Good Bye To You and Hello To You

Here we are again on the cusp of another year ending. It really is rather remarkable how fast the years fly by now and how big my girls get with every month that passes. It was 2 years ago tonight that we received the word from our agency that they had received our LOA and now here we are with Rosie home for almost 2 years.

Jacob is working tonight and I didn't want to go anywhere this evening alone with the girls so we are partying at home and everything including the menu has been their choice. Dinner was sloth toes (Mummy's chicken fingers), mac and cheese, tomatoes, cukes, dipping sauce and fresh shrimp followed by crepes for dessert with lemon juice and sugar on them. Later on they want a cheese platter with the cheeses that they chose at the store and pistachios and honey roasted peanuts served with sparkling apple juice. We are going to be playing Wii*, they have party tiara's and woot woot's (noise makers), necklaces that say 2010 on them and we have enough balloons in the house to make it fly away. Later on they plan to jump on them and burst them. (good luck with that Rosie). If after all of this they are still awake they want to see a movie but neither one of them is feeling that wonderful so I'm not sure if they will make it or not although one thing I am sure of is that they will both give it there best shot.

For many of my friends 2009 has been a really horrid year,. For us it hasn't been so bad. It has had a few really niggly moments but life is like that. The loss of my uncle was the lowest point of all but really we have been truly lucky this year.

I don't make resolutions as I feel setting myself up for possible failure at the beginning of a fresh year is negative but I will strive for certain goals and foremost will be, to be the best mother I can be for the girls. This year I also want to take some time for Jacob and I as a couple. We have no family around so leaving the girls is pretty much impossible. I also want to spend less time on the computer...horrors! Blogging, email and FB are fun but they should not take up so much of my day. I really want more hours in my day but somehow I don't think that is going to happen!

I hope that the new year brings the answer to the prayers you have prayed, the wishes you have wished and the dreams you have dreamt.

Happy New Year.

Cleansed.

This morning I woke up after very little sleep and after getting the girls a drink I started to unload the dishwasher. As I was about to put away the dishes I decided that it was time to say farewell to all the Christmas dishes for another year and I packed them away. One thing led to another and after many hours of work the tree was down and all traces of Christmas had been banished from the house.

If it had stopped there it would have been a productive day but things just kept snowballing and before we knew it it was 3.30 pm and we had 2 huge bags to donate to charity and many closets had been purged. It felt so good. Our house is so clean and tidy and lots of extra stuff is a gonna and we are feeling good about life.

As much as I love Christmas I really needed the house back to normal. Jacob and I both said that Christmas seemed to happen really quickly this year and in some ways Christmas day didn't even seem like Christmas day. I realised that for the first time in my life I did not have a Christmas pudding....that is just plain wrong. Next year I shall rectify that for sure.

After all the hard work we played Wii* Fit with the girls which was probably the funniest thing I have seen in ages. Jacob was hysterical to watch but Rosie really took the cake! We were so into having a silly time that none of is thought about the camera so you will just have to believe me when I say it was side splittingly funny. I was told I need to gain 15ibs but my Wii* age is 74...yikes. Hubby needs to lose a few pounds but he is fitter than me at 66, well who wouldn't be. I would have been much fitter but I kept falling off the step. My balance needs work!

I had to abandon everyone to run an errand and both girls flat out refused to come me and chose to stay home and play with Daddy outside on their Christmas toys. When I got back Lily had crashed, I must have had a premonition because I picked up a huge first aid kit. She was fine just a little skin off of her knee but the first aid kit made her giggle. The thing is huge and contains everything. I realised last night when our master bathroom flooded and I had to take everything out of one cupboard that we were running low on supplies. This afternoon I just happened to remember and saw this kit and grabbed it. Since Jacob often calls Lily, "Crash" it seemed an appropriate item to have, I just didn't think we would use it so soon. ( I should know better with Lily)

Life is good with everything back where it belongs. I wonder how long it will take me to find the one Christmas item that I forgot to pack away? Even the blog got a makeover to exorcise it's festive-ness.

Christmas Wrap Up.

Oh I love this time of year and having the girls just makes it so much more fun.

Christmas Eve was just a day spent anticipating Christmas Day. We went out for a while in the morning and then spent the afternoon watching a movie while Rosie took her nap. After our fabulous evening meal we bathed the girls and put them in their new Christmas jimjams and went out to see all the gorgeous Christmas lights in the neighbourhood.

