My Little "BIG" Girl is 4!

I can't believe only 4 years ago I was lying in a hospital bed with this darling sweet angel in my arms. For the first time, Jaidyn had a friend birthday party at McDonald's. She has been looking forward to it since we planned it back in November. I have to admit, from a mom's standpoint, this is definitely the way to go. McDonald's did all the food, cake, and had all the decorations and party favors out and ready on the table. No pre-cleaning and no after party clean-up for me. It was soooo nice. Plus the playland was a great way to entertain all of the kids.













Throughout the week, Jaidyn has received several cards and packages for her birthday.



The Hannah Montana make-up kit was a hit. She didn't know that the little brush included in the package was a lipstick brush and she applied lipstick to her cheeks and eyelids. I didn't realize how much she pays attention to me putting on my make-up.

Wes and I let Jaidyn open her gift from us the night before her birthday. She received an American Girl KIT doll as this one looks a lot like her...blue eyes, blond bob haircut. I always wanted one of these dolls growing up, but never got one, so this gift was kind of for me too. We let Addy open her doll too as we got her a Bitty Baby doll for Christmas. Jaidyn loves her Bitty Baby doll that I found at a thrift store last year and so I figured we would get Addy a new one of her own as usually she gets all of Jaidyn's hand-me-down toys.




All cuddled up on the couch reading Christmas stories.

Jaidyn, Happy 4th B-day!

Wes's Christmas Survey

Here are my answers. I guarantee that most men will have close to the same answeres.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? If I go to the mall, I will pay the extra charge to have them wrapped or ask the store if they will wrap the gift for me. If not, I will beg Jenny, Mom, Dad, or whoever to wrap them for me. I remember one Christmas when my brother and I used newspaper and duct tape to wrap a present for my mom.

2. Real tree or artificial? I like the smell of the real tree, but too much work. It is just too easy to have an artificial tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? When I lived with my mom, it was always after Thanksgiving. When we went to my dad's, we went and cut a tree the first weekend that we were at his house after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime between Christmas and New Years Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? I love Eggnog. I will drink a couple of glassess plain, but will usually add some rum to it. Whatever Dave mixes, I usually drink.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I always loved my G.I. Joe toys. I am like Jenny, I was blessed to always have many great gifts.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, My mom gave it to us after we got married.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Jenny. Dont buy the wrong size if buying clothes. I made a good move when we had our first Christmas. We were dating and I went to Express to buy some things for her. I bought her one size too small. Her dad was very impressed. Glad I did not buy one size too big!!

9. Easiest person to buy for? The girls are easy. I just let Jenny do all the buying for them. If I am buying, it is always easy to buy for Derek. Anything Mizzou related, he loves.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A dress shirt that had some other person's name in the collar. We will not mention who bought this for me!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad? Do you remember? It would be about the same time that your brother-in-law received a plain white T-shirt. Oh, that was a funny Christmas!

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? If I did Christmas cards I would e-mail them. Jenny does a wonderful job of getting the pictures for the cards and having them sent out early.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Clark Griswald!! Need I say more?

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Year round for me. Once again, Jenny does most of the shopping for the girls. If I am buying for the family, I usually start looking around the first of November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can recall.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I am not a picky eater. I love it all!!

16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear Lights. Simple and pretty.

17. Favorite Christmas song? The Hannakah song by Adam Sandler.

18 Travel at Christmas or stay home? We travel alot. Jenny has come up with starting a tradition of our own. Christmas day at our house. I do like having
Christmas Eve at Dave and Rhonda's house. We go to mass, come home and eat and drink like Kings, then open gifts. I love it.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen {and Rudolph?}. Too easy.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither one now. Our celings are too low. If we ever have a house that has higher celings, I would say a star. That is what Jaidyn wants.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both. Depends on where we are at. We will open gifts with my dad's side usually the week earlier, or somtime after Christmas. My mom is usually whenever we can get together. This year, it will be two weekes before christmas. With Jenny's family, it is Christmas Eve. Our house will be Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Everybody getting in a big rush. We should all take a deep breath and relax. We should all remember the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

23. Favorite Christmas tradition? Going to the Grandparents and seeing all the family.

24. Up early or sleeping in? Up early. It is hard to sleep in with two little girls.

25. Who hands out the gifts? Jenny. She does not put tags on the gifts yet. I would have no idea who was supposed to get what.

