Linzi's Christmas Program

Linzi had her first pubic appearance! :D Okay, it was a preschool Christmas program, but I think she was the star! We were so proud. You have to understand just how big of a deal it was for Linzi to even go up on the stage. Every since Linzi came home from China, we have had major, (and I mean MAJOR) separation issues. Everybody has their challenge, and ours would be her over the top clinginess and complete fear of doing anything without mommy by her side. We don't leave her in the church nursery or preschool class. Every time we tried, I was always called back and twice, I came back to find her hyperventilating. The rest of the day she was visibly shaken and stuck to me like glue. It has been a couple years since I have even attempted it, but if I mention it, she freaks. You do what you have to do. And because she has always sat through church with us, she is the most well behaved little person in church. She colors, plays quietly and sits in our laps without making a peep. So her success in preschool this year is an extra big blessing and makes us so very proud and happy for her. She has wonderful teachers and I think she was just ready to make this big step.

As you can see in the video, she was the best singer up there! No bias here, just keeping it real! :D I love how she scanned the crowd for us and smiled when she saw us. Then she got down to business. In the very end, as she was leaving the stage, she wanted to smile at us soooo bad, but felt she must keep looking straight ahead and moving with her class. Too cute. Yes, I cried, before, during and after the performance. And then all over again when I transferred it to the computer! :)

BTW, some of the songs are not complete on the video because the person in front of us kept leaning over to make oogly faces at the baby on the lap next to him. Each time he did, he totally blocked our range of view and we got lots and lots of video of the side of his head. ;)

Mandi's Birthday Party

Mandi's actual birthday was earlier this month. But because of all the acitivities, we didn't have her party until a couple weeks later. She had a sleepover with a few friends. We went to the movies, walked around the mall and then went back for cake and fun. This was my first time meeting almost all of the girls. Since Mandi's has started middle school, she has a totally different set of friends. They were all very, very sweet and I am so proud to see how my little girl is growing up. I felt like a young girl again hanging out with them! Each and every one of them were genuinely sweet, good and crazy fun in a good sort of way. Eric and Alex escaped for most of the night and it was just me, Linzi and the girls. Linzi LOVED partying with the "big" girls!

The girls all went in Sephora (the makeup store) at the mall. Of course, Linzi had to try a sample or two. It is hard to see in this picture, but she had eye shadow pencils of all colors, all over her face.

This is the cake that in true tween style, became a facial!

Each of the girls got a pair of these Christmas socks that Mandi picked out. They all wore them to school over top of their jeans the last day before break. And of course, Linzi couldn't let us take a picture without her in it! :D

Oh My Gosh! Has it really been THAT long since I have updated?!!! We have been lost in a sea of Christmas activities. It has been a wonderful season full of so many sweet memories. I will try to do a recap of some of them. If I tried to put it all into one post, it would get way too long, so I am going to do several posts over the next few days. As for going private - I was a little freaked out when I posted the last post. I got a few private emails from other adoptive moms and I am really struck by all of the wonderful people I have "met". I also have family and friends who stop in once in a while but are not active enough to bother with a password. So for a little longer, I am going to stay public, but very cautiously.

Sooo, on to the Christmas fun! I will start with Linzi's class Christmas party. She was so cute and I loved seeing her in her element at school. She started out so shy, but has totally come around to sharing her silly little self with her teachers.

Linzi got this book at the book exchange. It is so precious and she loves it!

She made an "I Love Jesus" necklace all by herself.

And my personal favorite ornament of the year - decorated by Linzi. . .This really made me chuckle. The teachers made this bulletin board and asked each child what they thought baby Jesus would want for his birthday. Each present represents what each child thought Jesus would enjoy.