Upon returning home it was time to get ready for bed and start preparing the house for Santa. I was really surprised at how much Rosie seemed to understand. As Lily sat down and wrote Santa a letter Rosie helped me in the kitchen by getting his plate of cookies ready and his glass of milk. We also prepared the reindeers fodder, dry oatmeal sprinkled with red and green glitter to make it nice and pretty for them, she mixed it all together and placed it in a bowl and very carefully carried it outside. It took me a few minutes to persuade her to take it outside as she thought that if Santa was coming in so should the reindeer. Lily placed her letter and drawing for Santa next to his cookies and then we checked that the stockings were hung that the magic key was outside and we marched them up to bed and read them, The Night Before Christmas, before kissing them goodnight and warning them that under no circumstances could they come downstairs at all before morning because if Santa saw them he would leave!

Santa's cookies.


Ready for bed.


We ended up with both girls in our bed on Christmas Eve and I woke up at 6ish when Lily got up to use the bathroom. I peeked at the clock and realised this was it! The next thing I know she is back in bed and asleep, I couldn't believe it. I could not fall back to sleep and could not believe she hadn't noticed all 4 stockings that had magically appeared next to the bed. She snoozed for another hour and she finally woke up and after snuggling for a bit I childishly pointed to the stockings and she was out of bed like a rocket which of course woke up Jacob and Rosie. (thank goodness)

Rosie thought Santa was the best thing since bacon! She loved her stocking and we all stayed in bed just going through all our surprises and were very happy until I, yet again, suggested we head downstairs and see if there was anything else. (what is up with my kids??) As we neared the bottom of the stairs Lily squealed and Rosie yelled, thank you, Thanta. They were ecstatic and bolted into the living room at the speed of lightening.

We grabbed our cameras and gave close chase. First they decided they needed to see if he had eaten the cookies, he had. He had also left Lily a note, she was very happy. Then we headed outside to see if the reindeer had eaten the carrots, they had but they were so messy and there were carrots all over the place. Now with all the jobs done we could get down to business.

The mass minus the big gifts, they were hidden.


I love the excitement in their voices and faces.


Rosie has a love affair with the garbage truck and each time it comes we have to dash outside and watch it. While we were shopping a few weeks ago Lily spotted a Tonka garbage truck and wanted to give it to Rosie from her. At first I was unsure about it but as you can see, my misgivings were all wrong.



It took quite a while before the kids found their big gifts from Santa but once they did everything came to a grinding halt and we headed outdoors, in our jimjams to let them test drive them.





Daddy was concerned she wasn't getting the hang of things so he HAD to show her how it is done.




The present opening proved to be to much for Rosie and she went on strike. She finally finished opening hers today with a lot of help. In the afternoon our friends came by and bought their dog which was just more excitement. We had so much fun with them and with Gypsy. She is only 5 months old and just so sweet.





It was a lovely 2 days. I missed my family A L O T but that is always the way. I am ready to tear down the tree and return the house to normal ASAP. Jacob has a birthday in a couple of days so I shall make sure everything Christmas is gone by then. In the meantime the girls are going hogwild with their new toys and are 2 very happy little munchkins and also very appreciative as they both thanked Santa last night and us.

Ho Ho Ho.

The excitement level is high. The girls are ready. I hope the Ho Ho man comes soon because they are ready, very very ready. They were ready when they woke up at 5.am...........

This, My Big Lily.

Yesterday was take your sibling to school day at Rosie's school and it was something that she took very seriously. Public school is already on Christmas break but Rosie goes to a Jewish pre-school and they had one more class before their break so Miss Frankie invited all the big sisters and brothers to join them. I thought Rosie was going to burst with excitement at the thought of taking Lily with her to school. Lily went to this school when she was a little nipper so Frankie was looking forward to seeing her and Lily was looking forward to accompanying Rosie. We asked Lily to be laid back and follow Rosie's lead because it was all about Rosie and not about her. She was really great about it and let Rosie take her into school even though she knew exactly where to go.

