Too many pictures, the Nativity and a visit with Santa Claus!

So I feel very behind this year. My Christmas cards have been delayed...Yikes! A few elf like duties are still not complete. As Anna's classroom mom I was kind of talked into gingerbread houses for the class party so I have 20 to put together for Thursday. Anna has a concert today at 1pm at school. I will not miss and the list goes on.

I gifted my sister a photo session with a local photographer that I have used in the past. I think the pictures turned out pretty nice but when she was putting together her card she realized that one of the babies had not been pictured.

This is Jenny and the girls. We always try to picture them in birth order. When it is a single picture it is very hard to tell them apart. So from left to right is Jacqueline, Jennalynn and Jillianna.

This one is my favorite however but I like weird picture or so I am told.

 

 

That is Bernie their father on the end. It is beyond hard to get the three of them to look at the camera. The song 2 out of 3 ain't bad usually pops into my mind.

 

 

This was the set up and it just did not seem right to not include a single shot of one of the girls.

 

Which brought us to yesterday. She called to tell me we needed to get it done so she could get her cards. Big sigh on my part because I do feel a little overwhelmed but honestly I do love taking their pictures and she is so good about letting me do anything I want with them so how can I protest?

 

Her only request was one group shot and an individual one for each of them. This is the part where you should get ready to be flooded with pictures...

These are some of my favorites. I realized this morning that the setting on my camera were not perfect and I may force her to let me retake them...LOL

I think they may be teething. They are in birth order

 

These are of Jacqueline

 

 

 

Apparently they think their Mother is very funny

 

Jaqueline and Jennalynn in the background

 

Jillianna. She will be the first to crawl, walk and talk even though she is the baby baby

 

Jennalynn and Jillianna

 

Jacqueline

 

Jennalynn

 

Jillianna

 

 

So as you can see they look so much alike that it is a little scary. We got her cards printed and now that is one thing off the list.

 

 

Gerard and Anna set up the Nativity the other day. It was only fitting that I got the token picture of her riding the cow.

 

 

It was too wet and too cold in my opinion to make Gerard get on the roof for the Christmas lights. I wish that I would just come home and they would magically be there but my nerves can not take watching him hang off the roof to get them up. We were able o convince Anna that lights in the bushes were a good alternative.

 

Now for our visit with Santa! Anna has been going through a bit of a tomboy phase and really does not like to wear dresses. I know the horror of it all especially during the holidays. She is also refusing to wear bows. She told me "I just want to be like everyone else!" Aside from the bow refusal I have quite a bit of personal conflict with that statement. I am a bit unique and I love that I am. I want her to love her uniqueness too. That is a whole other post so off to Santa we went. Gerard was able to convince her to wear a bow and her Christmas dress over her pants. I still think it is a good look.

 

 

 

So this has been my last couple of days. Off to fall asleep for the another 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 





An early Christmas present

Today I got the pleasure of working the holiday shop at Anna's school.  There is nothing sweeter then seeing a bunch of kindergartners armed with 10 dollars and a list of loved ones. When Anna's class came in she was so excited.  She was bouncing in her chair. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed watching her be so excited to see me at school today. One of the other mothers took her shopping so everything was a surprise for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the shop and hopefully helped a few kids make some good choices. 

When I picked up Anna she was busting at the seams. There was no way she was going to be able to wait to give me my present.  Here it is. The most beautiful piece of jewelry I may ever own.

The Christmas tree is up

The first year Anna was home we were so busy that we did not even get the tree up until about 3 days before. We only had about 5 decorations on the tree. Gerard was sick and in the hospital. I remember being mad, just plan old mad. It was not what I wanted for Anna's first Christmas. The next year I promised it would be different and it was. This year however seems very rushed to me. Even though I have been off more than usual I just do not seem to have the time to complete the things that I need and want to complete. Now I am sick.

