Haiti

The best way to help is to give to agencies that already have people on the ground in country. 

Our adoption agency is one who has been working for years in Haiti.  

If you feel called to donate

https://secure2.convio.net/holt/site/Donation2?df_id=1840&1840.donation=form1

Tragic that this is what it took to get Haiti on the world's radar

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

One of the biggest concerns about international adoption is ethics- particularly involving trafficking.  We (and our agencies and governments) must make sure that the children we are adopting are legitimately available for adoption and haven't been kidnapped or coerced from or sold by their birthfamilies.  In countries with high poverty, this quickly becomes an all too real concern.    Parents are left to research agencies and sometimes even the best research doesn't yield the information needed and agencies with questionable (or no) ethics are able to continue to recruit prospective clients.  We depend on these agencies to put ethics ahead of their bottom line and when they don't, the repercussions are heartbreaking.

 This is the very real story of one mother's experience .

http://allysjourney.blogspot.com/2010/01/alyssas-story.html

Happy (belated) New Year

Well 2010 started off much better than 2009 did- we had good friends over for fondue and fun. The kids played Guitar Hero and Lego Rock Band on the Wii (they really like the Lego Rock Band but after the 100th time the adults were ready for them to sing something different than "We Will Rock You")

Here are the budding rock stars

There was also much game playing

The kids stopped long enough to refuel on chocolate, cake and bananas. (It is still fruit even if it is covered with chocolate right??)

Getting ready for the ball to drop

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids all had their glasses of sparkling grape juice and wanted to toast just like the grown ups.

The aftermath....

(and it really did not take very long to clean up- honest)

(and in case you are wondering- K was actually home, but unlike Baby H she went to bed early)

Looking for a Good Drink for New Year's Eve

This Ain't It

A created this recipe about 2 weeks ago (typed exactly as he wrote it).

Serves 5

5 packet dry powder hot chockolate

5 normal (hot) cups of milk

5 candy canes

5 packet pop rocks

5 pixie sticks

1. Mix 5 packets (dry hot choklate powder) with 5 cups of milk into 5 cups (1 packet per cup: 1 cup of milk per cup)

2. Dump one pixie stick powder into each cup. Do the same with pop rocks.

3. Add one unwrapped candy cane to each cup. Serve (carful may be hot!)

B didn't think to take photos of the creating and sampling process but apparently it's not as good as you might think.

I think we will stick with something more traditional for New Year's Eve

Apparently They Were Nice

Christmas Eve after church and dinner. On Christmas Eve we always open presents from the family so there were quite a few presents to open (especially from my parents- Thanks Mimi and Poppa) Here they are right before the opening began

Christmas morning- believe it or not this is about 9:00- they woke up around 8 and asked to watch TV while B put the cinnamon rolls in the oven. They actually wanted breakfast before presents (okay- there was some dissent about this but after a vote- breakfast it was)

Finally, they were ready to start tackling the pile of presents.

D got a "meow meow"- it purrs and meows and she is thrilled with it (and I figure it buys us some time before she starts asking for a real kitten)

X opening a game- I wasn't sure how excited he would be about it but they must have it at Latchkey because he was excited about having it at home too

I found the cutest baby dolls for the girls online (thanks to whoever posted the link in a forum I read) They are cute and hip- but not skanky like the Bratz dolls. But more important they are ethnically accurate and ADORABLE.

Checking out the gift cards that were in the bags of "coal" hanging on their stockings. I am pretty sure he is already doing the math to figure out how much he can buy with it

D gets her first gift cards. She was with me when I bought the gift cards and I picked a different card for each person. I got 3 really cute ones for each of the older kids and one for my cousin that had the Target dog on it. This is D really disappointed that she didn't get the doggy card. (This is probably a sign we spend way too much time at Target)

When I was a kid, we used to get to open our "big gift" from our parents on Christmas Eve. The theory was that it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle of all the Santa presents. We used to do that with the kids but now that there are four of them and we have presents from relatives that we open on Christmas Eve also, the "big" gifts were still getting lost in the shuffle. Plus opening it Christmas Eve eliminates some of the excitement and anticipation of the Christmas morning "did I get it??" So this year I wrapped the "big gift" for each of the boys (and one for each girl too) and hid them in my office. We opened all the presents and about the time A and X were trying to hide their disappointment that they didn't get the Nintendo DSi's that they had requested, B "found" a clue in A's stocking. It took the boys a second to figure out what was going on but next thing they knew they were on a scavenger hunt through the house following clues to find their presents. They loved it and I think a new tradition was born.

Reading the second clue

In the basement trying to figure out where they have to go next

Out in the garage finding one of the last clues

Getting ready to open his present

Happiness (and yes they did each get a DSi)

Santa is On His Way (but have we been naughty or nice?)

Some Santa photos while we wait for the big night

Of course, getting a group photo was too much to ask....

Tough Call- Disco or Hip Hop?

After playing all the different dances available for the the elves to do, it came down to a choice between Disco or Hip Hop.  I think I made the right choice.

Enjoy- and go elf-yourself too

Send your own ElfYourself eCards