26. Does Santa wrap your gifts? Yes, that is what we tell the girls.

27. Do you tell the Christmas story? Yes. Jenny reads many stories to the girls. They love it. I will try and read the Christmas Story to the girls when we get home from Dave and Rhonda's if they are still awake. Jaidyn is old enough to understand it now. Addy will love looking at the pictures.

28. Do you leave cookies for Santa? Yes. We did this when I was growing up. My mom and dad would leave a note from Santa saying "Thanks for the cookies boys." Jaidyn has already told Jenny that we need to bake cookies for Santa.

Christmas Survey

I am finally responding to the Christmas survey that I received through email from one of my Aunts and cousins a week before Thanksgiving. I usually never take the time to answer these as I am on the computer enough the way it is that I generally skip things like this. However, I really enjoyed reading all of their responses and don't want to be the one Scrooge in the family who didn't take the time to answer the questions. Aunt Cheryl and Jessica, this is for you. :)



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both - I usually try to wrap everything, but it almost never fails that I run out of scotch tape and the bags in my gift closet are just too convenient.

2. Real tree or artificial? Definitely artificial. Real trees are way too much work. Watching my Dad one Christmas crawl under the tree everyday to water it and then have to vacuum all of the fallen needles confirmed the fact that I will never have a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? I am almost embarrassed to answer this. We put all of our indoor Christmas decorations up 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime between Christmas and New Years Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yuck! No Eggnog for me, I would much rather have a glass (or two)of my mom's Christmas punch.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I was very fortunate to have received many wonderful gifts each Christmas.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, Grandma Penny gave us one for Christmas after Wes and I got married.

8. Hardest person to buy for? The in-laws.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Definitely the girls. I always have their presents bought way early.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? When I was teaching we had a secret pal gift swap that went on during the month of December. One of my gifts, was a Dollar Store (or at least it looked like it) candle in a sleigh. That wasn't the worst part, it had been already used (several times)as half of the wax was gone. My secret pal was definitely recycling gifts.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Snail Mail, I just sent them out on Monday. I love sending out the photo Christmas cards.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I like all of the kid cartoon movies...Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Grinch Stole Christmas, and Frosty The Snowman. This past weekend my mother-in-law treated all of us girls to the movie"Four Christmases" with Vince Vaughn and Reece Witherspoon. It was hysterical, a complete hoot. I definitely recommend it.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? For the girls, I usually shop all year round. Most of my other shopping is done the week or two after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not too often, but I am a big fan of recycling in general.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Spinach Artichoke Dip, Spicy Fried Pheasant (Dad do have any of this to fry up this year?), and Reece's Peanut Butter Bars.

16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? I Love the simplicity and sparkle of clear lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I love Christmas music in general and tune my radio to 105.9 as they play Christmas the day after Thanksgiving all through December. I am not sure I know the exact name, but I love Faith Hill's song that she sang for the Grinch Stole Christmas movie...Where are you Christmas? O Holy Night is also one of my favorites.

18 Travel at Christmas or stay home? Lots of Traveling. Family is all over the state of Missouri. We love spending time with everyone during the holiday season.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen {and Rudolph?}. Thank goodness that I just read The Night Before Christmas yesterday. :)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We don't have either as our tree reaches the ceiling without either one. Jaidyn has mentioned on several occasions that we need a star, so if we were to ever get one, I guess it would be a star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both - I grew up opening presents on Christmas eve so we still open presents with my side of the family on Christmas Eve. We do our Christmas at home on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Sometimes I get wrapped up in all the things that I need to do during the season and don't get to enjoy it as much as I would like. Sometimes the real reason for the season is overlooked.

