Week 17 of 52

Another week gone by....can't believe that April is almost over. Crazy. I'm really proud of myself for keeping up with this picture a day thing. I know sometimes it's boring or the pix don't mean a lot to other people but I love having documentation of our day-to-day lives.

2010: 04/29

Mari LOVES to brush her teeth. Our morning routine has changed so much since she now has to eat breakfast at home so she had to learn the hard way this week that she needs to hurry up and eat to have time to brush. She was very happy that she finished with plenty of time this morning.

2010: 04/28

New dress I found at Target on clearance. $5.

Doesn't she look so grown up?

(Excuse the quality of the picture, having serious lighting/flash fill issues)

2010: 04/27

After only 3 days of carrying it, Mari's new cheap inferior-grade lunch box was broken. So I spent a little more and got a quality one from LLBean. Love it, both the appearance and the usability of it. Also kind of difficult to find personalized name tags for my child...so I made my own. 2010: 04/26

Sick day for Mari with a bad cough and just not feeling well. She took full advantage of a warm (purring) pillow.

2010: 04/25

Mari's first "real" sleepover - Day 2. Poor Mari was pooped. I told the girls it would be naptime as soon as the show they were watching went off. I went to my room to put away laundry and 3 minutes later came out to find Mari passed out in the middle of the floor. She hasn't done that for a couple years.

2010: 04/24

Mari's first "real" sleepover - Day 1. Mari and Lydia had an awesome time playing under the "tent" I made out of tableclothes. In all seriousness, I think I need remedial training in this area...it took me a half an hour to rig it up. But they played in it for over 3 hours total, so well worth it.

2010: 04/23

You can read the previous post to get the whole story on this picture but let's suffice it to say that Cousin Madi was very proud of her ponytails.

I ♥ Faces - Smiles!

Here we go again....I love entering these things just because I'm a theme-nerd. I like having a goal to aim for. When I saw this week's theme was smiles, I knew which picture I wanted to use. Mari has a mischievous grin an awesome smile but I have a picture that I thought captured the true essence of what defines a smile.

My niece Madi came over to play the other night and her mommy was lamenting the fact that Madi has difficult hair. Her hair is very whispy and fine and silky - beautiful, but hard to do anything with. While the girls were in the tub, Madi got a cup of water dumped on her head (by her cousin with the mischievous grin) so after getting her into her PJs, I combed through her hair. Mari decided that Madi needed ponytails like hers and Madi agreed readily that she needed ponytails. It took a lot of water to sculpt her hair into ponytails but it was worth it. She LOVED them. And it gave her a totally new look - sweet, cute, and very impish....kind of like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan.

I love the satisfied joy on her face as she looks in the mirror to see her beloved ponytails "just like Mar-Mar's." This picture just makes me giggle!

Hop on over to I ♥ Faces to see some really amazing smiles!

Week 16 of 52

Another week of pictures done (yes, I realize that Thursdays are a weird day of the week to "end" on but the year started on a Friday, so the first week ended on a Thursday, and so on and so forth).

This has been the most stressful week of the year. Mari finished out her last day of daycare on Friday and started a new daycare on Monday. She does not understand why, all she knows is that her comfort zone for the last nearly 2 years is gone. She is doing very well at her new school but, as is typical for Mari, she unleashes all her pent-up anxiety and tension on me at home. I would rather she do this than to have a tough time at school but it does make life difficult. I will blog soon about our school choices and why this change was very important. I am also planning the obligatory "attachment post" that I think all adoptive parents feel the need to write about sooner or later. Yes, it's been over 2 years since we became a family but it's a work in progress and, while we still have bumps in the road, I'm finally at a point where I can understand and be objective about this subject. So I'll give you my thoughts on that soon....

On to pix....

2010: 04/22

Hard to believe that this sleeping angel has made me weep in frustration several times this week.

2010: 04/21

There are no pix for this day....it would have been nothing but tears, tears, tears. Time for a refresher course.

If you haven't read this book, you should. Whether you are adopting an older child or an infant, whether you are newly home or home awhile (or even still waiting)....it's a must read. I love the science behind it - amazing that there are actually biological processes going on due to pyschological responses.

2010: 04/20

New school = HOMEWORK!!

This daycare is much more academic and I'm impressed how much my little sponge is picking up already. Here she is coloring "upside down" for the letter "U" - which says "uh" by the way - for up, umbrella, umpire, and under which rhymes with thunder. Just so you know.

2010: 04/19

Ready for my first day at my new school.
2010: 04/18
We missed lunchtime and naptime to go to the park with family. Mari fell asleep mid-bite of a french fry. NEVER before has this happened. Not sure if I can even remember a time she fell asleep while eating.

2010: 04/17

Mari finally learned to blow dandelions - she only occasionally forgets and sucks in resulting in a mouth full of dandelion "fluffies."

2010: 04/16

Mari's last day at her old daycare. Here she is sitting with her first ever boyfriend....a few minutes later, she bit the heck out of him. Nice. She hasn't bit anyone in over 18 months. I think the stress of the day was overwhelming her by that point.

I think the mural behind them is very funny.

Have a great week!

Week 15 of 52

Another week down. It's been kind of stressful around here lately. Mari will be starting a new daycare/preschool on Monday after almost 2 years at the same place. Her behavior is definitely reflecting the impending change and I'm sure it will be a few more weeks until things settle back down. I'm just along for the ride, trying to be understanding but consistent. It's tough. Very Tough.

