Christmas Eve dinner at Neiman's

The popovers are HUGE!

Not the best pictures, but these are the plasmacars!

This is the plasmacar. You sit on it and inertia and twisting the steering wheel makes it go.

I think Grace had too much caffeine!

It's hard to catch up!

One of the first things that Darcey asked after they arrived was whether we had celebrated her birthday yet.

I wish that I had done better when we saw them in November, but here is was December 28 and her birthday was December 4. But she knew we had not done our usual celebrating.

Dad surprised us all by taking us out to eat after church to Olive Garden.

What a great break!

Plus I LOVE their salad.

I reminded Dad that this was supposed to be Darcey's birthday celebration, so he ordered a cake, the waitresses sang, and Darcey was shy, but I hope she enjoyed the attention. They both told how the birthday dinner in Round Rock was not quite a "children's" idea of celebrating.

Lisa was intent on getting some pictures of the girls after lunch, so we stopped at Bishop Arts. The girls were more intent on playing and horsing around, so no new professional pictures.

Darcey was having trouble with her Sunday shoes being too small, so she decided that was what she wanted for her birthday. So we headed to Payless. Annabel needed house shoes too, so we got both taken care of!

Where else do you go for a "special" kid's birthday dinner? CiCi's Pizza, of course! Only the one by the shoe store was packed with a line out the door, so we went to the next one! I LOVE the cinnamon dessert pizza! I'm glad they have added chicken noodle soup so Annabel can enjoy 4 bowls each time!

Uncle Ken and Aunt Lisa gave each girl a $50 Visa gift card. WOW!!! They decided they would like to buy a new Nintendo game. We checked out the prices at Gamestop, especially for the used ones. So our best laid plans were to go Monday and buy their games. Unfortunately my plans at taking the day off didn't work out.

I know it was an extremely long day for Mom and Dad with all 4 girls and it is always hard for me to get away from work so I was late getting home. Mom, Dad, and the girls had taken care of Christmas returns, including taking my beautiful TIFFANY necklace back to add a couple of inches to the chain.

This afternoon I took the girls to Barnes and Noble since they got gift cards from Uncle Chip. Darcey had left hers at home, but the other three took their time to find just the right combination of books to get the most for their money. At first Annabel was not interested since all the books are in English. There were copies of The Tale of Desperaux, but it was too advanced for her at this point. I tried showing her some of the activity books, craft kits, stuffed animals, etc. Then she got a great idea - she loves word find books. They had good choices for her focusing on learning words. She also loves dot to dots, so she found several that fit the bill.

When we checked out, she had a balance of $3.77. The chance of finding something for that amount was slim, but the cashier suggested she buy a hot chocolate from Starbucks. That didn't seem quite right since none of the rest would have something. Gillian and Grace picked out books that actually went over their $25!!!

But Annabel wanted chocolate.

One of her new vices she has learned from the Western culture. That and butter!! (seems more like my own flesh and blood every day!)

She decided to buy some chocolate and share with the others.

They had a small box of Godiva chocolate with 4 pieces of candy on sale for $3.50. She LOVED buying that and then sharing! I got to just smell of the box!

We pressed onward and went to Target where Nintendo games were buy one get one free.

It took a LOT of explaining that they could go in together on the buy one get one and split the price of one game.

Aha! They finally understood that they could get a game for $15 instead of $30! They agreed on their choices, and thankfully we found a kind man who checked us out and agreed to split the costs between the different gift cards. He must know little girls, as he also gave each their own sack!

Since they still had a balance on their gift cards we decided to check out Gamestop just in case there was a bargain there. Grace had taken her Gameboy and all her games to check out selling them back. Wow! This was quite the transaction, but she decided to go for it and have even more gift cards!!

Since we were in North Dallas we got to eat at my all time favorite restaurant, Taco Bueno! Now that is some good eats!!! When I was going to school in Abilene I could get a small drink and two menu items for $1!!! OK, now you can't! In fact I had to go back the second time and buy more!!

We came home and all four decided to take showers at our house. So much laughing! I'm really surprised that my bathroom was still in pretty good shape after that many laughs!

