Ice Cream Warrior Princess!

Okay. What do you get when you combine banana splits and yoga? Well, that's just a normal day at our house!!! Sarah made her first ever banana splits today with cookie dough, vanilla and brownie chip mint ice cream flavors topped with hard shell, whipped cream, pecans and heart sprinkles. She actually can't eat ice cream but has wanted to make them after seeing them in a movie so Grandma and I both enjoyed her creations.

Grandma and Grandpa brought their Wii Fit with them and tonight she fired it up and really seemed to enjoy it. Well, at first it took her through some beginner tests and the machine told her that her "body age" was 35!!! She was MAD! Then, she did some of the yoga tests and totally kicked butt so it told her she was a "body builder!" Here she's doing the "warrior" yoga pose. Guess being a Warrior Princess is what you get when you do yoga and avoid the ice cream!

We're Stuffed!

Here are the cousins with their festive holiday head bands! Hard to see, but Katherine has Santas, Samantha has snowmen and Sarah has reindeer.

I've been making Thanksgiving dinner for about 12 years now and this is the first time I actually undercooked the turkey! Kevin will tell you I tend to cook the devil out of most meat so this was something new -- and by new I don't mean "good"! And I tried to make it easier on myself by cutting a few corners which was not a good thing to do. I think someone will be showing up at the front door on Monday demanding I return my spatulas! But Kevin's family was very nice about it!

Guess there's always next year and at least we didn't wind up in the ER.

For the first time we made a fire pit in the backyard (actually Kev dug the fire pit, Rick collected the firewood and Sarah arranged the fire wood -- I did NOTHING but enjoy the marshmallows!) and we enjoyed it on two different nights.

Here is Miss Sarah sitting in the laundry basket after helping get the house ready for Thanksgiving. And then she covered up with her tv watching blanket and "snorted" which drives Romeo crazy and he pounces.

Now we start decorating for Christmas. Sarah is really excited about Christmas this year although we are hoping Romeo lets us keep the tree up!

Why Romeo Doesn't Need SANTA!!

Romeo probably doesn't need Santa to leave him any presents! Sarah keeps buying him these really cool 'cat' toys -- and he does love them and plays with them all the time. BUT, he's pretty much happy with anything!

For example, how about a pink Monopoly box?



Or a bathroom sink and a hair pick?


Or a dry jacuzzi? (Where sometimes he takes his toys in with him and I might be downstairs and I'll hear him knocking his bell ball around inside the tub!)

And EVERY DAY -- and I mean EVERY DAY -- he takes all three of our bathroom cups, knocks them off the counter and onto the floor and chews the living daylights out of them! Yes, we've thought about putting them under the counter or out of his reach, but he's so darn cute and has so much fun!!! This is what they look like by the time I find them. Can you say "spoiled"!!?!??!

Fun Family Weekend

We've had a GREAT weekend so far! On Friday night we had our favorite pizza and then went "window shopping" so Sarah could show us some items she wanted for Christmas. We stopped at Best Buy, Target and the mall and she found several items she just loved!

Today we went to see the movie "Bolt" which was really fun (including the bucket of popcorn) and then did a little more window shopping. We picked up a triple layer chocolate cheesecake too! After we came home, we broke out a PINK Monopoly game that Sarah had received as a gift last Christmas. At that time, she didn't have enough English to play the game and it's been stored away. While we were out looking in stores today she saw a similar game and asked if we could play her game when we got back home. And we did. It was really fun although Miss Sarah kicked both of our butts!

Right now she is watching one of her favorite tv shows which is "Man vs Wild". I have NO IDEA why she likes this show, but it's one Kevin had watched before we went to China and he must have Tivod it because one day he was watching an episode and she sat down and just was enthralled with it. At that time she didn't know much English at all but she watched intently and has been hooked ever since. When I say I don't know why she likes it, here's an example of why I think that -- she just asked me to come upstairs to see a "neat" part of the show and it was the guy who stars in the show eating an ox's eye ball -- yes, a real eye ball from a real dead ox. "Neat?" I don't think so!

Tomorrow it's football day for Kevin and "girl shopping" for Sarah and me. We started going shopping when football season started and now it's a "tradition" that Sarah loves. We hit the mall and usually Kohl's before heading to lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant. Sometimes she pushes my buttons enough to get a Starbucks for the ride home. Then we head downstairs to watch a "girl movie". We snuggle up with the cat and watch some movie that would curl Kevin's man toes -- like "Notting Hill" or "While You Were Sleeping." Last Sunday I made her watch one of my favorite "old" movies -- "Sixteen Candles" and she really liked it.

I LOVE weekends!

Fall Fishing Trip

Over the weekend we took a Fall fishing trip to Branson. Grandma and Grandpa have their RV down there so we headed down to visit and do a bit of fishing. Sarah had a great time even though the fish were all in hiding and not wanting to be caught!

