my sugars: 2007

Wednesday, September 19

Easter bunny side job?

Ok so weve got 4 kids in bed (ofcourse there not asleep they don't really think thats what beds r for) anyway mom and i are headed to bed when i notice a small bottle of apple juice on the floor in the doorway of my room. so huh thats odd then we find that there is an apple juice in every doorway in the house. there not opened, there is no mess, but who is leaving us these little gifts? i am guessing that they are compliments of Ellie. She has just recently mastered the opening the garage fridge door. (its pretty funny the steps that she goes thru just to obtain illicit apple juice ill try to get a pic) but i think that maybe the easter bunny is bored. i mean really he's only got the one day a year. I mean he doesn't even decorate the eggs anymore. but there must be something more constructive to do?

WHY?

why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why?why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? This is my day. Ellie is achieving new hights with her vocabulary, stringing 3 and 4 words togather using more complicated words and her speach is greatly improving, so with all the wonderful words in the universe, WHY is WHY her favorite? first thing in the morning, last thing before bed. every 5 minuites in between. I think im going nuts (ok more nuts) HELP!

Tuesday, September 4

ETSY SHOP

ok that didn't work, so here ya go for now

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5180329

comming out of our shell

Well hi there. We are stil alive i promise. Summer was busy but finally the white shoes are put away and into the new rutine we are settling. Thank God Oh and the best part is i have lost 12 pounds Yeah i know but hey its all iv got to brag about.

Well lets see the kids are great. In october it will be six monthes sin

ce Ellie came home, I am both shocked it has only been 6 monthes and can't beleive it hasn't been longer. It seems like she has been a part of this family forever. Shesa adjusting well and advancing well. she does all of the things she is supposed to do as a three year old. including eat cookie dough off of a beater. a true right of passage.

Mitchell is in the fifth grade this year. He has joined the ban

d and is a trumpet player. today he learned to play three notes. we are so proud. He also was eligable to test for the GATE program at school (brains he di not inherit fom mama) He is an exceptional young man and he makes me very proud. he is also blessed with an increadably smart mouth (that he did inherit from mama)

Keleigh the intrepid 4th grader. is also thriving altho

ugh the transition to the much more independent and fast paced 4Th grade has been a rough one. But she seems to have found the rhythm a few week in and is doing very well. She is growing into a really great young woman. She's got allot of friends and i think shes just always going to be the social butterfly of the bunch.

And that leaves us with Connor. What can i say about laid back Connor. Loving the first grade. Doing well. Learning to read more confidently every day. i even catch him reading to Ellie sometimes (really sweet since she is usually beating the t

ar out of him. If he had his way he would turn himself into a pokemon and never leave his seat in front of the computer. Next week i am going to get to start working in his class. I've been fortunate enough to be able to do this with all of the kids, i love it.

Well that's whats been going on here. Brian has been working hard. i have been sewing up a storm and have a shop set up where i am selling some of my fun little creations (ill try to add a link to the sidebar) I should be better about posting now that things are calmed down.

Monday, June 25

what a big girl

well its 9:42 pm and all is well. but our tiniest of children is right now as i type this is sound asleep in her big girl bed. She looks very tiny at least. We are having some sleep issues so i plan to take her to my room when i go to bed but she was so excyted about being with the big kids. i thought she would never fall asleep. i had to read four chapters of the kids book before she fell asleep. its so hard to see her growing and changing so much. i know its good and right but i miised so much of her little life that i do not enjoy going through these stages in fast foreward. i will try to take a pic of ellie sleeping cuz its pert dern cute. well i am off to ANOTHER of mom super yummy peanut butter cookies.

Sunday, June 17

Happy Fathers Day Big Daddy!!

Honey, thank you for being my husband and our kids dad. i am so grateful for the sacrifices that you continue to make everyday for all of us. The kids are so lucky to have you for there daddy (whatever they call you). Thank you for Mitchell and his methodical thinking, for Kyleigh and her sweet spirit, thank you for Connor and his compassion, and thank you for Ellie with her fierce stubborn streak. I love you.

Saturday, June 16

WHY IS THERE NO CHOCOLATE CAKE FAIRY?

When your day hasn't been bad but you didn't really get anything done and well you really need something, just something, I'm not a big drinker, maybe if they made a Margarita with butter cream frosting, anyway, there should be a cake fairy, screw the tooth fairy and i can live with the leprechaun that visits my sons kindergarten class but God, please send me a cake fairy!!

