2006 Leaves Us

As 2006 leaves us, I'm sitting here thinking of the past year & wondering about the changes 2007 will bring.

In 2006 many of my FCC friends have been united with their own little blessings. I have been overjoyed to see new children come home & change the lives of their Forever Families. In 2007, I hope to see more families united. There is nothing quite as special as holding our children the first time & introducing them to family & friends.

In 2006, I picked up some new hobbies - blogging & scrapbooking. While I am by no means anywhere close to an expert in either hobby, I'm having a total blast. I don't get a chance to really scrap at home, but when I do, it's nice that Erin likes to sit with me & make her own creations. Her teachers warned me that Erin likes craft time at school, & it's the same at home.

David & I have decided to finally do something about our long-term love of trains. In 2007, we are building an N-scale train layout. As usual, David is doing the technical & manual labor. I'm going to have a blast picking out all of the buildings for the layout. Erin is even into this hobby with her own train setup.

I don't believe in making resolutions. As a teenager & young adult I always made resolutions for the following year. The adult in me finally realized that each time I made a resolution, I was disappointed when I didn't follow through on the commitment. Now I just think about the things I would like to accomplish but don't get crazy when things don't go the way I had planned.

So. Out with 2006 & in with 2007. Bring it on! I can handle it.

Wishing you all a very happy & healthy 2007!

Hantelech, Feeselech & Tuches

Yesterday I had to work late so David picked Erin up from our friend Debbie's house. When I called to tell him that I was on my way home, David couldn't wait to give me some important, earth shattering news. One of the hardest things to teach a young child who is learning Hebrew is the "ch" sound. It doesn't sound like the"ch" in Christmas or the "ch" in chunky. It's a gutteral sound that many people have trouble making.

When Erin was getting into David's truck, she showed him her hands & said "Daddy, these are my hantelech (little hands in Yiddish). David then taught her to say feeselech (little feet). She pronounced both words perfectly. Then she pointed & showed David her "tuches."

Go ahead & laugh, but these are the little things in life that we all smile with pride about. Besides, how could you not laugh? I did!

Chanukah Fun

Erin loves Chanukah!! Yes, as you can see, she has a blast getting presents. However, my darling daughter also looks forward to saying the blessings each night & saying "Happy Chanukah Momma & Daddy!" David & I are filled with such pride in Erin. This is the 1st year that Erin was able to chant each of the blessings right along with us.

Each year, on the first night of Chanukah, David makes latkes (potato pancakes) for dinner. Erin's 1st year home, she was eager to try them since she had recently started eating real food 100% of the time. Last year, she wanted nothing to do with them. This year, she couldn't get enough sour cream on them!

My friend Vivian & her daughter Kerri gave Erin 2 books for Chanukah this year. I can now officially recite "I Have a Little Dreidel" all on my own! It seems that Erin loves the song so I had to read the book at least 3 times each night. Not such a bad tradition at all.

I can't wait to see what next year brings us at Chanukah time!

Well, curiosity wins at the Museum of Discovery & Science also! Erin loves to see how things work. Since we're on vacation, we decided to play tourist at home! The weather outside was totally yucky (wind & rain) so this was the perfect place to visit for the day.

David & Erin love to do things together - plant, trains (okay I love that one too!), cook, models. I like to sit back & watch them enjoy themselves together. This was the perfect day for that.

Butterfly World

Wednesday was Butterfly World day. In the 18 years that the place has been here, we hadn't made the time to just go. We were always too busy. Isn't it funny what happens when you have a child? All of a sudden there's time to do plenty of things you wouldn't do before. We're loving every minute of it!

Erin was really excited to be going here because she loves butterflies. However, when we walked through the doorway to the exihibit, she froze. All of these butterflies just come flying over, & it really alarmed her. We've been working on teaching Erin to not be afraid of new experiences. It took a while, but the beauty of Butterfly World won.

Erin had a wonderful time just taking in all of the sights. Her favorite part of the day was going back & forth on the suspension bridge. The first time she went over it, it was as if her troubles were tossed into the pond below. She was smiles & sunshine the rest of the day.

5:30 am Appointment to Play!1

This is Erin's train table. She woke up early the next morning (5:30!) so she could play with her trains. Can we say obsessed???

Trains, Trains, Trains

Erin loves trains.

That's not really a surprise in my house. David & I are into trains also. In fact, I have my own train set - the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter movies. I've been trying to convince David that we don't need our dining room table anymore. No, I don't want to get rid of it. I'd like to turn it into my own train setup! I'm getting there. He's almost convinced.

My friend Lisa C found a train table for $20 at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Knowing how nuts we are, she picked it up for us & had her hubby bring it over for Erin. Tonight I surprised by taking it in & helping her set up her trains. She had so much fun playing tonight.