And this was Linzi's answer. :D

Going Private

Some things have happened lately that have made me rethink blogging. I have loved reading everyone's blogs, "met" some incredible people that I am honored to call friends and have been forced to really stop and think about a lot of important things. For that, I am so grateful to each of you who has reached out to me, made me laugh, think and pray. I have every intention of keeping up with all of you and following your blogs for as long as you will allow me to. But for us, I am just no longer comfortable with Linzi's pictures and the personal details that I have shared about her story and my thoughts to be so public. I want to continue to write these things as they are put upon my heart and I love to share these thoughts with other parents who have or are in the process of adopting. I also love that fact that I am documenting many things that I want to share with Linzi when she is older. But I don't want to be so vulnerable to who knows who might be trolling and stumble upon my little ol' blog and pictures of my children. So for that reason, I am going private. I have thought about this for several months now, and frankly, the only reason I haven't is because everyone who has contacted me or commented has been nothing but kind. I have not had one single nasty comment or anything that made me feel a little bit creepy, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I have to protect my daughter - I don't want some creep looking at her pictures or gawking at her story. So my friends, I will be taking this blog private after Christmas. I have every intention of keeping it up, just password protected. So if you are interested in following our blog, just leave a comment or send me an email. When I go password protected, I will be sure to send you an invite. As for all my bloggy friends that I visit regularly, I am not going anywhere! I will continue to visit, comment and watch your families grow as long as you will let me! :D

Hugs,
Sheryl

Linzi is just as enchanted by reindeers as I am! Every since our Rudolph night, she has talked about reindeer nonstop. It is almost surpassing her pony obsession, which still reigns supreme after 6 solid months of running around on all fours pretending to be a pony!

So today, I am busy doing my cleaning chores while Linzi was eating a snack. Next thing I know she is running around in the very back corner of our backyard. Our yard is fenced so I wasn't concerned and I was really focused on sweeping the floors when she came running in and said "Mommy, you gotta see this!!!". I am embarrassed to admit my first reaction was "Mommy's busy sweeping", but Linzi was soooo insistent. So I put my broom down and followed her outside. I am so glad I did because I would have missed one of those magical moments, when you see the world through your child's eyes, and you really believe in magic. This funny girl makes me laugh every single day but today, not only did she give me my laugh of the day, she reminded me of why I love being a mother. My floors can wait, my house is not as clean as I would like it to be, but moments like these will never come again! So this is what Linzi was so excited to show me. . .



BTW, you can see that our backyard has no grass, thanks to the drought. Thankfully, the bermuda grass in the front is okay, but we lost all of our fescue grass in the back because of the total water ban this summer. It makes me sick to look at our barren and empty backyard that used to be so lush and green. Not only do we not have grass in our backyard, but the lake is empty too. The lake is down 20 feet (or more). The water crisis in GA is only getting worse. Praying for a wet, wet winter!

A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous...full of beauty and forever beautiful...loving and caring and truly amazing.
-- Deanna Beisser


Today is Mandi's 12th birthday. I am so blessed. Mandi is sweet, kind, loving and everything else that is good. Each day I marvel at the beautiful person she is becoming, inside and out. Just yesterday, she shared with me that she feels closer to God than she ever has before because of her youth group at church this year. My heart soared, not only is her future on Earth bright, but her eternal future is secured in her faith. I haven't done a Thankful Thursday in a very long time, I just can't seem to get it done on Thursday. But today, I am thankful for my daughter. I am thankful that God sent this angel to me. She has taught me so much and is a better person than I could ever hope to be. Most children model their parents, but at our house, I want to be just like Mandi! Happy Birthday Mandi girl! I love you more than words can say!

My favorite Christmas icon - Rudolph!

For as long as I can remember, I have loved reindeer. I mean LOVE reindeer! Rudolph of course is my all time favorite. I have probably watched the Rudolph special at least 30 of my 39 Christmases. Last night, we all piled on the couch to watch it again. This is the first year that Linzi really watched it. She was completely enthralled. I don't think she moved the entire episode or took her eyes away from the T.V. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her watching my beloved Christmas favorite. But I did even better! A friend gave me the heads up on these light up t-shirts at Walmart, so I picked one up today for Linzi and Ally. They are really cute, Rudolph's nose lights up and it is supposedly machine washable. Ally is Lucy's daughter and Linzi's playmate a few days a week. She has totally stolen my heart and I just adore her. Aren't they just the cutest?!!!