Thursday, June 14

the sound of silence

I will start by saying that i am not one who enjoys silence. whenever its really quiet i am always reminded of a horror movie right before the bad guy chopps off a head or something so i always have something on in the background (the idiot box, the radio,kyleigh whatever) but since mom had the boys in sacramento this weekend visiting with uncle lew and aunt sherri i was blessed with a bit more quiet then usual and with the girls all bunking in my room the combined noises that they make are quite melodic. For starter, Kyleigh, my beautiful 41 pound pixy snores Like a MIDDLE AGED TRUCK DRIVER. This sound only a mother could love is broken speradically by the sound of Ellie half sucking half chewing her thumb. It really is quite a sweet sound and i kind of wish i were the sentimental mom who would record this for all posterity (or at least the boyfriend at about 17) but alas i amnt.

it has been fun being all girls. we played beauty shop, went to build a bear workshop and generally just got our estrogen on but we are certainly ready for Mitchell to come home so he can take out the mounds of trash out

Wednesday, June 13

What have we been up to you ask????

we have been doing alot of this.

Note the concentration. she was all

about shooting that gun. She is a big

kid dammit!

We celebrated three of these

Connor is seven

and Brian and I, well, were older

please note that i am not nearly as old

as brian is, man he's old

There has ofcourse been alot of this, new fence, baseboards,yardwork, new disposal and faucet some painting blah blah bod and norm look out her come big daddy and ellie

And of course there has been a little of this, we are us of course.

But mostly everyone is healthy and happy. Ellie continues to surpass our expectations. as do all of the kids they came out of the school year with excelent marks. we couldn't be more proud of the lot of them. I'm so glad to be there mommy.

Wednesday, May 9

STRINGING CHEERIOS!!!

This takes serious concentration!

One for me, another one for me,

One for the string.

Ellie did better at this then i anticitated. unfortunatly we have one seriously short attention span and after about two dozen beads she decided it would be more fune to go and torture the bird. Oh the joys of living in a zoo!

Top 4 reasons I Love My Job! (in no particular order)

i suppose its cuteness like this that got me four kids.

Wednesday, May 2

truth in advertising

There is a blog that i read and so enjoy for it's wit and honesty, today she posted about blogs lately being all sunshine and roses. although i don't think shes referring to me in honor of the lovely and talented Sandra
@ http://jazzieandtahlia.typepad.com/my_weblog/
I give you, the reality of my day with four kids under 11.
we were up at 6:30 am when i awoke to Ellie's pull up on the floor (needless to say she wasn't in it)
the big kids were up at 7, Mitch still had homework from the night before and was actually late to school because he couldn't finish it ( i made him go to be last night, probably a bad call) we got the big kids off to school and mom and i tried to clean up the back yard. during that hour or so Ellie just kept yelling up up up up up up up up up up (i think you get it) so we gave up on that pretty quickly. we got through lunch and nap time without too much of a fuss. the big kids came home promptly followed by "mom, can i eat this, mom, can i eat that, mom, Ellie's eating my....., Connor ate the last ....." ( i think you get it) and i am a MORON, cuz i thought, hey let's bake some cookies, Ha have i mentioned I'm an idiot. got the cookies baked but the entire time ellie is ( alternately sitting in her high chair, laying on floor) yelling uh uh uh (her words for "iwant to eat some of that now") after all the kids eating more then there share of said cookies we ended the day with a rousing round of Human Fountain in the living room. so I'm off to clean up (i should be done some time before the Apocalypse). have a great night

Tuesday, May 1

FFFF Gotcha Clothes

This is my first attempt at the Fanily Foto Fun Friday challenge from Donna at Double Happieness. This week it is Gotcha day clothes. Well we certainly have us some of those. When Ellie came to the civil affairs office she was wearing tree pairs of pants, one long sleaved t shirt, two sweaters, and a thick jacket (please note it was 68* outside and about 80* in the office) It took us hours in the hotel room to get her to take of her many layers and we were surprised to keep discovering more clothes.
eventually we got down to skin and we discovered the dirtiest little kid. she didn't like the tub at first but over the last month it is now one of her faverite places to be.

when i took the clothes out to take the picture below ellie got very upset, so back they went into the holiday inn bag where they have lived since China.

