Christmas = Family and Friends

Above is a picture of me with my brother Eric on Christmas day. We were being silly but I think the picture turned out well!

On Christmas Eve we went to Jason's family's house for a few hours to play, visit, and have lunch. Then in the evening the 3 of us went to church (where Karla sang again) and then we gave Karla one present before we set some milk and cookies out for Santa. She got to open some Princess "feety" pajamas. We thought she'd like those for Christmas morning!

We had a great Christmas morning. For once Jason and I woke up before Karla and we had to wait for her to wake up! That is very unusual! I'm still not clear on whether or not she woke up on her own or if Jason woke her up. :) All of a sudden I heard them both calling me from Karla's room so I went in. Karla was asking Jason "Is it Christmas?" We said yes and then she stood up in her bed and jumped up and down from the head of her bed to the foot of her bed faster than I've ever seen. She was excited!!

Santa brought Karla's gray present and Oso's brown present! We thought she'd want to open one of those first but she didn't. She took her time opening gifts and playing with them. Jason and I enjoyed watching her!

Karla got a microphone...

"Look Oso, this doll was in your brown present"


A few hours later Jason's family came over and we opened more presents. One of Karla's favorite gifts so far seems to be the Animal Planet Treehouse that Tio Kevin picked out for her. Jason and I liked it too because it is something different than Barbie's/polly pockets/dolls. :) We like dolls, etc. but occasionally want to play with something else. :) The treehouse is great. It has all the animals she likes too...crocodile, snake (or serpent as she calls it), lion, tiger, gorilla. AND her dolls can play in it.

After lunch and a cake for Baby Jesus we quickly loaded in the car to head to Ohio to my mom and dad's house. We had some quality grandma and grandpa time and then my brother and his family came over...and we opened more presents! We got to Skype with Brenda and Russ in CA for a little while too. Then things got noisy and wild! Eric and his family got RockBand for Wii so the older girls, Eric and Jason were playing that all evening. Beth, my sister-in-law and I were "cuddling on a chair together" to keep warm and watching Barbie's Island Princess movie with the younger girls, Karla and Audra. I used the opportunity to read a book since I"ve seen the movie a few times. :) So that was a treat! Before I knew it it was almost 10pm and Karla was still going strong! She and Audra played with their new Barbies together, talked, and watched the movie while eating popcorn and drinking orange juice. I still LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing the two of them play together so nicely!!!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Mammy and Pappy's house to get together with all of my mom's family. Karla rode with Grandma and Grandpa so Jason and I rode alone...it was so quiet in our car. We missed her chattering in the backseat but enjoyed getting to talk to each other for an hour and a half without interruption. :) We had a great time seeing lots of family!! Thank you Mammy and Pappy for all of your hard work and cooking!
Mammy and Pappy with all their grandchildren (minus my sis - Adam is holding a pic of Brenda though!)


Sunday we made it to church and then rested for the remainder of the day. We were worn out!

Today we went out to lunch with our friends Carey, Lola, Diana and Hugo. Diana and Hugo live in Guatemala and have been staying with Rich and Carey for the past week or so. After lunch we all came back to our house. Diana has gone to see Heidy (K's foster mom) in Guatemala since Baby Javier was born. She went with Carey and her family too when they were in Guatemala around Thanksgiving time. Anyway, today they brought a "surprise" for us. It was a video of when they were at Heidy's house. Heidy talked and was holding Javier while Diana translated. Then Jennifer (K's foster sister) talked into the camera while Diana translated. It made me cry. It was so sweet - for such a young girl. Words that mean so much to me and someday, when Karla is old enough to understand, will mean a great deal to her too. Jennifer was talking about missing Karla, how she used to play with Karla, etc. She also said that having a baby brother so far has not been the same as having Karla. Her baby brother doesn't play yet or have any hair to play with. :)

Today was so great seeing our friends again. They were beside themselves with excitement about the snow that fell today too. Jason took Diana and Hugo outside and showed them what a sled was and how to sled ride. They both went down the hill in our backyard once!! Carey and I watched through the window. It was hysterical! I was again reminded of how fortunate we are to have met such wonderful people through Karla's adoption. It makes me emotional - every time I see them!!!!

All the feelings it stirs up makes me 1) want to go to Guatemala again and 2) tell everyone that adoption is AWESOME -- sure it is really scary to think about starting (and going through) but TOTALLY worth it. If I can do it - anyone can!! So if anyone is thinking about it....seriously look into it! We've met so many amazing people and learned so much...and oh yeah, WE HAVE KARLA! :)
(I know...you never thought I'd ever say those 2 things...but I can't help it!)




