One Hot Mama - or in other words, Adjoa created a mixed-media portrait of me at school yesterday

So Adjoa brought this sexy number home from school and proudly {and very excitedly} informed me that it was... wait for it... mommy!

I was touched. I was honored. I was impressed with her natural talent {and very pleased she endowed me with killer long legs instead of the short stubs I walk around on}.

Did you notice the highlights? Love it! Did you noticed she made sure to give me shoes? Did you pick up on the crazed googly eyes? She totally nailed it.

Of course, I don't look particularly "happy" in the picture - my smile is a tad on the straight side. Is she sending me some kind of message that I need to be a happier mommy???

Oh well, at least it's a big mouth, which is also quite accurate.

Cute Hair and a Sure Fire Way to Put Your Child to Sleep

Adjoa's hair is finally getting longer {actually, it's grown about an inch every month but when you start with practically nothing, it still takes a while}. I have started experimenting with it.

It's fun, but kind of a lot of pressure. I always do it at night with a movie on. She sits longer, and then if it doesn't turn out, I can just take it out in the morning. I typically end up changing my mind when I start. I've tried to cornrow a couple different times, but I really think I need the hair longer because I'm inexperienced. I'm sure it's long enough to cornrow, but it's not long enough for me to cornrow.

I learned to braid crossing over the top - when you cornrow you bring the hair behind the back. So I pretty much have to re-train my hands. I have to change how I hold the hair and everything. So yeah, I need more hair for that.... Maybe I should practice on one of Adjoa's dolls or something....

I've been doing flat twists instead. It's way easier and has a cornrow-type look.

Anyway, here are some pictures of recent endeavors.

Just some little braids in the front with butterfly beads and clips. I left the back in an afro puff. I really love that look for Adjoa. This is what I ended up doing after one of my failed cornrow attempts. I had done flat twists several times recently and really wanted to try something different and use these new beads I bought. Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. And I do.


Finger curls. I liked this look and it held for about a week. All I did was twist and twist and twist the little locs around my finger. It's important to get the twist pretty close to the head so the curls stay in longer. The twists I was lazy about started looked a little sloppy after a couple days. This took FOREVER. Like nearly 3 hours. It's all that twisting. Super easy, but very time consuming. That's why I left them in for a week.

Here's what the twist-out looks like. After the finger curls started to look a little tired, I just split the big curls into about 5 or 6 sections. The spirals stayed intact and looked super cute. This is a great way to naturally relax the curl. Braids work well as natural relaxers of curl too. Robert loves this look. Adjoa grew tired of it after about a day because so many people were touching her hair. By the end of the day she'd had it. It lasted about 3 days, and then the back was looking seriously nappy. It washed out really easily.


Ok. Now as promised, my sure-fire way of putting Adjoa to sleep. Wait for it... NPR. LOL. I'm not kidding. As soon as I turn it on {in the car or at home} she's out in a matter of minutes. It's probably not surprising or original in any way, but if you are longing for your kids to sleep and you want to catch up on some news, flick the radio on and it's as good as done!


P.S. I'm having some technical difficulties with blogger right now, so I hope this post looks right.

Swim Lessons, New Fridge, Blub and a bit of Glee

Adjoa's swim teacher gave us a cute little certificate outlining all Adjoa learned to do in her second swim class this summer.

Just so you all know, Adjoa has successfully completed the following swim skills:

• Jump off diving board with assistance
• Back Float with assistance
• Superman (Streamline)
• Blowing bubbles under water
• Circle Arms
• Flutter Kick
• Spiderman
  

And in case you were wondering how cute she looks doing those things, here's a picture to give you an idea. She's so brave! She loves jumping off the diving board, as you can tell. She can even swim unassisted for a little bit.

In other news, our house is determined to destroy us. The garbage disposal went out in the apartment downstairs a little bit ago and the refrigerator died a rather untimely death. Without any warning. So we also had to buy a new fridge. Ugh. If we make it through the fall without a single unexpected expense, it will be a huge blessing.

Our sod was installed (the same day our fridge died) and it's starting to look less soddish and more like grass. Pictures will be posted shortly. I'd like to wait a bit so it's more healthy-looking and not in shock before I show the world our latest landscape development.


There are a couple cute Adjoa sayings I want to make sure I get written down so I don't forget. She used to say "l" for "r" so FROG would be FLOG. As in, "Ma! Look! A Gleen Flog!" It was so cute and endearing. She doesn't do that anymore and sometimes it makes me a little sad. {She also used to call me Ma instead of Mom. I miss that too. Which is a surprise to me because I felt like an old pioneer grandmother when she would say "Ma"}

Right now she says BLUB instead of BLOOD. She bites her lip or tongue several times a week, poor girl, and inevitably, she will stick her tongue out and ask,

Mom! Do I have BLUB?

