Happy Easter!

First, I want to wish everyone a blessed and happy Easter!

We started our weekend off with my birthday on Friday where we did our traditional breakfast in bed, cool gifts (I got a couple of orchids and a Eee PC --- awesome!), drank wonderful champagne and went to dinner with Bryan at Tall Grass, one of Chicago's top 10 restaurants. We were surprised to learn that this restaurant is located in Lockport which is fairly close to Joliet. The chef and owner, who is self taught - very cool, came to our table a couple of times to make sure we were enjoying our evening. It was a great dining opportunity and fabulous company. What an absolutely perfect day!

Saturday was spent decorating a bee hive cake, decorating eggs and getting ready for the big bunny himself - the Easter bunny. Mia enjoyed her first beater licking and thought that buttercream frosting on a beater was good stuff.

When I asked if Sasha thought we should all go to bed to make sure the Easter bunny hadn't passed our house (surely he operates with the same rules as Santa, right?), he whispered with big eyes, "Yes, we need to go to bed right now!" This is also the only night that I know of where Sasha was ready to go to bed faster than Dad could move.

We awoke to find two baskets of goodies for the munchkins and two stuffed additions to our family - Quack Quack and Bunny. Blake thought for sure that both were meant for him after all they were plush and would feel good in his jawlies but alas, Sasha had other ideas. The kids dressed in their new Easter outfits and started to make their rounds.

This was Mia's first celebrated Easter but she seemed to get into the groove of the holiday as if she were born ready to eat and search for candy. Soon, her cheeks were filled with chocolatey goodness and her eyes danced wildly with the rush of sugar ... lots and lots of sugar. She was hooked! She found her first egg and that was all she needed.













Once she dropped an egg and discovered that they were filled with candy, it was hard to keep her motivated to continue. She was planning on eating her way through the day and got rather irritated when we dumped all the eggs into a large communal bowl.

We decided to do dill feta scrambled eggs, bacon (for our best friend, Blake) and some fresh fruit for breakfast. We made deviled eggs and plan on having a leg of lamb for dinner. I think the kids would prefer to polish off the bee cake and have their whole bowl of candy for the main course but alas ... sanity must prevail.

One of my high school friends who is now a chef posted a Peeps idea to float one in hot chocolate. I thought it was SO cute and knew that Sasha would be an instant fan (something about cheap .. no pun intended ;) candy floating in chocolate, what's not to like??). Interestingly enough, the Peep never melted which led me to wonder what exactly a Peep is made out of. Hmmm ...

Everyone is off to the playground to burn off some sugar while I enjoy the peace and quiet of sharing a house with just Blake.

Happy, happy Easter to everyone!

Traveling to Orlando with Munchkins - Not for the Faint of Heart

Thursday was crazy. It was the kind of crazy day one expects when going for a week's vacation with two munchkins after being sick for almost a week. Crazy.

I'm usually very 'together' for trips. I have lists that I create and update for each trip. I have a mighty green plastic indexed folder that has all our travel information and important trip stuff. I'm organized almost to the point of being a little OCD.

I begin packing a week before a trip. Nathan and I have an unspoken line of trip prep responsibility. I am responsible for all things munchkin, pets with legs, my stuff, and household stuff gets done along the way (we over 100 plants for example that winter indoors so that takes a while to get them all watered before a trip). Nathan's trip prep is done on the morning that we leave. We're different people. That's the way we roll.

I will admit that this trip was different. I was sick (and am still hacking) all the way up to our departure. I had pulled some of my and the kids clothes but hadn't gone through my days of refinement and re-checking. I started putting stuff in suitcases the day before we left which is very late for me. Ugh .. we're missing stuff of course. It just wasn't the way that I would've wanted to go on vacation. Blake was dropped off to his doggy hotel mid' morning so that I could return just in time to pile into the car for the airport. Too rushed for my taste.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:45 p.m. Unfortunately, the wind and rain caused our airplane to be delayed and thus our departure to be delayed. Waiting with munchkins is never fun. They have a sense of urgency and time that doesn't include 'waiting'. We scarfed down a fast meal only to stand in front of our gate 'waiting'. Sasha proceeded to throw his happy meal toy (which resembled a GPSr btw) onto the floor repeatedly potentially stress testing it for future versions. Mia, strapped into her pink chariot, was an easier customer to keep under control. Sasha would drop his toy 100 times, then bark out an order to Mia (we think he's going to be upper management one day). I noticed a group of older travelers eyeing Mia, smiling and talking about her in the seating area. The girl has this effect on people. She is a pretty girl but it's beyond just being pretty. She captivates onlookers. It's quite a phenomena.

