Highlights of 2007

Remember last December? Well, maybe it's not seared into your memory as it is mine...so I'll just hit the refresh button on your memory, mkay? So last December, Thumbelina's BFF's Mom and I were crazy with anticipation - Crazy - over our impending referrals. We were e-mailing each other 30 times a day and checking Rumor Queen like mad women. It seemed that we parked out in front of the computer and the rest of the world around us ceased to exist. At least that's how it was for me. Which bring us to:

January

We received The Call at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 and it was an excrutiatingly long week before we could see the picture of the baby who had stolen our hearts. Because our agency director was away on holidays (the nerve) and she insists on going over all the files before anybody else and won't even e-mail pictures, no matter how much you beg and plead. But I'm over that. No more bitterness here. No-sirree. Heh.

We also made a little jaunt over to Banff for the annual Pork Congress:

February

We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary:
I got my hair chopped off (13") and donated it to Locks of Love:
I spent my spare time shopping for important things, such as fancy dresses for Thumbelina:
March

March was such a memorable month in that we met Princess Thumbelina for the very first time:



You can read our story here. And let me reassure everyone who is waiting - don't lose hope. All those months of anguish and frustrations and tears will melt away the instant you hold your baby for the first time. Your turn will come! It is sooooooo worth it!

April
Training started so that Thumbelina can help me in the office:
The art of crawling was mastered:
Family was met:
And an open house was thrown for us. Or at us. Anyway it was in Thumbelina's honor:
May

The month of May was filled with school plays:

Sick kids:
Birthdays:
And a playdate with our travel group:

June

Thumbelina was introduced to the Backyard Beach in June...she doesn't look very impressed with it, does she: We also had a wicked nasty storm that knocked our power out for 29 hours, leaving me with no choice but to brave driving in the city for the very first time without husband by my side:
Because I had to meet up with our travel group at a big bash our agency had:

Princess Thumbelina was annointed by pool water and officially loves swimming:
More happened in the month of June, and you can read about a somewhat typical day here and here.

July
In July, Thumbelina spent her time looking pretty:

Standing independently:
Meeting the relations who live south of the border:
Picnicing with the crazier side of the family:
And vacationing in the same small town where a triple murderer was hiding out:
Quite the adventures so far, huh.

August

August was the last month where the boys were at the Princess' beck-and-call, so she took advantage of that and enjoyed their undivided attention immensely:
It was also the start of birthday season and teenagers:
And walking!
We hosted a playdate for our travel group:
Fun! Fun! Fun!

Stay tuned for Part II...I think I've used up all my alloted space for one blog post...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Jaj's! We hope your day was as magical as ours was.

My Favourite State - Denial

So I've made a list, I've checked it twice, I know who's naughty and who's nice...and I also know there's a whole lotta cleanin' that needs to be finished by Monday morning...and not one word from the Crazies about coming to help with said cleaning. Maybe if I stopped calling them The Crazies, they'd be more apt to help me out...you all know that I use that term in the most endearing of ways. Mostly.

And yah, I think I've officially moved to the State of Denial. Why else would I be blogging when there's a list 2 pages long of stuff that needs to done?

You know, Mr. Happy really does really love me. He offered to go grocery shopping for me this morning...the Saturday before Christmas even...so that I could clean. Blog, clean, that's neither here nor there. So he came home awhile ago with his purchases grumping about old people "...blocking the aisles talking to one another with their Merry Christmas this and Happy Holidays that..." Poor Mr. Happy. So I asked him where his Christmas cheer was, and he pulled out his angry eyes and said, "This is my Christmas cheer." Alrighty then.

At lunch, Shaggy and Zoomer and I were talking about Zoomer's teen Christmas banquet that he went to last night and Shaggy said, "Did you know that Uncle AB wasn't allowed to go to gym night if there were girls there?" And I said, "I'm sure that's not right, Shag; he went to gym night." And Shaggy said, "No, he wasn't allowed to go cuz there'd be hot chicks there!" Your eyes just popped a whole lot wider, didn't they! I asked him where he heard such language and he told me that that's how people talk these days. These days. Makes me feel ancient. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that's how people talked in the olden days as well.

And on that note, one of the boys just woke up Princess Thumbelina and she's wailing. Wailing, I tell you. Oh wait, she stopped. Maybe she's going back to sleep. Don't make any loud noises and we'll be okay.

Shhhhh, I said.

Okay okay okay, I'll stop wasting time and get back to my list.

Sheesh, I think Mr. Happy has been spreading his Christmas cheer a little too much this year.

Holiday Stress

It's crunch time. I'm trying not to feel anything except peace and joy and love, yet the stress is creeping in with icy cold fingers gripping me. Subtly at first, and then when I least expect it the stress will put a strangle hold on me, choking out the air. No, not really.

