Blogstars and Nose Jobs

I am sitting here trying to catch up with blog posts and life, and as I am reflecting, it is exhausting remembering the ups and downs. Hours were definitely not wasted these last couple weeks.

Ella had her tonsils out and she was a rockstar in the recovery and the whole process. She got pretty used to eating only ice cream and it was hard to know when she was 'healed' since Ice Cream was all that she wanted to eat for days to come for some strange reason???? I was then supposed to have surgery exactly a week later for my nose job (deviated septum and some polyp that needed to be taken off) but with my grandma passing away, I couldn't imagine going to her visitation with a mustache bandage under my nose. I know, really, why do I worry about what others think?? Really, I thought it would not be conducive to crying.

You may have seen the post on the memorial and the court date, but what you may or may not have noticed was that we had Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mark in town for a few days. Daron and I love having them in town, and of course the kids do too. We always love sitting around chatting, playing board games, etc. at night, doing crafts with Kathy, and getting bedtime stories told by Mark. I felt bad that our time was so limited when they were here, but they got to see how a family of seven is never dull. We were thankful to hear that they still want kids, their number just may have dwindled a bit! Oops.

This weekend, Justus's soccer team went to the finals for the state soccer champs in the President's Cup tournament. They did such a great job and we got to see Justus score more goals! Their team ended up being the final four of eight teams, but ended up losing their last game. This tournament started at 9am in Burlington, so we had to leave the house at 6:15 in order to make it in time-that was not fun! These games were all freezing!!! We are having some arctic cold, but sunny weather here in Seattle-pretty crazy! Starbucks and Crossroads Covenant Church coffee shop we found there were our friends!!

Hey? Did I tell you I am a blogstar?? I guess that is what it would be called....I always wanted to be a star! Well, the real skinny is that a fellow Ghanaian adoptive mom, Andrea K., that I have never met in person, but are facebook friends and she has read my blog, wrote me a note later in the day and said she thought they saw me at a Burlington Starbucks. Her husband thought I looked too young (aw shucks!!) but the truth is that I never got to my makeup yet that AM. What was funnier is that I butted into their conversation with the barista and we still didn't know it was the other. After realizing we were both there after the fact, we did set up a meeting for the next day so we could make it official and all. The family is about to go to Ghana to bring home their daughter in the next couple weeks. Please keep them in your prayers.

After the last game, we jumped in the car to catch the ferry for our first Sunday of the month at Alive. Luckily we made it right before the service started. I know I have said this before, but I am so thankful for our church! They are real people there that I can really share the ups and downs of life with, that I can learn with, and that I can grow with. I am so blessed to be a part of this group! They are truly my family. I can't believe where we were as a church four years ago, and where we are now!

Monday morning, I had my surgery appt. at 6:45! All went well and I am now on the mend. Lots of bloody bandages and it isn't fun to stand up for long. Before surgery, the anesthesiologist came into our room and thought we looked familiar. He said we looked like the winners of Amazing Race. Ha! I don't know who he was talking about or what they look like since we don't watch it, but we played with him for a second and had him second guessing. Maybe he was just confused with me being a blogstar and not a reality star. I don't know? What do you think? ;)

Mr. Invisible?

This is the new 'thing' that Mr. Kwame has been doing at bedtime. I think he believes that if he covers his eyes, I won't see him get up. After we say prayers, I tell the kids to close their eyes and go to bed and not get up unless it is an emergency. :) Of course, I am all about going to the bathroom if needed, but most of the time it is just a reason to get out of bed and see what mom and dad are doing/watching in the family room. So....below is a video that I got of Kwame after he went into the bathroom. I wish I would have caught him before he went in too, it was hilarious!

Their First Snow!

We woke up today to a little dusting of snow; just enough to show the kids what it is and let them make a couple snow balls. They really enjoyed it and had fun seeing everything look a little different outside today. The kids have really done great the last couple of days. So many new things for them-even little things like socks and two layers of clothing! They are so fun to listen to when they speak Twi to each other and they are also cute when they repeat what we are saying. We have had to tell them that we don't eat our chicken bones in America and that caused a meltdown at one point. The other meltdown was when Kwame wanted to wear Fia's Hello Kitty socks and she didn't want him too. Luckily they fit in with eating PB&J and Cheerios already. They also loved our eggs, the baked potato bar last night at church, green beans and salmon. I still can't get them to eat much fruit; it wasn't really in their diet before I don't think. Either that or they just don't like it!

Fia's favorite thing to wear is her UWHuskies Girls Volleyball sweatshirt that she got from Uncle Erik. She doesn't want to ever part with it-she even wants to sleep in it(maybe she is just cold)!

Kwame loves his big brother and makes sure that Justus is doing whatever he is doing. Luckily the thrill hasn't worn off of having a little brother for Justus yet! Well, I will update more later, but I wanted to post a couple new pics from today in the snow

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Happy 6th Birthday Ella!

Ella turned 6 yesterday and she was just so excited! We have a tradition of making breakfast in bed for the birthdays in our family, so she got some Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate pancakes made by her dad. After that, she was lucky enough to go and watch back to back games of her brother and sister playing soccer(she actually did like it since her friends were there). Then we went over to Grandma Bev's to set up for her birthday party. She first asked me if we could have her party at My Gym(I said no), then Chuck E. Cheese(I said no), then Grandma's(SURE!). We decided to have a 'Tea Party & Bring your Favorite Doll Theme' and it was so much fun! My mom set up her table downstairs just beautifully with real china tea cups(seriously). The tea was complete with finger sandwiches, cookies, cake, and of course tea! (Thanks for everything Mom) The girls all had a ball. Ella was even more excited because both her grandmas went in with us on getting her her first American Girl doll, Julie. Now of course, she wants outfits! ; ) At the party Ella got to have some of her best little girl friends and four of her cousins there. Her cousin, Kaia, even got to stay for a sleepover!

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Ella is such a light in our life. When she walks in a room, she brightens it up. I am so thankful that I have this little girl in my life and can't believe that she is already 6!