After traveling with both munchkins from Russia, you might imagine how excited I was to travel with them again. Nathan had somehow managed to avoid sitting with our children on any flight. Typically, he sits in front of us casting a glance over his shoulder occasionally like "who is that ill behaved child and what is his mother doing to control him". Surely it was his turn to take both children and allow me the opportunity to sleep all the way to Orlando. Or perhaps I could catch up on a good book (do I still know how to read???) OR I could watch the next couple of episodes of The Starter Wife on my IPhone. Oh, the possibilities were endless! But no such luck. We were seated together. Sasha was incredibly surly the entire trip. Not fun. Mia lounged on Nathan the whole journey. She was in her element.

We arrived in Orlando late Thursday night. The blast of balmy air as we exited the airplane and the overall stickiness of the airport gave us a sense that we weren't in Chicago in winter anymore. Sasha's surliness continued - had to go potty, wouldn't because it flushed automatically, lost his shoe, threw himself down on the floor and pitched a fit, collapsed into tortured sobs when we started walking away from his 25th tantrum - ah the joys of traveling with munchkins. We arrived at baggage claim along with full loads of folks from five other cities and waited. In between checking for our luggage (which we already now know didn't contain all the things we needed for our trip), we played 'Keep Sasha from surfing the luggage conveyor" or, my personal fav, "Keep Sasha from losing a finger in the luggage conveyor". We finally retrieved all our luggage, found National and located a car that had enough of the 'cool factor' to satisfy Tamara (hey, we're in Florida on vacation .. the car needs to have a sun roof and not look like something people much my senior would choose for their next automobile). She chose a Chrysler HHR. Sasha kept proclaiming how cool this car is. I think he's now hoping that the Commander has been replaced. No such luck Sasha. Mama loves her Jeep!

As we tried to find our south bound exit and the various exits, Sasha kept barking orders from the back seat. At four, he's an expert on driving and lets us know when he thinks we haven't stopped and when we should go. He fits right in with other back seat drivers that are in our family :) Eventually, after several pleas for him to be quiet (eight hours of non-stop chatter is eslightly beyond my limit), the back seat fell quiet and we knew sleep had finally taken over.

We arrived at the Condo place amidst panic that it was already closed. Fortunately, we found the slip of paper that contained the magic code that allowed us access to our check-in packet and keys. We arrived at the condo - a nice three bedroom accomodation with a private heated pool in the backyard. We opened a bottle of a celebratory beverage and toasted our arrival. We made it to Orlando and we were going on our first family vacation now that our family is complete. Yippee! Disney World, here we come!

Book Tag!

Amy tagged me in a game to see what everyone is reading. I really can't say that I'm actually reading this book as much as I hope to one day when my life gets to a point where I can actually read books other than Dora or Seuss-related works. Perhaps I'll finally get to tackle this book on one of our vacations this year. Sigh .. it's worth dreaming about anyway :)



The rules:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open to page 56.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.

5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!

6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!



Here's my read:
"Weird? What do you mean?"
"Sounds in the night. People moving around in places they shouldn't be."
Sean took a deep breath and said in a mildly scolding tone, "Will you promise me you won't get mixed up in it, whatever it is? I won't be around to help if you do."

Now my turn to tag:



1.) Holly

2.) Dinia

3.) Shelle

4.) Kym

5.) Michelle



Read on!

And with the good so comes the bad ..

I'll be the first to admit that the 'sleep over' night was totally cute and heart warming. I should have known that after such an episode, we would face more challenges.

Potty training at our house has not been an easy road. Prior to Mia's arrival, Sasha was in pull ups and could go number 1 consistently but wasn't successful on his number 2 visits. We felt like it was okay and we kept trying. When Mia arrived, potty training regressed as did many other things (he wanted to be fed, be carried .. basically be treated just like Mia). This is normal so we played along and he eventually lost interest in being treated like a one year old.

During Christmas, we started talking to Sasha about 'big boy underwear' and how awesome it would be when he decided that he'd like to use the potty again. A few days after Christmas, he was ready. We talked about the process and the reward for a successful number 2 - a malted milk ball (yes, our children are deprived. We don't give them access to sweets much . While Mia does well on sweets, Sasha unfortunately can get really crabby). On the first day, we left Gdaddy in charge (no, not because we wanted to flee from potty training but because we needed items from Sam's and there's no way I was going to Sam's during regular hours). When we returned, news of Sasha's great success on the first try permeated our house. This was great and so easy! Why had we waited so long?

