surprise pics!

Looky, looky what we received in an email from

a sweet family in Spain who just visited
our little Isaiah Jack's orphanage.

*Smile*

Pics of our little guy!

He's the one right in front w/ the blue shirt.
Gasp!
Look at those kissable cheeks!
And LONG hair.
My goodness.

So cute!

I'm really ready to bring him home!!

Hey everyone.
How's it going with ya'll?

I only have 2.5 minutes to post something cause it is non-stop
fun around here.
Next on today's agenda: reacquaint myself with
my mop...and perhaps the toilet brush.
We've lost touch and I need to step up to the plate to
get our relationship back on track.

And then later Nick's basketball team is playing
for 3rd place in the state tournament.
We lost last night in a nail-biter game.
And honestly, I couldn't be more bitter about it.
But, I might get over it.
Not sure right now.


Anyway,
I would love, love, love it if you would swing by my friend,
Anita's blog
and check out their fundraiser!!
Pretty, pretty please?!!!

Just look at their little guy....

I just can't help but giggle when I look at his
syrupy sweet smile, ya know?
And what's even cooler, he is in our little Isaiah's orphanage.
Perhaps they are best buds.
And ornery little stinkers, I'm quite certain!


They will be traveling super soon and need to raise
the rest of their money to go.

It would be so great for them to meet their goal before they leave!

Go check it out!!

that's what's new {nothing much}

Just thought I'd pop in here to say, hey.

Things are crazy-busy on my end of town
and there is simply no end in sight.

I am having fun but yet feeling great anxiety all at the same time.
I know, I know....Phil. 4:6-7.
Yes, I know.

I know.

Big state tournament this weekend, then basketball is over for the year.

:(
:)

And then, Monday night is a meeting to kick off the golf season.

I think these people are trying to kill me.


Anyway, as we move in closer on our travel dates
(still nothing set in stone, however),
we are frantically trying to figure out exactly who should go.
We are second-guessing ourselves
on our original scenario.

So, that's what's new around here.

Now if you'll excuse me,
I need to get back to a hotly competitive wii bowling game.
Which seems to happen nightly around here.


And for your viewing pleasure,
my Nicky and his fancy birthday cake.


And new smile.

happy birthday, to my nicky

My Nickerdoodle turns 16 today.

My only blue-eyed child.

My little cherub baby boy.

**Sniffle, sniffle**

16 years old.

16.

Why does that make make my heart skip a beat?

Boohoohoo.

He's also getting his braces off today.
Sweet!

Happy Birthday, Nick!!!

gift card giveaway {winner!!}

Oh I'm so excited!!

I just did the drawing for the gift card bundle
and my sweet friend in Durango
won!

Congratulations, JR!!

And the coolest thing is...she won't find out until Tuesday
because she is in Mexico on a missions trip!

How cool is that?

I love that gal!!

get in on the deal {drawing tonight}

I've been working on a blog post since Friday,
but I just can't seem to get it done!

I'll finish it up later today.
Oh and don't let that lead you to believe it's something
big and fantastic...
no, no.
I just don't seem to have more than five minutes to sit down
to do it!!

Anyway, I'll be doing my drawing this evening!!!!

GET IN ON THE DEAL TODAY if you want to!!

scattered {w/ pics and good stuff}

This post is rather scattered.
Which represents well the state of my brain right now.
So really,
nothing is new.
And I'm in no way motivated to put all this in any kind
of logical order.
But, that's what you love most about me, right?
:)

Friday afternoon we had a fabulous visit with my friend Robyn!
And Macy's friend Mia
was there visiting.
It was so fun!

The kids all made Chinese pancakes.
(Robyn...I'm so mad at myself for not getting a pic of
Reed in his goggles cutting up onions. Dang it!)

And as you can see from this pic...
everyone is having a super time except Lucy.
The mood that is clearly apparent on her face was
her attitude de jour.

Precious, isn't she?
Good times await us, come the teen years.

And to jump backwards a day or two,
the weather here has been fabulous.
The very second Nick got his school work done,
he dashed outside with his clubs.
Don't be jealous of our golf-course lawn.

And here's a darling picture of three of the most darling
girls on the planet (my mom, Lucy and me).
Macy was behind the camera, so sadly she wasn't included.
But of course, she's positively darling as well.
And I've overused the word darling, sorry.

And lastly,
but super importantly,

We got our I800 provisional approval for
little Isaiah Jack!

