Christmas - A Smashing Success

Tons of fun was had at this house this Christmas. Santa clearly understood what a wonderful little girl Jia was this past year! We visited family, played with new toys and Skyped with the Illinois cousins - not to mention the wonderful time off from work and school. Oh, to win the lottery! No alarm clocks, no schedules, no stress - ahhh - but I guess one must play the lottery to win the lottery. We still have several days yet of holiday to enjoy and we're going to make the best of it for sure! These are some pictures from Christmas Eve at my brother David and sister in law Lisa's (aka LaLa) house, fun with Terrell's mom, brother and family and, of course, at our house on Christmas morning. I love that first picture. A hammer and some lip gloss - what more does a modern day girl need, really? I'll get some more pics up tomorrow or the next day!

Happy New Year!

Our Winter Beauty

Jia is so happy - and so is her mom! We have sooo much fun hanging around each other and this winter break from work and school is heavenly. We're going to bake Christmas cookies today, do a little last minute shopping and just be a little bit lazy! These pictures were all taken within seconds of each other yesterday. She put on her hat (thanks LaLa - I believe this hat used to belong to her Mei Mei ( her cousin Melissa - but Jia calls her Mei Mei) and laughed and giggled her way through mommy's photo shoot! I have to post them - they're beautiful! (Please ignore messy shirt - but that too was achieved with lots of energy and fun while eating her morning "puffs"!)

Winter Wonderland

We really got socked by this snow - 17 inches is my best guess. Today we'll head out to build our snowman family! Jia is doing great! She's got a bit of cough and runny nose which seems to be a neverending winter state of being for her. Hoping she can kick it soon. We're almost ready for Christmas around here. I have a few things left to do and this snow certainly put a crimp in my shopping plans so I may be out on Christmas eve!

Hope all is well with all!

Great Room Re-Do

For whatever reason, holiday season, winter blues, boredom - I decided the great room in our house needed cozying up a bit. So this past weekend we did a complete on-the-cheap re-do by buying some inexpensive furniture to supplement what we already had, moving the TV, bringing in another bookcase, adding pictures, fluffing a bit with throw blankets and pillows - and WALAA - a great room re-do!

Of course I must mention the plants - they are amazing - Terrell has the most unbelievable green thumb. Each year he takes his tropical plants out doors and each winter they come inside. Well, most come inside - we can't fit them all. But this year he decided to bring in the 11 foot schefflera! I think it has found a permanent home - no way we can get this baby out after a season of heat and sun from our high windows.

We love it! We can turn on the fireplace, snuggle up and watch a good holiday show!

How to Trash a Room in 10 Minutes Flat - and Other Fun Things on a Saturday

We've been doing some work around the house - well, Terrell has been doing a few things around the house. He painted Jia's bathroom a lovely yellow and we've designated a room just for her toys (one of many really, heh). He painted the playroom lavender and it looks great! During the process we moved some of her toys into her room and you'll see from these pictures it took about 10 minutes for her to completely trash the place! She was very excited when her dad painted her bathroom and still - 2 weeks later - she always says "WOW" when we go in for bathtime!

These are just a few fun pictures of her around the house. I hope all is well with all and I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. A special note to say happy birthday to Jia's LaLa! She's 31 again!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

51!!!!!!!!!! Amazing! I love you both so much - thank you for everything.

One year ago I made a post celebrating my parents 50th annivesary so I thought it might be fun to show pics of Jia from that time. The change is truly remarkable! Wow!

You will also see the baby Jia walked around our house this week. She got the mommy, daddy, and baby Dora from her Grandma and Papa's house. She was running around with what I thought was an empty baby stroller. Perplexed, I got a bit closer and saw what you see in these pictures.

