Retro Friday

Here's Noah, when he was 2 at Disneyworld, with his two favorite characters. Notice the scabs and bruises all over his face? That year we had driven our motorhome from Maine to Florida, and were staying in the Disney Campground for two weeks. We had just arrived in Florida, and we were stopped at a rest area on the highway to grab a bite to eat. Someone didn't lock the screen door on the motorhome, and he leaned on it, and fell out and hit the pavement ON HIS FACE. It was scary! He instantly had a big flat spot on his forehead. Poor guy! He ended up being just fine, but every picture that trip showed his banged up face!

It's all fun and games till somebody gets hurt...

When DH was recovering from his hernia surgery, he was home and taking it easy. There was a lot of Shrek Monopoly going on! Sophia is the banker. She does very well keeping her money separate from the bank's money, and paying each player $2 as they pass go. Yeah, it makes perfect sense that she's the banker - she's a control freak! (like her Mama!)

Sophia likes to move her own piece, rolling the die, and counting the correct spaces. She reads her own 'chance' cards, and usually gets them right. Now don't think she's a genius just yet, she's memorizing them, and taking clues from the pictures on them.

"Oh Daddy... you're so silly..."

This is serious business!
Notice the button she's wearing, that's Noah's picture, from when he was playing basketball. She's his biggest fan, next to his Mama.

Sophia pays Pornphen for landing on her property. Pornphen (pronounced pon pen) is a teacher from Thailand, that is staying with us for a few months. She's here through AFS, and is teaching at Paige's school.

Pornphen is a wonderful fit for our family. We're really enjoying her stay.

p.s. No one got hurt, I just thought the title was catchy! ;)

Weird Wednesday

Thanks to Sam for rubbing it in, that she beat me to my own gig! I totally spaced it last night! Enjoy your victory Sam, it won't happen again! ;)

Funny Story: Gas and Ducks

So, the other day someone in the family (who agreed I could put this on the blog only if they remained nameless...) passed gas. It was a loud toot.

They looked at Sophia, who was sitting right there, and said: "What was that?"
Sophia shrugged.
To which the person replied, "It sounded like a duck!"
"Yeah, a duck in your BUNS!" Sophia quickly came back with.

Oh my... that's just plain funny. Out of the mouths of babes. And, for those of you that think that is gross, you MUST read below... you KNOW you do it too...

According to Dr. Michael D. Levitt, M.D., and John H. Bond, M.D., most of us pass somewhere between 200 and 2,000 ml of gas per day (average, about 600 ml) in roughly 13-14 passages. These emissions are composed of five gasses: nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), and methane (CH4). Nitrogen usually predominates, followed by variable concentrations of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane, and very low levels of oxygen. Gas gets into our guts by air swallowing (which accounts for very little), production within the bowel and colon (which accounts for a lot), and diffusion from the blood. As far as those who study these things can figure out, most air that is swallowed comes out the way it went in: it is belched or "eructed," as the textbook informed me. Most of the nitrogen is accounted for by diffusion from blood to bowel; it may give flatus some of its bang but little of its bite.

Retro Friday - 1994ish?

Oh yes, the spiral perm.. Paige was one'ish... I hate how I didn't write the dates on the back of my pictures. I guess I thought I'd always remember how old we were!

Sophia Goes to the Dentist

This was Sophia's very first cleaning at the dentist. They are our family dentist, and recommended we bring her in at age three. I know some people take their children to a Pediatric Dentist, but I don't know of any around here.

I made the appointment for Sophia, for the same time Noah was to have his regular 6 months cleaning. Sophia has been with me when I've gotten my teeth cleaned, and with Noah, but I thought she might be nervous, or might have forgotten what it was all about. I wanted Noah to go first, so Sophia could see what they do, and then she'd be more comfortable. Well, she was so excited she wanted to go first, so I thought, 'why not?' Here she is, raring and ready to go!

She opened wide so the hygenist could look at her teeth...

She sat very still!

She was very patient, and was a perfect patient!

She let her polish her teeth...

and check them again...

Here she has the 'duck teeth', getting her flouride treatment.

Sucking out the extra flouride...