I have tons of pictures so I'll have to upload to flickr again soon.

Tonight Jason is at a "Guys Game Night" and tomorrow I'm going to see my best friends - my girls from high school!! The fun continues....

Santa!

Karla sat on Santa's lap tonight and told him what she wanted - a gray present. :)

I uploaded a bunch of pictures to flickr today....haven't done that in a while.

Probably won't be blogging for several days so MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

One of Karla's bible memory verses and one of my favorite verses to leave you with before we celebrate Jesus' birth: Every good and perfect gift is from above... James 1:17

Lots going on

*Two Fridays ago Karla had a check-up with her allergist. She is doing so well that we are going to reduce her asthma medication she receives through the nebulizer. We reduced it in July and had to increase again in August. So we'll see how it goes this time. The doctor was very pleased with her progress and didn't feel he needed to see her for another 5 months...I think we were going every 3 months.

After the doctor's appointment I decided to go to the mall. I think Karla has only been in the mall once or twice - and it wasn't recently. I needed to look for a dress to wear to Jason's company Christmas party. Of course the dinner was the next day so I was feeling pressured to find something. For some reason I was dreading going to the mall and trying on dresses. I guess I thought Karla would be restless and not want to stay in her stroller...and i had to try things on... I decided to take the risk. We had the best time! I talked about the mall on the way to the doctor's office. After we saw her doctor she said "mall, now?" She was excited! We got to the mall and she stayed in her stroller without complaint. It was so funny when we walked out of Macy's into the main part of the mall she said incredulously "This is the mall!??" It was hilarious. Then I tried on dresses. She came in the large dressing room with me and I let her out of her stroller. She "helped" me get clothes off the hangers and twirl around in the dresses. The best part was - and something I'm sure not to forget anytime soon - was when I put on the first dress that did NOT look nice on me, Karla looked at me and put her hands on her cheeks and said "Oh Mommy. You are so beautiful! You look like a princess." I told her right then she'd be coming with me to try on clothes from now on! In the end I did find a dress to wear that I was very happy with, we stayed at the mall much longer than I had planned just looking around and picking up a few gifts. Eventually we had to get lunch because I was hungry. I thought Karla would like her usual chicken nuggets but she was so busy watching everyone in the food court she didn't eat anything! Another highlight of the trip for her was the mall security guard. He was standing near where we were in line to buy food and Karla got all excited and said loudly "Mommy! Police man! He is so nice and helps people!" I felt a bit embarrased and wasn't sure what to do. He came right over to her, squatted down and started having a conversation with her. She talked about the "police man" for the rest of the day.

*Jason and I did go to his company dinner and party. It was awesome...maybe becuase I haven't done many fancy things in a long time. We didn't get home till after 10 and we thought Karla might still be awake. BUT she went to bed perfectly for Grammy and PapPap when they asked her too and was sound asleep when we got home. We were a little jealous. :)

*We hosted a playgroup party here last Tuesday with our friends from church.

*Last week Karla went to a friend's house to stay while I took care of a few things. It was the first time she went stayed somewhere without Jason or myself that wasn't with family. I had been feeling stressed about some things and my friend asked me why I didn't just bring Karla to her house to play with her girls while I got some things done. I couldn't think of a good reason why not. So I took her to Sophia and Ava's house. They are in our small group and we see them often but I still felt a little sad leaving her....but she was already busy playing when I left. Jason picked her up about 2 hours later and he said she chattered the whole way home about all the fun she had had. She got to eat pizza with them and play with their Barbie's...so she was happy...and I was mostly destressed when she and Jason came home. :) Everyone benefited.


I've got more to blog about but need to get some housework done. Every week I say I'm going to keep the house more picked up than I did the previous week...it never works!

Here is a teaser of topics to come.... :)

Busy

We're here...just busy. Lots of fun things to blog about when I get a chance. Thought I'd post some pictures for now.

Jason and I got to go to his company's party Saturday night. It was lots of fun! Of course we had to get some pictures of us dressed up...and our favorite pic has our little girl in it too.

Karla helped Daddy put Christmas lights up outside. I stayed in where it was warm and took pictures through the window. :)

Karla LOVED this giant Rudolph we saw on Monday. She even wanted me to take her picture with him.

