A better run at Christmas

Christmas had a whole new spin this year for Dariya.  If you remember last year she had only been home 5 months and was overwhelmed after the first couple presents and went in the other room away from the chaos.

This year she joined right in with the chaos of her siblings and opened her presents all by herself.  Didn't take her long to figure out presents are fun.

I finally got my tired self off the couch,We enjoyed Christmas Eve having my brother and sister and their families over and then we all went to church together.  Christmas morning we had a quiet kid filled excited morning with my parents joining us in the afternoon for games and dinner.  What a great day to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

1,2,3, Go.....

Houston, I think we have a problem!

Anytime she sees my camera come out she poses with her huge smile!
I could just eat her up!

This one is for your Aunt Trudy, perfect lip gloss!!!

Thanks Ms. Juanita and crew for the awesome books

My life is so blessed, I am thankful for my family!
We hope your Christmas was truly blessed!!!

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!  

May your season be blessed!

Happy birthday Jesus!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Polka dot cute

Princesses at the ball

On Saturday we had the pleasure of attending Jason's nephew, Leighton's wedding.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony followed by a fabulous dinner and dance.  

Leighton walking in his nan, Jason's mother (she flew in from England to attend)

Found this good looking guy hanging out 

I absolutely love the lighting of the unity candle.
Now the two shall become one...

Jason and his mother and the girls (first time she has met Dariya)

The girls were so excited when the music started playing we literally had to drag them off the dance floor to drive home.  

These princesses loved the ball.

Who doesn't love Ring around the Rosie with your cousin?

Shake your groove thing Dariya

Congratulations Leighton and Merry.  

May God bless your lives together.

Can I keep him mom?

Please Oh Please?

No we aren't getting a puppy for Christmas this was such a cute pic of Aidan (who I hardly ever catch on camera anymore) that I couldn't resist.  My brother's German Short hair had puppies so the kids have been thoroughly enjoying watching them grow over the past couple weeks.

Life here continues on as normal (as we get).  

The kids are excited for Christmas.  Although I am not sure if Alayna will make it to Christmas as she keeps pulling ornaments off the tree as fast as I can put them back up.  She was so great with them the past couple years and left them alone now she is doing it out of pure naughtiness.  She looks, runs, pulls and smiles all while throwing them.  STINKER!  Thankfully she hasn't reached any of my glass ones so she hasn't broken any.

Aidan has played a couple piano gigs this past week with his piano teacher.  One at the Metro Lutheran Ministries Christmas store.  People in need can come "shop" this store for Christmas presents for their kids for free.  Then last night they played at a retirement home close to our house.  It is so nice to see him use his God given talents to brighten someones day.

Jason is of course working later and later so the kids and I am missing spending time with him.  Thankful when Christmas Eve gets here at the close of the day his long days are finished.  So be nice to your UPS man/woman as they are working hard to get your packages delivered and probably missing their family too. ;)

The girls continue to make me laugh and entertain each other well.  One morning I sat back and watched them play for nearly an hour and a half without any input from me.  It was truly an amazing thing.  Alayna used to wait for me to pick a toy out of the toy box before she would play with one.  Since Dariya has come home they have both blossomed so much and the love they have for each other is easily evident.

Hope all is well in your world.  If you are still looking for that perfect Christmas gift...give the gift of life to an orphan pick any orphan on the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree and help them find their family.  I can't imagine our lives without Dariya and we would have never been able to bring her home if it wasn't for all the donations that helped us reach our goal.

Do you hear what I hear?

Today the girls had their biannual ENT appointment to check their tubes and hearing.  Hey, we met our deductible why not cram in every ologist I can think of before the end of the month?

We haven't been so successful in getting a good hearing test yet on Dariya so I was more than anxious to hold her down get it done.

Thankfully the girls were angelic!  Alayna was on her game for sure.  We stopped at the lab and had her thyroid labs completed.  She never winced or cried just sang the girls jingle bells while they worked.

Quick dash down the hall to ENT and we were whisked away into an exam room in no time.  Thankfully with iPad in tow and a little Sesame Street to keep them occupied the girls were very good.  Alayna went first and had a bunch of wax they cleaned out and had a good hearing screening plus her tubes are still in.

Then I dreaded having to get the Ukrainian Tasmanian devil into the chair.  To my surprise she only grumbled a little bit then stopped.  She let them put the little things in her ears and sat quietly (I guess little sister's role modeling paid off).  She grumbled a few times and reached to pull them out once but otherwise was fabulous!  A far cry from the drama that ensued 6 month ago when we went to the audiologist.  She had some wax build up (she did throw a bit of a fit for the wax cleaning but WAAAAY better than normal), tubes looked good and her hearing was normal on the right and the stats looked slightly diminished on the left ear but nothing to be alarmed about.  We won't be able to get accurate and specific levels until she can wear the headphones and sit in the booth which might be a year or so away so until then we will take what victories we can get.

Afterwards we hunted down our favorite UPS man to show off our super cool Santa band aid (Alayna) then hurried home for ice cream with sprinkles to celebrate the day!

WOOT WOOT!