Proudly showing off her clean teeth! I'm so glad things went well at this appointment! She has a little cavity they want to take care of (oh no!) and will schedule her as soon as possible for that. That appointment won't be as fun, I'm sure!

Noah sits in the waiting room, listening to the Ipod, waiting for his turn.

Noah's a pro at the dentist, as he's been going for 5 years now!

Wordless Weird Wednesday

I had to do some digging to find this one, Sophia was wearing her Snow White wig, and it was quite awhile ago!

Paige and her cousin are jumping off the swings, again, this one is pretty old, maybe 1-2 years ago?

Here Paige was messing with Sophia

Click here if you need more details! Please leave a comment, and the link under Mr. Linky so we can come visit your 'Weird Wednesday' photo too!

I just realized that I didn't post any pictures from Noah's family birthday party back at the beginning of January! Shame on me! Here's my favorite....


I just love the look on his face. He wanted a basketball cake, so that is what he got! No, I didn't make it... but I did put trick candles on it. He had no idea, and he was quite amused by them when they would spark back up!

New England Patriots

Can you say, 'undefeated?'

Restraining Order & Award? Oh my!

Rony over at INSANE MOMMY has me blushing again... Thank you so much! She said some awfully sweet things, and also some things that have forced me to put a restraining order on her... 100 yards, Rony -- 100 yards!


So, the rules are:

1. Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.
This would be very difficult. I don't have time for difficult right now. If I did have more time, I would send this award to most everyone Rony chose, with the exception of myself! I would add a few extras. You know who you are, I visit you often and leave my mark. There's a reason I keep coming back.

2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.
What purpose I serve, I'm not sure. Entertainment maybe? A glimpse of the country life? Fluff? A laugh once in awhile? (i.e. SHAMPOO/SCOOTER INCIDENT?) Eye candy?

3. In their post about the award they need to link back to the original entry.
I did that, go me!

4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to Eric Novak's site.
Ditto.

Retro Friday

The year was 1995. Paige was 1 1/2 years old, and totally Daddy's girl.
p.s. the kids had ANOTHER snow day from school today.

Chop!

Paige got many inches of her hair cut off today. I'm loving the short, sassy style!

So, what else is new you ask?
~ We got 14 inches of snow Monday, it was ANOTHER snow day for the kids from school.
~ We're getting another storm Friday, and everyone is thinking it's going to be another snow day. I've lost track of how many they've had so far this year! What a ridiculous year so far for snow, they may be going to school until July to make up all the snow days! :(
~ DH is recovering nicely from his surgery.
~ We have a teacher from Thailand living with us until the middle of March; she's teaching at Paige's school. She's a great fit for our family.
~ Things are a bit crazy around here!

Wordless Weird Wednesday

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Sophia's Journey (Referral to Present)

Ted is speaking tonight at church, about our adoption and trip to China. I put together a 15 minute slide show that he'll talk through, and then this one for the end of the night. It's just a few minutes long, I hope you enjoy it. Make sure you have the volume turned up, I love the song, it is very fitting.

Who, me???

Daleea over at Jewels of my Heart gave me this award. She said this: "Christine- I love your blog and I love you..... your beautiful photography, your beautiful family and your funny antics...... the kids, the pups, the ankle, the Guinea hens, never a dull moment at your place."

How sweet is that? Daleea, I'm so glad you enjoy stopping by and getting a peek at my crazy life! Like many, I enjoy your blog so much, and enjoy your comments. It's amazing the connections you can feel to people you've never met in person, just through our blogs.

Xandra from Heart of Service created this award to honor those Blogs that are "must reads". In her own words: "So here's to all the blogs that you've discovered that you can't possibly live without. They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog."

I believe I should pass this award on, but many of you I would have chosen have already been chosen by someone else. Forgive me for not commenting much lately, things have been a bit crazy around here. It seems I have just enough time to peek at your blogs, but not quite enough time to compose a comment. Forgive me, when the dust settles, I'll be back in full force.

Retro Friday

1997 ish...