Halloween - et al

Sorry for the delay in posts! All is great in the household. We had a wonderful Halloween with the in-town cousins. Jia was a duck! Some of the moms/dads said - "wow, what a cute chicken" - whatever - all I could think was - have another glass of wine! She's a duck, for heaven's sake! She thought it was amazing that you could go up to a door, ring the bell, and someone would hand her things! We've had a rough few weeks with various illnesses - but she is presently healthy and has always kept that wonderful sense of humor of hers. Kept me and her LaLa on our toes but she's a-ok now.
Jia also loves playing with her kitchen here at home. She cooks and cooks. She likes to cook with her babydoll on her hip! Wonder where she got that idea. She also loves to draw now and we often find her quietly sitting and drawing and humming and talking to herself. Pretend play is huge - she makes up elaborate scenarios with her prince and princess at their little castle. In short, she is a delight and makes us so very happy. Enjoy the pictures!

Like Daddy Like Daughter

I love these pictures! I hope you do too. Jia loves the computer - I know - what 2 year old isn't fascinated by a computer - but still I love these pictures because they so well represent Jia's joy and curiosity about just about everything. And she looks as happy and intense to be sitting at a computer as her dad always does! She's not so happy about shots, of course. We were lucky enough to find an H1N1 shot for Jia after tremendous diligence by the mom and LaLa and just hope enough will be available in 21-28 days for the second shot. Meanwhile, we are being incredibly diligent about keeping her as safe as possible from exposure. There is lots of Purell in this house, in my purse, in my car. I'm down right paranoid I guess. Anyway, Jia is doing great as are we. She LOVES school. She is so much fun to be with - even with her crazy, wild energy! I love this age!

Feral

I looked wearily at Terrell this evening after bringing Jia downstairs. It was 9 pm and the bedsheets were soaked. Moments earlier I had tiptoed off to go to the bathroom believing she was soundly asleep. I returned to find she had dumped an entire cup of water onto the bed. I said to him "she's wild" and he replied with one word -"feral". It actually made me laugh at a moment when I was not feeling like laughing. But he's right. She's 28 months old and she's feral. We parents may attempt to domesticate these developmentally exploding creatures but it's for naught. She is just plain wild. And she's loving and sweet and make your heart hurt in love with us and we her. I actually said "dammit Jia" when I rushed to her side at the sweet call of "mama" and found the entire bed wet - to include her. Oh, patience is hard found at these moments. But she looked up at me and gave me that silly grin and I felt the horrible f bomb floating in my head melt away like warm butter. Life is good.

Good Morning

All is well in our world. Jia has been enjoying school very much and seems to be more active in every way! Just wanted to put up a post to say hi to the dad who is sailing and wish him lots of luck in the race! Can't wait for you to get home! These are some misc. pictures from the summer when the Illinois cousins were in town and one from this morning of Jia taking her temp. She has a cold - comes with starting school I guess - but every sniffle and cough makes me nervous of course. No fever so hopefully just a cold with accompanying goopy nose and cough. Have a great weekend!

Going Private

I've decided to restrict blog access to invited readers only. If you have been invited and know others who would also like to be invited please send me an email or call or let me know on facebook and I'll be happy to respond. Thanks to everyone who has followed!

Kissing Llamas, Flying Elephants and Cock-a-Doodle Doo

No, it's not a drug induced dream but rather a trip to the Virginia State Fair! It was more fun than this family of three has had in a very long time. The mom got to see hunky lumberjacks throw hatchets and Jia kissed a Llama. How much better can it get? I had never been to the Virginia State Fair and I'll admit to a little skeptism but it was a truly great day. I even laughed out loud at the last part where we lost our car in a sea of 5000 vehicles parked in a vast farmland of chirping crickets and car alarms as wayward fair attendees in similar plight tried to find their way home. After the kindness of a stranger, aka a state trooper picked up T and drove him around for 20 minutes, we too found our way home with just memories of hot dogs, fries and fried dough - and, of course, a friendly llama.

p.s. - and before you ask, yes, the first picture is of an adorable Alpaca.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my wonderful mom's birthday! I hope you are having a fabulous, relaxing, sunny, beach filled day! We love you!