Cali Christmas

If I could pick one word, it would be nontraditional.

We had a great Christmas and are working toward new traditions. Will those traditions involve DisneyLand, the beach, family, and friends? I'm not sure what life will look like in the long run, but this year we took advantage of our beautiful weather and surroundings and went for a long walk, had coffee, relaxed outside, played some basketball, video games, finished up the construction project and spent time with family and friends.

Spencer getting a kick out of Matt's gag gift - a Raiders tie. Matt really wasn't sure what to think at first, but eventually, his laugh was as big as Spencer's.

We support freedom of religion - Buddha and Jesus are friends at our house.

Gag gift to our BIL - even 2,000 miles away. This shirt has been passed back and forth for 10 years and I have a feeling it will travel back to us next year. We both thought it was awesome that he modeled it for us. :-)

Very cool lights throughout a neighborhood near us - and look - my kids all have on long pants and jackets... A rare occurrence!

The love of my life - we are so hot together LOL

I'm the baby whisperer - I love the twins and get my baby fix any time I want times two!

She studied every gift - not as many smiles as much as what's going on here?

Love my Mark - he was all smiles even though I bought him toys he already had... I can't keep the Legos and wrestlers straight...

Nice of Matt to dress up for us... He was very hard to shop for this year.

Happy Birthday Mia!!!

We had an awesome & simple celebration at home for Mia's 3rd birthday. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Homemade cake - It worked and was fun to make.

Always smiling

"I got Buzz and Woody and Jesse and Toy and Toy and Toy and a Dinosaur. And I got Zurg. I got Zurg!" Geez she's so cute!

She's admiring her buddha snow globe.

Mia sang the whole song with the cha cha cha. She is so funny and so cute.

Happy Gotcha Day Beautiful!

2 years ago we took custody of our tiny Thai Princess.

Here's the link to that post.

Here's the video that will make you smile and possibly cry.

I hope Gotcha Day stays forever engrained in my memory as clear as it was that day. But I blog in case it doesn't. Mia was so scared and so tiny. She loved loved loved her bottle. She wanted all things rice and soup! But mainly that bottle!!! We weren't as scared as we were excited to spend the day with her. We took her to the zoo and all nearly melted from the heat! She let everyone hold her. I remember us not wanting to change her clothes before we left for the zoo in fear of her screaming (we were a little scare) and us not being able to comfort her. She hated her bath. It was just water! She was not a fan! It is the most emotional experience to watch your child grieve for her foster family and love us at the same time. What a brave, strong baby we were entrusted to parent.

Today Mia is a beautiful, typical toddler. She loves noodles and pizza! Her latest favorite movie is Toy Story. She watches it over and over! She is funny and fun! She talks so much! She loves all things Disney! So do we. We are so blessed to have each other.

Of course, today I remember her foster mother and social workers. For them it's been 2 years since they've seen her. They are all great people. I hope they are well. The floods in Thailand have displaced all but one foster family so we are quite certain Ms. Phen was affected.

We also remember her birthmother today and every day. Because she made a plan for adoption, we are able to be Mia's parents.

Happy Birthday Matt

A Teenager... When did that happen?

My tiny baby, Matt, is 13 years old today. In ways, he's been "older" for a while. But in reality, he just became a teenager. He's still more mature than most 15 year olds I know.

This year there have been times when I didn't know what I would have done without Matt. Moving 2,000 miles with 3 kids is not the easiest thing to do. Remember, I came in April, kids in June and Chris in October. We bought a "fixer upper" which may be the understatement of 2011. While we fixed and fixed and fixed, Matt was with me every step of the way even climbing up on the roof, through the window into a dark house when we were locked out on 4th of July. And definitely, if the fix involved a power tool, he wanted to be the one to use it. Funny thing is - he's always been that way. With his own set of toy power tools, he fixed everything in our house for years.

He is funny, thinks the world of himself, ;-) quick to laugh at himself, great at keeping a secret, smart, generous, handy, an athlete, a great big brother and a kid we are proud to call our son (even if he towers over us now). I just hope he grows into those feet.

This weekend we watched Toy Story 3. He laughed at us while tears streamed down our faces. He's our Andy... He's growing up... He loved Woody, Buzz and his power tools. Now while Buzz and Woody are misplaced in the garage, his toy tools are in a box under his bed.

It's hard to watch kids grow up, but it's what they are supposed to do.

Aaaaaaah sigh - Yep - I'll keep reminding myself of that.

Seriously... Life should be this beautiful!

This month we took advantage of a warm weekend and hit Laguna Beach. It is beautiful there! Had a fabulous time soaking in the sun, walking along the boardwalk and shopping along the ocean. Sometimes...we do have to pinch ourselves...

My girl loves the ocean as much as me... maybe more...

Matt, Mia and I have to put our feet in the sand. Mark and Chris took advantage of the "perfectly good boardwalk".

He loves it as much as me too!

Seriously, she is so cute I can't stand it!

My boys at Vista Pointe - Wow - this is an amazing view!

They look like they are being kissed by this beautiful sky.

Amazing! Cute as they are, I had to kick them out of the picture...

October

October was a great month - aside from the flu bug that bit 4 out of 5 of us. Chris officially moved to California and started his new job. It's been great to have all of us together again. 6 months apart is a long time. I've decided blogging in pictures is much easier and meaningful so I hope you agree.

