I'm a bad blogger: Feb/March photo dump

  I'm a pretty bad blogger these days. I'm busy with sticky.  Waking up at 3am for the crying child. Trying not to yell and be patient when someone spills half a box of Cheerios on the floor. At those times I'm thrilled that our dog likes to snag people food.

  I felt really old pushing a snow ball around on my knees. I was thinking about taking some more ibuprofen while making this snowman. Yes, he has strawberries for eyes. And I have no sticks, so we used broom handles for hands.

  Any sunny day over 40F feels like a heat wave.

  We DROVE to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa... and Disney World. This was Hudson's first time out of the Midwest. He had diarrhea the whole drive to Florida. I changed poopy diapers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. Probiotics and Activa yogurt fixed it as soon as we arrived in Florida. That's what I'm going to remember about this trip!

  We saw princesses.  We went on rides.  We had great food.

  And we walked a lot. This is my favorite photo from the trip. It says a lot about Hudson's personality.

  Long days make for very tired little boys.

  Hannah watched Phineas and Ferb on Netflix all the day to Florida. She was allowed to pick one souvenir, and chose a stuffed Perry. She's sleeping with Perry the platypus every night now.

  This is another one of my favorite photos from the trip, Hannah and Grandpa holding hands.

  The kids' favorite ride was the Buzz Light Year ride.

  Hannah spent a lot of time picking flowers at Grandma's house. She got to help water Grandma's roses. When we came home to Indiana, she asked  if she could help me water our flowers. My rose bushes are covered with 8 inches of snow. I don't think they need any water right now.

  The Matilda Jane Good Hart line takes my breath away, and it took a lot of my money this spring. I picked up an extra day of work to pay for it. Yes, it is that cute.  The strawberries did me in.

  Bounce house.  Wanna join us? I think this is a fantastic idea.  My kids love it, get a lot of exercise, and get tired. Then they sleep really well at night. But I have to drag Hudson out of bouncer kicking and screaming. That's fun.

  Speaking of sleeping, Daddy converted Hudson's crib into a toddler bed. Sometimes he'll put himself down for a nap. We seem to have less screaming at bed time because he climbs himself into bed instead of being placed down into his crib.  Totally a control thing.  Totally. Of course, Hannah needed a photo taken of herself in her bed when I was taking one of Hudson.
    Is it spring yet?  I can't imagine finding ice in the sand box would be pleasant.

Hannah's Rapunzel Birthday Party

Hannah has been talking about wanting a Rapunzel birthday party for nearly a year.  This weekend, she got her wish!       We played a version of pin the tail on the donkey. Two little princesses remarked over and over, "But I can't see!"  Heehee!    
  We "tangled" the mommies up in "Rapunzel hair."

  Hannah's daddy blew up the punch balls to play with.

  Every princess was on her good behavior. My favorite princess quotes from the day: "Hey guys, I've got to tell you this!  Santa is watching!" "Hudson stunk up the room!"  Apparently his diaper needed changed.  Heehee!

  Hannah's favorite presents are craft supplies and lip gloss.

  Four little princesses and one little prince.

  Ready for some punch, cake, and ice cream!

  The candy buffet with take home bags was a big hit. It's not every day that a princess is allowed to scoop up handfuls to take home.
    There's gold glitter everywhere in the house. Hannah's princess dress sparked all over.  Every room.  Every chair. I think I'll be sweeping up glitter for years. But those two hours of my little girl's dream come true were all worth it.

my sweet girl turns five

Mama, "Hannah, where do you want to go out to dinner tonight?
Hannah, "I want to go to peng you's." (Translation: She wants to go to our neighborhood Chinese restaurant).
Mama, "Daddy took you there this week already!"
Hannah, "But we didn't go there yet today!"

We celebrated Hannah's birthday the night before, as I'm working tomorrow... and Daddy points out that it's her birthday in Taiwan right now anyway.  Our friends at the Chinese restaurant brought out a pastry surrounded by little rabbits made out of oranges and we sang happy birthday in Mandarin.

Our kids eat better there than anywhere else.  Hannah likes to eat noodles all of the big tofu chunks out of hot and sour soup.  She also likes spring rolls and bits of chicken.  She finishes with orange slices and ice cream.  Hudson eats sticky rice, more sticky rice, and even more sticky rice, broccoli, several orange slices, noodles, jello, and slurps down lots of chocolate milk.

shark!

  We got outta town this past weekend.  Had a fabulous time visiting the Newport Aquarium, the new Jungle Jim's location, and sharing dim sum and froyo with another Taiwan adoptive family.  Hannah is always thrilled to stay in a hotel with a pool... and thinks that is the best part of any trip that involves a hotel stay.   Hannah quote of the week: "Mama, are there any numbers bigger than a hundred?"

