Ugh.

So, I woke up this morning, and turned on my computer. All of my personal data is gone. All my pictures, files, documents - POOF GONE. Tried to do a system restore, there's nothing to restore to. Tried to pull some data off my external hard drive that I just got a couple weeks ago... tells me the drive needs to be formatted.

Not my day.

My chest hurts, and my computer is broken. Oh, and did I mention I injured my right ankle again? Oh yeah.

I've dropped it off (the computer, not my ankle) at the local repair shop to see if they can recover the data and figure out what happened. They said it could take 4 days. FOUR DAYS. Are you kidding me?

The good news? I'm not an idiot. I recently backed up all my files on CD, so all is not lost, even if the computer cannot be fixed. But, I've got November's pics that will be lost. I back up each month's pictures at the end of each month, and since it's the 27th... I've got 27 days of pics on that hard drive that may be gone. Sad. If only it could have waited until the first of December. :) The other good news is that just last night I uploaded my favorite pics of all to kodakgallery and designed and ordered my Christmas cards for this year. Just last night - the last thing I did before logging off and shutting it down. Phew.

I'll be in touch when my computer is fixed, when I'm feeling better, and can do the happy dance for you all.

SMOOOOOOCH!
~Christine

I'm sick.

Update: Bronchitis & Pneumonia. I have an inhaler & a Z-pack - doc says I should feel somewhat better in 24-48 hours. Yay me. Can't wait till I'm feeling better so I can load the pics I've taken lately.



I've shuffled from bed to the couch for 2 days now. My head hurts, I have wheezing in my chest, I feel like I've been run over by a small hybrid vehicle. I have a low grade fever. I keep coughing. I'm so tired and worn out.

I have a doctor's appointment at 11 am, wish me luck. Hopefully it's something that antibiotics can kick quickly. Where's Dr. House when I need him?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Noah & Paige before dinner at my Mother's house.

Sophia LOVED the sparkling cider... (tee hee hee) I know what you're thinking... it's non-alcoholic!

After a delicious meal (all prepared by my Mother), we feasted on apple, pumpkin, pecan, lemon meringue, chocolate cream and banana cream pies. I should have taken a picture of the date nut balls, maple walnut chocolates, peanut butter chocolates and Needhams, ALL HOMEMADE by Mom, too! We came home with doggie bags of candy, some pie, a few meal leftovers, and over stuffed bellies! Thank you Mom, for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal! Mom has been making Thanksgiving dinner like this since I was a wee child, and Ted has been partaking in it for 17 years now!

Sophia's pretty serious about her apple pie!

Not to be outdone by Noah...

Sophia has pie, but Daddy's looks better! She was stealing his chocolate cream!

Paige wouldn't let me take a picture of her eating (she's such a lady!) but didn't mind me snapping one after.

I have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my salvation, and the salvation of my family. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, and my 3 children. I'm thankful for a warm home, and a mini-van that will take me wherever I want to go. I'm thankful that I can be home full-time with Sophia. I'm thankful that my children's grandparents all live within walking distance. I'm thankful for my extended family, and my church family. I'm thankful everyone is healthy. I'm thankful for the dear friends we have met in Texas, Alabama and across the country because of our adoption. I'm thankful for my blog friends. I'm thankful for my 2 naughty puppies, and how safe I feel when DH is away. I'm thankful they are house broken now! :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Puppy Play

Maggie & Diesel are brother and sister, and they play like they are. Here they are 'fighting', but it's really a good natured thing. Once in awhile it gets nasty, with snarls and they really mean business, but most often it's just for fun.

Diesel has Maggie pinned down by her neck. Maggie's favorite trick is to grab Diesel's legs (usually the back ones), and pull him down or flip him. They're rather entertaining to watch!

It might be hard to see here, but Diesel will walk up to the couch, tuck his left, back leg under him, and sit his butt on the couch. He's such a lazy moose!

The Tent

Here's Sophia, sleeping in her little tent. It's actually a tent for shade from the sun, I picked up at the Gap quite awhile back. Noah pulled it out, and opened it for Sophia to play in. He gets in with her, and will read her books. Much to my surprise, she's wanted to sleep in it! At bedtime she climbs in, and goes right to sleep. She's even asked if she can take her naps in it too.


She sleeps all night in it (it's in our bedroom, at the foot of the bed). She still has to be covered up with her Wiggles blanket (no other will do), even though she's getting so big her toes sometimes poke out of the end! She slept in it three nights in a row. The past two nights she's been back in her own bed.

When they're quiet...