Poor Darcey had also mentioned that she was missing a pair of her jeans. I wasn't sure if I had seen them, but she decided that the ones Annabel wore today might be hers. When I saw the brand was DKNY, I knew I hadn't bought them for Annabel! I guess I'm not too observant! We've just been so fortunate to have people supplementing Annabel's wardrobe that I hadn't paid that much attention. I offered to wash them and she agreed, IF I would put her name in them.

Mom came to get the girls and it took an extra 15 minutes for the girls to tell each other good bye! I'm so glad they have each other!!!

These are great days!

This has been a great time for us.

The weather was perfect yesterday, except for a lot of wind. Sunshine started our day but got pretty cold by the afternoon.

But with this kind of weather, it is so nice to be able to come in and out without coats. The sunshine also seemed to raise everyone's spirits.

Yesterday I was being pretty lazy after so much leading up to Christmas.

Annabel went with the dogs in the backyard, but then yelled, "Ollie/Nina"!!!

The call was pretty frantic and Grace and I knew what it meant.

The dogs were loose!!

Annabel can run really fast and had caught Nina before I could find shoes, but Ollie really wants to explore the neighborhood and had taken off! We made it around the block before he finally came with his tail between his legs like it was a lot of fun!!!

We were cleaning out some things, especially boxes from Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon otherwise Santa would never have made it.

But they waste so much in packing and shipping.

Dad loaded up his car with boxes to take for recycling. But one box would not fit.

I nominated Grace and Annabel to carry it to the recycling bin, which is only a block and a half away. It was too funny seeing them dragging this box down the street and chasing the paper that kept blowing out.

The girls got to play their games, Clue, Life, and Monopoly with their own set of rules. I had planned to help clean up their bedrooms, but they were laughing and playing so well together, I did not want to interrupt it. Grace did a great job of helping Annabel understand the games well enough to play.

The one thing they still wanted to do was have me play with them.

So after showers and beds made again, we started playing Monopoly. It was pretty hysterical to play and try to explain the idea of Monopoly!

Grace kept commenting that Annabel didn't even understand and was doing the best.

When it was 10:00 we had to call it quits with Annabel having a huge wad of cash and Grace and I close to bankruptcy.

Grace couldn't believe that in real life that you would get a bill for taxes that would be the exact same amount of the money you just got from passing go! I don't think I had played it since it really became so REAL!!

Today we spent time trying to do our usual chores and clean up some neglected areas, but all we really wanted to know was what time Lisa, Gillian, and Darcey would be here.

Since we would be opening the last of the presents, I knew I needed to get the rest of mine wrapped.

I bought a plasmacar for each of the girls, only one won't be here until next week. Dad put the other three together and when we got to the last detail, the bolt was missing.

Mom and I dug through my whole recycling bin trying to find it.

Dad took one of the cars apart and took the bolt to Home Depot to find a match.

I could not do this crazy things if I did not have Dad right next door to help me out. When I went out to ask for help, there sat Mom and Dad on their steps with a tablecloth for cover and my mother scooting as close as she could to Dad to get warm. Sweet picture!

When Lisa and the girls finally arrived, presents were tops in everyone's mind. They were very excited about some great gift cards and ready to go shopping again!

Lisa totally surprised me with a BEAUTIFUL necklace from Tiffany's! I have ALWAYS wanted something from Tiffany's. It has two little hearts to represent my two girls.

It has been very difficult to be on the receiving end only this week, without reciprocating. Everyone understands that $ was just not there and surprised me with such wonderful gifts.

The girls got to try out their plasmacars. I can't really explain them and will just have to get a picture.

Then we ended the day with a delicious traditional Christmas dinner. Mom and I have laughed about what we ate on Christmas. For us it was leftovers and them it was a can of soup! But tonight we had the whole meal with all the trimmings. Delicious!!

The girls are so good together and everyone is surprised at how much Annabel has learned in just one month! Annabel calls Darcey "sweet little Darcey". I'm so glad they have each other too.

Happy Birthday Holly!

Maybe it is still her birthday in her time zone!!

I managed to stay awake and get all the presents moved from their hiding places. It was one of the few times that I wished there was someone else here to help! I felt like I made 100 trips, then when I looked to admire my work displaying the packages to the best effect, it looked like such a tiny amount!

I had set my alarm, but the soft setting must be too soft.

