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.