Elina!

We have met a lot of wonderful and amazing people so far in this journey called medical school. Elina is one of them. She goes to school with Adam (is in his class) and is doing her rotations in York, PA right now, just as Adam is doing his here in Grand Blanc, MI. When we lived in Kirksville, we hung out with Elina a lot. It all began b/c she is a dog-lover. She asked Adam if she could walk our dogs for us sometime. We said, "Yes, please do!" Then she insisted on babysitting for us, free of charge, so we could have some one on one time every once and a while. She soon became my smoothie-making and baking buddy, my running buddy (on occasion), and a frequent guest in our home for dinner or just to hang out. The Lemon Butter Pound Cake that I make a lot (my MIL's recipe) soon became Elina's favorite cake ever, which I made for her on her birthday. Our entire family loves Elina. We will all be friends forever!

Anyway, Elina missed her "Mormon friends" and came to see us a few weeks ago. (I am really behind on my blogging...) We loved her visit and hope that there are many more to come!

The Post Office

For our little home-preschool group, we took a field trip to the Post Office. We got to go behind the scenes and see everything from the humongous scale that could weigh a small vehicle to how they put mail into the PO boxes. It was so fun!

This is a picture some of the kids with our postmaster.

Adalin (with a silly look on her face) behind all the PO box cubbies.

Adalin and Kayti.
(OK, I LOVE KIRA IN THIS PICTURE. This is so her. Sometimes she makes this squinty face, turns her head to the side and down when she poses for pictures. She is the funniest little girl!)

The Little Ham

Her name is Kira. I am taking a picture of sickly Adalin, passed out in the living room and Kira says, "Take a picture of me too!"

Poor girl

Adalin was just randomly sick a few weeks ago. It only lasted a day or so. I felt bad for her! I was making dinner, Adam was on his way home from "work" and I look over in the living room and Adalin fell asleep on top of our chair cushion. She NEVER just falls asleep, unless she is sick. I had to snap a pic.

Flower Girls

I LOVE matching Adalin and Kira's outfits. They don't match everyday, but when they happen to both have the same outfit clean, I jump on the opportunity. This is before the little hair-cutting episode... I miss Adalin's longer hair. :(

Curiosity killed the mommy

OK, I don't know what my kids deal was today but they drove me crazy with their curious workmanship on each other. First it was ink pens. I hop in the shower and exit 10 minutes later to find 2 girls with ink drawn all over their faces, arms and necks. Then a few hours later I am folding laundry, loving how the girls are playing so nicely with each other in the next room. I go into the hallway and see a big chunk of hair. Adalin's hair. Yep. She cut it, ear length on both sides in the front. Her hair was so cute too. She also took the liberty of cutting Kira's well fought-for hair to the scalp in 3 places. Thanks a lot. We made a trip to the hair salon right after and they tried to do the best they could with Adalin's chop-job. I will post a pic or two of her new dew when I am not so mad about it. :)

Boot Obsession

They are hard to see b/c they blend in with the background, but Kira is wearing my tall, brown suede boots. She is a ham. She likes to put my shoes on and trot around the house. I think it is funny that Adalin loved to wear my shoes too when she was Kira's age.

Spikey

Adam is hilarious with the kids. I am downstairs cleaning or something and hear Adam, who is upstairs, say, "Adalin can you go get mommy's mousse for me?" My head snaps up, I grab my camera out of my purse and run upstairs. Adam mentioned to me earlier that day that we should try to get Kira's minimal hair to wave or curl a little. I rolled my eyes and told him if he wants to spend that kind if time to go ahead. It didn't work. First of all, mousse on dry hair doesn't usually yield the most perfect of waves. It soon turned into a game of Lets Get Spikey for them. It was funny though.

Oh, really? That's news to me.

Last Sunday was Adalin's first time in Primary. She was so happy to be out of nursery and hanging with the big dogs. Adam and I teach the 6 & 7 year-olds, so we were in the same room with her during singing and sharing time. We talked about eternal families during the lesson and the kids got to color little paper people, representing their parents and siblings. Here is how part of the lesson went:

Teacher: Adalin, that is supposed to be your dad and mom, you and your little sister. Wait, yeah, your little sister. You don't have a brother, do you?
Adalin: No, that's Kira. But we are having a baby soon, it's a boy! His name is Seth.

All eyes in the room were on Adam and I... I am glad we were there to clarify. Adalin is very excited to have a little brother (or sister) someday. She asks me all the time if there is a baby in my tummy yet and why it is taking so long. I know that when this happens to be true, we may hold off on telling Adalin until the news is meant to be public! I am glad to have learned my lesson in advance.

It was actually kind of funny. Everyone was laughing at Adalin and her complete lack of protocol. I have admit though that, in the past, I have found out about things from pregnancy to upcoming (surprise) moves of families from kids Adalin's age, and older, that were meant to be confidential. Kids are hilarious, and honest.

Star Stickers

Kira insisted on us all wearing star stickers on our faces Christmas Eve. It was a hoot. I love this picture of her. She is the sweetest girl loaded to the brim with charisma and joyous chuckles.