NYC

I went to New York last week. Not we - me.
Some of the people at church were planning a trip, and I decided to go.
It was just a short weekend trip, but it was so good to get away.
We left on Thur evening, drove all night. We got there on Fri morning, had the whole day to do as we wished. Spent the night at a hotel right in Times Square. Had all day on Sat. Got back on the bus on Sat night, and got home on Sun morning.
Very tiring, but worth it.
It wouldn't have been nearly so hard if I could just sleep on the bus. I didn't sleep at all on the way up. I did sleep some on the way back though, but not much.
I have a hard time sleeping in a vehicle. Not at all like David. He's out as soon as he hits the passenger seat (and unfortunately once in a while in the driver's seat too!).
We had 6 in our little 'group'. Me, my mom, my sister-in-law, my aunt, my cousin, and my sister-in-law's sister-in-law.
We went to the Statue of Liberty, up in the Empire State Building, to the Today show, walked out on the Brooklyn Bridge, down into a basement in Chinatown, went to a Broadway show, shopped in Times Square, went to Ground Zero and rode around on a tour bus and looked at countless other things.
It was a very, very busy 2 days.

Times Square


Mom and me at the Statue of Liberty


View from the Empire State Building


Our 'group' at the Today show


Brooklyn Bridge


While I was gone, David and the boys went to a Casting Crowns concert.
Steven Curtis Chapman's sons also performed.
They had great seats.
I was actually supposed to go, but then the trip to NY came up - so I gave my ticket to someone else and went there instead.

Darrell with SCC's sons

Happy Easter

We went to the egg hunt at church Fri evening.
Leila didn't do quite as well finding the eggs at this one, as she did the one at school.
Maybe because all along, she thought she was just finding eggs for 'fun'.
After the last egg hunt though, she discovered that there was CANDY inside the eggs.
She just couldn't seem to stay with the task of 'finding more eggs', because she wanted to open each one as she found it, to see (and eat) what was inside.


Sunday was a fantastic day.
We didn't make it to sunrise service because it's hard enough on Leila to get up in time for church - much less any earlier. (She doesn't normally get up until 9:00-10:00)
We did get up a little earlier than normal though, to see what the Easter Bunny had brought.


After church we had 15 people here for Easter diner.
The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and the food was delicious.





The boys are on a much shortened spring break right now.
It was originally supposed to be 3 days longer than it is now, but it was cut short due to snow days.
Those were fun (and worth it) at the time, but not so much now.
I spent today putting away Easter things, and the boys spent it mowing the lawn.
Yep, it's that time of year again - already.

Easter Eggs

We went to school last weekend to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny and to go on an Easter egg hunt.
Other than being a little cool, the weather cooperated nicely.
Well - the Easter Bunny, just wasn't happening.
He must just be too scary.
3-4 feet was as close as we could get to him for a picture.

Now the egg hunt, that was a different story.
We've been practicing hiding and finding eggs here at the house, so Leila was more than ready for that.
I really liked the way they had it all set up too.
It was sectioned off by age groups, of course. (Leila was in the 3 and under.)
But what I thought was so great, was that they told the kids to go and find 10 eggs and then come back.
All around us, I could hear parents counting.
And then, I'd hear - 'you've got your 10, you're done for now, let's go back'.
After they made sure all the kids had gotten at least 10 eggs, then they let them go back to get the rest.
I liked that they made sure no one got left out.


We have our egg hunt at church tomorrow evening.
We're looking SO forward to that one too.

We colored eggs here at the house last night.

Leila LOVED it.

At one point, she got just a little wild with dipping an egg and the dye splashed up, so she had bright pink splatters all over her face the rest of the night.
We did a dozen eggs, and she was so proud of them.

I put them in her basket, and put it on the fireplace hearth.
When I got up this morning .... all but 2 eggs were gone!
There were only a few remnants of a shell left.
The blasted dog ate them!!!
I had to go buy more eggs today, because all of our eggs are 'homemade' (you know, brown eggs from my aunt's chickens).
And we did it again tonight.

Darrell missed it tonight though.
He's at a track meet.
He texted me, and he did okay, but not great in the mile and the 800.
But his relay team got 2nd place!

Lots of News

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.
It's not that nothing has happened around here - it's just that I never seem to get around to it.

Austin's wrestling is now over for the year.
Point Pleasant is the new WV State Wrestling Champions!
They took the coveted title from the previous champions that had held it for the last 13 years.
It's the first time in PP's history to achieve this honor.
What a great way to end the season!

Wrestling ended on a Sat night, and Darrell's track season started the following Mon.
He has his first track meet this coming Thurs.
He can't wait - he absolutely loves it.

Leila started with a new speech teacher.
Before she alternated with speech one week and developmental the next week.
Now, she's going to be having speech every week, which I think will be better for her.
Although we miss the old ones, I think this new teacher is going to do well with her.

I cut my thumb last week while giving the dog a bath.
Yeah, I know that sounds a little strange.
We have one of those adjustable showerheads in the shower downstairs.
There's a lever to push to change the water pressure.
When I pushed it, it snapped off and sliced my thumb open.
Thank goodness everyone was home at the time.
David took me to the ER, Austin finished up the dog, and Darrell watched Leila.
They stitched up my thumb, but yes, I got more than a few odd looks when my explanation to everyone was - 'I cut it on the showerhead'.
My stitches come out this week.

