Mmm, Mmm, Good

Our Staff Appreciation Committee at school provides a lunch for the teachers once a month. This month, instead of the usual themed lunch, it was a breakfast, and today was the day. I wanted to sign up for muffins, but that was taken...so I was asked to bring 2 dozen "homemade" breakfast pastries. Not thinking, I said yes, then realized that I don't make pastries a lot...muffins yes, but not pastries. I ended up trying a new recipe I found online, and was pleased with the outcome. I made a few extra so my guinea pigs (family) could try them. The results of the "test" was a thumbs up and a "pinkie promise to make these again" from the girls!! I guess they were a success. :-)

Saved!

Our sweet, sweet daughter Allyson was saved on Sunday (Feb. 24th)!!! She was such a brave girl, and made the decision to take that walk to the front of the church. Randy and I both walked with her (she told us to stop by the first pew, but we didn't/couldn't). We all knelt down together while Brother Ben prayed with Allyson, and she accepted Jesus Christ as her saviour!! Brother Ben (being the wonderfully sweet man that he always is) introduced Allyson to the evening congregation as a "Baby Christian". How wonderful to know that our "baby" can look forward to a life filled with Christ's love.
Oh yes, and I cried...of course! It just isn't my style to remain calm...during anything!! :-) Must..stop..crying..now.....

Prayers Answered !!

He can DRIVE!!!! Randy was FINALLY able to see well enough to drive himself to work last week! This was the first time he has been able to drive in over 7 months, and we're both very thankful. His eyesight isn't completely back to normal, but we'll take every baby step we're given.

Valentine's Day

OK, I did it....I caved and bought some of those silly heart shaped candy boxes for the girls this year. :-) Every time we saw the candy boxes in the stores, the girls asked what was in them. I told them it was always yucky chocolate covered candies, but they were SO curious....so I grabbed 3 boxes at the last minute. I almost felt like the cashier looked at me disapprovingly as I checked out...what shame! LOL :-) The girls were thrilled to come home to their treats and a homemade card. The thrill of the candy boxes soon faded though as they took their first bite from the sweet looking box! LOL Emily said, "Ewww" as she bit into a fruit flavored bite, and tossed it into the trash. As the girls began trying to figure out the flavor of each little piece, I quickly grabbed a knife and cut them into halves so they could see the "insides" of the candies. I think they each had a total of 4 pieces that were "acceptable" with some sort of oohey-gooey chocolately goodness inside. Not such a good ratio. :-( Oh well, at least they won't be asking about the candy boxes next year!! LOL

Emily's school didn't have a valentine's day party (guess they're too "old" to have fun). :-( Allyson's class asked the kids to decorate a shoe box for their v-day party. Allyson remembered that Emily had decorated a house-shaped box one year, and she decided to do a similar project. We bought a papier-mache' house and glued it to a shoe box. Allyson went to town decorating it - and it turned out SO cute! The only help she got from me was spraying on the adhesive for the glitter...I just wanted to make sure she didn't glitter the cars in the garage. ;-) Claire's class made a valentine village and each child decorated a paper bag house.

Lunar New Year

So I'm late in posting photos, but since the Chinese New Year celebration lasts 15 days, I'm still ok...I think. :-) The local international families group had a CNY party, but we weren't able to make it this year. :-( We did, however, go to dinner with some friends on the first day of CNY. Our friend, Pam, gave each of the girls a red envelope with $10 in it. Allyson and Claire wore their Chinese dresses, but Emily didn't want to (she HATES wearing dreses). I didn't get any good pics of the girls inside the restaurant (forgot to turn on my flash - duh), and it was so cold when we left, that everyone ran to the car...so even the rushed shot of A & C is a bad one. Maybe I'll set up a backdrop and take some pics of the girls later this week. The elementary school was so great in doing an informational event for Chinese New Year. We were to bring the lion parade costume for the event, and another parent put together a powerpoint presentation. Unfortunately, we were out of school due to snow/ice on the date of the presentation...and it was moved to another date that I couldn't attend (had to take dh to the eye doctor in Springfield again). The assistant principal did tell me that both Allyson and Claire proudly got up on stage and marched around under the lion costume though.

The Stash!

It's that time of year again....when dad brings home bunches of samples for the kids to plow through. Thankfully, dh didn't bring home as much this year. The girls LOVE checking out the candy stash and dividing it up. Of course, mom gets all of the trail mix and pens. :-)

We have a winner!

Emily's middle school had a fundraiser last week...a cutest pet contest. Students and faculty were asked to bring in favorite photos of their pets. Each entry into the contest cost $1; there were over 200 photo entries, so there was lots of competition.
Emily is pretty competitive, so of course she wanted to enter. :-) She went around the house snapping pictures of Jazzy and Freckles, hoping to get the perfect shot. She entered an individual picture of each dog (which were pretty cute imho), and then THIS shot. Emily came home from school today very excited...her photo won "Favorite Overall Pet"!!! The prize included a squeaky toy for both dogs, and a gift certificate to Petco.
Way to go Em, Jazzy and Frecks!! :-)

To Anonymous

I tried sending a reply to you, but my message was returned. If you'd like to email me privately regarding dachshunds, please feel free. :-)

Candy Hearts

The kids LOVE the little candy hearts that are sold for Valentine's Day. This is a fun site where you can design your own - Acme Heart Maker.

A Good Read

Nothing like a lazy day at home, stretched out on the couch, with a good book in hand. Emily LOVES to read, and this is how she spent the majority of one of her snow days. It looks like both Freckles and Jazzy enjoy a good book too! :-)

Snow Day

We woke up to a beautiful snowfall on Thursday morning. The roads were slick, so school was cancelled (yay!). It snowed off and on during the day, and we ended up with about 2" total (it was a very wet snow). The roads that were wet during the day on Thursday froze again overnight, so we had very icy roads this morning (& another day off of school). The girls have enjoyed their days off inside playing Wii and Nintendogz. Allyson couldn't play outside because she's been sick, so Emily and Claire decided to stay inside with her. I've spent most of my time on the computer reorganizing some of our China pictures....am planning on putting the birth land visit into a book at blurb.com (since it will take me forever to get them scrapbooked).

Sick

Poor Allyson started feeling a bit yucky late Sunday night. She woke up Monday morning with a fever and sore throat, so she missed school. She seemed to be feeling a little better on Tuesday morning, but still had a low fever, so she missed another day of school. I tried getting her into the doctor on Tuesday, but couldn't get in until Wednesday. I knew Allyson wasn't feeling well, so had her sleep with me...there was lots of coughing, so neither of us slept well. I woke up at 3:30 and could tell Ally was really hot, so checked her temp...it was 104. By the time we made it to the doctor's office at 8:00, her temp had only gone down to 102.7. Diagnosis was the flu...yuck!
While she was home sick, Allyson did lots of resting on the couch. I think Freckles and Jazzy approved of her being home - they got in lots of snuggle time.