Thank you SBP!! You are the best!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
THANK YOU SBP!!!
I received a gift from my Secret Blog Pal this weekend! I know she lives in AL... but cannot figure out who it is yet! Anyways, it is perfect!! She got me my favorite candy... Michigan Cherries (Sour Cherries) and Sophie~Bug got the CUTEST frog outfit for the summer and a Dora pad of paper that she could not wait to get her hands on (see her hand in the corner of the pic trying to swipe it before I could get a picture?)!
Thank you SBP!! You are the best!
Thank you SBP!! You are the best!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Favorite Foto Friday #23
I am back for FFF this week with everybody healthy and recovering!! Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers. Our blogging community is amazing... people reaching out through cyberspace to share their families as well as lend a hand, offer support and a prayer to those that need it. Today, I am using my FFF as a way to reach out to help another family in need. I hope that you visit the links below to lend this family a hand and hold them tight in prayer as they bring their children home.
This is Jenny and Matt. They are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl named Eliana who was born in Guatemala. They were recently matched with two beautiful little girls from Ethiopia that they hope to bring home in 2008. In the period of a year, they will have gone to life as a couple to a family of five with three little girls. My friends, Julia and Michelle, have organized a little "gift shower" of sorts for them.
This beautiful family is paving the way for other families to have the courage to adopt and receive the blessings of children born in Africa that deserve to find their forever families.
PLEASE WILL YOU HELP ELIANA AND HER SISTERS??
Love and FROG!
Sarah
Don't forget to leave a comment if you would like me to link your FFF post here. I promise that I will keep up this week!!
Kerri & Ruby
Robyn & Gabriella
Lisa & Sophia
Becca, Myles & Ella
Stephanie & Maya
Tracy & Brenda
Christina & Aiden
Alleen & Gabriella
Holly's FFF
Rachel and the boys
Heather, Kyle, Brandon, Devin, Jacob & Allie
Kelly & Skylie
Katie & her sisters
Krystal's Group Shot
Shannon & Analise
Soltana, Derek & Cerah
Tricia's FFF
Kelli & Kaleb
This is Jenny and Matt. They are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl named Eliana who was born in Guatemala. They were recently matched with two beautiful little girls from Ethiopia that they hope to bring home in 2008. In the period of a year, they will have gone to life as a couple to a family of five with three little girls. My friends, Julia and Michelle, have organized a little "gift shower" of sorts for them.
This beautiful family is paving the way for other families to have the courage to adopt and receive the blessings of children born in Africa that deserve to find their forever families.
PLEASE WILL YOU HELP ELIANA AND HER SISTERS??
Love and FROG!
Sarah
Don't forget to leave a comment if you would like me to link your FFF post here. I promise that I will keep up this week!!
Kerri & Ruby
Robyn & Gabriella
Lisa & Sophia
Becca, Myles & Ella
Stephanie & Maya
Tracy & Brenda
Christina & Aiden
Alleen & Gabriella
Holly's FFF
Rachel and the boys
Heather, Kyle, Brandon, Devin, Jacob & Allie
Kelly & Skylie
Katie & her sisters
Krystal's Group Shot
Shannon & Analise
Soltana, Derek & Cerah
Tricia's FFF
Kelli & Kaleb
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Cancun In Pictures
OK... three posts in one night (scroll down to see more)... told you I was going to play catch up!!
I thought I would post mostly pictures of our New Years trip to Cancun. It was a very spur of the moment trip. We had not planned to go anywhere this year but some difficulties that arose with Grant and his stepmother made me reconsider that decision. On Friday, I contacted a travel agent to see what trip would fit into my very meager budget (i.e. the money I received for Christmas from my parents and airfare at $99 per person). Imagine my surprise when she called me back Friday evening and said she could only find two places in my budget... Tampa, FL or Cancun... well, DUH!!!! Tampa was in the 50's and Cancun was where we visited in 2004 and my decision to adopt Sophie was finally made. So, Sunday morning, we were off... just the four of us.
When we arrived from our direct flight... we were starving and headed directly to our favorite restaurant from our previous trip... Carlos and Charlies! Bug was about five minutes from falling asleep here and still in her travel clothes.
Our first full day, we hit the beach... as you can see, it was not the most popular destination for our baby bug! She was terrified of the sand and the water...
But, she would stand on the rocks as long as her sandals were on. Here she looks as if she is praying that her mommy would not put her back down in the icky sticky sand!
This beach babe had no problem in the sand... when did my baby girl get so grown up??
The big kids spent their Christmas money renting wave runners. They had so much fun! Unfortunately, they were too far away from me to get their picture, but I did get them before they went out. It was one of those sibling bonding times... very rare among these two.