Rosie took Lily's hand and led her to her classroom and strutted up to Miss Frankie and announced with great pride, "Miss Frankie, this, my big Lily." It was so cute! There is just one little problem...no camera. Lily stuck to Rose like glue and did everything she was told to do. They made candy canes to hang on the tree. They made a Fry the Latke game together and have played it non stop since yesterday. They feasted together on a marshmallow and pretzel dreidel and that they made at snack time and also nibbled on some goodies at the Christmas Party. Yes, I know a Christmas party at a Jewish School! They had a Hanukkah party a couple of weeks back so this week was mostly about Christmas. Most of the employees were gone for the break so Frankie decided she could get away with it. Everything they do their covers all religions and that is one of the reasons why we love this school so much. They handed out gifts and received gifts from Frankie. It was truly a wonderful moment as a mother to see them there together. Lily had as much fun as Rose and declared Rosie's school more fun that her own. Rosie was so proud to be able to show off her big Lily to all her friends. Since their is a thread going through the blogs at the moment about kids and manners I was happy to hear people compliment me on my children and their manners and social graces. It's a work in progress and will always be, of that I am sure but it was that I will NOT back down from.

I still can't believe I forgot my darned camera and failed to use the one in my phone...DOH.

How To Salvage A Very Bad Day.

Sometimes just waking up turns out not to be the best idea.

We were supposed to head over to the west coast today but for reasons out of our control we never made it. We did however have a really great day even though the curve balls kept a flyin'.

We woke up bright and early, to bright and early thanks to a certain 2 yr old and Jacob decided that he would seize the moment and put together the kids big toys for Christmas and get the batteries charged up on them. We have them at a friends house across the street so he went missing for a while. He hadn't been gone long when he rang to say that Lily's electric scooter was missing the charging wire and all the directions so he was heading back to the store. We purchased this in October and they have been really hard to find ever since. The next call came in to say he had the stuff he needed and was on his way back to "chicken feet's" house. The next call was about how this charger was the wrong one and that they had no more scooters and were being totally unhelpful. I got on the phone and located a store that had just received a shipment of 6 but wouldn't hold one for us. I rang him and he flew there and got her one. Sadly it was not at the great price that we paid for the initial one but we have it and it is now together and charging and the original has been returned.I suspect that it was back on the shelf and resold within the hour even though it is missing parts and some poor little kid is going to be very sad on Christmas day. We always take the kids big toys out of the boxes and put them together before we wrap them that they can play with them immediately and not have to wait to get them assembled or in this case wait for them to charge for 18 hours. By now it is lunch time and taking a day trip to Naples is starting to look like a punishment rather than a pleasurable idea.

I suddenly remembered that Coconut Grove was having it's snow day today so we thought we should at least try and salvage the remaining few hours and head there. The grove has always been a very entertaining place and hubby and I used to spend many an evening there but since the girlies came along we don't seem to go anymore.

We had barely parked the car when some chap with a snake walked up to us and let Lily touch it. He was with some environmental society, or so he claimed and told me that if I wanted to take her photo I could donate $20. ha ha ha ha, not going to happen dude! Since he could see that I was not impressed and I told him she has loads of photos holding snakes he said any donation would do. That's more like it!

My very cheap snake shot of Lily holding some gross snake. He then laughed and lectured me when I made her use hand sanitizer when she was done. Go away snake dude...I'm done with you!

The snow was arriving at noon and we didn't get their until 1.30 and as luck would have it the snow was late as well. What can I say the weather men here aren't the best and it is really hard to forecast snow in Miami. The girls had fun playing in the petting zoo while they waited for the blizzard. Oh no that so isn't true, Lily had fun playing in the petting zoo whilst Rosie had fun being attached to Jacob or myself. I cannot remember who it is but one of our friends calls her glue cos she sticks so tight.

You turkey


Silly Goose


Me and Glue in the Zoo


Finally after many people had given up and gone home we heard lots of noise and the snow truck had arrived. We made our way towards the area and signed the girls up to play. As we watched and waited we talked it up for Rosie and tried to make it sound like the most fun ever. We knew she would hate it cos she is Rosie and she basically hates anything new.

Here comes the blizzard


Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus (oops, sorry I got carried away)


Oh no that Chubby Red guy tried to talk to Rosie so she threw herself at Lily, knocking her flat.


Even though Lily is protecting her little sister you can see that she is laughing her head off at her!


So I had to get permission to run in and rescue her!


Lily stayed and played her heart out

But this was Rosie's take on the whole affair.


We truly had a blast. Snow is the best if you ask one of my girls and not so if you ask the other. The day wasn't what we had planned it to be but it certainly was fun.

She Did It Again.

