China Caboose

Impetigo Day #5

2011-10-28T09:43:00.003-07:00

But still as cute as ever!!!

Impetigo

2011-10-24T10:07:00.003-07:00

This post is for Presley's doctor. I couldn't get a photo with a high enough resolution to be sent through the message center for her doctor, so I'm posting it here!!

Happy Birthday Lexi!!

2011-10-11T10:01:00.007-07:00

Sweet Lexi is 5 today! I'm sure there will be no birthday cake or party balloons, but I hope that her guardian angel whispers in her ear and lets her know that she has a family on the other side of the world that she will always be part of. She will always be loved by us and many others whose story she has touched.

Carson (age 8) is really connected to his little sister that he will probably never meet. Just a couple of weeks ago Carson was very excited to show me in his Boy's Life magazine that you could enter to win a trip to India. He said "If I win, I will find that wishing tree (I think he saw this on a Disney show? Hannah Montana??) Do you know what I will wish for? I will wish that Lexi gets better!!"

I was going through my husband's phone and saw this video on it. Carson really does have a special place in his heart for Lexi. WE LOVE YOU LEXI!!! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET GIRL!!

And I found this cute video too!!

PIcture Post

2011-07-26T15:09:00.007-07:00

Wow!! It has been forever since I posted. So instead of trying to catch up, I will just post some pictures of what we have been up to!
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Carson can spell!!

2011-03-11T08:59:00.002-07:00

Yes!! Carson knows all of his words this week. With his sensory processing disorder, sometimes things can seem overwhelming to him and he gets easily frustrated and says he can't do it. He has been struggling in his rocket math and spelling because he thinks he can't memorize. We made up a little rap for the word "beautiful" and all of a sudden he could spell the other words too!! He CAN do this. I have always known that and hopefully now he will know it too!!

Landon playing Bop it!

2011-03-05T20:34:00.002-07:00

Landon is playing Bop It, which is a toy that is recommended for ages 8 and up. Here he got a score of 19, but I have seen him get a score of 24. He started playing this last week. My sweet little boy can hardly talk, but he sure can play a mean game of Bop It!! This toy seems to be quite calming for him. With his sensory processing disorder, this might be something that he can do to relax him.

Summer 2010

2011-02-14T22:33:00.003-07:00

A few cute pics from the summer that I didn't post. .....

The Faces of Presley

2011-02-05T19:00:00.002-07:00

These were all taken within about 10 minutes of each other. She can turn it on and off really well and tries to use that talent to her advantage!!

Tahoe Part 3

2011-02-05T18:21:00.001-07:00

Tahoe Part 2

2011-01-03T23:20:00.002-07:00

Tahoe Part 1

2011-01-01T22:55:00.002-07:00

We went to Lake Tahoe back in September. I am finally getting around to posting some of the pictures. Hopefully I can post the rest this week. We enjoyed a day at BEAUTIFUL Glenbrook and also went on a hike. We weren't prepared for the weather to be as nice as it was when we were at Glenbrook and the kids couldn't help but get in the lake!!

Molly pics

2010-12-29T16:16:00.002-07:00

Our new puppy!!!!

2010-12-04T21:33:00.002-07:00

This is our new puppy!!! She is 4 weeks old in this picture. She is a goldendoodle and will be joining our family the week before Christmas. Right now her name is Ginger, but we haven't come up with a new name for her yet. The kids just love her!!!

Kendall's conscience

2010-12-01T21:17:00.002-07:00

Kendall (age 9) - "I was going to go to sleep because I thought you guys were mad at me. Then I had a good discussion with myself and myself made me come down and say I'm sorry."

It is so nice to have a daughter that is so trustworthy. Thank you Kendall for being such a wonderful daughter!!! We love you!!

Apple Hill!!

2010-11-07T19:07:00.004-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful day and we were sick of cleaning our house, so we loaded up the kids, left our messy house behind, and headed up to Apple Hill. We have decided that we need to do things on the weekends besides clean our house. If we were to spend all day cleaning, you know what?? Our house would look exactly the same the following Saturday!! Right now we are in a tough situation. Our kids are young, I am working from home, I have preschools, elementary schools, therapies, and doctors appointments to go to and I spend much of my day dealing with Landon's meltdowns or trying to prevent them. Things are getting better and they will continue to get better. We have just 2 1/2 years until all 4 kids are in school all day. Until then, we are going to enjoy the wonderful place that we live and all of the things there are to do here!

We had a great day at Apple Hill. The weather was really nice and I think all of Northern California also decided to go to Apple Hill that day!! But we were in no hurry and really enjoyed ourselves! I got some great pictures of Carson, despite his long hair!!!

Missing 3 top teeth!!

2010-09-09T15:23:00.001-07:00

My cute boy!

2010-08-29T20:48:00.002-07:00

Karate Kid

2010-08-13T19:27:00.003-07:00

Carson went to his first karate class today. He LOVED it!! Derek said he was beaming during the whole class. He loved the exercises and really paid attention and tried hard to learn the moves. He was in a class with 7-12 year olds. Since he is just 7, they are going to move him down to the 5-6 year old class until he gets caught up and then they will move him up to the more intense class when he is ready. I have been wanting to get him into karate for a long time. It is a perfect sport for him. A sport where he can advance at his own pace and not feel like he has to compare himself to others. I am so happy he has found something that he seems to really enjoy that doesn't have a joystick or screen attached!!

Picture post

2010-08-08T22:39:00.002-07:00

Presley

2010-07-22T17:58:00.005-07:00

When I resize my photos on Flickr so they will fit on my blog it reduces the quality. Is there a way to resize them and keep the quality? You would think if I was making the pictures smaller and not bigger that the quality would stay the same?? Anyone know??? Here is the original size down below. You definitely see that the quality in the photo below is MUCH better, but it is too big to fit on the blog. I am copying and pasting the HTML. Should I use the photos URL instead?? What does everyone else do??

Our first broken bone.....we think!

2010-07-13T19:02:00.004-07:00

Almost 2 weeks ago I was trying to get the all the kids and I down for a "family nap" in my room. Whenever we try to do this there is way more noise and giggles than resting. Landon was running around the room like a mad man when he tripped on a stuffed animal and fell right into the box spring of our bed. Blood was gushing and he was crying. I cleaned him up, he cried for about 10 minutes and then laid down and took a nap. When he woke up this is what I saw and I decided to take him into the ER.

In the ER the doc looked at him for about 60 seconds and told me to try and put ice on it, that he would probably get 2 black eyes, not to worry, and made an appointment for the ENT for 6 days later.

Here he is on Friday.

On Saturday, the day of our neighborhood 4th of July parade he looked like this.

This is on Monday, probably the day it looked the worst.

I took him the the ENT last Wednesday and the doctor looked at it, felt it a little bit, and told us that it was probably broken but that it was healing well and looked like it would probably heal straight. A week later and the swelling has gone down. It is still green and he still has black eyes, but they are finally starting to fade some. He has bumped it a couple of times in the past couple of days and it has bled a little. But he started to look like himself and not Rocky Balboa!!

Oh, and if you're wondering why he has blood coming out of his nose....he wouldn't let me touch it. I gave him several baths to try to get the steam to clean it up a bit, but he wouldn't let me go anywhere near it and the doctor said to try not to touch it so that it wouldn't bleed. So he looked a little gross for a few days!!

Photogenic

2010-06-07T10:18:00.003-07:00

Some kids are just born photogenic. I am not a not a photographer in any way, but I don't think H-man could take a bad picture!!

Just because.......

2010-06-02T16:53:00.002-07:00

......she's so stinkin' cute!!!

Happy Gotcha Day!!!

2010-05-31T18:55:00.005-07:00

Two years ago yesterday we first met our precious Presley!! Can you believe it? On Saturday I took a picture of her in her Gotcha Day clothes. I had to bribe her with a lollipop to even get her to try them on. So I didn't get a great picture, but you can tell how much she has grown!! She tried really hard to put her shoes on. We love you sweet Pres and couldn't imagine life without you!!

Fun at Grandma's!!

2010-05-29T10:39:00.002-07:00

What is it about swings that bring out the pure joy in kids? The kids love the swingset in Grandma's backyard. Landon especially loves to swing. It is really good for his sensory issues. Speaking of Landon, check out his hairline on the last picture. My little bald man!!!

Pocatello Zoo

2010-05-29T10:31:00.002-07:00

We had a fun day at the zoo! It was the perfect size for kids. The group picture was the best I could do. Someday I WILL get a good shot of all 4 kids!! We are having fun in Pocatello!!

Home Improvement!!

2010-05-20T21:57:00.011-07:00

We have been busy working on our new house. We flew my step-dad out and put him to work on lots of home improvement projects! Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.

First of all were the kitchen appliances. As you can tell, they were really ugly. I didn't get a picture of the dishwasher before, but it was super ugly too. We brought our stainless steel fridge with us, so now everything is matchy matchy!!