That night, New Years Eve... we went to eat at the only restaurant that was available without reservations... Rainforest Cafe. There was a man there with a monkey that let the kids hold and pose with it for the bargain price of $10. I knew I was not leaving that place without my animal loving children having a cuddle with that cute monkey!
All three of my bronzed and sunkissed babies
This trip soon became a time for Morgan and Sophie to connect. For some strange reason, Sophie has not allowed Morgan to get close to her, as if she were scared that Sissy would take the place of Mommy. It was hard for Morgan as she loves Sophie so very much, but Bug rebuffed her anytime she tried to cuddle or hold her. This trip, all that changed... Sophie is now ALL ABOUT her Sissy!! New Years Eve, they had so much fun playing out on the hotel beachfront... Elmo got in the action too...
And... ready for this... TOUCHDOWN in the sand. Here is photographic proof!! Morgan convinced her to put her toes in the sand and very slowly, she realized that it was not all that bad! Here are the three girls in the sand...
Grant had fun with Sophie too playing on the beach chairs. This was a night of togetherness... one I will never forget!
The view from our room at night
New Years Day, we headed over to Playa del Carmen to visit a friend of mine that adopted her daughter, "I", the same time as me and lives there year round (lucky!). Sophie and beautiful "I" had a wonderful time playing in the sand and the pool... you would have thought that Sophie had always been a sand baby the way she dug in and covered herself from head to toe with her little pail/cup and shovel! This trip proved to be a real growing experience for my little bug!
Notice that she is not letting go of the side of the pool. I believe the term is "death grip" but she is smiling!
That night, a front came through and brought cool air and 50-60 mile per hour winds that lasted the rest of our trip. We decided to go inland to an outdoor mall to escape the wind. They had a very small aquarium at the mall. Here is Bug watching the sea turtles, sharks and sting rays swimming in a tank.
Elmo enjoyed the aquarium too.
My favorite picture from the trip... not quite the beach picture I had envisioned taking, but my three kids smiling and together...
Our last night there, we visited our new favorite restaurant, Senor Frogs. We had so much fun with the waiters and both my girls got so much attention from the locals. All the male waiters kept pulling Morgan up to dance with them. Here she is doing the Conga line...
Each table gets a sign... ours said "Kids For Sale"
The group shot!
The final morning of our trip, we sat outside gathering the last of the rays we could take home from the overcast sky... my handsome son...
my beautiful girls...
And a shot Morgan took of her brother on the hotel balcony... I love to see their views through the lens... they both love photography:
Morgan self portrait in the sand
And Grant took some of Morgan on the rocks down the beach when they went for a walk together. I love this picture and the photographer behind the lens.
This was a trip of healing, reconnection and love. Our little family really needed the time away to refocus on our strengths so we can work together through the hard stuff that hits just about every family at some time or another in varying degrees.
DISCLAIMER... I did not mean to insinuate that the trip was meager... it was awesome and I was thrilled that my family of four could travel so affordably to someplace so wonderful! With airfare at $99 per person, and the hotel under $200 a night, we were gone four nights... so reasonable for a spur of the moment, this is the budget vacation. Overall... the money spent was worth it... and maybe we were running away from reality for a while, but it was something I am so fortunate to have been able to do!
I thought I would post mostly pictures of our New Years trip to Cancun. It was a very spur of the moment trip. We had not planned to go anywhere this year but some difficulties that arose with Grant and his stepmother made me reconsider that decision. On Friday, I contacted a travel agent to see what trip would fit into my very meager budget (i.e. the money I received for Christmas from my parents and airfare at $99 per person). Imagine my surprise when she called me back Friday evening and said she could only find two places in my budget... Tampa, FL or Cancun... well, DUH!!!! Tampa was in the 50's and Cancun was where we visited in 2004 and my decision to adopt Sophie was finally made. So, Sunday morning, we were off... just the four of us.
When we arrived from our direct flight... we were starving and headed directly to our favorite restaurant from our previous trip... Carlos and Charlies! Bug was about five minutes from falling asleep here and still in her travel clothes.
Our first full day, we hit the beach... as you can see, it was not the most popular destination for our baby bug! She was terrified of the sand and the water...
But, she would stand on the rocks as long as her sandals were on. Here she looks as if she is praying that her mommy would not put her back down in the icky sticky sand!
This beach babe had no problem in the sand... when did my baby girl get so grown up??
The big kids spent their Christmas money renting wave runners. They had so much fun! Unfortunately, they were too far away from me to get their picture, but I did get them before they went out. It was one of those sibling bonding times... very rare among these two.
That night, New Years Eve... we went to eat at the only restaurant that was available without reservations... Rainforest Cafe. There was a man there with a monkey that let the kids hold and pose with it for the bargain price of $10. I knew I was not leaving that place without my animal loving children having a cuddle with that cute monkey!