Thankfully we have a dog who knows it is time to go out and jumped up and woke me up!

Grace had been awake since 7:00 but Annabel was still snoozing. I was shocked at that and still not sure if she was faking it.

We had to wait for Grandmother and Poppa, but even then, neither girl seemed ready to tear into their packages.

Annabel took a long time playing with the dogs!

Grace always prefers being the follower and kept holding back.

Finally each opened one package. The most lame ones are always on the front. Since it wasn't a computer, neither were very interested.

It took SO LONG to get them to open their gifts.

I've spent most of the day trying to find a meaning behind their reluctance to open their gifts. They were labelled with their names, but Annabel REALLY was not that interested. She was concerned that on the tag it only said To: with their name, but Santa did not write his name on the From: side.

She announced a few times that Santa had not been here. This each time from returning from the back yard. Not sure what was out there to tell her.

She was mostly concerned about having to take care of MORE babies. The new Nintendo game is babysitting 6 babies, she already has Shomba, Yo Yo, Whyo, Ho Ho, just so much pressure and so much work!

She finally did get the Barbie computer, but there were no more puppies, no cell phone, and no real laptop. A major disappointment!

I tried to buy things that would build companionship, but instead, each took a different toy for a while and played with it separately.

But we finally got down to some real play stopping just long enough for breakfast at Mom and Dad's.

The whole Dallas area family got together later at Mom and Dad's for dinner and gifts.

I am rarely surprised by a gift, but they blew me away this year!

I got my own GPS! I used to be able to find my way anywhere I needed to go. Went back to the same Bed and Breakfast in Edinburgh, Scotland, even coming in a different direction.

Now ---- I have trouble finding the street at the end of the block. I was looking at my directions when we had our car wreck the other day. I don't know how I lost that ability, but was thrilled when Dad let me borrow his to go to Houston back in the summer. It was the one and only time I actually found my way around.

Now I just have to find a different car to buy and get that thing mounted!

There are pictures and I will get them posted. Promise!!!

I hope you had a great holiday too. Now we are just waiting on Lisa, Gillian, and Darcey to come. We hope they will be here Saturday.

I must stay awake!

How can Santa come if (s)he falls asleep?

Well my girls are all safely snuggled in bed with visions of sugar plums, or toast dancing in their heads. I still need to wrap a few things, but all I want to do is close my eyes for just a minute! Biggest fear is that Annabel will wake me up in the morning with laptop open, tv on, and no presents.

Annabel is still not sure what all of this means. I hope I can remember always her reaction.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Christmas Eve at our house

Annabel just came in and described "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer", only she was saying Grandmommy, and at the end she went splat and no one could find her and that's all.


These short conversations really tickle me.

Having two kids still mastering the English language can make for some funny conversations.

Monday night Annabel was so disappointed that the restaurant had no more corn, because she LOVES that corn for the ice cream. I knew they had corn on the buffet, so it had to be cone! She loves the cone for her ice cream.

Grace then read Annabel's fortune cookie. Annabel was to do something with her uniquequinciness.

We had so much fun spending their gift cards yesterday.

Annabel had never been in a Toys R Us store and I think it was somewhat overwhelming. It was so strange to see the store so empty. The girls decided to pool their cards so they could buy one, get one half price on a new Nintendo game. Yes, Father dear, I know tomorrow is Christmas. But the gift cards were the gifts! I know you understand the logic there.

What surprised me was they picked a game where they are taking care of babies. Annabel immediately started fretting that she could not handle 7 babies, the six on the game and her doll, who is named Shomba (?).

They plugged in the games and immediately started playing. Only with this game, if you do not take good care of your baby, then it cries and cries and cries and cries! Annabel couldn't get hers to eat and started talking to it that the rice was so good. Grace questioned feeding the baby rice. Annabel said, ok, green beans then.

We also went to Limited Too as those gift cards were burning a hole in their pocket. The priority was pants or skirts. We could find neither, so they both have cute new tops.

Today we are going back to a tradition I started for us when Jana and the girls first moved to Dallas. Prior to Grace, Annabel, and Jana and her girls, I used to take Mom and Dad to the Fairmount on Christmas Day for brunch. But it is not cheap, so I found Neiman Marcus has their usual "lunch" buffet on Christmas Eve. Somehow we missed it last year, but we are getting ready to go. They have such delicious food and you feel quite festive just being at their store.