Next was this crazy wasted space we had. I also didn't get a picture of this before, but you can tell about how big it was. We opened up underneath the stairs and were hoping to make a huge pantry, but the way the stairs were framed, it would've taken a very long time to make it usable. So instead, we were able to get a very small section underneath the stairs that we will use as Landon's chill out room. He really likes enclosed spaces. Now he can open our new pantry door and crawl through his secret door and into his little room. There is a light in there and it is about 10 feet tall. We need to get some carpet in there and we will put up a little curtain over the door of his little clubhouse.

Next came Presley's room. At first it was a loft that we really didn't use since we use the formal dining room downstairs as a playroom. Now Presley has a new room. We still have to put on door knobs, paint, and finish above her closet, but she is loving her new room and Kendall is really happy to have her out of her room!!

We also put a door on our master bathroom, which I don't have a picture of. When you were in our shower and the bedroom door was open, you could look straight down the hallway!! HELLO!!!

Our favorite project of all has been our yard!! It was full of weeds and now we LOVE it. Along the fence you can see 5 small fruit trees. We have a plum, granny smith apple, peach, cherry, and mandarin orange!! They are teeny trees, but our peach tree already has little peaches on it. I can't wait until we have lots of fruit!! We can't walk on our yard for 3 weeks, but soon we will set up our new trampoline and buy a play structure!! Next up, we hope, is new carpet. Boy is our carpet a mess!!!!

Here is cute Landon helping grandpa. He loved watching the construction and liked to help whenever he could!!

When you are upstairs and look out the big windows and over the freeway, this is what you see. Cows!! That is an environmentally protected area, so nothing will ever be built over there.

Presley is 3!!!

2010-04-30T11:20:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet Presley! I can't believe our baby is 3! She is growing up so fast. She now weighs 36 pounds, wears a size 4T-5T and size 10 shoe! She still loves to eat. She has become quite the comedian and loves to make silly faces. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. On this day our thoughts always turn to her China mommy. We wish she could see a glimpse of the beautiful girl that she gave life to. I'm sure she would love to know that the little girl that was born with a cleft without much opportunity has been given all that she could imagine for her precious child! I'm sure she would cry many happy tears if she could only know what good things have happened to her baby girl. Sweet Presley we love you so much!! Happy Birthday to our precious gift from China.

My orphan no more!!

2010-04-02T18:39:00.003-07:00

The other day I looked at Presley and thought "She looks like an orphan" and of course I immediately realized the irony. She had messy bed head still and a chocolate covered face. Once she was an orphan. Now she has a family that not only gives her chocolate, but cleans it off her face and styles her hair into those adorable pigtails! Doesn't every child deserve this kind of a life?? Doesn't every family deserve to have a Presley in their lives??

Date night!!

2010-03-21T16:04:00.004-07:00

Last night it was our turn hosting date night. The weather has been beautiful and the kids had a great time playing outside in our "weed garden." We are hoping within the next month to get grass, a play structure, and trampoline. But the kids still had a great time, weeds and all!

What a night!!

2010-02-14T06:28:00.003-07:00

We had quite the interesting night last night. Landon has been really sick the last couple of days with a horrible cough and an on and off fever. I called the nurse and they didn't have any more appointments available yesterday, but said we should get a call on Sunday morning for a possible appointment. Presley has been sick, but as of yesterday morning had no fever. Within about a 10 minute time period she went downhill developing a fever and an obvious ear infection. So we had both babies crying because they were so sick and we decided to take them to the Emergency Room. We have Kaiser and the closest hospital is not in a great part of Sacramento. So we loaded up all the kids and drove over there. By the time we got there, they were feeling better and just enjoying being out. So we decided not to take them to the icky ER and spend $150 and to just wait until tomorrow. So we went out to eat at a yummy Hawaiian BBQ place close to the hospital. The babies actually did pretty good considering how sick they were.

We got back in the car and went to a light to turn left. On the other side of the road there was a car pulled over by two police cars. As we pulled to a stop in the left hand turn lane, they were right there only about 5 feet from us. They had a guy out of the car and were backing him up. Two police had their guns drawn about 6 inches from the guy's head!! There was a policewoman there with the dog that was barking like crazy and she was ready to let the dog go if she had to. It was crazy and we were so close!! Carson even asked "Why did that guy go like this (putting his hands behind his head)?" We were happy to get back to Elk Grove and back home!!

The babies actually slept pretty good last night. Presley crawled into bed with us at about 2, but slept the rest of the night. It is 5:30 now and Landon has been coughing for about 30 minutes, but is still asleep. Hopefully we can get them in today and make sure they don't have anything more serious!!

San Francisco!!

2010-02-02T23:19:00.006-07:00

FINALLY!! After living here for 3 months we finally made it to the city. I hadn't been there in 10 years! Can you believe it? Luckily it hasn't changed much. But I FORGOT my camera! How can I leave the house and forget my camera?? I just don't do that!! It must have something to do with the 2 hours it took to get ready for a daytrip with 4 kids. Luckily Kendall had her point and shoot so we did get some pictures. I can't wait to get back and get some more!! The kids were great and the weater was terrific! It was a perfect day!

PS - Landon WAS there. He was just asleep. :(

A hard couple of weeks.......Let's make cookies!!

2010-01-31T07:09:00.003-07:00

We have had a tough couple of weeks. Not the most trying of times, but things just haven't gone quite right the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago we were getting ready to FINALLY get out of the house and go to the Jelly Belly Factory. The snacks were packed, kids dressed in their cutest clothes, and we were putting the car seats back in the van. Derek was tightening the straps, went to get out of the van, stood up too early right into the door of the van, and suffered a mild concusion.

With all the rains we had here, part of our fence blew down (luckily it is currently being held up by our neighbors trees) and the girls window leaked, ran down the back of the wall, and underneath their carpet. I had to pull up the carpet and let it dry out.

A family member was backing out of our driveway (our driveway has a slight curve in it and a lamp post you have to watch out for, it is very tricky), a pickup (that was replacing Derek's car windshield) was double parked with it's tailgate down and it was dark and you couldn't see the tailgate was down. Our van was backed into the tailgate and ripped down the bumper. So now our van is in the shop until next week.

But Presley doesn't seem to realize it's been a hard couple of weeks. And besides, cookies make everyone happy!!

Zucchini brownies!!

2010-01-13T19:04:00.008-07:00

I have been looking for recipes to try with Landon. Right now he is just eating sugar cereal and an occasional grilled cheese sandwich. He loves cookies and chips, so I thought I would try to find something more healthy that resembled a treat. I have tried making homemade power bars, but no luck. I think I need something in the shape of a cookie. I saw these and thought I would try them. They were EXCELLENT!! I found the recipe at www.allrecipes.com. You can also link to the recipe directly by going to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Brownies/Detail.aspx?prop31=1.

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

I followed the directions exactly, except I didn't put in the walnuts. I did peel the zucchinis before I grated them. I was a little worried when I put the batter in in the pan because it was nothing like regular brownie batter and actually had to be spooned into the pan because it was too thick to pour. I had read the reviews and everyone said that the water in the zucchini would be extracted during baking and the brownies would be moist. Yep!! These seriously are sooo good!! This is our new favorite brownie recipe!

Everybody loved them!! Except Landon. He smelled them (he does this to all food) and then put it back down. I need to put some in his mouth for him because he really does like chocolate, though his sensory issues keep him from trying things that he would like.

I noticed that there are cookie recipes also made out of zucchinis. I think I will have to try those too!!

Stretching your fabric softener

2010-01-12T06:49:00.004-07:00

I found this fabric softener recipe when I was looking for laundry soap recipes. I have been using it and I LOVE it!! This is from the Duggar family at www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html.

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener

4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

I don't have 19 kids, so I definitely don't need a 5 gallon bucket of this!! I use a disposable container and put 1 part softener to 2 parts water. I really like my laundry to smell good, so I use 2 sponge halves instead of just 1 for each load.

Even if Derek and I weren't pinching our pennies right now, I would still use this. My clothes have never felt softer or smelled better, seriously!! I have been using this for about 6 weeks and we have only used 6 capfuls of fabric softener. We have 4 kids and a dog that sheds, so I do a LOT of laundry!!

There is a downside. This is a little messy. We have a sink in our laundry room, but a towel would work too to dry off your hands.

I have all the ingredients for the homemade laundry soap, but I haven't made it yet because I haven't run out of the store bought kind yet. I will post about that when I make it!!

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

Picture post

2009-12-30T22:21:00.003-07:00

Christmas 2009

2009-12-21T21:44:00.005-07:00

You found our Christmas letter!! We sent out Christmas postcards, but decided to do an e-letter. Why? We could say it was because we wanted to be eco-friendly or that we wanted to save some money on printer ink or even that we wanted to lure more people to our blog. But the boring truth is that we ran out of time this year. 2009 was a crazy busy year full of changes for our family.

