Happy 4th Birthday Baby

This has been such an amazing year and my girl has grown up so much.

We even threw her a curve ball when we brought another child into the mix to vie for attention... we had figured it would mess her up.. but our girl has taken it all in stride and is actually Ty's favorite playmate.  

This one keeps me on my toes like no other.She is way too smart for her own good...and funny!  Oh my can she crack me up...

she also has this serious side that scares the be-geezers outta me.  Oh this girl is gonna give us a run for our money.  I love her with every bit of my soul... but I am ridiculously a bit skeered of the teenage years. 

  On another note... never saw this one coming but Mina's little birthday celebration was pretty hard to explain to our new little man.  He is always aware of who his getting the attention of the moment...

apparently he has not seen too many birthday parties because he was a bit confused and sad while Mina was being showered with attention, songs, and presents.  How do you explain birthdays when you have very limited language...better yet how do we explain that we still have 2 more kiddos with birthdays this week?

He obviously has no concept of Christmas either.  I don't know how he is going to handle the overwhelming excitement of Christmas morning... he will likely pop.  As the simple things like hot cocoa with marshmallows or a pez dispenser are enough to elicit hours of joy and excitement....  Oh goodness it's gonna be a fun few weeks :)

Here comes Santa...

What a week, is it just me or do the days in December go by faster than normal?  It must be part of that Christmas magic :)    We went to have breakfast with Santa this past weekend, a good time was had by all....  See my silly girls here... I realize...we don't do the norm and ask our kids what they want for Christmas all that often...  When Santa asked them, Kobi said, "Uhh, I would love some tic-tacs."  And then my little Finn says " Ci-tsh-ma TEEEE (translated: A Christmas Tree)"  

 Truth be told my Christmas shopping was done and wrapped before Thanksgiving... no not because I am organized, because I vowed last year that I would be done before Thanksgiving when the stress of the holidays sent me into a tail spin.  So asking the kids now what they want for Christmas is a bad idea...you just may find yourself fighting through the aisles of T@rget..  I am determined to enjoy the holidays this year, and so far my little plan worked... We also celebrate 3 of the little ones birthdays the week before Christmas...  Yeah,,, Chaos is our new normal :) 

We did get all 5 littles  sitting on Santas lap, all with somewhat pleasant looks on their faces... I wouldn't have put money on those odds..they just always keep me on my toes.    And this photo cracks me up... they had a man giving out Christmas tatoo's and the kids got to pick from several designs... He put one on Finn and then made a comment that no  kid had ever picked that design before...  it was a  Christmas HAM!!  I know the pic is hard to tell, but so stinkin' funny, that's our girl. 

My little man Ty.. loves to be a helper.. We did a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and this little guy LOVED helping.. He rather help me cook and clean than play or watch TV... Watching TV is probably his very least favorite thing to do, he hates it and refuses to even look at the screen. 

We also busted out this Christmas tradition...  and I learned a lesson.  We waited for Collin to be home because he still has to be a part of certain traditions, I think he would have been heartbroken if he came home and saw this done without him.  But this is the last year that one Gingerbread house will be enough for this crew.

  When the candy and icing came out it was more like a free-for-all of who can apply the most candy the fastest.  Collin and Kobi could have spent hours making it perfect, but it just wasn't happening.  6 kids, 12 hands, 60 little fingers all clamoring at this poor little house...not pretty... next year I will need to either break it up by boys and girls... or by personality type..those who want it pretty and those who want it done...   

Here is Finn after she got busted for the third time with a mouthful of candy...

And here is our finished product....looks like hansel and gretel got sick all over it.

Hope you all are enjoying the Holiday season,  bundle up and have some cocoa...it's cold out there :)

I love being a "bloom girl"

The Bloom Project had a great night Friday night.   One of our "Bloom Girls"  threw a Christmas shopping party to benefit Bloom and it was amazing.  There were several vendors there with all kinds of amazing things.   What an inspiring night, all for the benefit of orphans!!!!  Some of the Bloom Girls traveled to Haiti two months ago and got the chance to hug and hold some of the orphans that we sponsor.  We asked the wonderful directors about some of the things they needed and one of the things they mentioned was church clothes for the kids. They can not take the kids to church unless they are properly dressed so they desperately want all the kids to have their very own set of "sunday bests"!    We created a Christmas Tree Wish list for the orphanage.  So you can purchase an ornament that represents a donation of a gift in your recipients honor.   Here is how the tag reads....  