Cookie Comes for a Visit

Each week someone in Erin's class gets to take Cookie the stuffed dog home for the weekend. This was Erin's weekend to have Cookie visit. Imagine my surprise when Erin brought in the cutest little stuffed dog with the most horrible floral aroma. The last little girl decided Cookie needed a bath & washed him with some floral perfume soap. First thing we did was try to de-perfume Cookie with a turn in the dryer. Nope. It didn't work at all. Cookie still smells like a florist shop. However, Erin had so much fun taking Cookie around with her all weekend. Erin decided the best time was when they got to snuggle & sleep at night.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. Rather than go out for our usual breakfast & rush home to take care of our part in the family dinner, we made some changes. We stayed home & had a wonderfully lazy breakfast. Erin has had an amazing appetite recently & ate an entire half a bagel with cream cheese & lox. After breakfast, Erin & I started our preparations by making a sweet potato casserole. Usually my family insists upon me making my grandmother's sweet potatoes, but I told them that was too labor intensive since I always go home with too many leftovers. When the casserole was done, Erin & I baked dessert - 2 apple pies. David always helps out with the crust, & I do everything else. This year we all tried to deal with the crust but ended up throwing out 3 batches of pie crust & using a store bought shell. I was so disappointed since I've always made my own crust.

We went over to my cousins' house for dinner later that day. Erin got to play with her cousins Fallon & Joshua all afternoon. David & I got to visit & chat with my aunt & uncle & my cousins. It was a nice day. When we got home, Erin passed out & slept all night long. Life is good.

Do you have my name??

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I found this on a link from my friend Sandra's blog. Since both of my names are spelled wrong according to almost everyone I have known over my life, I thought I'd check it out. It's pretty interesting. Go on. I know you're wondering about your name too. Check it out!

Just Order One . . .

This past Monday night, I needed to go to WalMart after work. The problem was that David needed me to pick Erin up from school also. When I picked her up, I explained that I needed to go shopping but could only do so if she would behave. Needless to say, WalMart is one of her favorite places so she promised she would behave. Bribery worked really well here too. I told her she could have chicken nuggets from McDonald's if she did behave.

We went through the store completing our shopping without any problems. (Boy did she want those darn nuggets!) As we're getting ready to go to the checkout, Erin looks at me & says "Mama, I want a baby." I told her she had plenty of babies at home thinking she meant one of her dolls. So she told me she meant a real baby. I explained to her that our family was complete because I can't make babies & she was the perfect daughter for David & me. Erin got really insistent & almost begged so I asked her since I can't make a baby, how would we get one. (Don't ask a question if you're not prepared for the answer.) Erin told me we could order one. Huh!? Order a baby!? I had to ask where we could order a baby from just to find out what was in her mind. She looked at me as if I were a total dufus & said "Mama, order a baby from China!" Oh.

David wasn't quite as impressed by this conversation as I was. It seems that Erin doesn't hold these conversations with him - ever. I know he thinks down deep that I put her up to it because I want to have another child, but in true guy fashion, he only denies it.

Q & A Time

Question:
What do you do when your 4 year old daughter comes home sick from school on a Monday & is still sick on Saturday?

Answer:
Hope & pray that Sunday she's feeling better. Because if she isn't, you're going to go nuts. Why you say? Well, my normally well-behaved, sweet-natured girl has turned into whiny girl.
Uh oh! I guess I'm starting to get whiny myself! Erin is usually so well-behaved that it can be scary. David & I expect, & usually receive, a high level of manners & good behavior. My MIL tells me that I'm like a drill sargeant. This past week Erin has turned into a normal little girl who is sick - whiny, crying all the time, screaming, you name it & she's done it. Tonight she even tried to throw her blanket at me. That earned her a nice talking to.

I was supposed to take her to a Craft Day tomorrow with my mother's group. Unfortunately, I can't see taking her with me since she's been tiring so easily. I guess she'll just use tomorrow as a rest day since she has to be in school on Monday.

Happy Halloween??

Erin & I went to my friend Debbie's house this past Saturday night for a Halloween party. I had brought over things for the children to do a few crafts projects. Erin is very recently getting into doing crafts - coloring, play dough, painting, etc. I bought all kinds of Halloween foam stickers so the children could make door hangers & placemats. Erin really had a blast all dressed up in her red witch costume.

Happy Halloween?? I'm not really sure we can that this year. Yesterday Erin was sent home from school with a temp of 102.7. Although we got her fever down during the evening, it shot up again overnight. She & I stayed home today so we could visit her favorite doctor - Dr. Liang. According to Erin, Dr. Liang looks like "W" a character on the show Good Eats. The good doctor & her staff were dressed to the nines today in celebration of Halloween. It was a great office visit even though we're still not 100% sure why she's sick. Oh well, she's got a few days off from school with mommy paying full attention to her girl.

