We're Off!!!

Tomorrow, Victoria and I will be headed back to Shriner's in Philadelphia for the weekend. Luckily, it's just for a check-up. Unfortunately, we will have to wake up at 4 am for our flight. At least we won't have to worry about traffic!

I'll leave you all with a few cuteness pictures.......peek a boo!

This is the way Victoria exercises her arms. She drags her whole body across the chairs. Her arms are getting really strong! 

This would have been a really cute picture if she didn't have cottage cheese on her face.

Look at those eyes! 

See you all on Sunday! 

Wednesday's Wanderings

We've had a few interesting developments this week so far. Francesca had a routine eye appointment.  Remember how I thought that Victoria had strabismus, well it turns out that Francesca actually has strabismus.  Her eyes only cross when she looks down, but this certainly explains why she falls all the time. The doctor just wants to monitor things for a while, but I am really hoping she doesn't need surgery for it. I took the three little ones to the appointment. Getting them all ready took longer than the appointment, but don't they all look cute!

Someday I will catch Catherine off guard and get a smile. We also got the results of Francesca's sleep study. Great news! She doesn't have sleep apnea, so hopefully, she won't need any more surgeries for a few years!

I took the kids shoe shopping today. Anastasia told me that the most important thing is to make sure we find shoes that will go with her Halloween leopard costume. Target didn't seem to carry any spotted shoes, drat! 


At school, they give the kids clean up chores before they go home. Anastasia's teacher told me that Anastasia suggested that she could be the chore coordinator and assign everyone their tasks. She even designed a chart. That's my girl! All the fun and none of the work! 

As you can see, I have gotten really creative lately in my cooking lately. Don't let that face fool you, Francesca eats everything! 

Victoria said the word "polka dot". I'm sure that will come in handy quite frequently. 


Today I discovered there is one thing I despise teaching: metrics. Apparently, Isabella isn't thrilled with learning it either.

I am continuing to research countries to adopt from. So far, I have it narrowed down, a little bit:

China's waiting child program

Ethiopia

Ghana

Congo

India

Serbia

Bulgaria

Estonia

I did contact someone about foster care and I was informed that they have long waiting list for babies, even special needs babies. They told me a sibling group of older kids would be possible, but I don't think that is the direction we want to go at this point. 

The answer to the mystery of why all the knobs are gone from the stove. 

Catherine refuses to believe that fall is here. I had to hide her bathing suit, but she was not discouraged! 

Happy Wednesday! 

Movies!

My friend,Theresa, came over this weekend and took a few videos for your entertainment:
 



Theresa also took four of the girls for the weekend, leaving me with only Elliot and Victoria! The house was eerily quiet. Thank you Theresa! I took my oldest and my youngest out for a special dinner at Red Lobster.

Elliot got his favorite, crab legs.

Victoria was fascinated by the claw. She mostly ate croutons with blue cheese dressing.

Thank you so much Theresa! I even got to take a nap, but I am sure missed them! I think they will sleep well tonight. Catherine is one tired cow-poke! 

Disguises

Who is this mysterious boy with the mustache that matches his eyes (yep, we really know how to party on a Friday night)?

This is Catherine's winter ensemble.

Yikes, a two headed creature! 

Happy Friday everyone! 

Sweet!

Today, I had a doctor's appointment, which is not a fun way to spend the afternoon.  I decided to make a pit stop at my very favorite candy store in order to make my journey interesting. It's one of those places where they have rows and rows of bins and you can scoop to your heart's desire. I got everyone their own little bags and I got myself two big bags!

Nothing better than a giant gummy butterfly! Oh, the joy! 

I had big dreams of taking some artistic photographs with my beautiful candy....

but little fingers kept creeping in......

A mountain of pure deliciousness!

Who could resist that face! (actually, I did manage to resist her cuteness; she got a Vanilla wafer.)

Sugar smiles! 

Victoria got so excited that she figured out how to flip herself out of the chair and zip on over. Now how in the world did she know what candy would taste like? You know I only feed my kids broccoli and wheat germ. 

All gone! (not really, but the candy is hidden very well!) I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow! 

Tell me what your favorite treats are! 

A Bunch Of Small Stuff

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I have been in a funk. Also, certain small people keep waking me up at 5 am. They seem to be taking turns in order to keep up their strength!

Francesca has finally decided that talking is a good idea! I asked everyone yesterday if they wanted a cookie and she piped up, "I do!"

This is how Anastasia looks when she is trying to convince me that a sleep-over is a good idea.

This is how my girls look when I cave in and agree to a sleepover. Notice there is no picture of my joyous reaction to this decision.

Victoria despises being set down when we are outside. I guess she feels like she can't go anywhere. She doesn't like to use her walker outside either. Next Friday, we are going back to Shriner's for a check-up. I am hoping they can fit her with a walker that gives her more support and confidence, cause she is getting really heavy! Her language is amazing! Today, she scooted over to the dog, patted him on the head and said, "good boy!" Genius!

I recently bought a great book that is full of fun (and easy, which are the best kinds) of activities to teach kids values.

The first one we did was the toothpick test.

Here is our family:

If we stand alone, we can easily break.

But together, we are strong! 

Francesca has discovered stickers are fun! Fun on the paper, fun on the floor, fun on the walls......

Another noteworthy event.....I made a pot roast!

Victoria is becoming super mobile. She just hangs onto the wall and zips all around the house. She tries to open doors and yanks everything off the shelves. She is finally a toddler!

Francesca has really gotten much taller than Victoria. There was some speculation about whether Victoria had strabismus,  but according to the doctor, there is nothing to worry about. She has eyes that mimic strabismus, but are really perfectly fine. Not sure exactly what that means, but it must have been invented to worry mom's! 

I will leave you with little Catherine and her random words of wisdom.

"Mom, I think I am very dehydrated and I need a milkshake immediately!" 

Hey, me too!!!!! 

Little Miss Sunshine

No words necessary , but I think we can surmise that this isn't her costume of choice for Halloween!

Tender Tuesday

What's that? It's Wednesday? Drat. Well, I didn't have an acronym that started with a "W" anyway.

 Little Catherine did the sweetest things today. Francesca had a bug bite that she couldn't reach and Catherine reached over and scratched it for her. Catherine said, "There now, doesn't that feel better sister?"

Then, she decided to wash Victoria's feet, so she would feel "fresh and clean." What a sweetie pie!

Isabella is an amazing teacher! She has been working with Francesca and Victoria to help them learn their letters. I didn't think much about it and just thought it was cute, but then I saw Victoria pointing to the "B" when Isabella said the letter! Wow!!! 

These two are hysterical. Neither of them can make the trike move, but they sure do like sitting on it.

My little scientist, Anastasia, did an experiment today (that I didn't really think would work). She filled this tube up to the top with water, and stuck a piece of paper towel on the end with a rubberband. Of course, I figured that all the water would gush right out, but no!! Apparently, as my nine year old explained patiently to me, the air pressure inside the tube and outside push against each other and the water doesn't leak out. Pretty amazing!

I read a quote the other day that really made me stop and think....."What would you do today if you knew you could not fail – now go do it!" 

Well, all righty then! So I decided to call my homestudy agency today. No more procrastinating. We are going to get things rolling soon! Very exciting!

What did you all do on this exciting not Tuesday day?