From Guatemala With Love

Happy 8th Birthday, Kristen!!

2011-06-15T23:06:00.010-05:00

My sweet girl turned 8 years old today! We went to dinner tonight and Aunt Sherri and Uncle Dave celebrated with us. Aunt Carolyn sent the beautiful flowers in the picture. Kristen is having a slumber party Friday night and it should be lots of fun.

Happy Birthday, Kristen!! You are growing up way too fast.

Gotcha Day - 6 years!!

2011-04-17T22:26:00.006-05:00

Yesterday (April 16) was Kristen's Gotcha Day. I can't even believe that she's been home for 6 years. We had such a fun day and a great weekend. We were in Texas for an anniversary party, so we did a little bit of celebrating in between all the other fun of the weekend. Kristen, Grandpa and I went to Pollo Campero for lunch. We all loved it!! We even had tres leches cake for dessert...yum!!

After lunch we picked up Grandma from a meeting she was attending, then we headed to Caddo Mills to a garage sale. It wasn't just some random garage sale...it was at our dear friends, the Blocks. They are moving to Guatemala to do full-time missions work so they have sold their house and are selling most of their belongings. We had so much fun spending a little time with them, and we got to meet Carson and Havyn for the first time. We can't wait to visit them in Guatemala :) They even gave Kristen a beautiful tea set that they got when they were in Guatemala. So sweet!!

We went to Momo and Papa's 50th anniversary party for dinner and had a fun time with family. What a busy, fun weekend we had!!

Character Education Assembly

2011-04-17T21:54:00.002-05:00

Friday afternoon Kristen received an award at her school's Character Education Assembly. She was recognized as the "Integrity" student of character for her class. I'm so proud of her. Here are a few pictures from the assembly, and then I took a couple of her with some of her friends in her classroom.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T22:58:00.006-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Kristen has been asking for a guitar for over a year, and she finally got one this year from Santa. It's just a little Tinker Bell play guitar but she's having fun with it. Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate with us, and we had Christmas dinner at Sherri and Dave's house.

This is the one present she got to open on Christmas Eve.

Putting out carrots for the reindeer.

Leaving some candy, fudge and milk out for Santa.

Here's what Santa brought to her.

One of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa was a Barbie Fashion Fairytale doll.

She got a penguin pillow pet from Momo and Papa. She named it Gretl...after watching the Sound of Music on TV.

Polar Express

2010-12-31T22:40:00.004-06:00

Kristen's dance studio did their Christmas production based on The Polar Express. It was called 'If You Believe' and Kristen tried out for it and was cast as one of the kids on the train. She's been in Cheer & Tumbling for the last year and a half, but she was able to perform the dancing just fine. She worked very hard at all their rehearsals and was so happy to be dancing again. The performance was at Rose State College Performing Arts Center, so it was a big stage and a large crowd. Some of these pictures below were from the dress rehearsal because I didn't want to be taking too many pictures during the performance. Most of the pictures are blurry, but you can tell what a great production it was. She was in the train car on the right side of the stage, in the middle row. They had several dances they performed, plus while they were sitting in the train car and other groups of girls were dancing, they were dancing in their seats and she was having so much fun. My parents drove up from Texas, my sister and her kids came, and Michelle brought Hannah, Abby and Landis.

Catching up - Fall 2010

2010-12-31T22:01:00.007-06:00

I have been the worst blogger ever...I can't believe I've let over 3 months pass since I last blogged. We have been very busy, but that's not an excuse to not blog. I want to capture and remember all these events in our lives, and I've just been in a blogging funk. So this is my lame attempt to catch up some and hopefully not ever go this long again without blogging.

Kristen went to Anna's 5th birthday party at Orr Family Farm (in August...see how far behind I am!!) She had so much fun with the girls, and she just loves babies so she loved playing with Mia. After a lot of coaxing she FINALLY got on a horse. She's been on a horse one other time, but it was at her daycare and she was really little so I don't think she even realized what was going on.

Over Labor Day weekend we took a little trip to Grapevine and stayed at the Gaylord Texan. We'd saved so much on our summer vacation so we splurged a little bit :) Well, we splurged on the hotel but couldn't even afford to eat in the restaurants there so we'd leave the property and go to the cheap restaurants...except for breakfast at a little coffee shop in the hotel. The hotel was having an Alice in Wonderland event so it was decorated really cute and there were pictures with characters and a lot of other special events. Kristen had a blast and I enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend.

Kristen attended a Cheer Clinic and then they performed a cheer and dance at the Freshman football game. She had so much fun at the clinic, and then even more fun at the game. She felt like such a big girl, and I felt like I already had a teenager on my hands...she didn't even sit with me at the game much...she wanted to sit with her friends.

She's on the far left on the back row.

She right in the middle of that crowd :)

On Halloween we had friends visiting from Texas so I took Kristen, Jackie and Kaitlyn to Storybook Forest in Edmond. It was so fun for them to walk through the forest and get candy at each of the stories. At the end we went on a hayride, played games, and made smores at the campfire. It was cold but definitely worth it.

First day of 2nd grade

2010-09-13T22:12:00.003-05:00

Once again I am so far behind on blogging. I keep Facebook updated much better than my blog, but since this is basically a journal of our life this is the one I should keep updated better.

Kristen started 2nd grade and she's having a great year. She loves her teacher, and has made some new friends. One thing they are doing is having cooking classes...although they don't do actual cooking with a stove or heat :) They have made purple cows (vanilla ice cream and grape juice), and fruit skewers (watermelon, grapes, apples). At the end of the year they will put together a cookbook with all the recipes they made throughout the year. She loves cooking anyway so this is a lot of fun for her.

This week she is the "star student" in her class. She took pictures of herself that will be displayed, she gets to be the line leader all week, and gets to make some of the decisions on some things they do this week. She's really excited about it.

She also decided to take Cheer & Tumbling again this year...the same class and same teacher that she had last year. She couldn't even do a cartwheel when she started last year, and now she wants to learn to do a back walkover and then a back handspring. We'll see how that goes :) Several of her friends from the class last year are taking it again with her, so those girls are having a blast!!

Our Summer Vacation

2010-08-19T12:34:00.013-05:00

This year for our summer vacation we decided to do kind of a "Staycation". We didn't stay at our home though, we went to Texas and stayed at my parents and did things around Fort Worth and Dallas all week. Kristen really wanted to go to Hawaii this year, but she didn't have quite enough saved up for that :)

It was VERY hot all week. Here is Kristen trying to cool off after digging for dinosaur bones at the Fort Worth Children's Museum.

One day we went to the Dallas Arboretum and the flowers were absolutely beautiful. I changed my camera settings and forgot to change them back so most of my pictures there didn't turn out. But this picture of this cutie turned out just fine :)

Can you see the theme of the week...trying to stay cool!!

We went to visit my aunt and uncle and Kristen decided to try out the riding lawnmower. She's not really dressed for yard work :)

At the Stockyards in Fort Worth, we watched the cattle drive, shopped some, ate some barbeque...

...and went thru the Cowtown Cattlepen Maze. Talk about HOT!! Middle of the afternoon, no breeze at all going thru the maze....whew!! We were supposed to find 4 letters, M A Z E, but after 30 minutes Kristen and I gave up after finding only 3 letters. We could see where the 4th letter was, but just couldn't get to it and we were dripping in sweat.

There we are, coming down the stairs after finding one of the letters.

While eating lunch this nice clown was going around making balloon shapes for the kids.

This is the Marty Leonard Community Chapel, on the grounds on Lena Pope Home. This little chapel is absolutely breathtaking.

The day we were heading home we stopped by my cousin's house because they were having a cookout with some of the family. Kristen LOVED playing with and helping feed her cousin.

