Why?

I don't know where to start with this, so I'm just going to start. There isn't alot going on with my crew that is worth reporting right now. Everyone is great, other than runny noses all around!

I can't stop thinking about my blogger friend Susie and her family. I hope she doesn't mind me posting this, actually, but I feel that all I can do to help is to get more people praying. Susie and her family brought sweet Bella home from Guatemala about 3 weeks before we picked up la princesa. Last Thursday, Bella was diagnosed with Leukemia. Why? There isn't an answer to that question, but I keep asking it. Bella is the 7th child that hubby and I either know in person or know of, who have been diagnosed with Leukemia in the last year and a half or so. Why?

Bella's mommy, who calls herself "the other Susie" when we chat (to whom I call myself "the other other Susie"!), inspires me with her faith and strength. I haven't met her in person, but I know it is genuine faith that is getting her family through this rocky road so far. There is one thing I know for sure--Bella was chosen for this family by God. He knows they are the perfect, faithful family to get her through this. While her prognosis is good, it's going to be a long 2+ years for this family.

Please pray for this amazing family. Pray that Bella handles her treatments well and doesn't catch any illnesses that could cause more problems. Pray for strength for her parents and brothers, whose lives have been turned upside down in the last few days. Just pray.

You can visit their family blog HERE . I had to get that off my chest--it's been hard for me to even come up with a post about my kids this week. Bella needs more prayers . . .

I've been tagged! And a bunch of random-ness

My friend Mary Ann tagged me to answer four questions--four thought provoking questions. I hope I can focus long enough to answer how I want to. Here it goes:

1. What is the best thing you ever did for someone else?

Gosh, I'm the nicest person most people will ever meet, so that's a tough one. ha ha It's hard to say--I try to do things for people all the time, but the one thing that stands out in my mind is when I was 15, my friend Lindsay and I were on our way to get our driving permits (with her mom) and we were the first car to come to an accident in the middle of the highway. There were five young children, all under about 3 years old, and two women, all crammed into a Mitsubishi Galant. I'll never forget it. My friend and I stood on the side of the road for a long time while waiting on the medi-flight helicopter, holding the screaming babies that Lindsay's mom had gotten out of the car. The two women were stuck in the car--it had been hit by a dump truck--and they had to use the jaws of life to get them out. We stayed until the ambulance and helicopter arrived to comfort the babies as best we could. What a day. It really wasn't DOING anything special, but it was completely needed at the time. We never told them our names, and we didn't get theirs. Sometimes I wish I knew where they are today.

2. What one thing would shock us to know about you?

Oh, I have lots of shockers. For those who know me know that didn't know me during my school years, you'd never guess that I used to be shy. Painfully, horribly shy. No one ever believes me when I say that, since these days I don't know a stranger!

3. Other than being a mom or a wife or work in your current career, if you could do anything, what would you do with your life?

When I was a teenager, before I met the love of my life (and since we met when I was sixteen, you know I was young!), I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy, join the military, and fly fighter jets. I don't necessarily want to fly fighter jets now, but I would love to have a job that involved flying. Oh, and I would love to be independently wealthy so I could travel and help people who need it. I so want to go back to Guatemala and DO something for the children and families there, and think about it all the time. I want to see the world, but not necessarily the "touristy" places--I want to see how people really live, and make a difference where I can.

4. What is your favorite thing (a product not an activity)?

I'd have to say my CHI flat iron. On a non-humid Oklahoma day, that sucker can get my hair so straight! Today, however, not so much . . .


Thanks for tagging me Mary Ann. I never get tagged, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

Onward and upward to my random-ness of the day.

1. La princesa is 11 months old today. Feliz once meses mi amor! The previous post tells all about what she's doing these days. I tried to get a good picture of her today, but it just wasn't happening. Sorry!

2. I lost 3 lbs. at Weight Watchers this morning! Yay! A pal from work and me went to Moe's to celebrate. Did you know that if you get a Moe's burrito without the tortilla, they call that "streaker style", it basically cuts the calories and fat grams, along with WW points, in HALF??!! Who needs a stinkin' tortilla anyway? Not me! I ordered my first streaker Moo Moo Mr. Cow burrito and it was only 4 points. It was awesome, and I wanted Moe's again for dinner, but it was a no go. Darn, maybe next week!

