Thank Heaven For Little Girls

I can't believe it's August 30th already. Where did the summer go? (Especially up here in Michigan - when we haven't really even started the summer weather!!!)

The end of August has a couple other special meanings to me now as well. Two years ago yesterday one of my favorite Aunt's passed away. Coming from a big family, I have a LOT of favorite Aunts. And to each of them I have a special connection. My Aunt Barb G (I have two Aunt Barbs as it happens!) was no exception. When I was almost two my parents bought, gutted and remodeled their first house, I stayed with Aunt Barb for a couple weeks. This tradition was started young and repeated on future Spring Breaks and summers. Aunt Barb had no daughters and was very active in my (and Jenni's!) life.

1 year ago yesterday on Aunt Barb's 1st anniversary - two very important things happened. First I was registered in Vladivostok and was open to receive a referral. 2nd was I received my BCIS approval (also known as the i-171h). Both on the SAME day. The 1 year anniversary of my Aunt's death. Do I think it was coincidence? Nope. Do I think fate played a hand in all this - that's for sure! For those of you who believe -- I like to think of it as her way of thinking about me on a day I was thinking about her.

Yesterday was also our 5 month home marker. Seriously, where does time go? I feel like she's been a part of my life forever and yet there are still SO many things for her to experience. Some in our near future include: a football game (rite of fall passage!), her 3rd Birthday and 1st party, Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course, Christmas. She has no idea what fun lies ahead!

I am so thankful for what the past year has brought to me. It is indescribable to view a world you have started to take for granted through the eyes of a young child. She makes me laugh everyday - and even when I am not laughing, I realize what a treasure and a gift this little girl is and what she has brought to my humdrum boring life before!

Oh That's Right! She's TWO!

Tatiana must really be settling in - as more and more signs of a typical two year old's behavior keep creeping in!! The latest (and latest least favorite) is my good friend "defiance" aka "ignore mama". She'll be doing something not allowed such as standing on the couch preparing to jump off - and I'll ask her to sit down. Instead of listening, like she USED to, she just looks at me and laughs. Yes, it's a test. Please let me pass this one. I didn't study!!!

Tonight at dinner she made me laugh so hard. Which I know is not necessarily recommended when you are trying to be stern. Gramma was here -- which means "show off because now I have an audience of two". She kept asking for a drink from gramma's cup and was told she had to finish her milk first. I believe the words were "make it all gone". Bad words. T decided to make it all gone by dumping it out on her high chair tray. She was caught mid-stream by gramma and while some milk was spilled... it was not the WHOLE cup. Just a second later while gramma and I were discussing this - she attempted to dump it again. I quickly verbally said "uh uh" as in no. T, being the sensitive soul that she is, looked like a wounded bird and the tears (crocodile) starting flowing. She pointed to herself MANY times and said "baby". As in - mama don't you EVER scold the baby. Man did she give me the business for this offense! I literally had to bite into my corn and put my head down because I was laughing so hard. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT SCOLD THE BABY!! Hysterical.

In other news... I returned home last Wednesday eve from a quick trip up north for work. To my dismay, I was greeted in the front hallway with another feline present. This time a DEAD BAT. Yes, you read that correctly. A DEAD BAT. I disposed of the nasty rat with wings and quickly made appointments for the next morning at the vet for Rabies boosters (follow up shots to the original!). Casey (aka Patient X for her LONG list of maladies after her spay surgery) ended up getting a distemper booster that she needed as well and in true Casey fashion - had an allergic reaction that ended us BACK up at the vet on Friday am as well. Sheesh. The weekend passed by uneventfully and with crud weather. On Monday morning around 10am, Batman's brother (or sister) returned for it's revenge. Oh great, now a LIVE bat in the house. Seriously? That makes the count (for those of you keeping track) 5 mice and 2 bats. I played baseball in my living room with the bat, as the ball and a broom as the bat - how's that for irony? I am happy to report that I WON. I had the rodent patrol man here today - a great guy who doesn't live too far from me - and thankfully he couldn't find any sign of them in the house. Aside from ONE tiny little piece of bat droppings... probably from Batman or Robin... there was no sign. He thinks they may have come in through the furnace pipe/chimney so he put a screen cover over the top of that. Please say a couple extra prayers for no more bats in the house...

We also went to a rally to greet the cities Girl's Little League team home from the World Series. How seriously cool is that? 10 and 11 year olds from a tiny town of 5000 went to the World Series and -- oh yeah -- took 3rd place! Not too shabby!! Go Girls! Yea!
Waiting in the gym for the Girls to get home!!

Channeling Maria Von Trapp (or at least Julie Andrews!)

Sing it with me... you know you want to: "These are a few of my favorite things"...

.... good friends, who "get" you ....
.... meeting someone you've talked to forever ....
.... warm weather ....
.... happy kids, having fun ....
.... raising money for Russian orphans ....

This weekend was the 3rd annual Lighthouse Michigan Summer Picnic. WOW!! What a blast! I can't stop smiling about how much fun WE had this weekend. Tati is now a PRO at overnight trips, and had NO issues sleeping - or - living up the good life either for that matter!

We left home on Friday and even though the party was here in Michigan, we stayed down near the action so we wouldn't miss any fun! I've been bragging about how two of my favorite people: Angie and Tamara were headed to town for the events and I can't tell you how WONDERFUL it was to "meet" them finally. I feel like I have known them a lifetime. (Love to you both!) It's so special to have friends who share special events in common. On top of that, we were in the infamous Rhonda's backyard, so she came to most of the events to see T, see me, see T, meet Angie, Tamara etc, see T (do you see a pattern here??) and oh yeah, see T!