Most of you know from our Christmas letter last year that Derek was laid off at American Express after 13 years. His last day of work was in January and then he started 8 months of severance. He looked and looked for a job in Phoenix. There was NOTHING out there. So we decided that now was the time that if we wanted to move anywhere, where would it be??? We wanted to be somewhere close to rivers and mountains for Derek and somewhere without snow for Amy. Sacramento had everything we wanted and we really felt that this was where we should focus our search. But the Sacramento job market was even worse than the Phoenix market. So Amy packed up Derek and sent him out west to check it out. Derek fell in love with Sacramento, applied for a few jobs, then headed back to the heat.

He got a call from PG&E in Sacramento and they wanted him to come out for an interview. He flew to Sacramento and went to the interview. He thought he wasn't qualified for this particular position. But it went really well!! And they told him that if he didn't get this job, he was also very qualified for another position there. A couple of weeks later PG&E called and wanted to do a first interview over the phone for the other position. He was on the phone in his bedroom and the kids were being rowdy. Amy asked them to be quiet and Kendall asked why. Amy told her that he was on the phone about the "electricity" job. Kendall said "Just a minute." Amy watched her walk over to the couch, kneel down, and say a prayer that daddy would get the job. When Derek got off the phone he said it went awful and that he didn't even think he would get called in for a second interview. A week later, on his birthday, they called and told him that he got the job!! We could not believe it!! We know that our Heavenly Father truly listens to our prayers and that miracles do happen in today's times. 2009 was a very hard year for us and we would never want to go through it again, but we are so grateful that we did go through it. Because of our trials we are so much happier and more grateful for what we do have than we would have been without those trials.

To make a VERY long story short, Derek started work in August. Amy came out over Labor Day weekend, we found a house we fell in love with, put in an above the asking price offer (along with 8 other people), and got the house by just $1000 over the next person's offer. More miracles!!

Finally in October Amy and the kids moved out to Sacramento and we all stayed in Amy's old roommate Shannon's house. We are forever grateful to them for letting Derek stay with them for a couple of months and then Amy and Derek and 4 kids for 3 weeks!! We moved into our house on October 30 and we love it!!

Derek loves his job and is enjoying seeing the river every day when he drives to work. Amy is at home with the kids and is still working from home doing medical transcription.

Kendall was very sad to leave Arizona and all of her friends, especially Emily and Victoria. But she has made new friends and is getting used to her new school. Her school put on a play this year and she got one of the leading roles. She loved acting and wants to do some more. Does this surprise anyone?? She turned 8 this year and was baptized in Utah. She is such a wonderful girl and a very big help with her younger brothers and sisters. We are so proud of her.

Carson is 6 and in the first grade. Socially he is doing great and has lots of friends, but has had a tough time academically. The school district here is very advanced and his teacher said that his particular school is even more advanced than the other schools in the district. He is slowly catching up, but we are trying to decide rather to have him repeat first grade or go on to second. The kids go off track the whole month of January and we have another teacher all set up to tutor him 2 days a week. We are hoping that is all it takes. He has moved on (finally!) from Thomas the Tank Engine and is now really into Spiderman and Batman. He loves to climb and is looking forward to getting a play structure for the backyard. He is really fun to be around!

Landon is 3 and has made great strides this year! His speech therapist continued to come to our house once a week and he started occupational therapy to help with his sensory issues. He is starting to talk more and is learning to be more patient and wait for things that he wants. He and Presley are best friends and love to pal around together. His favorite place is outside. He has taken over all of Carson's Thomas trains and he loves cars and trucks. He is all boy!

Presley is 2 1/2 and is still a daddy's girl. Her language has exploded the year. There are a few sounds that are hard to hear because she has a cleft in her gumline, but she makes it work! She likes to take care of Landon and make sure he is behaving! She still wants to do everything we do. She is already loading the dishwasher!! Amy is thinking of teaching her to clean the bathrooms next year! :) She can be a stubborn 2-year-old at times, but once she realizes she can't get her way, she backs down and is very obedient and easy! She is now a head taller than her older brother Landon and is still in the 95th percentile for her height. The doctor thinks she will be 5'10" to 6' tall!!! She is a complete delight and our family wouldn't be the same without her!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy your families and friends. We are hoping that next year won't be quite as exciting for us as this past year and our big news will be that we added a puppy to our family!

Love,
Derek, Amy, Kendall, Carson, Landon, and Presley

We are both on Facebook, so you can contact us there if you want!!

Pictures and Outtakes

2009-12-20T11:49:00.006-07:00

YES!! He does need a haircut!!

OUCH!!

All decked out.....almost!!

2009-12-20T11:08:00.003-07:00

We love the way our staircase turned out. The picture doesn't do it justice though. See those ledges on the stairs? I want to wrap some boxes in really fancy paper to put in the sleigh for next year. Anyone one have any ideas of what else I could do on those ledges? What else could I put on the garland? Maybe some cranberry strings or pinecones?

We are happy to have a fireplace again! The only thing is that Landon and Presley need stockings from their Grandma Johnson. Hopefully she will be able to have them done by next year. We bought some cute stockings for them this year, but when we got home we realized they don't have the loops to hang them from! We also will need to order some more stocking holders for the mantle. So by next year we should have all 6 stockings hanging in a row!

Notice what is missing?? Yep, no tree yet. We intentionally waited for a while because of the boys and their urges to grab, twist, throw, and break anything in their hands! But then I got super busy with work last week and life in general and so we have no tree yet. But TODAY we are getting the tree up!!

Kendall and Santa

2009-12-18T21:34:00.002-07:00

We just got back from our church Christmas party. When we got home Kendall (age 8) said "I was a little afraid to sit on Santa's lap because I thought I might toot!!!"

Leaving Arizona

2009-12-16T13:10:00.004-07:00

I'm back!!! I have been sooo busy moving in, working, having 4 kids!! I have been wanting to write this post for a long time. I thought it would be easy to leave Arizona, but it was harder than I imagined. Arizona was a time of "selfishness" for our family. We moved to Arizona and then just 2 months later Landon was born at 31 weeks. We spent the next 2 months shuttling back and forth to the NICU and then adjusting to our new family of 5. Soon after Landon was born we started the adoption paperwork, brought home Presley, and then adjusted to our new life as a family of 6!! Then we had 2 toddlers!! Wow, were we busy!!! We definitely accepted more help from others than we were able to give. We were just starting dig out of our hole and step outside our front door when we moved to Sacramento. There are so many people in Arizona that we wished we would've gotten to know better. We would mention a family and talk about how much we wanted to have them over, but just never got around to it. I wish now I would've just made the time and not worried about how messy my house was.

Kendall especially had some wonderful friends in Arizona. Her friend Emily was a one in a million friend and they had been best friends since kindergarten, her friends Victoria and Madeline whom we carpooled with to and from school (though luckily their aunt lives here in Elk Grove), and her friend Mady who moved back to Utah a year before we moved to Sacramento. Kendall, as anyone that knows Kendall would expect, has made lots of new friends here and has already started to carve her nitch in her new surroundings. Carson had lots of "girlfriends" back in Arizona and actually has more friends that are boys here in Sacramento. I guess the girls aren't as charmed by his blond hair and good looks as they were in Arizona!!

Arizona was a place that we know we were supposed to live during those 3 years. My very first appointment with the perinatalogist they decided to run a test on the blood flow in my umbilical cord because my other babies were so small at birth. He said it would probably be fine and it was an extremely rare condition. Sure enough, I had that rare condition. They monitored me very closely and then I began to have reverse flow in my umbilical cord and they decided to deliver Landon. I was showing no signs at this time of preeclampsia and would have continued with my pregnancy if we had not known about my condition. Landon is here and healthy because we moved to Arizona!! There is another more personal reason why Arizona was a place we should be. Heavenly Father was watching over us and led to our "stopover" in Arizona.

That being said, we LOVE Sacramento!! We love our house, our ward (congregation) at church, our school (though it is about a year ahead of the kid's school in Arizona), and of course we love the weather!! We are so close to so many things to do with our family. Now that we have come out of our cocoon, I am excited to show my family everything that there is to do in the area that I enjoyed when I lived here. I look forward to taking them to San Francisco, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Santa Cruz, hiking, overnight backpacking along the coast, and whale watching just to name a few!!

We are so blessed and hope that we are here to stay for a very long time!!

Carson Funny

2009-10-26T19:01:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I will have a fever because my legs hurt.

A few pictures....words to follow later!!

2009-10-11T21:21:00.003-07:00

So much to say, but too tired to write it all down!! We left Arizona on Friday and arrived in Sacramento Saturday afternoon. We are hoping to get into our house this week, but it may be next Monday. :( I will write more about our moving adventures later, but for right now enjoy the pictures. Today we went to the new house to show Derek's mom, then we went out to the Sacramento LDS temple, and then to Goethe Park where the kids had a great time playing in the trees....yes, there are trees here!!! Yay!!!

Goodbye Clint!!