We did so much more, too much to even list. We shopped some, and went to some great restaurants, then shopped more, and ate more. And then we shopped more and ate some more. We had to keep our energy up so the heat didn't get to us.

Swimming Lessons

2010-08-01T22:34:00.006-05:00

Kristen has always been afraid of the water. While she was with her foster family I only received one update that told me anything about her personality...and one of the things on that update was that she hated baths and cried when she got her hair washed. Some things don't change. Well, she doesn't cry when she gets her hair washed any more, but she still doesn't like it.

And swimming? Well, she's terrified of getting anywhere near deep water. We've worked to get her a little more comfortable in the water, but it's been a slow process.

This summer I enrolled her in a two-week swimming class. She went every night and it was geared towards kids who weren't comfortable in the water. I talked to her about trying to get her head under water. She was having none of that!! She doesn't even like the water in her face :)

So I offered her a very hefty incentive to go under water by the end of the two weeks. Her response?

"I think you and I both know that's never gonna happen".

And it didn't. That little stinker can't even be bribed :)

Recipe for "Margarita" Dip

2010-07-31T10:23:00.004-05:00

Don't let the name fool you, this dip is kid friendly :) And it is SO quick and easy. Cool and refreshing and perfect in the summer.

"Margarita" Dip

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup frozen limeade concentrate, partially thawed
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Beat cream cheese, limeade concentrate and orange juice in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in Cool Whip; cover.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Serve with cut-up fresh fruit and Nilla Wafers.
(I served it with cherries, nectarines, and apples, and got the mini Nilla Wafers)

YUMMY!!!

Cheer & Tumbling

2010-07-30T22:26:00.003-05:00

I am so behind on blogging...this summer has really been busy. We've been having lots of fun. I'm going to try to catch up a little over the next couple of days. School starts in three weeks so I need to get my act together :)

Kristen finished up her Cheer & Tumbling class in May and they had an end of year showcase and pizza party. They showed us the things they had learned, then we had the pizza party and their teacher handed out awards to each of the girls.

Kristen received the "teammate" award. She said Kristen was always very sensitive to the other girls. She was always the first one there to help if someone got hurt, and always helped the other girls if they didn't know where they were supposed to be standing in the formation.

This class taught just the basics...cartwheels, round-offs, backbends, etc. But Kristen couldn't do any of those things at the first of the year. She's decided she wants to take the class again this next year and continue to improve on what she's already learned. Hopefully she'll be doing back walkovers or even back handsprings by the end of next year :)

Birthday Party

2010-06-26T22:16:00.007-05:00

Last night Kristen had her 1st slumber party...to celebrate her 7th birthday. Some of her friends were able to come celebrate with her for a little while, and two of the girls spent the night. We had pizza and birthday cake, and they played and giggled and had a great time. Kristen is so happy that her friends came to celebrate with her.

Anna, Hannah, Kristen, Bethany, Abby, Landis

Princess Carriage Birthday Cake

The Birthday girl making a wish.

Opening presents. Landis, Abby, Kristen, Anna, Bethany.

A group shot, including her cousin, Hope.

Beautiful girls!!

The next morning, blowing bubbles and playing with sidewalk chalk. Anna, Kristen, Bethany.

Father's Day Wish

2010-06-20T18:09:00.003-05:00

Kristen tells me quite often how she'd like a dad, and a brother or sister. I joked a while back that maybe one of her friends would have a single dad that we'd meet one of these days :) So a couple of weeks ago she told me something as she knew Father's Day was coming up.

"Mom, I really would like a dad for Father's Day. I've been looking for a grown-up boy for you, but nobody's interested. And some of them are brown, and they don't like white girls".

Guess I need to get to work on my tan.

Look who's SEVEN!!

2010-06-15T22:48:00.005-05:00

Happy 7th Birthday, Kristen!! What a great day we had. Kristen went to daycare until about 2:00 when I picked her up. She took cupcakes to share with her class after lunch. From there we headed straight to the mall and I surprised her by taking her to Build-A-Bear. She picked out a Panda and dressed her very cute. She named her Eliza. We hit Happy Hour at Sonic, then came home and she opened presents. Then we headed to McDonalds for a playdate with several of our Guatemala friends. We'll do some more celebrating over the next several days, then hopefully have a small party with a couple of her friends in about a week. Here are just a few of the pictures I took today. She was really excited about some of the presents she got. She's only 7 but already has Bieber Fever (2nd picture below).

Tonsillectomy

2010-05-25T22:43:00.003-05:00

Kristen got her tonsils out today. They also removed the anchored tubes that they put in two years ago. And if that wasn't enough, the doc pulled a really loose tooth that could easily get knocked out while they were doing tonsils. It had been a problem tooth so getting it out while she was knocked out seemed like a perfect time.

Her surgery was scheduled for 10:00. We got there by 9:00 and she didn't go back to pre-op until almost 9:30. Got her gown on and sat in the chair with her....and sat, and sat, and waited, and waited. I surprised her with a new game for her DS, so she played that some of the time. But when she wasn't playing it she was really scared. They didn't take her into surgery until just after 12:00...that's 2 1/2 hours that we waited!! But then she was done by about 12:30 and she did great. The nurse that took care of her in recovery really fell in love with her. Kristen told the nurse that this was the first time she'd ever had her tonsils out :)

Her throat has hurt her quite a bit today, and she's just laid around watching tv. She took a very short nap after taking Tylenol with codeine. She's sleeping now and the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight :)

Zoo Field Trip

2010-05-02T21:54:00.003-05:00

Friday was the 1st graders field trip to the zoo and I went along as a chaperone. The weather was great and we all had so much fun! Another mom and I ended up having 8 girls with us and we didn't lose any of them...well, not for very long anyway :)

I can't believe that there are only a few weeks of school left. Kristen is definitely ready for summer!!

Happy Gotcha Day - 5 years

2010-04-16T22:58:00.004-05:00

Happy Gotcha Day, Kristen. Five years ago today you were placed in my arms and we became a family. You are the sweetest daughter a mother could ever hope for. You are beautiful inside and out, with a heart of gold. I can't believe how fast you are growing up, I just want time to slow down sometimes. I treasure each day with you and love you more than you'll ever know.

We did a little celebrating today, once Kristen got out of school. When she got home there were flowers, balloons, and a cake waiting for her. Grandma and Grandpa came from Texas to celebrate with us, and we all went out to dinner tonight at a wonderful restaurant. That silly girl has had us all laughing all evening. Things definitely are never boring around here :)

She's in love with the boy

2010-03-21T22:48:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine posted a picture of a song that her daughter wrote, which gave me the idea to post a poem that Kristen wrote. She is always writing notes, poems, drawing pictures, making cards. There is a boy who was in her Kindergarten class last year, but this year she's decided she really likes him. Bless her heart. It says

Roses are red, violets are blue
I think you are cute Sawyer, I love you
I think I'm falling in love with you. From Kristen. To Sawyer.

This particular poem was written on a kleenex :)

A few weeks ago we had dinner with several other Guatemala families at McDonalds and the kids were able to play in the indoor playground. They had so much fun!!

Hannah, Kristen, and Anna

Abby and Kristen

Teddy Bear Sleepover

2010-03-08T21:59:00.006-06:00

We're still here. I had surgery on my thumb 3 weeks ago and it's affected me a little more than I thought it would. It's still painful and swollen, but it's not stopping us from keeping busy and having fun. Friday night the community center had a Teddy Bear Sleepover, and Kristen took her precious Sho Sho. The kids took their bear (or whatever stuffed animal they had), and stayed for a couple of hours for pizza, crafts and games. Then the kids all sat around a lady who read a bedtime story, then the kids all put their bears to bed and left. But they didn't sleep for long...the bears got up and played all night.

