Wacky Wednesday

A picture from Sophie's first snow back in January 2006... I can hardly believe this was taken two whole years ago!!



Poor thing... decided she did NOT like the cold white stuff.

Double That!

Well, we woke up this morning to a surprise! I have not been watching the weather and low and behold, we got double the blizzard from last week... maybe a little under two inches of snow this morning and a two hour delay for school (gotta love living in Ky - LOL!). So, Bug got on her snow boots and finally got to ride in her sled that we bought two years ago. She LOVED it!




She made her first snowball! The snow was that perfect packy type... would have made a great snowman if we would have had time before work and school.


I loved watching her walk in her cute little coat and boots.


She wanted to pull her sled but her cute little cupcake mittens were hard to use... darn thumby thing...


Here snowball, let me take you for a ride!


Wheee!!


Pushing it up the driveway was much easier!


By the time we got home tonight, the snow had mostly melted, but Grant offered to take her out in the front yard to ride on his sled. She did not want to sit on it, only stand.


Mom... it's cold out here, I want to come back inside!


OK, we've had our snow. Let's bring on Spring!!

A Kentucky Blizzard!

Yep... while the rest of the country is having massive snowstorms and pictures of snowmen are being shown on countless blogs, our big snow total this week was... less than an inch! Sophie was excited though and couldn't wait to go out and touch it!




Anybody else bummed by the lack of winter? My kids would LOVE a snow day! We sure have the frigid temps, just whenever a front carrying any moisture comes through, it always hits just above or just below where we live. Bummer!

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!

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

Wordless Wednesday

Actually taken in December but another all time favorite of my little bug.

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!