Winter Fun

Well as usual in Indiana we have been blessed with snow-and getting more everyday. Right now we probably have 8-12 inches on the ground. When we got our first snow Olivia was not too impressed. She would not even touch it. NOW she loves it. She and Morgan go out to play and sled. In these pictures you see Morgan pulling Livi with the four wheeler. Problem now is when it is time to go in Livi says "More, more" and she doesn't understand that even though her lips are blue and she is shivering she should be in the house. She just wants to PLAY!

Someday she is gonna kill me for this....

Update

Well, it has been a interesting month. Mike has been laid off since the first part of December. At first I dreaded the thought of having him under my feet, but just about the time I got used to having him around... the union called last week and put him back to work. He is working nights at a landfill driving a haul truck while they are cleaning out a cell. That really flips the whole household around. Now the girls and I have our evenings to ourselves and Livi and I have to be quiet in the morning while he sleeps. This is only temporary (about 6 weeks) until Brooks starts production back up again (where he has been for the last 17 years).

Evan came home in December after announcing that he was quitting Grace College. He was on the fence about taking a semester off, or applying at North Park College in Chicago (girl involved here). We told him all the cons of taking a semester off and after checking out North Park really encouraged him to look at a in-state school. So, he applied at IUNW (in Gary, Indiana) which was not a whole lot better because then he was going to have to get an apartment and live in a high crime area. We did some more talking and encouraging and got him to apply at IUSB. He really did not want to live at home though and we were able to come up with a great compromise. He moved in with my dad. Grandpa has an apartment-ette in the back of his house so Evan can be on his own but still have really cheap living. It seems to be a great solution.

Katie (thank goodness) is still at IU in Bloomington. She has a really tough and heavy load this semester and is ready to pull her hair out. Since she is basically taking a pre-med course it is really heavy in the Chemistry area-this is taking alot of her time with lecture, discussion and labs. She is also working on a minor in Spanish plus trying to get some of the minimum requirements out of the way too (English, topics etc). She is taking Ballroom dancing which she says is her only fun class and a great release. She may have to quit her part time job though because she is having to do many research papers this term and having a hard time finding the time to get them done. The week of strep throat didn't help either.

Morgan is in two basketball programs (after school and Upwards) and her 4-H has started up again. With dad working nights for the next 6 weeks or so, that means mom gets to do ALL the running with a toddler in tow.

As I said in a previous post, Olivia is little miss jabber box now. She is talking up a storm and still thinks she is the Matriarch of the household. It is hard to believe that this time last year she was still just a picture in our hands. She is as smart as a whip and we can only hope that as she grows up she uses her smarts for good and not evil or we are in big trouble. I am in the process of signing her up for pre-school next fall. She will do awesome! She loves Sunday school and I know being in a preschool class she will just blossom.

That's all for now. I gotta go get ready to drive the big yellow taxi. :)

OUCH!

Had a little accident with my curling iron this week.

Graduated

Well, this last week Sue-Sue came to see Livi for her Speech Therapy session. We haven't seen her in a month because of the holidays. During the last month Livi has really had an explosion with her talking and vocabulary. She has become very verbal and pretty descriptive in her language. So much so, dad now tells her she has diarrhea of the mouth. I was anxious to hear what Sue-Sue would say. About 15 minutes into the session she looked up at me and said, "Uh, I think my work is done. There is nothing more I can do with this little one." So, it really wasn't my imagination. The switch did finally turn on in her little brain. But after today, I was looking for the switch to turn off her mouth. *sigh*

One year ago....

One year ago today (http://boundforchina.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_boundforchina_archive.html ) we saw Olivia's face for the very first time. Oh what a stressful day that was. Referrals were delayed and late because of a mix up with DHL. Our agency normal got their packages by 10:00 AM and by 2:00 we had the news that DHL had the packages but would not be delivering them that day. I had to leave for my bus route and after being a basket case all day I was not a happy person and very miserable. After my elementary route I got a call on my cell phone from one of my travel mates yelling "Did you hear!!! DHL made a special trip and made the delivery today!!! The agency has our babies!!!" I could hardly drive my next route. I was a mess. By the time I got home my daughter Morgan was dancing around the house screaming "They called! They called! I told them to call you back at 4:00." We waited until 4:30 and then I called them. That was when Ebbie (not my family coordinator-mine was on Christmas vacation in California) started giving me the information on Yang Guo Guan. I know I have posted here before my disappointment of that day when we found out how old she was and all, but, the next two hours was torture waiting for her picture to come up on our computer. I thought they had forgotten to email us her picture and went home for the day. I remember when they finally came through all of us ooohhhing and awwwing and thinking how sweet she looked (even though Katie said-she has a big forehead-and Michael said she has big ears). I remember thinking that her little mouth had a turned down, sad look to it. Funny, cause now we never notice that.

