Brad put Eva to bed tonight!!!

OH. MY. GOD.

Can you believe it? What a huge step! She hasn't 'allowed' anyone but me to do it since she got home (2 months). We kind of came to a decision this weekend...enough is enough. Eva's rule over the MacMonagle house is over.

Michael's words

As Nichole says, some of these you have to use your mommy ears for :-) I've been trying to keep a list for a few days now so I remember.

NO NO NO!!! (LOL big surprise right?)
jeans (his first real word)
Please
Thank you
juice
eggs
eat
I love you/I love you too
hot
peepee/poopoo
hi
bye bye
up please
balloons
white
blue
red
green
pink
purple (he was so pleased with himself when that one came out!)
ball
I am cute
puppy
almost all of his ABCs

And tonight when I was putting him to bed I said, "I love you Michael." and he said, "I love you too." and I said, "I love you mama." and he said for the first time, "I love you mama!" Oh--my heart! Much clapping and lots of praise!

CO weather

For the 2 days before my Mom and Dad arrived it snowed...20" worth. As you know my parents LOVE snow (not) and were so bummed when they heard what was going on. This pic was taken in my backyard just before it stopped on Thursday. My parents arrived on Friday morning.

This pic was taken on Saturday :-) The sun is so intense here it just melts right off.

We were out for a walk and Eva saw this woman jog by. She turned around and started jogging after her lol

A pic of me and the kidlets

I'm kind of impressed with myself here---40 years old and carrying a 31 lb two year old and a 37 lb 4 year old. 68 lbs of cuteness!!! :-)

"Turkey Treat!"

Give me some candy!

I heard candy goes in these things...

No, I wasn't creative in costumes this year...I'm just trying to survive with two kids! Maybe next year! Eva had a choice between a fairy princess with a beautiful handmade costume (another Hope mom, Rhonda, made it for us!) or be a puppy dog with Michael. She chose the dog--go figure. It was just as well since it was cold out. They were both snuggly warm as dogs. Eva will be using her fairy outfit as dress up!

This was the second night Mom and Dad were here. Dad and Brad stayed home to give out candy and Mom, the kids, and I set out at 6:00 with some neighbors and their kids. Neither of mine had done this before but with Grandma coaching, "1, 2, 3, Trick or Treat!" they figured it out quickly.

Michael sounded something like, "Tick or eat!" and Eva with her Ethiopian accent said, "Turkey Treat!" LOL

Michael Dancing Video

Going pretty well

Things are obviously a bit better :-) She's really starting to bond with Brad, yay! Today she went to him for a hug and actually allowed him to carry her around (a big scary thing for her--I suppose because that's what happened when he took her from the orphanage)

Sleeping issues are worked out. She goes to sleep in her room and then often comes into our room (usually crying softly) in the middle of the night, where I cuddle her and then eventually move her into the toddler bed in our room. She sleeps through the rest of the night.

Last night she ate the shepherd's pie that I made and loved it and even said, "Shepherd's pie!" tonight at dinner--I guess hoping we were going to have it again. She's backing off the bread a little and will allow a different afternoon snack!

Her English is coming along and because of it Michael has finally decided to start talking. He can say a lot of his alphabet now--whooohoo! :-) And is trying a few words like beep beep, choo choo, Onya, Mom, Whoohoo. YES it's finally happening--we are super excited!

They are still getting along better than expected but of course have the typical brother/sister buggin' things. It's funny to watch who starts it and who finishes it. Reminds me of me and my brother.

She is still glued to me nearly every waking second. On the rare occasion that I get to leave without her she cries for a minute and then is okay. Thank God. That was upsetting to hear her screaming and crying, "MOMMY!!!" and then several things in Amharic that just sounds like, "Mommy, don't go!" Brad's amazing with her thank goodness.

My mom and dad come in Friday morning so I probably won't be posting for a bit. It's snowing and we're supposed to be getting anywhere from 8"-24"--snowing until Thursday afternoon. OMG. My parents hate snow. H A T E it. At least it will warm up on Friday and through the weekend--into the 60s! Maybe it will melt fast... Last year EVERY TIME my mom would come visit it would snow. And here we go again--sorry mom... On the other hand--we're excited and the kids love it!

Crafty MacMonagle

Making a poster of Grandma and Grandpa photos (they're coming to visit in a week and a half!)


Learning who Grandma and Grandpa are... :-)


Today? We made barrettes! Big enough for ya? She loves them! She looked in the mirror and said, "I think so!" LOL

(By the way, Michael isn't in these pics because he's napping.)

First Snow 2009 video

Odds and ends from today

When you give your 4 year old 4 crayons to color with and the crayons come back to you 30 minutes later with no tips and your 4 year old has a bit of green wax stuck to her bottom lip...what would you think?

Michael tried to kill himself this afternoon just after lunch. First let me say: he's fine.
I heard Brad say something, something that I can't even remember, all I can hear is the tone and it scared the bejesus out of me. I run into the other room and Michael is choking but whatever it is is coming out along with all of his lunch. When I first saw him he was just starting to throw up, a split second later a pink lid to one of Eva Hayat's little toys came out along with the rest of his lunch. The lid wouldn't have fit down his throat but did fit in his mouth and he must have gagged himself with it. OMG. I've gone around the house picking up everything he can fit in his mouth. So so scary.

Mom and I were just getting off the phone when Eva Hayat asked to talk to "Gamma." I told her she was, "all gone for now." And then explained to her that Grandma and Grandpa were coming to visit our house in 3 weeks! She looked at the phone and said, "Gamma, come on!!!" Then she looked up at the ceiling (thinking) and looked at me and said, "Happy?" and then, "Happy!" with a smile. We've been working on what happy, angry, sad looks like so she can put a name to her feelings. She's latched onto happy really well. So sweet!

After struggling (because of the wild Raptorkids) through a conversation with my brother this evening, Michael said, "Am I still getting the kids if something happens to you guys?" I said, "Yes, of course." And my bratty brother replies, "Ok, well then don't die." LOL