2009-10-02T10:20:00.002-07:00

Landon LOVES his speech therapist. What 2-year-old boy wouldn't love to have a male speech teacher that plays trains, cars, and loves to wrestle! They had so much fun together. And I think that Clint had almost as much as Landon did!! Landon is going to miss Clint terribly!! Thank you Clint for everything!!

Carson and Lexi

2009-09-20T06:59:00.002-07:00

Carson has always had a special place in his heart for Lexi. Today he said "Mom, we are going to have to have 5 bikes when Lexi comes home. When is her brain going to be finished?" I told him that her brain would be sick for the rest of her life. He said "But she is our child. We love her." I really hope that someday we will be able to go to China and visit Lexi and that the kids get a chance to meet their special sister.

Help her come home!!!

2009-09-18T16:43:00.002-07:00

Isn't she adorable?? No, she's not mine! My friend Marianne in Idaho is bringing her home to their family soon. The orphanage donation has increased from $3000 to $5000. Marianne is a dietician and has a 4 week eating plan that she will base around your height and weight for just $25!! Go to her blog at http://www.jonahsfamily.blogspot.com/ to sign up. You can pay her through PayPal. Scroll down to her August 26 blog entry to get the link to the PayPal link. It's a great deal for a great cause!!

Here is all the information from her blog:

I have been racking my brain for ways to further reach our goal to raise the orphanage donation for our daughter's orphanage in China. We have been so blessed to know she will be home soon . I feel honored to be her Mama. I know it will all work out in the end, and that the donation we are required to take will help feed and house the many many friends of our daughter's who will remain in China. I want to offer my services as a nutritionist in a way that is easy and effective no matter where you live to help raise the last chunk of money we need before we travel. SO............drumroll please:) ...... haha I've always wanted to say that:)...I am going to offer a 4 week plan for ANYONE who wants to loose weight, make their metabolism fire up, and feel so good you can't imagine!!. I usually give this infornmation out ovver a span of 4-6 weeks for a client to help with their weight loss goals.I work with heart patients, diabetics, fibromyalgia and overweight clients on a regular basis. THIS WORKS FOR ALL OF THEM!!!!! I use a very flexible, very "real life" plan for my clients. You eat real food, you will just be paying more mind to WHEN, HOW OFTEN, AND HOW TO "FOOD COMBINE" to get your body to burn fat around the clock!!!......THIS METHOD GIVES YOUR BODY NO OTHER CHOICE but to burn FAT! Your body composition will change . Let me repeat.......your body composition will change!! I have a friend who did this, and I saw her go from 28 % body fat to 16% in a matter of a couple months! I tried this and within 4 weeks I had dropped the weight I gained this summer worrying about my baby:) It is fool proof and EASY! Exercise 3 days a week is suggested . Anyway, I can't say enouph about this method I use. I have watched it work over and over and over again! You have the power to train your body to burn fat all night long!!! EVERY NIGHT!!!! So, the details. I have put together a "packet" if you will with ALLL the instructions, the food amounts and recipes from my own kitchen that I have developed to fit this plan. I have spent almost 2 years putting all this together. I have done the thinking for you! NOW all you have to do is plug it in and EAT!!!! ( you will eat alot trust me! 5 times a day:)!! It is very flexible and YOU decide what you want to eat......just order it and you will see for yourself! So the plan is.....when you order, just go to the paypal widget here on my blog. The price is only 25.00!!! The average client doing this is about 225.00!! So DO IT NOW FOR 25 bucks!!! SEND ME A NOTE THRU PAYPAL( you go to the "Orphanage Donation " widget below -just keep scrolling down) WHEN YOU DONATE WITH YOUR ADDRESS, HEIGHT AND WEIGHT,. This will give me the information I need to get you started. I also will be available ANY TIME for questions and tips........via my cell phone or email. Picture yourself lighter, happier and healthier for a GREAT cause!!

Healthy Choice

2009-09-15T18:36:00.002-07:00

Every time my husband went out of town I would stock up on frozen meals for me and feed the kids mac and cheese, hot dogs, and other junky food like that. It was a vacation from cooking for me. Every time I heated up a frozen meal, it was awful!! Yuck!! Last week I bought a couple of Healthy Choice frozen meals. Have you guys tried these?? Seriously, they are good!! I mean, fresh meals are definitely better, but this the closest to the real thing there is!! Okay, this is a silly blog post. It is amazing what is exciting to the stay at home mom!!

My kids need diversity training

2009-09-14T16:27:00.004-07:00

On the way home from school today Kendall was talking about how excited she was when we move to Sacramento that we are going to get her a Bento style lunch box with rice and egg molds. I told her that some of her new friends might also have Bento lunch boxes because there will be lots of Chinese kids in her new school (it is 29% Caucasian and 28% Asian). She said "What!! I have to have Chinese friends??" Now I have to explain that her school here is very diverse. She has lots of friends that are Hispanic, African American, and Caucasion, but not many Chinese (because there aren't many Asians here). I said "Kendall, your sister is Chinese." She said "Oh yah, right." I guess Presley isn't Chinese to her, she is just her sister.

New House!!

2009-09-12T10:57:00.003-07:00

The offer on our first choice house was accepted!! We beat out the second highest bidder by just $1,000!! If everything goes well we will be in by the middle of October. We LOVE it!! And if you are like me and love to watch House Hunters and could spend all day looking at houses, we have videos of a house just like ours. Derek videoed this other house about 6 weeks ago. We are so glad that we didn't get it, because our house is in such better shape!! So if you are interested, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ameliser and click on the videos that say Avocet house.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-06T20:46:00.002-07:00

We have had a great Labor Day Weekend here in Sacramento. The drive up by myself with 4 small kids was tough, but they did great! The kids have been having a great time swimming in Shannon's pool and playing their Wii. The kids have done great and Landon has done so much better than he did on our Utah trip. We will be so sad to leave tomorrow!!

On Sunday we went up the 50 to Sly Park and had a picnic at the lake. We then decided to drive up to Tahoe. We went around the lake and up to 80. We didn't stop and get out in Tahoe because it was WAY crowded and took about 1.5 hours to get around the west part of the lake! But it was a great Sunday drive!!

We put an offer in on 2 houses on Saturday. We like them both, but one of them we LOVE. Of course, everyone else will love it too and it will get multiple offers. We are hoping our offer will be strong enough!!

It's amazing what you find when you move.....

2009-09-01T13:48:00.005-07:00

I was so excited to find a tote in the garage that had some clothes for Presley that I hadn't realized was there. When I picked up the tote I found something on the garage floor. When I inspected closer I shuddered because I thought it was a snake skeleton. I went inside and got some tongs and started to pick it up and it kind of freaked me out. When I got it inside I realized that it was a lizard. Funny that I was a little scared to pick up what I thought was a dead snake, but when I realized it was a lizard I wasn't as scared. Poor little lizard!! He must have gotten stuck in between the totes and couldn't get out. I'm assuming it was from last year because I think it would take a while for it to decompose like that!!

Playing around with Picnik

2009-08-31T20:56:00.006-07:00

I've really been thinking lately about buying Photoshop or Lightroom. Anybody have suggestions of which they like best? It will probably be a few months until I purchase either one, hopefully after we get settled in Sacramento. So until then, I am using http://www.picnik.com/. I really like it and it's free, though I'm wanting to do more now with my pictures. Of course, I really don't have a lot of time right now either. Maybe when the kids are ALL in school!!

Here is a picture I took a couple of weeks ago. In Picnik I boosted the color and saturation just a little.

This is the sketch feature

Cross process - faded some

Lomo-ish - faded some

Kendall did these two with the doodle action. She had a lot of fun with it!!

When I get an editing program, I will have to work on this picture again and see the difference it makes.

Bathtub bandit strikes again!!

2009-08-31T17:34:00.004-07:00

Yep, I found Landon in the bathtub again this evening. I assumed he was upstairs playing in his room. He couldn't have been in there more than 5 minutes. This time he left a nice brown present behind - yah, gross!! I am scared of the fact that he is actually getting into the bathtub without me knowing it. I think I need video surveilance in my house!! Or maybe a hook and eye latch above the door to my bedroom. Gads!!!!!

Landon disappeared again

2009-08-30T19:57:00.005-07:00

At least a few times a week I go looking for Landon. I always have to make sure I know where he is. Remember my post on him getting stuck in the garage? Well now that Phoenix has had 27 days this year of 110 degrees or more, I panic about him being outside. I am always wrangling him back inside. Tonight once again I went looking for Landon. I went upstairs and heard happy sounds coming from our bathroom. He had taken off his clothes and diaper, climbed into the tub, turned on the cold water (thankfully he knows which one is the cold), and was having a great time filling up the tub with water. GREAT!! One more dangerous place I have to look for him!

He also now is potty training himself. With his sensory issues and struggles with potty training Carson, I wasn't even going to TRY until he was at least 4. Well, now he takes off his clothes and diapers, sits on the potty chair, and tinkles a few drops. All good right? Well, then he decides to dump it into the potty. He loves to say "Bye Bye pee pee" and watch it go down the toilet. Good thing he is only "sprinkling" the potty chair. What about when he does more than a sprinkle and then tries to empty it by himself? I think I need a separate bathroom for the kids in training!!!

