Our Little American Idol

Well, she's American, now, right????

I love this video. I took it about a week ago, and have been jealously hoarding it. So sorry.

Anyway, enjoy!

Bad Luck is Extending Beyond Cars

The adjuster came out this morning to look at Robert's car.

I thought it would be best for me to be there too - explaining damage, answering questions, acting as a second set of eyes. You know.

It was really cold and Adjoa opted to stay inside. Can't say I blame her.

After some time, the adjuster said it was borderline. He wanted to run some numbers and do some calculations. He said I could go inside and he'd come knock on the door when he was done.

So I headed inside. But the door wouldn't open. Adjoa had locked me out. I had the spare car keys - which didn't include a spare house key.

"Don't you want mommy to come inside????" I asked shivering.

"Nope."

I spent a good 30 minutes trying to explain to Adjoa how to UNlock the door. She wasn't really getting it. She just kept twisting the lock the same direction and messing with the door knob.

The adjuster came to the door to tell me they were going to total the car. Bummer. Bad luck wins on cars, for sure.

He looked at me quizzically and asked if I needed help.

"Oh, I'll just run to the neighbor's house and use their phone," I assured him.

I went across the street. They weren't home. Awesome. Robert didn't have a house key because he had taken the rental car keys to work.

I was totally locked out of my house. I had tried every door and checked the windows. My phone was inside. I was in my yoga clothes. Wearing Robert's coat. My slipper boots, and then Robert's slipper's over those. I looked awesome.

Anyway. Two hours later I made it inside. Adjoa managed to unlock one of the windows. I was able to drag one of the incredibly heavy iron chairs over to the window and shimmied through.

I think bad luck is spilling over into other areas of my life. That, or I'm just dumb, and the only mother in the world who would not think to take a house key with her as she stepped outside!

But hey, call me if you are locked out. Key? i don't need no stinkin' key!

P.S. I'm still in my yoga clothes.

Stay Away. Stay Far Far Away. Unless You Want Your Car Totaled

I've never felt like I had bad luck. But I know I don't have good luck. I never win anything. Ever. {Unless it's on ebay, and then I never lose, which actually gets me in more trouble than never winning} And it's not for a want of entering. I enter every contest, all the time.

But now I'm really starting to wonder if I actually do have bad luck, and I just can't admit it. At least when it comes to cars. So it's time to do an experiment Or rather, tell a story and draw some conclusions.

Just before our wedding {on my way to met with the photographer, actually} a giant truck ran a red light and hit me as I was making a left-hand turn. My car was mangled. Everyone who saw it happen, and saw my car, thought I was dead. (Bad luck}

But I wasn't. {Good luck}

So the car I had for less than a year was totaled {Bad luck}

But I had gap insurance, so they made up the difference in what my car was worth and what I still owed. {Good luck} I went to some physical therapy and we took some amazing engagement pics that I totally love. {Would you have guessed in all those pics up there that I was in a serious car accident just days before and that I was in A LOT of pain during our little photo shoot?}

Anyway. A couple weeks later Robert was driving to work and a lady decided to cut across the freeway to make an exit. The only problem was that Robert was in the way. So she just smashed him up against the center divide {the exit was on the left}. His car was totaled too. {Bad luck}.

His car was paid off, so we got a few thousand bucks from the insurance company and they sent us away. {I'm not sure how to classify this one because it's good that we didn't owe anything, but bad that it wasn't very much and now we would have a car payment that we weren't planning on. I guess it's void.}

So here we are, two years later.

It was snowing on Monday when Robert went to work. He hit a slick spot in the road and spun around and around on the freeway, finally hitting the center divide. That center divide and Robert don't get along very well - or maybe they get along too well.... {Bad luck}

We thought the damage was minimal and that we had escaped with just some minor repairs. Which would be so lucky. After looking more closely, however, we decided to make a call to the insurance company.

Allstate is right on the fence of totaling it. They are sending an adjuster out to look at the car and then they will decide what to do.

I'm crossing my fingers, but it's looking like Bad Luck wins out when it comes to cars....

Happy Easter from Hawaii

So Nana is totally on the ball and sent an Easter present for Adjoa.

I have a few Easter things for her already, so I thought it would be best to open Nana and Pa's present right away. {Not wanting to overload Adjoa on Easter was my priority. I promise. It had nothing to do with how excited I was about the present. Really.}

Plus, Adjoa had a little friend coming over, and when there was a knock on the door, I got her all excited. I figured when it was a brown box instead of her friend, I better make up for it.

So thank you Nana and Pa! She loves the cute little things you sent. The Tinkerbell Lip Gloss Wand is a big hit {that's what she identifies as "The Princess" in the vid} and of course she loves the My Little Ponies. She played with them in the bath tub last night and subsequently wouldn't get out.

Here's a couple vids of her opening the presents and saying Thank You. She was so excited! Hope you like them!

I love how excited little kids get over small things. It's so cute and really reminds me that the simple things are often the best!

I took another vid of Adjoa playing with the ponies because she started signing the song. She learned the song from a My Little Pony toothbrush that "sang". Carol, from Robert's work gave it to her and she loved it. She refused to brush her teeth with it - she just wanted to play the song and listen to it. Funny girl.

Opposites Attract

So our totally awesome friends, Gail and Kevin, came up for a visit this weekend. Gail and Kevin are responsible for Robert finally asking me out and consequently marrying me.

If you have a bone to pick, pick it with them.

Their boy is about the same age as Adjoa and it was a riot watching them together. They had a blast running around, and we enjoyed watching - er, chasing - them.