Here's Kristen with another little girl and their bears.

Sho Sho and friends playing on the exercise equipment.

And playing checkers.

And he was so exhausted when he got home that Kristen put him to bed to catch up on his sleep.

Snow Days

2010-01-30T22:42:00.005-06:00

We've had a few days of staying indoors due to a winter storm. Kristen's school was closed Thursday & Friday, and we finally got out today and played in the snow. Thursday we had ice and sleet, then Friday it snowed ALL DAY!! It's beautiful to look at. Kristen made mini cupcakes Friday, and really did most of the work herself. Then she decorated them with pink frosting and sprinkles. She had a blast, and I had fun helping her. And yes, she stayed in her pajamas all day :)

Fun Friday

2010-01-24T20:38:00.003-06:00

Every Friday during the last 30 minutes of the school day, Kristen's entire school goes into the cafeteria for Fun Friday! Parents are always welcome to come, however, I hadn't gone until this past Friday. And the reason I went was because Kristen's class and another 1st grade class were singing a song and reciting quotes about Martin Luther King, Jr. She was SO excited!

They say their school creed together, go over the word of the week, and did some other things that I can't remember.

They have all the kids who had birthdays that week stand up and they sing a very fun version of 'Happy Birthday' to them.

Then it was time for their performance. They did great!!

Coming to sit down with the rest of the kids.

Last thing they had was the Mad Scientist. He was hilarious, entertaining, and interesting.

Two front teeth

2010-01-17T22:01:00.005-06:00

Last week Kristen lost her other front tooth. She would NOT let me try to pull it and it really needed to come out. It was barely hanging on. I had to take her to the doctor for tonsilitis so while we were there the doctor and I were able to convince her to let the doctor give it one try...and it came out easily. It bled quite a bit which she didn't like at all...but she was happy to have the tooth fairy come for a visit :)

Evenings around here are always hectic...after working all day then I cook dinner, clean up, homework, bath, laundry, any cleaning to be done, pay bills, e-mail, etc., etc., and try to get to bed at a decent hour. I work from home and when I'm having my busiest times I will work into the evenings, just getting a little work done in between dinner and bath or any free minutes I can get more work done. I'm also terrible about getting distracted when I go into a room to do something then I see something else to do and I get off course from what I was originally doing. So on one of those nights I was very busy with work, I had started something for Kristen in one room, then gone to another room to get some things, then walked through the office and saw an e-mail I needed to take action on....so I sat down and worked for a little bit and was concentrating on figuring it out and Kristen was sitting on the couch and then she yelled out to me for something...it was at that moment I remembered what I had started for her. I RAN to the bathroom and turned the water off just in the nick of time.

Christmas in Texas

2009-12-31T22:45:00.010-06:00

Kristen and I went to my parents for Christmas, then the whole family drove to my brother's in Austin the day after Christmas. It was so much fun to have the whole family together (minus just a couple of Kristen's cousins). We left Oklahoma before the big blizzard hit...14 inches of snow!! But we did get a little bit of snow in Texas.

Kristen in the little bit of snow that we got.

Playing the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Santa brought a few things for Kristen.

Opening presents on Christmas morning.
In front of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

Kristen LOVES Matt...he's married to her cousin, Erica. Kristen was the flower girl in their wedding.

Kristen and Mommy.
Kristen's cousins, Erica and Shelby.There are many more pictures I need to sort through and post. And hopefully I'll get some from the rest of the family that they took on their cameras :)

We had a great 2009 and looking forward to an even better 2010. I treasure each day with my beautiful daughter. She's growing up so fast.

BFF

2009-12-22T11:15:00.002-06:00

Kristen has made a new, wonderful best friend in school this year. They sit right next to each other in class and are both such sweet girls. And the really cool thing is that B was adopted from China. Here they are at their Christmas party on Friday. B came by our house Sunday and gave Kristen a necklace which says "Be Frie", and of course her necklace says "st nds". How cute is that!!

All I want for Christmas...

2009-12-17T22:11:00.004-06:00

...is my ONE front tooth. Kristen lost a tooth yesterday while she was eating lunch at school and she was SOOOO excited. So she's been singing that little song over and over :) Her other front tooth is loose but I don't think it'll be out by Christmas. This was tooth #4 and the tooth fairy visited her last night and left her a little surprise. Happy girl!!!

Playdate and Cheering

2009-12-15T21:54:00.004-06:00

We sure have had a lot going on lately, and are having a lot of fun. About a week ago we got to have a playdate with Abby, Hannah and Landis. The kids worked on a gingerbread train, but I think they had more fun sneaking bites of the candy and the icing :) It had been way too long since these precious girls had seen each other. Aren't they beautiful.

Kristen also went to a cheerleading clinic for 3 hours on a Saturday morning, and they got to perform their cheer and a dance at the freshmen girls and boys basketball games. She had a blast!! And it was pretty fun for mom to watch, too :)

Recipe for Holiday Appetizer Dip

2009-12-05T21:48:00.003-06:00

Here's a recipe that we've had in our family for many years. I love to have it any time, but it just seems to taste better at Christmas, so I make it more this time of year. The dried beef in it is the kind that's in a jar that is used for chipped beef on toast...the brand I think I get here is Armour. (Hormel also makes it)

Holiday Appetizer Dip

8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp milk
2 1/2 oz. jar sliced dried beef, finely snipped (about 3/4 cup)
2 Tbsp instant minced onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped green pepper
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Blend cream cheese and milk. Stir in dried beef, onion, green pepper and pepper. Mix well. Stir in sour cream. Spoon into 8-inch pie plate or small shallow baking dish. Sprinkle walnuts over top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Serve hot with assorted crackers.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T22:41:00.004-06:00

Last week we spent Thanksgiving in Texas. We went to my parents for a few days, and had Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin's house. It was so fun to see lots of family. We actually went to the mall for a few hours on black Friday...but not at 5 am :) I think I only took one or two pictures, then Kristen took charge of the camera. Here are just a few pics of our day.

Grandpa can't stay out of the shrimp.

My sister and nephew.

Calling Australia

2009-11-11T21:28:00.003-06:00

Last night Kristen's 1st grade class had an exciting opportunity...they set up TV's and cameras and the kids got to have a video conference with kids in Australia. Our kids were able to ask them questions, they asked our kids questions, sang songs for each other, and it was great for them to see how many things they have in common. Kristen loved hearing their accents (and so did I). Kristen asked them what their favorite food is...and was so excited that so many of them wanted to answer her question. Fun times!!

Recipe for Cranberry Salad

2009-11-08T19:34:00.004-06:00

So Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here and this is my favorite time to cook. Well, I love cooking any time of year, but this is the best. Maybe it's because I love to eat all the great food we have for the holidays :) Here's a recipe I LOVE to make. I can't handle the jellied cranberry stuff in the can...this cranberry salad is good enough to actually be a dessert. I actually have passed up dessert before to have another helping of this!

Cranberry Salad

1 bag cranberries
2 c. sugar
1 large can crushed pineapple (optional)
2 c. mini marshmallows
Cool Whip or 1/2 pt. whipping cream
1 c. chopped pecans

Grind cranberries in food processor. Add sugar and let stand overnight (I put in refrigerator). Next morning - Strain and keep juice. Strain pineapple. Add pineapple, marshmallows and Cool Whip to cranberry mixture. Mix well. If too dry add cranberry juice to the right consistency. Add pecans. Refrigerate.

