Lights!

Christmas Eve Eve.

Time to don our jammies (kids only...that would be too embarrassing if we broke down!), pile into the van, grab some hot chocolate, and drive around looking at Christmas lights.

OK, everybody. Find a seat!

I have no idea what takes these boys so long to buckle.

Wait, wait, wait...

Finally, here we go.

Seriously...

Hot chocolate in hand. Poor Amarin...he needs special hot chocolate that doesn't make him throw up! Who ever heard of chocolate making you throw up?

"I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus..." was ringing through the car. So, Jamie leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. This is the reaction from the boys. They're so silly....covering their eyes and squealing. Then they laugh and tell us to do it again!

And we see you peeking, Amarin!

An Early Present

TA!!

Finally we have TA!

Our agency just called. They hadn't planned on going into the office,

but decided to check the mail, and it was there.

So, now we have to wait until Monday to start booking travel and consulate appointments since everything is closed now for the holiday. Looks like January travel dates, and hopefully before she turns four on the 26th of January!

Merry Christmas to us...

Merry Christmas to us...

We're Done!

With school, that is. We had our last day of homeschool co-op on Monday, and then two more days of school at home. I know, I know...everyone else is finished. Don't tell my kids, OK?

I just feel the need to finish up projects before the holiday. It makes me feel more relaxed.Next week we'll be off, too. I think we're all ready for a break.

Of course, I'll have to do lesson planning...I'd rather do China travel planning...

Here's a science project that we all really enjoyed. We have been studying the human body, and we used this awesome curriculum that had all of the internal body parts to cut out and assemble as we learned about them. Let me tell you...I don't think either boy will be headed into the medical field. They got pretty grossed out talking about the organs and blood. Especially when I told them what the doctors had to do to their Papa during open-heart surgery...ya know...to actually get to the heart.

Charlie's in on the act now. We decided to take him out of kindergarten at our local school, and teach him at home the rest of the year. He's happy to be working with his brothers...'cause he's a big boy now, too, since he gets to stay home. We have some math and ABC work for him to do, and he's eager to work.

Jacob told me to post this photo and tell you all how "blue" they were feeling today. We took our own fingerprints (a whole lot faster than waiting for an immigration appt.!) during our science study...and...well...I think we'll all have blue fingers for a few days.

Sweet times

'Tis the season for baking cookies! I really don't enjoy baking that much...maybe because it never turns out...so luckily Jamie has taken over the cookie baking at Christmas.

Picking out the cookie cutters

Laura just being her cute self!

Rolling out the dough

I think Char had more flour on himself than on the cupboard!

Oooh...the masterpieces!

THEN...

we decided to make homemade gifts for teachers and bus drivers.

So, if you are one of the kids' teachers, you may want to stop reading for now!
And, yes, we're including bus drivers. I can't imagine having their job...no way, no how!

We decided to give gifts in a jar...specifically, hot cocoa mix.

So, Jacob started measuring the ingredients. They had to double the batch...so that's a math lesson, right? No more skipping school for us...ahem...

Look at Amarin's concentration...either that, or he's in daze...

Then we had to prepare ribbons, candy canes, gift tags, and felt toppers.

And, voila! The jars are ready to be given.

And for those who are looking for gifts that are not too pricey,

(like us since we have 3 bus drivers and 6 teachers),

this works out to less than $3.00 per gift, plus it's a lot of fun for the kids to make!

"Narnia" White!

It's our first snow storm of the season, and it is quite pretty. We woke up to a winter wonderland...the trees just hanging with snow. I love it when the snow sticks to everything.

The boys say it looks like Narnia. I think everything will remind them of Narnia for a while, after seeing the movie.

We stayed tucked in our warm home today. No venturing out on the snowy/icy dirt roads for us. Instead, we stayed in our jammies until later morning, and snacked on marshmallow cereal. After another rough afternoon/evening yesterday, Laura seems to be feeling much better this morning...

good enough to feed herself marshmallow cereal by the handful!

Oh, yes. Food is a favorite!

Next, I made the annual "keep out of our closet" sign. The boys think it's so funny to see if they can catch us leaving the door open so they can sneak a peek. Charlie helped me make signs this year.

Time to play in the "Narnia" wonderland.

Eating snow...hoping it was all white. Pardon the pink mittens. He had to borrow from Laura because his were already soaked!

Jacob must have his picture taken, too, not to be outdone in cuteness by his little brother.

A snowball fight with Dad. Notice Amarin is not posing for any photos, nor would be take part in any snowball fight, even when Dad aimed at him. He later told me that he was too busy building snowmen and forts. He has been waiting since October for enough snow to build! And that's my Amarin...build and construct anything.

Charlie is building his first snowman of the season.

Laura and I? Well, we just stay cozy inside the house while the boys conquer the "Narnia" wonderland!

A NEW Day

One of you commented that today had to be better than yesterday, and you were so right.

First, my headache is gone.

Second, Laura was well enough to go to school, and her teacher said she was doing just fine. Actually, I rec'd a call from the bus driver aide saying Laura didn't look good on the bus. Great...I've sent the poor girl to school too soon.

But I talked later to her teacher, Ms. Mary, and she said Laura was just fine.

Ms. Mary asked Laura if she "made the bus drivers call your mom and make her worry?"

She said Laura just smiled at her.

What a stinker! She knows exactly how to manipulate people!