My Girls

Christmas 2006

UGH! I have been trying to make a Christmas post for a week now, but my Internet has been acting up and I have been having a horrible time with it. I keep losing everything I type. So, if this works, here is a quick update.

Christmas 2006 was wonderful. It was our first Christmas with Livi and her first Christmas celebration ever despite the fact that she is 2 ½. She had so much fun helping pass out Christmas gifts to everyone. Then when she was handed a gift, she would point to herself and say “For Ni-ni?” in total disbelief. Once we reassured her that yes, the gift was in fact for her, she would promptly sit down and have the paper ripped off in no time and ooo and awww over her new treasure. It made no difference if it was a toy or clothes. She was happy with both.

Both Morgan and Livi have been in heaven the last three weeks having big sis Katie and big bro Evan home from college too. They both start back next week so their visit is about to end and things should quiet down to normal here again.

9 Months Home

Today is the 9 month anniversary of Olivia offically becoming a permenant part of our family. She has now been part of our family longer than we waited to learn who she was for the first time (from the date of our paperwork being logged in until the day of our referral was about 8 months). OHHH how long that 8 months of waiting seemed and how fast this last nine months has sped by. Right now families who are logged in and are waiting to get the first glimpse of their new son/daughter's face from China are having to wait 15 months with the wait expected to increase maybe up to 24 months. (UGH! That would have been pure torture for me!!!)

Our little Livi has been a pure blessing for us. She has blossomed and grown so much. We can't wait to experience our first Christmas with her. All the new things she gets to encounter are so much fun to see again through her eyes. She delights in the smallest of things and squeals with pleasure when she sees someone she loves. She has so much energy and imagination that we often wish we could bottle it and save a little for us adults. Where she used to cry and run from the camera she now brings it to us and will dance and pose and loves to have her picture taken. If we could clone her I think we could make a lot of money because we have had many offers from people wanting to "take her off our hands". Her smile just brightens the room when she enters it.

Yes, Livi, you are our blessing and our little spit-fire all rolled into one. We thank God for you every day!

Livi and Sadie

Christmas Prep

UGH! Time is just flying by! I cannot believe I have taken two weeks to post again. We have been busy with Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, and Christmas shopping. Today we are in the middle of a snow "advisory" and predicted to get about 8 inches of snow. Whoo Hoo! Bring it on!

The day we decorated for Christmas Olivia was taking her nap and when she got up Morgan and I were in the middle of putting up the decorations. Livi kept walking around the house saying "Wow! Cool!" She walked up to a Santa that is about the same size she is and was watching him move. She looked over at me and and said "Touch?" I said "NO, just look." She nodded "Okay". And that was it. She hasn't touched him yet. I am amazed. I figured we would be following the little tornado around picking up decorations for a month. She did help us decorate the tree and was very proud of herself. The only problem is, she touched those decorations to decorate the tree, so she thinks those are okay to play with. The other day I found some of her toys hidden in the tree. What a goof ball!

Morgan's First Recital

This was a big weekend for Morgan. Big birthday party and her first piano recital. She has only been taking lessons for about 2 1/2 months and she already had her first recital. Here she is playing a duet with her piano teacher. She did very well. She played The Happy Song, Hark, The Herald Angels Sing and Yankee Doodle.
Well Done Morgan!

Morgan turns 11

This last weekend Morgan celebrated her 11th birthday. Above is an assortment of pictures from the glorious event. We had a small celebration for her with just our family and then on Saturday she had her girlfriends over for MOVIE PREMIER NIGHT! The girls dressed up like movie stars and then attended a "movie premier" (in this case it was the movie Cars). The girls seemed to have a lot of fun, but more importantly, Morgan deemed it a sucess. Mom thought it was a great sucess because since we watched a movie I didn't have to do games or crafts this year. Whoo Hoo.