Hope everyone out there had a great time today/tonight!

Halloween's Coming!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted, but it's not because I haven't had anything to say. In fact, there's so much on my mind that I can't seem to settle down.

Erin has been doing really well lately. With Halloween coming up in the next week, we've been dealing with her utter fear of anything large &/or scary. She loves the idea of dressing up & decorating pumpkins & the house but is terrified of things like witches, ghosts, goblins, monsters, witches, etc. For someone like me who loves Halloween, this is pretty hard. I have an amazing Halloween village at work & things for the outside of our house that I can't put up. In fact, just this evening, David told me he was surprised that I haven't bought any of the inflatibles that are out for sale. Now how do I go out & buy myself that huge "snow globe" with bats & goblins without terrifying my child? You know, the child who loves to be hung upside down or go twirling around & around.

My friend Debbie is having a Halloween party this coming Saturday for a few of the children that we know. Erin is getting dressed up as a red witch. I just can't get over how cute she looks in her costume. Debbie's going all out for this party - bobbing for apples, goodies, costumes, decorations, etc. I'm bringing a craft for the children to do that night also. I think I'm more excited than Erin is!

Hopefully my computer & my camera will stop arguing so I can post some pictures from that night!

Hair & the lack of ability to style it has been a big topic for the people in my travel group. Amazingly enough, after being home for 3 years, we're still a fairly tight-knit group. This week's topic has been the girls' hair & our abilities (or lack thereof) to style it. Erin's hair has gotten pretty long & the color is so pretty. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do anything with it. The most I can do is a messy pony tail, but thankfully, Erin likes her hair this way. Of course, she's just happy to have me try anything.

Baking Honey Cake!

Yummy!!! The week before Rosh HaShanah I had an amazing opportunity to join Erin's pre-K class for a morning of baking honey cake. Of course, as most people know, honey cake is pretty, well, gross. On the other hand, when I told Erin that I'd be coming in to her class to help bake honey cake, she just lit up.
That morning I asked Erin if she wanted to wear her baking dress to school since we would be baking. She said yes so I put it on & realized that we won't have too many more opportunities for her to wear it while we bake. She's actually grown into it!
I was there with 2 other mothers & we had a nice time watching the children & helping with the baking. My girl had the biggest smile on her face the entire time we were baking. After we finished & I left work, I have to admit that I had a pretty big grin on my face myself.
That night Erin joined us in eating her yummy honey cake for dessert after dinner. I will never again look at honey cake the same way. She was so proud of herself! (Of course I was pretty proud of her myself.)

Rambling Away. . . .

It's been a while since I've written anything here. It isn't that interesting things have been happening but rather that life has gotten crazier here.

Last weekend David & I finally decided to have Erin's 4 year picture taken. We took her to this place that everyone is wild about (Sadie's). The kid, & I do mean kid, just didn't know how to capture Erin's "essence." David & I aren't totally satisfied with the pictures but bought them anyway. I had the pictures taken in 3 different outfits. Hey! They gave me an hour. I couldn't see shooting tons of pics in just 1 outfit. My friend Michelle has this company called Madi Adi where she makes the cutest outfits. Erin wanted to wear that outfit for the day, & boy am I glad she put her foot down because those are the pics I love the best. 1 of the other outfits she wore is a dress patterned with Chinese lanterns. I bought this dress from someone I'm friendly with in my local FCC group - Jolene. I'm totally in love with this dress, & Erin looks wonderful in it to boot. Too bad the photographer didn't know how to set up a shot. He was ready to snap pics with Erin's hair in her eyes. Duh!

Hopefully David will be able to figure out what's happening with my camera &/or computer so I can upload some more pics.

Atfer having her pics taken, Erin had her friend Kerri's birthday party to attend. We spent a great afternoon partying with Kerri & some of Kerri's other friends. Erin did not want to leave! She had so much fun she couldn't wait to tell her daddy.

Miss Ethel Says . . .

Well, the time has come.

As of this evening, Erin has started to quote Miss Ethel - her pre-K teacher. Mind you this isn't really a bad thing. Erin adores Miss Ethel & is learning so much each day. Last night while waiting for David to cook dinner, Erin rocked on her horse singing "Hinei Ma Tov" a Hebrew song about friendship. Tonight at dinner, she informed us that Rabbi says "Shabbat Shalom" (the traditional Sabbath greeting) on Fridays.