When Lily got to her horse riding lesson today she got a lovely surprise, she had been chosen as student of the month. Her name and photo had been placed in the bulletin board and she had to write a little paragraph about herself and why she loves riding. She was so pleased and I was too. I thanked Gema for choosing her and she looked at me and told me not to thank her as she had earned it. I don't like to brag but on this occasion I have to agree. She loves riding and works very hard at it and so she really did earn it. She rides in a class with kids that are all older than her and not one of them is at the same level as her. Well done Lily you really do put your heart and soul into your lessons and it shows.

Here are some photos of today. She had to wear long sleeves because a cold front has finally made it's way to Miami and we are loving it. I had to leave the stables for a few minutes to dash back home and get Rosie another sweater cos she was freezing...poor little Pickle.

Getting ready to mount. Don't you love the face she is pulling? She makes this face every single time she puts on her hat because she thinks she is going to pinch her chin.


Ready to go.




A lousy shot of the bulletin board. It has a plastic cover on it and the sun was shining directly on it.

Sugary Treats Abound.

At this time of year there are sugary temptations everywhere and most kids get more candy, cookies and sweeties than at any other time of the year with the exception of Halloween. It is a delightful time to be a child that is of course unless you are Rosie cos she couldn't care less about anything sweet and fattening she would much rather eat apples, strawberries and carrots.

I'm pretty sure I am one a only a handful of parents that actually tries to get my kid to eat fattening foods. I glop butter or olive oil all over her pasta, I grate cheese on everything I can think of. I get so happy when she actually dips her veggies in salad dressing or better yet actually dips her strawberries in melted chocolate. The kid is a twig. I can count her ribs and it is quite easy on her due to her little deformity, her bum is barely their albeit beefier than it has ever been. She is going to be 3 at the beginning of February and as of this mornings visit to the gastroenterologist these are her stats:

Height: 37 inches

Weight: 25.4lbs

She is small. She has dropped back to the 3rd percentile for weight. She is doing quite well in the height department and is holding her own at the 50th percentile mark.

The doctor, who I like very much indeed said there is no need for despair. We have been seeing her now for 10 months and she has now ruled out any problems with Rose. In the beginning things were looking bleak and all sorts of tests were looming on the horizon. One thing that is remaining a mystery is why Rosie gained so much weight when we went to the UK. Dr. Khatouby wants us to go back again and see if it happens again. She is very serious about it as the only time Rose has ever had a significant weight gain was after our trip there. She actually gained 2lbs 2oz's and in her whole life she has never gained that much. If it does happen she wants to do a study and use Rosie in it. So now I have to figure out when I can go and for how long. Nothing with Rosie is ever easy. LOL

She is still gaining at this point and that is good. Her head circumference is very small which shows she will be a very petite adult. Her height is changing so this shows she is growing it is just her weight that is very slow to change.

Our problem now is that she is wearing such tiny clothes that most of them have snap closures at the crotch and that isn't good when you are toilet trained! And when she doesn't wear a diaper her clothes just fall right off.

So all in all the visit was good. She wants to know if we would consider something to boost her appetite. Hmmm, I don't think so. We talked at great length about it and the one she wants to use has been used in Europe for years and is a histamine which would make her drowsy and would only be taken at night. It contains NO hormones and is safe, don't they all say that? We are going to wait a few more months and I am going to discuss it with our pediatrician when we go in February. In the meantime it is back to the usual antics of trying to make this weanut eat something that will put meat on her scrawny little bones.

Decorating and Maiming of Men.

Our Thursday park day was cancelled today due to inclement weather but because my girls love it so much and I do to to be perfectly honest I decided to ask Jenny and Kelly to bring their kidlets here to decorate gingerbread men. Kelly was feeling like poo so it ended up being just Jen, her kids and my girlies.

We whipped out the poor innocent little men and a little bit of icing some sweeties and let them loose. It was so much fun to watch them. I was really surprised out how much they delighted in this old fashioned task. Rosie really got into it. Lily went to town and made hers look like some old hooker, Ebby was more interested in how much he could shove in his mouth and Rosie just very gently decorated hers.

I had great intentions of taking photos of the finished products but Ebby had eaten his before I knew what had happened.

Lily and Evan getting started. I love Evans face here.


Rosie getting started.


Rosie admiring her work


Evan tasting his work. LOL


Lily hard at work


Rosie posing!


Lily's man is on the left he's the one that's all pimped out! Rosies is on the right and he is missing part of his head and foot.