Third, I was able to take the three boys to see the new N*rnia movie this morning. It was...ummm...a homeschool literature enhancing lesson...yep...that's it!

Phooey...we just skipped school!

Totally awesome movie. No doubt, the boys will be outside this afternoon reenacting the battle scenes. That's drama class, right? Throw in the popcorn and rootbeer, and it was just perfect! Even my littlest guy sat still and didn't need to go potty the whole time!

And for the icing on the cake....drum roll please...

China does NOT need the document that was lost. They are fine, this time, with a photocopy. It has already been sent out, and NOW we can wait for our TA. Hopefully, we'll get preferential treatment since we've been waiting so long.

A Day

I've had a day.

Not one I'd like to repeat any time soon.

*Headache...directly behind my right eye. That won't go away. Kind of nauseating.

*Laura stayed home again after having such a good day yesterday. And she whined ALL DAY...does wonders for the headache. I know...but my empathy is drained at the moment.

*Charlie's feelings were hurt by some not-nice words at school. Moms don't like that sort of thing. He seems to bounce right back, but the words are still in his head and heart.

And for the kicker...

*CCA* lost our document needed (LOI) to process our TA. Can I just cry right now? No wonder our TA has taken so long! Someone signed for the document in their office on Nov. 4th, but no sign of it now. Our agency is going to bat for us tonight (as well as 2 other families) to get it waived. After all, they have a copy of our LOI. But now they want original signatures. If we have to send another one, it could be 6 more weeks.

I think a long hot bath and early bedtime are in order!

Decking the Halls

Time to start trimming the tree!

OK...we're not so bad that this is our only Christmas tree, but isn't it cute?

A friend gave us this tree-in-a-box, and the boys had fun folding all of the paper, and putting it together.

Amarin was working on paper folding ornaments. He loves to do that kind of stuff. My engineer.

My little elves helping in the kitchen.

Laura watched from a comfy chair. Poor sweetie...she has been fighting a nasty virus since last Thursday. I feel so bad when I can't figure out what hurts.

His 2nd Christmas home...he's got this decorating thing down pat!

My littlest elf

My beautiful tree...well, it will be as soon as we stick all those plastic branches into the pole! As fun as some of you make it look, I'm quite happy pulling my tree out of a box in my warm home. Ya'll have fun cutting down that tree in the snow!

Laura was not impressed with our attempt to include her in on the merriment.

Getting some lovin' from big brother, Jacob.

I just love my dynamo boy!

Trimming the "real" tree.

OK...feeling good enough to play with some beads on the floor. They didn't make it on the tree this year since she was having fun. If it makes her happy at this point...who cares about the tree!

Could he find a longer Santa hat? He has had this hat for many Christmases. He is so excited when he pulls it out of the Christmas box each year!

Charlie is a big kindergarten reader now...in his own cute way. So, since Laura was feeling pretty good, he read her a bedtime story.

Waiting...with a positive note

Waiting...waiting...waiting for our travel approval from China. Why must this process take so dog-gone long? We received an update from our agency, and they said there are 3 of us families waiting with them for TAs. It should be any day now. Any day...and then we can make our travel arrangements. Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope that we can be lovin' on Jenna Mei for Christmas? Maybe??

But we did get some great news on a portion of our trip while we're in China.

No more mandatory vaccinations!!!!! We have the option of signing an affidavit, giving us the right, as her parents, to give her immunizations when we feel it's time.

The US government has finally backed off of this one, and is letting families make the decision. What a novel idea...parents making the decisions that they deem best for their kids without government intervention!

I've never understood this process, that I personally feel is so cruel.

Here is a child, with complete strangers, namely "mom & dad," heading in for a medical check in a strange place, with strange doctors, and getting poked an average of 5 times!

We don't even do that here when our babies are little.

I'm so thankful that this has changed.

Amarin had to have shots in Thailand, and it broke my heart to see him trying to hold back the tears while getting these shots. There's so much change and turmoil for the little ones...this is just one less stress for them.

Now...where on earth is that TA?

His Birthday, His Way

His Birthday, His Way.

That was one of the mottos of this HUGE Christmas store.

It claims to be the biggest Christmas store in the world...and I can believe it!

What Jacob thought was cool, was that the word Christmas was written like this:

CHRISTmas. And that when we left, we were given a tract (explaining salvation through Jesus Christ) in our shopping bag.

Well, we were able to attend another fun field trip here with Laura's class.

Here we are...waiting for her school bus to arrive.

OK...Jacob has been questioning Santa since kindergarten. But this year he told me that he didn't want to know, because it would take away some of the fun. Fair enough.

But he still wasn't sitting on Santa's lap, and Amarin, as usual, followed suit.

Bummer...I wanted a photo.

Until the lady in guest services suggested that they stand with Laura in the photo.

And...since they only allow kids 10 years and younger, Jacob agreed that maybe it would be a good idea to have his picture taken "one last time."

He was a very sweet Santa with the kids,

and every time he spoke, Laura would just stare at him.

He asked the boys what they would like for Christmas, and wouldn't you know...

it's nothing they're getting! But don't tell them!

Laura could fit in this stocking, I think. What a fun present she would be!

Her look tells me that she's not impressed with the idea.

This is one of Laura's best friends. I hadn't really seen them interact much, but today they sure did! Laura walked right up to him, put her hands on him, and started "talking."
He "talked" back to her in his cute little voice.
Doesn't it look like I just interrupted their conversation?

I stepped back and let them talk.

Sweet friends.