A week in review......

This week was a busy week! To start with I celebrated my ninth, 30th birthday....next year the big 40! Russ and the kids gave me this beautiful cake, my favorite, chocolate with whip cream frosting. I also received a pair of my favorite PJ's...organic cotton from Garnet Hill. They did a great job! Next, on to Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law and I alternate years, this year it was her turn. Thursday morning off to Iowa to enjoy a long weekend with Russ' family. We have celebrated Thanksgiving with Russ's family for the last 13 years. Russ's brother comes from Texas, his sister from Illinois, and his Uncle's family from South Carolina. We look forward to seeing every one each year.

There are 10 grandchildren and I am sorry to say this is the best picture I was able to take.....sad but true...I guess I should be glad all 10 are in the picture.

The boys...minus Max.

Russ and I took June to the arboretum for a little outside time. She had a great time running through the gardens.

When we arrived home on Saturday afternoon June took a little snooze on the couch.

Sunday morning and time for church....June was hamming it up for the camera! I did not have to work today so it was time for Christmas lights and decorations. We spent today getting ready for the holidays and catching up around the house. We were able to get all the lights up outside and get our "Snow Village" in place. While Russ went to run some errands, June and I put up her Christmas tree. I have a feeling I am in big trouble with the tree this year. June was very interested in taking the ornaments off and putting them back on the tree. I think I made a good decision when I decided to only put up one tree this year(I normally put up two)!

June and her Disney Princess tree!

This week is going to be very busy. The boys have Christmas programs at school and we go on our annual trek to Wisconsin to cut down our Christmas tree. This week I was reminded of how blessed we are, I am truly thankful for all the blessings God has granted our family. I hope all of you had a wonderful Holiday....have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving.....

Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

Pigtails.............

June's first pigtails! She is so darn cute, I know everyone is tired of hearing that....however, she just warms my heart and makes everyday better.

A week in review....

I will start this review with June's amazing musical talent. The above video is TJ helping June play the trumpet. Although the trumpet is as big as June, she was able to actually make music, which is no small accomplishment. When the kids try out for band in the 5th grade the music teacher "tests" if they can use their lips properly for different instruments, apparently getting picked for the trumpet is difficult. Perhaps June will be a future trumpet player.....or not. June had a rough week, she had two teeth come in and she had a cold. However, by Thursday she was starting to feel a little bit better. Friday we had a girls day out and met my Mom and Aunt for lunch and shopping. We had a really nice day and June especially liked playing with all the toys at Pottery Barn Kids. June continues to add new words to her vocabulary, some fun ones (taught by the men in the family) include..."first down", "no way", and a rude lip noise followed by, "mom"......thanks guys! Last but not least, June figured how to float on her back in the tub....she rolls onto her back and then belly laughs, sits up, and starts over. I have pics but couldn't quite get them edited enough to be respectable:).

All in all we had a pretty good week, no sports makes the evenings quite a bit easier. The next few weeks are bound to be busy, however. Thanksgiving, school programs, and holiday preparations are ahead....I can't wait!

These boots are made for walking.........

Outfit by Old Navy...cuteness..JUNE!

June's moves..........

I am by no means a videographer....but June has been doing some dancing lately and I tried to catch it on video.

A week in review..............

I look forward every Sunday to writing my weekly review, I think of the funny things June has done, as well the boys....when I sit down in front of the computer it has usually left my brain. I am sure this is a combination of age, having 4 children, two pets, and of course a husband:)

A few pics from T.J.'s party....even 12 and 13 year old boys can be charmed by a one year old Chinese girl!

As you can read from my previous post, T.J. turned 13 yesterday. T.J. was a fussy baby and I remember thinking when he was six month old things could only get easier. Well, I was wrong. Each year brings different challenges, I don't think one has been easier than an other, just different. T.J. had a great Birthday weekend. Friday night four of his good friends spent the night and after only a few hours of sleep it was off to the indoor skate park. Our house hold tradition is that on the night of your birthday you can pick what we have for dinner, T.J. picked "The Cheesecake Factory". Jake and T.J. ordered cheesecake for dinner, while Max ordered popcorn shrimp(check out Max's question of the day). June was quite happy with three helpings of whipped cream and the fruit and bread plate they give to toddlers!

Although I have not written about it lately June is still battling BHS(breath holding spells). Today she had the worst one she has had since July. I feel so bad for her, after a bad spell she is physically exhausted, which is common according to the literature I have read. Over the past 8 months we have learned how to help her through the spells and we continue to look toward the day she out grows them....because they are so, so, scary to watch. All is not gloom and doom, June's favorite activity this week is "dashing"(that would be drawing to most of us). Her favorite tool to "dash" with is a fat colored pencil, she is still interested in the "color wonder" markers, but this weeks choice would definitely be the pencil.