One guest at the gathering found it all rather uninteresting and slept her way through it all. Baby Daniel. I think she looks so sweet with her little hands folded the way they are.


Everyone stayed for dinner and some good rambunctious fun. For a totally impromptu gathering it was certainly loads of fun. I miss having Jenny as a neighbour but since we are the ones that moved I suppose I cannot complain. We used to do this stuff alot back when we lived opposite each other.

Were We Late For School?

Lily had a late night last night because of her Christmas performance and went to bed rather late for a school night. She said it didn't matter one bit because today was pajama day at her school so considering she would be wearing her P.J's being sleepy would be appropriate.

So if you took one look at that photo of her holding her lunchbox and heading into the car and thought we were late you were wrong...you silly goose! Wait till you see what she gets to wear tomorrow. Who thinks this stuff up?

Lily's Christmas Performance

This evening was Lily's Christmas performance at school. So she dressed herself in her NEW black trousers and her NEW white shirt and off we went. She was very tight lipped about the whole thing but I knew she was playing some sort of musical instrument as she has been practicing on the virtual one on the computer like a maniac for the past few days.

We were instructed that the students were to arrive at 6pm and the performance would begin at 7pm. Instead of going home and waiting for 40 minutes Rosie and I just headed to the stage and took our seats along with a few other parents. It worked really well as we were able to sit in the front row. After what seemed like an eternity the Principal of the school came out and introduced Lily's class and off we went.

The little ones take their work so seriously it is just so lovely to watch them all file out on to the stage looking very important and pensive. They took their places and then every single one of them looked around to find their families....so sweet. Rosie of course yelled out to Lily so that helped Lily locate us and put a huge grin on Lil's face.

Here is a few seconds of Lily playing her "bells". If you watch her towards the end you will see that she gets all confused but manages to recover just as it ends. Oopsie. She wasn't at all bothered by her mistake and she had 3 songs to do and this was just one tiny oops.



Lily and Sana. These 2 have been friends since their very first day of school. I really like this little girl and her family and it makes me very happy that her and Lily are still great friends today. They are no longer in the same homeroom but they spend every afternoon together in the gifted program and obviously decided they were going to be together this evening as well.

Fuey.

This time of year is meant to be fun and festive so why do I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof? I am sure when I was growing up my parents were just as stressed out if not more so than we are now but they never showed it. Christmas was a wonderful time of year as a kid. Fun, fun, fun. I never noticed anybody running around like a chicken without a head. Perhaps my girls won't notice either.

When I picked Lily up from school today she announced that her Christmas performance is TOMORROW night. She has been chosen to perform in it and needs a black long skirt or trousers and a white blouse. A goody we don't have either of those I'll just drop everything and run out shopping right now cos I only have to bake 4 dozen cookies to bake tonight for your class Christmas party tomorrow. Can you smell the sarcasm here, you should be able to cos it really pissed me off and the other parents. Munira and I put our heads together and she headed to one store and I went to another and we rang each other to see what they had. I ended up buying for both our girls and delivering it to her house. At least we had a plan. Now I just need to cancel riding and move a client and this will not be a problem even though the music teacher only gave us 2 seconds notice.

I don't actually think the girls notice the intense stuff that happens because I always try to make it an adventure. When I am really fried I let them know and tell them I need their help.

OK Bitch session over. I will resume regular scheduled broadcasting shortly.

Party Like A Rock Star.

This evening, well actually according to the clock it was actually last night cos it is past midnight, we went to our first holiday party and I am sure I don't need to mention that the girls were very excited about it. In fact from the moment she woke up this morning Rosie kept asking if it was time to go to Hollis' house. It really didn't matter to her that we were going to a Hanukkah party what mattered to her was seeing Hollis, Grace and the girls.

This is an annual event and is a family only party but we have now encroached so much into the life of Hollis that we are now considered her family and we feel the same way about her. Oh, what fun we had. The girls didn't even notice that there were 20+ people floating around because they just did what they always do and played and played. We ate a wonderful meal and then it was time for the kidlets to open their gifts. That got their attention and pure bedlam ensued as lots of little people let out lots of big shrieks as they received some much wished for toys.

Once the Menorah was lit Rosie stood in front of it and sang Happy Birthday to Rosie and tried at least 10 times to blow out the candles even though we told her at least 100 times that it was not her birthday. Oy!

