Back in Cali

Our flights here went smoothly, with KayLi only getting a little anxious during our first take off. Once she understood that we would "Go slow" again, all was well. She even did great during our two hour layover in Vegas. Emily was excited to see the strip with all it's huge casinos when we landed and again on take off.

We stayed up ridiculously late catching up with my brother and sister in law. It was so fun to watch KayLi and Will play together. They tackled each other over and over, laughing each time they would fall. No one could believe how much KayLi has grown. Or how "mature" Emily has gotten. I can't figure out when Will turned into a big kid. And the baby, oh the sweetness of her.

Yesterday we tried to sleep in late and get used to the time difference. This will be the first time I have EVER looked forward to daylight savings time. It will put us only an hour out of whack!

Once we all got ready (no small task with four adults, one teenager, two kids and a two month old baby and ONE bathroom) we were off to a small zoo and then the beach for dinner at sunset.

When we got to the zoo it was kind of cool to see that scenes from the movie "Old Dogs" had been filmed there. Only in Cali! It's a small zoo with mostly monkey's, birds and a few mid-sized animals. We had a very nice time following the kids around and watching their excitement over each exhibit. They also had a play ground that the kids loved but I forgot to take any pictures. We'll all swap out pictures later but I think by then you all may be a little tired of pictures of this trip. Maybe, I'll bore you with them anyway :0)

We timed everything perfectly and left the zoo heading for the beach and Ruby's restaurant in plenty of time to get their before sunset and take some beautiful pictures. Or so we thought...

It's important to know that my brother and sister in law have two small cars and we have how many people? So we drove to the zoo and the beach in separate vehicles. Wendy, the baby (that sweet tiny thing I want to inhale), Will (my adorable nephew) and Emily (bless her baby loving heart) were in one vehicle. KayLi, Jay and I were in the other. Wendy had basic directions to the restaurant/beach were were heading towards and was following us...through Orange County traffic.

I know you guessed it...our separate vehicles got seriously separated. No problem right? Wendy has a phone. Nope. Oh well, I'll call Emily's phone. That worked...for about two minutes of very broken service. So with our limited cues as to where each other were we spent the night hour, of very precious daylight, trying to find each other. We were headed towards Ruby's restaurant on the end of the Huntington Beach pier but who would have thought that since we were last there Newport Beach had built four new piers. Three of which now have a Ruby's restaurant on the end.

Praise God for a few crazy miracles because we actually found each other again, right as Jay and I were about to give up and head home...with drive through fast food instead of the long sought after Ruby's. We ended up having a great dinner, at Ruby's woo hoo! Ah but my poor beloved beach pictures will have to wait until next time. We have bounced around a couple ideas of possibly heading back to try again. It's not looking good though. Jay has to work all but one other day while we are hear and we need two experienced California drivers.

So today we will be at the mall. A huge mall if it matters, having fun at the stores we only get to shop at when we are here. Probably spending more money than I would like to. But what the heck...when in Cali...

Thank you all for your prayers for KayLi. She is doing great! No sleep issues, she's not over whelmed, minor jealousy of her cousin and I and no major problems with sharing! She and Allie talked on the phone for a long time this morning and that went well too. So far it seems that I was concerned for no reason. Please keep praying...Disneyland is coming :0)

Sometimes You've Gotta Laugh

Emily's reactions to people, even inconsiderate people, often makes me smile. But when she told me how she responded to an incident at school a couple weeks ago, I couldn't help but laugh. Really laugh! If I hadn't laughed, I would have gotten annoyed and angry. Really angry. It's so much more fun to laugh!

She and a few of her friends were showing each other pictures that they had stored on their phones. Typical junior high girls standing around giggling over each others silly faces and corny poses.

One of her friends had some pictures of her four year old cousin. She showed Emily a picture of her cousin smiling really big with her eyes squinted and said "Look how cute she looks making Chinese Eyes."

Emily quickly pulled up a picture of KayLi, handed it to her friend and said "This is how KayLi does it."

My Busy Girl

With Emily in junior high, the days of barely being able to keep up with her seem to have begun. Her schedule is crazy and there is always an event coming up, project due or test to study for. She's constantly on the phone, f*cebook or texting. I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. Her teenage years are coming quickly and I KNOW how fast time will fly. It makes me kinda sad.

She LOVES playing in the band. She's doing really well too. She is first chair and went on her first band trip last weekend. It was a solo and ensemble competition and she received a Division 1 rating! She played a solo of Amazing Grace, a song the band director asked her to try. She was so nervous about it but she did great! Makes this musically challenged mama proud.

Being a big sister has been different than she dreamed it would be. KayLi has a mind of her own and isn't the baby doll Em had imagined. It hasn't been easy to give up the title of "baby" after twelve years but I think we have finally adjusted. She is a great Jie Jie!