You ask then why are you awake at 3 am. I simply can not sleep. I had to finish my final exam by this coming Sunday and I felt as though it was weighing on me. I woke up and took it. I passed the class with an A. That is done and completed and I feel so much better.

Earlier last night Papa came over to help with the Christmas tree. Gerard was only able to lift the tree into the stand then had to take a nap. I fixed the branches, Papa and Anna did all the ornaments. Thank goodness he came over because I was fearing that we would have a repeat of our first Christmas with a tree without any ornaments. Now I understand that it is not about the decorations but there is something so wonderful about a tree that is decorated.

This year as I helped to unpack my ornaments I felt a little sad for Gerard's Mother. She lost all of her ornaments in last years flood, she lost her Mother's Nativity too. Anna kept asking when I got this ornament or that ornament. I know I am blessed.

Here is a picture of Anna and Papa after the tree was decorated. More about the Nativity tomorrow.

Anna' Christmas pictures

Today we had a snow day. This was the first of the season. In my area it looks like it was a bust. We only have a little more than a dusting on the ground and the streets are clear. Gerard is home sick...actually we are both sick. I feel exhausted and have a sore throat and his has the same. Anna on the other hand is a ball of energy. I have had a headache for over a day. Last night I must have said something about my eye ball popping out because this morning she looked me in the and told me. "Good your eyeball did not pop out last night."

So I wish I had been able to get pictures of her in the snow today but I just could not. Maybe later. Here are the pictures that I took last week for her Christmas card.

 

We used instant mashed potatoes for the snow.

 

I am not going to lie I think even when she is 40 I will make her wear a red nose for at least one picture.

Secrets with her Daddy

We just finished our Daisy meeting. The other troop leader asked..."Anna what sre you having for dinner?" To which she replied without skipping a beat. "Taco bell!"

So she has finished two serving of rice, a serving of cheese and picked apart a taco. My little girl os becoming an eater.

Here she is plotting with her Daddy as to which movie we will watch tonight for cozy time.

Thanksgiving update and Christmas tree lighting

Well my camera is broken. Insert major sad face. All of a sudden the display screen stopped working.  I was okay with that so when I took it to horse club...yes Anna does horse club with the girl scouts I thought I might be able to get a few pictures even if I did not have the display. Well all the pictures were very blurry. I was not sure that replacing my camera is in the cards anytime soon. Really it is a want not a need. Gerard has offered to give me back my old camera which I will gladly take but it is still not the camera that I quickly became a custom to using. So my guess was that I would have to wait for a new camera.  If a sale is outrageous then just maybe it will be in the budget but I did have to just replace my computer so I felt like the budget was shoot.

Thanksgiving was spent at our home as usual. This year was a little different as every year is a little different in our house. We usually have a random guest which this year is to first time in approximately 15 years that we did not. We did host Gerard's cousin and his children. About two weeks ago Aunt Nel had a massive stroke. I was home when Gerard's mother called me. I dropped everything to go assess the situation. To make a long story short she needed to have the clot removed from her brain. She has some function of her left side but it is improving everyday. Because Gerard's cousin lives so far away he wanted to come down to see his mother on Thanksgiving. After all the food was eaten I was looking over the advertisments (it is somewhat of a tradition) and I found the camera I wanted. Oh boy the deal was a good one. I looked at Gerard and he looked at me and told me to get it. I am one lucky girl.

So because I had to work on Thanksgiving night my sisters were sent out into the craziness to purchase my new camera. Jenny (the one with the triplets) took it as a fun night out. She got everything on her list and my list with the help of Julie and Joan. Poor Joan is such a sensitive one and I am afraid the crowds stressed her out but in all I do think that they enjoyed shopping together.

I have about two more weeks until my class is complete. I have just finished my last quiz so that leaves only one presentation and the final exam. This was a fun class. I know that sounds weird but I liked that I was able to manage this class without taking too much time away from Anna.