The highlight of the evening is the grab bag. Each guest takes a wrapped gift, and each person is allotted a number. The lowest number gets to pick the gift of their choice and on it goes in numerical order. The first person gets what they get but the second person can trade gifts with the one below them and so on and so on. The gifts are all quite odd and lots of them were for the kids but that didn't mean the kids picked theirs so lots of trading took place. Lily picked a set of measuring spoons and Rosie got some mens slippers but with all the trades that happened both girls ended up with really terrific gifts. Lily couldn't stop laughing the whole time and Hollis and I were dieing we laughed so hard. It really is a fun game. Me, well obviously I traded away until I got stuff for the girls and I ended up with an ice cream scoop in the shape of a pig! Why I found it all so funny is beyond me but it just tickled my funnybone.

We didn't leave until a few minute before 11pm which is ridiculously late for a 2 yr old to be out but quite honestly we just hadn't realised it was so late. Before I dash upstairs and go to bed so that I can get some sleep before I have to get the kids all gussied up for another Hanukkah party tomorrow I will leave you with a few photos from this evening.

All the kids just enjoying being together


Some of the family


Waiting for the gifts


Tearing into the first round with gusto.


A girl and her loot...it's a wonderful thing.

And The Winner Is.....

Lily!

A couple of weeks ago one of Lily's homework assignments was an essay. It was a full sheet of paper and was all about watermelons. I found it a very odd assignment as she has never had to do anything like it ever before. Usually if she writes something it is just a few lines and never close to a full sheet. She had started it in school and needed to finish it. She was really serious about it and told me I could help her. That was all the information she gave me. I do not believe in doing her homework for her nor do I believe in doing her projects for her. I read what she had written and then asked her a few questions about watermelons in hopes of giving her some ideas and then I guided her to the computer to view some images of them to prompt her brain some more. Before I knew it she was asking me to read one full sheet of paper in what must have been the neatest handwriting I had ever seen.

It was really good. She is only 7 and I so badly wanted to group her thoughts together and put them in the same paragraph for her but I left it the way it was. Her spelling was correct as was her punctuation. She explained that she just had to do the sloppy copy at home and they were going to write the proper one in school. I asked the next day if she finished her essay and she said not yet. I never heard another thing about it until yesterday when she came out of school beaming. Mrs G approached me and very proudly announced that Lily's essay had been chosen, out of the whole 2nd grade, to be entered into the Fairchild Writing Competition for our school district. Yay, Lily. I am waiting for the teacher to give me a copy of her essay and have no idea at this time when the judging will take place for the final competition.

We are really proud of her but more importantly she is proud of herself. She couldn't believe it.

Great Job Schnoog, Daddy Rosie and I are so very, very proud of you.
And we love you all the way to China and back again.

The Timer Is Set.

We put up our tree this morning and now we fear it is just a matter of time until a certain little girl destroys it. When we first decorated it and turned on the lights she stood back and with very wide eyes she announced, "it's so pretty, thank you." It was one of those moments where your hearts skips a beat. We let the girls do most of the decorating but Rosie found it rather challenging and enjoyed looking at and touching all the ornaments much more. Quite a few times she dropped or manhandled some of my "special" ones but so far none have gone to meet their maker.

Lily just admires it from a distance and occasionally touches one or two of her favourites but Rosie needs to touch them all and investigate their colour and sparkle. The fragile ones are all up high and are safe, I think. I refuse to tell either of them that it is off limits as it would be just totally unfair and quite frankly no fun whatsoever for them. This is their house too and this is their tree.

I am not a very sentimental person when it comes to stuff, the less stuff around the better but for some reason Christmas ornaments grab my heart. I think I can tell you where every single one is from and or why we bought it. Each year we buy at least one to represent something that has happened throughout the year. This year we found one in the Bahamas from our cruise with friends and also one from Maine this summer. Not sure why these 2 particular ones made the grade but they did and now they will hang every year on our tree, unless Rosie intervenes.

I think I have a Santa fetish. I know it sounds a little naughty doesn't it but I noticed today that most of the ornaments on the tree are of Santa. I think from now on that is all I will buy. If it isn't Santa from now on it won't get hung!

Here are some of my favourites and they aren't all the Ho Ho Man.

I found this one in China last year at a "Gift From China", I love it. I checked their website this year to see if they had a different one but they haven't.


I call this one my "Gay Pride Santa" and he honours my brother. Love him too.