Tonight before going "nai nai" (Erin speak for bedtime) she needed to go to the potty. She always leaves the door open so she can see me. Of course, it's always a thrill to see your kid go pee & poop. She told me she needed to close the door which upset me as I thought she was playing around. I told her to leave the door open. Her response? "Miss Ethel says I need privacy for potty time." AAAGGGGHHHHH!!! When did Miss Ethel become the person she quotes??? That's supposed to be either David or myself for at least the next 90 years. Right?

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

What a Weekend!

I wish I could say that this was a great weekend. After all, we had 3 days off instead of our usual 2 that we rush through. Unfortunately, this was definitely a weekend in need of a "do-over."

I worked Saturday morning which I know set Erin off. Although she loves having Erin & Daddy days, my going in on Saturdays really throws her off kilter. Not to mention that I had a horrible day at the bank. When I got home, it was so great to have Erin run up to me with "huggies & kissies" as if she hadn't seen me in weeks. Her smile just blows me away.

I was lucky enough to have some adult time that night with a few of my girlfriends. I have recently gotten into scrapbooking & actually done quite a bit. I got to LL's house around 7:00 - just in time for LL, Mich & I to sit down & chitchat. After Lis got there, we decided to order dinner thinking pizza would arrive quickly. Mich & I ended up going to pick it up because a 2 hour wait wasn't acceptable to any of us! Once we got back to LL's, we ate & then sat down to some serious scrapping. I popped out 2 little books - 1 for each of our pets (Star & Kira). I felt as if I had really accomplished quite a bit. We had so much fun that I got home at 3:00 am!

Sunday we went down to the synagogue where I teach 1st grade on Sundays. After hanging around for about an hour, I was upset to find out that my curriculum wasn't all ready to go. I usually take the weekend before school starts to do my yearly lessons. I'm not the kind of person who likes surprises when it comes to what I want & when I want it. Erin & David came down with me, & Erin did pretty nicely considering I couldn't just let her play with everything. We did a bit of running around Sunday & had a temper tantrum almost every hour. I guess once she left the synagogue, Erin felt she could let it all out - and boy did she ever! Getting her to nap is impossible so she was rip roaring tired too. It didn't help that all of a sudden my back decided to take a vacation. I will, however, admit that my mood was altered by only having 5 hours of sleep. Once Erin wakes up, we all have to wake up. She doesn't want to miss a single moment of the day.

Today we went out early again to shop even more. Erin only wanted to go to school. Poor child really hates having her schedule messed with. Face it, this past week was pretty hectic with having no school for 2 days, then going back to school, & then having no school again. She really misses her time with Miss Ethel & her friends.

Normally Erin does super great when we go to Barnes & Noble. She'll play with the Thomas the Train setup for a while & then hunt for some books. Today all she wanted to do was talk - very loudly - about the fact that I wouldn't get her the books she wanted. What can I say? She's just not ready for the big kid stuff yet. That & the fact that she doesn't have much in the way of attention span for more than 15 minutes. Then we went to WalMart where she only wanted to go to the video game dept to play. Now you have to know that Erin is a very deprived child. We didn't let her take her Leapster into the store.

We got home, had lunch & then napped. That was nice until I heard Erin ask to play something that David said no to. Let the screaming begin. Again!

Thankfully, it's after 9:00, & she's been in bed for an hour so we've had some peace & quiet. Of course, when I'm ready to go in myself in a bit, the last thing I'll do is take a peek at my gorgeous girl, whisper to her that I love her & thank G-d for putting her in our care.

As I told Erin this afternoon, she is momma & daddy's very breath.

Oh Boy! The Things She Says!

Well, this has definitely been an interesting week for us. Erin has gotten even more sassy than ever. I don't even know how to explain that but she is. Then there are the things that she says.

My last posting told the story "Little Girls Don't Like This." My coworkers were laughing like crazy when I told them.

Well, yesterday had Erin her 4 year dental checkup & well-visit checkup. In the morning as we were getting ready she asked me if there was a potty in the dentist's office. Now what kind of question was that one!? With a straight face, I said of course there would be a potty at his office but why did she want to know. Erin looked at me like I had 3 heads & said "I might need to go potty momma!"

Then we went to her 4 year checkup with the wonderful Dr. Liang. Erin really likes her pediatrician which makes things easy for us. When Dr. Liang walked into the examining room, Erin said "Hi Dr. Liang! You look like "W." I started to laugh so hard! We watch Good Eats on the Food Network with Alton Brown. There is a character on the show by the name of "W." Well, W is Asian. I had to explain to Dr. Liang that Erin is finally starting to notice Asian people. Thankfully, the doctor has a great sense of humor & laughed with us.

I can't wait to hear what tomorrow brings us!