Our Cute Kids

Brent made this video of the kids and I just had to share!!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Wordless Wednesday

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

The orange hair is getting better! I stood in the shower today and washed it several, and I do mean several, times. You know how the back of the shampoo bottle has directions for use? Well, if you've ever been bored enough to read them you know that it says lather, rinse, repeat. I took that to heart and repeated and repeated and repeated again. Actually, I've often wondered how many times they expect you to repeat when you wash according to the directions. At any rate, the ten or so shampooings (is that a word?!) seemed to make a difference. Now my hair is not so carroty but more strawberry blonde. In fact, Tyler's speech therapist said it looks really pretty. Maybe I didn't screw up as badly as I first thought. Then again, maybe she was just trying to be nice. Either way, I'm happier and not nearly as afraid to go out in public.

Um, Can You Say Orange?

In the words of Piglet from Winnie The Pooh...."Oh d-d-d-dear!"

I have been trying to think of ways to save money lately since adopting is so expensive. I figured one way to do it would be to spend $10 to dye my hair at home instead of $65 + to do it at a salon. I'm not a novice when it comes to home hair dyeing so I went to the store and bought the hair color, Light Golden Brown. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and hadn't had a chance to do it. Yesterday was a perfect day for dyeing hair. The kids both napped at the same time. I was hanging out with nothing but laundry to do. I figured hey, no time like the present, (who wants to do laundry anyway?). I read the instructions, put on the cheap gloves and dyed away. If you've ever colored your hair, at home or otherwise, you know that the color your hair is when the dye is on it is not the color your hair will be when the dye is gone. For that reason I had no indication that anything was amiss. I spent the 30 minute processing time catching up on some emails and such. I jumped in the shower, rinsed all the goo out, applied the conditioner that came in the box, rinsed, and then stuck my head out to check the results. Looked okay to me. Finished my shower and then heard the kids so I jumped out, put a towel on my head, got dressed and got everyone situated. By that time Brent was home from work and I went in to blow dry my hair. That's when the shock came! My hair was not alright. Not even close to alright. My hair is ORANGE!!! Not red, not auburn, not even strawberry blonde and most definitely not Light Golden Brown. Oh no my friend, it is orange. Thankfully it's not Ronald McDonald orange. No, it more closely resembles a lovely shade of carrot. It is much too orange to try and pass off as being red.

There is one bright spot in all this. Brent always says that he never notices when I do something different with my hair because I am too subtle. Well I sure showed him! He certainly noticed this time.

I guess my desire to save money was a bust. Maybe I'll just try buying less expensive toilet paper and leave the hair dye to the professionals.

Fundraising Ideas

Hey Everyone-
I need your help. I want to do a couple of additional fundraisers for our adoption. Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone done something that has been really successful? I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks!!

Cuties!

I'm not sure what she said but Emmalee is obviouly good at making her brother laugh!

Silver Lining

I hate it when my kids are sick. (Of course, who likes to have sick kids?!) Over the past couple of months it seems we have all been battling one illness or another. Just when one of us is feeling better, someone else comes down with something. However, Emmalee is usually able to recover quickly and doesn't seem to get as sick as Tyler or even myself or Brent. Unfortunately that's not the case this time. Last night she started running a fever and when I took her temp it was a whopping 104.2! YIKES!! She was on fire. I gave her some Motrin and did all the things you do; cool washcloth, lots of juice, etc. Once the medicine kicked in she was doing pretty well. She was obviously not feeling well but she was playing and doing alright. I gave her a dose of Tylenol before bed along with some cold medicine. I woke her in the night to give her another dose of Motrin. I finally got to bed after being up with our sweet Tyler who was also not feeling well. This morning Emmalee was crying when she woke up. This is very unusual for her. When I went to get her, she was burning up. Even her skin was red. It was obvious by her eyes that she was miserable. I took her temp again and it was 104.5. That did it for me. I called the doctor and made her an appointment. Luckily they were able to get her in pretty quickly. Poor peanut has a double ear infection and a sinus infection. Thankfully this is only the second time she's been this sick.

