Happily Ever After...

Gianna turned 2 last month, and each day she says a new word or phrase that is totally new for her.  I absolutely LOVE this phase! She has had my jaw drop on more than one occasion by something she said, that I didn't know she could. Today, I had her on my sink and was finishing putting in her hairbows, and she looks in in the mirror, smiles, and says, " OOOOO, I CUTE!" Why, yes, yes, you are sweetie, but how do YOU know that??? She makes me smile.

We are trying to work on potty training Gianna. By trying, I mean: Only when I feel like cleaning up a puddle on the floor, only when I have time to give her an extra bath or two, and only when we are on non- carpeted surfaces. At this rate, she will be potty trained by the ripe ol' age of 10! The other day, I had her in undies, and she started peeing while SCREAMING: " I DROP IT, I DROP IT!!" Hysterically laughing, I run for paper towels and bleach, and she SLIPS while standing there and is, not hurt, but COVERED in pee! Yummy! I carry her to the kitchen sink, when the phone rings. Why I answered, I have no idea, but my friend Mary hears Gianna screaming at the injustice of it all, I am laughing so hard I can barely breathe while Aria is hollering loudly, "BOGEY IS WALKING THROUGH THE PEE!!!" Once the water was running, Gianna decided she'd rather NEVER leave the sink, so I grabbed my camera and got some great shots of her enjoying the water. Never a dull...

"It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it." Prov 10:22 As I have been thinking about this verse I think of all the blessings in my life, and can't help but be overwhelmed by all I have been given.. I spent the morning having my hair brushed by my girls, playing dress up and ENJOYING my time with my babies. What a HUGE blessing! When the boys were little, I had to babysit to supplement our income, and I never had time to get everything done, much less have a leisurely morning playing without a care in the world.  When we requested a child with a  serious medical condition, Greg told me it was time to retire. I spent the last few months with just Aria before we traveled to China. I am so thankful for the blessing of being a stay at home mommy for the first time in 22 years of marriage. I am not sitting in a quiet house. I have dishes to do, fingerprints to clean off the windows, and loads of little pink dresses waiting to be washed. My tab...

Gianna needs to be fully comfortable( and contained) in her big girl bed before our upcoming BIG surgery this summer(ish).  So we headed out to shop for the perfect bedroom for our little princess. And I found it!!!!  Daddy bought her the  very best mattress available to support her sweet back( temperpedic). He was so sweet at the store, he took his car keys and laid on every mattress with them behind his back to simulate Gianna's protruding rods. It reminded me of the "Princess and the Pea"story. What a loving Daddy she has! So this morning, sniff, we took down our LAST  baby crib... I didn't have too much time to wallow as to" where the time has gone", because the door bell rang to deliver our little princess' new suite...... Her pumpkin carriage awaits, complete with a  lavender satin comforter set.  Since she will be spending a lot of time recovering from surgeries in the next 10- 15 years, we wanted her to feel like royalty. She is a princess after ...

We talk about the girl's adoption on a very regular basis, because we want them to continually be assured of the plan of God for their lives. This week, in the car, we were talking about going to China last year and adopting Gianna, and how God has one baby sister for us, but has more brothers and sisters for other families.... Just checking to make sure she really grasped the concept, I asked: " Aria, are your brothers adopted?" "No Mommy, but they can stay anyway." Alrightythen!  Apparently adoption ranks a little higher in her book than birth. Guess I can scratch "proud to be adopted" off the to-do list:) "...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,  "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."    Jeremiah 29:11

While we were busy projecting, the girls got, ahem, a little creative in playing. Aria didn't forget Gianna's back, and surrounded her sissy with stuffed animals. ( None of which actually ended up behind her to protect her back, but its the thought that counts!) Gianna rode all over the house AND they stayed busy for hours.... What a fun idea!

We've been a tad busy 'round this part of GA trying to gussy up the place.  I am pleased to say, that for all involved, no fingers were sawed half off( which HAS happened during projects before), no trips to the ER, no major disagreements on colors, and .... WE ARE DONE!!!!  Please quote me on that, my hubby would like as many witnesses to that as humanly possible:) So here are a few pictures of the remodeling, ALL of which was done by my uber-handy hubby himself!  The kitchen "before" shots. The white countertops had yellow splotches that wouldn't come out, the backsplash was  b-o-r-i-n-g, and both my dishwasher and my stove were on life support. Drum roll, please... The kitchen AFTER Extreme Cl@xton home makeover: New appliances, new backsplash, new paint, new granite tiled counters and it looks like a totally different kitchen!  I have to admit, I am a little scared of the stainless appliances and the knack for keeping them clean with little ones. But they are ...

Aria went to the dentist last week to have a cavity filled. After she got her "princess tooth", the assistant gave her 5 tokens to get toys on the way out. As we were leaving, I told her we would have to come back to get one more "princess tooth". She paused for a minute and then said: "Mommy, if I got 5 tokens for my first princess tooth and we come back next week and I get 5 more tokens for my next princess tooth, then I will have gotten 10 tokens total for 2 teeth." "Ummmm, yes...."(Mommy obviously can't do word problems, because I had to think about what she said and it was only 5+5!) She is only 3 1/2!!! I am not sure what I was thinking at 3 1/2 but I am darn sure it was not math problems! Now could someone please explain to me how I am going to keep that mind of hers busy until college???

So, a few weeks ago, my laptop met it's untimely demise on the kitchen floor. It was a sad day indeed. I never knew how convenient it was to have a laptop, until it was gone.  Poor, unappreciated laptop. Then if I wanted to use the computer, I had to trek to the deep, dark basement that is FREEZING, on a dinosaur of a computer that was S L O O O W! Its like going back to a corded telephone!   Poor, poor pathetic me. Well, we went to VA last week, and my BRAND NEW birthday present (a blackberry pearl) had a very bad run in with a bowl of ice cream.( this one wasn't really my fault) Suffice it to say that he got very sick. And wouldn't work. In a PANIC( traveling with 2 toddlers and no means of communication with the outside world- what did I ever do when I raised the boys??), I went to the local cell store, and Greg told me to buy a "go" phone to get me home. Unbeknownst to us, go phones are $110 DOLLARS!!! Um, No way! So not having a phone to call my hubby to as...

The girls with Grandmommy( my mom) Beautiful Aunt Gwen is 100 and a half! She  is sharper than a tack and recited a poem for me that her mother gave her for her 40th birthday- SIXTY YEARS AGO!!!  Sheesh, I can't remember 60 minutes ago! Gianna is having fun with her Grandmommy! We had a great day at my friends house with all the kids! She is as true blue of a friend as I will ever have- just don't let her catch me calling her Dr.  She HATES that! ( but she is!) She made it her valiant mission to try to get us to move back to VA. Tempting for sure:)  Making/eating brownies at Grandma Maggie's house. Talk about a fun night! She is wonderful and we love her so much. I spent my evening trying to get her to move to GA. Didn't work:( And lots of things that had no pictures. I saw several dear friends that I haven't seen in over 5 years. We showed Aria our old house, and we saw my bestest friend in the world, who came all the way down from WVA after working all day, to sit...