She is seriously looking forward to Spring Break. We all are. The girls and I are heading to California. I can't wait to see my family there and meet my new niece. Emily can't wait for Disneyland and the beach! Even if she will miss a certain guy that she texts a LOT!

On a side note, please say a little prayer for us. We are beginning our Spring Break a little early and leaving tomorrow. I'm a little worried about KayLi. It will be the first time we have been on a plane since coming home. Plus, we will be gone for almost a week...without Allie. I know we will have a great time but I'm just the teeniest bit concerned that it may be confusing or over whelming for her. I appreciate your prayers!

And if you have any ideas as to why blogger is underlining the paragraph above and it was first appearing like a link, I would love to hear them. I'm clueless :0)

My First Night Out

In November I left KayLi with Allie for awhile. Just to go over to our church and pick up Emily. I wasn't going to be gone long but started talking and ended up being there for over an hour. I hadn't realized how much I missed my friends. Talking to them uninterrupted was heavenly.

It wasn't heavenly for KayLi. Allie tried every trick he could think of but nothing worked. It just wasn't pretty. Since then we have been working on me leaving for small amounts of time. Slowly, very slowly she is beginning to trust that I will come back.

So when I was asked to do some face painting for a "Sixteenth Birthday Carnival" I was excited but nervous. It sounded so fun! But could KayLi handle me being gone for almost three hours? Was she ready? Did she trust me enough?

I got out the paint and started practicing. Telling myself the whole time that, I would only be a mile from home. Allie could bring her to me at any time. Everyone would understand if I had to leave. And maybe, just maybe if Allie took the girls out for pizza it would work.

So they dropped me off and went for pizza. Then ice cream. She was fine! Allie even sent me video from his phone of her dancing! She was happy and I was having a great time. Huge sigh of relief!

I talked to people without having to keep a constant eye on a three year old who is still learning how to behave in public. I think I had forgotten what it is like to just talk to people. To be able to look at the person I was talking to was almost odd. And wonderful!

KayLi missed me and was clingy in a happy way when they picked me up. She told me all about her pizza and ice cream headache. She was very excited to tell me about riding on the dinosaur! She didn't even like to sit on rides like that seven months ago. She has come so far!

Happy 16th Birthday, Alex! Thank you so much for giving me a great excuse to see if we were ready for some time apart! And thanks a bunch to my family and Emily's friends for being crazy enough to let me practice on your beautiful faces! I still can't believe Allie let me paint a butterfly on him!!!

Snowmen!

Our beautiful snow is melting but not as quickly as I thought it would. There is still quit a bit and the kids were sad to go to school knowing it would likely be gone when they got home. If only the pile of wet clothes they left would magically disappear before they get home. I think they soaked and changed clothing three times! And the final count on snow ice cream...four batches!!! It's a good thing there were lots of kids around to help eat it all.

Even though I missed the "sledding" yesterday I did get a few cute pictures of Emily and her friends making snowmen.

Caitlynn's looks as pink and girly as she is. Later she found a pencil and used it for the nose...very creative!

Shelby used KayLi's cowboy hat and it turned out really cute! These snowmen may look small to you but they are gigantic to us!

Sidenote: Shelby's mom had sinus surgery this morning. I just heard she is in recovery and doing well. I know she would appreciate your prayers. Thanks for lifting her up!

And just in case you missed KayLi's pout yesterday...

I cropped it so you could get a better look.

I love it!!!!

A HUGE Fundraiser!

Another sweet family is raising money to bring their little one home. Adoption shouldn't be this expensive but it is. Please consider helping them. A $10 raffle ticket (and there are A LOT of prizes!) would really help.

Another Snow Day!

We went to sleep last night knowing we would likely wake up to snow. We didn't realize we would wake up to 2+ inches and that it would continue snowing until 10:00 am. We actually ended up with over 4 inches. The most we have had in one snowfall since we have lived in West Texas. This is huge here!

Everyone is thrilled to have another snow day!

Except KayLi. She does not like it. When I opened our back door to show her the snow, she immediately starting closing it saying "No, dat no cold."

Don't you love the way a cleft baby pouts?

After a slow start Emily bundled and headed out to enjoy all this glorious white stuff. She and her friends were off being pulled around on a sled and trying desperately to find a small hill they could slid down. Good luck with that. I was really hoping she would take a few pictures with her phone. Nope. Not one. "It's too cold to take off your gloves off to push the button."

So Allie bundled KayLi and headed out. Just for a little while because, seriously, she doesn't like it. I understand. I love the snow. It looks very pretty out my windows.

When I stepped onto the porch to take these pictures, I knew, why Emily din't take a single picture.

It's 1:00pm now and EVERYONE is inside. Were it is very warm. The fireplace is blazing. Soup will be on the stove soon. Three batches of snow ice cream have been made. Lots of kids helped eat it. Shoes and gloves are drying by the front door. Curling is on the television?

Huge flakes just started to fall again. Really huge flakes. They are outside. Looking beautiful!

I love snow days!