Last month was National Adoption Awareness Month as I have mentioned before.  I used all my November AVON profits to buy Christmas gifts for a local foster child. I chose a ten year old girl since I have some experience with them!  Thanks to everyone who bought products from me! I was able to purchase 2 outfits, 1 backpack, 1 purse, a Hannah Montana pillow and blanket (she requested these as I am not a fan!), hair things, lotions, lip glosses and some fun tween toys.  Of course the mom in me also got underwear, socks, shampoos and school supplies.

Here are some pictures of the gifts.  I have so much fun playing Santa…thanks!

Photo Credit Mandy W. 2009

Our family had a great Thanksgiving weekend!   We got to see everyone and eat great food. I even made a dish of deviled eggs (remember cooking isn’t my thing!)  I send thanks out to my mom and mom-in-law for hosting my large and loud family!  We love you!

We decorated our tree and went and saw the  A Christmas Carol in 3D (kids didn’t so much like it FYI).  Here are a few pics from our weekend, including a bike ride yesterday that was a bonus due to the nice weather we had!

Thanksgiving means cousins wrestling!

Christmas tree time!

Hubby looks good holding our new niece... he is a natural!

Elle did great on the bike ride!

Photo Credits Mandy W. 2009

Meg was in a production of The Wizard of Oz this past weekend.  She was a Munchkin counsel-woman with a line all her own!  She tried out and has been working with PowerHouse of SEO since August and as a mom I must say I was really impressed with this production.  Not only did Meg learn a lot about theater, but she ENJOYED it immensely!  Meg is very serious and wants to do things right. She has never enjoyed her dance recitals and always looked as if she were in pain while on stage.  This is not so with acting. She did a great job and had so much fun that she wants to do it again and so do her little sisters!

Meg went through more make-up in 5 days then I have in 5 years!

She really got into her part.

What a natural!

The last two weeks have made for a busy time for our family, and I haven’t had much time to blog, clean or do anything else.  I have no regrets though and these pictures will show how great a time we had with this production!  As I write this now, Elle is singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow.  I love it!

I have to send the love over to FireMom at StopDropandBlog.com for this contest. It kept my kids busy when I needed them to be busy and we also are entered to win something and those who know me know that I love to win!  Check out this coloring contest for a Christmas DVD. This DVD would be great for the kiddos to watch while I wrap gifts….or take a bath!

While your cooking the turkey (or watching mom cook the turkey) the kids can be coloring up a storm and get in t the mood for the upcoming Holiday Season.

*This picture was colored by the famous Mita who made her first snowman just last year and cannot ever recall watching Frosty the Snow Man (did we really miss it last year?  Was I that busy?)

The Book, the ticket, the calendars I bought on Etsy ...not a fanatic I swear!

Last night I was one of thousands (millions?) who went to see New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight Saga for those not in the know. It was fun to be with friends (FireMom and @Outnumberedmom) and family (mom and two aunties) and maybe not so fun to be around others, but we dealt with it.

The only negative thing I have to say is that I got motion sick a few times since we HAD TO SIT IN THE THIRD ROW.  That is the third row from the screen, not the back.  I’m a back isle, center person myself, but was not going to complain. I just have a good reason to go see the movie again since my eyes were closed during certain parts!  I am also amazed at how many people have not read the books…they had friends filling them in during the  movie as to what was happening!  I’m always shocked by non-readers.

I got home around 3:15 A.M. to relieve my sainted mom-in-law from watching my sleeping children. She came over after a long night at work to relieve my first babysitter of the night.  This is not the normal for us I promise. Hubby is out of town all week and Meg is in the Wizard of Oz and has a practice or performance every night this week.  Last night was the night I was scheduled to help with the munchkins during dress rehearsal. I gave up on the Olive Garden plans I had originally made (Volterra, Italy remember).  I made it to the theater at around 11:30, so my friends and family were the people who had to wait in line. I had it easy.  Of course we were split up into two theaters and my mom and aunts claimed old age and got special seating arrangements.   The nerve of some people!  Just kidding mom and thanks for the tickets!

As I was laying in bed falling into sleep mode I couldn’t help but think of reasons why I do such things. Midnight movies are really the last thing I needed this week.  Why is it always so important to see the first show (Harry Potter this past summer comes to mind)?  I guess I just live for the little moments. The times to look back on and laugh at myself.  It is like Christmas shopping on Black Friday when  I already have my shopping done…I just like Moments I guess.

So watching New Moon at midnight was worth the two trips to town, paying of the babysitter, calling in my mom-in-law for back up and being tired this morning, afternoon and evening.

Please don’t ask me why I like the Twilight Series so much.  Let’s just say that it returns me to my teen days of obsession over hair bands and stars (Johnny Depp comes to mind) and when life all about the Moment!

Me and The Famous FireMom

Enjoy the pictures from last night….we were a bit nutty I must say. I had party favors to really make me a Forks Dork!