Within a few days, Sasha began 'soiling' himself. At first I thought it was due to my not reminding him frequently enough so I switched to potty reminders every 30 minutes. He still had accidents and, if he was put in a time out, he would always soil himself. After a nightmare week and a long discussion with our social worker, we came to the conclusion that Sasha was using this as power over us. After all, children only have control over a couple of items - sleeping, eating and pottying. Ugh .. So we moved him back to diapers and I wrote a note to his teacher explaining the thought process behind the switch. He was able to hold it together at school but the social worker was adamant that he not be able to be a big boy at school and then insist on being in diapers at home. It is all or nothing. I told him that when he's ready to wear big boy underwear (and he has a very cool assortment of underwear, I admit to being a little jealous - batman, spiderman, ironman, dinosaurs - fun stuff!), we'll give it another try.

On Monday, when we were getting dressed, he asked for his big boy underwear. I was excited and he had a great day sans incident. Unfortunately, yesterday, thirty minutes from my verbal reminder and a trip to the potty, he had an accident.

I have to tell you that I've improved a lot in the whole gag reflex category. I used to almost throw up cleaning up dog vomit or urine. I would NEVER have thought me capable of cleaning, smelling and dealing with all kinds of completely icky substances without missing a beat. I mean you've never lived until someone throws up on you in a restaurant. Oh and then had to sit through eating your own meal (this is a really good weight loss technique. It is almost impossible to eat when you smell someone else's throw up on you). Nathan once suggested that we go shopping after the throw up lunch. Fortunately, the look I gave him helped him understand that we were going home immediately. Despite all the this great training, cleaning up soiled underwear ranks high on my list of least favorite icky things. Our social worker suggested that Sasha has to help clean everything up when he has an accident. While Nathan doesn't see the issue, having Sasha armed with poop in his hands doesn't sound like a great answer.

And, lest you think that we're just dealing with regular potty training issues, in the past five days, Sasha has put a hole in his wall, dumped vast quantities of water (where he's finding this water source is still a mystery), has dumped an entire, full roll of toilet paper in the potty causing a problem almost outside our skill set to resolve and during a potty outing he decided that it'd be a great idea to use the garbage can as a potty water scoop, dumped a half roll of toilet paper into it (possibly trying to clean it up?) and got most of the bathroom wet (YICK!). When I arrived on the crime scene (seriously, I answered the phone, he headed to the bathroom and three minutes later arrived back damp ... he's very fast), I quickly noticed that the sink was not wet thus knowing that the only other water source was the shower, which was dry and the toilet. A quick survey of the open toilet confirmed my suspicions (have I ever mentioned that having two toddlers sharpens your detective skills? I can replay an entire scene as if I'm there based on the splash patterns and the various objects in the crime scene vicinity. Once toddler motherhood passes, perhaps I can get a job on CSI: Chicago).

On a more positive note, I booked our tickets for Saturday's Disney on Ice show. Sasha is very excited. On Sunday, our super neighbor, Randy, is going to give Sasha his first ice skating lesson while his fabulous wife and I hopefully drink coffee and enjoy the show which is sure to occur when you teach a little boy how to ice skate.

Next week is Sasha's fourth birthday. Nathan is taking the day off and we're going to have a fun family day most likely at the local children's museum and some place with ice cream (Sasha's big request for the day). On Sunday, we'll have his birthday party at the ice skating rink including ice skating lessons for the kiddos. Should be fun.

February will be wild .. Valentine's Day (Sasha is already talking about the heart-shaped goodies we need to make), our Mardi Gras party and then we're off to Disney World. I made all our reservations this weekend including dinner at Cinderella's Castle, breakfast with the Playhouse Disney characters, lunch with Shamu (I'm totally psyched!), meeting other Lighthouse families (our adoption agency for Mia), celebrating Mia's second birthday, geocaching (like I could keep Nathan from geocaching in a place he hasn't cached before), staying at a three bedroom condo with my folks which has a heated swimming pool and getting a break from a very chilly, snowy Illinois winter. YIPPEE .. I can hardly wait!

The Talk of Sending Mia Back is So Exaggerated!

We've had our struggles with integrating a new munchkin into the household. That's just a fact. There are others who had worse struggles and others still who have had no struggles. We have and continue to have our series of challenges. We haven't stood by waiting for the day when the new norm descends upon our household. We've enlisted the best professionals in our area to help with the adjustment and, after months of work, I now firmly believe that things happen when they're going to happen. I know, I know .. it's not very scientific but kids just reach a point when they're ready and there's no rushing that timeline no matter how hard we want it.