I know the recipe says pineapple is optional but I wouldn't dream of leaving it out. I'll see what other yummy recipes I can post before Thanksgiving.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T19:49:00.005-06:00

We had a fun-filled weekend. A boy from Kristen's 1st grade class had a Halloween party Friday night. They had games, food, a scavenger hunt, crafts, and running around just being silly. Then Saturday night she went trick-or-treating with her cousin, Landon. He was a werewolf and Kristen was a Cheetah. Lots of fun but I'm glad it's over.

Pajama day

2009-10-28T07:23:00.004-05:00

Today is pajama day at school. It's part of red ribbon week, teaching the kids about staying drug free. Monday they wore their red ribbon t-shirts, Tuesday they had to wear green, and tomorrow they are supposed to wear their favorite sports team shirt. She isn't taking the cute little monkey to school with her, but I thought it was a cute picture to post :)

October

2009-10-25T20:45:00.012-05:00

October is always a very busy month, but this year it seems even busier than ever. Kristen went to a friend's slumber party a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. We have six birthdays in our family in October...my dad, my mom, sister, niece, brother-in-law, and me...so every year we get together and have one big celebration. We had cake and presents and lots of fun.

Kristen's Halloween costume is ordered and hopefully it will get here in time. Shingles have been delivered and the roofers should be here tomorrow morning to start putting on a new roof. Tomorrow afternoon I see an orthopedic surgeon that my doctor referred me to for a cyst on my thumb. We've been to my nephews soccer games, been to see my niece march in the band, been to see my other nephew play hockey. Kristen has cheer and tumbling class every Thursday night and she's loving it. Busy, busy, busy!!

We got three little pumpkins and Kristen decorated them with the same kits that we used last year.

Our Pickle Jar

2009-09-30T21:32:00.005-05:00

Do you follow my friend Amy's blog at

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/ ? I've told you about them. They were starting out with a pickle jar to start saving money for their next adoption, then someone donated all the money for their adoption. But Amy's so amazing she wanted to pass it forward and raise money to help someone else adopt. They've been eating beans and rice for dinner for the entire month of September to put the grocery savings towards the fund. I talked to Kristen about what she could do to help.

Kristen gets all my spare change and it goes into her piggy bank (and she hits Grandma and Grandpa up for their change, too). She decided she'd give all her spare change for the month of September and donate it to the Pass It Forward fund. So tonight we were going to count all the change she has saved up this month.

As we started to dump it out to count, she asked me to go get her piggy bank. I told her that what was in her piggy bank was already hers, and reminded her of what she had committed to. But you know what...she insisted that we dump all the money she already had in her piggy bank from the last few months into the pickle jar...she wanted to donate ALL of it!!

Oh yes, I am one proud mommy tonight :) And just throwing in another cute picture of her. She was in the posing mood tonight.

Recipe

2009-09-28T17:33:00.003-05:00

I haven't shared a recipe in a while, so I thought I'd post one that I just recently tried. This came from a friend of mine who is a very good cook. And since it's football season, this is perfect. We had it a couple of weeks ago while watching our team, Oklahoma State.

Monday Night Hot Wing Dip

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup ranch salad dressing
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup hot pepper sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the chicken breasts into a saucepan and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat until chicken is tender enough to be pulled apart with a fork. Drain and cool until cool enough to touch. Shred or chop chicken and place in a 1 to 2 quart casserole.
3. Mix the cream cheese into the chicken until well blended, then stir in the ranch dressing and hot sauce. Top with cheddar cheese.
4. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is browned and the sauce is bubbly.

I thought this was pretty good the first day, but thought it was even better when I reheated it the next day. YUM!!

Time flies...

2009-09-15T21:50:00.003-05:00

...when you're having fun!! Well, we've been very busy ever since school started, plus we've made two trips to Texas. We had a family reunion to attend, then two weeks later we made our annual trip to the outlet mall in Allen with Maria and Anna. School is keeping us busy with homework every night, but Kristen is loving 1st grade. They had pirate day for the 1st graders a couple of weeks ago, but she wasn't too happy about dressing up :)

We did take advantage of some beautiful weather to spend some time playing at the park.

Kristen and Anna showing off their green tongues after eating some laffy taffy. Those girls are so silly!

First day of 1st grade

2009-08-20T21:27:00.004-05:00

Today was Kristen's first day of 1st grade and she had a great day! She loves her teacher, she was excited about having PE, recess, and eating lunch there. None of her classmates from Kindergarten are in her class, so I was a little sad for her about that. I asked her a million questions when I picked her up and when I asked who she sat by at lunch she said "Boys...I was boy trapped." Too funny :) The little girl who sits right in front of her has the same last name, it's just spelled different. I think she's going to have a great year!!

Last day of summer vacation

2009-08-19T21:39:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the 1st day of school and Kristen has mixed emotions. She's excited, but she's had such a blast at her daycare this summer she doesn't want the fun to end. They went on field trips or swimming 2-3 times a week. They went to the Play Zone, the park, Little River Zoo, the Community Center gym, a RedHawks baseball game, Toy & Action Figure Museum, Stafford Space Center, Incredible Pizza, Sam Noble Museum, Science Museum, roller skating, to El Chico for a tour and lunch (little stinker got a hamburger), and the last day was to the park and to Braum's for ice cream.

Tomorrow will be a little hard for Mommy, because Kindergarten was only half a day and now she'll be there all day for 1st grade. She'll do fine and I know she's going to have a great year. She met her teacher at Open House last night and saw her classroom and her desk. Here we go!!

Newspaper article

2009-08-14T16:57:00.004-05:00

Yesterday when I was taking Kristen to daycare I hit a bird. She said "you're probably going to be in the newspaper". Wow, she was right!! Who would've thought! Guess it was a slow news day.

I did contact the editor and let them know that the article had an error...the bird was killed. They did a follow-up article.

OK, really it's not THAT boring around here. My sister put these together on a website for doing fake newspaper articles. Shhh...we don't have to tell Kristen it's fake :)

Tonsillitis

2009-08-13T20:42:00.008-05:00

Time for a little Kristen update. She's had tonsillitis this past week (for about the 3rd time and she's also had strep before). We almost took her tonsils out a couple of years ago when she was getting tubes, but decided against it at the time. I guess I'll need to talk to her ENT again about it and see what he thinks. She hates going to the doctor with a sore throat because they swab her throat to test for strep...she refers to it as a "strip test" :) So when I was on the phone calling the doctor she wrote a not so nice note for me and stuck it on the desk in front of me.

It says "Dot Wunu Go to the Dodr" - Translation is "Don't Wanna go to the Doctor"

Instead of taking ballet classes this year she decided on Cheer & Tumbling class and tonight was her first class. She LOVED it!! I'm loving the fact that I don't have to buy shoes for the class :)

Tennessee vacation

2009-08-04T21:22:00.017-05:00

After a 9 day trip and 2200 miles, we got back home from Tennessee Saturday afternoon. We were both worn out but had a great time. We spent the first night in Memphis, then drove to Chattanooga the next day. We stayed with my cousin and got to meet and play with his new baby. We also went to Lookout Mountain and rode the incline railway up to the top of the mountain. Then we took a beautiful scenic drive to Cherokee, NC where we stayed the next night. Along the drive we saw the area where the white water rafting events were held for the 1996 Olympics. Kristen made a friend when we were swimming at the hotel swimming pool. The girl said they were going to Santa's Land the next day and asked if we were going. I had no intention of doing anything in this town, it was just a stopover for the night, but it was the neatest, most beautiful place so we decided to spend a few hours looking around the next morning then I took her to Santa's Land. It was a small zoo and theme park so the girls found each other quickly and had so much fun riding rides together. The other girl was not afraid of any rides so that was a great motivator for Kristen to ride things she otherwise would NEVER ride. She rode the roller coaster (aka Rudiocoaster) FOUR times! I rode with her because it was not a little kiddie ride, it went pretty fast and threw us around enough to bruise my back. She also rode the ferris wheel a couple of times. Check out the picture of them together, her friend is only one month older than her :)

We then drove into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from the south entrance straight through to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area where we spent the next two nights. We spent an entire day at Dollywood and had a blast. It was miserably hot, though. They had misters around to help us cool off, and plenty of water rides. Kristen surprised me again by riding rides I never in a million years would have guessed she would ride.