Why the ever so subtle stress? Grab a cup of coffee and I'll tell you all about it.

A few weeks ago as we were discussing Christmas With the Crazies, as Mr. Happy and I affectionately refer to my side of the family, Muther mentioned that they all were wondering if Christmas could be at my house on Christmas Eve. They all being my brother and his wife and Muther. And since I am still not 100% with my back (I fell out of a chair rather ungracefully last night and my hip is feeling twingie this morning) Muther promised that they would come and help me clean and I wouldn't have to do any of the cooking. Bonus! So I said okie-dokie. I can handle a muther, step-dad, sibling, sibling-in-law and their 4 kidlets. Eazy-peazy. Except now? There are 4 more adults coming, possibly with another 2 or 3 more adults coming. So what was a week ago Eazy-peazy is today not so much.

So please help me, O Great Internets. I need a menu. Muther already decided for me that we're not doing turkey. Great. I'll do pull-a-part-pork in the crock pot (so delish!). Muther suggested potato salad. Gross. For Christmas? No. I can't have potato salad at Christmas. At family picnics yes. I still shudder at the thought - crazy, isn't it. So then I told Muther I'd make scalloped potatoes. And I love me a sweet potatoe casserole with the carmelized brown sugar on top, so I will make that as well to satisfy my craving. But what else should we have? Please tell me.

I didn't get any baking done yesterday because my desk took me from 7:30 in the morning to supper time last night to go through. And a large garbage bag is full of papers and envelopes and such that once lived on my desk.

I'm hoping to go the Mart of Wal today, but a nice one in the city...not the crappy ones nearby, to finish up last minute gift buying. What are you all giving your kids' teachers?

Miss Thumbelina is in a mood this morning. I'm not sure she's feeling entirely well. Tigger is still sick, but we sent him to school anyway, even though he has a low-grade fever and looks extremely pale.

This morning, Thumbelina wanted a clementine for breakfast (she's great at nodding and shaking her head). So as I was about to give it to her, I told her to say please. (She can say peeze but we will also let her have things if she uses the sign for please, which is your open hand making a circle on your chest.) She looked at me and slowly shook her head no. Little stinker. So I told her that she couldn't have the orange until she said please. And she just looked at me. So I turned to put the orange away and she half-heartedly swiped at her jammies with her thumb for please. Goodness. And I'm sure, if she knew how to do it, she would have been rolling her eyes at me too. This child has attitude.

Her new most favourite thing is Elmo. And her new word is Emmo. I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet...maybe Elmo is responsible for sending subliminal messages to my daughter telling her to roll her eyes at her parents. Who knows.

Anyway, the stress. It is slowly coming to get me.

SNOW DAY!

Yahooo!!!! Is it wrong of me to be happy that today is a snow day?? Is it wrong for me to be happy that since today is a snow day my assistant is staying home with her kids?? Because if it is, then I'm a terrible, terrible person. I love snow days! Zoomer is looking after Thumbelina and I am getting so much office work done. You can actually see parts of my desk! AND! I might even do some baking later on this afternoon. It can't get much better than that.

So Tigger has been illish for the last few days and didn't go to school on Friday. He's better now - not 100%, but better. He's not very happy that he'll be doing schoolwork today to catch up from missing Friday.

Shaggy was in tears this morning when I told him school was cancelled. They were going to go skating. And since it was after 7:00 am and our school still hadn't made the cancellation list on the radio, the principal was calling all the families...skating is still on! So he's a happy camper after all. Our school policy is that if the public schools are closed, then our school will be closed as well...so once I heard about the other cancellations, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

What else is there to tell you. Thumbelina really likes snow, and she really likes being pulled around on the toboggan by her brothers. They've just come inside with their cheeks all rosy-red.

Life is grand.

Pictures to follow once Mr. Happy gets home from his errand and tells me what I'm doing wrong with the camera. My computer is back, but now I can't get my camera to download the pictures and I don't know what to do.

But life is still grand.

My Kids Have Been Elfed!

Seriously, check this out - http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1366827218 - it does have music, so make sure you turn it down if you are at work. You will laugh until you snort egg nog out your nose!

Christmas Traditions

I'm going to start a new Christmas tradition this year - Christmas Jammies that we get to open on Christmas Eve and wear Christmas morning. I've shamelessly stolen the idea from a friend of mine - I hope you don't mind.

I've bought Tigger's and Thumbelina's already; Tigger's top is green with a train on it and it has red and green striped bottoms. Thumbelina's is red and white striped feet pajammies with a gingerbread boy on it.

So I've been surfing the net looking for more cutesie-type jammies and I happened upon this site. Go look at and make sure you scroll down to the family in the matching snowflake footed pajamas. Did you take a peek? Did it creep you out? I'm sorry, but there is just something wrong with a man wearing foot-pajamas (if your man wears these, I'm not trying to offend you, but I'd rather not know about it).