Presley says goodnight!!

2009-08-29T21:16:00.001-07:00

Carson Quote

2009-08-29T11:34:00.001-07:00

"I like Darth Vader because he is very powerful and he's a dad."

Last of the vacation pics

2009-08-27T17:19:00.003-07:00

I don't have a lot of pics from our vacation. Landon had a tough trip this time (though he has done really well on all the other trips we took this past year). I spent most of the time battling him and trying to keep him as calm as possible, so I didn't get a chance to use my camera a lot. Of course we also really only had 2 full days on vacation, so not a lot of opportunity for photos!

Vacation pics - Bowling

2009-08-26T15:06:00.010-07:00

After Kendall's baptism, we went bowling at BYU. Kendall had a great time with Sadie and her cousins!

Annie has great form!!

Kendall, not so much.

Did my daddy really just bowl a strike???

"What? I only bowled a 250?"

Oh puuuleeeez!!!!

Kendall planned ahead and color coordinated her undies with her bowling shoes.

Beautiful Sisters

The new third graders

Friends Forever!!

Cousins!!

Bento-style lunch!

2009-08-25T18:33:00.003-07:00

I recently read a post at one of my favorite blogs: http://gesweinfamily.com/. They are a family with 2 young school-age children that are from Texas and have lived in China for 2 years. I love reading about all of their China adventures. Recently she posted on bento lunches that she was packing for her girls. I realized that that is the type of lunch that would be perfect for my kids. It is small portions of a lot of different things. I did it today and they loved it and ate really well. I don't have a bento lunchbox (yet!!), but I realized that I did have these baby food containers that I had saved. I use them to make individual portions of pudding and jello, but they are perfect for lunches! Especially for Carson since he has low muscle tone and these lids come off really easy. This is Kendall's lunch tomorrow. She is having grapes, pretzels, froot loops, and a boiled egg. She is also having some mini rice cakes that aren't in the picture. Once I get to Sacramento I want to try and find an Asian store with some bento lunchboxes. There are a ton on Ebay, but hopefully I can find one there or in San Francisco.

PS - Remember my gripe from yesterday about the lady that was parked at the kindergarten/first grade drop off? Well today as I was pulling up, she was just leaving. Yay!! I pulled right up in back of another car. The kids got out of that car and then the mom got out of the car and proceeded to walk her children inside!! I was stuck because I had pulled up close, there was a Suburban behind me that had pulled up right next to me, and there was another car behind the Suburban. I had to do the little back and forth going inches at a time until I got out. Oh well, it's not like I was in a hurry or anything!!

My Gripe!!

2009-08-24T12:11:00.003-07:00

Okay - I have just one little gripe. Every morning I take the kids to school and there is the regular drop-off and then you go up a few yards and there is a seperate drop-off for kindergarteners and first graders (they have a separate playground). There is a mini van that is there EVERY morning parked in the drop-off area and just sitting in her car with her child. The other cars have to try and pull in front of her or they pull up right behind her, thinking she is just dropping off, and then cars get backed up behind her waiting for her to leave. The curb is RED!! It is a DROP-OFF area!! And there is a parking lot just 5 yards away if you want to park your car!!!! The first couple of days I gave her some slack - she has a New Jersey license plate so obviously is new here. But you would think after a couple of days of backing up traffic and people having to pull in front of you, that you would figure it out. I hate it when people are so self absorbed they don't recognize how what they are doing affects other people (like the parents in the first row of a school program that stand up to video blocking everyone behind them). On the bright side, that is really the only gripe I have today. Life is really good!!

Quick update and vacation pics

2009-08-22T11:00:00.004-07:00

I'm back!! Things are starting to calm down a little here. Derek is in Sacramento and has been at his new job for 1 week. He really likes it and is happy to be back at work again. About 85% of the house is packed and the kids and I are still in Arizona sweating while he is enjoying the nice weather! He is house hunting and hopefully in the next month or two we will be joining him......right about the time the weather starts to be perfect here in Arizona.

A few weeks ago we went to Utah for a quick 3-day vacation. We celebrated Kendall's 8th birthday and then she was baptized there in Utah with most of Derek's family there with us. We stayed with our wonderful friends the Greenhalgh's and had a great time. It was a really good, but short, vacation!!

Landon likes the candles the best!

Nephew Jacob enjoying the candles too!!

Kendall and Sadie have been friends since they were babies! Even though we haven't lived close to them in 3 years, the girls always pick up right where they left off!!

I have a few more pictures to post of our trip coming soon!!

Carson Funnies

2009-08-18T06:26:00.002-07:00

"When God built the earth, did he use a crane?"

The kids started school last week. Carson was a bit nervous about going back, even though he went there for kindergarten. The mascot is a hawk. He told Derek the week before school starts "It's a hawk school and I'm scared of hawks!"

I have lots to catch up on this blog and hopefully in the next week I will get a chance to update. Until then, it's back to packing boxes. I'm up to 150 so far!!

The Job!!

2009-07-18T05:15:00.009-07:00

Derek was laid off about 9 months ago and his severance runs out August 21. He has had no luck finding a job. We focused in on Sacramento as our ideal location and have really felt that is where we should be. But there are basically no jobs there so we looked both there and here. He went in for an interview with PG&E (the electric company in Sacramento) a couple of weeks ago. He had applied for 2 positions and the interview for the first job went really well. They told him he was a very strong candidate and that if he didn't get that particular job, there was the other job he had applied for that he would be a strong candidate for as well.

Last week the guy from the second job called and asked for references. On Monday we heard from some of Derek's past coworkers that PG&E was calling them for references on the second job he applied for. We were trying not to get too excited because he hadn't even gone in for an interview yet. On Tuesday the guy called to talk to him. He took the call upstairs and the kids were downstairs running and playing (in Arizona they have to use the house as their playground since they can't go outside). I kept telling them to please keep it down. Finally I told Kendall that daddy was on the phone talking to the guy about the electricity job. She said "Oh." Then she said "Just a minute" and she walked over to the couch, knelt down, folded her arms and started saying a little prayer. Then Presley went over next to her and started to do what she was doing. There was some giggling involved, but finally she said "I have to pray because daddy is talking to him RIGHT NOW." Then Derek came down the stairs and I whispered for him to look around the corner at Kendall praying for him. But then he told me that the phone call didn't go well. They asked him about systems that he hadn't worked on before (though he could learn them) and that the guy said he would let him know if he wanted to bring him in for an interview. He said it didn't sound like he was even going to get another interview. He was so bummed because not only was it a job, but it was a job that he really wanted and thought he would enjoy.

The next day, Thursday morning, I went to the dentist and on my way home Derek called. He said he was having a bad day and needed to talk to me and asked how close I was to home. The plan was for him to take the kids to Landon's OT appointment and he should have already been there. I figured he must really be having a rough day. He has had some rough days here and there. He was laid off 9 months ago in the worst economy in our lifetime, his severance was running out in less than a month, and we have 4 small kids to feed, so I figured today was just one of those days. I pulled into the driveway and he was out in the garage. He told me he needed a hug, hugged me and then whispered "We just need to pack everything up. I GOT THE JOB!!!" WHAT!!!! I was in shock. We were jumping up and down and crying. I felt like I did when I made it for cheerleader in high school. I was in total disbelief! The rest of the day we just paced around the house because we couldn't sit still. We went to the China Buffet restaurant, the same one we went to when we found out he was getting laid off 9 months ago. His new job starts just 11 days before his severance runs out. There will be no break in our income!! It was the best day of our lives, except our wedding and birth and gotcha days of our kids of course. :)

Then yesterday reality set in! How in the heck are we going to pack up this house, find a place to rent, and move in just 3 weeks!! His new job starts on August 10. Hopefully somehow we can buy a house very soon. We have had one very big miracle and still need one more!! We know that is where we should be and it will all work out somehow. It has been an incredible and stressful past 9 months. We have another month of stress and then hopefully we will start to feel some normalcy in our lives.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We have had so many people praying for us. We know there are so many out there that are still in great need during this time. We are so grateful for what we have and are thankful for what we have gone through. It has made us even more faithful. We know Heavenly Father cares so much for each one of us and he truly does answer prayers (especially those of little children) and blesses his children in His perfect timing.

Changes

2009-07-05T08:37:00.004-07:00

About a month ago Derek took Carson on a church Father/Son campout. Kendall and I (and the babies) went to the store to get some munchies for our Girl's Night. We were looking at the candy and on the other side of the aisle were the magazines. Kendall spied "Tiger Beat" and her eyes got really big! She picked it up and was totally engrossed. Could she buy it? Absolutely!! When we got home she sat down and starting reading. She loved reading about all of the details of her favorite Disney Channel stars. Just last night on our way to the fireworks she was reading her beloved Tiger Beat in the car. She said "Did you know that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(with a squeal of delight)" Nope, I didn't know that. She said "It says so right here in this magazine!" I guess it must be true!!