All three of my bronzed and sunkissed babies
This trip soon became a time for Morgan and Sophie to connect. For some strange reason, Sophie has not allowed Morgan to get close to her, as if she were scared that Sissy would take the place of Mommy. It was hard for Morgan as she loves Sophie so very much, but Bug rebuffed her anytime she tried to cuddle or hold her. This trip, all that changed... Sophie is now ALL ABOUT her Sissy!! New Years Eve, they had so much fun playing out on the hotel beachfront... Elmo got in the action too...
And... ready for this... TOUCHDOWN in the sand. Here is photographic proof!! Morgan convinced her to put her toes in the sand and very slowly, she realized that it was not all that bad! Here are the three girls in the sand...
Grant had fun with Sophie too playing on the beach chairs. This was a night of togetherness... one I will never forget!
The view from our room at night
New Years Day, we headed over to Playa del Carmen to visit a friend of mine that adopted her daughter, "I", the same time as me and lives there year round (lucky!). Sophie and beautiful "I" had a wonderful time playing in the sand and the pool... you would have thought that Sophie had always been a sand baby the way she dug in and covered herself from head to toe with her little pail/cup and shovel! This trip proved to be a real growing experience for my little bug!
Notice that she is not letting go of the side of the pool. I believe the term is "death grip" but she is smiling!
That night, a front came through and brought cool air and 50-60 mile per hour winds that lasted the rest of our trip. We decided to go inland to an outdoor mall to escape the wind. They had a very small aquarium at the mall. Here is Bug watching the sea turtles, sharks and sting rays swimming in a tank.
Elmo enjoyed the aquarium too.
My favorite picture from the trip... not quite the beach picture I had envisioned taking, but my three kids smiling and together...
Our last night there, we visited our new favorite restaurant, Senor Frogs. We had so much fun with the waiters and both my girls got so much attention from the locals. All the male waiters kept pulling Morgan up to dance with them. Here she is doing the Conga line...
Each table gets a sign... ours said "Kids For Sale"
The group shot!
The final morning of our trip, we sat outside gathering the last of the rays we could take home from the overcast sky... my handsome son...
my beautiful girls...
And a shot Morgan took of her brother on the hotel balcony... I love to see their views through the lens... they both love photography:
Morgan self portrait in the sand
And Grant took some of Morgan on the rocks down the beach when they went for a walk together. I love this picture and the photographer behind the lens.
This was a trip of healing, reconnection and love. Our little family really needed the time away to refocus on our strengths so we can work together through the hard stuff that hits just about every family at some time or another in varying degrees.
DISCLAIMER... I did not mean to insinuate that the trip was meager... it was awesome and I was thrilled that my family of four could travel so affordably to someplace so wonderful! With airfare at $99 per person, and the hotel under $200 a night, we were gone four nights... so reasonable for a spur of the moment, this is the budget vacation. Overall... the money spent was worth it... and maybe we were running away from reality for a while, but it was something I am so fortunate to have been able to do!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Help! I have an obsession...
With little girl clothes! My newest love are pinafores! Here is Sophie tonight modeling her new pinny that I ordered off of etsy.com.
Notice the "ugg" style boots that I picked up at my favorite store that resembles a big bullseye! Sophie calls them "Sissy" boots as they look just like Morgan's that she got for Christmas.
I didn't get a picture of the back, put it criss crosses and is just the cutest! It looks great with a shirt or turtleneck underneath it and leggings, jeans or tights. This one just happened to come in the mail today, so I slipped it over what she was already wearing. I may change out the button to a white or black button.
Luckily, Bug is more than accommodating to try on new clothes and model for me!! Does anybody else have this obsession (ahem, Candy, Tricia, Holly, Heather and others that I will let remain anonymous!)??
More updates soon!!!
Notice the "ugg" style boots that I picked up at my favorite store that resembles a big bullseye! Sophie calls them "Sissy" boots as they look just like Morgan's that she got for Christmas.
I didn't get a picture of the back, put it criss crosses and is just the cutest! It looks great with a shirt or turtleneck underneath it and leggings, jeans or tights. This one just happened to come in the mail today, so I slipped it over what she was already wearing. I may change out the button to a white or black button.
Luckily, Bug is more than accommodating to try on new clothes and model for me!! Does anybody else have this obsession (ahem, Candy, Tricia, Holly, Heather and others that I will let remain anonymous!)??
More updates soon!!!
Doctor Sophie Saves The Day
While my mom was in the hospital, Sophie went with me to visit. She was excellent at making Nana smile when she felt otherwise. My little Bug LOVED the exam gloves and masks that they had in the room and I know what I am getting her next Christmas... forget toys, she is SLEEPING with the exam gloves, she loves them so much!