And here are the beautiful ornaments (one of our girls donated some beautiful ornaments purchased at cr@te & Barrel, so 100% of the profits go straight to the orphans!).... 

Here are some of the items they requested.... 

Sewing Machines $200 each

5 yards of fabric-   $50 each

   yarn for knitting-    $5 each

soccer balls -      $25 each

        basketballs-       $25 each

       ballet shoes -       $20 each

        tap shoes -          $25 each

girls church dress- $15

boys church clothes - $15

Powdered milk - $10 (per one month supply) 

This was a hit at the party last night and a great holiday gift for that certain someone who already has everything, and has a heart for  orphans!  We would love to extend this to you and your friends!  You can choose any donation item and head on over to the Bloom blog and pay by paypal.... if you live close by you can pick up your ornament gift bag or, if you add $2 to your purchase we will send the wrapped ornament with gift tag explaining the gift and ship it directly to your recipient! (just leave us the address in the paypal checkout instructions)  

Also please help us spread the word!  if you post about this on your blog or facebook or BOTH!!! leave us a comment and we will enter you into a raffle to win a $25.oo give card to St@rbucks! 

Best yet, after Christmas we will post photos of the kids getting their Christmas gifts...the joy on their faces will surely be my best gift of the year :)

the joy of the Christmas card photo :)

Taking the annual Christmas card photo is such a stressful fun experience, especially with a super spunky two year old in the mix. I may have sounded something like this... 

"Finn, Look at the camera"

 "Finn, take your hands outta your mouth"

 "Seriously Finn,  the sweater too,, put your hands down and look at the camera"

 Then Finn replies,  "Whatcha spazzin' out about back there MOM?"

 "Finn, one good smile and we can be done"

 "Please baby, pretty please"

 "Finn, you see those cookies over there?  They're yours, you just have to give us one smile"

"Well, maybe not that big of a smile...  "

Decking the Halls

I'm so glad y'all liked Ty's video.  I am so happy to be done with it so I can stop obsessing :)  I had a few hours to "myself"  when we headed out for our Thanksgiving road trip.  It sounds pretty odd, but I love the thought of a long car trip, since all the kiddos are strapped in with movies to watch and it gives me a few uninterrupted hours to get some things done.... hence why the video was done the same day we got back from our trip:)  

We had a great time in the mountains..  I loved being able to soak up the kids and not worry about the household chores that await when I have a free moment here and there.  We all had a fabulous time.    The day we left we stopped by a Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree.  It is always a big fun family event and everyone enjoys it... Here we are looking pretty rough after 4 days at a cabin in the mountains.  

 Of course we came right home and started decorating!  This is what it looks like to have 6 helpers in one room on one project... oh the chaos...but we wouldn't have it any other way.  All the kids love looking through all the ornaments that they have made or picked out over the years.  

I swear Ty must think we are a bunch of lunatics... First ,last month with our obsession with costumes and pumpkins and now spending hours searching for a tree to put up in our house and decorate with toys and lights...

He sure seems to be having a ball though... His language is coming along slowly but surely.  He refuses to speak in Chinese at all. Which is kind of sad because I know he is losing it so quickly.  Collin is bummed to have lost his little Chinese talking buddy, so he still only speaks to him in Mandarin. 

There is one side of the tree that seems to have more than its share of ornaments... hmmmmm?

 Jackson had the honors of putting the angel on top of the tree... We walked in after a long trip, our car was packed down with laundry and all the "stuff" that comes with a road trip of a rather large crew...  All the kids ran into the house and dispersed quickly to play outside or to hit the playroom... Not our little man though.. right away he started unloading and asked what he could help us with....So we responded with... "you rock kid, you want to be the one to put the Angel on the top of the tree once it is all decorated?"  Such an honor :)

Ty's Adoption Video!

