Thursday, June 28, 2007

Of Baptism and Beach and Bob and Leslie and Jason

We've been busy....really busy....but it's been the kind of "good" busy. We had a phenom vacation at the NC Coast (Emerald Isle) with my niece (dearest friend) and her terrific husband, Jason. (we love you, Uncle Jay-Jay!). And, then, we had a wonderful, magical, pretty-much perfect Baptism Day.....and then we had the best of best all-day-long parties at our house after the Baptism. And then...then....we had our best-friend, Bob, and Leslie and Jason stay with us for a couple of more days for even more time together.....Honestly, what does get better? Well, there is more..


  • On, Baptism Day, Sammi and Nicki were the most beautiful and cutest girls ever in the whole wide world
  • Bob and Leslie are the Godparents to both Sammi and Nicki....wait 'til you see the pics below
  • Our closest friends (we consider them our family, actually) came to the Baptism ceremony....Col, John, Kelse, Jesse and Ida and Regina (so so glad you came down from PA, Regina), and Jeanette, George, Amy, and Adam.
  • At our party, we had the whole crowd over to spend the day and Reggie joined (Ida's better half) and our neighbors, Pat, Tracy, Savannah, and Sierra and our old friend, Bill, and then the girls' day-school teachers and friends, Barbara and Sarah....my oh my, what a wonderful turn-out.

Bob and Sammi....what a great picture.




Nicki on left, Sammi on right



Leslie and Regina

And now of Beach......Nicki on left; Sammi on right, Cunkle Jay-Jay at center....


Ed with Nicki (I think this is Nicki!!?)....Sammi running to me....


I love these next pics....Bob and Leslie and Jason and the girls all just adored each other....Aren't these pictures just so sweet?




And we'll wrap-up with Uncle Jay-Jay....one of the very best things that happened that week was having Bob, and Leslie and Jason with us.....We so especially enjoyed getting to know Jason.....didn't always agree with his um, "politics"....but it sure did make for some endlessly interesting discussions. (Jason, you hang around us long enough, we'll end up converting you!!) :)


Lots of love to EVERYONE who joined us for this magical time...Thanks....It meant so much to us for you to be there....

Life is good.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Any tips for us?

We're getting ready to start our first family vacation. Hooray!! We're headed off to our lovely NC coast later this morning. We have a beach house for a week, we have tons of beach gear, my dear-most-favorite-ist niece (she is SO AWESOME) and her husband (Leslie and Jason) are joining us on the coast on Tuesday night. They are flying in from Arizonia and then we come back to town on Friday. We've not really had the chance to get to know Jason yet so we're both really looking forward to being with them all week. (rumor is that Jason pretty much rocks...) Our best old friend, Bob, is flying in on Friday night. Bob is basically like my brother...I've known him almost 25 years and Ed's known him since they were literally 2 yrs old and in the sandbox together. Then more family arrives on Friday night and we have the girls' baptism and big party on Saturday. If I sound a little "rambly" right now, it's 'cause I am 'cause I'm just so excited about everything: first real family vacation, first time on the coast for me in just ages and ages, first time I've seen Leslie and Jason in years, first time we'll get to know Jason well, first time Sammi and Nicki have been to the coast, first time we've had a nice size party at our house....whew. Oh, yeah, the place we're renting has pools, too, so this'll be their first time in a pool..... :)

So......does anyone have any good tips for us about taking two 22 month old toddlers to the coast for a week? I know you guys are so much more experienced than I ams o I'm looking for tips.... :)

Ahhh....., I'm already smelling the ocean air....

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Six Month Adoption Report Pics

Huh? It's really time for the 6-month adoption report?

The last six months screamed by (ha ha!....need I say more?!) blazingly fast....I did my first sorting out of the too-small clothes tonight. They've only gained 5 pounds (14lbs to 19lbs) but all the "old" stuff looks so small to me now. Jeez, if I feel like this after only the first 5 pounds and maybe the first couple of additional inches, how much angst am I gonna feel when they double/triple/etc their size? But then...on the other hand.....holy-moly-kapoly I'm glad as h#$@ that the first six months screamed by (ha! ha!...just couldn't resist again...) with all 4 of us relatively (it's all relative, baby...) unscathed.

Ok, enough yada yada....here's the pics for our Six-Month Adoption Report....


And here's Ed with the babies just a couple weeks back home from China:

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Tagged for childhood stories

Been tagged to do a meme by Rony to list 5 childhood memories. (thx Rony!). I was a child of the 60s and 70s (yeah yeah, I was 10 years old just a mere thirty-six-fricken'-years ago). Too weird...how can 35 years have gone by?.....jeez, then pretty soon, I'll be saying "um, fifty years ago. Oh, ok, I digress. But one more thing -- Isn't weird how when you really think about who you are---your own mental/psychic image--don't you just think you're really still, um, say 32? That's how old I think I feel. 32. Not 46. Oh well, doesn't really matter, does it....