For those of you who don't know what that means,
neither do I.
But I do know that it's one big step closer to traveling.

I think we still have...maybe two months-ish.
I'd love to know others' time frame on this...
email me or leave a comment
with the low-down.


My drawing is coming this evening!!!

family portrait {by lucy}

Lucy drew a family portrait yesterday.

I think it is lovely and hilarious.

Mostly, lovely.

But very hilarious.

She did this with zero help from anyone.

Take note of Nick's hair.
Her artistic ability to replicate reality is uncanny.

And the vertical lines on all the sides of the guys' heads, sideburns.
Of course.

This one is definitely going in a frame and on a wall.

deadline extended

Hey, you guys!

I haven't forgotten about the drawing for my
gift card giveaway being today!!

Actually, I did forget.
Until this morning in the shower.

But I wondered...would mind too terribly much
if we extended the deadline to THIS Sunday, Feb. 20???

I'd really like to churn up a few more entries.
Plus, I've had a crazy week.
Our schedule for one...but also my heart has been emotionally
elsewhere as a dear friend of mine is having a hard time.
My energy has not been in getting ready for
my fundraiser.

I hope that makes sense.

So...if you would be so gracious,
let's plan on the drawing being on Sunday, OK?

Thank ya!

another basketball post

Are you as bored with my basketball posts as I am?
Good.
I'm glad I'm not alone.

Here ya go...one more time.


As tired as I am of our hectic schedule...
I really do LOVE watching Nick play.
I NEVER grow tired of that.

Lucy seems unaffected by the fact that our lives are spent
on hard bleachers.
(I seriously thought about bringing my crockpot with dinner in it last night)
This girl loves a good cheering section.

And there you have it.
One more dreadfully boring bball post for the books.

Perhaps something big and exciting will happen to us soon.
Like, win the lottery
(gotta play to win though...I'm not really into that),
or a major award of some sort
(no leg-lamps, please).


I hope your Wednesday (it is Wednesday, right?)
is filled with love, joy, peace, and a little less basketball.

cupcakes and bacon {dream come true}

I'll go out on a limb here and say that it's
every teenage boy's dream to hear
his mother say,

"Do you want cupcakes and bacon for breakfast?"

That's me.

Just making my kids' dreams come true.

One cupcake and strip of bacon at a time.

2 more weeks

It's no exaggeration when I tell you that it took me no
less than 6.5 hours to post the pics to this post.
So please enjoy them to the fullest.

************

We have exactly two weeks of basketball left.
I think we're gonna make it.
I do.

And once it's over, and we no longer have the expense
of gas, admission, and concessions (which I've put a moratorium on),
we will save millions of dollars.

Just in time for golf season.

So here are a few pics from last night.
Remember,
enjoy them because they were painstakingly posted.
(Thanks to our super-sonic speed internet)

The girls had fun watching Nick play.
As they sometimes do.

Brenden had props for cheering.
Buckets.
Get it?
And as usual, he was teasing Lucy ruthlessly.

Su-weet!

Picked. Off.

THEN...
after the game, Nick had to rush outta there to go
to a school dance.
With a girl.
(Fingernails on a chalkboard to me, I tell you)
He was already running late so we had to run him over to
our friends Mike and Angela's house for a quick shower and change.

And here he is all cleaned up...with his BEST girl.And though you might think he is miserable, based on the look on his face,
anyone who knows Nick knows that that's just the way he is.
He is an extreme cut-up.
Funny, funny, funny as can be.
But for pics,
he just rarely smiles,
thanks to a diving board accident back when he was about 8 that
knocked his front tooth clean-out.

Oh but we did replace his tooth.
Although I'm regretting that these days.
What with the girl and all.

When he came home from the dance,
he was feeling under the weather with a sore throat.
And didn't ever really dance.
Well, thank goodness for that.


I hope you all have a super duper week!

you are so busted, dude

Last night we had a basketball game
(unusual, I know)...

Macy and I went court-side to take some pics.
I casually looked back up in the
stands where my stuff was and to my surprise (not really),
I see Brenden rummaging through my purse, looking for money
for the concession stand.

Dude, you're so busted!

This would be my son who HAS A JOB
and is soon to be going off to college.
RED FLAG, RED FLAG.


And here's how Macy is feeling about basketball right now.

We are SO ready for spring!!

timed typing tests {my obsession}

I'm super duper happy to tell you that
Miss Lucy is feeling WAY better today!!

