Please visit us at our new blog

I will finish out the rest of 2008 as soon as I can. For now, I am dealing with some very serious family issues. All posts from now on will be at our new blog : loveutothemoon.blogspot.com If you follow our blog, please find us there! It is time for a new chapter in our lives.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Happy New Year's! I am so happy to welcome 2009. We have some very exciting things planned this year and I am just ready to get on with it. :-)

I am moving on to a new blog. I figured this was the best time to make my break with Our Red Thread Journey and begin a new chapter. I am not leaving, I couldn't bear to leave my bloggy friends! And the main reason I blog is to document for my family, so that will not change. I just feel like it is time for a new look, new focus and new name too! :-)

So please continue to follow us here :-) loveutothemoon.blogspot.com

I will finish out the rest of our 2008 pictures and highlights on this blog - hopefully tonight. Then I will find a way to print the book (any suggestions would be welcome as Blurb does not work with Blogger).

Anything after the New Year's and going forward will be posted at Love U to the Moon.

More later. I still need to download my pics from our trip and am looking forward to some "me" time tonight after everyone is in bed to do that. ;-)

No pictures, just memories

I don't have any good Christmas morning pictures. I tried, but it was so hard to get a good shot and still be in the moment with my family. None of us were very presentable anyway, so I put my camera down and just enjoyed our morning. Since I didn't get any good pics, I wanted to be sure to document it for them.

We had such a nice Christmas. We tried to keep it simple this year and focused more on giving back to our community than the overload of presents that are quickly forgotten. But Santa just can't help himself (herself) and my kids were very good this year, mostly. ;-) While we were blessed with many wonderful gifts and were able to do some nice things for others, nothing will ever compare to the gift of our Savior. My older children know this and it makes my heart swell to see that Linzi is beginning to understand it in her own little 5 year old way. This year was a nice blend of childhood magic and watching her little heart grow.

The big hit was the Wii and the Wii Fit. We are a little late jumping on board with the Wii because we already had an Xbox when the Wii came out. I don't know why we waited so long in getting the Wii. It is so much fun! And the Fit takes it to a whole new level. We have been playing it nonstop for almost 48 hours now! Linzi is a yoga master, Mandi is a yoga trainer and Alex made the bodybuilder level on the strength training. I never imagined our whole family doing yoga together, but there we all were, practicing our tree poses and sun salutations. So much fun!

Linzi got a beautiful new dollhouse, complete with an elevator. Only my child would toss the people aside and set up house with her ponies! She spent most of the afternoon with all of her ponies in the house, lounging on the beds, eating at the table and of course, using the po*tty. She thought that little detail was hilarious!

Our new little kitty got his first taste of catnip! He likey likey! He couldn't get enough of it. Then he spent the whole day hunting with his toy mice. Every time he slowed down someone gave him another whiff of the catnip and he was off chasing that mouse again. Too funny! He slept on my feet last night and I don't think he moved the entire night. This cat that we never intended to keep has become such an important and beloved member of our family. He is one of our greatest blessing of 2008.

Teddy had a good Christmas day too. Of course, everyday is a good day for Teddy. But today was especially good. The thing I love about Teddy is that he is always so happy and grateful for every. little. thing. He had a whole stocking full of treats and toys, but it took him the whole day to get through it all. Each time, we would give him one thing and he was off, enjoying it for hours, before coming back for more. If he wasn't enjoying his treats and toys, he was right in the middle of the action. He tried to lay on the Fit board only because the kids were playing with it. When I made the lasagna dinner, he stayed by my side and supervised my every move. And he was more than willing to help with clean up! My sweet doggy, he is the definition of love, happiness, enthusiasm and laughter.

Santa was good to me too and gave me a new lens for my camera. He even knew exactly which one I wanted. I think DH is home the rest of the holiday season, so we are going to focus on the family for the next week. One of our Christmas presents to the kids is a little getaway for the New Year's celebration. We are looking forward to some fun in the mountains at a new resort that has an indoor waterpark. We are hoping to find snow to play in too. Swimming AND Snow. We must be crazy, it sounds like I am totally setting us up to get sick all over again! Just in time to go back to school. Brilliant. Hopefully, not!

'Twas the night before Christmas

Linzi and I have been very busy getting ready for Santa! At 2:00 this afternoon, it started getting a little dark and rainy outside. That totally threw her off and she thought it was night time. She was ready to go to bed so Santa could come. When we told her we still had several more hours of daytime, she was so disappointed that she pouted for a bit. So we passed the rest of the afternoon away by baking cookies for Santa.

Since Linzi came home, we have a tradition of Chinese food for dinner on Christmas Eve. For our first Christmas with Linzi home, I attempted to cook a big traditional Chinese dinner. I was in way over my head in the kitchen with this idea, so each year afterwards, we have either gone out for Chinese or ordered take out. This works out much better for me and everyone else. :-)

After dinner, we wrote Santa a note.
Then we made some reindeer food. Reindeer LOVE oats, sugar and some carrots. Linzi made sure to put exactly 9 carrots out. Okay, so these carrots look a little dried up! LOL I sure hope the reindeer don't mind. :-)

I have always had a huge thing for reindeer and now it has rubbed off on LuLu. We are Rudolph's biggest fans! I love sharing this tradition and love with her. We always sprinkle the food on the lawn before bed.
After putting food outside for the reindeer, Linzi made sure to make a special plate of cookies and some milk for Santa.