Couldn't you just picture Mr. Happy wearing something like this?

Concert Time!

Guess what time of year it is! Yes, it's the annual Christmas Cantata - good for you!

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year...

Christmas is the season of good cheer...

So how do most normal people recovering from back injuries spend their spare time? I spend mine standing in a 30' Christmas tree made from scaffolding for an hour. I presume that's what you'd all do too. Tonight is our last performace - 7:00 pm, so if you live near my sleepy, little town, consider yourself invited.

Friday night was our taping for airing it over our local TV station during the Christmas season; Saturday night was our first performance and the music stopped halfway through the last song...so we kept singing acapella. It was quite nice. And then last night the same thing happened again; we're wondering what's going to happen tonight. And the sound personnel are at a loss as to why it is happening. But it's the last night and we get to pig-out on snacks and junk food afterwards so it's all good.

My back is holding up pretty well. My happy pills are making me happy. And what's really good is that I can blame a lousy solo and altered words on my sore back. It wasn't lousy, but my last note is a high A and it's supposed to be held out forever, and I just can't get enough breath to hold it out for very long at all. And it bothers me that I don't know what to do to hold that note out longer. And last night I had a frog in my throat and the note almost didn't come out, which made me nervous, so there goes my breath. I was doing fine in the car on the way to church, with the help of Tigger and Thumbelina (Thumbelina just screams and then laughs). Saturday night my mind was completely blank when it came to my words; I just basically repeat the same phrase over and over...troubing indeed. Zoomer noticed that I changed the words. So last night I wrote out the 4 main sentence beginning on the inside of my four fingers...I think I'll do it again tonight because it did seem to help. You are just so fascinate by all of this, aren't you.

One more night, one more night, one more night.

Last night I was even feeling ill. Nerves. Because after my solo, the illishness went away.

We had a fabulous weekend with Thumbelina's BFF and her parents. Such great people. Although our time together seemed to be over in the blink of an eye. And Thumbelina was absolutely giddy when she saw her friend. Giddy. I'm sure I have some great pictures, but they are still on my camera...which Mr. Happy took to church last night and forgot to bring home...

The nerves are kicking in a little early today, so I'm going to go make myself a relaxing tea.

If you're good, I might even post pictures of the tree for your viewing pleasure. Of course that won't be until my camera comes home and I download them off my card. You'll just have to be patient.

Did I Win???

You know, the award for having the most boringest blog evah??? What did I have, all of two posts for the whole month of November? How pathetic is that!

So what has been happening here at the Funny Farm you ask? Well, I told you about my back injury in my last post and it has just been taking it's sweet old time to heal. I really mucked it up. X-rays showed nothing, so I am on anti-inflammatories and I'm still getting regular massages. Millie's masseuse (she told him about me) thinks that I have a bulge between two discs; there are specific exercises to help. Millie is pushing for an ultra-sound to look for muscle and tissue damage. The pain isn't there like it was (I couldn't even dress myself, people) but now if I sit for any length of time or stand for too long, I can feel my muscle tighten and twist into a burning spasm. Interestingly enough, shopping seems to be okay - it's the movement. Exercise is a good thing in any form.

So I'm back to doing almost all of my normal activities. I haven't really done any office work, and sadly, my assistant has not risen to the occasion and taken on any extra work off of my plate. My desk is depressingly full of papers and whatnot that needed to be looked after yesterday.

On the other hand, Thumbelina is quite enjoying all the extra time that I'm spending with her instead of at my desk. She can now jump - both feet off the floor, as well as do a forward somersault, and well as cross her arms over her chest and shout out 'Mine!' Thanks to Zoomer of course, who taught her to say mine. This evening, our most volatile child was having a tantrum and shouting and crying (his parents remained calm), Thumbelina ran up to him and started shouting "Bad!" at him. Holy cow was that ever funny! Here's this little squirt of a toddler yelling at her brother. Of course we laughed. Don't judge us - you would have too.

What else is there to tell you. Oh, yes, we bought a new Christmas tree - a pre-lit one. Since I'm always the one who deals with putting the lights on the tree, and since I like a tree with lots and lots of lights (100 lights for every foot of tree), and since my back is in no shape to be bending and twisting, we splurged and took the easy way out. It really is pretty. It is 7 1/2' with 800 lights. Love the lights.

This weekend is our annual Living Christmas Tree. If I didn't have a solo, I wouldn't be participating this year. As it is, I might even have to leave the tree after my solo (see paragraph 2 above). There is a back-up singer for my solo, but Husband told me I was singing my solo even if he had to wheel me in a wheelchair to church. We have friends coming on Saturday to watch and I'm nervous but also earily calm. I guess I'm just too excited about seeing them again (it's Thumbelina's BFF and her parents - yay!)