This is "Boris". Is it odd that I name them or give them meanings? Just makes my tree more special to me. Boris and I go back years.


Cousin Andie bought this one for us when we were in Key West together. This year it is front and centre as she is in Afghanistan.....again.


This is my Mummy. I bought this the day after she died. She died very suddenly 4 years ago at Christmas and I flew home to the UK and saw this in a shop and it made me think of her. Elegant, graceful and feminine.



This is a terrible photo but I love this Santa moon with the little child sitting on it. It represents Lily and my Mum gave it to me.


This little chap is so old. I had him when I was a kid and he used to be swinging on a Star Of David. His Star broke a kazillion years ago so I perch him on a branch now. My grandma gave him to me and he is really really special to me. I actually bought him over from the UK with me, that's how much he means to me. When his star broke I was devastated.


Finally this was Rosie's excited little face when she saw the tree getting put up. No lights no decorations, just the tree.


The tree has survived it's first day with the human wrecking ball. She is so excited this year it really is lovely. Tonight I took them out to see all the Christmas lights in the neighbourhood and they were both shrieking with delight. Rosie was so very happy to see all the lights outside of her own house and clasped her hands together and said, "pretty".

It's Been 2 Wonderful years.

It was 2 years ago today that we received the official word from our agency that Rosie was ours. When you adopt through the Special Needs program the procedure is different so we didn't get a referral call as such in fact I made the call to them, begging them to allow us to be her family. I didn't give them a chance to speak and if I had the phone call would have been shorter, much much shorter because they had already decided she was ours and Elizabeth Rose was just trying to get a word in edgeways.


We had seen her referral package 2 weeks earlier and had been dragging it all over town from specialist to specialist and trying so hard not to fall in love. I had even taken a blogging break in fear that I would say something which had keyed many of you in as to what was going on.

You can read the story here and see Lily's announcement video too. Wow, Lily was just a little girl with a very squeaky voice. I miss that squeaky voice. She has grown up so much in the last 2 years it is so shocking to see it. She morphed overnight into a big sister and it is a role she takes very seriously and she loves her baby sister, as she still calls her, so very much.

"Tis The Season

I know, I know, I distinctly remember saying that I wouldn't be posting today but how can I let the First of December slip by with nary a mention. 

Lily bounded out of bed this morning and immediately started chanting, "pinch punch the first of the month" and hopped down the stairs in search of the advent calender with Rosie hot on her heels dawdling behind looking utterly bewildered.  For the past few years my Uncle has sent Lily an advent calender from England that had chocolate behind every door. I searched high and low for one for her this year but with no luck so we are just using our big Santa one that hangs on the wall and I am doling out the chocolate independently.

We haven't put up our tree or decorated the house and I am quite surprised the HOA hasn't sent us a rude letter as we are nearly the only ones on this block that haven't done so yet.  I just need for it to be December for the tree to be up. I decorate for all the holidays so the big fluffy turkeys and all the Thanksgiving garb has just been laid to rest for the year and I need to be fru-fru free for a few days between decorations.

I fear that we might just have our very own wrecking ball this year with regard to the tree. Last year Rosie was still so timid of anything new that she steered well clear of it but this year I think she will have a need to investigate it rather closely.  In a last ditch effort to find the advent calenders I went to hallm*rk and ended up buying their piano playing Sn00py who plays Christmas songs and Rosie is in love with him and plays with it constantly. If he lives until Christmas I will be amazed. Once I find all the other things that make noise and sing songs she will be in heaven and I will once again be hitting the bottle.

This time of year is so much fun when you get to see it through the eyes of your children.

Ho Ho Ho.

The Girls And The Ho Ho Man.

Yesterday we decided to take the girls to get their photo taken with Santa. It seemed like an easy proposition considering it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you look and every single mall has a Santa grotto set up. The first place we went had a minimal line so we queued up and once we were close to the front a very helpful little elf came out and asked us which photo package we were interested in. We said we just wanted one photo of the girls with Santa and that was all. They didn't do that you had to buy a package. Oh crabby patties. We really didn't want two 8 x10's and a whole bunch of wallets. I mean seriously we are still trying to push Lily's school photos on any unsuspecting guest that walks into our home. LOL. Who really wants a kazillion photos of their kids with the chubby guy? We decided to leave and try somewhere else. If this was all that we could get then we would do it and just put them in a drawer to gather dust. I thought the idea of seeing Santa is for the kids to ask him what they want for Christmas and for him to say,,,"Ho Ho Ho have you been a good girl this year?," in his gruff voice. From what we could hear and see this dude failed to even do that.

