Mother's Day

Olivia's pre-k had their annual Muffins with Mom event this past Friday. Mark was on midnight shift, so he was able to watch Brooke while I attended, since no siblings were allowed. Here is Olivia (center) as all the kids filed into the cafeteria area where the moms were seated. She's all smiles! She loves an audience!

Here they are lining up to sing their Mother's Day song for us. No stage fright for our girl!!!

After serenading us, they presented us with Mother's Day cards and a gift! Olivia made me a "shoe necklace" and painted it all kinds of pretty colors. I kept it on all weekend.

Before dining on muffins and juice, some of the girls got together for photos. This is Emily. They'll move on to the same elementary school, but we don't know if they'll be in the same class.

They had cute centerpieces - hands with messages (I love my mom because...) on pipe cleaners (like flowers in bloom) in bud vases.

Olivia cleaned up our dishes and napkins. She was very "official" about it. She told me that Miss Kathleen had told them that they were to take care of their moms for Mother's Day!

Olivia and her buddy Lily. Lily will unfortunately be going to a different elementary school down the road.

Jordana, Lily, Emliy and Olivia. (Why do I have visions of these girls as high school seniors, posing just like this, flashing thru my mind?)

After Muffins with Mom, the kids were allowed to leave for the day (if their moms said ok). We went on to meet Brooke and Daddy at Brooke's gymnastics lesson. Here is Brooke at the end of her class. She's always SOOO happy and proud of herself after her class.

We went to the girls' favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. Olivia loves having her picture taken.

But Brooke said, "No pictures, please!"

Posing at the fountain. Olivia loves to drop money in, while Brooke would be perfectly happy jumping INTO the thing to take money OUT. We're finding that Brooke has quite a wild streak and almost no inhibitions. (And we thought Olivia was going to be a handful... HA!)

Daddy always buys peppermint patties on the way out the door. Brooke likes to take her time eating them. So, I wasn't all that surprised to find her with chocolate all over her face by the time we drove the ONE mile home.

ALL of Saturday was spent looking for Daddy's lost car keys and Anheuser-Busch computer access key fob, with much aggravation and zero success. Little hands can reach into all kinds of spaces we never even think about...

And then Sunday came. It was Mother's Day!! We went off to Sunday School and then came home to get daddy to stop working on the computer long enough to go to lunch with us. Mom's pick? The Chinese buffet down the street! Yum!!!!!

Brooke took this picture of me with Olivia. Not bad at all!!!!

Olivia took this pic of Mark, me and Brooke. Pretty good!!!!

Here we are at the restaurant. The waitresses all speak to Brooke in Chinese. She just looks at them like they are speaking Russian. Eventually they laugh and give up. Brooke loaded up on noodles, won tons (no dumplings were avilable! Phooey!), and ice cream. Olivia loaded up on fruit and ice cream. Mark and I plowed thru all the different seafood offerings (YUMMY!!!) and... our favorite Chinese dessert... flan! Oops! I guess that's NOT Chinese, but they really do make excellent flan. We ate until we were ready to burst. And didn't feel guilty at all!

On the way home, we stopped at Grandma Sally's to give her cards and wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She was getting ready for Summer Oddessy 2010 (packing the trailer and cleaning the house). Grandpa Howard had gone off to play. Hmmm.......

The girls wrestled all over the floor. Brooke had missed nap time and was out of control. Olivia just likes to wrestle.

Let's give Brooke a little more sugar!!!!!

And here is Brooke today. Calmer, and posing with her scooter. She's finally gotten tall enough for her 3T pants! We visited the ENT Monday, and will soon be making a surgery appt to get her tongue "untied". It will only take a few moments to do (snip!), but they've got to put the kids to sleep with gas so they can get it done safely (there's no way I would willingly let some guy with sissors get near my tongue!!!). We'll test her hearing then, to make sure there aren't any problems with her ears. While she certainly understands everything we say, her speech is definitley delayed. We're not surprised, since they said in her original referral paperwork that she "didn't like to talk". She talks a blue-streak now, but we're the only ones who can understand her. One step at a time!

Brooke with Oprah, the Dowager Queen of Cats. Immediately after this, Brooke rolled around in the dirt. I don't think those cute pink jeans will ever come clean again. Oh, well. Tomorrow we are taking Grandma Sally and Grandpa Howard to the Tea House! And maybe I'll even get the Florida pics posted!

Attention Aunt Debbi...

Olivia made this drawing at school today. She declared it is the costume she wants for Halloween this year. Hmmm.... I told her she'd better start talking with Aunt Debbi (Super Seamstress) now, since this looks a little "involved". Just giving you a heads-up, Deb...
I think we can make the mace out of styrofoam...
I'll let you know when she comes up with a name for this...

And..... He's Off!!!!!!!!

Not Mark! Sam, his nephew. Sam is from Indiana. He is 21 and loves the outdoors. There's not a whole lot going on in Indiana right now, so Sam is going hiking - all summer. He is hiking the Appalachian Trail and plans to take it all the way to Maine!!! (I didn't even know it went that far!)

Sam took the train from Indiana to Toccoa, Georgia. We were meeting him at the station, so we went up the night before, because the train was delivering him at 6:15am. We took a quick tour of Toccoa and Mark declared that it looked just like Decatur, Indiana - his home town.



Then we had dinner at the Cornerstone Restaurant - fresh, homemade and delicious!!!!!!!!!

We got done at dusk, found the train station and took a picture for the scrapbook.

The train arrived right on time and Mark and Olivia were there to greet Sam!

After a shower, we headed out for the breakfast buffet. Yum! Sam started the trail with a full belly.