Making treats for friends & the finished garland

Tomorrow is Linzi's turn to bring snack for her preschool class, so we decided to make some Christmas treats. They do ask that we bring as healthy of a snack as possible. Do you think pretzels dipped in white chocolate is healthy enough? :D We had lots of fun making them!

Getting the treat bags ready

Notice the our cat trying to see if there is anything good up there? ;D

Gotta make sure it's good enough to share!

Yup, I think they will like it!

They turned out beautiful.

Loading up the bags with treats.

All done!

And this is the finished garland I talked about in the last post. I am so happy with the way it turned out. It took me two solid afternoons, but it was so much fun. My hands are a wreck so a manicure is on my To Do list this week.

The Giving Tree

My friend who is also my neighbor, gym buddy and Martha Stewart-like inspiration spent the last two afternoons teaching me how to make a live garland for our front door. I have admired hers for the last 8 Christmas's we have spent in this neighborhood. I feel like she has given me such a gift just by taking the time to show me how to make one. The garland is made of pine clippings from the Christmas tree compost piles, magnolia branches and sprigs of cedar. The magnolia comes from a beautiful old tree, which my friend Valla lovingly calls "The Giving Tree". This tree is amazingly huge and sits on what we thought was an abandoned piece of property. So we started this project yesterday and visited the tree. Today, we went back for more. But before we started picking pieces, I wanted to get some pictures of the kids playing in this beautiful old tree. My garlands are done and Eric will be hanging them tomorrow. I think they turned out beautiful and look forward to adding this project as another tradition. Here's a few photos of Linzi, Alex and Valla's little girl, Kate playing around the tree. I will post pictures of the garlands after Eric hangs them for me tomorrow.

The Giving Tree

Kate & Linzi playing under the tree - it's a very cool place for kids to play

Of course Alex had to climb the tree!

Linzi ran like this the WHOLE day today! And she didn't get a nap. She is beyond exhausted and I am looking forward to a quiet early bedtime. :D

Thanksgiving 2007 Recap

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in FL with my family and Eric's mom. We took the whole week and spent some time at the beach with the kids as well as with the family. Eric and I ran away for a night in Longboat Key. We LOVED the area. Totally ready to move there. Seriously! I have told Eric at least 100 times to get his resume floating around in the Sarasota/Tampa area, like he even needs a nudge from me! :D If the right opportunity knocks, we wouldn't think twice about it. Our hearts will always be in Florida. We are both originally from Florida and both of our families are there. It makes perfect sense to move back, we will just have to see what the Lord has planned for us. So anyway, here's some photos. Now that the holidays are upon us, it is my favorite time of year. I have lots of fun things planned for little Ms. Linzi Lu and the big kids. I will do my best to keep the blog updated. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me and asked where we are. It seems to be my running theme lately, but it makes me feel good that somebody is missing us! XOXO!!!

There are so many Christmas songs that are special to me, so I am going to try to rotate through them all this season. The one playing right now is definitely one of my favorites. The words give me chills everytime as I try to imagine baby Jesus and how Mary must have felt that night that changed our world forever. As I am writing this, the song is playing and Linzi is singing her own version of it in the next room combined with a few other Christmas songs she knows. Too cute!

I had to post this little exchange between Linzi & her sister, Mandi. We were all getting out of the car last night and Mandi unbuckled Linzi from her car seat. As Mandi was gathering her stuff, Linzi just plows right over her to get out the door.

Mandi - "Hey, can't you wait a second"
Linzi (in a very superior tone) - "Ladies First. That's me."
Mandi - "Are you saying I'm not a lady too?"
Linzi - "Well, your name IS MAN-di!"

heehee :D

Thank You!!!