These are the only pics I snapped during the entire weekend. {I sure hope motherhood is not rated on number or quality of pictures}

We ventured out to the Children's Discovery Center at the Gateway. {If you are ever in Utah, and you have kids, it's a MUST}. The American Chemical Society was sponsoring an event there {they are in town for a conference that Robert is attending} and the first 1000 people got in free. It was super fun and Hayden and Adjoa stole the hearts of several local news station cameramen.

Unfortunately, the ACS story about children discovering chemistry and Hayden and Adjoa's 15 minutes {or seconds} of fame got cut for more pressing news stories, like drug busts and car accidents.

The world's loss. They were super cute.

Anyway, thanks for coming Kevin, Gail, and Hayden! We sure hope you can come by again soon!

Hey, at least the only pics we took will be perfect for blackmail when they are older. I may not be a great photographer, but I sure know how to pick the perfect time!

Our big joke the entire weekend was how opposite these two are. Hayden won't eat anything and Adjoa scarfs down everything. Hayden was falling all over the place, but Adjoa has pretty good balance. And, obviously, Hayden is about as white as they get - his hair is even pretty much white. But opposites must attract because they had the best time together. Their little faces would absolutely light up when we would arrive somewhere, get unloaded, and they would see the other one was there too. It was so fun to watch them.

Do You Need to Call Jesus? Because Adjoa's Phone Totally Does That

Throughout the day, Adjoa will bring me my phone and say, "Ma, you call Da-dee on you phone" or Nana, or Lois, or Ah-mee, or Co-bin, or everyone. You get the idea.

So she brings me my phone and says, "Ma. You call Jesus on you phone!"

"Oh sweetie, we don't use phones to talk to Jesus. That's what prayer is for. We pray when we want to talk to Jesus. Do you want to say a prayer?"

Adjoa looks at me like I'm out of my ever-loving mind and smirks,

"Me phone call Jesus!"

"Your phone calls Jesus?"

"Yes." She nods once, and then continues, "I call Jesus on me phone!"

Adjoa scampers off and retrieves her phone - she pushes a few buttons and then starts talking to Jesus, asking him to come home to play and explaining that ma's phone "no call you, me phone call you."

lol.

So if you need to talk to Jesus and, like Adjoa, prayer just doesn't seem to cut it, come borrow her phone because apparently it totally calls Jesus. Unlike my phone. I wonder if Verizon offers an upgrade for that?


Adjoa talking on the phone with Da-dee on ma's lame-o phone that doesn't call Jesus.

Are You a Liar?

Another quick funny. {I'm trying to be better at sharing my little stories, because I keep getting comments from people who are disappointed in my blogging lately. If you are one of them, please take note of my renewed efforts!}

Adjoa comes scampering in, returning from the bathroom

A: Ma! I flush!

Me: Yeah! Good girl! Did you wash?

A: Yes.

Me: Really? {I didn't hear the water running so I'm thinking that's a big negative}

Adjoa nods ever so certainly.

Me: Are you a liar?

A: I go and wash!

And she runs off to the bathroom.

That's the phrasing they use in Ghana - 'you are a liar' - if someone if not being truthful. No hedging or beating around the bush. Call it like it is. It seems to work perfectly with 2-year-olds!

Here's precious picture of my little liar. :)

If You're Happy And You Know It, Huh-huh-huh

Another quickie:

Here's a fun vid Robert did the other night. Please excuse the mess on the counter - Robert was in the middle of installing some additional shelves in my "pantry" so everything was out on the counter.

I believe I told him I wanted his camera-working skills to naturally edit out the mess, but it looks like that didn't happen.

Obviously our favorite line is "If you're happy and you know it huh-huh-huh" accompanied by a totally awesome ghetto-booty shake.

Quick Reason I Love My Little One So Much: She's Soooooo Funny

This is going to be way short, so enjoy.

Anyway, Adjoa was being a little pill today. She refused to eat lunch. Whatever. She sat there for about 30 minutes and refused to eat. So I reminded her that it was nap time after lunch, and if she didn't eat, she'd just go straight to bed.

She was fine with that. Hopped down from the table and headed to her room.

When she woke up Adjoa ate some yogurt. Then we were off to run some errands.

Just after we arrived at the store, Adjoa proclaimed,

"Ma! Me stomach is ca-ryin."

"You're stomach is crying?" I asked, with a huge grin, while suppressing my laughter.

"Yes. My stomach. It is ca-ryin." Then she pulled up her shirt and stuck her stomach out for me to kiss it.

Obviously, we headed straight toward the food so we could make her stomach stop ca-ryin.

Man she is funny.

We Had Family Photos Taken and They - or Rather - She is Adorable!

So we finally had some pics taken of our little family. I added them to the rotation above, but here is one of the choice pics.

My Uncle Rod was a life-saver. Adjoa was NOT having it. Actually, she's been quite camera shy lately {that's my reason for not pics recently} and he was a regular comedian. We discovered Adjoa has a soft spot, or silly spot, for slap stick. She got a kick out of Uncle Rod's attempts to step up onto the porch {which inevitably turned into him bonking his head on a pillar}. Adjoa kept trying to tell him he needed to go between the posts, but for some reason, he didn't understand. Maybe because we weren't done taking pictures yet.

The small patches of snow provided another comedic outlet when Rod's head started to ache. He put that cold snow in his ear, nose, on his head - just about everywhere. Adjoa thought that was a riot too. So much that when we were done she chased daddy around with a handful of snow. Thanks, Uncle Rod.

After, we had a super-yummy dinner with family. It was so good to see everyone and let Adjoa meet more of the family that loves her so much.

We found out my cousin lives just down the street from two other families we know who have adopted from Ghana. Crazy small world, isn't it? And funny that you have to go half way around the world to meet someone who is so close.

Anyway, watch the slide show above for some new - and totally adorable - pics!