Waking Up The Cat

A Favorite Book Purplicious.

Panda Pet Shops Rule Elle's World!

Elle (age 4  will be 5 in less than a month) got ahold of my camera. I think she has talent!  For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5MinutesForMom.com.

Tis the season for all things Holiday. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Elle’s Birthday… a busy time for all of us.  It is also a season that people try to give to those less fortunate than ourselves.  I respect this and try and teach my children that this season is about more than what Santa is bringing us for Christmas.

It is also a time when the words “Adopt-A-Child” or “Adopt-A-Family” get used a lot.  We have grown up with this terminology and see it everywhere.  Zoo’s have “Adopt-An-Animal” program as well as animal shelters having “Adopt-A-Pet” program.  These programs are really great programs with altruistic love in them that I admire, respect and have donated to for years.  I would love to see the wording changed though.

I am not being “Politically Correct” and trying to change termanology for the sake of changing it. I am an adoptive mom who looks into the eyes of my children when they hear the words ,”Adopt-A-Child”.  They don’t quite understand it and are not sure how it may effect them.  In church yesterday as they were promoting church members helping local families by adopting a child, Mita looked over at me and asked,”What are they talking about adoption for?”.  I told her I would explain after church and that it was not like our adoptive family.  She rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was confused.

One may think, just explain it to the girl and be done with it.  It is so much more than a simple explanation though. Our Ethiopian girls have been with us for over a year and a half. We are a family like any other, just with different issues than some may have. Two of my girls have felt a loss to deep, so primal that to feel secure is very difficult.  Just the other day I had to explain that we were not a foster family and that adoption is permanent.  They still have fears of abandonment that a few months of hugs and kisses are not going to heal.

When Adopt-A-Kid programs promote adoption as a limited time investment of a few bucks or a few gifts , it sends the wrong message to children who are going through the process of understanding adoption, forever families and commitment.  Adopt-A-Kid programs are a temperary program to help children going through a hard time during the holidays. An Adoptive family is a permanent situation that can be incredibly difficult and a take a lot of effort.  There is a big difference between sponsoring and parenting a child.

So please, in the future when you hear the words “Adopt-A-Something” remember to substitute the word sponsor.  We can do this for my girls’ understanding and feelings and for all the other children out there in forever homes or still needing families.

 Thanks!

Photo Credit Mandy W. 2009

This weeks “You Capture” theme is  Real Life.  I was trying to decide between two pictures. One was of a sticky eyeball toy that I found on one of my baseboards, because it didn’t phase me at all to see it there. Only in  a house full of four kids would an eyeball looking at you not cause panic.  The picture showed to much floor board dirt though…. The other photo was this one:

One of these days I’ll catch up with my own laundry and not just the kids’ and Hubby’s! Next weeks challenge is Sunrise/Sunset.  I wonder if that means I have to get up early?  The neighbors will know I’m crazy now when they see me outside in my pajamas taking pictures.

Photo Mandy W. 2009

For more Wordless Wednesdays check out 5MinutesForMom.com.

Photo Credit: P.S.M.  (aka Hubby)2009

I was very excited to find out that I had been chosen to host a Shutterfly House party last Saturday.  For those of you that are not familiar with Shutterfly, they are a online site that you can store, edit, buy prints and make projects out of your digital pictures.  There are a lot of online sites that can do this, but I have always been partial to Shutterfly as there site was easy to use when I had slooooooow Internet speeds and other sites didn’t work.  Plus, Shutterfly loves to give out free stuff and seems to always have a sale or free shipping going on.  These things make me HAPPY!

At my party I had 14 sets of photo book coupons and coupons for 12 free Christmas cards to give out.  I felt like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve!  Photo books are some of my favorite things to make as I failed with the scrap-booking thing and love pictures of my children.

Add some wine, great tasting cookies and we had a nice time.  My wire-less Internet proved to not be able to handle ten different users at once unfortunately, but everyone got to see how to make a photo book extremely quick and easy for those of us creatively deficient or lacking time.  For the scrappers out there, Shutterfly has some great ways to create your masterpieces with many options, fonts, lay outs and themes.

Thank you Shutterfly for helping my friends and family have a great time.   I cannot wait to see every-ones finished books and cards.  If you want to have your own House Party, you can click here and see what opportunities await you.

Books I've made through Shutterfly.

FireMom and Outnumbered mom enjoying themselves.

(Disclosure:  Shutterfly gave me and 14 of my guests coupon codes for 8×8 hard cover photo books and 12 holiday cards, as well as a Shutterfly bag and pen. I also received a 7×8 soft cover book, and balloons to have at my party.  All of this was in exchange of sharing my Shutterfly products with friends and family. I was not asked to blog about it…but I had such a good time I wanted to!)

Photo Credits:  Mandy W. 2009