Happy Guatemalan Independence Day!

September 15 is Independence Day in Guatemala and we celebrated with our Adoptive Families Group at a local Guatemalan Restaurant on Saturday. We had around 25 or 30 people there and it was a great time with some great food! More about that below.

In other happenings Sadie has decided this week to put an "a" at the end of all of her words that end in an "e" sound. So, I am mommia, she is sadia, she goes pottia, her hands get dirtia, you get the picture...it was kind of cute at the beginning but is starting to get a little annoying! I asked my speech pathologist friend what was up and she said she was just experimenting with her language...hmmmm...I am trying to ignore it!

I've mentioned before that Sadie is a night owl...on Friday night I took her to the USF Game. It didn't start till 8 so I knew it would be a late night! By the 4th quarter when I saw at least 2 children around 5 years old or so passed out on their parents laps, Sadie was still jumping up and down on me and high fiving the people behind us! It looked like the game was going into overtime so we got up with about 30 seconds to go and started heading out...it was already 11:30 and I just couldn't imagine keeping her there through overtime. As we got to the top of the stands, USF intercepted the ball and ran it back far enough to kick a field goal. We ran out to the TVs in the back and saw the game winning field goal for a win over Kansas!!! It was very exciting. Sadie stayed awake all the way home and by the time we got home and she fell asleep it was almost 1! She didn't get up till after 10 the next morning. It think she would prefer this schedule all the time. She'll do great in college!

Here we are at the Rincon Guatemalteco...that is cute little Anna in front.

Max and his mom Gloria.

Sadie waving her Guatemalan flag!

Gloria and Ms. Norma--our great cook!

Ryan, Ben, and Mia--Ms. Norma made us a cake...the kids were very happy!

Sadie with her cake...

Ben and Ryan--they are BFFs...I should mention these pictures are blurry because a small child got my camera and put her dirty fingers all over the lense!

Sadie has found a new treat--she loves popcorn. We like to watch movies on the weekends and share some popcorn..

Not a great pic but you can see how long her hair is getting!

A little preview of one of the props for her Halloween costume!!

I'm embarrassed to say I bought her a "Bratz" guitar--swore I would never buy anything of that brand...

All ready to go cheer on the Bulls!

Some videos we took recently. The first one is a compilation of several short videos we took one night outside--we made a movie out of it...it's kind of weird where it decides to cut from one to another but it's still kind of cute. The other one I was obviously trying to get her to sing.

Cute Girls!

Okay--I know I am WAY behind on updating this and I promise to get some new pictures and stories up soon! but, had to post these two cute videos of Sadie and Salay. Mommy got a new toy for her birthday--the FLIP video--LOVE IT! (thanks Julie, Heather, Marcie, Amanda, Tanya, and Jen!) Sadie and Salay were having great fun with each other at dinner tonight!

July

Okay--I wrote the post below on July 31 and now it's August 21 and I never got around to finishing it! Since then we had a visit from my nephews Kevin and Jeff which was really nice! Sadie loved playing with her cousins although it's a different type of cousin play than most have! As you will see they are quite grown! Sadie has since figured out "can't" and "don't" and she has to do EVERYTHING herself. "NO, I DO IT" is her common refrain. Flush the toilet, get things out of the refrigerator, turn the TV on and off, turn out the lights, shut doors, buckle her seat belt. She has to be in charge of it all or there is DRAMA! The only thing she doesn't always want to do is walk! She still would prefer me to carry and hold her half the time. Especially in the morning! :) There are more stories with the pictures below and I'll try to get back in the habit of updating more regularly!


July 31
I've been a bad picture taker lately! We even had a visit from Uncle Bob and Aunt Marty and I didn't take one picture...