3. Matthewspeak--this kid cracks me up! It must be so fun to be three. I know it's a hoot to witness him in action, that's for sure. Here is a conversation we had on the way home the other day:

Me: "Get out of my way, you crazy loons!" (to the idiot drivers that slam on their brakes at the last second, for know apparent reason)

Critterboy: "Mommy, where are the loons?"

Me: "They're everywhere honey--pretty much in every car that you see."

Critterboy: "Oh they are? Can I see them? What is a loon?"

And last night he kept saying "Get that corn out of my face!" in a really gruff voice. Guess who he was impersonating? Yep, he was playing out a scene in Nacho Libre. And, to make matters even more hilarious, he wants to take off his shirt and "wrassle" like Nacho Libre every evening. He even sticks his belly out to look like him. It's hard to keep from rolling on the floor when he does that!

Then today on the way home from school we had a convo that went like this:

Critterboy: "Mama, where are those people going?"

Me: "What people? Those people? They're probably going home like we are."

Critterboy: "No mom! They're going to Jim's!"

And by golly he was right. He was pointing to a car that was turning into one of the many restaurants that he knows. He got me on that one!

He is also very concerned with where things are. For instance, if you ask him where Chick-Fil-A is, he'll tell you "it's at Norfwest Highway and Rockwayell". Again, he's right! Too bad his genius is limited to eating establishments. I wonder what THAT says about us?

4. Operation Princess Hair is in full swing! Sweet Abby Riggs, who was adopted from Guatemala and now lives with her family here in Oklahoma, was diagnosed with Leukemia earlier this year. Please click HERE to read about her amazing family and see if you can help!

5. Visit my blog friends' blogs! If you don't already know, there is a list of blogs on the right side of this page. These are all of the blogger buddies I keep up with regularly, although there are tons more that I check in with too. There are some really great women and families to be found by reading these blogs. Check them out--you won't be sorry you did!

6. Leave comments when you check in here, if you are so inclined. I love to read them and it's great to see who is reading. Just don't say icky or mean things, because that's not very nice! You don't have to have a blogger account, but why not make one? If you post anonymously, be sure to include your name like you're signing a letter so I'll know it's you. It's fun!

Sheesh, that's another long winded post. Sorry there are no new pics. Next time, my friends, next time--have a great night!

Catching up

Hmmm, where to begin??? I'll start with my birthday, which was 2 weeks ago. I'm officially "in my thirties"; 31 seemed so old just a few years ago, but here I am! I got to sleep in, which is extremely rare these days. When I finally got up around 8:30am (which is awesome considering the kiddos are usually crying for me at 6--thanks honey!) I went in the living room and my little wild man said "Hi birthday girl!" He's been saying it ever since. So cute--he's a hoot! I got several cards, as usual, but this year, the card from my BFF Krista was the best. She said some really sweet things, as she always does, but I especially needed them the day I opened that card. Thanks BFF Krista--I miss you and I hope we can see you before next summer, but if not, know that I always have love and cinnamon twists for you!


I joined Weight Watchers at work a few weeks ago. I figured I should join since I coordinate the at work meetings for my employer. I stink at it, but at the first real weigh in I lost .6 lbs. At least I didn't gain. I'm really getting into it now, and I hope to lose about 20 lbs. There's more than that to be lost, but I'd be happy with that. It's kind of cramping my style, though, because I think about food all. the. time. now, and it makes me want to eat all the time. I've done pretty well this week, though, so I can't wait to see if the scale agrees on Tuesday morning.

After we went to the pumpkin patch last weekend, we created our pumpkin critters with the kit we got at Wally World--thanks for the idea Candy! La princesa was sleeping, so bubba got to do it without having to share with sissy. He had a blast--just look at these grins! And if you're wondering, yes, that IS crusted snot under his nose. Poor guy has awful allergies and his nose just gets raw, so it's hard to keep it wiped without alot of tears and fussing.