Tonight we had official Daisy scout business. It was the annual Christmas tree lighting in out town. The mayor spoke and it was quite nice to see that he was not afraid to mention Christmas or Jesus in public. In church today the Priest was talking about how Jesus has been removed from so much of our public areas. I am not a fan of the Macy's day parade (I know I heard you all gasp). I have never really liked it but today when the priest asked if anyone saw the balloon of baby Jesus no remembered seeing it...well because it was not there. Hmmm I wonder if that is one subconscious reason why the parade never appealed to me?

My Daisy scouts are still learning how to act like a Girl scout but in all I think they did a great job. As we were getting ready to go I looked at Gerard and asked if he was coming too. He responded with "Is this something that the dads get to come to?" I teases me about how official our Daisy business is and yes I am talking his ear off about it. We all piled into the car to meet up with the other girl scouts. The other mothers are really quite nice and I probably would have not met them if it were not for the Daisy scouts. I was a little surprised to see that all but one father came (I know he was working his new wife did however come). I was so glad Gerard made the decision to go.

It has been awhile my old friend

Life has been busy. I know it is the same old story but it really has been busy. This post may sound a lot like nothing to most but I feel the need to write a little bit today about my feelings. The other day someone mentioned the word blog without knowing I was a blogger. I felt a tingle in my gut. I have loved this blog from the day I started it and lately I have not been a very good blogger. This got me thinking about why I had dropped off the blogging train. The first thing that came to my mind was I am just a little no I am a lot sad that Russia has stopped allowing adoptions to the parents in the United States. My gut is in a knot for the children who are left behind. I often think that it could have been me. I could be the one feeling the sadness that those parents are feeling now.

On some level I feel guilty...why me? How come I was able to complete my adoption of Anna? The answer is it was just meant to be. It was God's plan. I will not lie I miss reading stories about other who have gotten paperwork completed, a referral or travel dates. Knowing that real families can be formed through adoption is something that only a very small percentage of people can truly understand. I feel so blessed to be able to hold my little girl...okay now I am crying.

Fast forward to our Daisy meeting the other night. There is a little girl in the meeting that is quite sweet and has been a friend of Anna's for a couple of years. The last two meeting I have noticed that she has gone out of her way to be mean to Anna. Anna keeps trying to sit next to her and partner up with her but it is met with a sour face or unkind words. During the meeting the Mother asked me in front of everyone if Anna and Nicole were having a problem? I was a little taken back by this that she thought this was the right place and the right time for this discussion. Then she informed me that another mother from last years preschool class does not like me at all again in front of everyone. I ignored the comment then and moved on with the meeting. She then implied that Anna had something to do with her daughter having a bathroom accident. I shut her down and told her we could talk later.

On one level I have a very thick skin but on another level I am really quite fragile inside as I think many people are. I talked with my sister about it and she agreed that this was not the time or place to discuss any of those topics because there were seven little girls who were listening.

Today I had to drop something off to this mother. As I was leaving I asked her to please come to me privately if there is a problem between the girls. I told her that I never want either of them to be put on the spot. She agreed. I also told her that if someone does not like me that she can also keep that to herself. Her response was as a child she was taught that if she heard someone talking about another that it was her job to make sure that this person knows.

I was floored. I asked her what if that person thought that the comments were hurtful? She said that it was how she was brought up. I guess this interaction really highlights how differently we were all raised. I was always told that if it is something that might hurt another it was best to forget it and never mention it again. I just can not shake this feeling that she was intending to hurt me. Certainly there are plenty of people who do not like me. I am not sure what the value is in knowing about these random people's feeling of me are. I am honestly not sure if I am more hurt knowing that this random person does not like me or am I hurt because of this person who I thought was my friend wanted to make sure that I knew I was not like.

This has me concerned about the relationship of our daughters. I feel like I have lost trust in this parent. I guess we will see how this plays out. Forgiveness is an easy word to say but something a difficult thing to achieve. I need to work on shaking that negative feeling and to forgive more easily and freely.