Our sweaty girl in all her terrified glory

Ellies gotcha clothes
We sent three disposable cameras to the orphanage over the past year and in probably 70% of the pictures Ellie has some variation of these clothes on.

Thanks Donna for the FFFF. This was fun!

Sunday, April 29

In the interest of full disclosure

I give you Me, in all of my infinate glory (ok maybe not glorious but there is becomming infinatly more of me over time) these are from last weekend when we took our first outing to Chili's as a family of 6, it was fun, Ellie did really well and charmed everyone and Mitchell ate off of the adult menu and ate all of his food, man he's getting big.

our saturday in pictures

Well here you will find Big Daddy doing his bi-weekly oil change, bi weekly is too often you say, well our big daddy DRIVES. ALOT! he works hard and so does his truck.

In a stunning display of crappy motherhood below you will find mitchell wrapping birthday gifts (its a

pril by the way) for his friends in Christmas wrap. i know that i have birthday wrap but it has dissapeared into the abbys some might call a garage. But he had fun at the party and no one even noticed.

Kyleigh and Connor so wanted to go in the pool, it wa hot enough outside (i think the high was 101 or so) but the water in the pool was BURR cold. they came out 40 minuites later with blue lips.

Ellie found herself doing yet more

manual labor. she volinteered i swear. mom was cleaning the fence (the dogs like to pee on it, sweet aint they) and Ellie decided it looked like fun. this was followed by an odd ritual of filling the bucket with water, putting her feet in the bucket them dunking her head in the bucket, then shed dump out the bucket and start all over. she is an odd duck but such a great kid.
you will notice a distinct lack of pics of me, well im not stupid enough to let anyone take my picture when im cleaning house, it just aint pretty ya'll

Saturday, April 28

Friday Fun

I know I know this is a pittiful picture but please before you turn away take note of the obvious remnants of the BLOOD DRAW FROM HE double hockey sticks!!!! friday my little Ellie had the pleasure of having 9 yes i said NINE vials of bllod drawn by the lovely vampires at the lab. The had to stick her twice, and boy howdy she didn't like it. She is being tested for everything under the sun. since she's already been diagnosed with a staff infection and is being treated to get rid of some, uhm, little friends she brought home with her from China. Fun Fun Fun.

Monday, April 23

toiling away

So who says slavery in America is dead?

OH THE HORROR!!!

So the nice doctor thinks that it would be fun to do this three times a day for SEVEN days!!! Oh yea this is going to be fun

oh by the way this is ellies responce to taking the antibiotics that were prescribed today for her bladder infection.

Friday, April 20

EASTER FUN!!!

Monday morning She was dissapointed to find that there were no eggs on the lawn!!!

ok so i suck

well ok so i havn't posted since we got home. thats mostly because i dont think anyone reads this but im going to do better because i need the outlet.

so were home, adjusting well, screaming alot, sleeping well,screaming some more,eating alot (not a vegi will pass ellies lips though,atleast not with out passing them again on the way out) doing generally well. the big kids seem to be enjoying having a little person around. atleast they have someone to blame when something gets broken, moved,crushed,eaten etc. and they are learning quickley that if they like something they need to put it up HIGH or its toast.
I have forgotten how active toddlers are. this little girl is kickin my butt. she needs to be entertained every second of the day. there is no electronic babysitter, she could care less for the boob tube. Ugh no showers for me, unless of course mom is home (thank God for Grandma, she ROCKS!!)

Monday, March 26

Hi, greetings from the newly minted parents of 4.
we got our little girl this morning and i can tell you already that she is quite a character.
there were no tears at our meeting (at least on Ellie's part) she was calm and cool. Brian and i sat down on the floor in the room at waited for her to decide we were OK. the sweet nanny kept telling her that we were her mama and baba and she kept looking at us like we were from the planet mars. fortunately she feel prey to our devious plan, bribe her with food. she has pretty much been eating ever since. we had some tears at nap time but we have also been rewarded with big smiles and a giggle that would melt a Grinch's heart.
she came to us wearing four layers of clothing (2 sweaters a long sleeved tee and a heavy coat) it was about 65 outside. the nanny told us that Ellie eats just about everything and so far she has been correct, she hasn't turned down a thing. shes a lovely little girl. she enjoys things being in there place, if something has a lid it has to be on it. Her favorite toy is her staking cups (thanks auntie Amy). i have three full disposable cameras to develop that were taken by the nannies they also brought us some wonderful pics of Ellie and her friends eating the birthday cakes that we sent (can't post those till i get home to the scanner)
Ellie seems very healthy, she has a little cough and some of what i think are bug bites that she enjoys picking at, I have medication that should help that though. All in all i think we are a happy bunch. for a little girl who at our last update wasn't speaking at all she really is very vocal and is probably going to pick up English pretty quickly. I miss my big kids so much i can't believe it. i wish there were here to see all of the strange and wonder full sights. more later
much love to all