Sadie is doing well and continues to grow up. Her latest favorite phrases are "just a minute", "maybe later" and "maybe someday!" If I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do I often get "maybe later." Or it can be a question...if I tell her she can't do something (watch TV, eat something, etc.) she'll say, "Maybe later? or Maybe someday? It's very cute!
She is also on a kick of getting "can't" and "don't" or "don't want to" mixed up. So I hear alot of "I can't like it" or "I can't go night night!" I try to refrain from saying, "well, yes, you CAN"....
A couple weeks ago we went to the mall and Sadie got her first Build-A-Bear. she picked out an elephant. Luckily she didn't fall for all the clothes and only picked out a t-shirt...that saved me some cash!

Sadie is quite a tomboy...probably not a surprise since she's in school with so many boys. She's been waking up alot at night and crying so last weekend I told her if she slept all night and didn't wake Mommy up we could get some stickers...it worked and so we were at Target the next day picking out stickers. I had a variety for her to choose from...Dora, butterflies, flowers, princesses, etc. Sadie looks right past them and points to the pack that has a variety of balls--basketballs, baseballs, etc. and say "I want balls!" (on a side note...it seems to be helping...she's slept straight through 4 out of the last 6 nights to that is good!)

Just doing a little cell phone calling in the car...

Lexi, our 8 year old neighbor girl rang the doorbell one night and said they were cleaning things out for their garage sale and they found this chair and she wanted Sadie to have it. It was very sweet--it has Tinkerbell on it! In truth Sadie doesn't sit in it much but I tried to put it away a couple weeks ago and Sadie, screamed, "NO, LEXI" and wouldn't let me put it away. She loves to run down the driveway and yell "HI LEXI" when she sees her playing down the street.

At the zoo--we are quite into riding the carousel these days...Sadie talks about the "horsies" and how they go up and down, up and down! Obviously they are not all horsies!

Okay--you know these are old pictures as these are 4th of July pictures. Don't you love the bow? For those of you in the bow market we highly recommend http://www.dahollygbow.com/. Holly has 2 kids adopted from Guatamala and gives part of her proceeds to Guatemalan orphanages!

Our friend Julie is sure she can make a tennis protege out of Sadie. She indicates she has talent but doesn't take direction well at the moment!!! No kidding?

This was Sadie during the first half of the fireworks. She was not excited.

More of the fearful look...

Still appearing alarmed but interested!

By the end she had relaxed and turned to me after they were over and said, "I like fireworks!"

Sadie "playing the guitar" with John Clarke

A live shot!

Sadie got ahold of my glasses one night. This cracked me up!

I let Sadie lick the brownie spatula one day. She is a chocoholic like her Mama!

Ummmm....

Sadie with my nephew Kevin

And with my nephew Jeff!

Sadie likes to pretend to take pictures with any phone she comes across. She was doing the same with Kevin's blackberry!

Nothing like having two big cousins to throw her around!

On Monday, daycare was closed for a teacher planning day. Julie came to babysit and Heather and Salay came to visit. You will notice the clock on the kitchen says 4 p.m. and Sadie is still in her pajama top and no pants...Julie is a fun and laid back babysitter! But of course her hair is done. Julie loves the pigtails!

I often tell people that Sadie is not easily manipulated! I bought her this cute Bulls cheerleader outfit a couple of weeks ago. So far she has refused to put it on. I told her "I guess I'll have to give it to some other little girl like Salay or Anna or Lyla..." She immediately said, "give to Shiray...Shiray..." My plan backfired and she insisted Salay should have it. So, Salay modeled it when they were here on Monday!

This year...

and a year ago when Julie babysat on the same day and Salay came to play!

We went to dinner and Sadie and Salay were so cute together. They were having a great time!

Awww....

So, daycare is closed on Monday and then Tuesday was the expected Hurricane Fay which skipped over Tampa in the end! Daycare was closed but I still had to work so Sadie went to Anna and Lyla's house for the day. All went well except there was no napping!!! (poor Jen). This was Sadie around 6 p.m. passed out on the couch!!!