The Sass is back.

I'm soooo thankful.


Unrelated to that,
I thought I'd tell you about an old obsession
I've rekindled.

Timed typing tests.

My high school
typing/shorthand (that really dates me, doesn't it?) teacher,
Mrs. Tatum, would be so proud, I tell ya.

My current record is 92 words a minute.

Keeping my skills sharp, just in case that
dream job finally comes through.

Okay, now go take the test and come back here and tell
me how you did.

Be honest.

Perhaps we can coordinate some sort of
secretarial pool or something.

Good times, good times.

grandmother's cough remedy

Today was glorious.

I got a million and one things done while Lucy dozed peacefully on the couch.

Here's how it all breaks down:
I reached the bottom of my laundry basket.
Dusted every stick of furniture.
Mopped floors.
Scrubbed toilets.
Vacuumed.
Washed windows.
Relined the swimming pool.
Painted the mailbox.
Baked 12 loaves of bread.
And
nursed six sick kittens back to health.



And if you believe one single item on that list,
you don't know me nearly as well as
I thought you did.

Delusional, you are.

Truth is,

it is day 2,632 (or so it seems) of Lucy's
flu/strep throat/do-Mama-in
illness.

And I'm this close to resorting to my grandmother's
sure-to-work cough remedy.
Whiskey and honey.
Who just typed that?

I suppose that is frowned upon by the board
of Pediatric Medicine though.
And our social worker.

Let's move on, shall we?

The really good news for today is,
Brenden got his fingerprints/background checks
done today.

Funny,
all three of my fellas shot out of the house
at the mere mention of going on
that little errand.

So very funny.

why i am not a nurse {or a food network star}

It has become plainly obvious to me today

why God didn't call me to be a nurse.
Or a babysitter.
Or anything related to someone who coughs and whines
profusely throughout the day.

God bless my Lucy...but heaven help her.
This child
just doesn't handle pain or anything uncomfortable very well.
At all.
(Note to self: mark calendar to be out of town the day she has a baby)

But in all seriousness
(actually, I was being serious),
she is getting better, but slowly...very slowly.
And I do feel so badly for her.



But life moves on with everyone else here...

And I'll give you 3,465 guesses as to what Brenden
is so intently looking.

Go ahead...guess.

Nope.

Okay, I will tell you.
He (and Nick) were watching with the eagerness of
school boys (because they are school boys),
Giada, on The Food Network.


Whatever.

I chop, cook, bake, and blah, blah, blah...
just like she does.

But there's no admiration going on in MY kitchen.



And these are the reasons I am not a nurse or a Food Network star.

lucy {the overachiever sick girl}

Well, we got about a third of the way to our destination
to get B's fingerprints done
and Lucy came unglued saying her tummy hurt so bad.

I literally turned around to come home...turned back around
to go ahead and go...then turned back around
to come back home.

I tell ya,
it is SO HARD to tell with this child, just how sick she really is.

But the thermometer sure didn't lie with its numbers.

103.

So around 4:30ish I decided it was time to go to the doctor.
You'd think with all my parenting wisdom I would
know better than to wait so late in the day.

Oh no.
Why would I do that?
That would be oh-so-boring.

Well, the doctor's office insisted we go to the urgent care
at the children's hospital.
(It was a red-alert moment, no doubt. The sirens were probably
blaring when my call came into their office)

When we got there,
THANKFULLY,
it was a rather speedy process.

But filled with drama.

Oh, the drama.

They did a strep test
and a influenza test.

It was a fun-filled occasion.

The earth trembled.
The planets lost their alignment.

Did you feel it?

And worse yet,
she test positive for BOTH.

The doctor was completely surprised.

Not me.
That's my Lucy.
An overachiever in everything she does.

So that was my day.


How was your day?

don't forget

Please don't forget about the amazing
fundraiser that Sharla is doing
for us!

She just posted some incredibly beautiful new pieces of jewelry
that I know you'll just love.

Remember, all orders placed in February gives us
a generous portion of the sale!

Thanks!

the police have spongebob {according to lucy}

Mercy be.

It has been Sickville around here this weekend.

Well, Lucy has been my only sick one...
but trust me, one sick Lucy = about a dozen.

And not to mention that I've been trying to get over this
stupid cold that I've had.