La princesa is doing wonderfully. She's cruising around the furniture and will take several steps holding onto our fingers. She's standing alone, if you get her on her feet, and will stay up for several seconds. She is so fun to be with. We get the sweetest notes from her daycare teachers everyday, and people stop her room just to see how cute she is. Brains and beauty? Yep, she's got it all! I'm still amazed at how blessed we are to have these kids! Here is a random pic of all of her cuteness one day before heading to "school".



The critter boy comes up with the most hilarious things to say lately. He is starting to notice that not all people look like him, especially sissy priss. I really thought we'd have a few more years before he noticed that not all people are white--he's been exposed to just about every nationality out there at one point or another, and it's never been a big deal for him. I guess it starts now. Seriously, I wondered if he would ever notice that sissy priss is brown. Guess what? He notices, but I suspect it's due to some little stinker at school, or maybe even one of his teachers. The other day he said "Mommy, is sissy brown?" I said, "Yes honey, sissy is brown." He said "I'm not brown." (very matter-of-factly) Then he proceeded to name all of the brown people he knows. I really expected him to say that daddy is brown, because he's fairly dark complected, but no, just sissy priss and the other Guatlings we had recently hung out with. He has asked about it a few more times in the last few days, and I'm using it as a teaching tool to explain that God made all colors of people and they are all beautiful, etc. Hmmm, I wonder what he'll come up with next? This morning he turned around suddenly and my hand bumped his face. He said "Ow! That hurt my skull!" Silly boy! But so smart . . . too smart sometimes!




I've always heard that the first step to curing an addiction is to admit it, so here it goes: "Hi, my name is Susie, and I'm addicted to hair bows." (What did you think I was going to say? hee hee) I know, I know, but it could be worse, but it's pretty bad. Since I always look to place blame, I'm blaming this addiction on our adoption coordinator, Tonya. It's all her fault, really--I was just a young, impressionable, soon-to-be mom to a girl and had no idea it would get this bad. Then when I saw my sweet baby girl was gonna have awesome hair, how could I NOT buy a few bows? It would be wrong to deny her of matching accessories for her many outfits, wouldn't it? I agree! Do you think this is too many bows for an almost 11 month old?


If you're wondering, there are about 75 bows, plus 25-30 "clippies". Believe it or not, there are still some outfits that don't have just the right bow to match. Keep reading for my solution to this problem . . .

Anyway, I recently got tired of paying big bucks for all those bows, so I went to trusty youtube and found a video clip of how to make them myself. Now, normally I can be pretty crafty, but usually things never go as easily as the instructions appear. I'll be darned if the instructions weren't EXACTLY right! It's pretty much fool proof! I ordered a whole bunch of ribbon on ebay (dirt cheap, awesome for hair bow making I might add, and it arrived yesterday. Last night after the munchkins went to bed I made these:

They are double layer bows that match a couple of hard to match outfits. This was my first real attempt to make "boutique style", and considering I'm a bow making newbie, they turned out great. I may sell a few here and there, but I'm definitely not going to go into business anytime soon. I've found that doing things for "work" takes all the fun out!

About a week ago I came across some cutesy little holiday hairclips selling for $3.99 on ebay, plus shipping. For about $7.00 total, I got all the stuff to make about a trillion of these:

Yep, I really did make them all myself. I made the regular bows first, then moved on to the awesome turkey, pumpkin clippie, and the korker spider bow. I'm gonna try a Christmas tree and a snowman next! Pretty cool, huh?! I totally impressed myself with my handiwork!