Speech

I have mentioned before that Livi is in speech therapy. She meets with Sue-Sue the therapist twice a month. Most of the work though takes place with us at home. Sue comes and "plays" with Livi for an hour and then gives me "homework" to work on for two weeks. We have picture books to look at, flash cards, tricks like putting peanut butter on her bottom lip so she will scrape it off with her top teeth, sucking jello with a straw etc. These are all things that help her develop her mouth and make her more aware of her lips and tongue. She is actually doing very well. Sue told me that she probably would not have qualified if she had not been adopted. Some words and sounds she is ahead of her age on using and then others she is behind on.
The other day Morgan was going through all the family names with Livi. She can say Michael, Rachel and Morgan really well (even though she chooses to call Morgan Mo-Mo). Evan comes out Evie and Katie is Taytee. The funny one is she calls herself Ni-Ni. Where she got Ni-Ni out of Livi I am not sure, but we were trying to get her to say Livi. Then Morgan tried Oooolivia. Livi said "Oooooni-ni." It was too cute.

The picture above is of Olivia and Sue-Sue blowing on horns. When Sue-Sue is coming to the house you would think Santa was coming. Livi gets so excited. She squeals, screams and runs through the house. Sue-Sue brings big bags with her the contain toys, puzzles, books and other goodies that are new and different each time she comes (I don't know what kind of storage building this woman has for all her stuff-but it has to be big!). For one hour she has Sue's undivided attention and new stuff to play with. Wow what a dream!

NO! NO! NO!

I could just cry! I had decided to try to grow Livi's bangs out. Now this is a pretty great feat for me because I hate hair in the face so that means EVERYDAY I have to pull her hair back in something pretty. I was doing a pretty good job. They were down to the bottom of her nose and I could pull them up into most of her ponytails or barrettes. Well somehow, somewhere, sometime this week, SOMEONE got ahold of a pair of scissors......

This is the corrected version AND I had to use hairspray to keep them from standing straight up in the air. (PS: The picture doesn't even show how bad they look)In a matter of seconds 5 months of hard work was WACKED and gone! Just like that. We still have not found the scissors or the pile of hair. GONE the hair is just gone. And I was just getting ready to take her in to get her Christmas picture taken. WHAAAAA! Olivia is my 4th child and not one of my other three cut their own hair! I thought I had just about made it - I was gloating too soon!

So tonight we did the Halloween thing. At first Olivia was not too excited. She wasn't thrilled about the doggy on her head. Once Morgan got her going though and explained the "Trick or Treat" and she realized you got candy in your bucket she was on the move full force. We could hardly hold her back.
For the next week now I think she will believe that all she will have to do is say "trick or treat" to everyone she meets and they will give her candy. She was in seventh heaven.

Livi's Look A Likes....

Katie was home!

Sorry so long since my last blog. Katie was home this weekend!!! It has been two months since we have seen her. She came home for a quick visit. It was great. Livi and Morgan were soooo excited to see their big sis. They hardly left her side from the minute she walked in the door. We took her to get her haircut, took her shopping (she of course had a whole list of things she needed to take back to school with her), and we had a small open house for friends and family that wanted to stop by and see her. We also made her favorites: chocolate chip pancakes, steaks and dirt cake (which she made sure we only got a small portion of, and she packaged up the leftovers and loaded them up to take back to school with her!)

She decided she wanted to take her car back to school and of course it decided not to start so after church dad had to spend a few hours working on it and finally got it purring again for her. She was off again with a wave and smile not to be seen again for another month. She is like a fart in a skillet that one....too much energy!

Stressful Week

This week has been a doozy! My father in law decided to give us all a scare and have a heart attack on Tuesday. This came a week after getting a physical and a clean bill of health. On Wednesday he was transported down to Fort Wayne to a larger hospital and on Thursday underwent Angeoplasty (sp?) surgery. They found he had 95% blockage in an artery, they put a stint in and got him all fixed up. He came home today. He gave us all quite the scare there for a while.

SISTERS!