Out of the mouths of babes....

The other night we went to Taco Mac for dinner. This is like a Chili's or TGIFriday's except there are about 250 beers on draft. We were eating dinner and Dave mentioned perhaps he would order another beer but did not signal the waitress. A few minutes later, she stopped by the table to check on us. Anna Grace piped up, "He wants another beer". We all started laughing---and ordered another beer.

From one sleep issue to another!

Well, Anna Grace is doing very well staying in her own bed all night long. For those unfamiliar with her sleep habits, she would wake up during the night, come to our room, and sleep on the floor. A promise of a new penny every day has gotten her to stay in bed. Either that or she decided to be a big girl. She has said both things to me. So, knock on wood, we are making progress with her! She still wants to know mommy is in the hallway when she is falling asleep but I can deal with that. That's what laptops are for!

However, Abby is starting a new trend. She has been a super sleeper. Her only issue was not getting out of bed when she woke up. She would stay in bed and play but never get out of bed. Sounds good until she has to go to the bathroom. Instead of getting out of bed as logic would dictate, she would sit in bed and scream because she had to go. Someone had to tell her to get out of bed. Whew. So this week when Anna Grace started staying in bed all night, Abby started getting out of bed by herself. Yeah for us! Until today. She arrived in my room at 4:30am ready for the day. When I told her it was still night time, she broke down fussing and said, "But I like you Mommy". I like you too Abby but not at 4:30 in the morning!! Keep your fingers crossed that tonight goes better. :-)

Playtime with big sister

Should we trust that sweet face? Probably not!


Scary Anna Grace


Abby's scary monster face

Big brothers are so cool!

Alex is like a built in jungle gym!

Adoptive parents....

Saw this several times this week and wanted to share.....

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .
1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You have ever been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word "Dossier" means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

-Author unknown

Family night....and AG's money

We made "football food" tonight (wings, nuggets, cheese sticks, potato skins, etc) and watched Shrek 3 during dinner. It's the first time in a while we were all able to enjoy the same movie. A good time was had by all!

Anna Grace, our non-sleeping child, has finally spent the past 5 nights in her own bed. Previously, she would appear in our room between 2 and 4am and spend the remainder of the night on our floor in her sleeping bag. A bribe from daddy offering a shiny new penny each time she stayed in her own bed has now earned her a whole five cents. Who knows why she decided to stay in her own room at night but we are glad she is doing it. She gets a better nights sleep so is not so crabby the next day. As soon as she hears someone up though, she is out of bed. In fact, today she started yelling for me just before 7 saying "when are you getting up mom!". Keep your fingers crossed that this trend continues. :-)

Computer time....

Colleges....

Katie and I spent the day at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville today. We were both very impressed with the campus, facilities, and academics. I can't belive how much colleges have changed since I was a student! GCSU is wireless everywhere (which of course had Katie asking for a pink laptop), has suites in the dorms so you aren't sharing a bathroom with 20 people, food courts for the cafeteria (we sure didn't have that!), state of the art computer labs, new fitness center, etc. College sounds pretty nice right now! We are going to see Valdosta State and perhaps Armstrong as well. Not sure about others. We've already "sort of seen" Georgia Southern when we were there for a football game. We may return but I'll leave that up to Katie. She likes the idea of UGA but is not sure it's for her since it is so big. Would love to go to GA Tech but is not mechanically inclined. :-) I can't believe we are already visiting colleges with her. Wow. Some days I feel young since we have little ones (although they make me feel old too!). But today, I thought about my college years and it seems so long ago.

We actually lived in Milledgeville when Katie was one so she and I headed off to find our old townhouse. Amazingly enough, I was able to locate it. Katie was not very impressed with her previous home!

The other kids stayed home with daddy and had a great day. The kids and I are off for the next week so we are going to stay home and do nothing. It's going to be wonderful! We are off in April for spring break and may head to the beach part of that time. We're not totally sure yet. Dave will likely be in China so I will be trying to keep the kids entertained and busy. :-)

Dinner...

We had grilled chicken tonight which, as we all know, can sometimes have some darker spots on it due to the grill. Well, Abby said at one point, "I don't like this chicken." I told her "you eat it all the time." The answer, "But mommy, I don't like dirt on my chicken."

I giggled for a long time. :-) Abby kept asking, "What's so funny, mommy?"

A funny for the day....

The little girls were wired from their day and not being cooperative about getting ready for bed. All it took to get them dressed was to say Katie's boyfriend was on his way over. If they didn't get dressed, they couldn't see him. :-) Very quickly, I had two little ones upstairs getting jammies on. Dave then said, "hmm, used to be that they would do that for daddy. Guess I'm yesterday's news." Nope, that's not true but tonight, the boyfriend was the bribe that worked!

Go Diego Go!

We took the girls to see "Go Diego Go!" today at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. It was a last minute decision (bought tickets this morning!). The theater was pretty full but we had good seats. The girls had a great time. For those of you not familiar with children's programming, Diego is a character on Nick Jr. who takes care of animals and speaks Spanish. I'm sure there is more to him than that but those traits stick out at me. Diego is Dora the Explorer's cousin. Surely you've heard of Dora! Anyhow, the girls were entranced. Dora herself even appeared in the second act. Abby screamed out, "Dora!". Both girls participated in the show by yelling when needed, holdng up their jaguar masks to roar like jaguars, clap, dance, etc. It was really cute. I would recommend the show if it comes to your area---and you have little kids!!

The stage is set


Two baby jaguars


Waiting NOT so patiently!