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!

Playing Outside

The weather is just so fantabulous at the moment that we are finding every excuse  possible to be outside. After we ran some unneccesary errands this morning we decided to go out for a bike ride this afternoon and find a park that we don't frequent very often. We don't go there very often for obvious reasons, it looks like a prison yard. The equipment is old and decrepit and the chain link fence just makes me want to run for the hills.
The girls couldn't pass Goo Goo's house without stopping and saying hi and as always she was thrilled to see them even though she saw them just yesterday. She listened to their stories and  as always acted as if she hadn't seen them for years telling them they both looked as if they had grown. When do kids start to figure out we adults are full of bologna? After a few minutes there we were back on our way. I really do love riding my bike and riding with the girls is one of my favourite pastimes and in this weather....heaven.

Rosie in a tunnel of fun

 

Old fashioned kickball. (in the prison yard)

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

Jacob and a few other people near and dear to my heart never really did like the other blog. The name just didn't fit our family and if you ever G00gled it about a kazillion other blogs popped up. I still have the original Eggroll blog but it is dreadfully slow to download or upload.

So I rolled up my sleeves and contacted the blog diva to see if she would be willing to merge my blogs together and give us a fresh new look but that fell flat on it's face before it left the ground when she didn't even bother to return my emails. At that point I decided I could do it myself and here is the result.

Both of my blogs together in one place. Every single post and comment ever written and back to the old title, which I must say does suit us much better. It is still a work in progress and needs lots more personalizing before it is ready but I refuse to keep posting the same post in 2 places any longer especially since I am posting daily at the moment.

Welcome Home.

P.S. Andie...I hope this makes you happy! I'm sorry about the 2 in the title but it is the best I could come up with.

Thanksgiving.

Lily made a little paper turkey yesterday and gave each one of us a feather to write on what we are thankful for. I thought it was such a lovely idea. I am thankful for my family, my home and my health, our troops and of course a myriad of other things that I couldn't fit on this tiny feather. Lily is thankful for her family, her shelter and her food, Jacob is thankful for Mommy, Lily and Rose and Rosie said she was thankful for Mummy, Daddy, Big Lily and anything orange. Obviously she couldn't write her list so Lily did it for her but she did not persuade her in anyway.

I think it is hugely important as a parent to teach my children to be thankful for all that they have and to realise that there are many people all over the world that have very little and in some cases nothing. Lily truly understands this and often takes the money that she has in her piggy bank and asks if she can donate it to Half the Sky or to one of the many projects run by our adoption agency, WACAP. We are not a family that practises an organized religion mainly because Jacob and I are of different faiths and don't agree with each others beliefs wholeheartedly but we are a very spiritual family. In my opinion, and we are all entitled to opinions, you do not need religion to instill right and wrong into your children. Good morals and values are found in your heart and soul.

Teaching my children to be thankful is something that is a daily task and not something that I do on the last Thursday of November but having a day to celebrate the Pilgrims and the Mayflower and feasting on turkey and pumpkin pie together with friends and family is a wonderful way to celebrate American traditions.

So yes I am very thankful for many many things both large and small but not just today, everyday.

I am especially thankful for these 2 little girls who have made my heart complete.

Hidden Camera.

When I came home from a very long day at work on Monday evening it was late and I was beat. I had been in the house for all of about a nano second when hubby asked if I had a moment to watch a video. I obliged him and what I saw made me laugh out loud and just about killed me. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. He was messing about with the girls and they had been watching Elvis videos on Yo* Tube ( who watches Elvis videos?). Lily had gone off into the toy room and found some old glasses that looked like Elvis glasses and accessorized her nightie and they were just having some great fun with Daddy.

After a while of doing this Jacob placed the video camera up high where she couldn't see it and hit record and this was the video that he showed me. Now you all know that I love my girls with all my heart but I discovered something about Lily and that is that she cannot dance to save her life. I think she dances to the words and not the beat. It is the funniest thing to see.

I wasn't going to share it for 2 reasons; (1) Lily will die of embarrassment if she knows I have posted it and (2) Jacob watches the kids on Mondays, all day long and the house goes to hell. He lets all sorts of bedlam take place and after they have gone to sleep and before I come home he has a manic clean up including washing the floors cos that's how bad things get under his watchful eye so in this video we look like we live in a pig sty which I promise we do not, well 6 out of 7 days we do not. (phew that was a long run on sentence) I have thought about it and since I need some blog material for today and because I think it is so darned funny I am posting it but I just might remove it very soon. So enjoy it while you can and don't feel bad about laughing cos I still cry each time I see it.

Hat's Off To Rosie.

Little Miss Rosie had a Thanksgiving party at school day and it included a Hat Parade. All the kiddies made hats last week and they got to wear them today. For some reasons Rosie's ended up rather flat and wouldn't stay on her head. She plastered it with so much paint and goop that as it dried it got flatter and flatter so we ran into some wardrobe difficulties as she had to hold it on her head. They were also supposed to blow bubbles as they walked but that proved to be much to hard for her as she couldn't blow bubbles and hold onto her chapeau.