Sunday, March 25

hi all its 4 am here and i can not sleep. we are headed to the civil affairs office to get ellie in about 4 and a half hours. i don't think that i am scared but the anticipation is killing me. it has taken so long to get here that i cant beleive its right around the corner.
because i have been unable to access our blog i decided to upload our pics onto dropshots so go http://www.dropshots.com/walshpics and you can see pics. there arent too many as we dont have wee one yet. brian is fascinated by the construction. the lack of safty gear just blows him away. ther are pics of transformers, not remarkable right but they are less then six feet off the boround (at home they are min 12 ft)
anyway i have my little bag packed and our gifts all lines up. all the money for our fees is sorted and ready to be paid. just a few more hours of waiting. i think it might kill me.i hope all are having a great weekend. ill post more after gottcha

well all we made it to china. i am not able to access blogger so my little Korean Savior of this trip (aka aunt sherri) is going to try to post this for me. our flight was long but just fine. there was lots of food and the attendants spoke enough English that we were able to get by. i say the flight was fine but i will also say that if it is at all possible we will be springing for the upgrade to "premium" economy. i think that it will be worth the investment.
Hefei is an interesting city. there is a beautiful park that is 5 miles long just up from our hotel. its really peacefull. we walked it yesterday.and saw people getting men getting pedicures and shaves on little stools, people seemed to be taking dancing lesions, oh and i have to mention the one legged monkey. there were several people playing musical instruments that i had never seen before and the sounds were beautiful. it is interesting to be stared at everywhere we go. most people are very nice, children giggle and seem to dare each other to walk up to us and say "hello", older women comment on how big and strong Brian looks(that working out is paying off). but there are some people really not many who honestly look at us like we are going top eat there young, its a little disconcerting. the hotel in nice and most folk speak enough English to meet our needs. we have had fun running into a few fluent in English who are very foreword (i mean that in a good way) and will strike up a conversation. we helped a few college student get extra credit, they were English majors and if they talk to foreigners they get extra points.they were really cute.
we have thus far had no tummy troubles. but we do tend to stick close to the hotel for food. there a six restaurants so we have lots of options. there is even a little deli where you can get a slice of cake for like 75 cents!!!!! if you don't know already i love cake.
we get Ellie on Monday morning local time. i appreciate all of the prayers and good vibes that i can feel coming our way. thank you thank you more later

Wednesday, March 21

leavin' on a jet plane.....

well we're off in a few hours to the airport. then at 11:45 pm its off to China. before we go im sure that a good time will be had at Malibu Al's....Margaritas anyone??

well post when we get settled in our hotel.

Tuesday, March 20

tomorrow tomorrow i love ya tomorrow!

well, we leave for China tomorrow and i can't even describe how freaked out i am. wanted to give you a little run down of the goings on while we are there. we will be staying at the Holiday Inn in Hefei. it comes complete with a revolving restaurant on the top. Yes we are livin' large. we will arrive in Hefei (this is the capitol city of Ellie's province) on Saturday morning local time (it's a +15 hour time difference so were generally a day ahead) we will have a day to acclimate ourselves before Ellie arrives. we should be meeting a beautiful girl on Sunday evening. We will have a brief opportunity to talk to someone from the orphanage when we meet Ellie. During the next few days we will have several meeting with various officials and finalize Ellie's adoption. Hopefully wed. Brian will be able to visit her orphanage and takes lots of pictures. We will be traveling to Guangzhou on Friday mar 30.

where we will be staying at the White Swan hotel. It is sort of the Mecca for adoptive families in China. Everything here is complete and were ready to travel were just waiting patiently for it to be time to leave for the airport. While we are gone the kids and grandma will be busy. the kids test for their next belts in Tae Kwon Do and they start spring nest week. The three of them are very excyted to be FINALLY getting there little sister home with them. just because i haven't posted any kid pics in a while here are a few just to make me happy!