2012 year in review

Once a year I scroll through a year's worth of photos and try to pick out a handful to send to the "baby house" in Taiwan that connected me with our children.  It is painfully hard to choose just a few images that say, "Look at these beautiful kids you gave us!  They're everything to us.  They're smart, funny, pretty happy, well adjusted kids!  They drive me crazy and complete me all that the same time.  They're doing great.  Don't worry about them, that's my job."

I wrote a letter to Hudson's foster mother and had a friend translate it for us.  That was way harder than picking out photos.  It is nearly impossible to find words to convey the gratitude that we have for this woman and her family.  They not only took care of my son... but he learned LOVE from this family.  Hudson kisses, hugs, wants to belong, be together... and we saw that one day one with him.  I have no doubt that all of his needs were met in this family.  I have no doubt he is missed by them.  We will be back.  We will find them again.

Hudson's vocabulary at age 2 - 64 words

We're having a language explosion at home.  I woke up to Hudson yelling from his crib, "Up!  Out!  Juice!  Eat!"  The boy knows how to express himself, for sure!  At 64 words at 24 months old, he's falls into the normal vocabulary range.  This mama is thrilled, and so proud of what he's accomplished in just six months with us.  Hannah had a similar vocabulary at age two, after First Steps early intervention services, and she had lived with us and heard English for twice as long as Hudson has.

Mama/Mommy
Dada/Daddy
Hannah
Hudson
Dona (Sedona)
Dog

Nana

Papa

Santa

Rice

Juice

Apple

Grapes

Banana

Bread
Chips

Cracker

Cookie

Candy

Sit

Eat

More

Please

Open

Thank you

No

Night night

Whee!

Car

Crash

Choo choo

Beep beep

Help

Up

Down

Sock

Shoe

Diaper

Peepee

Poopoo

Pants

Shirt

In

Out

Hat

Coat

Hot

Cold

It's

Snow

Share

Eyes

Nose

Teeth

Ear

Hair

All gone

Ball

Hi

Treat

Jammies

Train

Scissors

Seat

short i sound needs a little work

Christmas 2012

Christmas with two littles is exciting, a lot of work, and messy.

  But moments like this when you realize that she's drawing the nativity... priceless.

  We had our first real snow of the season... and Hudson got to experience snow for the first time. The words "snow" and "cold" are now a part of Hudson's vocabulary.

  Most of the time it was fun to have Silly Elf around, but sometimes Silly Elf  ran out of creativity and relied on Pinterest for suggestions on what to do at night.    
  The kids went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service in their jammies so they could be carried right into bed when we got home.

  Hannah and I baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa,  and laid out a glass of chocolate milk for him as well.

  Santa came!
  Hudson's ravorite present was this roller coaster.
S
  Hannah received several Lalaloopsy doll items, including the Jewel Sparkle Silly Hair doll she really wanted.

  Santa remembered to bring something for Sedona this year.

  This is my favorite photo from this Christmas.  When I'm not looking, Hannah tries to sneak on the roller coaster with her roller skates on.


She wore her roller skates all day, and didn't want to take them off.

five years of visiting Santa

Christmas 2008 - Tainan, Taiwan


Christmas 2009 - Indiana


Christmas 2010 - Indiana


Christmas 2011 - Indiana      Christmas 2012 - Indiana

Merry Christmas!

  The most beautiful gift in all this world becomes dim in our sight when placed beside the gift of love God gave us on Christmas night. May your Christmas be filled with peace and joy. Kevin, Sarah, Hannah, and Hudson    
  Hannah has been asking the following questions: "How many sleeps until Christmas?" "How many sleeps until it snows, Mama?" "How will Santa come if it doesn't snow?"   Hudson has been saying: "Ange.  Ange.  Again."  (Translates into orange, orange, again.) "Beep beep.  Choo choo.  Wooooowooowooo!"

  It is impossible to get a photo of Hudson looking at the camera,  smiling, and in good focus. I'm learning to settle for 2 out of 3.   Hannah's preschool Christmas program was last night. I'm thrilled that she sang, did hand motions, and just plain participated. This is a huge step from the little girl that wouldn't go on stage at the end of the Chinese school to receive her certificate with the class... and the little girl that would never do fingerplays at story hour at the library. Santa Claus was at preschool tonight, and Hudson allowed himself to be seated on Santa's lap for a minute after being given two suckers. Santa remembered Daddy, called him by name, and even gave him a hug!