us. I'm sure it will be great fun! 8 )

First Picnic

2010-05-07T20:47:00.010-04:00

Stranger has been on vacation this week and we've been enjoying some nice family time everyday. Here are the girls enjoying some playtime on Tuesday afternoon:

Family play time

On Thursday we went on a picnic after picking TinyDancer up from school. We went to the park with SleepinAbgel's grove of trees and sat right next to her trees. It's hard to believe that they have only been there for two years - they have grown so much! TinyDancer and Stranger also did some kite flying after lunch while the little girls and I watched.

Bring on lunch!

First picnic

Kite flying

SleepingAngel's trees right after they were planted - May 2008

SleepingAngel's trees - May 2010

Seven!

2010-05-07T20:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, RainbowBaby hit the seven pound mark. Yay!!! She and I have been spending a lot of time together in the rocking chair.

Here she is doing her first tummy time on Thursday.

First doctor visit

2010-04-26T21:46:00.003-04:00

Today RainbowBaby had her first visit to the doctor. We combined her visit with a sick visit for EasternStar (she had an allergic reaction to our disposable wipes a month ago and her rash won't go away). While we were there EasternStar also got three shots. She's a little behind on her vaccinations but almost caught up.

It was an experience taking both of them at once. 8 ) TinyDancer opted to stay with Grandma and do something fun instead of going. About half way through, I was wishing that I was with them instead of at the doctor's office!

RainbowBaby looks great - but she is still 4 ounces short of her birth weight. She and I have been working hard at nursing - but we'll have to work a little harder. She has five days to get back up to her birth weight or we have to go back and see the doctor.

A year ago.......

2010-04-26T20:54:00.002-04:00

A year (and two days) ago, Stranger and I accepted our referral for the sweet little girl pictured below. The instant we saw her cute face and crazy hair, we fell in love. We were hooked, regardless of what her medical information showed. We had our international adoption doctor look at her medical information - not to see if she was healthy enough to accept - but to make sure that we understood what her needs would be - to make sure that we had access to the resources that she might need.

We are so grateful that God choose us to be her parents. I know that she was made for us, just as we were made for her. It's only been a year since we first saw her face, but is feels as though she has been with us forever.

We love you sweet EasternStar.

Pictures

2010-04-21T21:02:00.005-04:00

Some pictures from the past few days:

There is no place like home

2010-04-21T13:35:00.002-04:00

RainbowBaby and I came home late yesterday afternoon. Everyone is adjusting as well as can be expected.

Which, translated, means ...... everyone is very tired! 8 )

Actually, it is mostly Stranger and I that are tired. EasternStar slept like a champ last night, TinyDancer was decent, waking only once at 4 am, and RainbowBaby slept like a baby, meaning she and I were up every 2 hours. 8 )

The girls are adjusting into their new roles beautifully. I am so proud of both EasternStar and TinyDancer. TinyDancer has been a great help with changing RainbowBaby's clothes and diapers and holding her and EasternStar has been very gentle and loving with her new sister.

Pics to follow tonight ...... unless I pass out from exhaustion first. 8 )

A few more pictures from today

2010-04-17T21:31:00.007-04:00

RainbowBaby is having some trouble keeping her body temp up so she got sent back to the nursery to sit under the warming lamp. To kill some time, Stranger and I transferred some more photos to the laptop.

These are of the girls meeting each other:

True to her word during my pregnancy, TinyDancer was very eager to hold RainbowBaby.

And give her kisses.

The four of us.

EasternStar did fantastic meeting her little sister! She rubbed her head as gently as she knows how and put her face close to her - her version of giving kisses. I am very proud of her. She really wanted to hold her and she got one chance. I'm not sure that either one of them is ready for too much of that yet!

Do you see how proud the girls are in their "Big Sister" shirts?

The newest princess has arrived!

2010-04-17T17:55:00.003-04:00

Stranger here,

That's right, at 12:39 pm today we added our newest little princess to the family. She weighed in at a staggering 6lbs, 6oz and was a whopping 18 1/2 inches long. Apparantly we make small babies. Everything went well, and both mom and baby are doing great and looking beautiful. Here are a few pictures:

We will be adding more updates soon!!!

The big day is finally here!

2010-04-17T09:52:00.002-04:00

Well, RainbowBaby decided that she wasn't going to come early after all - at least willingly. 8 )

We had a few false alarms this week - intense contractions that were too far apart (40 minutes) for hours on end and then weak contractions that were close together (8 minutes) for more hours on end.

But, today is the BIG DAY!!! Surgery is at 12:30 and Stranger will post an update and pics as soon as he can - assuming that the wireless internet in the hospital will cooperate. If not, he'll post an update tonight.

Yay!!!!

Laundry is expensive!!

2010-04-12T11:09:00.001-04:00

It cost me $3.00, but I just talked my 5 year old into

- transferring a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and starting the dryer
- carrying a load of laundry up from the basement to the top floor of our house
- bringing a load of laundry up from the basement to the main level and helping me fold it

Now she wants to know what else she can do for money. 8 )

I think I need to start carrying smaller bills!

Sadly.......

2010-04-11T19:25:00.002-04:00

Sadly.......my bladder has just given up.

We were sent home after a thorough checkup. My fluid has rebounded to almost 12 cm and RainbowBaby's NST looked perfect. And my water has not broken.

On the up side, only six more days until the c-section.

However, Stranger has taken this as a personal challenge to get me to go into labor early. For dinner he gave me some spicy Indian food. And will be forcing a second helping in a few hours. If you'll excuse me, I need to find my tums.

Either my water has broken.......

2010-04-11T15:08:00.002-04:00

Either my water has broken.......or my bladder is tired of being used as a pillow by RainbowBaby and it has thrown in the towel.

Stranger is on his way home from the hospital to take me in and get me checked out.

There will either be a really really disappointed post in a few hours.........or no post because we're having a c-section today!

Cross your fingers for broken membranes!!!!