It is sad to see our little girl grow up, but it is also really fun. I love that I can have a real conversation with her about real things. She is my favorite tv buddy when we watch House Hunters. We went shopping the other day and I was trying on clothes and she said "No mom, that doesn't look like your style."

Our family dynamics are also starting to shift. Just recently my sister-in-law announced that she was pregnant. Everytime she announced this in the past, we followed her lead shortly (not because we were following her, it just ended up that way). This time I had absolutely no desire to be in her shoes!! As our kids are getting older, we are starting to experience more freedom. We had a rough go with our newborns and were "held up" inside our home longer than most are. Though our 2-year-olds are definitely a lot of work, it really is getting easier. I was a nanny for 10 years before I had my own kids. I don't even want to try to calculate how many diapers I've changed!! I'm have been elated each time over the past year that we got rid of baby stuff: Exersaucer, high chair, bottles!! Wooo Hoooo!! If we ever do add more children to our family (a VERY long time from now), they will come to us potty trained (we hope!!) and ready for school!

We have other changes happening too. Derek is still looking for a job. We really want to move to Sacramento and feel that that would be the best fit for our family. The economy is bad there too, but Derek had an interview on Thursday. It went really well, but we are trying not to get our hopes up. So I ask your thoughts and prayers to be with us. We know that if this is the job meant for us, he will get it. It's times like these when we really do rely on our faith to pull us through.

Homemade peanut butter cups!!

2009-07-03T17:59:00.003-07:00

I found a great recipe for homemade peanut butter cups. As you can tell, Presley LOVES them!! Here's the recipe I found at http://www.cdkitchen.com/

Ingredients:
12 paper muffin cups
1 (12-ounce) pkg. milk chocolate chips
1 cup reduced-fat peanut butter (I didn't have this so I used Skippy Natural pb)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Cut the top half off of the muffin cups so that they are shallower.

Pour the chocolate chips into a glass bowl and melt them in the microwave: Microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes. Stir the chips gently, and let them sit for a minute or so. If the chocolate needs more melting, microwave those chippies again at half power for 30 seconds. Stir gently. Continue the process, stirring gently as you go. But be very careful not to overcook the chocolate or it'll seize up on you.

Using a teaspoon, spoon a portion of the chocolate into the middle of a muffin cup. Draw the chocolate up the edges of the cup with the back of the spoon. Coat the entire inside of the muffin cup with chocolate and place it into a muffin tin. Repeat with the remaining muffin cups and then put the whole muffin tin in the refrigerator so that the chocolate hardens.

Combine the reduced-fat peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt in a medium bowl. When the chocolate in the muffin cups has hardened, pop the sweetened peanut butter into the microwave oven on full power for 1 minute. This will soften up the peanut butter so that it easily flows into the cups. Spoon a small portion of peanut butter into each of the chocolate-coated cups. Leave room at the top for an additional layer of chocolate, which we'll add later. Pop the candy back in the refrigerator to harden the peanut butter. This should take an hour or so.

When the peanut butter filling has hardened, re-melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on half power for 30 to 60 seconds. Use a teaspoon to spread a layer of chocolate over the top of each candy. Chill the candy once again to set up the chocolate. Finally, remember to take the paper off the outside of the peanut butter cups before eating them.

I kept this in the refrigerator because they seemed to melt very quickly. Of course I do live in Arizona!! They were excellent!!

2009-06-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

I Heart Faces - Boys!!

2009-06-22T08:47:00.003-07:00

This weeks I Heart Faces theme is "Boys." The perfect picture would of course include mud and sticks. But since Arizona only has mud a couple of times a year and trees in my neighborhood are sparse, here is the next best thing!! The grass was in need of cutting and Landon was having a great time crawling around in it! Click on the "I Heart Faces" button below to see more great pictures - there are some FABULOUS photographers that enter each week and you can also enter your own favorite photo!!

Carson's creation

2009-06-16T18:41:00.003-07:00

Carson decided to make his own taco creation.....complete with strawberries and peanuts! He said it was going to be the best taco ever. He took about 4 bites and said he was full!!

Presley

2009-06-16T18:19:00.003-07:00

Landon

2009-06-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

The things they say

2009-06-15T09:09:00.003-07:00

This is definitely more for me than anyone else!!

Kendall prayer: "Bless that daddy will find a job soon and when he does that he will make more money than he used to. Bless that you will please listen to daddy's prayers!!"

Carson: Presley had a penny and he wanted one too. I got out a penny and he said "No! I want a big shiny one!!"

Carson: I opened up the cedar chest to put a blanket away and he said: "That smells like Grandma's house!!" I'm pretty sure that was a compliment!!

New pets!!

2009-06-13T08:26:00.003-07:00

The last week of school Kendall came home with 2 mealworms from school. Before we knew it, one of the mealworms turned into a pupa and then into a beetle. Finally this past week the other mealworm turned into a pupa. Kendall wants to raise mealworms. I've done some research and they are really easy to raise and you can use the mealworms in bird feeders to attract lots of birds. It really is kind of fascinating!! We also now have 3 pet crickets. I'm not sure if we are going to keep the crickets as pets. I think we might releasing them soon!!

Presley's Gotcha Day!!

2009-05-30T10:34:00.010-07:00

It was a year ago today that we first met Presley! I can't believe it has been a year! It was just the evening before that we saw her picture for the first time. The moment I saw her picture I felt a total rush and just KNEW that she was my daughter! It was unlike anything I have ever felt. They brought her into the Civil Affairs Office asleep. When she woke she was NOT happy to see us! You can see our videos toward the end of this post.

PRESLEY THEN

The two pictures below are pictures we took right after we met her for her Chinese passport and the official "family picture."

The pictures below were taken that first night together. Derek had to catch a plane and head home just 2 hours after he met Presley. I put her in her crib and she played for at least 2 hours before she fell asleep! She had so much fun and she wasn't really sure what to do with a doll! She kept picking it up and dropping it. I think she was trying to figure out if it was alive or not!!

PRESLEY NOW!!

Here she is wearing the clothes we got her in 1 year ago. They actually almost fit, but are just a little too short. What is amazing is how much her foot has grown!! She LOVES shoes and was very upset that she couldn't get the "new" shoes on her feet!!

Presley has fit into our lives almost seamlessly. Our journey to Presley was a lot more emotional than we had planned. But looking back we wouldn't have changed anything! We are so grateful for our experience with Lexi. We are so happy that Lexi is getting the care she needs and we will be forever grateful to her for what she has taught us and how much our hearts have stretched and grown by knowing her.

Presley brings joy to our lives everday. In this past years she has learned to crawl, walk, run, jump, and talk!! Wow!! She has come so far! We love you so much Presley!!!!!

Lexi's Gotcha Day!!

2009-05-25T07:24:00.014-07:00

It was one year ago today that we held our sweet Lexi in our arms. What a day it was. We started out the day in Guangzhou. It was really strange, I really wasn't excited that day. I was wondering what was wrong with me. I was about to meet the little girl whose picture we had fallen in love with and I felt nothing....no excitement, no butterflies, no nervousness. I am so very thankful that I did feel that way. I think it made the next 24 hours so much easier for me. Our plane was delayed and we were late getting to the hotel that night. They brought Lexi into the lobby and we were wondering if they brought us the wrong child. Our new 19-month-old daughter was only 12.5 pounds and could hardly hold up her head! It was the next day when we went to finalize her adoption that they asked if we had seen her brain scan, which we hadn't. We decided to take her to the Xi'an Children's Hospital and it was there the doctor told us that her brain was "very bad" and she was "hopeless." I have to admit that I did feel relief as I handed her back to the orphanage staff. We held her and gave her one last kiss and told her how much we loved her. The next 5 days were so very hard to explain. I have never felt such pain in my heart like that before and I hope to never feel that again.

After we got home from China I had feelings of guilt. Presley was so perfect. Her transition was super easy, we found out she didn't have a cleft palate, and she was so smart! But as time has gone on those those guilty feelings have subsided. Lexi was able to get her lip repaired through Love Without Boundaries and is now gaining weight. The last update I had was that her disability is starting to be seen in her face, but she is still so adorable!! She is usually in her own little world and rarely connects with the outside world. Did we make the right decision?? Absolutely!! I miss my Lexi everyday. Though mentally she wasn't completely there, her spirit was sweet and very strong! You could just feel that little girl that was in there. It sounds awful, but I truly hope she is never adopted. My heart wants so badly for her to have a family here in America so that I could visit her and know that she is being well taken care of. Lexi will never "know" she doesn't have a family. I would rather see another child come home, one of the thousands of orphans that go to sleep every night longing for a family.

I think it is quite fitting that Lexi's first "Gotcha Day" is on Memorial Day. Not only will we always remember her, but she will forever be a part of our family and will be loved forever. Yes!! She does have a family!! We left China with two daughters, one in our arms and one forever in our hearts.