DH is out of town for a few days. Things have gone well, for the most part. Tonight I was sitting in the office chatting with him, when Diesel came in the room. I couldn't help but notice his color was different... he was more of a gray/white rather than his usual dark brindle. He smelled very good, too. Hmmm.... I looked around the corner to the upstairs bathroom. I could see Sophia (see top pic) standing there, shaking the powder container, upside down, for all she was worth. Being a hard-core blogger, I grabbed my camera, and gave DH the play by play over the phone. She was happy to pose with the empty powder container. Did I mention it was a brand new, full powder container? Was.

Oh my.


I did find her shirt amongst the powder, and after cleaning the bathroom (again, I had just cleaned it!) I cleaned the chocolate ice cream off her face. I left the powder between her toes. I didn't bother touching the puppy, though. In fact, he smells better than ever, and I may just make that scented powder part of the pup's daily routine.

p.s. I weighed Diesel at the pet store today... the 7 month pup is 87 lbs. Maggie will not cooperate and get on the scale, so her weight is a mystery.

This is why I've been busy...

Okay... it's one of the reasons! To watch the video, be sure to silence the song off the right right-hand-side, by clicking on the blue, round button.



Our church is a relay station for Operation Christmas Child this year, for the first time. I've been coordinating volunteers, and getting things ready for the shoe boxes to come. Now, come on shoe boxes!

Have you packed a shoe box this year? We're on the 2nd day of collection, and if you wish, you have until the 19th to drop your shoe box at any collection center in your area. Go to OCC to read more, and find a close drop off place. You can find out what kind of items you should put in, and what you cannot. You can also watch videos HERE, to see videos of families just like yours packing shoe boxes, and teaching their children that Christmas is about giving.

If you cannot put together a shoe box, you can make a donation online to help with the expense of this major undertaking.

Can't I just take a 5 minute shower???

I'm the Mom of a toddler & two naughty pups. What does this mean? This means I take a FAST shower. FAST. Get wet, shampoo hair quickly. Wring out hair, and apply conditioner. While conditioner is setting for a minute or two (according to the bottle's instructions) I lather myself up with soap, and then rise hair and body - CLEAN. I'm in there 5 minutes tops. Who has time to shave legs?

So, yesterday was a usual day. The pups were sleeping on my bed, and I put on an episode of Little Bear for Sophia. "I'm going to take a quick shower," I told her. "Okay Mummy," she replied. She was focused on the show.

Here was my chance. Took quick shower as usual, and stepped out, wrapped smaller towel on head, bigger towel on body. Stepped out of the steamy room to check on the pups and kiddo. What I found wasn't a pretty sight.



Pups - no, one pup (the bigger, dumber one) had gotten one of DH's nice, leather, super comfy sandals, and chewed it up. Great. I look up at the television in the bedroom, and something doesn't look quite right. It's kind of messy.

Turns out Miss Sophie opened the bottle of LIQUID EYE MAKEUP that Paige had given her, click here. Paige was SURE Sophia couldn't open it, so there was no harm. Yeah, there was NO HARM all over the TV screen and the TV itself! But then I looked closer and it was all over her arms, too.


This all happened as we had just about enough time to get dressed and out the door for a dentist appointment...

Noah started Basketball today!

Awaiting instruction from the coach


Sophia and Minnie watch with interest



Noah shoots - he scores!


Bleachers can be fun!


My handsome boy


Sophie being a ham - as usual!


Noah dribbles and runs down the court


Sophia puts Minnie to bed


They played dribble tag



Noah is 7, and in the 2nd grade. He's never expressed much interest in sports, but this year he was on fire to play basketball. I signed him up at the school, and today was the first day. The group of boys above are 1st and 2nd grade boys.

I was a bit concerned that Noah would be frustrated that the other boys knew how to play, and he didn't. We just got him a basketball a few weeks ago, and we don't have a hoop here at home (yet). Since he got the ball, he's been dribbling on the porch (not in the house, thank you!) He's been playing with the boys at recess in school, but I didn't know how much like the game that would be.

Well, he did great! About 1/2 way through I mentioned to the coach that was working with him that he'd never played until recently, and he looked shocked and commented that he never would have guessed that. I wanted the coach to know that Noah might not understand 'offense' and 'defense' or the terminology he might use with the more experienced players. Honestly, Noah was pretty up to speed skill wise with most of the boys. There were a couple 'pros' in the group, but Noah certainly wasn't in the bottom 1/2 of the group, either.

The coaches worked them hard, and I'll bet Noah will sleep well tonight. He loved it. I'm so proud of him for trying, and working so hard at it.