From Pigeon Forge we headed back through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park around a different loop we had not toured previously. It was a little one way road that went very slowly, but it was breathtaking, even though we had some rain. We saw a few deer, but no bears. We drove to Nashville once we got through that part of the park. The next day we spent the day in the Nashville area, going to Franklin to the Franklin Factory for some shopping, then to the famous Loveless Cafe for lunch, then for a tour at the Grand Ole Opry. While we were at our hotel we had run down to get something out of the car. There was a Hummer limo pulling into the parking lot and I was pointing it out to Kristen, when the driver stopped and asked if we wanted to see inside. It was a woman driver so I felt safe. She said she had a few minutes to kill so she drove us around the parking lot. We opened the roof and I held Kristen up through it to look around. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

A few hours of shopping at Opry Mills Mall and we left Nashville and headed for home. It was so great to get away and relax and have fun together. All those hours in the car and she didn't fall asleep even once while driving. She had plenty of things to keep her busy and she was the best little traveler.

Vacation update

2009-07-27T18:36:00.006-05:00

We are on our 4th day of vacation and we arrived in Pigeon Forge, TN this afternoon. We've been to Chattanooga and got to see my cousin, his wife, and their son. We rode the incline railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. Yesterday we drove to Cherokee, NC and saw some breathtaking scenery. This morning we went to a little theme park and zoo called Santa's Land and Kristen had a good time there. She rode a roller coaster...not a huge roller coaster, but not a little kiddie roller coaster...and she rode it FOUR times!! She also went on the ferris wheel. This afternoon we went through Smoky Mountains National Park and it was beautiful. More to come later.

Surprise, surprise...Kristen is actually enjoying being in the pool.

Kristen had so much fun with her 2nd cousin, Daniel.

On the incline railway ready to ride up to the top of Lookout Mountain.

At the top overlooking Chattanooga.

Mornings

2009-07-19T19:07:00.002-05:00

I've mentioned before that Kristen's not really a morning person...well, she likes getting up too early on weekends when I want to sleep in, but during the week it's so hard to get her up. Friday morning she came up with a new excuse.

Me - "Kristen, it's time to get up"
Me again after a few minutes - "Kristen, I said it's time to get up"
Me again - "Kristen, you need to get up NOW"
Kristen - "But Mommy, my toes are tired"

Haven't heard that one before :)

We are leaving on vacation this Friday and are so excited. We are taking a road trip to Tennessee and will go to Chattanooga, Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg area & Dollywood, Nashville and Memphis. I'm going to try to blog along the way to share with everyone how much fun we're having.

July 4 photoshoot...almost

2009-07-05T17:29:00.006-05:00

I wanted to take a few pics of Kristen yesterday for 4th of July. We were heading out shopping and after some coaxing she agreed to take a couple of shots in the front yard.

Kristen in front of the house.

Uh oh, she feels a couple of drops of rain.And she goes running off....we are done!

We had rain off and on the rest of the afternoon and evening. We shopped at the mall, Target, and Wal-Mart, then later went to my sisters for a cookout and did some sparklers under the patio cover as it was pouring down rain. She still doesn't like the noise from fireworks but we had fun anyway.

Party!!

2009-06-22T22:01:00.005-05:00

Kristen had her Hannah Montana birthday party Saturday and we had lots of fun. They did a craft project, sang Happy Birthday to Kristen and had cake and cupcakes, opened presents, acted silly, played dress-up, had a pinata, and danced the Hoedown Throwdown. Lots of giggling and everyone seemed to have a great time. Kristen was so excited to have her friends over to celebrate with her.

Future Hannah Montana fan

Look Who's 6!!!

2009-06-15T21:46:00.004-05:00

Happy 6th birthday, Kristen!! We had a full, fun day. She went to daycare part of the day and took cookies and celebrated with her friends. Then I picked her up and came by the house and she opened her presents. Then it was off for some shopping at the mall. She wanted Mexican food for dinner so we went to Ted's. They put a sombrero on her and sang to her, which embarrassed her a little bit. She's growing up WAY too fast. My little toddler is gone and I have a big girl who talks about liking boys and already deciding how many kids she wants to have (and adopt) when she grows up. She's having some girls over Saturday for a Hannah Montana party, so more celebrating and pictures to come.

A First, The Last, and other stuff

2009-06-01T21:08:00.006-05:00

Wow, we have been busy, busy, busy!! I have a lot of catching up to do :)

A week ago Friday Kristen attended her FIRST slumber party...this was HUGE for her. It was Sami's birthday party and most of the girls were older but since Abby was there she had someone closer to her age and could sleep next to her. She had a blast!! On Sunday she started running a little fever, then Monday she was worse so I took her to the after hours clinic. She tested positive for strep throat. (Thank God Abby did not get it...I was very worried)

Last Thursday was Kristen's LAST day of Kindergarten. I volunteered at the school on Tuesday, and since I was there and asked about the birthday bash for summer birthdays, I was put in charge of organizing it. Make a few phone calls, pick up stuff for the party, put goodie bags together...we got it done.

Thursday night she had dress rehearsal for her recital, and pictures in her costume. Friday night was the rehearsal downtown where the recital was going to be. Then Saturday night was the recital and she did GREAT!! There were 11 of us there to watch her, then we all went out to eat afterwards.

While all this was going on my parents were here and we were doing a little remodel of the guest/Kristen's bathroom. Everything in there was 17 years old, from when the house was built. Popcorn ceiling....gone. Wallpaper...gone. All the old hardware, lighting, faucets...gone. We didn't tear out cabinets or anything like that, just painting and all new hardware, faucets, light, shower curtain, towels. It's a very small bathroom so it's impossible to get good pictures, but hopefully you can see how all our hard work turned out. My parents worked very hard on it, and even my brother-in-law came over and spent several hours helping out with a couple of things.

Before

After

(The cabinet doors over the toilet wouldn't line up and close correctly when we put them back up with the new hinges, so we had to leave one of them off and my BIL will have to come back over to fix it for me) I also have a little more decorating to do to finish it up.

Kristen also helped Grandpa and her cousin, Landon, wash the cars.

If you've been following Kayleigh Freeman's blog, you know they asked for people to release balloons in Kayleigh's honor on the day they held her funeral. Here is Kristen releasing balloons for Kayleigh.

She started the summer daycamp program at her daycare today and they will be taking LOTS of field trips so she should have a fun summer.

Fun Fun Fun

2009-05-14T08:08:00.008-05:00

We had a little get together Tuesday night with some friends. The kids had so much fun.

Follow me, Jagger.

Kristen LOVES Sami.

Landis is a bundle of energy and SO funny.

Silly Jagger

Wheeeeee....love her curls

Kya Blu and Abby

Abby, Kristen and Anna ready for some painting
Beautiful princesses

Princess cowgirls??

Summer's coming

2009-05-01T19:49:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago they took cap & gown pictures at Kindergarten. I've been waiting for them to let us know when graduation will be, and finally asked because I'm impatient. They said they're not having a graduation...so this leaves me scratching my head wondering why they took the pictures. Well, I still couldn't resist and bought a couple because she looks so cute in them.

We are ready for summer and a little break from homework and dance class. I still haven't finalized vacation plans, but I'm working on that.