These socks are all we have of Lexi's. The clothes we brought her were all too big so we put her in the outfit she was wearing from the night before. If I would've know what was to happen that day, I would've put her in a too big outfit so that I would have more keepsakes.

This is the most recent picture we have of her taken in February.

Here is the only video we captured of Lexi. It is priceless to us!!

Sunday Pictures

2009-05-24T20:47:00.005-07:00

She was in a mood!

2009-05-22T17:51:00.002-07:00

Presley cooperated with me one day and was quite the little poser. Now that summer is here hopefully I can get some pictures of Kendall and Carson and maybe even a couple of Landon!! I have been super busy lately with work and swim lessons for the kids. I owe lots of people emails and I will get to them soon!!!

I Heart Faces - Blurb Photo Book

2009-05-19T05:46:00.002-07:00

This weeks I Heart Faces is "My Favorite Face Photo." This picture of Presley was taken in China just 3 days after she became a part of our family. I have better technical pictures I could share, but this picture shows so much emotion and means so much to me. She screamed for the first 20 minutes after we received her and then she smiled the rest of the time! Our 1-year anniversary of our Gotcha Day will be on May 30! What a wonderful year it is has been!!

Click on the "I Heart Faces" button above to see lots of incredible photographs and join in the fun!!

Videos to make you smile!!

2009-05-17T10:10:00.004-07:00

Black Widows - Yikes!!!

2009-05-09T22:38:00.003-07:00

Last night Derek went black widow hunting outside. They only come out at night, so you have to find them at night and spray them directly to kill them. This is one of the spiders he got. It had climbed up the wall and you can see where it spun its web to hang on before it died. I don't like spiders, but black widows really are kind of pretty!!

Presley's Belated Birthday Party

2009-05-09T22:13:00.005-07:00

We finally celebrated Presley's birthday tonight! She had a great time and even knew exactly how to blow out the candles!!

She put the tissue paper up to her to like she does when she gets a new dress. I guess she thought it was clothing!!

Toddlers can be gross - even if they are quite cute!!

2009-05-07T08:58:00.002-07:00

Presley has had HORRIBLE breath for the last 3 or 4 days. I have been brushing her teeth like crazy and checking the cleft in her gumline. Today I was researching bad breath in children on the internet. This doctor said that once his son stuffed 5 peas up his nose and had horrible breath. Hmmmm.......I took a peek up Presley's nose on her cleft side where her nostril is more caved in and harder to see up. I saw a little something that I thought might be a booger. I pulled on it and out came a piece of toilet paper about the size of a grape! GROSS!!!! I'm glad it didn't go all the way in. I have found her taking small pieces of tp and putting them in her nose. I try to stop her, but I guess I didn't stop this one. I wonder if there could be more stuffed up in her sinuses? YUCK!!

Carson Funnies

2009-05-06T08:19:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago he took his lovie for Show n Tell. It is a small stuffed bear dressed in a baseball outfit with the words "Rookie" on it. His friends wanted to know why he called him "lovie" and he decided to change his name to "Rookie." For about 2 weeks we had to call him Rookie. Then he decided that he wanted to change it back to Lovie. I asked him today why he wanted to change the name back to Lovie and he said because he has the "love" in it!!

Last night he was saying his prayers and he said "Do you think Heavenly Father liked my prayer?"

What a sweet boy he is, even though he faked a tummy ache yesterday to come home so he wouldn't have to go to PE!!

Our BIG girl!

2009-05-01T11:24:00.003-07:00

I took Presley into the doctor today for 2 year check up. She is 37 1/2 inches tall! She is off the chart and the doctor predicts she will be between 5'10" to 6 feet tall!! Wow!!! But then we realized later that she had her shoes on and her sole is probably about 1/2 inch. But still, she is one tall girl!! She is off the chart in her height and her weight (31 pounds) is in the 90th. So no need to restrict her diet at all unless her weight starts to go off the chart too.

Since Derek is still looking for a job, we are realizing that we may have to move. So we have been eating up some of our food we have here so we don't have to pack it. I bought all these artichoke hearts on clearance for $1 a jar. They are glass jars so I definitely won't be packing them. Last night we had Artichoke Spinach Lasagna. It was yummy!! Kendall even said "Mom, this tastes like restaurant food!" I think that was compliment. She asked what was in it and I told her spinach. She said "Mom! I can't believe you tricked me into eating spinach!!" And then she kept eating it!

Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

cooking spray
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (I just used a pinch of dry crushed rosemary)
1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 (28 ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (4 ounce) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

3. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.

4. Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 3 cooked noodles. Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.

5. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

The only thing I didn't do was the feta cheese since Derek doesn't like it. But it was still very yummy!!

Happy Birthday Presley!!

2009-04-30T09:25:00.005-07:00

Our sweet baby is TWO years old today! It was exactly 11 months ago today that she came into our lives. Her adoption and transition has been so much better than expected. She has fit right into our family. We love her so much!

Her are some things that we love (and some we don't love so much) about our sweet Presley:

1. She is very BIG!! She is on the 95th percentile for both height and weight. This morning on our bathroom scale she was 30 pounds! I take her to the doctor tomorrow for her "official" measurements and will let everyone know what they say.

2. She loves to eat. She is definitely our best eater.

3. She loves dresses, nightgowns, hats, and sunglasses. She is very much a girly girl!!

4. She LOVES her bath and going swimming. We she first came home she was terrified of the bath. She has only been swimming twice, but her favorite thing is to wear her arm floaties and just float there and doesn't want anybody to touch her! We joined the YMCA and won't be surprised at all if she is swimming this summer.

5. She has very good fine motor skills. She has been an expert with silverware for at least 6 months. And now she refuses to eat with toddler silverware and has to eat with the big ones.

6. She has the best laugh EVER!!

7. She loves to mother her dolls, feed them, put them in bed, cover them up, and give them lots of kisses!

8. Though she is very coordinated, she is also clumsy! People tell me that toddlers that are tall trip a lot. We wouldn't know, our biggest biological child is only on the 15th percentile for height!!

9. She is a daddy's girl! It is great to see because when she came home she wouldn't even look at her daddy for 6 weeks without screaming!

10. She mimics everything people do. She studies them and does the exact arm motions, stance, everything. It is really funny!

11. She has a very strong personality. She will let you know when she isn't happy with what is going on. But I have also learned that once you lay down the law and enforce it, she is VERY good at following the rules. She is quite cooperative once she knows that you aren't going to back down. But until she is done testing your limits, better grab some ear plugs!!

12. I LOVE giving her a time out. Sounds crazy I know. I have only given her about 4 of them and she is so good at them. It is so cute to see her sit in that big chair quietly without complaining. And then when the buzzer goes off she gives the biggest hugs ever!

As all adoptive parents, our thoughts on this day also turn to her birth mother and family. Her birth mom has no way of knowing what has happened to her. I wish I could let her know that she is happy and healthy with a mom, dad, 2 brothers, and a sister that love and cherish her very much. That she will be given every opportunity that she wouldn't have had in China. That she has excellent medical care and her cleft lip has been fixed and will be revised in a few years and won't even be noticeable. I can't even imagine the pain her birth mom feels about not knowing what has happened to her precious girl. I hope that somehow she can just "know" that she is having a wonderful life. I know her birth mother would be so happy that she is in America. The Chinese people consider those babies going to America as very blessed. Her birth mother made the absolute best choice for her daughter. That action of abandoning her (I HATE that word) shows the amount of unconditional love they have for her.

I haven't taken a lot of picture the last couple of weeks (I know it's a shock to most of you)!! But here are a few snapshots of our big 2-year-old!!! Happy Birthday Presley Claire Xue!!! We love you very, very much!!!

Presley's first time-out and I receive Bad Mother of the Year award

2009-04-20T07:49:00.002-07:00

On Friday night Kendall, Presley, and I were watching Supernanny. Presley was very intrigued by these screaming very poor behaved children. During the show Supernanny worked a lot on their time-outs. The next day Presley wouldn't give me something. I can't remember now what it was, but she was putting it behind her back and saying "no!" She can really be a spitfire at times! So I told her if she didn't give it to me she would have a timeout. Again she said "No!" So I picked her up and put her on a chair, told her she was having a timeout and why, and set the timer for 1 minute. Would you believe she sat there the whole time without making a peep!! She knew EXACTLY what was happening. When the timer went off I went over to her and she immediately put her arms around my neck for a hug. She learned from Supernanny and knew that was the step that came next. Amazing!!

