mycharity: water

mycharity: water

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please pray

okay blogging world, i'm asking for some more help.

the short version of the story is my dad has suddenly become very ill. perhaps pneumonia caused by H1N1 or a fungus he picked up in ethiopia, or just some random bacteria that's made its home in his body. whatever it is (doctors are working hard to figure it out) he needs prayer.

he's making small improvements...baby steps toward walking out the door of the hospital. and for that, we're praising GOD!

although i'm a bit nervous about it, i've made my facebook profile public so that my dad's friends and friends of friends can get updates easily.

if you'd like updates, you can look me up, too...even if you don't have a facebook...

bday pics...as promised. :)

okay, sorry for taking so long to post these...

my camera sat on the counter the whole time, so these are pictures stolen from misc. places. :)

here's the bday princess putting on her lipstick.

i know i look horrible, but this is my sneaky face...that's my BFF hilary. and that tiny head popping outta the sling is her newborn baby, emilyann. hilary thought that she was getting one of her first mommy/daughter pictures and i slid in the back...thus my goofy face. my normal face is goofy, too...but not usually that goofy. :)these are ellie's friends maia and sammy (held by the each other's moms--allyson and annie)...the exciting part of this picture is both of those mommas are paper-preggo, again!! yay!!ellie LOVES jewelry...loves. loves. loves it!okay, hehe...this picture is so funny. first, take a look at chante's face...(she's my other BFF!) she's in the purple shiny shirt...hehe! that's a look of shock/horror on her face...

now look at ellie. there she is in the middle about to throw-down. she opened up her shopping cart full of food (a gift from her big brother) and josiah (notice the 'chips' tube in his hand)...josiah snagged it from the cart before she had a chance to peruse her goodies...and well, that wasn't okay w/ her...she's about to go "orphanage tough" on him. it's really kinda funny to watch...well, not so funny for poor josiah. he's a tough guy but he didn't stand a chance...he's lucky he walked away with all of his fingers.

this was her first big present experience. of course, she's gotten presents before, but never in bulk! hehe...she had to try on every-single-one before she'd move on to the next one...

here she is trying on her new purple sparkle shoes (w/ godmother auntie 'te)
this is pre-party...with her favorite person EVER...NONNIE!
the princess and her GG...
how cute are my kids???
so, there they are...ellie's first second(ish) birthday party pictures...such an awesome day!

eating...

so, i should let you know up front, i refuse to be a short-order cook. the way it goes in our house, is mommy makes dinner and you eat it. now obviously, i know my kids don't like to eat everything and i take that into consideration...and i'm more than willing to alter what i've made for the family to accommodate your preferences...

tonight is a perfect example.

i made beef stroganoff. (on a side note, i make really, really good beef stroganoff!) now, i think i cook beef probably once a monthish. so, it makes sense that brayden wouldn't want to eat it...he's used to white meat so beef is weird...he also doesn't like anything on his noodles. so, tonight, he had plain noodles...but...the rule is you have to take a taste (seriously, i require the smallest bite!)...so here's my story about tonight's dinner. :)

brayden started dinner with his "taste" bite...and while he chewed it, he couldn't convince himself to swallow it...so he took it out and put it on his sister's placemat...

we continued dinner and of course, ellie ate everything on her plate...

...and then she noticed the 1/2 chewed piece on the side of her placemat...

...yep.

...she ate it.

...and she looked at brayden and said:

..."brayden yum"

yep.

like, dude, i like this stuff...even the abc (as in what the 3rd graders say already-been-chewed!) beef is tasty...

we were all laughing and gagging at the same time...

here's a picture of them mid-meal. :)

ps. if you're looking for the piece of chewed meat...it's on the right side ellie's placemat, in between the two blue circles...

okay, i know it's super gross, but i thought it was too funny to not share... :)

the big day...

i'm exhausted...so, i'll blog all about the big day tomorrow(ish!)...

but here's a preview picture...

actually, it's the only picture i took! here's hoping family and friends email me some soon!

can you guess the party's theme??

birthday girl...

a day in the life...

thought you'd like a quick glimpse of yesterday's visit w/ my grammie and cousin missy (aka GG and auntie missy)...

as you'll see by the videos...ellie is S.L.O.W.L.Y overcoming her fear of the four-legged monster (aka the doggy). actually, this really does show a drastic improvement...when she first came face to face (aka a dog within a 100 foot radius) she would scream in terror...

she does still scream, but they're short and quick and then she remembers it's not going to eat her...

in this video, grammie gets confused on how a phone can also be a video-camera...

this video also gives you a snapshot into the fight for mommy's attention, too. :)

more to come tomorrow...

nearby...

here's the first picture (i know, i'm lame and it's taken me 3 months) of ellie with her GG.

...

i googled ellie's birthplace.

i had absolutely no clue that seeing a picture would stir up such deep emotions.

emotions for me because that's where my baby lived.

it's where she was born.

it's where her birthmom lives.

it's where she's experienced so many of life's firsts.

i'm overwhelmed.

i'm humbled.

i'm unbelievably thankful for my little girl.

my little girl from arjo.

literally half-way around the world.

it's tribe time now...

okay, so the cleveland indians suck.

and it hasn't really been tribe time all year...but last night was ellie's first tribe game...and i needed a catchy title, so there it is. :)

as it turns out...both of the kiddos first indians' games were seen from some of the best seats in the stadium...who'd have thought that the logue brayden watched from would be old news compared to the dugout logue ellie cheered from?!?

a picture's worth a thousand words...and since i'm trying to blog during the commercials on

during grey's anatomy...i'll have more pictures and less words.

enjoy. :)

ps. yes, i know this is a horrible family picture...

long awaited...

okay, i get the picture. sheesh. no need to send all the hate mail! :) (just kidding, kinda)

i couldn't find the cord to plug the camera into the computer. i continue to put it in a new drawer thinking i'll remember better where i've put it...but never can remember when i need it.

i might just start sticking to taking pictures on my cell phone. then i can just email them to myself.

okay, i know now that i have kids, it's no longer about me!

anyway, here are the long awaited pictures...

they had an awesome playground for the kids...

what she's missing in height, she makes up for in personality.

he's slouching.
climbing.riding the tire swing..."driving" a tractor...ellie liked the BIG one.going on their first hayride...we went w/ our neighbors...

the hayride was so long it got dark while we were out...which meant pumpkin pickin' in the dark! ellie pickin' her pumpkin.

brayden searched and searched for the perfect one!

then we went in the maze...ellie wasn't so sure about all of that!

and just because i made you wait so long, here's a video, too...

(sorry about my deep voice/heavy breathing. i've got a cold!)

and i'm sure i don't need to mention, but clearly, we're "city" folk.

ps. if you're reading this on facebook and the video doesn't show up...you can view it on our blog...

www.paperpregnantpopas.blogspot.com (it automatically uploads to my blog, but videos don't always follow that direction!)

teaser...

we had a super fun night tonight...pumpkin patch, hay ride, maze...corn...and then fireworks (which ellie hated)...but we just got home, it's super late.

pictures and more info coming tomorrow...sorry for the teaser!