We hung out Friday around the hotel (which was the BOMB! by the way - super clean, super new and a super rate to boot!) with some of the other families and LORIEN!!! (and her family) and had pizza, swam and talked. Lorien is the owner of Lighthouse Adoptions and truly a special person (I may get a little emotional here!!). If I count my blessings, my family and T are at the top of that list (along with the furry 3some). I can thank Lorien for T. I look back at the choices I made along my adoption route and what led me to Tatiana. One of the biggest choices I had to make early on was my agency. It was a stressful decision and probably one of the best I ever made. To finally meet Lorien in person was the best. She put my daughter and I together. Enough said.

Saturday was the big event. How very cool to meet all those FAMILIES! It was a great turnout and great weather. I can't explain how neat it was to meet families in person whose blogs I have followed and watched as their children came home and have progressed over the past year +. Tamara had some samples of the super cool Initial Inc. items she's selling for the Lighthouse Fundraiser and hopefully we'll raise some funds for some of the baby homes. (Click here!)

Sunday we had a small gathering before leaving for home at Jungle Java - a cool coffee house/in-door playground for kids (aka the best of both worlds!). It was hard to leave such great friends - and hard to drag T out of the playground, but we left for home only to join our neighborhood picnic at the pool. I know TWO girls who are SUPER tired from a SUPER weekend! Hope you all enjoyed yours... here's some pictures from ours:

Is It Friday Yet?

I am counting down until Friday, already! Sheesh -- you know you are tired when it's Tuesday and you are already wondering if it's Friday yet! Add on to the fact that I get to see two of my FAVORITE people this weekend, Angie and Tamara, so I am even MORE excited for Friday for that reason!! It's been a long couple weeks, and I am too tired to think of some cute and witty things to share, so instead I thought I'd fill you in on some of the major happenings lately:



1) Double Murder: My tiny little town had a double murder a couple weeks ago. EAGADS! As you imagine our little town was quite a buzz by this. I would NEVER admit (sounds like a Not-Me-Monday post!!) to sneaking out to the area that this happened at and snapping some pictures of the crime scene action. Didn't do it. Not me. Must have been someone else. To ease your nerves a bit, unfortunately this was another kooky adult son attacks parents and aunt/uncle situation. Very sad, however.

2) World Series: In happier town happenings, the Cros-Lex Little League Girls team won the state title! During the aforementioned double murder, we happened to be hosting the state tournament, and the girls won on home turf. No funny business though, seriously -- as they went on to the Regional tournament in Missouri and WON THAT TOO! So this morning the girls left for Portland, OR for the WORLD SERIES! How cool is that? 3) Eye Doctor: T went to see the eye doctor -- who was probably one of the coolest doctors I have met! When she's tired you can pick up a slight lazy eye in her right eye. She got her eyes dilated for the check up and no there were major issues. The doc wants to check it again in 6 months to see if it self corrects. (I may need your patch advice, friends (Becky!!), if it doesn't!!)



4) Straws: My little smarty learned how to use a straw! Yea! I am envisioning the next Juicy Juice commercial here... I'll have to pass it on at work!

5) Mouse in the House: I returned home after the weekend excursion to my aunt's to discover a little mouse friend had been in my pantry. Wait. Don't I have 3 cats to take care of this for me? I caught what appeared to have been mama last Tuesday AM... and then my new best mouser, Casey (also know as Patient X for all her recent troubles!!) brought me 4 presents over the remainder of the week. And yes, sigh, one of those presents was IN BED. Thanks Casey!

6) Cousins, Cousins and more Cousins: This weekend was our big town festival (an even more cool celebration with some World Series bound girls!). T's cousin Mary came up for a visit and we went out to see MORE cousins - Emma, Katy and Zac. Zac was already zonked out -- so the girls had a pink party. And yes, the ONE picture of them all that's semi-decent... they're making faces!!

Bring on the weekend!!

Tati Is Back!

Hi Everyone! Tatiana here. I'm baaaaack! Mom has been super, super busy again with this thing she calls work. But she wants you to know that she's over the hump and should be sliding back into a normal life!

The weather is getting better up here, so I have been swimming more in the pool and trying to take advantage of some of the good summertime outdoors. This weekend we went to my Great Aunt Barb's house on the west side of the state of Michigan (pretty good at this geography stuff for a 2 1/2 year old huh?) for a family reunion. Great Aunt Barb is my Grampa's sister. She's pretty funny and my mom has always really liked her. Even better she's got 3 grandsons who were really fun to play with and if THAT wasn't enough.... Grampa's side of the family is Catholic so there were TONS of 2nd cousins to play with!!

Speaking of Grampa and Gramma - they were in ton for the reunion too, and it's always great when I get to see them. I perfected my newest language skill "grampa, I want... ______". I might just be testing to see what I can get away with later, but mom was super impressed with my sentences.

This reunion thing was on a lake and Great Aunt Barb even had a boat for me to ride on. I wasn't 100% sure what to think of this fast tin thing that floats on water, but I had fun. The only downside was that this was my FIRST trip sleeping away from home OR gramma's house. I was kinda crabby when it was time to sleep, so my mama didn't get very much sleep that night! Sorry mama!!

Here's my pictures from last weekend's fun. I promise my mom or I won't wait so long to post again next time. Mom had a video of me singing "Rain rain go away" but for some reason every time she tries to upload it - it deletes everything, so she just gave up!!

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