Double Happiness

Looking forward to Friday

I'm so excited because <this> arrives on Friday!  If you'd like to come over on Saturday and help us put it together, you might want to review <this> first.   I'm not joking..... we NEED you!  Please help!

We'll provide the beer and pizza (and umbrellas if needed).    Heck, I'll even babysit! 

This week's FFFF challenge has been our most popular ever!  So here's a little "heads up" that the next FFFF challenge will be to use the same letter but list 10 things you DON'T like.   I'll post this again on Friday so don't worry about trying to do it now.  Just start THINKING.  :)

Our first art project

We've been slow to introduce the girls to the joy of painting because, up until now, they've really been unable to tell the difference between smearing paint on a paper and calling it "art" or smearing spaghetti sauce on their place mat and calling it "mess".

But all that changed yesterday when I gave Gwen and Maddy two unfinished wood butterflies, a paintbrush and five colors of paint and let them have at it!   It was fun to see each child's style.  Gwen was a "dabber" and Maddy was more of a "stroker".  I only stepped in when their pinks and greens started to look more like brown. 

I think they did a wonderful job!  When everything dried, I went back and outlined each butterfly and they helped me paint the glitter glue topcoat on.  Now their beautiful butterflies are hanging on the wall in their room!

As always, click the image for a larger view.

One year ago...

I remember taking the top picture a year ago.  I didn't share it because Gwen wasn't smiling but I kept it because it captured a common expression and it was in focus (that's my lame criteria for not deleting photos). The hairstyle is the result of the shaved head she received in China just 8 months earlier.    Yesterday, I took pictures of the girls in our new minivan while they watched a movie on the DVD player.   Gwen looked pretty comfy in her car seat with her lovey and her sippy cup of orange juice.  After uploading the pics, I decided to peek back at last February to see what we were up to and ran across the old photo of Gwen in her car seat and thought it might be fun to post both of them together.  She's sure changed!

Notice the lovely glassy-eyed, zombiesque quality of the children as they are sucked into the DVD experience in our van?  Yep, this is *exactly* why we got the DVD player. While they're zombied out with the DVD, they're not throwing their sippy cups at each other or requiring us to twist our body into a pretzel to attempt to retrieve the discarded item from under someone's seat.  They're not crying about toys the other child won't share and they're not demanding that we take notice of the "AIRPLANE IN THE SKY!!!" each and every 680 times they scream it after saying and "MOMMA!  DADDA!" and tricking us into finally saying "What, Darling?"    Yes, we know they're incredibly cute but that game gets very old.  We do have a rule (about DVD player usage) that says we won't turn it on for any trip shorter than one hour.  Sometimes we factor in unexpected traffic and/or food stops just to stretch a 45 minute trip into 60 but we think our intact sanity is well worth the lost nomination for "Parent of the Year".

Breakfast of growing champions

Madeline has regained all of the weight she lost earlier this month when she was sick. 

We've helped her pack the extra pounds back on by enthusiastically giving in to any of her food requests no matter how bizarre they might be. 

This morning, while enjoying her crispy bacon, she spotted a small bowl of whipped cream and her eyes lit up.  This probably tastes much better than it looks!

Gimme!

Family FotoFun Friday Challenge #20 
Post your pictures on your blog and leave a link and a comment here before 3/2/07. 

This week's photo challenge is a meme called "Gimme!" I got the idea from Pushing the River (who assigned me the letter "A".   You're given a letter (by me) and you go to your blog and list ten things you like/love that begin with that letter.  But I put a twist on it by adding the requirement of a picture for each of the 10 things.  It can be any picture you find on the internet or one you took yourself -- or a mix of both.  Your choice.

If you want to play, post a comment and simply say "Gimme!".  I'll reply back to you (via email) with a letter that I picked at random. When you've added your list of ten to your blog, come back and post your link so we can see what you came up with!

This FFFF Challenge took me longer than any of the others but it was really fun!  I hope you have fun with it too!   

. . . . . 1.  Andrew - my wonderful husband of five years. 2.  Adoption - without it, our family of five would still be a family of three. 3.  Art - All of our favorite artists are family except this one: Alexander Volkov. 4.  Azaleas - especially the fushia ones. 5.  Almonds - chocolate covered, please! 6.  Affection - whether it's my kids or my husband or my friends, it's always one of the best things in my life! 7.  America - I feel fortunate to live in this country. 8.  Architecture - This photo is one of our favorites.  Andrew took it two summers ago when we visited Manhattan. 9.  Azure - a gorgeous shade of blue.  10. Artichokes - I love any food I can play with and this one is also a really exotic flower.

Family FotoFun Friday Participants
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1. Buckeyes and Eggrolls 2. Davis Days 3. Julie 4. season star 5. Cannon Fishbowl 6. She\'s a-DORI-ble!!! 7. Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth 8. Random Thoughts 9. Waala Family Adventures-H 10. Just Keep Swimming 11. bicycle built for three 12. Loving Lydia 13. Karen 14. Angela

15. mexican chopsticks 16. Vivi Claire and Bella Jane 17. Sophie and Sage 18. Debbie 19. Journey with AnnaClaire 20. mikala yin 21. Daily Grind 22. Nikki 23. Bringing Maura Home 24. Wee Sit Baby 25. Our Three Daughters 26. Joanne 27. MississippiZen 28. Salsa in China

29. Mission To Macie 30. And Babies Make Four 31. The Lucky Ones 32. Smith Family Adventures 33. Twins! 34. G.B.J. Lambooij 35. BeckyB 36. The Kid and I 37. Katie Comes Home 38. Sonia 39. Lori 40. http//our-journey-to-gracie.blogspot.com