Only 12 more years.....'Class of 2021'

Gotcha Day

2009-04-16T20:13:00.002-05:00

Happy Gotcha Day, Kristen. It's so hard to believe it's been four years since I flew to Guatemala and had the sweetest little girl placed in my arms. People cannot believe how she has changed from a shy little thing into a social butterly.

We spent a fairly quiet day together. She had to stay home from school so she didn't give pinkeye to her classmates. We did get out this afternoon and go see the Hannah Montana movie, which we both really liked. We will do more celebrating Saturday night with some of the family.

The tooth fairy came to visit last night, a little sooner than we expected. I thought we probably had a couple of more weeks before her 3rd loose tooth would come out, but we had a little incident last night. I was going to take her to the after-hours clinic for her pinkeye, and I was rushing around to get her ready, helping her brush her teeth, and as I wiped her mouth somehow I knocked the tooth out. I don't think it really hurt her, but it really started bleeding and I think we were both a little shocked. I felt SO BAD! Once she was over the shock and realized that meant she'd be getting a visit from the tooth fairy, the rest of the evening she kept saying "thanks for knocking my tooth out, Mom".

Here's Kristen helping with dinner last night...before the tooth incident.

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T12:24:00.005-05:00

We had a great trip to Fort Worth for Easter weekend. We spent all day Saturday shopping at the outlet mall in Allen, then hit a couple of my favorite stores in Dallas. I got most of Kristen's summer clothes taken care of and got some great deals. She even put on a fashion show for us Saturday night to model all her new clothes and it was hilarious.

She looked beautiful for church yesterday morning. She got about 3" cut off her hair last week and it looks so much thicker.

We didn't find a big field of bluebonnets to take her pictures in, so some friends of my parents let us take pics in front of their house.

Busy week

2009-04-06T15:12:00.006-05:00

Last week was a crazy, busy week because I was having to work late every night, and even had to work Saturday. Kristen was a trooper, even when all I gave her was a bowl of Easy Mac and some carrots for dinner :( Things should be back to normal this week, and we're excited because we'll be heading to Texas on Friday morning to spend Easter weekend down there.

Kristen watched way too much Disney channel and learned quite a few tricks on April 1. For her 1st ever April Fool's joke she got out two boxes of cereal from the cabinet and switched the inside packaging. Then she kept asking me if I wanted to eat some cereal. She couldn't wait for me to get out my cereal and pour it in my bowl, then see that it was actually her cereal. She got such a kick out of trying to trick me :)

Her 2nd loose tooth finally came out. It was barely hanging on...and I mean BARELY hanging on. She could bend it all the way forward where it would be upside down. Here, you can see for yourself :)

The tooth fairy is the coolest!! Kristen got four gold one-dollar coins!! She was so excited.

To end the busy week we went to the Cinderella ballet on Sunday afternoon. I'm really not a huge ballet fan (unless Kristen's dancing), but I could have watched Cinderella and the Prince dance all day...it was beautiful.

Snow and shopping

2009-03-29T20:37:00.003-05:00

Right now I should be writing about what a great weekend we had in Tulsa at our annual Guatemala weekend hosted by my adoption agency. The car was packed and we were ready to hit the road, but with the snow getting closer and closer I decided not to risk it. Although we ended up only getting about an inch here, they got 7 inches in Tulsa. We had fun just hanging out at home, but Kristen insisted on going out and playing in the snow. She didn't last long...the wind was blowing and she said it was like a blizzard. It was completely crazy to have snow at the end of March.

Today was more like it...in the 70's. I think I even heard a lawnmower going at a neighbor's house. We hit the mall for a little while and actually had a little success. We found an Easter dress for Kristen that we both like. Shoes are pretty difficult, because she really wants higher heels than I'm going to let her wear. We finally agreed on a pair, but they didn't have them in her size. So more shoe shopping to come in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday afternoon I caught Kristen in the bathroom doing this....

She is like me in so many ways, yet so different in so many others. She takes ballet and loves makeup...by the time I was in Kindergarten I had already wrecked a car and jumped off a house...but not in the same day :)

Good Mommy

2009-03-19T08:09:00.004-05:00

Kristen is such a good mommy to all her dolls and stuffed animals. She put this sweet baby in the stroller and added a "little" pillow to make sure she was comfy.

And even added some bling to the back!!

Fav Foto Friday - THEN

2009-03-13T22:23:00.005-05:00

Here's one of the first professional portraits I had done of Kristen. I definitely need to get Kim to do her portraits again very soon.

This was in June 2005, just two months after she came home.

And here she is out at the park last month.

To see lots of other Fav Foto Friday pics of beautiful kids, go to http://kissthefrog4me.blogspot.com/

Pray for Abby

2009-03-12T16:37:00.003-05:00

Michelle just posted this message on her blog. Abby needs your prayers more than ever at this time.

From Michelle: Abby's temperature is now 103.2. She now has green drainage coming from her g-tube wound. I am more concerned now than I have ever been for Abby.We would appreciate it if you pray and others to pray as well.I know I twittered that Abby's' doctors were considering taking her g-tube out, but now it looks like it will need to stay in. The surgeon thinks that he will need to surgically remove the damaged tissue, but he believes he will be able to keep the gastric tube in the same spot.The wound is getting more painful, even though she is on a LOT of pain medicine, it is draining large amounts of green fluid and it has a strong odor (not a good sign). Abby is worried about the drainage and so are we. This development is scary.Thank you for praying and caring about Abby and our family.

6 weeks

2009-03-11T17:41:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow will be six weeks since my hysterectomy so I'll be seeing the doctor and hopefully she'll release me to return to work and resume other activities. Things have really been pretty quiet around here, so I haven't had much to blog about.

Kristen has Spring Break next week, then she'll be in her last 9 weeks of Kindergarten. The school year has been extended by 3 days because they missed 3 days in January due to ice. She is still going to dance class every Monday night and she still LOVES it. They'll be having their recital the last weekend in May and she's really excited about that.

We're trying to figure out where to go for our summer vacation. I asked Kristen where she wants to go and she said "Hawaii". I was thinking more of someplace we could drive.

I was able to visit Abby in the hospital this week and she continues to need your prayers. She's having a difficult week.

I've been following another blog that is linked to the Riggs blog...a little girl named Brinley has leukemia and has been going through chemo. She's two years old and just beautiful. They also have two other daughters and their mom is expecting their 4th child in just a few weeks. One of the other girls has been having health problems for a couple of months and yesterday they started running more tests and one of the possibilities is leukemia. I'm praying that it's something minor, but they are very worried. Please check out their blog at http://www.sweetbrinley.com/

On a happier note, we went to Kya, Jenna, and Dani's birthday party on Sunday. They are 3 of our Guatemala friends and they all are turning 3 within a couple of weeks of each other so they had a group party. Kristen loves getting together with her Guatemala friends and I love seeing the beautiful kids and their sweet parents. We'll be going to the annual Dillon International Guatemala weekend in Tulsa in a few weeks so we'll be seeing lots of friends that we don't get to see often.

TTFN

Fav Foto Friday - FEBRUARY FAVORITE in B&W

2009-03-06T12:01:00.003-06:00

This week's theme is favorite February picture, and we were asked to post it in black & white. I don't know that this is necessarily my favorite, but in black & white I think it shows her emotion a little better. She'd hurt herself and had a few tears, and I had the camera out anyway snapping pictures since we were having a playdate. Poor thing, you can see the tears running down her cheek.

Fav Foto Friday - SILLY

2009-02-27T09:55:00.005-06:00

This weeks theme for Fav Foto Friday is SILLY. Here are a few pics of Kristen being silly.

First day of Kindergarten. I'm glad she wasn't nervous...I was nervous enough for both of us.