Friday, March 16

WE GOT US SOME PLANE TICKETS BABY!!!!!
WOW IN 5 DAYS WE ARE HEADED TO CHINA!!!!!

Wednesday, March 14

haleluya!! is that how you spell that?

We are going to China baby, yes the adoption gods have finally felt pity on us and we got our consulate appointment. We are leaving on march 21st. and we will be coming home on the 4 th. somewhere in there we will

meet our beautiful daughter and try to convince her
we are not completely horrible. I hope that you will join us on our journey, we could not be more excited!

Tuesday, March 13

no gnews is good gnews??

Well, its tuesday evening and we still don't have a consulate appointment. we are hopping to leave on friday march 23. I know that our agency is doing all that they can do to get a responce from the embassy. I think all of us are just so frustrated. but hopefully we will hear tomorrow and can start making plans. Otherwise all is well. we are thrilled to be hosting my brother and his lovely wife for easter this year. i am pretty sure that brian, ellie and i will sleep through alot of it i know that the big kids will enjoy having there aunt and uncle here. anyway hope to have good news to post tomorrow. have a great night

Friday, March 9

i'm sad today

Hi because we were unable to secure the consulate appointments that are necessary we won't be able to leave for china until at least march 23. Our agency tried very hard to get things done but when you dealing with the government it isn't always in you control. i am so sad. I don't know what else to say. ill post when there is more info. thanks

Wednesday, March 7

coming out of the fog and random bits

We are finally comming out of the flu fog. Everyone in the house with the exception of mom have been seriously draggin. We are still awaiting our consulate appointment so there is no itinerary to report but we are still planing to leave next friday.

I find myself experiencing a huge array of emotions these last few days. i am nervous about leaving the big kids for so long. i know that they are in the best possible hands but the process of putting all the important papers in one place so they can be found easily were something were to happen, we'll its a little sobering.
i love these kids so much and they have brought me more joy then i ever thought possible. i have also been very sad for Ellie and for all of the changes that are about to come her way. i know that ultimately she is getting a better life complete with siblings,dogs and frogs. but in the short term she is loosing EVERYTHING that she has ever known. driving in the car today i found myself crying for her losses and wishing there was an easier way for her to have come home to her family.

Thursday, March 1

we're wearin our squirll coats, come on in

Well another day goes by and no news on the travel approval front. Looks like it will be another week before we hear anything. Monday i was nuts today those nuts are cracked. i am going CRAZY, i know not usually not much of a streatch but it is miles from normal. I have gone over all my lists, i can not concentrate on a quilt. In the usual Murphy lives here the Refridgerater repair man was here ning. and $200 later im not sure what he did but the fridge no longer smells like burning rubber, and congrats to my mom who quit smoking long enough ago to smell the stink, that sort of thing could drive her back to the smokes. Hopefully there will be news soon, PLEASE GOD!!

Wednesday, February 28

The postman always rings twice

Ok, no news yet on the travel approval front. Mom and i are both officially off of our Rockers but that isn't much of a change!

but the mailman did bring us some goodies for Ellie.
I swear that little girl gets more mail then i do!
I ordered this backpack for her to use on the plain ride home to hold all of her goodies, and well who can pass up pretty bows, especially when your baby girl has really short hair.

Tuesday, February 27

Nuts! Nuts! I tell you Nuts!!!

I am going nuts, what can i do to pass the time (please something other then eat) Our TA should be here any time now. i tell myself it wont be untill atleast nest week but I WANT IT NOW!!!! i am ready to travel and get my girl. i dont quite know how to describe the emotion. its like I miss her but how can you miss someone who you've never even been on the same continent as?? But i do i feel like there is an empty place in this house that she needs to fill, sooner rather then later. There are a bil

lion thing i caould be doing but instead im eating sugar waffers

with two phones in my lap watching Judge Judy, maybe i need and intervention? No i just need my daughter or i am going to start keeping the kids home from school so that they can keep me distracted. I even tried to let Calgone take me away but it isn't working Tiffany please call and put me out of my missery