Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come...

Today was a really fun day. I love Fridays! Not quite as much as Saturdays, but a close second. We had MOPS this morning, and it was a really good meeting. Our speaker talked about keeping Christ in Christmas for our little ones, and he said a lot of things I'll remember for years to come. Most importantly, for me, was the message that Christmas was about the greatest gift of love, and that we are to show our kids real, unconditional, simple love every day- by doing that we are doing "the meaning of Christmas" every day of the year. :) We really do make things more complicated than they need to be, don't we?

Then this evening we had a Ladies Night Out with the MOPS group. About 10 of us gathered at a place called Imagination Pottery- I love those places. I made Allison a little present and then attempted to create a mosaic piece. I have no idea how it'll turn out, but it sure was fun to make, and the fellowship with the MOPS gang was of course the highlight of the evening. We have SUCH a great group of ladies this year, and it was fun to get together outside the normal meeting time.

Tonight I've been busy packing and repacking, as we're leaving for KC tomorrow. We have three family celebrations to attend between Sunday and Monday-it'll be busy but fun. We'll head back to St. Louis on Wednesday in order to prepare for our own little family Christmas. I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be checking in from KC with pictures of our celebrations on Monday. Until then- happy blogging!

Laurie

Elf Yourself- too funny!!

I spent all of nap time yesterday creating these little elf dances for family members. It was so much fun, and Allison laughed harder than I've ever heard her laugh at all of them. I even made one of her favorite stuffed animals- a little creepy, but still VERY funny! First of all, I hope I did it the right way and that you can actually view it. Secondly, I hope it makes you laugh, and thirdly, I hope you'll make one of your family and send it to me. :)

Thanks, Emilie, for getting us all started on elfing- it's been a blast!

Click on the website below- or type it in if I've messed it up and you can't just click on it. In case you don't know me personally, it's of my husband, myself, and Allison. :)



http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1320694407

A relaxing day at home

Well, I didn't get to go shopping yesterday because my little darling woke up feeling under the weather. Bummer for her, but bigger bummer for me (I'm so selfish!) because I REALLY needed to shop!! Instead we stayed in all day and I hit a couple shops after she went to bed. We stayed in all day again today, but we had a little break when a friend came over to play. He was tired, so we had a pretty lazy morning, watching movies and having tea time. In the picture they are saying "Cheers!" with their cups of tea- too cute!

Tomorrow is my last day to finish up shopping because Friday is MOPS and Saturday we leave for Kansas City. Hmmm, wonder how this will all get done.

I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have been leaving comments on my blog. It's so fun to check in and read them, so thanks! :) Plus it's nice to know that all my funny little stories really might be funny to someone else and not just me. Ha! Or you're all just humoring me (no pun intended) and that's okay too! :)

Okay-off to bed. Hope you all had a joyous Wednesday!

Craft time with Daddy

Sometimes I really do think Scott would do a better job staying home with Allison. He always has such fun ideas for things to do with her, inside and outside the house! This week he found a paper bag and they were off and running. I love watching my husband play with our daughter- it is one of my greatest joys!

Stories to share: Allison is getting quite good at saying her own prayers at night. I think I've shared one before, but this week she topped herself. We went to a pull-up at bedtime instead of a diaper. She loved the idea of it and was excited to try it. At bedtime we asked her if she wanted to say a prayer. "Deeeear God, thank you for a beautiful day." Then there was a long pause where usually she says "Amen!" right away. I said, "Is there something you want to ask God?' She continues, "Deeeaar God, please watch over me. I am wearing a pull up and I don't want to have an accident." How Scott and I managed to contain our laughter is beyond me, but we did, until we got out of her room at least! :) She is really a darling little girl!