Leila went back to Children's Hospital in Columbus on the 17th.
Since she had to be there so early, we went out the night before and spent the night.
The hospital has a program with some of the area hotels where if you live more than a certain distance away (we do) and have an appt - then they let you stay a night for free.
This was the first time, we took advantage of that program.
Mom went with me, and boy - our room was nice!

I definitely think we'll do that again.
Leila had gained the required 1/2 lb, so they sedated her and worked on her messed up tooth.
They were able to cap it rather than pull it, which was a good thing.
They do such a good job with her too. That's probably why she was able to handle it all as well as she did.

A Happy (late) Birthday to Mom on Sat.

Austin went to a Skills USA competition in Beckley last weekend.
He competed in Architectural Drafting division.
This is his first year in that class, and his teacher thought it would be good experience for him.
BUT he won 1st place in the state!!!
(Mason County hasn't had any winner at all in over 8 years, and has never had a winner in his division.)
Wow! I have to say we were a little surprised, especially since he had said he'd finished like an hour before everyone else.
Maybe he has some natural ability here and there's a future in it for him.
He won some drafting software.
We're so excited and so proud.
Now he gets to go to Kansas City to compete at the National level in June.
And since he's only a junior, he can go back and do this all over again next year.
Now, if he could just get his English grade up....

A Hospital Visit

Okay, Leila was sick last week and saw the doctor twice.
We thought she was getting all better.
Other than being cranky and tired, she was fine over the weekend.
Then, on Monday she got up with a temp of 101.
Well, that didn't bother me too much - except for the fact that she was still on antibiotics.
It went to 102.3 on Tues, so I called the doctor.
She wanted to see her, so back we went.
They ran a few tests, but couldn't figure anything out.
On Wednesday, it went to 102.4.
No other symptoms - just fever.
Dr. Bailey wanted me to take her to the hospital, because she was at a loss at that point.
We went to Cabell Huntington on Wed afternoon, and they admitted her.
They ran LOTS of tests, for lots of things, but everything came back normal.
That was good in that she didn't have all those things - but bad in that we still didn't know what the problem was.
After being fever-free for 24 hrs, they finally discharged her on Friday afternoon.
Still no answers.
Possibly it was a virus and that got better and then came back.
Possibly it was one virus last week and then another one this week.
Who knows?
But she seems better - and we're home now - I guess that's all that matters.

Oh How They Grow

Kids grow up WAY too fast, but animals grow even faster.
We got our new puppy in Dec.
He wasn't quite 2 months old.
This was him then:

This is him now:

He comes in sometimes to visit and play, but the majority of the time - he's an outside dog. That was the agreement when we got him.
He's a good little dog though. And I really think he tries to be good. Sometimes, it's just hard. (Not so different from kids after all, huh?)

Leila's been sick this week.
She got up on Mon with a little bit of a fever. Motrin brought it down, so I wasn't worried. Plus, she acted fine all day.
BUT, then on Tues - she got up with a fever of 105*.
Now, when it comes to things like this - I am the calm, rational one.
David used to be. Not anymore.
The older he gets - the worse he gets.
He wants to take her to the ER for every little thing.
I am the one that says - no, this is something we need to treat at home - we don't need to go - there's no point in spending the money and the time for them to tell us to go home, etc.
Then he usually tells me I'm a cheapskate or something like that. I am, but it's not that - I just know that some things do NOT require a Dr visit.
I have to say though - 105* scared me. (Not that I let on to David though.)
I gave her Motrin, put a call into the Dr, and took it again 20 min later.
It did go down, but they said I still needed to bring her in.
They did blood work, and her WBC was 31 (normal is 10-14).
They gave her a shot and antibiotics.
I took her back today. Her WBC was back where it should be - which is good. And she hasn't had a fever since.
But she still must not feel good, because she's whiny, whiny, whiny. I can't even put her down without her crying. I hope that whatever it is, goes away soon, and she starts feeling better.

Chinese New Year

Sunday is the first day of the Chinese New Year.
2010 is the Year of the Tiger.

The Chinese calendar is set to a 12 year rotation with each year being represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals - rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Legend has it that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

Leila is a pig - she's supposed to be sincere and smart.
Austin is a rooster - honest and bold. / Darrell is a rat - generous and optimistic.
David is an ox - strong and confident. / I am a sheep - shy and creative.
Hmmmm.......

Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival) is the longest and most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.

Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.
The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements.
This is why, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving.

In China, customs and traditions vary widely.
People may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.
People buy presents, decorations, material, food, and clothing.
It is also tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes of making way for good incoming luck.
Windows and doors are decorated with red color paper-cuts with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”.
On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families.
They end the night with firecrackers.
Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes.
(Red is a very significant color in the Chinese culture.)

The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.


We celebrated Chinese New Year early last night.
We got together with our International Adoption group at Pizza Hut.
As always, we had a great time visiting and catching up.
We had 'representatives' from China, Vietnam, Guatemala & Russia.


I was so impressed by and liked the felt 'fortune cookies' that Erin made for the kids at our 'China Reunion' last summer - I decided to try my hand at it for this.
I studied the ones Leila had been given and made some to take last night.
I put them in cute little containers from the Dollar Store - along with a real fortune cookie from the Chinese restaurant and gave them out to the kids after dinner.
All 3 of my guys said that Erin's 'cookies' looked better, but softened their criticism by telling me that the real cookie was a nice touch, and it was still the thought that counted anyway.
That's okay - I still felt good contributing something, and hopefully they'll like it at least a fraction as much as I did.