2010: 04/15

Mari painting pix for her teachers as goodbye presents.

It will be interesting to see, at the end of this year, how many pix I have at this easel. She is very happy here.

Oh, and her left arm is dangling limply because she has a bandaid on her "boo-boo" that she didn't want to get paint on.

2010: 04/14

Mari's grumpy/mean/robot/monster/dinosaur/pirate/silly/attitude face.
2010: 04/13
Ain't we cool in our purple shades. Mine are Fisher Price Little People, hers are My Little Pony.
We. Are. Cool.
2010: 04/12
Teaching Mari hop-a-scotch. She's not very coordinated but it sures helps her learn her numbers.

2010: 04/11

Yup....that's a bottle of shampoo.

Yup....it's ALL in her hair.

Nope....not so fun to rinse out.

2010: 04/10

Mari decided the summer catalog needed a touch of Christmas.

2010: 04/09
Is this a silent hint for a pedicure?

A wish for an early Christmas?

Or an acute case of sticker-measles?

We do lead thrilling lives, don't we??

Week 14 of 52

2010: 04/08

This rocking chair was an unexpected gift from a very special friend of Mari's. We are in the process of changing daycares and Mari will miss her teachers very much. Ms. Toya has had some similar experiences in her past and we were very privileged to be given the gift of the handmade rocking chair she was given by her forever family. 2010: 04/07

"Mommy, why does the pumpkin have cream on it?"

Because it is 90 degrees in April - has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Mommy should have thrown it out 6 months ago. Absolutely nothing to do with that. 2010: 04/06

90 degrees in April?

Slip-N-Slide time! 2010: 04/05

Daniel and his mom joined us before heading to our Orphans Hope meeting...Mari and Daniel got in a little playtime in the "minestrone" table. 2010: 04/04

Easter Sunday.

I think someone needs an attitude adjustment! 2010: 04/03

Dying Easter eggs. Outside. That's a first! 2010: 04/02

Mari loves her new roller skates...you probably couldn't tell by the look on her face!

Happy Birthday Mari!

Mari's birthday has come and gone over a week ago but it's been crazy around here and I'm just finally getting around to posting about it.

Mari had a wonderful day with me on her birthday. She even leaned over to me during dinner and hugged me and said "I'm so happy to see you, Mommy." It's days like that - well, I'll never forget that moment.

Her party was a huge success; it was also a lot of work. Our friend, Heather, came over to help and we appreciate that very much. By the time Heather and Charles have kids of their own, she'll either be a birthday party expert or never want to do one ever again!

Some random facts about Mari's birthday party.

• The pinata would NOT break. I was so worried about it breaking during shipping and I oh-so-gently stuffed it full of goodies and treated it with kid gloves while getting it ready to hang. It would NOT break. We finally had to have one of the older kids just beat the heck out of it while I held it still. Even then, I basically just had to rip it and dump it out.
• Speaking of older kids....Mari's much-older boyfriend came to the party. She told me earlier in the day that he has a big smile! When he walked in, she walked right over to him and pulled her dress up to show him her underwear. Seriously.
• We had 2 kleptomaniacs in attendance...Landon was trying to sneak Mari's toy cars home and Abigail kept rearranging everyones treat bags.
• We had tie-dye triplets in attendance. I guess when there is only one store that sells tie-dye, the choices are limited!
• Mari did not eat her birthday cupcake...she licked the icing for awhile and then stuck it upside down to the table. If I had made her a potato chip cake - she would have been in heaven.
• Mari totally did not get the whole present opening thing. Everytime we opened a card to see who the gift was from, she insisted on taking the card to the giver. Wading her way through the crowd. Then we waited while we coaxed her back to the present. Then she opened it and then tried to give it back to the giver. And over and over. It was long. Luckily the last few gifts were from me and some people not at the party so we just saved those for later!
• Some of the fabulous gifts (there were so many - and all very appropriate for Mari): roller skates!, a Lite-Bright, lots of puzzles, a Melissa & Doug birthday cake, tie-dye leggings (which she had to put on immediately!), several cool summer outfits, the Princess & the Frog movie and PJs, a swimming Dora, a kissing Elmo, a bathtub toy with a water pump and water-spitting elephant, and several arts/crafts/coloring sets, a pink tutu, and a sprinkler and slip-n-slide. Whew! She should be set for a couple years with all that.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Week 13 of 52

Another week of fun down. It was a little easier getting pix this week...lots of fun with a birthday party, new presents, warm weather. My photography skills are not getting any better but at least there were more choices!

2010: 04/01

Supper at Dairy Queen to celebrate short-sleeved shirts and warm temps. Mari got a little frustrated with her ice cream.

(This pic was taken on my cell phone - which is better quality than my first digital camera.)

2010: 03/31

Mari and I spent the day together...she had a doctor's appt and I wanted to scout out new daycares. So we added a trip to Target in the middle to get a helmet and kneepads (for her new bday roller skates). She then insisted she needed "arm" pads so I made her some by cutting up the tops off a pair of my socks. She loves them. Go figure!
2010: 03/30
Mari watching Princess and the Frog while wearing her Tiana PJs (both bday gifts) with her froggy friend (which was a Christmas present).

2010: 03/29

Fun hairstyle!

2010: 03/28

Mari checking on her 9-month-old fish, Super Grover.

2010: 03/27

The tie-dye birthday party was a blast. I'll make that a separate post very soon. But aren't we cute??

2010: 03/26

Somebunny looks cute!

Never met a rabbit that didn't have a snotty nose.