Okay, now for the not so amazing moment of the weekend. All of the doors in our house are the type with a long handle that you pull down to open. I hate them because there is no way to childlock them. I was with Presley and Kendall and realized that I hadn't seen Landon in a while. That isn't unusual as he is really good at entertaining himself and we will find him up in his room playing legos or reading books by himself. I ran out to the garage to find a screaming little boy. He was holding onto a cloth diaper that Derek had used to clean up some yard equipment so it was dirty and gross. I took that out of his hands and he screamed, obviously he was using that for comfort. I brought him in and he was very upset for about 10 minutes. I think he might have been in the garage for up to a half an hour!! Kendall had High School Musical music playing in the family room that is right next to the garage, so we couldn't hear him cry. The doorknob going out to the garage is the easy kind, but coming inside is the round kind that he can't open. So from now on we are locking the door going out to the garage all the times!! I felt so awful. I'm the type of mother that has to know where her children are at all times, especially in public. But sometimes I let my guard down a little at home because it is fairly child proofed, they can't get out (even the gate to the yard has a lock on it) and we have a flip lock at the top of our front door so they can't open it. I'm just glad that he was okay and he seems to have forgiven me!!!

Would you be able to resist??

2009-04-18T17:30:00.005-07:00

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and started on my transcription work from yesterday and started tackling last week's laundry, along with the usual feeding, dressing, and attending to every need and want of the small fries. At 1:30 I finally finished my transcription, still had about 5 loads of laundry to wash, needed to fold and put away not only this week's laundry, but the laundry I never folded from the week before! I put the babies down and was completely exhausted. I just wanted to take a nap, but still had tons to do!! Kendall came to me and really wanted to do her Easy Bake Oven. What's a mother to do? With the words to Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Cinderella" running through my head, I poured myself a BIG glass of Diet Pepsi Max and baked a cake!! Then she wanted to make a lot of cakes to take to the park and sell for 10 cents each so she can help earn money since daddy doesn't have a job right now. Very sweet!! Maybe next week.......after the laundry!

Presley's Finding Ad

2009-04-17T18:08:00.006-07:00

This is Presley's finding ad. This is the only "baby" picture we have of her. In the newspaper they publish all of the babies with their picture in case some of them are looking for a lost child. The date on this paper is October 30, 2007, Presley's birthday is April 30, 2007 and on her ad it says she was found on May 8, 2007. It is really sad to see some of the older children that are on here. One of them has a birthday of 7/5/2002 and found on 4/29/2007. He was almost 5!! A lot of times older children are abandoned when they have a medical condition that needs attention and their family cannot afford the care they need. I could not imagine leaving my Carson (who just turned 6) because he needed some type of surgery. I would hope that I would have the same courage and love to be able to let him go so that he could get better care. That is the ultimate test of a mother's love. I can't imagine how many families in China mourn their children they love so much and chose to give them a better life. They have to walk away and never will know what happens to their children. I have heard of several occasions where a family will adopt a child and they will notice the same person seeming to be whereever they are, obviously making sure that their child or relative is being well taken care of. Since Presley was from Baoji and we received her in Xi'an, her birth family wouldn't have had the chance to do that. I hope that somehow they know in their hearts that she is well taken care of and very, very loved!! Okay, I have to stop thinking about that, it always makes me cry!!

Click on the picture below for a larger view.

Mystery solved

2009-04-16T06:23:00.002-07:00

I know what the back of the pictures say now! Two say "DangXue before her operation" and the other two say "DangXue after her operation." Nothing I didn't know, but at least I don't have to wonder what they say!! I will assume that the date they were processed is pretty close to the date they were taken. I would think that with so many kids that they would process them fairly quickly.

I posted them on my Facebook and had forgotten that my guide while I was in China was a Facebook friend. Duh!!! Thank you Christine!!

Presley's referral pictures

2009-04-15T16:19:00.006-07:00

Here are the pictures the orphanage staff gave me when we received Presley. On the backs of the photos are the date they were processed. The first two were processed 03/18/2008 and the next two were processed on 05/23/2008. We received her on 05/30/2008. I have no idea what the Chinese characters on the back say. Does anyone know??? These are the pictures they were getting ready to send to an agency that would find a family for her. But we got to her first!!

Here are some pictures of her orphanage. It looks very clean and bright!! Though I'm not sure how much time she spent here as she was with a foster family.

Very yummy easy chicken recipe!!

2009-04-14T09:03:00.002-07:00

In our church we have 4 wards (congregations) that meet in the same building. They start at 8, 10, 12, and 2. This year we have the lovely time of 2-5. The kids are very crabby during church and come home starving!! So there was no fancy Easter dinner this past Sunday. I found this GREAT chicken recipe for the crock pot. It is called "Busy Day Chicken" and I found it at www.allrecipes.com. The first time I made it a couple of weeks ago it was really good. This time it was excellent!! I used KC Masterpiece Mesquite BBQ sauce (last time I used Walmart brand) and I poured some inside the chicken (I forgot that step last time).

1 (4 pound) chicken
1 1/2 cups prepared barbeque sauce (I used the whole bottle - 18 oz)

1. Put chicken, legs up, into slow cooker. Pour sauce over and inside the chicken. Cover.

2. Cook for 8 to 10 hours on low setting. It is not a good idea to check it, as steam escapes and it takes a quite a while to reheat.

That's it! I don't think it gets easier than that!! The chicken was incredibly moist and yummy!!

Kendall funny - Kendall and Carson both got a Golden Hawk award on Friday. It is a certificate because they did something well, were kind etc. They weren't there on Friday to get it. Kendall said "I got mine today (Monday) because I was abstinent on Friday." I sure hope so!! I know she has never heard that word. I wouldn't think they are teaching abstinence to 2nd graders!!

Carson funny - "Mom, I don't want to get married at the temple. I want to marry Brenna here so that we can live here. I don't want to leave you." I tried to explain that he could get married at the temple and then he and Brenna can come back here to live. He was very excited about that idea!!

Easter best.......yah right!!

2009-04-12T21:17:00.002-07:00

Remember at Christmas when I decided to get a picture of all 4 kids in this window? Well, I tried again and got the same result!! NONE of the pictures turned out. I finally settled with Presley outside (the only one who wouldn't run away) and got some pictures, though the only pictures that turned out were the ones that didn't include her face!! I have a really hard time taking pictures here in Arizona.....too much sun and we don't exactly have an abundance of shade trees!! Oh well!! You can at least see that they looked cute in their Easter Sunday best!!

Play Day in the Park

2009-04-11T16:21:00.006-07:00

I Heart Faces - Friends

2009-04-05T23:00:00.011-07:00

JUDGES: The whole picture can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelise68/3417455288/sizes/l/. I am having issues trying to resize my pictures on my blog!! But I'm having someone do a blog makeover for me so it should be better soon! Thanks!

This weeks theme at I Heart Faces is "My Friend and I." I took this picture back in October right before Miss M (the adorable redhead!!) moved to Utah. These are 2 of Kendall's very best friends. We had a fun evening painting pumpkins and of course a girl party wouldn't be complete without singing and dancing to High School Musical!!

Pics

2009-04-01T19:26:00.011-07:00

I Heart Faces - Pouty

2009-03-30T15:36:00.003-07:00

This weeks I Heart Faces theme is pouty. I love this picture of Kendall. You can see the original picture below and then I cropped it to show her pouty look. I love that Derek and Carson are very happy and in the corner you can see her pouting! This was taken 2 days before Landon was born and she was being a typical 4-year-old!

Someone PLEASE bring this beautiful girl into your home!!

2009-03-29T11:31:00.002-07:00

I came across this beautiful girl today!! Oh my!! Both Derek and I have fallen in love with her. So please SOMEONE consider bringing her home with you! What a beautiful addition she would be to any family. There are also some very cute boys too: http://www.worldadoptions.org/specialdelivery/ChinaWaitingChildrenList.php

Jenna (age 11) was found abandoned at the age of 4 ½. She was placed in a simulated family within the orphanage in the summer of 2003. She approaches tasks very seriously and is very polite as well as helpful to her foster mother. She helps with the housework and caring for younger siblings. Unlike others her age, she always keeps her bedroom nice and clean and takes very good care of herself.

Jenna is currently in the 5th grade where she studies hard, gets along well with classmates and is very respectful to her teachers. She is very smart and adored by teachers and classmates. Her hobbies include drawing, reading and singing. Other than being far sighted and having astigmatism in her right eye, Jenna is very healthy. Please consider giving her your home.

We don't get out enough!!

2009-03-29T09:32:00.002-07:00

Last night Kendall was at a friend's house and Derek and I decided to go to the mall. Our 6-year-old son asked "What's a mall?" How PATHETIC is that!!

2009-03-28T16:06:00.002-07:00

Kendall is getting so "old" looking. But sometimes I can still see the little girl inside!

More pictures

2009-03-27T19:28:00.004-07:00

Thanks to everyone for all of the blog suggestions and especially to my friend Jill who offered to help get it back to the way it was!! But I think I like the pictures big and to do that I will get a blog makeover, hopefully sooner than later!!

Maybe someday Landon will smile and I will get a good picture!!

Landon stole the ball right out of Presley's hands! Poor Pres, mom is too busy taking pictures of it!

Popsicle stains, snot, and blurry picture, but she is still beautiful!!