So we strapped two confused girls back into the car and headed to a different mall. As we headed to this Grotto there was no line at all. We talked The Ho Ho Man up big time to Rosie as we approached but once she saw him she FROZE. That child can attach herself to me like some sort of adhesive. Her little pinchy fingers grasped the skin around my collarbones and she was not about to let go. As she chanted over and over again, "Me no like Ho Ho Man." I just backed out of the area and said we would be back. Jacob took Rosie out of my arms and walked away with her. In the meantime the photographer said that we could have a family photo but I really didn't want to be in the picture and I thought it would just be Lily which was fine. The people were all so very nice and friendly and then I realised that all of them, including Santa, were Asian. Pretty wonderful for the girls to find an Asian Santa and believe me Lily noticed it before I did.

After a few minutes, Jacob appeared with "Reluctant Rose" who was toting her blankie and with lightening speed he swooped her onto Ho Ho Man's lap with Lily and the photographer snapped a picture. Santa then asked her what she wanted for Christmas and asked her if she had been a good girl and told her she would definitely get it?????? (umm, hello Ho Ho Man she asked you if she could have a car like Mummy's!) He then talked to Lily for a second and before anyone had a chance to say Ebenezer Scrooge we were out of the grotto at lightening speed thanking Santa and all of the elves for their help and promising to be good girls and boys for the rest of the year.

So here it is: The girls first photo with Santa together.

We didn't even try to take one last year because we knew that there was no way Rosie would have allowed it.



It is a shame that the photographer used her artistic licensing to pile a bunch of pressies in front of Rosie. I know she was trying to hide her blankie but actually her blankie or Bray bray as she calls it makes it more real. Oh well never mind it isn't the worlds best photo anyway but we LOVE it. And the drama that went with it....priceless.

BTW.....I heard Angels sing today when I started this post because it is the last day of November. The final day of National Blog Posting Month of whatever the heck it was called. I just know I don't have to post daily any more.
Don't come looking for a post tomorrow cos it won't be here. I won't stay away long but just not every single freaking day...it's killing me and all the others that do it.

Home Alone

I can hear a pin drop! I can really.

Jacob has just abducted the kidlets for a few hours so that I can organise some of the Christmas shopping that I have hidden throughout the house in the last couple of days in the most ludicrous places. As I have bought the gifts into the house I have just sort of stashed and shoved them into the most ridiculous places and I am worried that if I don't get them sorted out very soon I am going to forget where they are or the kids are going to find them.

Talking of toys and gifts: why do toy manufactures find it necessary to package toys in such peculiar shaped boxes and plastic doodads that are just utterly hopeless for the average Joe to wrap with any panache? I think it should be mandatory during the holidays for all toys to come in either square or rectangular boxes so that we can all wrap them nicely and put bows on them and make them look like Hallm*rk adverts. My Mother could wrap anything and make it look really beautiful but I on the other hand cannot do this. My gifts frequently end up looking like the kids have wrapped them.

As you can tell I am doing a really great job of getting organised. So far I have checked FB and a few blogs and now I am posting. I'm not really stalling as such as I like to think of it as gathering momentum. Following this I shall probably go and shower as being able to do this in solitude is also something of a novelty.

The toys and gifts are beckoning and a photo op with Santa this afternoon is also looming on the horizon so I must go. Hopefully the Santa visit will be relatively painless for Rosie but we will have to wait and see. She calls him the "Ho Ho Ho Man". If she gets within 2ft of him I will post the photo later on and even if she doesn't I will still post the photo because it will be Lily and the "Ho Ho Ho Man".

Now where the heck are all the packages???

The Brownie Chefs AKA A Post For Vivian,

Since I am officially one post behind for the month I am posting twice for today and that will make everything right.

The girls and I just baked brownies ♥. Rosie didn't nap today and she is beyond tired. I put her down but after 30 minutes she was screaming mad and that was when I realised it was not going to happen. Following the bike ride she needed something to capture she attention for a little while before dinner and this was the perfect distraction, not to mention the end product will be wonderful later on.

When the girls and I bake together I either sit them up on the island with me or I put everything down on the floor and since I had just washed the floor last night and we were out all day we chose the floor method today. I never have to worry about Rosie falling off the floor!