Family of four, your table is ready.

THIS IS A TEST

Hey everyone!  I just thought I would pop over here and say a big HELLO and post a couple of pics of our Christmas!  This Christmas so awesome, and one of the best I have ever had.  One of the major reasons is that Ayana was really starting to get some of the concept this year, and Ellie was "in" on the shinnigans, if you know what I mean. So having her "in" on it, and Ayana JUST getting it, made it super duper fun.  One of the cutest things was that every single solitary Christmas tree that Ayana saw this year she called a "Happy Tree".  We still have no idea where that came from, but it still warms my heart when I hear her say it, and I am sad to know that it will be only a memory soon enough! 

New years was quiet, just the four of us, but I love it that way too.

Here are some pics!

So, now that the birthday shinanigans and my week of work are all done, I am slowly getting back into the groove around here.  Our house is decorated for Christmas, and this year Ayana really got the hang of it!  I would hand her an ornament and she would put it on the tree, and then she spotted the candy canes.  She grabbed them and proceeded to place them one by one very carefully all on the same branch.  So cute!  She is also beginning to understand the concept of Santa, albiet she thinks his visit is imminent at any moment! 

Ellie and I were just looking at video footage of our first days home with her this morning.  She was SO LITTLE!  I wish I could re-do all of those early weeks over again, I would do things so differently.  Like RELAX, for one thing.  I was so worried about everything back then.  Her initial signs of grief (the extreme attachment to me, which was awesome but VERY EXHAUSTING), her uber sensitiveness, her general uptightness, had me in a panic that that is the temperment of the child we had brought home.  She still is a feisty wee thing, but those initial reactions were totally due to her being utterly dumbfounded as to why she was thrust into the arms of complete strangers, whisked away from all the people she loved, to a frozen land with animals in the house, and all humans speaking a foreign language!  These kids are AMAZING, that they adjust so beautifully after all that!

Have a wonderful day!

It is Ellie's 10th birthday today!!!! WE LOVE YOU ELLIE! Here is a video some of you may have seen here before, I made it a few years ago now, so Ayana was not home yet. Can't believe how much our little lady has grown!

You know, it's funny, after taking a bit of a breather from this blog due to the enormous amount of typing going on elsewhere (cough), I suddenly am in COMPLETE appreciation of this blog and the freedom I have over here!  Grammer shrammer!  Style schmyle!  Not that I don't want to make an effort at the actual writing over here, but on a book blog there are certain boundries, in a weird way, like not too much personal chit chat, you know?  And the other thing I'm doing, writing for an online news site, there is DEFINATE format and style things, and oh-boy-you-better-know-your-its-from-an-it's kind of thing.  So this is FANTASTIC! 

This weekend is Ellie's 10th BIRTHDAY!  And today it just really hit me, that my first baby is going to be an entire decade old.  A DECADE.  As in.. I have a 10 year old now.  Wow.  How did that happen?  When did she turn into a young lady and not a little girl?  Huh?  This is not a rhetorical question, people, I want answers!  ANYway, tomorrow she is having a few girlfriends over for a birthday slumber party and I am so excited for her!  And as with any pre-pubescent party there will be much nail polishing and talking of boys, albiet when Mom's not around.  We are also going to be painting t-shirts, kind of as a memory of her party.  I hope it is fun for them!  I always want to make the parties fun for the kids, I really want them to go away and say, "That was AWESOME!"  Especially the birthday girl!

Next week I am working for a few days on a movie called Angel's Crest.  We will be shooting a court scene, and I'll be helping wrangle extras and the 11 cast members that will be there.  I can't remember the last time I was more excited to work.  Can't WAIT!

Allrighty then, I'm off to bed and I will most definately be back to this little family blog posting about family things.  As you can imagine, Ayana is changing by the minute and I know there are some of you out there that still like to read about our girls!

Ciao!

I must be one of the worst bloggers in the history of blogging.  I apologize for the lack of posts.  My other blog is keeping me UBER busy, as it is not JUST blogging it's reading the books that are sent to me, contacting authors for interviews, now I am going to be starting my own book Blog Radio Talk show.  AND I'm also doing some writing for Examiner.com  and I'm trying to get my first article done by my deadline which is Wednesday.  Not to mention Regan is in Edmonton working on Fubar 2 and so I am alone with my girls and Ellie is busy 4 nights a week with activities.  Plus I'll be working for 5 days on a movie so I am trying to get all our ducks in a row for that as well.

Life is BUSY. 

But good!

Ayana is just amazing!  She is talking almost non-stop now, so cute!  Her vocabulary is pretty good, but it is her picking up of expressions is the most fun!   "What?  Whatareyoutalkingabout?"  Said just like that.  Cracks us up every time!  

She is bright, and funny, and BUSY, and stubborn, and willful, and LOVING.  She many many times a day will wrap her little arms around my legs and say, "I wuv you too, Mom."  Or come for a cuddle on the couch and lay her head on my lap, kiss my arm and say, "I wuv you too, Mom."  SO SO CUTE! 

There is so much to update on how she is doing I'll have to do it in bits and bites in the next week or so. 

Ellie is great too, she is turning 10 this weekend and I can't tell you how excited she is about turning DOUBLE DIGITS.  She is very passionate about it.  "Mom, can you believe it?  I mean, the next most important birthday won't be until I'm A HUNDRED when I turn TRIPLE digits!"  I can't laugh because she is deadly serious.  But oh my God is it every funny. 

I'll catch up with you all later!