23. Favorite Christmas tradition? I loved the excitement of going to church on Christmas Eve knowing that Santa was visiting our house while we were gone. Opening presents and then sitting around in our pj's playing with our new toys.

24. Up early or sleeping in? Early bird gets the worm! :)

25. Who hands out the gifts? Usually me, as I know who gets what.

26. Does Santa wrap your gifts? Yes, he loves using any kind of paper with pictures of him on it.

27. Do you tell the Christmas story? Yesterday, the girls and I read a book "Who is coming to our house?" about the Christmas Story from the animals point of view. Cute book! I have several different versions that we will read throughout this month.

28. Do you leave cookies for Santa? Absolutely! We have a special plate just for this occasion. Back when I was young, Santa (my Dad) signed the back of the paper plate that we left cookies on, "Thanks, Love Santa". My sister and I held on that plate for several years after.


Note: Tag your it! Anyone who reads this blog post has been tagged to answer these same questions. Wes, that means you. Also, I would love to read any of our fellow adoption bloggers answers. :)

Thanksgiving ~ Stuffed

STUFFED, yep, that's me. As I am sitting here typing this I am really wishing that I had put on my pj pants as my jeans are cutting into my belly. Over the last 10 days we traveled over 1500 miles, we gathered at 5 different places, we ate way too much, and now that we are home, we hope to catch up on some sleep and the neglected house. In spite of the hectic week, we had a great time with family. I hope you all had a wonderful week celebrating God's many blessings.

Earlier last week on our way up north to Grandma Penny's house we made a quick stop at the Kansas City UCIS office to renew our fingerprints so our file will continue to stay updated while we wait for our adoption referral.

The Car DVD players have been a lifesaver over the past week as they really helped keep the girls entertained while traveling. We had to double check Addy's car seat straps when we saw her sitting like this. Silly girl!



The grandma's are always good for saving some of the baking for the girls to help with. Apple crisp, yummy!


Uncle "Bear" rides

Handstands on the couch


Decisions, Decisions! Jaidyn picked a pony themed icecream cake out to celebrate her birthday at Grandma Penny's house.



Enjoying the nice weather that November was giving us!







I forgot my camera on Wednesday when we celebrated Thanksgiving and Jaidyn's b-day at my mom's house. I loved her table setting...beautiful. That evening my parent's watched the girls for us and Wes and I went out with my sister and brother for the evening.


Thursday the girls and I went to the great grandparents houses for the day. Here is a picture of all of the cousins on my Dad's side of the family.


This past weekend was spent at Papa J.R and Mama LaLa's house. Lauretta (as always) fixed enough food to feed an army. She went with untraditional food...crab legs, brisket and spinach stuffed chicken. There was rarely a time that there wasn't something setting on out on the counter. It made it really easy to frequently visit the kitchen to grab a handful of something. Jaidyn and Addy enjoyed time with their cousins and were spoiled by the Aunts and Uncles.




This is Papa's new toy. These pictures are of Wes and Jaidyn before they took a tumble. You would think that someone who has attended and passed official driving school with the highway patrol would be able to efficiently operate one of these without wrecking. Poor Jaidyn. Thankfully she wasn't hurt and Wes came away with only a grass stain on his jeans.