Here is the link to watch it full screen on You Tub@

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtLs6aEbL74

I did it! I finished Ty's video..which will speak for itself, but I wanted to talk about the music for a second. Last spring I was having a REALLY hard time when we were thinking about bringing Ty home ( I shudder now to think of how hard the decision was) But the one song from JJ Heller "Your Hands" was at the top of my play list and it really spoke to me, for my life and thinking about a little boy a world away..... so I did a search of JJ Heller to hear some of her other songs,,,and the first one that popped up was "LOVE ME" which brought me to puddles of tears.... Right away I knew that these would be the songs I would use for his video, and they played in my head over the next several months.... I love seeing the video done with the music that inspired our journey! Hope you all like it :) You gotta watch it full screen:)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING & (the only recipe I am making this year)

I LoVe Thanksgiving!  It is one of my favorite holidays.  I love to cook, I love to eat and especially LOVE spending time with my family.  This year I have a dirty little secret though and I kind of feel like a big fat cheater cheater pumpkin eater.... I have ordered my Thanksgiving dinner from here and in the morning the whole crew is packing this party up and heading outta town for a quiet relaxing weekend, with absolutely nothing but board games and roaring fires.  I would normal shudder at the thought of abandoning cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  But things have been quite a whirlwind around here lately.    So I am opting for a stress free holiday.  I'm gonna have to go big for Christmas dinner :) ....

 But there is one, only one recipe that I won't be leaving behind.    Holiday Mimosas!!  Last year I snapped this pic when we made cranberry mimosas...this year I'm kicking it up and making pomegranate ones...  So festive

so all you need is Champagne, O.J. and either cranberry juice or pomegranate juice...  
fill your glass half way with the champagne and then add your juice...

Happy Thanksgiving y'all! 

Why I don't hate laundry anymore....

my disclaimer on this one: i am NOT an organized person,, getting organized is on my new years resolution list every year...organization does not come easy or naturally to me, but i have found a few tricks that make some of the messy things easier...especially with so many twerps 'round here.

notice i don't say that i love doing laundry :) but i have finally found a way that laundry doesn't plague my existence as a mom to such a large crew. i was complaining talking to my hubby about how the most frustrating part of my "job" is that it is never done, there is no payoff of completion. i have even been known to beg to mow the lawn so i could see a job from beginning to end, and see it stay that way for more than a day. anyone out there know where i'm coming from.... the house is never all clean at the same time, my kitchen feels like a short order diner, dishes always dirty, mopped floors are just begging for a spill... i know,,, preachin' to the choir, right?

anyhow so here is my little trick and i love it...
if it's monday....it's laundry day... so as soon as i wake up on monday i gather all the dirty clothes and linens and start a load. and just keep poppin' in the laundry room every hour to start a new one and fold the first.... everyone gets a folded pile of pants, jammies (which i don't actually fold) , and sock & undies ( i don't fold these either). i hang all the shirts. So on Monday evening everyone gets a basket and spends 7 minutes putting their own stuff away and and I am off the laundry clock for 6 more days!

i used to try to do a load a day and it just seemed like I always was doing laundry, feeling guilty about the piles in the hamper, or forgetting that i had a load in the dryer, or worse in the washer.. i just could not keep up. now seriously, i don't fret the laundry process. i am just starting this morning, and i am not cringing at the thought of my obscene piles, because i know they will be DONE today!

I would love for y'all to share your easy tips if you would...anything to make things go a little smoother :)

Please excuse this manic post,

 I just have to share these super cute kiddo photos, but I also need some mama opinions... so here i go

 Ty and Mina both had Christmas programs yesterday,  they both love the spotlight so this was right up their alley.  Poor Ty had no idea what was going on as we had to go back to school in the evening, I could tell he was confused when we dropped  him off in his classroom and then he walked into the chapel a few minutes later to a crowd of parents...flash-bulbs going off like the paparazzi!

 He has been singing the song "He's got the Whole World in His Hands" for days,,, in his own little adorable way :)  It didn't take him long to feel like the star of the show and start to "strike a pose" for the crowd.

 Yeah, midsong and my boy is working the camera with his best catwalk moves... oh heck  he is such a character!