Despite our behavioral challenges, I've always thought that Sasha and Mia truly love each other. Yes, she shrieks when he points his GeoTrax track at her like a weapon and he fusses when she steals his favorite guy but they truly seem to love one another. He always makes sure that any candy is fairly shared with his sister and she seeks out his company no matter where he is or what ill deed he has recently inflicted upon her.

In the past couple of months, I've only heard Sasha say a couple of times that we 'should send Mia back to Russia'. When asked why he thought this he would comment that she was bad. Too funny.

Tonight we didn't sheriff bedtime activity as much as usual. We're just tired and the thought of fighting another night tooth and nail to get peace at bedtime wasn't in us. I peeked in on them and saw that Sasha was no longer in his bed. Where was he? Was he camping on the floor? Had he fallen out of bed? I peered into Mia's crib and there they both were. So .. I'm glad that the talk of Mia's return was exaggerated. Sasha fusses if he thinks he will have to spend a night apart from his sister (they currently share a room and this is only necessary when one of them is very ill and we're trying to minimize sleep disruption and the spread of a plague). I had thought this was because he appreciated a good audience but perhaps there is more to it.

So amongst the challenges comes the cute moments. Obviously, Sasha loves his sister and Mia is lucky to have him as a big brother.

P.S. Not only is Sasha sleeping in his sister's crib but all his 'friends' are there as well. This was obviously a planned sleep over. See zebra, whale, lamb, JP the gray elephant .. all Sasha friends. Poor Mia is left without any blankies but Sasha looks very comfy on his end. Too funny!

Sledding Sasha

Silly you! No, that's not Sasha but watching this young boy reminded me of the adventures that are sure to find Sasha in the not too distant future!

On Sunday, after the arrival of some fresh powder and before the arrival of below zero temps, we decided that it was time that Sasha take to the hills.

Anyone that knows Sasha might think that sledding really fast, super fast as it might be, down a hill would be great fun. And, if you add, going backyards, you have a clear picture of Sasha's sledding adventure.

Nathan and Sasha climbed the hill multiple times (until Sasha couldn't climb again .. yes, Sasha got worn out before Nathan .. now that doesn't happen very often) to sled down. No matter how many times they tried, Sasha couldn't get the hang of steering and always ended up going down the hill in reverse.

Many people complimented us on our beautiful wooden sled which was a 'hand me down' from Uncle Peter (we've totally benefitted from Peter's generosity and thriftiness as he has kept several really nice items hoping that he'd find a good home for them).

After such a great adventure, Nathan now wants to find a larger sled (it's all about the acquisition of 'gadgets' I think) that two people can use at once. I'm not exactly sure where to find such a treasure but we'll keep our eyes open. In Illinois in winter, we could certainly use one!

Happy New Year!

Hey all .. I know, I know ... many posts short and many photos missing. Sigh ... it's been crazy.

We arrived back home after a three day journey from Texas. Our reservations didn't work out on night two and we ended up at the Red Roof Inn. Besides the ... umm ... 'working woman' with flashing stilettos and an ... umm ... interesting outfit selection (I mean ... what really goes with flashing, glow in the dark 4 inch heels??), it was completely fine. We hit a blizzard on day three and were very glad to finally see our driveway in Illinois.

We arrived to a home sans-Christmas and the pressure was on. Nathan, whom I'm sure bribed his management to send him out of country so as to miss decorating our house, was in the Philippines. Mom and I tackled Snow Village, my little Christmas house collection that decorates the top of our kitchen cabinets, and then put all the deocorations on the tree and the remaining household adornments - all in three days - a record. We then did a cookie-day marathon baking dozens of cookies and specialty breads to give to our neighbors and friends (seriously, our therapists actually planned their six month visit on a certain date to ensure that our baking would be done and they would get their platters of goodies).

Mom left, exhausted I'm sure, for Texas on Monday. Nathan came back in time to see our daughter have her first round of stomach flu. The wierd part about Mia is that, even when she's vomiting, she's still a pretty girl. I'm sure this will be both a blessing and a curse for us! She recovered quickly in time to see Sasha and I come down with the flu at exactly the same time - 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It was a rough 18 hours and then, the worse, Nathan came down with it (really, are there any worse patients than guys??). Ugh. At 24 hours and with a shower, I felt almost human again but couldn't stand up for more than 15 minutes. I must admit that I get an upper respiratory challenge multiple times a year that I thought was bad but it has nothing on the stomach flu. It was BAD!