Celebrate Adoption

So, we had a chance to participate in a wonderful program called Celebrate Adoption where a group of photographers all over the nation donate their time for free to photograph adopted children in the first year. If you know someone who has adopted, be sure to let them know about this website. Anyhow, there wasn't a photographer in the Tampa area when I first checked it out but when I looked a couple of months ago there was. I contacted her and she agreed to do a session with us even though Sadie had been home more than a year.

If you go to this link you can see the proofs of our session. After entering the site, go to client lounge and the password is Sadie08. The proofs will only be there till July 17.

They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped--no fault of Galina, the photographer but rather, due to a reluctant client and a hot morning!! But, there are still some cute ones in there I think!

Let me know your favorites so I can decide what to order!

Dorie

Summer Happenings

Hi all! We are busy, busy, busy these days...Sadie had a couple of colds in the last month...breaking our good record of no colds since 2007! Oh well, we had a good run. If only I could avoid getting every cold she brings home, it wouldn't be so bad.

Sadie talks up a storm these days. She is full of comments about whatever she is watching, seeing, or doing. My recent favorite was on a morning drive to school/work. Sadie loves school buses and points them out every day. We had the usual, "look Mommy, BUS!" After acknowledging the bus I said, "when you are a big girl do you want to take the bus to school?" Sadie thought a bit and said, "no, choo choo train!"

Enjoy the pics and stories below!

Dorie

Sadie got her own "puter". She likes to sit on the couch beside Mommy and play with it when Mommy is on her laptop!

Doesn't she look like a professional already? I mean look at her hand on the mouse!!! And I don't even use a mouse--I use the touchpad. Where did she learn that?

Yes, these are underwear. No she is not potty trained. Every once in awhile she'll let me put underwear on her. Usually when I suggest it she says, "NO! DIAPER!" I mean who can be bothered with underwear when you can just do your thing in your diaper? I started giving her one M&M every time she pee-peed in the potty. When we were home sick one day she must have gone potty 25 times in a 2 hour period! As soon as she hears a little tinkle, she scoots off the potty and says "piece of candy?" Little stinker...she totally knows what to do, she just isn't interested...today, I asked her if she wanted to go to the store and pick out some underwear with Dora on them. I got the usual "NO!"

This is the day we were home sick. Can you tell from her eyes? She asked me to take her picture for some reason so I obliged!

Daycare was closed last week so we went with her classmates to the zoo for the day! It was about 110 degrees and about 200% humidity. The kids had a great time in the water...the moms sweated and had greater appreciation for the teachers. Four two year olds...it was a bit chaotic! This is her buddy Simon.

Aeden is in front...

Aeden, Sadie and Anna who is Brady's little sister...

Sweet Brady...

I forgot her bathing suit bottoms and didn't put her swim diaper on so she was toting an extra few pounds on her behind!

We finally got them out of the water long enough to see a few animals...

Simon is very pleased to have snagged Sadie here I think! He adores Sadie and well, she plays a little hard to get sometimes!

They all refused to look at me for the picture...but they were so cute all holding hands!

Simon

Brady and Anna...I didn't get a good picture of Anna's face but she looks just like Brady--just with that bright red hair!!

Back in the water after lunch--we gave up on the bathing suits at this point!

Moving in for a hug! Brady is probably Sadie's favorite friend. Whenever I ask her what she did at school she says, "I play with Brady". When we drive up in the morning she asks, "Brady here?" When Sadie was out sick, apparently Brady asked about her all day long...drove their teacher crazy!

Loving the water!

Mom, I need some breakfast!!!

Well, apparently when my friend Julie stays with Sadie she goes down for a nap like a little princess! I can't even get her to take a nap anymore but Julie is a miracle worker!

Sadie decided one night she needed to wash the dishes! She took every cup and container out of the dish drain and "washed" it! In fact, when I finally made her stop there was a bit of a meltdown!

We had our friend Claudio here this weekend! Sadie loved giving him "big hugs!"

Part rap star/part chef...

The video below doesn't make her look like the sharpest knife in the drawer but it is kind of cute!