(1) When I was 12 (1972), we lived in Coral Gables (Miami). The 1972 Democratic National Convention was at Miami Beach and the parks (just a few blocks from my house) were overtaken by an onslaught of hippies. Oh, man, it was cool. Hippies everywhere. Soup lines filled with hippies. Hippies that were taking over the world. Hippies and their naked babies running around everywhere. It was a mini-Woodstock. Eileen Morris and I used to sneak over to the park (against all rules so it was extra fun) and check things out. We saw hippies in protest, hippies getting stoned, hippies giving cool activist speeches...Eileen's older sister was a hippie (Maureen) and she gave us her tied-dye (I swear it's true) t-shirts. Eileen wore a headband and I had a very wide belt and hip-huggers and we each had macrame vests. Too funny.

(2) When I was 11 -- Eileen (yep, same girl) told me all about sex....how it worked...all that stuff. I remember being horrified. We were standing on the sidewalk outside her house. I just couldn't barely believe it. I thought she was making it up. Heck, back then, that sure didn't *sound* like any fun. See how innocent I was...now children learn about sex when...what... they are 6?

(3) When I was 9, my best friend was a French girl (Catherine Soudoplatoff!) who was really fun but her Mother was a complete snob and thought all Americans were boors and unfit for her daughter. I was terrified of Catherine's mom. That family actually had a full-time housekeeper, gardener, ...and...really...a butler/driver guy. Anyways, we were bouncing (wtf were we thinking...) a golf ball in their very (oh my gosh very) lavish foyer and I overthrew the ball and shattered their wall-to-ceiling antique original condition only-one-in-entire-frickin-world-like-it" Louis XIV mirror. Oh, it was bad. Really bad.

Then, about a week later, Catherine and I were in her mother's powder room looking at her medications (lots o' pills) in her cabinet. We climbed up on top of the pedestal sink (very expensive handmade only-one-in-the-frickin-world porcelain sink) and it broke. It came crashing outta the wall. I could have been killed. It big-time broke. Yep, it was bad. Really bad.

Then, then, about a month later (after my and Catherine's forced separation period was over), I was riding my bike down their driveway to see Catherine. Their driveway had a curvy incline from the street down to their garage door. Mrs Soudoplatoff was standing in the front garden and as I waved to her (trying to be so poised in front of her...really trying hard....), I lost control of my bike and rammed smack-dab into the garage door and busted up my chin, broke my left collar bone, and dripped blood all over Mrs. Soudoplatoff's custom silk (only one like it in the entire frickin' world) scarf that she inherited from some "grand-dame" auntie of hers. Oh it was bad and over..... Really over....never came over to Cat's house again in my entire life.....

Catherine got her mom back by marrying an American and acquiring a really funny Southern/French accent!!

(4) Fondest less dramatic memories? They all have to do with hanging out with my grandparents (Nana and Poppie) who basically raised me in the summers and on holidays and making cookies and going to the mountains and making ice cream and hosting dinner parties (Nana was a classic Viriginian socialite) and playing cards (Canasta) with their friends.....

(5) Last one.....also has to do with horses. Eileen and I both had horses and boarded them at the same place -- Whispering Pines Stables. My horse's name was EggHead. He was a 15.1 hands classic bay American Quarter Horse.....From age 9-14, I lived and breathed horses...(thank goodness I grew out of that.....I don't know if I'll encourage it or not with Sammi and Nicki....it takes so.much.time....) Hey, now that was fun. . Thanks for the tag, Rony! :)

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Yep, I get it now....



All those maxims I heard for so many years are really true, aren't they? I'd always nod my head and think "yeah, yeah, whatever.....” You know the ones:

"Having children changes everything"
"Your perspective really changes"
"Your life (!!) will never be the same again"...


Ha, how true. As I type this, I hear the two little monkeys upstairs in their nursery slamming books and toys and ?? at their door and giggling like crazy. Makes me smile....even though I know they are creating a disaster area up there. Back in the "old" days before our world turned upside down and inside out, I would have been very (very) un-amused about having chaos strewn from room to room....about picking up toys and stuffed animals and Cheerios and goldfish out of my dress shoes and between the couch cushions and from my briefcase (oh, my co-workers had a hoot when goldfish spilled out onto the boardroom table in my hoo-haa presentation last week....) to the water in the dog dish....(why are dog dishes so appealing....ick.)

"You'll never know what you really did with all that time on your hands"
"You'll think your children are the cutest things you've ever seen....".
"Your priorities will change"

Now that last one is the big one for me. I've been sucker-punched on this one 'cause I had NO idea how much this would rock my world....the “priorities will change" thing. I have become phenomenally greedy about how I want to spend my time these days and whether I get "good energy" out of a moment or if I get "energy sucked out of me" from a moment. You know what I mean….if there’s not any value in it, why be part of it?…If I don’t store up "good energy" points, then I don't have enough to give back to others.....And, anyway, mean people suck and so do non-positive moments, right Rony? :)

So....for some really "good energy" moments....and because my children really are the “cutest things I've ever seen".....