Mom and Dad were scheduled to arrive on Tuesday mid' day before Christmas. We had our final delivery of Iowa stuff from Nathan's parents' place on Monday. Mom and Dad called to let us know that they would be arriving on Monday evening to avoid the blizzard that was destined to hit Illinois on Tuesday. Unfortunately, our schedule was more on the JIT (just in time) schedule as opposed to the being 'way ahead' schedule so we flew into overdrive to assemble the newly arrived furniture and overhaul the guest room. We assimilated the new pieces in record time and my folks enjoyed a comfy, new guest room - fresh sheets and all.

Mom and I spent the day before Christmas baking fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee cakes. During our illness, although they didn't know this, our neighbors came over and shoveled all our entire driveway and walks. I was so sick I actually teared up when I saw them. Can you imagine a neighbor being so kind that they would totally shovel and blow you out of a huge snowfall just because they are that nice?? Nathan and Mia took the goodies over to their house on Christmas Eve and thanked them profusely for their kindness. There's just nothing like having great neighbors.

Our Christmas was great. All the signs of illness had finally left the building and spirits were high. Mia got a doll that looks just like. Mom found a company that has local artists paint the face of your child. Check it out: www.mytwinn.com. Sasha acquired more Geotrax (like our house needs more toys!), Nathan got another GPSr (does he really need two??? no, really, he took TWO out caching with him last week), I got a ring that has a star sapphire that my father brought home when he was in the Navy when I was a baby surrounded by diamonds and sapphires from Nathan and the munchkins and a new breadmaker which does horizontal loaves (thanks Mom and Dad!), Blake got the biggest rawhide bone I've ever seen which has almost leveled different parts of our house, Mom got a new GPS (the kind that gives you directions not the kind for caching .. maybe another time :) and a new phone system (the kind that stays charged for more than two minutes) and Dad got a digital picture frame with plenty of munchkin photos and a new wedding ring to replace the one that he lost twenty+ years ago in Trinidad (truly the most touching part of Christmas ... to say he was shocked would be an understatement). Beyond the gifts, we truly felt blessed to be able to spend another holiday together. The last couple of years have been tough and have really underscored the importance of cherishing each moment of our lives.

As we look back on 2008, we see a year of mixed blessings. We consider 2008 one of our most challenging years. There is a huge hole in our hearts from the passing of Ice Iowa. Tears streamed down our faces on Christmas Eve as we remembered Nathan's parents who weren't there to celebrate with us. Unlike the passing of Nathan's Mom which was tragic, sudden and quick, the passing of Nathan's Dad was unexpected, slow and difficult. I don't think we'll ever stop missing Happenin' Jan and Ice Iowa. They were such extraordinary people who we will always have in our hearts and we will always miss deeply. We have had great joy with the addition of Mia who is quite the character as well as a complete beauty (people actually stop to fondle her feet in public places and tell us how gorgeous she is ... kind of creepy and strange, huh?). We also have struggled with the integration of a new sister and Sasha's search for his new place in our family as a big brother and eldest child.

As we look towards 2009, we have hope in our hearts. We hope that things will finally settle out to our new version of 'normal'. We're hoping that more time allows Sasha to be the funny, warm, loving boy that we knew prior to Mia. We see glimpses of that boy so we know he still exists. We're looking forward to the time when he resurfaces for good and hope that this happens prior to his graduation from college :)

We're hoping that 2009 becomes our year of fitness. After staying home with Mia for six months and foregoing the gym, we're excited about getting back to a focus on health. We had stayed home trying to strengthen Mia's attachment. At this point, we feel that she still needs some work but that we need some time to be our best. Others, I know, are super people and manage to 'cocoon' for years, work out, eat right and do it all ... we're not those people. Fortunately, we have a great gym across the street from us but it will mean that Mia is in the care of others while we work out. I feel it's a blessing as having some time to do something good for myself and get a little break will be a great gift at this point. We're focusing on eating better too and have a new yogurt maker and dehydrator on the way. Anyone who knows us, knows how we love a new kitchen gadget! Yippee!

We love and value all our friends and family and want to wish all of y'all the most joyous of New Years. May 2009 bring you great health, prosperity and happiness.

Happy New Years Y'all!

(yes, yes .. pictures will be forthcoming ... :)

Come Back to Texas

Nathan arrived yesterday and we're off to San Antonio, Fredricksburg and Johnson City over the next few days while Baba and Gdaddy watch the munchkins. This will be the first break I've had from the kiddos in ... hmm ... well ... maybe it's just the first break I've had from both the kiddos with the exception of a couple of Boy Scout nights.

I have to tell you that I'm excited about getting some sleep. Each night, I am awoken by Sasha crying over a lost stuffed animal or needing to go potty or just wanting someone to talk to. I love him dearly but after months of interrupted sleep and REM sleep deprivation, I can't imagine how fabulous I'll be with a good nights sleep!