Believe it or not - one day in October it was about 90 and sunny so the Littles decided that it would be a great idea to swim. The water was frigid, but that didn't stop them.

Fairly certain Mario is trying to figure out if Malibu is going to push him in the pool. She looks like she might.

Terri's parents were in town. We went to my cousin Chad's play in style thanks to my Uncle Steve and Aunt Cathie. The play was incredible. My cousin is super talented and it was fun to hang out with everyone and celebrate his talents.

Chris' parents were also in town. Stole this picture from his sister's hiking trip. One of Chris' sisters also lives in SoCal.

Stole this one too - Both were too good not to post. Wish we could have hiked with them, but maybe next time.

Chris' mom being silly with Mark's props

Chris' parents with the kids

Terri's parents with the kids

All together now...

Pumpkin Patch

A little blurry, but geez, what a good picture of them!

We aren't sure what Matt is or why he's still trick or treating for that matter, but whatever...I'm glad he likes to have fun and he had us cracking up. Minnie Mouse and the Boxer are too cute!

We Moved to SoCal

It has been 10 months since I last posted. I wonder if anyone will even read this, but here goes.

Chris and I moved to California. Actually, it went like this.

January - I began interviewing for a position in California.

March - I accepted the position.

April - I moved to California by myself - Chris stayed in KY with our 3 kids to finish out the school year. They only had 6 weeks left so it just made sense. We have never spent this much time apart so it was definitely a challenge.

I spent the next 2 months living in a hotel - omg this was not the "Suite Life" I always dreamed hotel living would be, but I survived. I stayed busy researching cities, schools, neighborhoods, pounding the streets looking at houses, sending pictures and videos to Chris until I walked in and found the perfect place. Then, it was on to shopping for the many things this home needed.

June - the kids joined me in our new home in Orange County. Chris took 2 weeks vacation to help us get settled.

June - Sept - Chris moved most of his stuff to California, commuted to Kentucky to work and became a California resident in October when he started his new job. I am so excited to have my husband back. Single parenthood is not for either one of us. We are definitely a team!

Mia adjusted beautifully to her new school. She absolutely loves it. Mark and Matt have been in school 2 months and they are doing great too.

So... what did the year look like?

Spending Easter apart - I was very excited to see my kids look great for Easter!

In May Mia was a flower girl in my niece's wedding. I'll post on this fun time later. Mia did great and I was one proud Mommy and Aunt that day.

In July we added Malibu, a german shepherd puppy, to our home.

Taking a wrong turn landed us at Newport Beach before dinner. Nothing wrong with taking time for a little sand before pizza.

We loved spending time with our cousins from KY.

With Disneyland tickets, we can go everyday if we want. The boys are showing off their 3-D glasses.

One thing is certain, there are always plenty of smiles!

Mia - having a California tea party with her Nana.

Safe to say Minnie is Mia's favorite! She loves loves loves her!

Dining with the characters is one of the best ways to eat!

Still living apart - Mark, Matt and I sported our Cardwear for the opening football game while Chris attended the game with friends.

Everyone was excited (and nervous) for the 1st day of school - no more uniforms brought many smiles from my kids!

My cousin's twins live about 20 minutes away and I love the little beauties! 2 more M's in the family - MaKayla and Madison! - So yes - get-togethers are a tongue twister - Matt, Mark, Mia, Mario, Malibu, MaKayla and Madison...

Mark is enjoying soccer

We are adjusting very well to life in SoCal. We are loving the weather and loving living like we are on vacation. It's rough to live somewhere so beautiful! LOL We do miss our family and friends, but we are hoping they will visit us soon.

What's in that little head of yours?

Sometimes I wonder how much Mia remembers about Thailand. Does she remember life in Thailand, her foster mom, etc. One thing is definite - she loves Asian food above the rest and in true Thai form, she likes it spicy. Although pizza and anything with ketchup are winners too - and I do mean anything, including just a spoon with ketchup. Ugh!

A few weeks ago I was preparing a package for her foster mom and had over 100 pictures out trying to decide what to send. She regularly sees pictures of her foster mom around our house, but the picture that caught her eye was the one of her birth mother holding her. Also in the picture was her grandmother. She stared at this picture for the longest time. It was one of those "Mom moments" where I should have all the right things to say. As a parent one thing I've learned is I am human and having all the answers to every possible scenario isn't realistic and I won't hold myself to that level. So I left her look at the picture for a very long time and then said, do you see your birthmother and grandmother. So pretty. That's Mia's birthmother; That's Mia's grandmother and repeated it with her Thai nickname. They are in Thailand. Tell them Sawadeekah and wai. She smiled, we both put our hands together and she said KeeKah. I'm sure that was WAY over her head, but she moved on to other pictures so I either answered a question or confused the heck out of her!

Last weekend a Korean mom and her Korean son walked into a gym. Mia stared at them for the longest time. I tried to distract her but nothing worked. She stared. So that left me wondering again about the day with the pictures. When we first arrived home, she stared at anyone with darker skin than us, but it's been a while since she did this. I wish we had more diversity in our area so that she would realize there are a lot of people in the world and we don't all look the same.

So I wonder what's going on in that little head... She definitely thinks we are great and loves us, but I'm not sure what else is going on in there. I don't think anyone is dwelling on it. Guess I better start on that life book! Google's next project...