I forgot to bring my camera into the hospital with me (yes, I left it sitting out on the front seat of the car... luckily, it was still there when I got back), but Sophie loved showing off in her new doctor attire when she got home and gave her baby a little checkup.
She really helped her Nana and her baby feel better!
I forgot to bring my camera into the hospital with me (yes, I left it sitting out on the front seat of the car... luckily, it was still there when I got back), but Sophie loved showing off in her new doctor attire when she got home and gave her baby a little checkup.
She really helped her Nana and her baby feel better!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Favorite Foto Friday #22 - PRAYERS PLEASE
Sorry this post is so late... but we could use some prayers for my mother, known as Nana to my kids. She was rushed by ambulance yesterday to the hospital for severe and unexplained abdominal pain. She is a nurse and as many of you know, nurses make the worst patients... so she was very sick to have called 911 herself to get there.
She has had many tests and everything came back as inconclusive, but the pain is still intense and it has begun to localize. They are thinking that she may possibly have had a blood clot or piece of arterial plaque break off and lodge in a small vessel in her intestinal track. They are going to do surgery in the morning to see what is going on and if there is some dead tissue or what might be causing the pain.
Please keep Nana in your prayers!
UPDATE - SATURDAY
Well, my mom had her surgery this morning... and they were able to find an adhesion from her hysterectomy several years back... it had left a band of sorts that her small intestine has managed to loop itself over. So, it was basically folding itself over this band of tissue. They were able to clip it and everything seems to have returned to its normal position post op. They will start her back on a liquid diet today to get everything up and running again, and hopefully, her pain will subside and she can go home when she feels better, possibly tomorrow.
Of course, she will have the shoulder pain from the laparoscopy to deal with over the next couple days as it works itself out of her body, but we have much to be thankful for! This was an easy fix, but something they would not have found unless they got in there to check things out.
Thank you so much for your prayers! I am on my way back to the hospital and hopefully will get some time to check in with everybody's FFF posts later this evening!
UPDATE - SUNDAY
Nana is home and besides feeling like she has been hit by a Mack truck, all is well. Thank you so much for your prayers. Life is good!
I know I owe you some pictures of our trip and I have a couple more fun things to post as well!!
Here are a few pictures of my mom for my FFF!
On our visit trip to meet Sophie in July 2005
Sophie~Bug and her Nana - September 2006
At the pumpkin patch helping her little princesita - October 2007
And this past Christmas receiving her Christmas present from her grandbabies.
I will not have time to link everybody's FFF this week until things settle down here. If you leave a comment, I will try to get links up later this weekend - sorry... will post links again next Friday. Hard to keep up with all my blogging friends and I know I haven't commented, but starting to catch up with everybody!
Love and always FROGging!!
Sarah
She has had many tests and everything came back as inconclusive, but the pain is still intense and it has begun to localize. They are thinking that she may possibly have had a blood clot or piece of arterial plaque break off and lodge in a small vessel in her intestinal track. They are going to do surgery in the morning to see what is going on and if there is some dead tissue or what might be causing the pain.
Please keep Nana in your prayers!
UPDATE - SATURDAY
Well, my mom had her surgery this morning... and they were able to find an adhesion from her hysterectomy several years back... it had left a band of sorts that her small intestine has managed to loop itself over. So, it was basically folding itself over this band of tissue. They were able to clip it and everything seems to have returned to its normal position post op. They will start her back on a liquid diet today to get everything up and running again, and hopefully, her pain will subside and she can go home when she feels better, possibly tomorrow.
Of course, she will have the shoulder pain from the laparoscopy to deal with over the next couple days as it works itself out of her body, but we have much to be thankful for! This was an easy fix, but something they would not have found unless they got in there to check things out.
Thank you so much for your prayers! I am on my way back to the hospital and hopefully will get some time to check in with everybody's FFF posts later this evening!
UPDATE - SUNDAY
Nana is home and besides feeling like she has been hit by a Mack truck, all is well. Thank you so much for your prayers. Life is good!
I know I owe you some pictures of our trip and I have a couple more fun things to post as well!!
Here are a few pictures of my mom for my FFF!
On our visit trip to meet Sophie in July 2005
Sophie~Bug and her Nana - September 2006
At the pumpkin patch helping her little princesita - October 2007
And this past Christmas receiving her Christmas present from her grandbabies.
I will not have time to link everybody's FFF this week until things settle down here. If you leave a comment, I will try to get links up later this weekend - sorry... will post links again next Friday. Hard to keep up with all my blogging friends and I know I haven't commented, but starting to catch up with everybody!
Love and always FROGging!!
Sarah
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