Now here is the point where I would love some Mommy opinions... I am being super sensitive???  Kobi and Jack had school spirit day today... The theme...NERD DAY.  I was kinda surprised that an Elementary school would go for this theme.  Couldn't it be super silly day, backwards day, mismatch day.  I hate stereotypes.  But you know what this hardcore Mama did,  N.O.T.H.I.N.G.!  I just joined in and didn't say a peep. Way to stick it to the system.  

 Collin helped Jack with his "nerd hair".  Since he is the KING of dressing up for spirit days as seen HERE, and HERE.  I really hated the conversations that came out of their mouths as we were picking out their silly outfits...  "Mommy, I think I am going to be smarter when I dress like this" and "Mommy can I wear glasses"  Ugggghhhh,  turn the knife in my chest.  "No honey, you are always smart no matter what you wear"  "No baby we don't have any glasses, not yet at least, I am sure one of you will need glasses at some point, glasses are cool, I wish I could pick out some cool glasses"  I mean seriously what is more adorable than a kid, or an adult with a pair of super slick glasses?

so here are my super cute goober kids,  I just feel like they are a little too young for this stereotype...  for some reason i think it is cute if teenagers embrace it... but I was a little disappointed.  But obviously didn't have the heart to tell them they couldn't participate.  What would you have done???  Am I too sensitive or would you have taken a stand?

a few of the fun things about having a big 'ol family

When I sit back and really think about it, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have been entrusted with these lives, and to be walking through this journey with my husband.  There is never a dull moment around here with this size crew, and the ones who love that the most are the twerps.  I very rarely hear the dreaded phrase, "Mom, I'm bored" of course that may be two fold.  One they always have a playmate,   or they are just scared that I will find something for them to do which probably involves vacuuming out my car :)  Seriously though, having a large brood in SOME ways seems easier than having one or two kids.  If you turn the radio up... you have an instant dance party.  If you sit outside around a bon fire...you instantly have games of flashlight tag, hide & seek, catch, monkey in the middle etc.  And most of the time mom and pops can hang by the fire...most of the time. I am pretty sure I have logged less than 20 minutes playing polly pockets, or transformers.  One of my least favorite things is making up imaginary voices for barbies and gi joes...  and no one is asking me too!!!  I do love to play with the kids outside, throwing footballs and frisbees, kicking soccer balls and the like.  And don't get me started on the number of projects I get myself wrapped up in with these little hooligans. :)  

 I remember being a young kid and having these special occasions when we would have cousins around and all of the kids would just be running themselves silly, playing, laughing and having a ball.  I was never happier.  I get to see that joy in my kids face almost daily, and it makes all of the tedious stuff melt away.   I see the compassion they have for each other when they help each other out without even turning to me.  When one is upset and another runs to them with worry.  When Ty is having a hard time with something and Jack turns off his video game to help him out.  How Kobi wakes up on the weekends and makes breakfast for all the kids.  I don't know how or why, but they are all so stinkin' sweet to us and each other.  

Sure sometimes it is overwhelming being the mom of so many kiddos, I can make myself nutty when I start thinking about it too much.  All the responsibility, all the laundry, the amount of times I hear the word "Mommy" in a given day is enough to put you into the cold sweats.  I will admit that I have on occasion crashed into bed and wept with the enormity of my to do list...but when I think of these precious kids, individually, I would crawl through hot coals for every one of them.   Individually they each add so much more to my life and love than I could ever imagine.  I wouldn't trade the chaos for anything.   

I do have this little fantasy about all my kids growing up... some live close by and we are the coolest grandparents ever.  Some live far away and it breaks my heart.  But I envision our family get togethers... tables lined end to end, some of them helping me in the kitchen, some in the other room watching football or reading.   We sit down to the table ,our family of 8,, now bursting at the seems with spouses and grandchildren.   Everyone is busting a gut laughing at the retelling of horror stories about their crazy mom and then they go on and on about all the things they pulled over on us when they were teenagers.  We are all  there for each other through the good and the bad throughout the years, bonded by the little things that we are doing now, every day.  The things that seem so simple, mundane, tedious, and unimportant, those are the things that build a family. 

beautiful day

We had a great time a couple days ago hiking up a nearby mountain. Here's the crew before we started up to the pinnacle in the distance.