The Trail starts at a place called Springer Mountain in the Cherokee National Forest in North Georgia. You have to have a "monster truck" to get to the actual starting place. For people with regular cars, you go to Amicalola Falls State Park. It has a "hiker sign-in" and an "approach trail" to the Appalachina Trail - 8.5 miles long. These pics are from the Visitors' Center.

The Visitors' Center has some pretty useful info - like what snakes to avoid (they had real snakes on display), and that there could be bears. They had lots of maps and hiking gear, too.

Here is Sam heading out the door to the trail starting place. His last air conditioning for awhile!

Sam with Mark and the girls in the archway leading to the trail...

The official marker of the "approach trail" for the Appalachina Trail (AT).

We gave him his a chance to change his mind - but he just laughed.

Bye Uncle Mark! (They are such "guys".)

...................................................GOING.....

..................................................GOING...

............................GONE... (you can see his legs taking the right fork)

We wish him well on his adventure!!!! It's quite an undertaking!!! We know he'll do great!!!!!!!!!

The Emergency Room & A New Hairstyle

It's been awhile since I updated! Sorry! Seems like there's just not enough time in the day. We've had some fun lately, and some drama. A couple Sundays ago, Brooke climbed onto the sofa - then, apparently, up onto the back of the sofa. (I had my back turned, vaccuuming.) Of course - she fell off onto the carpet. And hurt her arm. We were hoping her arm would be better after a nap. Here she is napping on the sofa with Mark. Unfortunately, her arm still hurt when she woke up and she couldn't grasp anything or raise the arm up. So - off to Children's Healthcare, where, after 4 x-rays, they decided she'd just sprained her shoulder. Thank heavens! (At first, they thought the x-rays indicated she'd separated the shoulder...) So, home for rest and relaxation. She was totally back to normal within 48 hours and we were $100 poorer after our insurance co-pay (but at least we have insurance, so we won't complain). If that's the worst drama we have to face, we'll take it!



Olivia decided to have her hair cut for summer!!!!!!!!!! Smart girl!!!!

Here is the "Before" picture:

Here is the "After" picture:

She was quite pleased, as were mom and dad. She's gotten a ton of compliments about it, so she's quite proud. Brooke got her hair trimmed, too.



And here's Kathy, the super hair stylist. Olivia loves it that she gets to go to the "Beauty Parlor" to have her hair done.

At home, we tired a flip. It's cute, but O's hair is so fine, it just doesn't last long.

Then it was time for.... Miss Olivia's first filling!!!!

Yes - she brushes her teeth. But, she had a cavity up at the gum line on the front of one of her front teeth. Aunt Carol thought maybe it started out as a chip? She was very brave and actually looked forward to seeing crazy Uncle Dave again. Brooke was excited to see him, too.

Uncle Dave didn't have to numb her tooth, so that was a plus. But, he did have to drill just a little. Notice the clenched fists in the picture below. She hated the sound, but it was over in just a few seconds. No tears, no pain.

Brooke was very curious about the whole procedure. Uncle Dave can talk and fix at the same time!

Brooke just loves to clown with Uncle Dave. They both laugh alot.

After Olivia's teeth looked beautiful again, we went down the street to see Grandma Sally and Grandpa Howard. They are preparing for their 5-month summer trip to Minnesota with their 2 giant dogs (Summer Oddessy 2010).

Olivia had a playdate with her friend from Pre-K, Jordana. They had a ball and let Brooke play, too. (Jordana loves to pick Brooke up and lug her around.)

Brooke loves to snuggle on Daddy. He laid down on the floor to watch TV and she made herself comfortable.

We took the girls to the Big Shanty Festival. It used to just be around City Hall, but it has expanded to fill the entire downtown area. Lots of junk food, typical festival souveniers and bouncies for the kids. The weather was perfect!!!!!

We bought some sandwiches for lunch. Mark came up with the best idea for eating them. The sides on our wagon are removable - so the girls sat in the shade on the curb, we took off one side of the wagon and - ta! da! - we had a table to eat on! That Daddy is so smart!!!!

It worked good for the girls to ride on, too. Roomier than with the side on.

Both the girls wanted to go on the big bouncy slide. We weren't sure about Brooke going on something that big alone, but she was determined. We knew we could rescue her if we needed to. The girls climbed to the top and Olivia immediately slid back down without a second thought - leaving Brooke alone at the top (they were supposed to come down together).

After a few minutes and a lot of coaxing, Brooke summoned her courage and took the plunge (because Olivia was on the way back up to get her and Brooke didn't want that to happen)!

She was so proud of herself!!!!!!!!

Olivia arranged the backyard to practice walking down the aisle. WHAT??? She knows she's not allowed to date until she's 40, but I don't think she cares... (Her new boyfriend at school is some guy named "Jack", by the way. Whether he likes it or not. Miss Kathleen says he's "ok".) I know this day may come eventually, but she's only 5 and I'm not ready to even think about it yet. Besides, heaven only knows how much it will cost!!!!! Yet another thing to save $$ for, right after orthodontics, car insurance and college.

Queen Olivia...

Here is a picture Olivia made to celebrate our upcoming trip to Florida to see........ Brooke's foster brother Meng Meng!!!!!!!! All Olivia could think about was getting in the water - the COLD sea water. But, that's a story for my next post!

Easy Rider!

Here's what Mark thought up for the girls to have some fun. Olivia has done it many times and LOVES it. It only took Brooke one ride to fall in love. Pre-school adrenaline junkies!!!

Here's Brooke:

For some reason (?) Olivia's video won't load. But it's basically the same as Brooke's.

Poor Grandma Helen! What kind of trouble did that boy of her's get into while he was growing up???? It's a wonder he didn't try to fly off the roof (but then again, maybe he did)!