We're headed to San Antonio today. We're staying in a B&B in the historic district. It's located right on the river walk and looks like a great place to sleep. I'm sure Nathan thinks we're going to see some sights but I think sleeping sounds like the best time ever! On Monday, we're heading to Fredricksburg and staying in a little B&B house off of Main Street. Fredricksburg is one of the most charming little towns I've ever seen. I had wanted to stay at the Herbe Haus at the Fredricksburg Herb Farm but it's closed for renovations. One of the best things about staying at the Herbe Haus is that they load up your fridge with some of the tastiest treats you've ever experienced. The make an herbed wine and a special tea that is wonderful. I spoke with the manager and she is making up an assortment pack for us to pick up on our way into town so that our fridge will be stocked with all the goodies that we love. If we can't have the Herbe Haus, we'll take a little bit of the Herbe Haus with us.

On Tuesday, we'll have lunch at the Herb Farm and I'll have my fav spa treatments at their fabulous spa. Honestly, after a massage and facial at the Herb Farm, you can feel all your stress completely melt away.

On Wednesday, we'll drive to Johnson City, Texas. Baba, Gdaddy and the kids will arrive at the Exotic Animal Ranch and we'll stay in a house on the property for Thanksiving. We still haven't completed the menu planning but it sounds like a great way to spend Mia's first Thanksgiving. The ranch has exotic animals that roam the property, a well stocked fish pond, llamas that roam up to your door, a safari that allows you to feed all the exotic animals, a petting zoo and a bonfire each evening. We had the time of our life last year and thought that Sasha would love this place. I can hardly wait for him to meet Sitting Bull, the awesome male buffalo that I met last year. It gave me a newfound respect for my patrol animal.

I'll be incommunicado for the upcoming week but want to wish everyone a glorious Thanksgiving.

A Texas Tea Party

Baba decided that we should have a tea party. We grabbed our tea set, a blanket, and our food items and headed out to the front yard. Besides being their first tea party, this was also their first picnic. How exciting!

We each got a little cup of tea aka chocolate milk, a plate with an apple slice and a cream cheese finger sandwich. Lunch was followed by a homemade butter cookie (Baba makes the absolute best butter cookies). At first, Mia had some challenges with drinking out of the tea cup. At each sip, she would try to bite the cup. After a few times, she started doing better.

LC (Lost Cat) thought that having a picnic in his yard was great and tried to join in on the fun. Please note that he would prefer tuna salad sandwiches for our next tea party.

The proof of how great any event is measured in how many times we play it afterwards. For the past two days, Sasha has played tea party with his legos and practices pouring us tea and offering us a sandwich. Too cute! Obviously, this was a very successful event and he can hardly wait for his next tea party!

Seeing All Y'all

In between Baba making cookies, bread and the kids deciding that, left to their own devices, they could eat their weight in banana pudding, we were able to catch up with some dear friends. I struggle trying to get together with everybody when we're in Texas but always give it my best try.

We had lunch with Toni as Los Cucos. She and John left Moscow shortly after Mia's pick up trip. It was great to hear how well her and John are doing. John is settling into a new job, they have a new house, their daughter recently got married and they are expecting their first granddaughter in early 2009. What an exciting time for them!

Toni is an absolute expert on Disney World so had a ton of great tips for our upcoming trip. Sasha is completely stoked about the trip and talks about it daily. Baba bought each of the kids a phone and Sasha selected a Mickey Mouse phone. He opens it, dials a number, Mickey speaks and you can hear Sasha say, "Hi Mickey. I'm coming to see you real soon. Bye Mickey". He then closes the phone and announces that he talked to Mickey and told him that we're coming to visit him soon. Too cute.

We had lunch with Patsy, a dear friend from Master Gardeners, as well. Despite a series of health challenges, Patsy is doing well and is still as extraordinary and beautiful as ever. It is always so great to spend time with her.

This week, I am reminded that good health is something that shouldn't be taken for granted, that we should work hard to keep ourselves healthy and make time for good health. I often times sacrifice things that are good for me for others. In the end, I need to remember that being the healthiest person possible is a bigger blessing to my family.

Cat Spring or Bust

You can't imagine my excitement at the prospect of traveling for two days and thousands of miles with two munchkins and a Boxer in a car (Note: Excitement equals 'fear' and 'trepidation'). Here were two kids that could barely make it to Dominick's without letting out a banshee scream, how were we going to make it all the way to Baba and Gdaddy's house?