The blub carries over and she conjugates it well. "Mom, are you blubbing?" lol. We get a kick out of it on a daily basis.

She also seems to think slobbery and strawberry are interchangeable. It makes for some interesting dinner conversations.


On a personal note. I can't believe I haven't posted yet about Glee. Have any of you seen this? I was super excited when we saw the pilot in the spring. I thought for sure it was going to be a summer show. I think the pilot was so popular they decided to wait until fall. Well, it about killed me to wait all summer for this new show. It's on tonight and I'm in 7th heaven.

Perfect line-up. So You Think You Can Dance {yes, I watched that all spring and never once blogged about it. My how things change when you have kids!} and Glee. I think Wednesdays are perfect.

Adjoa Begins Her Own Little Life - Translation: She Started School this Week

Adjoa started Preschool this week. She was so excited I thought she would burst.

Adjoa's first day of school - I love how proud she looks. You can just tell she thinks she's so grown up.



It's a surreal feeling when your little one starts off on her own little life. She will have friends and know people Robert and I will never meet. It's exciting. It's heartbreaking. It's hard to let go of that control - especially for a control freak like.... uh, me. {I was going to try to blame that one on Robert, but everyone knows that wouldn't fly}

Speaking of Adjoa making friends we will never meet, she has an imaginary friend now. His name is Eric. As in Prince Eric. Hey, if you are going to go to the trouble of imagining, you might as well go big, right? I think we picked him up in Hawaii because he appeared shortly thereafter. {Pictures, etc. will be posted shortly. We had a memory card meltdown and lost everything on the last day of the trip. My mom had a co-worker take a look at it and he was able to, by some miracle of technology, restore the pictures. I'm waiting on the memory card to arrive in the mail and you will have your pics, etc.}

Anyway, back to Eric. He's a good friend. She got in a little trouble the other day and I was talking to her about it when all of a sudden she says:

"Ariel!" {That's what Eric calls her, of course} "Ariel! Come here!"

"Mom, Eric is calling me. I have to go!"

And she took of running. I was too busy laughing to realize I was in the middle of explaining why she shouldn't do whatever and I let her get away with it. He's a really good friend.

Last night I was watching some TV show and she was supposed to be in bed. She comes in and asks if she can watch TV with me.

"Nope. You are supposed to be in bed and this is a Mommy-show." Meaning I need my personal space, please.

"Let me sit with you?"

"Nope. Because if you sit with me you will watch the show and you are supposed to be in bed and this is a Mommy-show."

She looks at the space on the sofa just to my left.

"But Mom. Eric is sitting with you."

Well played, Adjoa. Well played.

So I did the only thing I could think of.... Wait for it...

"Ariel! Ariel! I'm in your room! It's time for bed!"

"Adjoa! Eric is calling you! Did you hear? He said it's time for bed."


How pathethic is that? I used my daughter's imaginary friend to do what I could not. But hey, I learned it from her.

MIB: Missing In Blogging

Well it has been forever, I know.

We've had the normal business-of-life in the last month, and the icing on the cake has included {but is not limited to}

• Collecting, planning, and executing the yard/bake sale after weeks and weeks of rain. {It went VERY well, by the way, thanks to everyone!}
  
• Working ever so slowly on the front-yard landscape project: getting the yard leveled and terraced, installing sprinklers {which we had to do on our own because the leveling and terracing was nearly double the estimate}
• Lawn mower breaking. OK. So Robert ran over a very large rock and we had to replace the blade. After replacing the blade he made it once around the yard and it ran out of gas. He filled up the tank and it hasn't worked since. In free moments {when not battling the sprinkler system} he's tried everything he can think of. His newest plan as of a couple days ago is to take it all apart and put it back together again. Heaven have mercy.
• Adjoa's swim lessons
• The washer/dryer breaking and needing to be replaced
• The roof leaking
• Discovering, as the temperatures rise, that our AC unit is about 1/3 the size it should be {a big thank you to the people who owned the home prior and installed it}. It's only about 4 years old, but it's now running like it's over 15 years old because of the strain of being over-worked.
• 4th of July
  
• During installation of the new dryer, we discovered that when the venting system was installed, it was screwed together. It has fallen apart inside the wall and the inability to properly vent is most likely what ruined the other 2 dryers we've purchased. Robert had to tear into the wall to access the vent and install a new one.
• I've been super busy with work - which is really good considering the price tag on the above items, but still eats up your time faster than you can blink an eye.
• I'm a co-presenter for the National Families Supporting Adoption Conference this weekend
• Adjoa's 3rd Birthday
• My grandma passed away
• I was asked to give the eulogy at the funeral

I think there is more, but I'm starting to get a little stressed out just thinking about those things.

