thanks gina!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child- come on let's just call it even
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem-uh I've walked with Eyerusalem!
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Happy Thankgiving!!!

Only one of our family members will take pictures, so here you go!

A comparison

Most of you know that Addis had extreme failure to thrive when she was in Ethiopia, suffered from malnutrition, and had to be admitted into the hospital multiple times. Today I found the pictures we received from her "sick" days, and noticed how much she has grown and how great she is!
This is Addis' referral picture when she was about 1 month old and 8.5 lbs, in mid August!

This is her in October, when she was admitted into the hospital in Ethiopia. She weighed about 4 lbs when she was admitted, and this is a few days later when she has plumped up some. This isn't even her saddest picture.

Here is her first photographed laugh, in DC on her first day in America in January! She weighs about 7 lbs here.

Here is Addis now, she weighs like 26.5 lbs and is 30ish inches. She is way too smart for her own good! She has a vocab of about 30 words, loves to dance and be outside and run around. She is very spirited to say the least!
This is her riding her bad-A trike.

This is her picture from school. I love it, it's so addis! Look at the fat belly, they could have pulled her shirt down!! She looks like she is posing for a CEO picture.

Happpppy Birthday Mommy!!!

Reunited and it feels so gooood

Yes that is them in my ALL PINK ROOM REBECCA!

Or not.

Oh well, we'll be coming sooner or later eyerus!
Addy and Jax didn't pass on the first try either, why should it be simple starting now?

one year, 18 weeks

or 491 days since Eyerusalem's referral. Wow, what a special day tomorrow will hopefully be my little gobbez!!!

oooh gosh

okay mom, I realize you are like helping out the needy and stuff, but this baby is crazy. I am so not having kids for like 10 more years. She is so abusive, I have bruises from where she has punched, kicked and gotten other things to hit me with. She wouldn't eat dinner, she wouldn't go to sleep AND she wouldn't give me any kisses today! I'm pretty sure you aren't going to be able to leave her until she is like 14.

a little late

So I tried to post all these pictures a week ago and it just didn't work so here they are!
Jax climbing the rock wall

Mommy and Addy at Jackson's fall festival

Addis and her friend Zz being mischeivious





Jackson was obviously spiderman and Addis was Tinkerbell.
BTW Addis totally redeemed herself! We just woke up from a THREE hour nap, and she has eaten leftovers of my mac and cheese twice. I think we are going to go to Jackson's team's soccer game, and target today! fun fun!

omg

Is there weekend daycare?
This kid went to sleep at 9, woke up every two hours, popped up at 5:30 and hasn't stopped since.

Day two of our bonding time!

Ahhhh today we slept until 7:15!! It was so great, I kept like waking up to see if addis was okay and she was just snoring away. Last night I got to talk to mommy, and then again this morning. She is going to visit Eyerus tomorrow!! She said she misses all of us bad. Addis got to go to school late because we woke up so late, and they were having song time, and the second she walked in she just busted out dancing, it was the funniest thing! I went to my classes, went grocery shopping, came home and cleaned up. I took a nice long bath and shower. I went and got miss addis and we came home to make dinner. Note to Addis: next time I spend a hour making a delicious and healthy dinner for you, please don't throw it on the floor and refuse to eat a bite! I made homemade spinach macaroni and cheese and tuna croquettes. The croquettes were gross, the mac and cheese was delicious! We played around for a while, took a bath, cleaned up more, did the dishes and some laundry and then watched the office and then miss Adda conked out! I am actually enjoying having Addis all to myself. She is such a funny baby, and she is so happy and fun to be around.

Girls gone wild day one

Okay so today we got up at 5:30, watched the Wiggles, Higgly Town Heroes and Baby Einsteins. Addis was sweet and fun and drank a mango smoothie with her antibiotic in it. I dropped her off at school at 8, came home and studied for a test I had at 11. After my test I came home and NAPPED! For 3 hours I just slept, no one woke me up by being loud or anything it was amazing. I went and got Adda and we went to the Dr because she has a weird rash. Turns out she has a fungus again. I think she got it from day care this time! After that we went and ate and everyone was sooo enamored by Addis. We came home, talked to Jax and took a nice long bath. Now its time to play and clean up.

About the car. Okay long story but sad and funny. So my power steering has been out for like a month but I have still just been driving because there is never a good time to just leave my car at the shop for a week. I decided that I would drop it off when we were taking Jax to the airport and then just drive Mom's car while she was gone. As we pull into the airport, Mom's car dies. She thinks its because she ran out of gas so we rent a car for the night because I had a class in an hour that I HAD to get to and plan on bringing the gas the next day when we drop mom off. We get to the airport, drop of the rental car and then try to get the gas in her car. Of course it goes everywhere, but we manage to get some in. Then it just won't turn on. So mom has an hour till boarding, and we are sitting there in the parking lot of the airport basically without a car. We can't rent one because I am not old enough so we are screwed. We call Mom's business partner's wife (from her OTHER job) and she offers to come pick me and Adda up and take me to the shop to pick up my car. By this time mom has like 15 minutes till she needs to board so she finally leaves us and Renee comes and gets us. For some reason they have 3 cars so she is letting me borrow one of them because she didn't want me driving Addis around in the broken power steering car. So THAT Rebecca is the car story. That would only happen to us, thank goodness for nice people that leave work and drive all over town for us!!


PS we only had 2 poops today. When I wrote the stuff she ate yesterday I was like oh no, now I'm gunna plug her up!!

Dear mom,
we miss you bad. This sucks. Addis had 5 poopy diapers today. She wouldn't eat anything! She finally ate cheese, a banana, a smoothie and more cheese. I got her to take all her meds though. We played up/down in the bath like you said, went for a walk on her trike, and watched bee movie AGAIN. Hope we hear from you soon.

welll she's gone

As most of you know, my mommy left for Ethiopia today. Why you ask? For work. The agency she works for is going to sponsor an orphanage very close to the area shown in this video. http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2008/world/ethiopia/index.html
So every time I am sad that she is gone for two weeks, I just need to suck it up. Jackson got shipped of to the Ellerbee's because even though he is being a good boy, he would have a bit of a problem listening to me for two weeks. Now before you start bitching about this affecting his bonding, he is proud to have a mom that cares about his country and knows he is coming home. Absence makes the heart grow fonder eh? And that leaves Adda, oh Adda. Yes, I will be taking care of her. Please pray for my sanity. This is the child who does karate kicks, beats me with large objects and doesn't like to sleep. YAY!!!