Baba arrived in Chicago on Friday afternoon. My exhaustion was at all time high. Sasha has switched back to 'super challenging mode' and the little miss has decided that she wants to be the next big Chatty Cathy (seriously, the girl never stops talking and only seems to have one volume - LOUD). We discussed leaving on Saturday (I've never seen Nathan more motivated to 'help'. He detailed my car, loaded the entire thing in record time. The man was on a mission to kick us out as soon as possible) but I just needed a couple of days to get my act together.


We departed on Monday and went via Rockford to avoid the Chicago traffic. Unfortunately, this added a couple of hours to our trip making it a very, very long first day. We arrived at the Holiday Inn in Forrest City, Arkansas around 10 p.m. We were SO tired. We piled out and got to our room and waited while the hotel employee set up the two cribs. We engaged the air conditioning before bed which seemed to have two settings - 'artic blast' or 'hell on earth'. We chose artic blast which at some point during the evening brought the room temperature down to around 32 degrees and I was certain that snow would be falling at any minute.


I can now tell you with absolute certainty that there are reasons why they have occupancy limits. We had a full size bed for each of the adults. We had a crib for Mia against a wall that would get hit when you opened the door. We had a crib in front of other other bed that you'd need to shimmy around when going to the bathroom. The cribs had been 'broken in' and Sasha quickly discovered that if he rocked hard and fast he could make a whining noise with his bed that he thought was very funny. At about midnight I, on the other hand, did not find this noise all that amusing. At 1:30 a.m. after about 30 minutes of sleep, Mia awoke. At 2:30 a.m. after another 30 minutes of sleep, Sasha awoke. This was followed by Blake deciding that he would sleep better if he could burrow into me causing my body temperature to reach about 200 degrees (good thing that the artic blast setting had been selected). I tried moving him several times to no avail (Blake weighs about 70 pounds and can be quite stubborn especially when he's comfy). At 5 a.m. a tourist bus full of seniors chatting loudly and cackling about going to breakfast finally put an end to our 'sleep'.


We got on the road at 9:30 a.m. after having a hardy, free breakfast where Mia worked the room. I'm surprised she can actually eat anything when we're out in public. She spends the entire time scanning for people to wave at and engage. And, of course, everyone eats her up. She is a very cute little girl.


We arrived in Cat Spring amidst a horrible thunderstorm. We actually prayed the last two hours of the trip that we'd make it home without incident. It was pretty scary. Folks that haven't spent any time in Texas probably don't realize how different the rain is here. Unlike Illinois, where we have mostly gentle rains, Texas rains are the bottom dropping out of the bucket / roads are flooded / sonic boom style thunder type of rain. It can be magnificent but it's not what you want to drive in. We finally arrived at Baba's house at 10:30 p.m. As I unpacked the necessities, I reveled in how we actually got my car into the carport. Apparently, with our new rooftop carrier, we had 'scraped' into our spot but hadn't heard the scraping with all the rain. Fortunately, we weren't wedged in and my car won't be forced to stay in the carport for life.

This is Mia's first big road trip and so begins our adventure in Texas.

A Happy Halloween

I looked back at all my posts that are 'in progress' and it's sad, very sad. So many events and not enough time to get them all out there. Sorry about that. I guess when you have two toddlers, you're constantly on the run!

Of course, any holiday where we can dress up Blake Christensen is always a personal favorite of mine! Upon donning his halo, he immediately got into character by praying. He finally laid his head in my lap in defeat and seemed to say, "Please take this silly costume off of me. I don't deserve this kind of humilation". Good times, good times :)

Halloween was a perfect night in Illinois this year. It was so warm that the kids wore their costumes without the usual sweatshirt, jacket, scarf and mittens. Sasha had decided that he would be a ghost. I asked him every day for two months, "What do you want to be for Halloween" and every time he would respond, "I want to be a ghost and say BOOoooo!" Of course, the week of Halloween talk of Spider Man surfaced. The costume had already been purchased so a ghost he was. Mia, who fortunately can't communicate her costume preferences yet, went as Snow White. I had gotten this idea from Jan who dressed Katy as Snow White last year. There's just something about both their coloring that makes them the cutest Snow Whites ever.

Without further comment, here are some of our pictures from the evening. You'll see that we spent the evening in our neighbor's driveway (they are the nicest people) and welcomed trick or treaters through out the night. Bryan, aka the Godfather, joined us and Sasha loved being taken out for 'tag team' trick or treating - first, Nathan and I took both kids in the wagon, then Nathan took just Sasha on foot (part of the 'a tired boy is a good boy' technique), then Randy showed up and chased Sasha from house to house (Sasha was pretty motivated by this point and ran to every house), then Bryan showed up to finish the Sasha Halloween mad candy dash. Mia was far more content to be adored by Abby and Jill and soak up all the compliments and attention. She helped by dropping candy in our visitors' bags.