Later is church, but then in the morning, the first Christmas ever for Annabel!

I think that Grace was so overwhelmed that first year that she couldn't get past the first package.

I am sorry if you did not get a Christmas card to you. I still plan to mail some, even though they will be late. My way of ensuring the holidays last longer!

I am thankful we are all well and can enjoy these special times together. I am especially grateful we are not in British Columbia where it continues to snow!

More later!

Annabel and Christmas

After Saturday night's gift exchange, I asked Annabel if that was enough.

NO!!! She wanted 500 toys!

OK, maybe she has outguessed the meaning of Christmas. I'm trying to make her understand a much more realistic view of what Christmas is, but not making much headway.

Santa better get a move on!!

Sometimes by the time I sit down at night, emotions have run pretty high and all of us are too tired and not on our best behavior. It makes it difficult to see clearly the journey we are on and instead just finds me exhausted, doubting myself, and wanting a good night's sleep.

So today is my first day of vacation and the first day that I do not have any Christmas parties planned, that I am in charge of, and my girls have had a good night's sleep too! Plus they let me sleep late. I cannot believe how late I can sleep sometimes! I think I go way too hard and fast and finally give up. I am so glad I have stayed well though as usually by this time I would have had bronchitis a few times. I've only minor colds/sinus problems, which with a short break, have easily recovered from.

Last week was a whirlwind of activity along with the good (?) stress of trying to plan what Santa would have in his bag. I think I wrote last Sunday about our Christmas party on Monday for our older adults and then on Thursday we had another and on Friday we had our volunteer party. That is a lot of parties and a lot of people. Rough estimate is close to 500 for all of the fun! Plus, no offense to anyone, but older people are a rough crowd! I recognize for some this is their only "Christmas" party and I want them to have fun!!! In spite of themselves!

Any of my older friends know I am not talking about them :)!

But I have said that I can never get everything quite right for them: the coffee is too hot, too cold, too strong, too weak. The sugar is too sweet, not sweet enough. The room is too hot, too cold, too many people, not enough people. You get the idea and the list can go on and on!

But I feel a strong dedication to serving this group. I recognize the contributions they have made, that their lives have been hard, that they are lonely, they are sick, they are facing the future and the unknown is difficult. I love the heritage they bring and the triumphs, as well as the failures they have experienced. Almost all have lived through circumstances similar to what my girls have had in their early years and seeing their success through such trials gives me great hope of the future for all.

They were so sweet about missing my girls for the party. One year Grace, Gillian, and Darcey got to come to the parties and my newly adopted Grace showed what a ham should could be, grabbing the microphone and singing a solo of "Feliz Navidad"! She was in ESL at the time and that was what they taught her.

It's difficult, to say the least, to separate my personal life from my job. When I went to the grocery store on Saturday (no makeup, lovely outfit, and crazy hair) I ran into so many who wished us all a great holiday and hoping my new daughter, now what is her name again?, a great first Christmas!

So now back to what I was typing last night -

Tonight I was standing there holding a plate full of octopus, while I loaded the second one with crawfish, and thought about what a funny picture it must have been!

Lately by the time I sit down at night I fall asleep before I can get anything written, so I will be playing a bit of catch up.

Today was the first day the girls were out of school for the holidays. It was so cold last night and this morning and somehow neither girl had on their warmest pajamas. Actually they were dressed more for a tropical island! So needless to say they woke up cold. I was trying my best to get out of the house and about that time Annabel announces she does not have any jeans to wear.

I asked if she could please find something else. We have had so many clothes given to her lately, I mean box after box, that is it hard to believe she can't find something to wear. I asked Grace to help also, because I REALLY had to get to work. Instead Annabel just cried. I am SO thankful to have Mom and Dad next door. Mom came over and made everything right. She dried the jeans, let them scramble their eggs, and even had bacon!

The girls came to our bingo game. Yes, that's what I do for a living, bingo games.

Just kidding!

A long time ago we started having bingo trying to get some of the older adults out and socializing and it has been a hit ever since. And it has been a HUGE hit with my girls whenever they have a Monday off!