They also had a huge Thanksgiving feast today. We all took in food but as you can see Rosie thought that her feast should consist of orange slices and a cookie! She later added a bread roll with huge gobs of butter to her menu.

Telling stories by the campfire.

Flat hat.

Parading her hat.

Cutie pie.

She is dwarfed by all the kids in her class and one little boy just delights in running up to her and pushing her as hard as he can...evil boy! His mother just says, oh, say you're sorry and he turns around in the sweetest way and says, sorry Rose. BRAT. I think I am going to accidentally trample on him pretty soon. Oh sorry brat boy. ;o)

A Really Wonderful Day.

Yesterday......yes I am doing it again, talking about stuff from 24 hours ago, we had one of the most fun days we have had in a while. In honour of National Adoption Day our group always has a get together and this year was no exception but it was a skating party and since Rosie Posie is just a bit to little to skate and our friend Hollis is under strict instructions from her doctor to stay off of ice skates, at least for now, we decided to have a miniature group picnic with just our 2 families to honour this auspicious day.

We choose a lovely park and packed up enough food and drinks to sink a battle ship and loaded the cars with bicycles, balls and other fun things and headed off for a day of outdoor fun. The weather was great and we just had loads of fun. The kids did what kids do and played their little hearts out. The only downer of the day was the manic park attendant who for what ever reason kept an extremely beady eye on our group and kept reminding us that there was no alcohol allowed in the park, we didn't have any, he needed to know if we were part of a group, we were not, no smoking, we were not on fire, the kids were not allowed to do this or that...basically he was a pain in the arse but he probably had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon so we tried really hard to ignore him. Jacob was getting pushed to his limit by him but I am a peace maker so I unruffled him cos my hubby isn't very tactful.

Here are some pictures that will tell the story of the fun that was had.

Lunch
Feeding the birds






Playing in the park

chilling in the park



Good thing mister park man didn't catch this! And what is with the face Jakey?

Rosie's favourite

And we did some bike riding.


We also played ball for a while but somewhere along the line the camera got forgotten but the memory of yesterday will not because again it is just a testimony to the wonderful friendship that we have built through adoption. Hollis, I don't know if you read this blog or not but if you do we want you to know how very much you and your family means to us and how much we love you all. It was a spectacular day and my girls were both fast asleep shortly after 7.30 even though they both swore they were not tired and both begged to go back to your house as we left the park. This park was only 15 minutes from our house and 50 minutes from yours! Rosie asks for you and Grandma Grace at least once a week and you know she doesn't ask for anyone.

The Holidays Have Begun.

Yesterday afternoon I took the girls to the annual Christmas parade that officially kicks off the start of the holiday season around here. We arrived really early as that is the only way you can find parking and made the most of our spare time by doing a spot of holiday shopping. I managed to get a couple of gifts purchased without the girls being any the wiser. I am so skilled! The parade is so much fun for the under 10 crowd and so much fun for the under 10's parents too so it is win win situation. The very second it is over we hastily gather our belongings and head to the Crepe M*ker for dinner. Lily loves this place and always orders the same thing. To my delight Rosie ate really well also. I tried to explain Santa to Rosie today but I am not sure that she understands it one bit. I have to be very careful what I say because if I tell her that he comes into her house whilst she is sleeping she will never sleep again. Her fear of strangers and newly acquired fear of someone coming into the house is making any explanation very hard. She already told me, I don't like him, that man. We saw him on a float yesterday and he was wishing everyone Happy Holidays and blowing kisses and she thought he seemed Ok so perhaps when we actually go to visit him she will understand it a bit more. One thing is for sure, that photo should be priceless. The girls eagerly anticipating the start of the parade. The police and fire departments open it every year and the sirens scared the living daylights out of Rosie and it took awhile before she had the courage to become involved in the proceedings after that. Oh well. Some Disney star from the show, Sunny with a Chanc.e. I can't remember what her name is but Lily knows and was really excited and the only reason she turned and looked our way is because Lily was calling, no make that screaming, her name. Billy the Marlin. The not so good juggler. Poor guy had a mishap right in front of us. He looked so forlorn about it. The dragon dancers were really great and the costumes were magnificent. I shall have a look and see if Lily took some photos of the little kids. Hello Kitty. Rosie's hands down favourite. The stilt people...they also scared Rosie. Sometimes you just can't win with her. LOL An exterminating company's bug limo...ewww.

It seems that my posts are always a day behind. I was going to post this last night but realised that would be 2 posts in one day so I saved it in case I don't have anything for today. Pretty lame isn't it but posting every day is rough.

National Adoption Awareness Day

Growing up the word adoption was something that was written on 2 birth certificates in my home and something that I just knew I wasn't supposed to ask questions about. Strange huh? My cousin Stephen is the one who finally pieced the pieces together for me and then when my parents, thought I was old enough, they told me the whole story. It made no difference to me at all and that is the truth. I didn't flinch. I had a brother whom I loved and a sister whom I loved a mother whom I loved and a father whom I thought hung the moon and the stars each night only for me. Still feel this way about them all. My brother and I are closer than we have ever been, my sister and I are friendlier than we have ever been but that is cos they are older than I am and for the longest time I was just the annoying little sister.