Thank you for all the sweet emails and comments about my terrible day! I wish I could give each one of you a hug in real life! I am finally kicking this bug, Wednesday was the first day I felt somewhat human and by today, I can say it is almost gone. We had such a beautiful day today, so Linzi & I got outside and took some pictures. She loves to play with my exercise ball, she thinks it's hers. Oh well, at least someone is using it! ;D I am struck at how grown up she looks in these pictures. In some of them, she even looks like a completely different girl. sigh. The one below really strikes me, I mean, she looks like a big girl. When did that happen?!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

One of those days

It was one of those days today, you know, the kind where you never should have gotten out of bed? Yep, it was so bad, it was almost comical. I'll just give you the highlights.

5:00 a.m. Alarm goes off for gym. Not feeling good today, go back to sleep.

5:30 a.m. Feeling guilty for not going to gym. REALLY not feeling well. Can't go back to sleep, so I go downstairs to make a cup of hot tea and lay on the couch

7:00 a.m. Everyone else starts waking up. By now, I am laid out on the couch, coughing hacking away, shivering, miserable, can't think straight. I lay there completely useless while Eric does everything to get all three kids up, dressed and get himself ready for work.

8:45 a.m. Debating whether I even feel up to getting Linzi to preschool. It starts in 15 minutes, so I decide to throw on some clothes and take her.

9:00 a.m. Out the door, no makeup, looking downright scary, but too sick to care. Drop Linzi off at preschool.

9:05 a.m. I get the brilliant idea that coffee will perk me up and then I can go shopping, so I head to Starbucks. A little retail therapy always helps.

9:15 a.m. The Starbucks lady is looking at me all sympathetic-like. Now I have a complex. Do I really look as bad as I feel? I decide to skip shopping and go home. This is where I should have ended my day.

12:00 p.m. I leave to pick Linzi up from school. Once again, I decide to try and get out. BAD IDEA. First I call Eric to see if he wants to meet for lunch. While I am waiting to hear back from him, I remember that Alex needs a jacket with his school logo. It's supposed to be cold tomorrow, so I HAVE to get it today. His teacher had told me of a place on the square in downtown of our town. I don't know the name of the store, or the address. But it is on the square, how hard can it be. While I am driving there, Eric calls and we make plans to meet after I get the jacket. While I am talking to him, I circle the square THREE times and do not see a uniform store of any kind. By now, I am done looking and decide to just meet for lunch and go to another uniform store that I know of. Eric was at his desk, so he googles it, gives me directions and I find the store. It was NOT on the square! I go inside only to find out the jacket is nothing more than a navy blue hoodie with school logo and it costs $35. I can get the same jacket at Target for $10 and pay a couple more dollars to have the logo put on. So I leave. This is where it starts to get ugly.

As I am pulling out of the store, there is a curb that is really more like a retaining wall. I drive a large SUV and I cannot see over my right front corner. I thought I had cleared the curb, but I hit it. My car was STUCK on the curb and dangling about three feet off the ground!!! On the other side of the curb is a major busy highway. Bad, bad situation. The lady in the store comes out and says it happens all the time?!!! The guys at the tune up place across the street can try to jack it up off the curb. By now, all the guys across the street are lined up and looking and probably laughing their heads off. One guys comes over and says he can get it off, but I will need to give him $30. So, after about 30 minutes of jacking the car up, only to have it fall back down on a concrete wall, they finally got it off. Then I go in my purse to give him the money and guess what? I don't have any cash! No checkbook, just a debit card and a few credit cards. I had to tell the guy I would be right back and drive down the street to get some cash out. Meanwhile, Eric can't wait for me anymore, so he goes to lunch and my lunchdate is off. AND I STILL have to get that stupid jacket! I did manage to find the jacket at Target and get the logo on before it was time to pick up Alex. The jacket & logo was only $15, but I still had to pay for my bad driving. Should have ended my day there, but nooooo, there's more folks!

3:00 p.m. After picking Alex up from school, I was doing a little picking up around the house. I dropped Alex's cell phone over the cat walk upstairs and it smashed on the tile floor 15 feet below. Not good. Alex was distraught because I broke his phone. I felt horrible, so we load up and head out to the cell phone store. As we are waiting to make a left hand turn, another car in the oncoming side runs a red light, almost hits the car in front of me and does smash into another car. No one was hurt, thankfully, but the driver never even got out of her car to see if everyone was okay. I stayed to give my statement to the police that she did run a red light, not just ran the light, but was FLYING through. Oh, and to replace the phone cost me $50.