Anyway, I have some good pictures and videos to share {I did manage to get out the camera once or twice in the last month} Hopefully I'll be able to get everyone caught up this week. That's my goal. There. I said it. It's in writing. I'm as committed as I can be. Wish me luck!

And just maybe I'll have enough time to check out your blogs too! I've missed out on everyone's life in the last month.

Yard/Bake Sale

So we finally have a weekend that appears to be full of sunshine instead of rain.

We will be moving forward with our yard and bake sale for Saturday. If you have donations (items to sell, or baked goods to donate) please bring them on over. And of course, please stop by and say hello if you can! We'll be starting at 8 am.

The money raised will go towards our adoption expenses.

Thanks to everyone for your love and support!

Mommy's Gonna Buy You a Billy Goat... and transport it home in a way that is nothing short of genius!

So my friend Full Plate Mom posted this picture on her blog today. I about died.

This is quite possibly the funniest picture I've seen in a while. FPM had this to say about the picture:

I didn't take the pic, nor did I witness it, but it reminds me of driving around Accra with Kingsley. Shelley told him the story of when she first got to Ghana and saw all the goats wandering around freely. She told him that at first she thought they were dogs. Ghanaian dogs. Kingsley laughed SO hard!!! Then Shelley asked him how he avoided hitting all the goats in the streets with his car, because they just kind of wander. He laughed again "Oh, Sister Shelley, you can't hit a goat!!!! Goats are smart, sheep are stupid". So, for those of you traveling soon, make sure you tell Kingsley that when you go. He'll know you were talking to Shelley and Becky, and, it will make him laugh.

I think this is the answer to our bike-riding dog problem. Every time we go for a ride and Eden comes along, her paws get all torn up. They bleed and are sore for days. Strapping her to Robert's back is genius! But maybe Robert won't think so!

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Again, with the books that I read ages ago {or, more accurately, months ago} but haven't blogged about yet.

This book. I read this book in the midst of a long book for book club, right after a page-turner, and with 3 books I couldn't wait to get to sitting on the shelf.

I think under less pressure, I would have enjoyed it more. The writing was good. But it wound around too much. The characters were likable, but I was bored by them.

It was tedious. I skimmed through most of it. I should probably read it again when I have more time, but that's never going to happen. I'll move on and forget. And when someone mentions they read it or are reading it or have heard about it, I'll wonder if I should read it again. But I will have too many other books I want to read.

And I will mourn the fact that I probably missed out on appreciating and possibly even loving a book because I read it at the wrong time.

And so it goes.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

I am WAY behind in my blogging. In all categories, actually. {This is OT, since I'm supposed to be doing my book review of PLaR, but oh well, stream of consciousness is my forte}

My boss has been drilling into me that I am only one person and when everything is happening at once, something has to go up on the alter. Which makes perfect sense but I still have a hard time actually admitting it and doing it. I like to hang on to everything because, like probably all of you, I just KNOW really can to everything if I really try really hard.

So anyway, when things get really busy, blogging gets thrown up on that alter pretty quickly. Which makes me sad. But it's either that or So You Think You Can Dance.

So anyway. That is why I am months behind on my book reviews and you've been getting pathetic blog posts lately. So sorry.


On to the book. It's been a while, but I really loved Enger's writing style. The language is poetic and the characters are amazing. It felt very real to me. The descriptions (character and location) were incredibly detailed without being burdensome.

I love reading stories about families, trials, and the faith people have - in each other, in God, in whatever. I find it fascinating to step into another life - real or fictitious - for a bit and see what goes on when you can see their thoughts and their hearts.

And when that is coupled with a great story, terrific writing, and fun characters, it makes for an enjoyable read.

I also love a good coming of age story.

This book has it all. Even a little mystery.

Andrew Roe of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote one of the reviews on the book, and it was so lovely, I just had to share - I actually think this is the review that made me want to read it to begin with:

"Peace Like a River serves as a reminder of why we read fiction to
begin with: to commune with a vividly, lovingly rendered world, to
lose ourselves in story and language and beauty, to savor what we don't
want to end yet know must."

That's the way a book should make you feel. Every book, every time. It makes me well up. Seriously. I'm honestly crying a little - that review is THAT good.

And so is the book. Justin case you wanted to know.

Yard and Bake Sale

We have been inspired by some friends! We are organizing a yard sale and bake sale to help pay some of our adoption expenses. The sale will be June 13th.

If you have anything you would like to donate, please drop them by my house anytime before the 12th or contact me and we can pick them up.

If you want to make some goodies for the bake sale, send me an email or post a comment on the blog, so I can be in touch. Thanks for all the love and support - and of course, if you are in the area, please stop by and say hello!

(And yes, I copied our announcement from our friends! Why mess with perfection?)