One thing that I have taken away from this interaction is I have to be even more valiant to teach Anna my beliefs. I want her to be kind, honest, and compassionate. This is a good lesson to remind me that I need to teach her to be all of those things.

In the words of my very wise younger sister...If you are not going to try to lift me up please do not push me down.

Our first Daisy meeting and first trophey

Last night was our first official Daisy meeting. I am sure that I was more nervous that Anna. Believe it or not I was never in the Girl Scouts. I know it seems strange to me as well. We discussed what the troop has planned for this year and talked about possible outing and events. I really do like the program. It has a good philosophy about helping and caring for others while taking responsibility for your own behavior and actions.

We did a little craft. Anna's did not quite turn out the way I had planned but this is her craft not mine.

 

 

 

The other day as I was getting ready to pick Anna up from school I got a phone call telling me that Anna had won an award. I quickly texted Gerard to tell him that he had to take Anna to the ceremony because I had to work. Well as luck would have it I was put on call. Apparently, Anna drew or colored a poster for fire prevention week that won first prize. I have not seen the poster yet but I am so proud of her. When I asked her about the poster she looks at me with a blank look. She has no clue what I am talking about. I can not wait to see the poster.

 

 

In other news we have been reading, reading and more reading every night. I have made multiple trips to the library for new books. I really and trying my best to read with her everyday for at least 30 minutes. Some days it is longer. I am really happy with her progress. I really feel like waiting to enroll her into kindergarten was honestly the best decision I have made.

 

 

I will say that Anna is struggling with missing her old teacher. I am kind of glad to see this because she had been Anna's teacher for three years. I worried that keeping her in the same class for all three years may be a problem but I think it was actually good for Anna. So that is the update for now. Once I get the poster I will share it. I am so proud of her. 

Another blast from the past...pumpkin picking

This was the weekend that Gerard had 4 days off in a row. He has a very strange schedule in my opinion where he works 5 days off for one, works 5 days off for two and works 5 days off for 4. All of this from a person who NEVER works the same days of the week ever. I actually like it but him not so much.

Well this was his 4 day weekend. Friday was great because we both got to take Anna to school. Gerard and I had lunch out together. Saturday was a wash. I got upset early in the day and could not get myself together for the rest of it, then I was off to work. Sunday afternoon they woke me up and we decided that pumpkin picking was the plan for the day.

We decided to go to the same farm that we went to when Anna was first home. I showed her the pictures that I had posted here of the blog (thank you blog). She laughed and wanted to recreate them. So we did our best. I was surprised how beautiful the pumpkins were this year.

 

Conte Farms 2013

 

 

Conte Farms, September 2009

 

 

 

 

In other news Gerard made it to I am not sure how many Facebook pages on Sunday. He totally photo bombed a group of 20-30 years olds who were out picking pumpkins. I was laughing too hard to snap a picture myself. He stood out like a sore thumb because Gerard is neither tattooed nor pierced. I have a few friends who have both but it is not something that we ever got into ourselves. I think we must be getting old because I had to explain what a photo bomb was to him...sigh.

 

Tradition!

After downloading my camera the other day I realized that I did not blog about our yearly August tradition. Pictures at the old school. The first year Anna was home I took her and my mother to the one room school house were she went to school as a child. The beach is just up the street so I do really enjoy going there.

I think it is amazing to see how much she has grown.

 

 

August 2009

 

 

 

August 2010

 

August 2011

 

 

August 2012

 

 

August 2013

 

 

Indian Summer

It seems that I am downloading my camera less and less these days. The other day the weather was so beautiful. We decided to head to the park. Well when we got there we were on only people at the park. I am fun but it the park is so much better when other kids are there to play with. So we ended up at the beach instead. The water was a bit cool but that did not stop my girl. She chatted up some surfers and told them that she also had a surf board. She keeps asking when she can learn to surf. Well since neither Gerard or I surf I guess it will be when you can swim strongly and I find someone to teach you.

Here are the pictures for that day.

 

 

I do love Indian summer!