What is clogging the toilet???

Okay, actually, at this point I know what is clogging the toilet but for about a week we did not!  Every night Allan would plunge the thing out and every morning we couldn’t use it because it would start to overflow.  Not a lotta fun I must say.  And being down to one crapper in a house with 5 people who use the thing on a regular basis plus 2 littles that I was trying to get to use the thing on a regular basis, well it was just crappy (yep, pun intended!).

So Allan finally decided to take it apart and find out what the problem was.  He got the potty off the plumbing and determined there was no clog in the pipes.  It must be in the throne itself.  Let’s check.

 

Turns out, this is an interesting project so Daddy got some “helpers”.

And then, the source of the clog was discovered!  (And will be revealed in the next post, hee hee.)  It would NOT come out.  One of the helpers was even called in to, well, help.

The helper was less than excited but bless her heart, she did it.  Hopefully, the next post will also show a newly re-installed family can :).

It’s a New Year

And I’m a bad blogger.  I’d like to resolve to blog more often and maybe I will be able to do that.  To be realistic, I’m shooting for once a week, sometime between Sun and Sat.  I’d also like to try doing Wordless Wednesday this year too.

And one more thing.  I love looking at my Jackson.  I could stare at his amazing, beautiful face all day.  I think all of my kids are exceptionally beautiful (of course!) but I love looking at Jack’s face.  There’s a little guy on Reece's Rainbow that I cannot stop looking at.  I love his face too.  He’s going to be 5 this year.  He needs a family to save him from hopelessness.  When we adopted Dasha, I promised my family I wouldn’t beg again, to save another child, but oh, I would go get him in a heartbeat if I could.  His name is Daniel on RR.  I don’t know what his real name is, or where, specifically he is.  But I’ll be talking about him, trying to raise money for him, trying to get his picture out there, so his family can find him.  I pray it is soon.

Happy New Year friends.

Christmas Day!

(I’m putting up a post on Dasha's blog also!)

Ah, it was a good day.  I got a Dashlyn charm for my necklace with charms on it of the other kids.  (I had hoped to get it last year after coming home with our Ukrainian princess but this year isn’t too late I think ;). )Allan got his new planner pages and a couple of pizza baking stones (he asked for them, I swear!).

Jack started out the morning finding a package of oreo cookies.  They were minding their own business sitting meekly on the counter.  He insisted on having one then ran over to stand in front of the cabinets and said “camera”.  Of course, I ran to find the camera faster than the speed of light and took this photo.  (Catch that??  He SAID camera!  Woo hoo!!)

Soon after that, it was present time!

Andrew opened a gift that he then shared with his siblings:

 

Everyone got something they liked.  Dasha decided she likes opening presents :). 

 

Daddy got a new phone (with a teeny little short cord).  Okay maybe he was just borrowing Dasha’s!

After present time, we ate brunch, played with our new stuff, took naps, went out after dark to see pretty lights, ate late dinner pizza (remember the stones??), and watched the entire season 4 of Big Bang Theory (another gift)!  We stayed in our jammies ALL DAY!  It was a great day!

Hope you all had a terrific day too!  Happy Birthday Jesus!

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

And 2 little kids were ready for Santa to come!  The basement was picked up and they were dressed in cute and cozy sleepers.  First we set out cookies and milk.  (Dasha’s signing cookie!)

And now Jack is signing cookie.  (It was really hard to convince them to NOT eat the cookies!  I still don’t think they have a clue why they were on the table haha.)

I think Jack is thinking if he just gets a little closer, maybe no one will notice if some of the cookies go missing…..

And then D decided to watch Andrew play some last minute video games:

And back to Christmas prep….

The traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas (right after Dasha checked her phone one last time before bed, while Jack loses patience!)

And finally, the usual Christmas tree pics, one after everyone goes to bed (Mom and Dad got the little kids a kitchen!  I can’t wait to play to watch the littles play with it)and one after Santa visits!

(I love our tree.  Nothing formal or decorator about it, just every ornament we’ve collected or the kids have made on it with tons of colored lights!  Love, love, love!)

Next post – Christmas day!

Andrew & I had an Adventure……

Brag alert –> (I don’t think I do this often, but this story, I think, needed a little background.)  Andrew has always been an advanced reader.  By the time he was in the 4th grade he was reading at a 12th grade level and we started to have problems finding stuff for him to read that was reading level AND age appropriate.  I started finding some series books that worked great.  A few years later, we (I always read what the kids are reading) found a series called "Ranger's Apprentice" by John Flanagan.  We LOVE it!  I’m very thankful that Andrew and Madelyn both share my love of reading.  It’s a great way to connect with my kids, spawning many informative conversations.  After many years and 10 books, we found out the awesome Mr. Flanagan was going to speak at a library near us!!!!

We were so excited!  We had never been to a real author’s book signing before.  He spoke for about an hour and I swear Andrew and I both could have listened to him for a couple more :).  Afterwards we stood in line to get some books autographed and actually get to say hello and thank you.  What a nice man!  Of course I forgot my camera but Andrew’s phone take decent pics so we used that!

 

It was one of the best evenings of my life, and one I hope Andrew thinks of that way too.

A giveaway!!

Okay, this is really cool.  Go here, to Robyn’s World, a blog written by a mom I know irl.  She’s hosting a giveaway of a neat set of custom flashcards from Goosie.  Go check them out!  I think they would be awesome for helping Jack and Dasha with their communication skills.  Jack’s ST mentioned last week that it would be great if I could bring in some photos of things around the house and family members that he is familiar with, for use in matching games and identifying.  These would be perfect!  Good luck (but I really hope I win!)

Yesterday was the official start date of the Angel Tree!

And of course, I was not efficient enough to make a post yet!

But the good news is we have Daniel’s button installed so you can click on his pic which will take you to the Angel Tree page of Reece’s Rainbow.  Just click on the link to see the Angels, scroll down to Daniel’s picture, and you can use the “donate” box to send him a tax deductible donation!  If your donation is $35 or more, you will be able to receive a beautiful Reece’s Rainbow ornament with Daniel’s picture on it for your tree.  Or you can decline the ornament (but I am totally getting one!).  ANY donation is greatly appreciated!

There are other ways to donate as well:

1. Send a check to Reece’s Rainbow (also tax deductible)

Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

(Please make sure you mark the check for Daniel 2H)

2. Send cash or a check to me and I PROMISE to get it to Daniels’ account.  (I have the comments on moderate so leave me a comment with your e-mail and I will send you my address.)  The only drawback to this plan is that your donation will not be tax deductible.  But the money will still go to a WONDERFUL cause :).

Any way you’re able to donate, please let me know (leave me a comment or send me an e-mail) so I can give you a reward!  I’m trying to figure out how to do a give-a-way (hints are appreciated).

Thank You!!