But really, she has been feeling SO BADLY.
All my kids (including my adopted ones) ALWAYS bounce
back quickly from any bug they might get.
But this time around,
Lucy-bug's bug has gotten the best of her.

She woke up the other night with a high fever and started
talking in her sleep.

At one point she said,

"The police took my friend SpongeBob away!!"

And there was so much more she said that I deeply
regret not grabbing a pen and writing it all
down.

If she hadn't been so dang sick, we'd have laughed our
britches off over it.

But poor little pumpkin...she's just wiped out.

Anyway,
PLEASE pray that she is better by tomorrow.
I need to take Brenden to finally get his background check/fingerprints
done that I had to put off an entire week because of
the blizzard last week.

And besides all that,
I just want my Sassy Lucy back!

a chance to give

A great big giant

THANK YOU

to all of you who have donated to our gift card giveaway fundraiser!

I can't tell you how grateful we are!!

There is still time left so be sure to get in on the
action if you haven't already!

Click HERE to find out all the details!

************

But you'll also want to get in on the fun over
at my friend Connie's blog!

Just look at what she's giving away to raise money for
her next adoption!


AND....
another fabulous prize is being given away
by Janet to raise money for their adoptions!


Now go get in on all the action, ya'll!!

Great chances to win some serious stuff...

but more importantly, a chance to HELP these families
bring their children home!

chinese new year! {and more}

Happy Chinese New Year!!


If you are having some sort of delicious Chinese meal at your house tonight,
please invite me over.
I've still got this hacking cough going on and
all I have in my freezer to fix for this fun holiday is
egg rolls.
Macy really wasn't amused when I told her that.

Oh well.
We'll think of something else.




We have another snow day today.
(Well, Brenden has school)
Good heavens.
And even though we homeschool,
Nick and Macy take
classes at our public school so we tend to take
the day off when they do.

But TODAY I'm making them do SOME school work.

Anyway.

I had to comment on Lyn's comment yesterday about me being a lefty.
I am not a lefty.
But you see, a couple weeks ago I was lagging big time
in my bowling scores
(perhaps getting out of the house a little more would be a super idea for me)
and on one occasion Lucy set the game up for us
to play and she inadvertently clicked for me to play left handed.
I figured it couldn't hurt since I had been playing
so badly anyway.
Turns out, I'm an AMAZING left-handed bowler.
Who knew.

These little discoveries in life are what make it so much darn fun.

Not sure I could pull this off with real-deal bowling
but it's working for me here in the living room.



That's all I have for you now.

Sorry so boring.

blizzard 2011 {fun to the extreme}

Oh my goodness.
I can't tell you how much we thoroughly enjoyed that whopper
of a blizzard yesterday.

It was fun to the extreme.


And look at this polar bear that wandered into my
flower garden.
Zeke LOVES the snow so much!

K-man was chomping at the bit to get out there with
his BFF snowblower.

Little birdies will have a to wait quite a while
for their bird bath to be user-friendly again.

When you're craving grilled burgers around here,
nothing stops us.

After dinner
the main event began.

Our First Annual
(or monthly...or whatever we feel up to)
Family Wii Bowling Tournament.


Lucy kicked it off.

Everyone was in on the action.

And it got mighty competitive.

Serious business.

Lucy was our cheerleader.
Her creative cheers were:
"Strike, strike, strike!"
or,
"Spare, spare, spare!"

And she high-fived everyone,
no matter how good (or bad) their frame was.

Stop and examine the fantastic form.

Watching my mom bowl in a league back in the 70s
is paying off.

Nick gave it all he had.

And got a tad silly as he started to lose.

It came down to Macy and me.


But in the end....
as you can see from our bracket,

MOM was the winner.
That's me.

Yep, I am the grand champion bowler.

gift card giveaway!!

Warm up your Paypal accounts and get a load of this!

I'm launching the first of a few adoption fundraisers
with this whopper of a giveaway!

The winner gets a fun bundle of
gift cards!

Check it out....


$100

$50

$50

$40

$10

Did you get all that?
All of the above could be yours...
For you and your honey to go on one whopper of
a date!

All for helping out with raising money for our adoptions.
:)


Here's all you need to do:


*One entry for every $10 donated.
(just click on Chipin button at the top of my blog)
*One entry for plugging this on your blog and/or Facebook.

It's as simple as that.

Drawing will be held on February 16.

THANK YOU!!!

*Winner can choose another restaurant card
if the one above isn't in your area.