Best Christmas Ever!

I cannot remember a better Christmas. We have had such a wonderful time. We traveled to visit with my family. The kids got to play with all of the their cousins and loved every minute of it. Judson wants to move to Tennessee (or Alabama) so he can be with his extended family. They received way too much (as usual) but it wasn't the gifts that took center stage. It truly was the chance to play with all the cousins.





Trying out Abbey's Easy Bake oven



The cousins!No Christmas is complete without a visit from Santa!


P.S. Last nite, while putting Judson to bed, I asked if he had a good Christmas. He said, YES. Then I asked what the best part was. His answer was, "Playing with Abbey." He also said, "I wish Abbey lived where Miss Barbara lives!" (Miss Barbara is one of our neighbors)

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Judson quote: After telling him I'm going to a wedding this Saturday, he says, "can I go?". I said no, just Mommy is going. He said, "Are you getting another ring?" I say, nope. Just watching someone else get a ring. He looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head. Like, why would you want to do that.

Ansley quote: While eating mexican yesterday. I give her one of my flour tortillas. I tell her it's a "Tortilla". She is eating it and says, "I LOVE MY TIARA". Ever the princess......

Sawyer quote: (He's beginning to speak a lot) He loves to go commando. If you turn your head, his pants and pullups are down. So you have to keep an eye on him. (I have a lovely picture but I don't want to get in trouble, so I won't post it) So I walk in his room where he is supposed to be down for a nap. Alas, he's tossing the pants over the rail of his bed and easing the pullups down his legs. He sees me and tries to pull the pullups back up. He looks at me and says, "Mommy MAAAADDDD". It's hard to be mad at him. Of course, I came real close last nite as he was easing everything off to hop in the tub. I look down and there he is pee'ing all over the floor (pullups and pants still around his ankles), with the potty 2 feet away.

TWO and OH

Judson's basketball team is 2-0. Their first game was a squeaker but their second was a blowout. The other team "forgot" about their game so very few players showed up. I felt sorry for them. This league is for 4, 5 and 6 year olds. I was shocked to find out they did not try to equally distribute kids by ages. It was more of the 'luck of the draw' kind of thing. So some teams have very few shooters. It can make for some lopsided scores. (Not that most of the kids even know what the score is)

Judson loves playing. He has a basic concept of what he has to do on defense. They have a pretty good system. Each team has 3 different colored wrist bands, red, black, and blue. *They play 3 on 3* Each player (While on the court) is wearing one of these wristbands. So if you are wearing a red band on your wrist, you guard the person on the other team wearing the red wrist band. Judson manages to stay with the person wearing the same colored wrist band as he is wearing. He does a descent job of hawking him so he cannot shoot. However, on offense, he really doesn't get it. He cannot shoot the ball, so he doesn't understand anything else you can do on offense if you cannot shoot. So he merrily follows his opponent (with the matching wrist band) where ever he might go. He skips and dances and has the best time on the court. He makes everyone smile because you can see it on his face, he is having a good time! (The picture quality isn't good (since I didn't have the camera on the correct setting but you can get the essence of his happiness) He's on offense in this picture.
On a different note for this wonderful little guy. He saw a tv show where they gave a surprise party for someone. Ever since then, he has wanted to give a surprise party. It seems like everyday, he'll come up with a reason to have a surprise party. Yesterday, he wanted to give one for Ansley. (I'm thinking for her birthday, since she is having one in the near future) So I say, maybe we can do it for her birthday. J: No mom, we need to do it now. When you are adopted, you are bounced around from place to place. That can hurt your heart. Ansley has a hurted heart and we need to do this to help her heart. She will know how much we love her and her heart won't be hurted anymore.

He's a very special little guy!

Whew, I'm Tired!

Boy, what a active weekend we've had. Friday, Randy spent 4 hours meeting with Sawyer's teachers and therapist and IEP coordinators. Finally, they came to an agreement. Sawyer will not be in school but rather have 3 hours of weekly therapy in the home. We were very happy with that solution. Then Friday night, Judson had basketball practice. They were testing the scoreboard and buzzer. Come to find out, the buzzer was very loud and scared our hypersensitive guy. We stressed about that as Saturday morning was his first game. We were very worried that he wouldn't be able to sit through the game with the buzzer going off. No worries. Saturday morning came and we kept going over that the buzzer would be loud and the people would be loud and if he didn't like it, just to look at us and we'd take him out to get away from the noise. We get there Saturday morning, the opposition shows up in their white shirts with their names on the back and matching shorts. They should have been intimidating. (the only thing provided by the league was a shirt with a number) However, 4-6 year olds do not know to be intimidated. In the end, Judson's team was victorious 28-26. A good time was had by everyone. (and Judson did not get upset about the noise at all)

Saturday afternoon, Randy's folks came up. We took the kids to the mall so they could ride the Santa train and Judson could bungee jump. Bungee jumping is Judson's new favorite thing!Now today, Judson and I are off to a birthday party. It's a busy time but a good time. Everyone is healthy and happy. (except perhaps the little princess. She doesn't quite understand that ALL the presents are not hers. And if she wants to play with brothers' toys, she needs to share her toys. I'm not sure if she'll ever get that concept as she thinks what's hers is hers and what's yours is hers.)

Fun at the Gardens

We met some friends of Judson's, Luyushu and Amelie, (and their parents) at the Botanical Gardens. The kids had a blast. Judson is hoping we can meet them there again tomorrow. (unfortunately, the girls are both in school and won't be able to do that) They rode the train MANY times and had fun each and every time. Then they played and played in the children's garden. What a great time! Yes, I painted them coordinating sweat shirts. I figure I don't have many years(months) left to 'dress' them the way I want to dress them, so I had better take advantage of the situation. (Not sure if you can double click on these pictures and get them larger or not. There seems to be a difference between these pictures and my other pictures, at least on my computer.)