I'm not quite sure what she was doing here. Just a silly pose in her PJ's.

This was at the park. She kept running towards me acting silly, then she'd go back out and run towards me again.

You can check out other silly pics at http://kissthefrog4me.blogspot.com/

Fav Foto Friday - Fake Out

2009-02-20T13:49:00.004-06:00

This week's Favorite Foto Friday theme is Fake-Out.

Here's Kristen pretending to be asleep.

And a fake smile

Playdate

2009-02-17T15:53:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Kristen had a wonderful playdate with Sami, Abby and Landis. They were able to come by after Abby had been to the oncology clinic. Please keep their family in your prayers as she is back in the hospital today starting another tough phase of chemo.

Recipe for banana pudding

2009-02-14T20:37:00.003-06:00

I want to share one of my favorite recipes. This is another one from Paula Deen, and it is beyond good...oh my goodness, it's one that'll be requested over and over. I love banana pudding, but this is not your typical banana pudding.

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
6 to 8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Yield: 12 servings.

I made this around Christmas and the Chessmen cookies had Christmas imprints on them, which made the dessert look very festive. Hope you try this and love it as much as I do :)

First lost tooth

2009-02-13T21:16:00.003-06:00

FINALLY...her loose tooth came out yesterday. She was eating nachos for lunch at the daycare and it came out. She called to tell me, but I was at the doctor so she left the most adorable message on the answering machine. Grandma had gotten her the cutest little pillow to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy, so she put it in that last night and the tooth fairy came for a visit.

Bonjour

2009-02-11T08:50:00.004-06:00

We were riding in Grandma and Grandpa's car a few days ago. Grandpa has two hats in there...she started looking around for one that she wanted to try on and said "Where's the hat that people wear where they do art and say Bonjour"?

Oh my gosh, we all just cracked up!!

Recovering from surgery

2009-02-06T21:08:00.004-06:00

I've spent the last week recovering from surgery and haven't felt much like blogging...plus there really hasn't been a lot to blog about. My hysterectomy was a week ago yesterday. I only spent one night at the hospital, but it was a LOOOOOONG night. I was awake every 15-30 minutes pushing that morphine button, a machine would beep to wake me up when I wasn't breathing deeply enough, beeping when the IV bag was empty, and of course the nurse coming in to take care of me and watch my temp which went up during the night. I was pretty miserable, but starting at 6:30 in the morning they started disconnecting things, getting me up some, because I only had a few hours before I had to leave...thanks to my insurance company deciding when I should be out.
All in all, it went very well. I've had pain, but probably the worst thing I've endured this week is reactions to my meds. I thought I'd figured out which pain med was the problem, switched to the other one, had another reaction, so then I went just to just taking Tylenol. That only left one other type of prescription and last night I had a terrible reaction, so that had to be the cause. The doc prescribed two new meds today so we'll see if that takes care of it.
Kristen has been incredibly sweet to me. My parents are here taking care of us since I can't drive for another week, and the other day she told them they couldn't both be gone at once...one of them could take her where she needed to go and the other one had to stay home with me. Before I went into the hospital she asked me if I would have room service :) When she visited me at the hospital she looked pretty scared seeing all the tubes hooked to me. She was really glad to have me home.
I honestly have had a good week...compared to what our precious friend Abby is enduring. Please keep Abby and her family in your prayers, as she is in the hospital again having serious complications. Please leave Abby and her family a comment on their blog at http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com

Visit with Abby and Snow Day

2009-01-27T20:49:00.007-06:00

Yes, I'm still here. I've just been really busy plus I've been having a lot of problems with my computer. We had a great day Saturday visiting Abby and her family. Candy and Kya Blu also were there and it had been way too long since we had seen them. I didn't pay attention to the fact that I didn't have the setting right on my camera, so I only got a few good pictures. The girls had so much fun playing and dancing together. They are all so beautiful.

Today the schools were closed because of ice and snow. Unfortunately, I still had to work at home so Kristen had a pretty boring day. Later in the afternoon I did finally take her outside to play in the little bit of snow we had. She had so much fun.

No, she didn't fall in one of the pictures above. She was LAYING down playing in it. Tomorrow will also be very busy as I finish up work and things around here because I'll be heading to the hospital very early Thursday morning to have a hysterectomy. I should get out of the hospital Friday or Saturday. Kristen was having a really hard time with this, but seems to be doing a little better and talking about it without crying now. She said she'll miss me but I think she understands now I'll only be gone one or two nights and she will be coming to visit me. I have a wonderful family that will take very good care of us.

Fav Foto Friday - Eyes

2009-01-16T18:38:00.004-06:00

The theme for this week's Fav Foto Friday is Eyes. I've posted two pictures, and you can see the difference in how sad she was right after she was given up for adoption, compared to when I was in Guatemala on my pick-up trip.

Such sad eyes

Happy eyes

Hard to believe it's the same child.

Last night's conversation

2009-01-15T17:08:00.002-06:00

I finally ordered a 2009 planner and it was delivered to the house yesterday. When Kristen got home she picked it up not knowing what it was and here's how our conversation went:

Kristen - "Oh, a journal"
Me - "No, it's not a journal"
Kristen - "Is it a diarrhea?"
Me - "HUH??"
Kristen - "You know, the thing you write your secrets in"
Me - "OOOOHHHH...no sweetie, it's not a diary"

Recipe for Taco Soup

2009-01-08T18:30:00.003-06:00

I love to cook, so I try a lot of new recipes. Some of my blogger buddies occasionally share good recipes, so I thought I'd share some recipes on my blog this year. I tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago and Kristen and I both loved it. It's a Paula Deen recipe and most of her recipes are delicious.

Taco Soup
1 3/4 pounds ground chuck
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Two 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juice
One 15 to 16 ounce can kidney beans, drained
One 15 to 16 ounce can pinto beans, drained
One 15 to 16 ounce can black beans, drained
One 15.25 ounce can whole kernal corn, drained
One 14.5 ounce can chicken broth
One 1.25 ounce package taco seasoning mix

1. In a large Dutch oven, cook the beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until browned, stirring until the meat crumbles. Drain well and return the meat and vegetables to the Dutch oven.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, corn, broth, and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Serves 10-12

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, so I bought the petite diced. Also, I may have used a little more meat than it called for, and it came out a little too thick. So I added another can of chicken broth to get it to a consistency I liked. The first night we had it I added a little bit of velveeta cheese in my bowl and it was really good. The next night I put a little sour cream in and it was really good. It's really easy and makes a LOT!

Fav Foto Friday - Favorite 2008 Foto

2009-01-03T09:52:00.002-06:00

Once again, I am a day late. This week the theme is favorite foto of 2008. This was a hard one, but I picked the picture below because Kristen is with her best buddy, her grandpa. This was at my niece's wedding where Kristen was the flower girl.

Fav Foto Friday (a day late)

2008-12-27T15:04:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pics from Christmas

Kristen's first loose tooth

2008-12-21T21:53:00.008-06:00

Kristen has her first loose tooth. You'd think she had won the lottery as excited as she is. She wants everyone to know...the checkout person at Target, any customer we passed in the aisle, she says she's going to tell her ear doctor on Tuesday, she can't wait to tell her teacher at daycare tomorrow :) And more than anything she can't wait to show Grandma and Grandpa when they get here tomorrow. Just a couple of pictures from the last couple of days. Her shirt says 'Been Good All Year'.

Fav Foto Friday - HO HO HO

2008-12-19T21:30:00.004-06:00

We saw Santa today!!

Fav Foto Friday

2008-12-05T07:56:00.001-06:00

There isn't a theme for Fav Foto Friday this week, so I'm posting some pictures of Kristen helping decorate the Christmas tree...and just goofing off and posing for the camera.