5:00 p.m. Mandi gets home from school and informs me that she is not ready for the report that she has due tomorrow. Part of the assignment is to dress up like her character, which happens to be Sir Isaac Newton. Just how in the world do you dress up like that and WHY am I just now hearing about it the night before? So off to the mall we go. Eric is nervous about me going anywhere at this point, but I must. So I do, with constant prayers under my breath! Of course there is nothing in the mall that remotely resembles Sir Isaac Newton, or anything a man might have worn in 1610. Mandi finds a black jacket that she thinks will work. It's $100!!! She's stressed, I'm stressed, we have no other options. I buy the jacket only because she promises me she really likes it, it is fashionable, and now it is her winter jacket. Crazy.

7:00 p.m. Heading home from the mall. There's blue lights in my rear view mirror. My stomach drops. What did I do? The police car whizzes past me. Must get home, but wait, no dinner and it's late. I stop at Publix for subs. The lady doesn't speak english very well, she messes up my order. I don't have it in me to try to correct her. I just let it go. Instead of an ultimate, we got an italian. Instead of spicy mustard, we got yellow. Who cares? As we are checking out, Mandi informs me that she needs something for the shoebox project, oh, and it's due tomorrow. Of course! So we run around the grocery store grabbing a few things, I remember a few things I have at home. We are done. Going home.

The bill for today's mishaps = $180. Yep, $180 that I could have happily spent shopping for something good. Instead, I spent it on getting my car off a curb, replacing a cell phone that I broke because I am a clutz and buying my daughter a jacket so she could look like a man in the 1600's. Crazy, bad day!

11:30 p.m. Miserable, sick, tired, can't sleep. PLEASE let tomorrow be a better day!

Okay, how cute is this little guy!!! If you are in need of a blog makeover, please contact Verna, the Blog Fairy. She is so talented and comes up with something very different for each blog she does! She has done my blog and many, many others. Verna has also done so much to help other adoptive families in their time of need and now it's time to give back to her. Right now all proceeds will go towards bringing her son home. Look at him! Couldn't you just kiss those cheeks all day long?!!!! :D

Halloween Pics

A few pictures from the Halloween festivities. . .

Pumpkin Carving

Not sure if Linzi enjoyed it or was grossed out by it! :D She was giggling as she pulled out the goo but after about 3 minutes of it, she was done. She insisted on washing her hands and going back inside. Alex decided on a very intricate skeleton pattern. Guess who finished that one?!!! Let's just say Eric was busy with Linzi's simple little face on her jack-o-lantern. ;)

Linzi's Jack-O-Lantern

Alex & Mandi's Jack-O-Lantern

Alex decorated the house for us.

And for Halloween, my princess was a Princess! She went back and forth on being a princess and a cheerleader right up to costume time. In the end, she decided she felt more regal than bubbly, so we went with the princess gown. She was thrilled to wear some "makeups". After a few houses, she decided she was tired of walking, so she went home and got her pink corvette out. It was a hoot watching the little princess arrive at each house in her pink corvette. She would park it in the driveway, climb out and run to the door. Bad mommy forgot the camera, so I don't have any pictures of her trick or treating in the corvette.

Mandi was a bloodied up pirate with a snake for a pet around her neck. Her costume was a last minute idea too. She was all over the place with what she wanted to be. I had already taken Linzi to a few houses when she came running out to show me her final decision.



And Alex. . . well, I will just say his pictures were too disturbing to share on my family friendly little ol' blog! LOL He was a dead coal miner who had been slashed in the neck, shot in the chest and dripping with blood. He looked awesome, but the pictures look like a murder scene investigation. Boys, what can I say! I really don't approve of that sort of stuff and up until this year, I would never have allowed it. But when you have a 14 year old BOY, you just have to let go of some things and lighten up. He did have very strict orders NOT to scare any little ones. I am telling you, boys are a whole different species!!!