~ Operation Christmas Child - Going The Distance ~

I normally don't push charity organizations on to others as I think everyone has a personal preference and heart for all kinds of missions and chairities throughout the world. However, this week is National Collection Week, November 17-24, for Operation Christmas Child and it is one of my favorite charitable organizations. Through gift-filled shoeboxes and the good news of God's love, OCC brings happiness and hope to children around the world in desperate situations. Our family has been collecting items all through the year to fill several shoeboxes for this organization. Exra school supplies were purchased during the back-to-school month sales and I was able to get great deals on toiletries through shopping at Walgreens. Jaidyn has helped in this endeavor as she picked out many small toy items to fill up the boxes. We have filled 5, one for each memeber of our family (of course we are counting the child that we are hoping to receive a referral for in the near future). Last week, Jaidyn helped me fill the boxes and wrap them. It's a good thing that all of the items in the boxes had to be new, as a soon-to-be 4 year old she isn't very good about giving up any of her own toys. She did want some of the items being packed, but after explaining to her that they were going to children who may not have any toys, she was able to part with them. Even though she has a hard time understanding that not all children has what she has, she has a huge giving spirit.

Today Jaidyn helped write a letter to place in each of the shoeboxes. I loved her answers as they were so honest. She colored in the state of Missouri on the map and attached a picture of both she and Addy. We included her address, so maybe she will even get a return letter from the recipient of the shoebox.



As many of you know, the Philippines is heavy on our hearts. Here is how Operation Christmas Child is impacting children in the Philippines.

Operation Christmas Child - Philippines

Jaidyn's boxes may help a neighbor child and then again they may just go the distance. Where ever they end up, hopefully they will give a few children a glimpse of hope and love this holiday season.

Santa's Little Helpers

Santa's Little Helpers


Today we pulled out all of the Christmas decorations and as a family decorated our home for Christmas. Early, I know, but we always travel for Thanksgiving and then Jaidyn's birthday is the following week so we decorate early to avoid chaos in the upcoming weeks. Plus, selling online can be somewhat stressful during the month of December. While decorating we listened to a couple of Christmas CD's to help fuel the holiday spirit. Of course Wes had to interrupt it and throw in a few ACDC songs in between. Whatever!

The girls enjoyed pulling out items from the plastic tubs and then using the tubs as makeshift sleighs for their stuffed animals. They tied their stuffed Rudolphs to the tubs. We almost had a nativity scene tradgedy as I let the girls play with the characters on the carpet for a few minutes before asking them to bring a couple to me a time to arrange on top of the cabinet. Jaidyn tried to bring almost all of them to me in one handful and dropped the donkey on the kitchen floor. I almost couldn't look as I was expecting to have to super glue it's head back on. Fortuneatly, it didn't break.



Decorating the tree was last and they loved hanging all of the ornaments. Jaidyn helped me until every last one of them was on the tree. I have to admit, I am glad that Addy tired out after about 10. She tried hanging most of the ones I gave her on the same branch. I let her hang her Elmo themed ornament from last year and she is so proud of it. Tonight she has been making rounds over to the tree to make sure it is in the same place that she left it.









Most of the decorations are up. I didn't put out any of the decorations for the front porch and will wait until after Thanksgiving to do so. I still need to get pictures of the girls done to use for our family Christmas card. The girls have also requested that we bake Christmas cookies this week. Bake them now and freeze most of them for later. Hopefully, I will be able to check those 2 things off my list early next week.

Silver...WTH!

No, this isn't a picture of my hair, but it might as well be. A couple of weeks ago Wes was standing over me while I was sitting at the computer and casually made the comment that he could see some gray hairs. Are you kidding me...??? I told him that it must be the light shining on it from the window and highlighting it to that color. He mentioned it again later in the week as he still thought that he was seeing some again. This time I completely ignored him, as it secretly bugged the crap out of me. This past Wednesday I had my hair cut and colored and so I figured I would ask my hairdresser. And, yes she did say she could find a few strands of gray. I begged her to pluck them out, but she wouldn't. As if plucking them out would get rid of them. At least now they are covered with blond high-lites and low-lites.

Gray, ugh! I refuse to call it gray! I think I will refer to it as silver. I just turned 30! I wasn't expecting silver until at least until I was in to the 40's. I can't figure out who to blame it on. Dad, Mom, which one of you silvered early? Are Jaidyn and Addy causing me to silver early? Maybe I can just blame it all on Wes. When I am old, I will embrace silver hair. For now, I dye.