The day was too short though and we missed two of things Sarah wanted to do -- drive go-carts with Dad and Grandpa and make S'mores over a campfire. But, there's always next time!

Birthday Gift Photos

Just wanted to post a few photos of Sarah wish a few of her gifts. Our family all live in other states so the blog is a great way to reach a lot of people. We can't thank everyone enough for all the cards and gifts. You guys ROCK!

First, Sarah received about $50 in cash and used the money to buy the new Guitar Hero game for her DS. She bought it on Sunday and it had just come out on Saturday night at midnight. Here she is playing the new game and wearing one of her new BLING t-shirts.

Here she is with a cool pink and black striped shirt from Diane and her new pink purse from Mimi and Papa.

I'll try to get more photos as she uses/wears things! THANKS AGAIN!

Happy 15th Birthday!!!

Where Sarah got home and saw that beach decorations she yelled, "Everybody go and get your shorts on!! And then she did! She loved the coconut bra and even decided her Dad should wear it as well (he's such a good sport and even let me take his photo in it!).

The gifts are open, the cake and strawberry parfaits are eaten and Sarah has locked herself in the bathroom to avoid Grandma's 15 birthday spankings!! She had a great time!

Thanks everyone for helping make Sarah's birthday special!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!!

Yeah!!!! It's Nov. 12th and our Baby Girl's 15th Birthday!!!

Last night Sarah was already excited and asked if she could "just open one or two presents!?!?!?" So she opened just a few -- one from Mimi and Papa, one from Grammie and Grampie and one from Mom and Dad. She had lots of fun playing with the toy Mimi and Papa sent and the pink and white bath wrap from Grammie and Grampie was enjoyed right out of the box (no bath required!)!

After she went to bed, we decorated both sides of the van with window paint. Sarah was quite surprised when we left to go to school today!

After I dropped her off, Kevin and I decorated the dining room in a beach theme. We didn't know until after we had taken our trip to Disney last year that Sarah has never been to a beach. She REALLY wants to walk in the sand and see the ocean, so we decided to do a beach party for her birthday and hopefully soon we'll get to a real beach.

And as I'm sure you can see by the number of PINK boxes, one of her favorite stores is the Victoria's Secret PINK store which is geared toward casual, fun clothes. (She isn't allowed to shop on the actual Victoria's Secret side of the store -- just the younger PINK store side!).

She's asked for Domino's pizza and chicken wings for her dinner. She doesn't really care for cake at all but I'm making a lemon-strawberry cake with less sugar in hopes that she'll like it.

I'm off to pick up the balloons and a few more supplies. Can't wait for tonight!!! Will post more photos later -- and THANKS to everyone for helping to make her 15th birthday special!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Delores!

Tomorrow is Sarah's birthday as well as her Great Grandma's birthday!

So here's a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Great Grandma Delores!!!!

May you have MANY, MANY more!

Love,

Sarah, Deb, Kevin, Romeo, Tinker Bell & The Crabby Bunch

Yes! We have Crabs!! And Birthday Cake!!!

So it's been 2-1/2 months since he came home to live with us and Romeo the cat has finally figured out that we have a tank with hermit crabs inside! He's been so fascinated with our hamster that he didn't look over his shoulder to the table right along side the hamster to see the aqauarium. But, now he's found it and has a new favorite place to lay -- right on top the screen covering the tank! We are hoping the screen holds!

This morning he has been helping me wrap Sarah's birthday presents and he's helped me decide how to decorate the house and a few special little things to make her birthday special. Her birthday is on Wednesday, so just two more days! She's so excited and can't wait!!!

When Sarah is at school on Wednesday I'll post updated pictures of us getting ready for her birthday dinner. Can't believe our girl will be 15!!!!

Planet Galacky!

For quite some time, Sarah has been a little distressed by the people who stop us in stores and say to her "where are you from?" or who will turn to me (while Sarah and I are together) and say "Is she a foreign exchange student?" Every time I put my arm around her and say, "No, she's my daughter!" Then there's a few seconds where the person looks at her, looks back at me and then looks at Sarah again. Usually, the conversation ends with the person saying, "Oh!"

For some reason, I don't believe there's ever been a time when anyone has stopped us when it's Kevin, me and Sarah. Maybe Kevin is scarier looking than I think!?!?!??! I mean, he is 6'4" so maybe that keeps people from asking.

Anyway, being the totally funny kid she is, Sarah has decided that she's from the planet Galacky! And she told someone at Walmart that! So while we first met in China, apparently her home planet is someone up in the sky.

Being that she is from another planet, Sarah has a great interest in the stars. She's been saving her money to buy herself a telescope. We had quickly glanced at one last week and last night after her homework was done she asked if she could go buy the telescope. Here she is unpacking it. It still needs some fine tuning, but that will be for tonight.