We weren't sure how it was going to go, we had hiked it a while back with 2 less kiddos and we had fun...so we gave it a go. 

Of course this wasn't too reassuring with all the littles in tow....mostly the part about the difficulty level...

but they made us proud!  We made it to the top with little to no whining (shocker).  And once at the top the view and the chocolate chip muffins that the girls made earlier that morning were worth ever step! 

!I love the fall.. so beautiful 

I have all these heartfelt post that I think of everyday that I want to put on the ol' blog here.  and then the day and the inspiration gets sapped outta me after we tuck all the kiddos in.  But I swear, as I'm driving around town in my uber cool mama van, here are some of the things I want to share with y'all...

• the best part of adopting a 5 1/2 year old
• the hardest part of adopting a 5 1/2 year old
• how Ty has my heart wrapped around his finger
• i love having a big 'ol family
• i'm not cut out for having a big 'ol family
• Christmas card photo out takes, thanks to Finnley
• my best organization tips that work for me (a.k.a..the most unorganized woman on the planet)
• lots of recipes
• lots of fun craft ideas
• what i want to be when i grow up
• my husband is a saint
• my new hobby that i hate
• ty's adoption video that just needs a few tweeks, cause i can't wait to make y'all cry
• why adoption is my heart
• why adoption doesn't have to be hard, and how it can be too easy if you so choose. 
• how adoption is NOT expensive 
• all the crazy house projects going on around here
• all the crazy house projects that go on in my head, and need to know if I should tear into them or not..

So yeah these are just a few of the  topics that float around in my head....let me know if there is one you really want me to share.  

family halloween pic

thankfully my girlfriend jane has her stuff together and sent me this pic from when we crashed her house for halloween.  i had even swiped a neighbor kid to take our family photo and then i couldn't find it.  so here we are, our motley crew, missing only collin, who has adult responsibilities on weekend nights (a.k.a. his job)  but he is well represented in the fact that marc and i risked life and limb by digging through his closet to make up our pathetic costumes.  i'm an armyish person, made up of his old paintball fatigues. and marc is some kind of lame hip hop ghetto guy, made up of a bad impulse purchase of collin's... i get such a kick out of that horrifying sweatshirt,which he wore all of 2 times. i love my peeps.  have a great weekend y'all!

school, candy & fun project

So he did it.. actually they both did.  Ty and Mina started preschool yesterday.  Ty for his first day and Mina her first day at a new school. ( I moved her to a school where they had an opening for both kiddos)  I was really worried about how he would handle it.  I know I never talked too much of it, but while we were in China Ty really tested us.  I was nervous that this was just his personality, so I didn't feel to great about talking about it too much.  I was still trying to figure it all out.  I will say that he rarely if ever has any issues with it anymore.  Seems he wanted to make sure that I was in control and now that he knows I have that covered he is more than happy to take a back seat to me being the leader.  So I was worried that he would test the preschool teacher...and he did.  Not sure to what degree as she seemed to be sugar coating things for me a bit.   

 I made sure I told her that he really needs to have clear concise, black and white rules and things should go smoothly in no time.  Hopefully he will allow her to set the rules without testing too much.  He does really want to be there and was so excited to see me when I picked him up ,and show off his artwork.  The true test will be when I take him back tomorrow morning... will he go without any struggle???  Hopefully all goes well.

We did have a fun time celebrating Halloween this weekend.. I am severely lacking in my photos.. I can't seem to find the one of our entire family dressed up on our way to a party..  so much fun (thanks H family!)  and then we went trick or treating the next night.  

Ty must think we are nutso...His favorite word right now is pumpkin, I think he thinks we Americans have some strange fascination with pumpkins, because they are everywhere.  

Our little chickenhead

All the kids had the day off school today, and I found this fun little project on a super creative mom's blog HERE, she has all the instructions posted so you can check it out over there -if you want in on this fun activity.  

We went hiking in the woods behind our house to find the PERFECT..I mean ANY leaf that caught their eye.. And then "waxed" them and hung them like garland in our living room and our kitchen.  

 It was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be and we had a fun time..especially since I let them all stuff their pockets with halloween candy for our hike.  Great way to spend a few hours on a beautiful day with the kiddos.