Wordless Weird Wednesday

I came across this picture, and it inspired me to do something different than my usual 'wordless Wednesday". How about "WEIRD WEDNESDAY?" I will post a picture that didn't come out well, for whatever reason. A picture I'm not proud of, and wouldn't proudly display. Maybe it's funny, maybe it's just plain terrible. Maybe it didn't come out quite like I planned. I mean really, what would I ever do with these 'weird' pictures anyway?

Care to play along? Leave your blog address in my Mr. Linky below, so we can all check you out!

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Surgery update & the telephone

Update: I didn't take pictures, and Ted is home resting. I won't bore you with the details, he's sore, and will be for awhile. No lifting more than 10-20 lbs for 4-6 weeks, & take 2 weeks off work.

Yesterday:
I'm taking a 5 minute shower. (I hear nothing over the noise of the water.)
The phone rings.
Sophia answers the phone.
(It's a digital, cordless phone, and I didn't know she knew what button to push!)
Remember, I'm in the shower.
"Hello?" Sophia says.
"Hello!" Daddy replies. (Daddy probably thinks I answered the phone and gave it to Sophia.)
"I picked up the phone and pushed the right button Daddy!" Sophia says proudly....

I guess I'm going to have to take the phone in the bathroom when I shower from now on. The next time it might be someone other than Daddy, or worse - a business call! I do think I might let her answer the next time a telemarketer calls...

DH is having surgery today...

He's having his inguinal hernia repaired. His father dropped him off at the day surgery (I had to get the kids off to school), and Sophia and I are going to go see him when he's out of surgery. Being the hardcore blogger I am, I would like to take my camera... but I will refrain. Something tells me he might not like that, but then again, something tells me he might be quite woozy coming out of the anesthesia, and he wouldn't even know of care! ;)

Please pray for an excellent outcome, and quick healing.

Fridge question

Do you suppose this would be considered 'normal wear and tear' on the refrigerator warranty?

Does anyone else have this Kenmore fridge? When you pull out the drawer and then the other sliding thingy to get ice, do your ice cubes fall out of the holding bucket, in the back, and drop under the drawer? It's very annoying... A big flaw in design if you ask me! I've got about 42 under there right now grrrr... they're very hard to get at to remove, but they're still in the fridge so they don't melt.

Happy Birthday Noah!

Eight years ago today, I gave birth to this wonderful boy. He was delivered before I was even admitted to the hospital! Eight years old. Where has the time gone?

Yes, he was a ladies man young...

Oh my, how cute is this? Look at the chubby wrists... and arms...

Chubby much? Noah was a whopping 21 pounds at 6 months. Mama's milk will do that to a boy!

And a handsome toddler!

Retro Friday

I always enjoyed Rony's Retro Friday post (why, oh why did you stop posting those?) , so I thought I would steal take a stab at Retro Friday.

Noah is turning 8 on Saturday, and I was digging through a box of old pictures, to prepare a post for his birthday when I came upon this picture of me. It's probably 12 years old. So there ya go, the moment you've been waiting for. It's me, give or take a few years, and a few pounds.

Oh no, more SNOW!

We've gotten almost 20 inches of new snow in the past 3 days. The kiddos were suppose to go back to school today, but it was canceled due to a storm.

Yesterday DH took the kiddos out to play during the latest storm. I couldn't stay out long with my camera, it was getting wet from all the snow! We now have about 9 inches more snow than is pictured here. DH dropped Sophia in the snow, and she really didn't love being buried!

Paige pulls Sophia on the sled

Diesel on top of a snow bank

Oh how the pups love to play in the snow. It's so deep they have to hop through it.

They wear themselves out playing, then come in for a nap.

DH built a bonfire down in the fire pit, after digging the snow out of it.

The pups love to wrestle and tackle each other, all in fun.

Really, they were having fun...

Here's Sophia, ready to go out and shovel & play.

Licking snowflakes, waiting for Daddy to pull her.

DH got quite a workout, pulling Noah and Sophia in their sleds, up and down the driveway. The dogs couldn't sit by and just watch, they ran back and forth with him.

Paige can't find her own snowboard, so is using Noah's. Looks like Maggie's thinking it could be a chew toy...

I love the smiles on their faces! "Go faster, Daddy!"

Down the driveway...

and back up!

and back down...