This was our first full week with no sports since July, yeah!!! Our only scheduled events were Religious Ed. and guitar lessons. Yes, guitar lessons! Max received an electric guitar for his birthday last April and is finally taking lessons, we are two in and he has not quit (good sign for Max). Also, as you can see from my blog, I am getting in the Christmas spirit a little early and as a wise woman once said, "waiting is for sissies", I agree. My Valentine header will be posted next week:) Have a great week!

Happy Birthday T.J......a teenager?

T.J. Happy 13th Birthday...It has been quite the journey watching you grow into the fine young man you are becoming. We love you....hope you have a great day!

Christmas?....

For those of you who know me well you won't be surprised to see a "Christmas Header" on June makes Six. One of my many flaws is impatience. I had planned on waiting until after Thanksgiving to make my changes, however, it was driving me crazy knowing it was all ready to go and just sitting there in my computer. Yes, I am one of those people who wear new clothes the day I get them!:)

China.....

China amazes me. Tonight by chance Russ turned on Frontline on PBS, there was a show on China.....it is a program Ted Koppel has been working on for years and it totally took me in. I have provided a link here for this programming on PBS, I can't wait to have time to explore this site. I am a junkie for information on China. I wonder what June's life might have been like had she not blessed our family. I wonder about her birth family, what they did, where they live, if they wonder where their baby girl is. China is a mix of the future and the past. I think capitalism has poisoned a country of tradition and history. I have never been out of the United States except for my trip to China, however, I think it is one of the most amazing places that exists in our world today. In China the ancient collides with the modern and the people are ,at to me, what seems a crossroads. We think that we here in the US. have difficult times ahead of us, however, China has political issues on a much larger scale. Seventy percent of Chinese do not have health care coverage. When we were in China we had to go to the hospital, it was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. We are lucky here in the U.S. to have the health care we have. As I continue to watch Frontline I am mesmerized....because of June and Grace, part of my heart will always be in China, tied to a people who gave me two of the greatest blessings of my life.

A week in review...............

Where to begin? Last week my week in review looked forward to our country's election. Although, President elect Obama was not my choice I will pray daily that he leads our country responsibly, morally, and ethically. Okay, enough with the politics, on to the fun stuff...Let's start with Dave. I have not had Dave on the blog in a while so I have uploaded a version of "Steady as we go" for your listening enjoyment. I do love Dave, I know, I know, what does a conservative Republican love about a liberal Democrat?.....everything, right down to the very last song!!:)

The picture above is the very first digital scrapbook page I did last February. I am glad to say that after about 8 months I have just about finished my pages from our trip to China. My plan was to have the project completed by our one year anniversary, plan 2 was to have it completed by R's birthday.....now I am shooting for the next holiday....Thanksgiving! If you are interested in seeing my work click on the scrapbook page and it will take you to a gallery to see all the pages I have completed so far.
This little shot is June wearing a hat she fished out of the closet on Friday night. She loved putting the hat on and pulling it off again...on, off, on, off, you get the idea! June is so much fun, I love spending time with her, she cracks me up. Her vocabulary increases every day. My favorite word this week is "lalosh" for those of you who do not speak French, that means lotion. My other favorite is "mena" which means banana. She is funny, loving, and busy. Her favorite pastime this week is drawing....thank goodness for "color wonder"!

June also went to the movies this week for the first time. The boys had 2&1/2 days off this week for parent-teacher conferences, so on Friday afternoon we went to see "Madagascar". June shared my soda, had two suckers, made a lot of noise, and spent time running in the lobby. We even helped a friend set up her daughter's birthday party in the party room.....lesson, the movies are no place for a toddler, but what is a mom of four supposed to do?
Sports are finally over. Jake's team made it to the playoffs and unfortunately lost. Although, Jake was disappointed, he will not have football practice for the first time since July....yeah!!!! We have a sports respit just in time for the holidays. Did you know Christmas is in only 5 weeks? Yikes, luckily for me I have started my shopping. I hope to be done by December 1st so I can enjoy decorating, wrapping, and cooking! Wish me luck, I know I will need it.
Hope everyone has a great week. Visit "Waiting for Flora" to see the first pics of sweet, sweet Flora! Congrats!

RMJ Speedway.............

Jake and Matt made a "speedway" for June yesterday on the driveway. They wanted me to film the race.....so here it is!

A few weekend pics............................

When I was little my Nana and Papa would pick my brother, my mom, and myself after school every Thursday and we would go to their house for "pasta dinner". Well, yesterday afternoon we traveled to Nana's for a spectacular dinner. June spent a lot of time pulling Nana to the snack table to feed her crackers and dip. June would dip the cracker and give it to Nana. We had a really nice afternoon. Did I mention Nana makes the best pasta in the whole world!

This is June in her new hat...she wore it to TJ's soccer game on Saturday afternoon...she did not even try to take it off!

A week in review...looking forward.....

I decided to look forward this week....please vote pro-life on Tuesday, November 4, 2008....our Country's future depends on it.

Halloween Day 2008....