Fall Break

The boys' fall break started Thursday so I decided to load up all three minis and head to the beach for a long weekend. JC had to work Thursday and Friday since we had been in Russia for so long recently, but he'll be joining us tonight.

Yesterday afternoon the weather was perfect, sunny and about 75 degrees, so we decided to introduce Emma to the sand and the Atlantic Ocean. I did not plan very well because she has the exact same Halloween outfit on that she had in the pumpkin photos earlier.

Emma LOVES the sand. She just sat there for almost an hour playing. Not once did she try to eat it. The boys were busy playing with some huge rocks that they found on the beach, and I was just basking in the sunlight and enjoying hearing the waves crashing again! I have missed the beach and the ocean so much these past two months.

Last night I had promised Jackson that we would finally carve his pumpkin...yes, we brought it all the way to the beach, and he was very excited! I did not use any fancy tools or stencils...I just started cutting with a knife that I can assure you was not meant for carving pumpkins. Oh well...it is a beach pumpkin! :)

The boys favorite part:

And the final product:

Jackson really wanted the nose to be a "J"!!!

Tomorrow night we are driving up the coast to stay with some friends and letting the kids all trick-or-treat together. They cannot wait to dress up!

We hope you all have a very safe and fun Halloween!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

It's Even Harder with Three

Hope you all had a great weekend! We were busy here trying to rearrange some furniture and going to the boys' baseball games.

Emma is really doing great! It is amazing how much more comfortable and relaxed she seems. We are all more relaxed and finally adjusting to this crazy family of five. Emma's sleeping has improved slightly. She goes down great for naps and at night when it's time for bed. I mean, she is asleep within 5 to 10 minutes with us sitting by her side. BUT...the middle of the night proves to be a different story. She is usually awake sometime around 2am. This usually means awake for 45 minutes to one hour. That is with one of us in the room with her. Most of the time she is not crying - just lying in her bed, but she won't let us leave her. She is completely terrified of being by herself. Thursday night she was awake for three hours straight, but then she slept through the night on Saturday night. I think we are making progress though!

Anyway, the title of my blog post today is about taking photos of my children. The boys were already difficult to photograph, but trying to get all three to smile at the same time was almost impossible.

Below are a few photos that I tried to get on Friday. This was the first time that I tried to photograph all three together.

Not Checking In

We have return tickets on this airplane

to return here today...

Guess who won't be checking in???

Sip-N-See

Four of my very good girlfriends hosted a Sip-N-See for Emma on Sunday, October 18th! What an absolute perfect way for us to introduce her to all of our friends! Above is the invitation that they sent out using the window treatment fabric from Emma's room.

Every detail was meticulously thought out. Below is a photo of my dear friend's beautiful entryway.

The basket held monogrammed baggies of tea given as favors.

These ladies even planned a delicious lunch for everyone.

These cute boxes contained a chicken salad sandwich on a butter croissant, a bunch of red grapes, and a side dish of asian salad. Yummy!

And for dessert:

delicious petit fours with Emma's monogram;

chocolate candies,

delicious mints handmade by one of the host's mothers,

and

pink "Emma" m & m candies.

After lunch and fellowship, I was fortunate enough to open many, many presents for Emma. All of our friends were overly generous, and it was so heartwarming seeing how much they are truly excited for Emma to finally be here.

The hostesses were so very generous. Not only did they throw this fabulous get-together, but they also gave Emma her first embosser (her monogram as seen on these napkins):

They also gave Emma her first monogrammed plate painted by one of my friends.

They gave Emma a cute pink notebook in which all the gifts were handwritten, and my absolute FAVORITE gift is a chalk rendition of this photo that I took on our first visit to see Emma in September.

Isn't it just amazing? The really wonderful part is that it was created by a fellow Russian who knows one of the hostess' sister.

Emma and I had such a fabulous time, and we are very grateful for such wonderful friends. Thank yous are never enough! I did want to do a little something for them though. I really had no idea what to get so I went out on a limb and ordered custom Christmas aprons on Etsy. Three were the same, and one of the aprons had snowmen. One of my friends loves snowmen so I couldn't resist.

Love these gals!

It's Friday!!!!

We have survived another week here in NC as a family of five! We have a pretty uneventful weekend planned, and I am so glad of it.

Emma and I are getting ready to go for a walk since it has finally stopped raining, and then we will come back and wait on the delivery guys. Our dishwasher stopped working on Tuesday night! Let's just say that handwashing dishes for five people while trying to hold a 24 pound child is not an easy feat! I am so thankful to get a new dishwasher this afternoon!!!

this is our old dishwasher which will cost more than half the price of a new one to fix!!!

This morning, Emma opened her first present which was brought over yesterday by one of our neighbors. She wasn't too sure about it, and of course I had to help her with the wrapping paper!

Emma got a Twilight Turtle for nighttime!!! The link to the company's website is here...http://www.cloudb.com/ssandf/turtle.html! We will try it out tonight and see how she does!

this photo courtsey of cloud.b

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Edited to add...

Here is my new dishwasher:

I am going to LOVE it, I know! BUT - guess who already likes to leave handprints behind on the shiny stainless steel???

Transition

The transition is going much harder than expected. Emma is very loving toward us, but she is testing every single boundary we set as far as behavior goes. I am exhausted by the end of the day. I've been told by a very wise lady, thank you Ondrea, that this is all normal. It is hard to see that when you are so close to the situation.

I have managed to take a few photos throughout all the madness. Emma looks so happy in most, but she does her fair share of crying - mostly crying with no tears, just fit-pitching! Very frustrating. I think it is a maliputive behavior because when she starts this after being told "no" to whatever (this afternoon it was scratching Jackson because he wouldn't give her his brand new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book), I try to hug her and comfort her. Except, she doesn't want to be held. She instantly stops the fake whine/cry, pushes back from me, gives me the transparent smile and walks off - all within about 10 seconds. Very frustrating! I hope she and I can come to some common ground soon or I may have to be admitted! :)

Emma enjoying the new dog bed and reading a Pottery Barn catalog

Thanks Clif and Susan; I love my new Whisper Buggy!

I am so rotten!