This morning Karla created her own dress. I just used some pins to secure it in place...she was getting a bit frustrated that it wouldn't stay on her. :) She spent quite a bit of time wearing this over her PJs. I was wearing a blanket tied around my waist as a dress...didn't get a pic of that though. :)

Preparing for Christmas

We have been putting our Christmas tree up in stages as we have had time the past two nights. Karla LOVED pulling out each ornament and was saying "oh, how beautiful, look at this one" every time she pulled one out. Her excitement was pretty contagious.

When she pulled the star for the top of the tree out of the box she said loudly, "Mommy, Daddy, look! A magic wand!" I was laughing too hard to take a picture! Then Daddy announced there aren't any wands/witches/spells at Christmastime! I don't know if she'll remember that or not.

She really liked the holiday stuffed animals I've accumulated over the years and the softer ornaments. Her favorite ornament was the Grinch (of course). Our neighbors have a Grinch in their yard which adds to the fascination. We haven't decided if we'll let her watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" this year or not. When she laid down for her nap this afternoon she asked me if I would sew her a skirt with the Grinch on it! I have made her 4 skirts recently so I guess she thought I could just quickly produce a Grinch skirt as well. May look into it but not sure I will have time...

Ever since Karla saw Santa at the mall (and Dora) she has told anyone who asks that she wants a "gray box" for Christmas. When asked what she wants inside the box she says "a doll for Mommy". This may be a tricky gift.... Then she added today that Oso wants a brown box ("to match his fur") with a little doll inside wearing big shoes. Oh boy. I have no idea where these requests came from! :) At least she is thoughtful...thinking of Oso and me.

Karla proudly helped "build" the tree.

She helped put the star on top of the tree.

She made friends with all the stuffed ornaments/toys.

Fun Monday!

Karla and I had a great day together today. I think maybe she wasn't feeling too well last week either because she was so happy and pleasant all day today (we won't count bedtime though). I guess something was working on us both last week!

We went to Karla's last gym class this morning. It was only 6 weeks long but it was fun. We'll probably try a new class in January. Now that she is 3 there are more choices available at the YMCA...and they are very inexpensive and involve me being with her!

It was fun to see Karla running around, talking loudly, listening to her teacher and even helping clean up. She was comfortable and not sticking right beside me the whole time.

I started cracking up once during our class. During "circle time" we sometimes sing a song called "Shake Your Sillies Out". The first verse is "shake your sillies out" (we all shake our bodies around) and then the next verse is "nod your noddies out". Usually we just nod our head very dramatically. Well, today Karla nodded very big - looked like a bow - and then instead of saying "nod, nod, nod" she said "YOUR HIGHNESS". I started howling. Can you tell how much she is into princesses right now????

Then we went to Chik Fil A with Austin, Chase, and Jen. Karla played in the play-place for quite some time with Austin and another little girl and didn't call to me or want me standing right beside her. It is nice to see her have more confidence and independence...but then hard to believe she's that "old" already!

While in the play-place at Chik Fil A (yes pretty much the only "restaurant" I go to anymore) I heard two girls, probably at least a year older than Karla, playing. One said, "Lets play princesses". The other one said "yeah!". Next thing I know they are saying "Help us. We're stuck in the dungeon!" I chuckled because that is what Karla says A LOT around here. She hasn't seen the Disney movies but she has read some of the books and one of the Barbie movies has a "dungeon" scene. I NEVER say "lets pretend we're in a dungeon" so I was glad to hear it must just be something they latch on to for some reason!

Speaking of dungeons....Karla talks about witches a lot too. I think because they are the only "bad" characters on Dora. Anyway, whenever there is a lull in conversation lately she'll just say "There is a witch in my castle. She real mean." She didn't say this today, thank goodness but she said it MANY times over the previous several days. Karla has told Jason and I that she has a castle "real far away" and that she lives there, we are allowed to live there, as well as good crocodiles and the mean witch. I don't know where she gets this stuff!!

This afternoon we made a craft project together. I should have taken a picture! We made a Santa Claus. It was fun and I was impressed with her willingness to sit at the table and work so hard to glue shapes together and color them. We made two...after the first one she announced she wanted to make more.



I got out some "feet-y" pajamas for Karla. I didn't think she'd like them for some reason...I guess because she seems so much older to me this winter compared to last winter...well, she LOVES them!! The other morning she was wearing them with a hat for some reason. Looked nice and warm though.

Baby Javier

Our friends were in Guatemala last week and got to go see Heidy, Baby Javier and family! They sent me pictures of Javier last night. Not sure how big he is or anything. Carey said he cried the whole time they were there and that he is still requiring medicine. He must have stopped crying for a minute...Here he is! :)