When I walked in I recognized that Annabel still was wearing her pajama top, but with her jeans. Oh well!! She was cold and decided to just keep that on I guess.

Both girls got great boots from Mom and Dad for Christmas. I am so glad they gave them early. I don't think either girl has taken them off since they got them Saturday. Actually Annabel told me they were her house shoes.

Saturday morning Mom came over to see if a miracle had happened over night. I had written that I cooked, cleaned, wrapped presents, and was just waiting for Christmas. Of course I was still in my pajamas at that point and you had to step over the stuff in the floor, clear off a place on the counter to pour a cup of coffee, and girls were still looking for breakfast!

It is amazing how much you can accomplish in just one day.

I had committed to preparing meals for two families with new babies, had invited our family over for a Christmas party, and needed to clean house badly!

With the great help I got from my girls everything came together!

It was so nice to have everyone at our house for a family get together. Thanks to Marcie for posting pictures of our party.

Annabel was the belle of the ball for our party. She was so wound up and dancing and working her neck, and giggling and laughing. She had asked me if "the boys" were coming to the party. I asked if she meant Marcie's boy, Drew (her husband) and Emily's boyfriend, Alex. Yep, that would be the boys!!

I had bought enough little gifts to do the white elephant gift exchange, or as my office calls it, the mean Santa game.

Some of the presents came wrapped and Annabel had helped make the bows. Two of the gifts were little bears that Grace and Annabel begged for earlier in the week at the grocery store.

When the game started, Annabel went for one of the wrapped packages and ended up with a mini radio. I wanted her to have the bear, so on my turn I took her radio. But she enjoyed unwrapping so she took another one of those wrapped gifts. This time it was a head light thingie. Dad took it so she got to choose another. This time the game was almost over, so she ended up with a travel alarm clock. She never would take the gift bag with the bear!! And believe it or not, an 11 year old does not want a travel alarm clock for a gift! Finally she convinced Drew to switch her clock for his puzzle. He generously traded with her.

Marcie, Martha, and Mom all had presents for everyone.

It wasn't until that moment did I realize I had not bought presents!! I cannot believe how buying gifts for my family slipped my mind! I was so embarrassed. I also have very little for Mom and Dad. I used to always buy them something fairly nice. This time I think Mom got new house shoes and Dad didn't get much more than that! Plus when I look at the Santa gifts I am concerned I don't have enough.

My first Christmas as a Mom, I thought I should set a limit and only spend that much. That's the way Mom and Dad always did it. That limit wasn't nearly high enough to Jana. She supplemented what I had bought, with gifts she had bought for her girls, despite the fact she did not have any money to even buy gifts with!

This year though Christmas will get dragged out quite a bit waiting on Gillian and Darcey to come, so I hope by the time it is all over the girls will have plenty. It is a LOT less than Grace has gotten the year's before, but I tried to find things that the 2 could play with together.

Back to the plates of crawfish and octopus, I have subscribed to a program that notifies you of leftover tickets that you can buy cheaply. They had tickets for the Christmas light show in Grand Prairie. I had taken my older adults to see it one year and thought the girls would be awed and amazed by it.

I think the crawfish and octopus were more appreciated than the lights! It seemed like it took a long time to see them and both fell asleep!

Oh well!

The girls have gift cards from Limited Too and Toys R Us that are burning a hole in their pocket. I think we are about to brave the mall! Wish us luck!!

Some funny photos...

Tonight, we had a Christmas Party slash White Elephant Party at Jerri's. It was such a blast! Here are some photos of the event.This is Annabel and I. Since she is giving me "bunny ears", Drew is giving her antlers.

Meme!

Emily and Alex. Alex drew #1 for the White elephant. After having his first prize stolen, he chose to open another present, and got this bear. Such a good sport - at least that one was taken too!

Emily was doing something goofy, and from that, Grace got the idea that they could become a 2-headed elf using these inserts that were in some boots they got. I have no idea how they come up with this, but it cracks me up none the less.

By far my favorite photo - Annabel gets a new scarf, gloves and socks for a Christmas present - we started putting them all on her, and this is how it ended up. 2 out of 3 isn't bad I guess, haha. She is a never ending laugh.

Thanks Jer for your hospitality! We all had a really great time!
-Marcie