Yesterday afternoon I volunteered at a kids consignment sale for the first time. In return for my 4 hours of hard work (it was busy, but tons of fun--I'll definitely do it again!), I was able to shop the 1/2 price sale early, before it was open to the public. So on Friday night, I left my beloved home on bedtime duty with the critters and headed to the sale. For about $50 I got each kid a coat, 2 shirts and one awesome sweater for the wild man, and several outfits for my sweet girl. I only bought name brand items, most of which were likely sold originally at $25 or more for each piece. I think I did great! So yesterday, as there were lulls in the action at my tag cutting, folding, bagging, etc. table, I went out to see if I had missed anything the night before. Guess what? I had missed lots of good things! What a shocker--I bought more. Round two consisted of a Ralph Lauren reversible Christmas dress (brand new, but no tags), so Halloween pants, and two shirts for la princesa for a grand total of $15. I guess I should fess up to round three, which was an Old Navy denim jacket and hockey jersey (yep, he loves hockey) for the bargain basement price of $7. Not bad, huh? If I haven't mentioned it before, I really don't care if my kids wear "this seasons" styles. It's kids clothes, you know, and if they're clean, look nice, are stylish, and don't break the bank, it doesn't matter to me if it just hit the stores or if it was new 3 years ago. As a bonus, when I first got to the sale yesterday to start my shift, I ran into one of my high school pals, Lacy, and her sister-in-law. Lacy's older brother graduated with my sister, and I worked with him for a bit when I when I was working retail many moons ago. It was great to see both of them.


After I got home, I was starving, so we went to the Mexican restaurant in town. If you don't know, Mexican food is quite sinful when you're on Weight Watchers, but it didn't stop me. I gained some extra food allowance with all of my hard work earlier in the day, or so I tell myself. After dinner we had a few minutes before the OSU football game came on, so we went to a neighborhood park. When I say neighborhood, I don't mean OUR neighborhood, just A neighborhood. We all had a blast. I jumped out of the swing over and over just like in 4th grade. I felt like I was flying! They have a walking track, picnic pavillion, etc. Is it trashy of us to "crash" another neighborhood's cool recreation area? I hope not, because I'd hate to be labelled trashy--we plan to go back often! hee hee

Today we had our 6 month post placement social worker visit. We've had la princesa home for almost 5 months. I still can't believe it's been that long. She'll be 11 months old on Tuesday. I'm really not sure where the time has gone. The social worker was wonderful--a much different experience than our homestudy. Our previous social worker is no longer licensed (long story), so the agency that she contracted with assigned someone else. We loved her! It was a nice, short visit, and the only social worker visit required. With her report we'll be able to complete the re-adoption process. Hopefully that will all be wrapped up shortly after the first of the year. What an amazing year it's been so far. I'm sure I'm leaving some good stuff out, but it's been awhile and I can't begin to think of all of the fun we've had. Have a great week, and I'll try to post sooner than later!

Fav Foto Friday - OU/Texas

The theme this week is Octoberfest, but since I just did a huge Pumpkin Patch post last week, I decided to make my own theme! First, let me say that under normal circumstances my sweet princesa would NOT be wearing this adorable OU cheerleader outfit. This, however, is OU/Texas weekend, or as we Okies know it, one of the biggest rivalries EVER! So, in support of our Sooners, here is the newest cheerleader on the squad (who bleeds orange for Oklahoma State any other time!):

Go Sooners and Go Pokes!

Pumpkin Patch fun!

Okay, I missed Fav Foto Friday for last week, and I'm in desperate need of updating the blog with the hilarity that is our life. But you're gonna have to keep waiting and enjoy these pics instead!

We went to the local pumpkin patch on Saturday with 2 other families from our very informal OKC Guatemalan adoption group. It was great to get together again and keep building our friendships! After all the fun of the corn maze, pumpkins, petting zoo, pony rides, hay ride, etc., we all headed over to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner. 6 adults and 6 kids made for a very fun meal, but surprisingly we had time to talk and catch up while wrangling our tired kids. It was a great day--have I mentioned that I LOVE fall?

The wild man lovin' his sissy priss!

Miss Priss Pants LOVES pumpkins!

My little guy was sick of having his picture taken. He loved the pumpkins, even though this pic might lead you to believe otherwise!

AJ and la princesa. I think they were conspiring to eat grass, since that's what happened next.

Four of the six kiddos--the best we could do! The ponies were whinnying (is that a word?) and they all looked over just as I snapped the picture. So cute! From left to right are AJ, S., little man, and la princesa.

Mary Ann and her two Guatemalan beauties, D and S. Such happy girls!

Dan and AJ, checkin' things out before we went in. Erica and Brogan were just out of the shot, and I now realize that I didn't get a full family pic of any of our families. Next time, next time . . .

Yes honey, those are good pumpkins. . . Silly daddy-o!

Me and my critters.

What a great day!