My computer stopped working a couple of weeks ago for some reason and since I'm not really back working yet, it hasn't been a priority it get it looked after. Although my assistant has asked me when I'll be getting it fixed...I think she's annoyed that I use hers to check my e-mail when she's not here. So I have like 100 pictures on my camera that I haven't downloaded yet, plus I really did take part in Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days...although that was when I was couch-ridden and all the pictures are of the different TV shows that I watched, plus what food I ate...the anticipation is too much for you, I can tell.

I've got my Christmas cards signed...actually I just typed a little greeting and printed it out on computer labels...cheating, I know...but if you'd like one from the Jaj's, let me know I'll send you one. It's a picture of the offspring - some are smiling, some not so much. But it's cute anyway.

My recliner is calling to me, and who am I to say no.

Be Careful What You Wish For

On Tuesday of this past week, as I was doing the millionth load of laundry for the week, I found myself wishing that I could have just one day off to do nothing but lay on the couch. And then I thought, No, not one day - two days! Heh.

Wednesday morning, I bent down to pick up Thumbelina to stick her in the bathtub and threw my back out. And I've been couchridden ever since. Yes - this is day four of being able to do nothing but lay on the couch.

About 10 days ago or so, I had a fall. I didn't feel it was blogworthy - just stupid - so I didn't bother to tell you about it. We were on our way to church for the Anniversary meetings, it was dark and raining, the porch light was burnt out and I had just watched Tigger stumble on the bottom step. I was carrying Thumbelina and was soooo careful not to do the same thing, and I honestly thought we were at the bottom...except there really was one more step. So down I went right on my hip. I sat there for a few minutes and assessed everything - Thumbelina landed on top of me and was just mildly disgruntled - so the 3 of us proceeded on our way to church to meet up with the rest of the family that had already left.

So I was pretty bruised and sore, and then on Tuesday I decided to move a roll of carpet that's been sitting in our basement to make room for our new couch. That night I felt a twinge in my shoulders, but the next day I felt fine and had forgotten all about it...until I bent over to pick up Thumbelina to stick her in the tub. The pain sucked all my breath out and I could not move...so I hollered to my assisstant and asked her to put a diaper and some clothes on the nekkid little chicklet and I ever so slowly made my way to the phone to call anybody to come over to look after her. I finally got a hold of Muther, who was very sick with bronchitis, but she came over anyway (most likely because I was in tears) and stayed until Mr. Happy was able to come home from the barn.

Mr. Happy took me for a massage on Thursday and I am finding it easier to get up off of the couch (meaning I'm not crying out in pain...I can hold the cries in now). I have another appointment for a massage on Monday. Mr. Happy has been home for the last 3 days looking after me, and Millie, his Mom, has been looking after Thumbelina and the boys in the afternoons and evenings.

I have a tremendous amount of pressure in my lower back when I stand, and it is waaayyy to painful to sit upright. Today is the first day that I can sit in the new recliner instead of being flat on my back, so progress! Yay!

I'm worried about how I'm going to be able to get my Christmas shopping done...I don't see being able to walk around a mall for a few weeks...which is really cutting it close in my opinion...my priorities are in the right spot. There will always be laundry and cleaning to do, so I'm just going to my happy place instead of thinking about those chores. But the with the amount of television I've been subject to the last 4 days, and with all the Christmas commercials there are, I'm running out of time!

So. Just be careful what you wish for! I should have wished for a day off to go to the beach or a spa.

Pictures As Promised

A little late, but here you go...

With our guide from China at a party our adoption agency had:
And this is us with her last March...see how much Thumbelina has grown?!
Thumbelina has a thing for balloons - similar to me and my post-it notes:
She was spinning around in circles with her balloon and bumping into peoples legs as they walked by:
So much cuteness - the juice boxes were a big hit:
Thumbelina and her BFF were giving each other "five":


We bought them matching dresses...Thumbelina is wearing a shirt underneath hers because we had just come from getting outdoor pictures taken and she had a wardrobe change in the truck...which was a tad chilly:
But they would only stay still for so long:
What a sweetheart:
Back home now - Where'd Thumbelina go? Peek-a-boo!
I just really liked this picture...it should go up before the peek-a-boo ones but I'm too lazy to move it:
These boys are always in my face:
Sometimes a girl just needs to eat with two spoons:
Sack of Potatoes for the Harvest Party:

Self-explanatory:
Admittedly, this year's Harvest Party was not my best work...but I just didn't have the time to put much effort into it. The boys were just happy that they got candy. Of course, it's all been confiscated now...but you weren't really expecting anything else, were you.