Video from The Nutcracker - Angels

2008-12-03T13:35:00.005-06:00

Here is the video of the angels from The Nutcracker. I didn't do a very good job of taking the video, and you can't see her very well. But it's still precious....

Indian Day and The Nutcracker

2008-11-23T21:30:00.005-06:00

What a busy, busy weekend. Friday started with Indian Day for the Kindergartners at Kristen's school. I was there to help out with projects for a little while. Here are a few pictures of the day. People often comment on how tall Kristen looks, but as you can see in the picture with her classmates, she's the shortest one.

Then I was off to a doctor's appointment which didn't go very well. As soon as she put her hand on my abdomen she felt something. I've had pain for a few months, but just attributed it to the same things that have caused me pain off and on since I was 16 years old. I've had surgery twice for endometriosis, and told her with my pain I just figured it was time to go in and laser that off again. I was wrong. Several of the possible scenarios will mean surgery, with I guess the worst case scenario being a hysterectomy. Wow, that makes me sound REALLY OLD!! I'll go have an ultrasound Dec 16, then back to the doctor Dec 23 to find out my fate.

Friday night Kristen had dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker. We had to be there at 6:00 and weren't done until 10pm. It didn't go all that great so I was a little concerned about how the performance was going to turn out. Since my parents came from Texas to see her perform, I took advantage and had them keep her for a while Saturday morning so I could do some Christmas shopping for her. I got almost all of my shopping for her done. Then Saturday night was The Nutcracker. It really turned out great. She was so excited, especially about getting to wear makeup :) It was so fun. Here are a couple of pics. I couldn't take pictures during the performance, but I tried to take a little video and once I see if that turned out I'll try to post it. Pretty entertaining stuff.

Bye-Bye Bronchitis

2008-11-20T07:06:00.003-06:00

Well, I've been out of touch because I've had bronchitis. I'm almost back to 100%, but it's taken a while. I usually will get bronchitis and just take an hour to two off of work, go to the doctor and get some medicine, and get right back to work. This was a little worse this time, I missed several days of work, would sleep 3-4 hours in the afternoon, could doze on the couch for a couple of hours in the evening, and coughed quite a bit during the night so I didn't sleep well. Kristen didn't get fed very well, but she sure had fun dragging lots of stuff into the living room to play with and making a big mess :) Thank goodness one afternoon my sister came and got Kristen for a while, fed her, washed her hair, then brought back a clean little girl to me. But we're getting back to normal now, just in time for her Nutcracker performance this weekend. She's had a lot of rehearsals, which also drained my energy even more going to and from those.

One day on the way to her rehearsal she said "do these sparkles make me look fat"? She was, of course, kidding. Another day while driving to rehearsal she sat there and recited practically an entire episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. This girl has a fantastic memory. They've been learning about indians all month in Kindergarten and tomorrow is Indian Day. Parents get to attend so I'm looking forward to that. I guess they'll learn to fish, grind corn, and I'm not sure what else. I'll try to remember to take my camera to get some pictures.

Kristen is an angel

2008-11-06T07:00:00.002-06:00

Kristen is an angel...I know, that's not really news, you already knew that :)
BUT...her dance company had tryouts Saturday for their production of The Nutcracker and she was cast as one of the angels!! We are both so excited. They will be practicing a lot in the next couple of weeks because the performance is Nov 22. I can't wait to see it.

Halloween 2008 - Sleeping Beauty

2008-11-03T07:51:00.000-06:00

Fav Foto Friday

2008-10-31T07:09:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween

Wedding/Weekend in Texas

2008-10-30T19:30:00.007-05:00

We got home from Texas late Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stop and see Abby because Kristen was still a little under the weather. We had a great weekend. On Friday, our first stop was to see Amy, Aleigha and Kaden. The kids ate pizza and played on the trampoline. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Then we headed to Fort Worth to my parents. We headed to the mall, then out to eat Mexican food. Saturday morning we hit The Container Store and a little pumpkin patch they had in front of the mall. Saturday evening was my cousin's wedding in Southlake. The wedding was great and she looked beautiful. As soon as they said their I Do's and were introduced, before they headed back down the aisle she came over to Kristen and handed her the bouquet. We were so surprised! How special is that for Kristen to get the bride's bouquet. She LOVES flowers and was so excited about them. Here she is with her beautiful bouquet.

This week has been busy with work, school, homework, dance class, going to dinner with Aunt Sherri for her birthday, and getting ready for Halloween. I'll take pictures tomorrow night of Sleeping Beauty.

We're in Texas

2008-10-24T21:04:00.005-05:00

Well, I didn't get the chance to do Fav Foto Friday, because we headed for Texas early this morning. It's been a long day, but we've had so much fun. We got to spend some time hanging out with Amy, Aleigha and Kaden. The kids had so much fun playing together and I had so much fun spending time with Amy. Kaden is a doll...so sweet and just adorable! Aleigha just gets more beautiful all the time. Unfortunately the other kids were at school so we didn't get to see them.

Then we headed to my parents in Fort Worth, picked them up and headed straight for the mall :) Did some shopping then went out for Mexican food at our favorite restaurant. It's not in the best part of town, and a few months ago when we went there was a shooting right down the street and we passed by as the poor guy was still lying on the ground covered by a tarp, but that still hasn't stopped us from going there.

Tomorrow is my cousin's wedding so that should be a lot of fun. My 3 favorite stores are around here (we don't have them in Oklahoma), so if I can make it to just one of them I'll be a very happy camper. They are The Container Store, Crate and Barrel, and Central Market. Then if everyone is feeling well we will be visiting with Abby on Sunday as we come back home.

This evening Kristen said today was the best day ever!!! She loved jumping on the trampoline at Aleigha and Kaden's house. I'm sure she'll be putting one on her Christmas list now :)

Fav Foto Friday

2008-10-17T13:08:00.006-05:00

Now with this new blog I'm going to try to do a better job posting. I've never participated with my blogger friends in Favorite Foto Friday, so today's my first time. The theme for this week is Friends. I've posted a couple of pictures of Kristen with some of her Guatemala friends, and one of her with her friends at her old school.

The Story of Sho Sho

2008-10-15T15:40:00.005-05:00

As many of you know, Kristen was 22 months old when she came home. That meant she was already speaking quite a bit in Spanish. You know how babies don't always say the words quite right, so you have to figure out what words they are trying to say. Well, with her I had to figure out what Spanish word she was trying to say, then could figure out the English word. Here are some examples of what she said and what I translated it to.
Atchee = Leche = Milk
Mia = Mire = Look
Nena = Nina = Girl
Agua = Water (She said that one perfectly...I knew what she was saying)

When I received her referral I sent her a package with a few things...clothes, toys, and a teddy bear. I would get monthly updates with pictures of her. When I got one of her last updates before she came home that bear was in the pictures with her, along with a few other furry friends. When I finally got to Guatemala and met her in the Marriott Lobby, she was clinging to that bear. I have to admit that I was really excited that she was attached to something I sent :) Thank goodness she got to keep the bear, as he comforted her many times during those first few months. He is still one of her best buddies, although she doesn't drag him everywhere like she did back then. Do you know what the Spanish word for bear is....Oso. But she couldn't say it right...she said Sho Sho. And to this day his name is still Sho Sho.

Kristen and Sho Sho in Guatemala, just a couple of weeks before she came home.

Kristen and Sho Sho now.

Welcome to my new blog/Operation Princess Hair

2008-10-11T19:44:00.004-05:00

I don't have everything set up on this new blog yet, but I wanted to send you over to Angel's blog to read a post about sweet Abby.
http://thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com/