2nd story- the other night I was trying to get jammies on Allison (my LEAST favorite part of the day), and she was being uncooperative as usual (not always so darling!), and I was getting frustrated. All of a sudden she goes and sits herself on the naughty step. Again, containing laughter was difficult. Scott says, "Allison, why are you sitting there?" She says, "Because I was not being nice." The child is putting HERSELF in time out? What a riot! A minute or two later he says to her, "What did you do to sit on the naughty step?" and she says, "I was not being nice to Mommy!" She gets up, gives me a hug and gets into her jammies. Now, if only this would work when she's a teenager? Yea, right! :)

That's all folks- my little one is waking up, and I get to take her to a friend's house this morning so I can get some shopping done. YIPPEE!!

First Snow!

Our first snow actually happened prior to the previous post, but I didn't want to post twice in one day. Plus I just love looking at that referral picture on my post. :) I realize there wasn't much snow to speak of, but I just HAD to try on the new snowsuit I just bought Allison the previous day. Ha! She loved it and wanted to stay out in it even though it wasn't falling anymore and there was no accumulation. That just tells me that when it really does snow and snow big, she'll be SO excited to go out and play!

Two Years Ago Today!!!

It doesn't seem possible that it has been TWO YEARS since we received "the call", telling us about our beautiful daughter, Lu Wei Feng. I remember it well because we were expecting the call and I was lucky enough (a God thing, I'm sure) to be home from work because we had a snow day. I was home on a snow day the following day also, when her pictures and information arrived. It was one of the best days of my life, and I will never forget it. We found out she was from the Jiangxi province, that she had lots of hair, and that she'd be 9 1/2 months old when we met her. The following day we took her picture (put into already home-made frames for each family member) to everyone to introduce her. Every family member was home (what are the odds?) and it was a joyous day for everyone!

From the time we turned in our paperwork to the time we traveled was 10 months for us, and I thought that was a lifetime. People meeting their children in China right now had to wait exactly 2 years to get there, and Scott and I will have to wait who knows how many years before we will be able to meet our 2nd child. But as we learned even before Allison arrived, God's timing is perfect for our lives, and we trust in Him totally!

I don't see a whole lot of Allison in this early picture, but it sits on my bedside table even today- a daily reminder of how much I've been blessed in my life. The "curse" of infertility turned into the greatest blessing I could have ever imagined, and I wouldn't trade the experience now for anything!

If you're in group 209 and you're reading this, please know that we thought of all of you today and wondered how you were remembering this special day. Our girls will forever have such a special bond with one another, and we feel blessed to know each and every one of you and to have shared this experience in our lives with you. God bless!

Laurie

"I need the ottoman to read!"

I heard this statement today when I was in the kitchen and looked out to find that she had moved the ottoman from our big leather chair to her little leather chair. I wondered how Daddy would feel about THAT! :) I love how she even has her little foot kicked up on it.

Story for the day- last night we talked about how Katie was coming over today and how we needed to share our toys. I got into a discussion with her about how important it was to let Katie play with the things she wanted to play with and how she could play with whatever she wanted to as soon as Katie left. After our little talk (my talk, really), I asked Allison if she wanted to pray. I'm used to saying the prayers for her, but now she does them herself (LOVE IT!). She said, "Deeeeeear God, thank you for the wonderful day, and please help me share my toys with Katie." :)

Daddy time is SO FUN!

This week Scott discovered that Allison REALLY likes it when he reads books to her in the voice of her different animals. Tonight she asked him to read The Curious George book in his Elmo voice. It was HYSTERICAL! I sat there thinking, if the people at his work could see him now- he was great, and you can see Allison loved every minute of it! :) He's a GREAT Daddy! He'll have no voice tomorrow, but he's great!

My little "reader"

As most of you reading this know, my little girl is an avid reader. Given the choice she'll pick books over toys, movies, etc. any day of the week. I LOVE this trait in her, but boy, we need some new books. She reads them all, but she does have favorites, so you read the same ones over and over and over again. Her current favorite is Curious George Goes to the Hospital. It is FORTY FOUR pages long- and she'd have you read it to her several times a day if you agreed. We don't agree. We say "Once a day". So the other day she thought, heck, if they won't read it to me I'll just read it to myself.