Okay, now for the silver lining. This illness has made Emmalee very, very cuddly. Unlike Tyler, she is not, and never has been, a really cuddly child. She has never been one to let us sit and hold her for long periods of time. Even when sick in the past, she is generally too busy to sit and love. Not since she was a tiny baby has she fallen asleep in our arms. No, I don't like having her sick and I wish I could make that part go away. But, I have to admit, this lovey, cuddly side of her is so appealing. When she looked at me today and said, "Momma, hold me," I could have just melted. Then I witnessed the sweetest sight -- I came back in from taking out the garbage to find her sleeping on her Daddy. That is fairly close to miraculous. Maybe we'll get lucky this time and the illness will leave and the cuddliness will stay. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I'm Not Complaining!

But baby, it's CCCCOOOOLLLLDDDDD outside! The wind chill is 25 below! And the wind is blowing hard. I caught myself missing Phoenix this morning. Right now it is 10:30 in the morning in Phoenix and already 61 degrees. The high today should be around 77. Perfect weather. Gorgeous weather. Phoenix-in-the-winter weather. But wait a minute.....Phoenix=scorpions. 120 degrees in the summer. Brown. Dust. Did I mention scorpions? Suddenly I had flashbacks to my sweet little boy laying in a hospital bed, unconscious and hooked up to a ventilator after multiple scorpion stings. Maybe this cold weather isn't so bad after all. In fact, I'll take it over the scorpions any day!!

Emma The Opinionated

Those of you who know my children know that although she isn't even two years old yet, Emmalee can be quite opinonated and very vocal. She is a funny kid! She has most recently voiced her opinion on how we should re-decorate her room. When we lived in AZ, she and Tyler shared a room and it was decorated in Blue Jean Teddy and Blossom Bear. It was perfect for a boy/girl room. Since moving to NY, I have put Tyler in with Collin and done their room in sailboats. I have been wanting to change Emma's room to something a little more girly. I have tossed some ideas around -- Tinkerbell, fairies, Hello Kitty, etc. I had kind of settled on Hello Kitty simply because I figured it was something that wasn't too babyish and she could continue to grow into it. I took her shopping last weekend to see what she thought and if we could find some cute Hello Kitty stuff to get started. I was so excited. We went to Target and we were looking at the stuff I wanted to get. I really thought she would love it too. I picked out a couple of items and showed her and she threw them down and said, "NO!!" What do you mean, no? I was surprised and, quite frankly, a little offended! I asked her again, "don't you love Hello Kitty? Look how cute this is!" She yelled NO again! This wasn't going well. I put those things back and thought maybe we'd try Tinkerbell. "NO!!!" Pink flowers? "NO!!!" Ladybugs?? "NO, NO!!" She is not afraid to speak her mind. I figured it was back to the drawing board and we'd try again later. Then we moved on to the baby section to find some diapers. Guess what Emmalee found? POOH!! "I want Pooh!! Look Momma, Pooh, Pig-et!" She was clapping, she was cheering, she was thrilled! I was.....hesitant. I mean, Pooh is adorable and I love him. But, it is a little more juvenile than I was hoping. Then it hit me. She's not even two! She is very little still. Who cares if she doesn't love Pooh in a couple of years? She's still little. Even better, she doesn't want to be all grown up yet. She doesn't want something as grown up as Hello Kitty. She is still my baby. I should stop trying to make her grow up so fast. My mind quickly changed from Pooh?? to POOH!!! Hooray for Pooh Bear!

So, Pooh it is. I have removed all Blue Jean Teddy and Blossom from her room. Ebay, here I come. (I have TONS of stuff!) I have found some darn cute Pooh Bear items for her room. Although I promised myself I wasn't going to go overboard, I find myself searching on Ebay for drawer pulls and lamps and shelves and blankets and pillows and curtains and a Diaper Genie cover for a Diaper Genie we never use. I'm trying to keep it to a 'bear' minimum....wish me luck!