We stopped at one house which totally highlighted how Halloween has changed from when I was a little girl. Here's the photo:

Next year, Nathan is bringing his laptop, I'll bring my IPhone and text folks while others can read novels while we all drink various kinds of beers. This is quite the take on the 'new' Halloween!

I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up on all my dear friends blogs and seeing photos of their cuties. It's incredible how fast children grow and change. I can hardly wait until next Halloween when I'll see photos of Amy, Holly and Nichole's daughters as well, all friends in the process of adopting from Russia.

Hope everyone had a very happy Halloween .. now back to packing for our road trip to Texas tomorrow. Do you sense the fear?

The Missing Posts - Mia's Baptism

Baptisms are special events for our family. It seemed like I added 40 gray hairs trying to coordinate Sasha's baptism. Between Grandparents and Godparents, finding a weekend that worked for all was tough. So, imagine my surprise when we happened upon a date in August where both Godparents were available. The magic day was August 24th. We decided to once again use Godfather Bryan's church in Chicago.

I'll admit that I was a bit leary of the baptism. Bryan's church isn't air conditioned and no amount of telling me which building materials were used in the santuary construction was going to make me believe that it would be cool in August without air conditioning. We loaded into the car with double clothes for all the munchkins and Grandmother Kathryn safely tucked into Karen and Vic's car. We were off.

About halfway there, Sasha started complaining about how hungry he was. We had a huge breakfast but that didn't seem to ward off his starvation. I, having thought to bring back up everything, forgot to bring snacks. I used my phone-a-friend to Bryan and asked if he had any snack foods that he could bring to the church. Of course, asking a bachelor if he has munchkin snack food was dicey but he said he would try to find something appropriate. Ultimately he brought cheerios and biscotti which Sasha was delighted with. He LOVES biscotti. Yes, once again, you can totally tell that Sasha is my son. He's three but there's simply no reason for him to not start his culinary education. I promise that his future wife will never be able to tell me that he doesn't know how to cook.

We made it to the church, hustled everyone in and waited in an office for our consultation with the pastor. After our consult, we made our way down to the playroom to wait for our big moment. We were to make our entrance during a particular song. As the song began, my shoe dissentigrated. Seriously, the entire top part of my shoe completely detached from the bottom part. There was no amount of walking carefully that was going to keep this shoe on my foot. I know Jesus was barefoot at times but surely my lack of shoes wasn't going to be well received. I had brought an extra pair of shoes for myself (which I never do) but had left them in the car. Nathan sprinted out of the church and down the couple of blocks to our car and back. There was no way he could make it by the end of the song. I watched barefooted from the church doorway as the pastor kept motioning for me to come down to the altar where my Aunt, our son and our daughter stood by the baptismal fount. Ugh. Bryan whispered in the pastor's ear that we were having a slight challenge and that we would be ready shortly. He continued onto another piece of the program and Nathan finally made it back with a pair of shoes that were in one piece and we joined our family on the front pew.

Beyond wardrobe malfunctions and sans air conditioning, I was a bit nervous about Mia's reaction to the whole 'water on the forehead' deal. I mean this is a girl who avoids water at all costs. She shrieks in pain if you flick water in fun on her as she walks by in the kitchen. How loud would she scream when a lot of water was intentionally poured onto her head? Would the combination of her pitch and the lack of air conditioning make people flea from the church?

When the pastor asked us to join him in front, Mia started shrieking. She was none to pleased that the paper that she had been playing with were no longer available to her. We finally gave her a donation envelope to hold and she was satisfied. A group of children were asked to come up and join us.

At some point, the pastor took Mia and laid her back while pouring water onto her forehead. Let me tell you this wasn't a few drops this was more like an entire glass full. I waited for the inevitable tears this was sure to evoke. They didn't come. Huh? Who was this little girl and what had they done with Mia??? As the water ran across her head, her hair started curling up into little ringlets. The girl has great hair. Mia did really well and her outfit seemed so perfect for the occasion.

We took photos afterwards and made our way to Wildfire for a lovely lunch. Mia was honored with a brownie sundae which she and Sasha enjoyed. Fortunately, I had changed her into a luncheon outfit so she wouldn't get fudge sauce all over her beautiful baptism outfit. If I could feed our kids in just a diaper and hose them off after every meal, I would!

All in all, despite my wayward shoe, the baptism and lunch afterwards was lovely. It was nice that my grandmother, a retired Methodist minister, could join us for the occasion.