I've talked before about this child's ability to memorize, but a 44 page book? Yep! We had to help her out on a few lines, and she left out a few sentences, but basically she read the whole thing. Today when I was getting ready, I caught her in her little chair, reading it to herself again. To me this is some kind of freak "talent" that may or may not serve her in any way in the future, but right now it's SO much fun to listen to her. She reads all of her books with the same expressions I use when I read them to her. She even changes voices for characters sometimes. It's a hoot! My fear is that when she actually starts learning to read she'll become frustrated trying to sound out words instead of just "reading" the whole book from memory. We'll see.

The other picture I took is from today- we were heading out to pick up Daddy for our weekly Wednesday lunch. I just thought she looked so cute. I know, I dress her the way I'd like to dress but don't. Kid clothes today are just SO adorable- I can't resist!

Some folks have asked how potty training and the big girl bed are going... potty training is pretty much done, in my book. She's been going on her own without accidents since mid-October. She just wears a diaper at night, and it's 50/50 if she wakes up dry. Until it's 90/10 waking up dry, we'll stick with the diaper. :) The big girl bed is great! Except for the one time she fell out the first night, she's stayed put and we've had no problems at all. She LOVES it and even "pretend sleeps" in there sometimes for fun. :) She knows she can get out to use the bathroom, but she still calls out to us if she needs to go. It must just feel wrong to get out of the bed- my little rule follower (just like Mommy!). The best part about it to me is that you can cuddle really close right before bed- that's nice.

On another positive note, we went to the doctor yesterday to finish up our final "make up" vaccination shots and to get a flu shot. Reading Curious George Goes to the Hospital every day for the last month must have made an impression- she was actually excited to go! She continued to be excited even as we went in the room to get the shots. She just looked at me and grinned. The nurse was super fast, and Allison didn't even flinch. She immediately looked at the nurse and said, "Cookies?" She knows the drill! I was SO proud of her and SO happy that it wasn't like the last 100 times we've gotten shots. She usually screams before we even get in the room, and I have to hold her down while she screams some more, and then I have to hold back my own tears cause I feel so horrible for her. My, this was quite a nice change! :)


Okay- time to go get some housework done while she's sleeping! :) Happy Wednesday, everyone!

A fun weekend with my "buddy" Cooper!

This weekend my niece Jennifer, her husband Zach, and their adorable 14 month old, Cooper came for a visit. I was so excited they could visit because we never get to talk with them all alone- we're always with a bunch of family- so it was a nice change. Even though they are MUCH younger than we are, we're all going through the stages of parenting close together, so we have lots to talk about. On Saturday we took them with us to the annual Parents as Teachers holiday event at our local school. Allison loved all the activities, but I think Cooper could have stayed at the "shoveling snow" area the whole time. :)

Allison was quite jealous of Cooper the entire time, which was a bit exhausting for everyone, I'm sure. If I said, "Oh, Cooper, you are just so adorable!" she'd say, "NO, I'M adorable!!" After awhile I wanted to say, "Not so much right now!", but I didn't. I was nice. :) She's also developing a bit more empathy, though, and that's good. If Cooper cried, Allison had to cry too. That wasn't much fun. She was honestly just so sad for him when he was upset. Normally she lets babies cry and just goes about her way, but not this time. When they left our house today she was in desperate need of mommy alone time, so we played a lot.

The pictures are mainly of us enjoying the Parents as Teachers event (she willingly went to Santa and told him her list!), but it also includes one of Allison at her music lessons. The first week we took her she was very shy, wouldn't participate much, and just looked sullen. We thought, great, we just wrote this big check and she's not even going to like it! But this time she loved every bit of it. She danced, sang, played all the instruments, laughed, etc. YEAH!!

I'll leave this post with a funny story from today. Last week we ate at a restaurant that served waffle-cut fries, and she LOVED them. She wanted nothing to do with Daddy's normal fries-she only wanted to share my special fries. Today we went to the same place for lunch, so I ordered the waffle fries again, and we shared them. Once in the car she said, "I REALLY liked those pancake fries!" :) No one every told me how much my child would crack me up on a daily basis! :)