Adoption meant family. Now as an adult it still means that to me and a whole lot more. It means being able to have a family not just belonging to one. There is a huge difference in those 2 statements and without adoption I would not have been able to have a family of my own. To hear someone refer to me as their mummy sends chills down my spine. It brings tears to my eyes and makes the hairs on my arms stand up. I have a brood of my own and this came to because of that word on a birth certificate that puzzled me for so long. It came to be the way part of my family came to be. The way my brother in laws family came to be, the same way my cousins wife's family came to be.

We celebrate adoption and all that is means. We form and join groups just for people like us and we have the nerve to exclude families that haven't adopted. We are proud to use words like birth mother and biological parents but most of all we celebrate adoption for what it has given to us, the love of a family, nuclear and extended.

She's On A Roll.

Actually it should read she is Honor Roll.....again. Our little Lily is one smart cookie and since starting school has made either Honor Roll or Principals Honor Roll every grading period. This year marked the start of her being in the gifted program so I honestly didn't expect her to make it because I thought the whole idea of this was that she was going to find it more of a challenge. As usual Lily proved me wrong and I couldn't be more proud of her. She loves school and loves her homework and the more she has to study the happier she is.

This morning we were invited to the award ceremony and Rosie thought this was a wonderful thing as it isn't often that she gets to accompany her sister in to school.

Miss Lil' looking proud of herself.









When we were leaving the house this afternoon to pick up Lily, Rosie asked me if we were going back to the school to clap again. I told her that we weren't going to clap this time just pick up her sister and she told me she wanted to clap for lily because it was fun.

Lily,

Daddy and I are so very proud of you. All we ever ask is that you try your very best and you always do.

Great Job Schnoogie.

Fun At The Park

After school today I took the girlies to the park where they got up to their usual antics. Only Lily would dress all in white to go to a park and then proceed to climb a tree, dressed in a skirt. That's my tomboygirl. Rosie had a dress on too but she had had it on all day, well since lunch but she wasn't in to climbing trees.

It Is All But A Dream.

Since I pledged to blog daily for a month and I am pulling my hair out trying to do this and since this blog is my journal for the girls I am really stretching todays post.

Lily has been having some really strange dreams lately but they are very funny and I want to remember them so I am writing them here. (see this is where the stretch comes in)

About a week ago she woke up and told me about a dream she had had where she was driving (God help us all). She borrowed my car and went to school and at lunch time her and her friends went out for lunch. She said she wasn't very good at it ( am I surprised?) and kept bumping into things like cars and houses but her car just kept bouncing off of them and was fine. She couldn't stop giggling the whole time. (again, am I surprised?) After a little while of crashing she got so fed up because driving is much harder than it looks she just got out and left the car and then she woke up.

Dream Number 2.

This morning I was regaled with the tale of how we went to China and adopted another baby sister for her. This baby was only 3 days old and was bigger than Rosie. She was most indignant to find out we had named her baby sister Trouble and kept telling us that we couldn't name a child that as that was not a name. We wouldn't change it and Trouble was her name. The baby got bigger and bigger and kept getting into trouble.

Perhaps tomorrow I will have something a little more blog worthy but don't hold your breathe, tonight is is Lily's riding lesson and frankly just how many riding videos do you want to see?

Alphabet Soup

One morning a week Rosie attends the Mary and David Alper J.C.C for a fun morning of Alphabet Soup. The kiddie program there has won so many awards and Frankie is truly incredible. We knew when we sent Lily there a few years back that her baby sister would be going too. We also knew when we sent Lily there that Frankie was raising the bar for all the teachers that followed her as she is truly that good.

Just as her sister did before her, Rosie adores her morning at school and loves Ms. Frankie. On Tuesdays Rosie will say to Lily that she cannot take her to school because she has to get ready for school herself, it is the cutest thing. The school year started off with the letter "A" and now we are already at "J". Today one of the projects was Jackson Pollack so everybody got to paint just like Jackson Pollack. Frankie took all the kids outside and told them to strip down if they wanted to cos this was going to get messy and put on their painting smocks and have some fun. They did! Rosie seemed a little bit surprised that they were outside and also that they were meant to throw paint but she got into it and had a blast. Jacob and I are not usually at her school together, I just happened to finish work and was able to get to school in time to see this. Frankie isn't very good at keeping time so usually Rosie's class runs over by an hour or an hour and a half!

Concentrating.


Masterpiece in the making.





Needed a splash guard.

Mummy, I'm virtually naked and it's chilly!


After what I considered to be a monumental clean up she was ready for a snack which was a bread roll that she made earlier in the morning rolled into the letter "J". She kneaded and rolled the dough and then Frankie baked it and served it with butter and jam.
(it is a good thing I made it to school today because my other option for a blog post today was, "I got Nuthin'". I can't believe for a couple of years I blogged daily, what on earth did I say? This is hard and it is a good thing the month is nearly up.)