First Sunday in Advent

Today was the first Sunday in Advent. Much preparations have begun in our house to prepare. Leah and I made our Advent Wreath out of moss, and some pine cones and added a few small ornaments. We usually light our Advent candles at the dinner table along with our special Advent prayers and songs. Leah has learned to love this tradition.  She will ask us to sing O' Come Emmanuel at any given time.

Tree is up!

Advent Wreath ready for tonight

Corn and butternut squash. a family favorite Advent dinner

Early Holiday Trip to Disney

We took an all too brief trip to Disney with friends to kick off our holiday. The weather was nice. Cool in the mornings and mild by noon.  My friend Lidi had Memorial weekend off and Disney was already decorated for Christmas. Initially I thought I would take pictures for our Christmas cards this weekend. Thought I would be on time for once.  NOT!

 

 

 

Let the countdown begin!

Pumpkin Patch Weekend 2013

We visited two different pumpkin patches this year. Sunday had to be the hottest day ever and my camera lens kept getting fogged, hence the bad pictures! Leah insisted on wearing her cowboy hat and boots. At least the hat blocked the scorching sun. Oh, South Florida, we love and hate you at the same time....

Our "Uncarved" Pumpkin

This year we decided not to carve our pumpkin.  We live in hot and humid weather and our pumpkin spoils rather quickly. We figure if we don't carve it, it may last a little longer without rotting. She did this all by herself and was so proud! Good job, baby girl!!!

6th Birthday Party!

The party took place at Build A Bear. All the kiddos had so much fun. After they built their bears, we took all the kids to the food court at the mall, rode the carousel, got balloons, and had pizza cake and ice cream. Mommy was a little late to the party because she caught some kind of stomach thing, but Mimi and Daddy were great hosts and held down the fort.

Class Birthday Party

Special birthday treat with pals in school

Happy 6th Birthday, Princess!

Our Little turned 6 today! Amazing to me that time has traveled so fast. She knows her birthday party is next weekend so we told her she could have whatever she wanted today. She chose to go to her favorite place for lunch ?#%Chili's&*#$% and have a sundae for desert followed by a trip to
the mall to ride the Merry-go-round.
.

"Johnny ate a Boogie"

We have been amazed at all our princess is learning all of a sudden. We knew the day would come when she would catch up and all of her delays would be a thing of the past. We are not completely there yet, but we have come so long. Leah has a great memory for detail. Her short term is not where it needs to be, but boy does she recall detail. She knows the name of every street we frequent, every store and recalls the oddest things. Like the decore, the colors of the walls, where everything is, etc. She noticed that one of the cashiers at Publix cut her hair, when they changed the menu cover at one of our favorite restaurants, she noticed when our lawn man got new shoes, well, you get the picture. But at school, she sometimes has trouble remembering what she learned. Especially in Math. But today, she had no trouble recalling a chant she leaned in school and told us all about it while we were eating out at a restaurant. It goes like this: "Johnny ate a booger and it tastes like sugar, put it in a pot and it tastes like snot" Well, she actually says "boogie", as that's what she calls them. Needless to say, dinner was a little interesting.

The Flip Side of Adoption....

I found a new blog last night that made me reflect on adoption. This particular post was written by mother of a large family with 6 or 7 little girls, all adopted from China. All seem to be between 5 and 12. I don't know them personally but they look like a loving and caring family and the girls look happy and loved. This particular post was about their most recent adoption and the difficulties they are having. It appears their new daughter (maybe 5 or 6 years old?) is having many issues that are affecting the entire family. Its not my story to tell so I will just say that things are so bad that one of the other children asked why the parents adopted her and are ready to ship her back to China. Most of you reading this are adoptive parents and we know adoption is not for the faint of heart. Adoption is a beautiful way to grow your family and I for one cannot imagine life without my precious baby girl. But if you are not prepared for EVERYTHING you are in for a few scary moments. Those of you who are not adoptive parents, may not even understand. Can you see where I am going with this yet? Well, there was a post in this blog that made many readers really angry, leaving really nasty comments on this family's blog. The family opted to leave the comments up rather than deleting them. One person commented that this is what you get for posting your family's personal details on a public blog. Others made assumptions that were incorrect and some were just cruel. I just have a question for those who made those comments: Who are you to judge? There are blogs for everyone. Some post only the good, some only the bad, some both and so on. In my case, my blog is mainly a place where Leah go and learn about her beginnings when she is older. Something that may help her put pieces together. The first 17 months of her live are a mystery; and may always be, but I will see to it that she loses no more. I don't post as often as I would like, but living life cab get kinda hectic sometimes:) Not to mention keeping up with my busy little bees (yes, plural!) is quite the challenge. As parents, we all want the very best for our children and aim to be the best parents we could be. I read blogs of other adoptive parents because I want to learn to be a better parent. Some of these families have taught me what to expect, what to do, what not to do and so forth. I have also made very dear friends that have lived the good and the bad with us and supported us unconditionally and without judgment. For this I am thankful that you are brave enough to post the good, the bad, the ugly, and the wonderful. (Not necessarily in that order) So, yes adoption has a flip side, for some more than others. Whoever expected perfect lives as parents, whether adoptive or otherwise, is naïve and unrealistic. Parenting all three of my children has been WONDERFUL, but certainly not perfect. I would not change a thing. So, as I continue to go down this path, I am thankful that I have all of you bloggy friends to learn from and with. So keep those posts coming! I need them!

Strawberry Pickin'

First strawberry picking of the season. We drove down south this morning to buy bread and stuff from the Amish, but when we arrived at the farm the lines were all the way to the street. So we decided to go pick strawberries and have lunch while we waited out the crowd a little bit. When we retuned to the Amish the lines were even worse. So we returned home. We'll visit with the Amish during the week one day soon

We even brought our own strawberry plant home.

Sports Grill and Football with Daddy

At the edge pf their seats watching the BBVA Compass Bowl

New Year's Eve

We had a fun New Year's Eve. We went to Li'l Java's for lunch and some play time with David and Lidi. Leah has really missed playing with her BFF David. Lidi and I kept trying to get them together again before the end of the holidays but this holiday season kicked our butts and one of us kept getting sick. But there was nothing going to keep us from Li'l Java's today!

Then in the evening we went to our local New Year's hang out. We usually do Disney for New Year's but this year had been kinda crazy and I didn't make a reservation or even have time to think about Disney. At the last minute we realized we were not driving to Disney so we went to the New Year's Eve party at Shula's. We love it there because the food is good, its close to home, and its family friendly. DJ, dancing and lots of people take kids. We didn't stay til midnight though. Mimi wasn't feeling well so we came home and rang in the New Year with her.

Dancing in the dance floor.....

Dancing at the table.....

A little too much ginger ale?

A little too much fun?

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

We went to the zoo today. We are squeezing in as much family fun time as possible before Ed goes back to work on the 7th.

After a long line to feed the giraffes, baby girl decided she would let Daddy feed them and hide behind Mommy while Mommy took pictures.

A random woman was looking for someone to ride the seesaw with and no one in her family would, so Leah volunteered, my sweet child!