For storytime, we read The Grinch and Twas the Night Before Christmas. We also talked about the true meaning of Christmas and baby Jesus. When I kissed Linzi goodnight, she hugged my neck and said "Merry Christmas mommy reindeer." You have to know that I am usually the mommy pony, so tonight, it is only appropriate that I am a mommy reindeer. My silly, sweet girl!

Finally, it was bedtime. But nighty nights did not come easy tonight. (Imagine that!) Linzi refused to sleep in her room. After much negotiating, Linzi finally fell asleep under the desk in Mandi's room. For whatever reason, this was exactly where she INSISTED on sleeping tonight!
In case you are wondering, the box next to her is her "shoe store". It is packed full of Mandi's shoes and a few purses. She insisted that her "shoe store" sleeps with her". This child's imagination is just too much sometimes but I love it. I have read that a child's active imagination is a sign of high intelligence - my child is a genius.

This momma elf is exhausted and ready to settle down for a long winter's nap.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

update: As I am finishing this post, Mandi was reading in her room and Linzi is sound asleep. Mandi just came in to tell me that Linzi is talking in her sleep and said "Hey, that's my unicorn!" LOL She even DREAMS ponies and unicorns! Sweet dreams baby girl!

Ally is leaving for China - Alaina is coming HOME!!!

Dear Ally, We are going to miss you so much! But we can't wait to see you meet your newest big sister. We are sending our love around the globe to you sweetie! Alaina has two friends who can't wait to meet her and love her too! xoxo, Sheryl & Linzi

I interrupt your holiday celebrations to announce that my sweet, sweet Ally will be spending her Christmas day on an airplane, with her family, on their way to meet her newest big sister!!! How amazing is that?!!! Could you possibly think of a more joyful way to celebrate the most joyful of all holidays?!!! Follow their journey here.

This family is so special to me. Oh how I love my sweet Ally! Our red thread was woven when Linzi came home. Maybe even before then. I knew of this family, but not personally. When Linzi first came home, our older girls were in Brownies together. My first real conversation with Lucy was all about Linzi's adoption. Since we had only been home for a couple weeks, I had had many conversations with other moms about our adoption. But this one was so different. I sensed a passion in Lucy, a definite longing and a strong possibility that something was stirring in her heart. She told me all about her experience at a Stephen Curtis Chapman concert and I knew she was hooked. I told her if she ever wanted to talk more about adoption to please call me. I even remember sharing some of the conversation with Eric that night and telling him I just knew it ran WAY deeper than curious questions and well wishes. And after a few months, she DID call me! And so began her journey to Ally. In that early stage, I remember Lucy mentioning that she felt a pull towards an older child. Ally ended up being fairly young. But because of those early conversations, it was no shocker when she announced their plans to adopt Alaina. I believe Alaina has been on her heart for a very long time now. I am just so stinkin happy that it is finally TIME!!!

They (mom, dad, and all 3 sisters!) will leave on Christmas day and will meet her the Sunday after Christmas. Please pray for safe travels, their health, no hiccups in paperwork and most importantly, Alaina's transition. They truly are one of the sweetest, most genuine families I know. I have had the most amazing priviledge of watching Ally blossom in their love and I just can't wait to see the same for Alaina!!!

God is so good. . .

Getting Better - FINALLY!

Now that things are getting better, we are jumping into the holiday season full steam here. I will be posting more pics in the next few days. But for now, this one cracks me up. Linzi wanted so bad to hang out with her Sissy, but Sissy was too busy with homework and shut her out of her room. Linzi NEVER takes no for an answer - so this is what I found when she never came back downstairs! LOL If my girl is anything, she is persistent!

I must apologize for not being on the blogs or responding to emails the past couple weeks. I am slowly rejoining the living here! This past month has been unbelievably hectic and last week, my body succumbed to all the craziness. DH and I were both sick for almost 10 days and pretty much bedridden for 5 solid, LONG days. Everything else in our lives last week ceased to matter. We both went into survival mode and had to let everything else go. Being that sick has only reminded me to appreciate our health. Never have I been so happy to just feel normal again!

BTW, my all time FAVORITE movie is out on video tonight! I am on my way to purchase my own copy of this movie. I am going to crank up the surround sound and get ready to dance and sing the night away! :-) If you haven't seen this movie, YOU MUST! Just make sure you have a few fun girlfriends to watch it with.

Mandi's Birthday was soooo much FUN!!! We hired the limo and she was totally surprised - she says she had no idea. Her friends were just too sweet and so much fun to watch. The music was blaring, the girls were laughing, singing, dancing and acting like typical middle school girls having the time of their lives. I loved seeing my sweet, reserved and all around good girl let loose a little bit. I think I saw a trace of her momma (who did her fair share of letting loose back in the day). :) Who knew?!!! Even though it was FREEZING cold that night, they kept rolling down the window so people could see WHO was in the limo.

The girls thought it was especially cool that our limo driver just happened to be Jane*t J*acks0n's personal butler! I had no idea when I booked him. Apparently he had told her of his moonlighting plans for the evening and she said to send birthday wishes to Mandi! The driver said he tried to get us into her recording studio but was not able to at that time of night. Oh well, the girls just loved that they were riding in her limo and their little brush with fame.



And this is what Linzi thought of the whole limo scene! LOL!!! Actually, she was quite, ummmm, shall we say, challenging that night! It was one melt down after another, starting with the wardrobe change that she insisted on right as the limo was pulling up and Mandi was being surprised. I spent most of the night just trying to keep her consoled. Poor baby. I thought the party was just too overwhelming for her, but it turns out, she was getting sick. The next day was the beginning of what has been the worst sick week I can remember in a long time!