December 31st, 2008

The day after Christmas..... The day after Christmas, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house. We played with my cousin's daughter, Sophia, and then headed home to march around with our new instruments and to sit in our new tent. One can only imagine what my house looks like this week! Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2009!

December 30th, 2008

We are now to Christmas Day! All my nephews and niece joined us for Christmas at Grammy and Papa's house. As you can see from the picture, all the boys are teenagers ranging in ages from 13-18. They are dressed liked teenagers and acting like teenagers in the picture. Then there is Breea who is ten. Dawson LOVES Breea and drags her around the house making sure she plays with her. Let's see...she got another new vehicle and some musical instruments. Breea was the one marching around the house singing "Feliz Navidad" to Dawson. It was really funny!

December 29th, 2008

Moving on to Christmas morning. Dawson had a late night Christmas Eve...getting to bed at 10:00. I stayed up with Tommy's daughter wrapping Tommy's Santa presents until 2:00 and drinking Red Bull. (I had never tried it and it kept me up all night...I won't be drinking that again!) Later in the night, Tommy woke up with the flu. He did not recover from the flu until the Saturday night after Christmas. He was dying! I woke everyone else up at about 8:00 to open Santa presents. By this time, Dawson was ready to go and had mastered the unwrapping. She ran over to her house and said "aaahhhhhh". She LOVED IT! When presents were over, we went home to get ready for Christmas at Grammy and Papa's house. Never a dull moment! I spent the whole day on Christmas at my parents house and running over to make sure Tommy was OK too. It was a crazy day! Dawson never noticed what was going on! She just had fun!!!!

December 27th, 2008

Merry Christmas!!!!

Dawson and I have been so busy these past few days I hardly know where to start! I thought I would do a few posts over the next few days to share our holiday celebrations.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Tommy's dads house to celebrate. As you can see from the picture, Dawson got a new bike and helmet. She won't be able to use it for a few years but, she enjoys sitting on it and being pushed around!

December 24th, 2008

Yesterday we did a little holiday baking over at Grammy's house. Dawson was a good help and very interested in what was going on! Grammy loves to bake cut outs and gingerbread bears. Here they are working together!

Mixing the dough

Looking at the dough....mmmm should I taste it?

Rolling out the dough like Grammy



The final taste test...mmmmm good!!!!

December 20th, 2008

There is definitely the Christmas spirit in the air at my house! I wrapped most of my presents last night and double checked my list. There are only a few more little things I need to pick up before Christmas and a little rewrapping to do since someone at my house opened a few gifts that were not for her. Dawson has been so much fun! She went to the Dr. on Tuesday and has grown 3 1/2 inches since June and now weighs in at 20 lbs. The good news is that she is now in the 5th percentile for both height and weight. She is talking a lot, some of which no one can understand, and she can clearly understand all directions given to her. Today she was playing with her Hallmark Dancing Snowman and having a ball. Here's her in action! Boy does this girl love to dance and sing!!!

December 15th, 2008

Enjoy a few pictures from our Polar Express Adventure last night. Dawson and I shared the evening with Grammy, Lynn and Grace! We loved every minute of the ride except for Santa. He's not liked too much by Dawson or Grace...maybe next year!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

December 13th, 2008

Today was the annual Guatemalan play group Christmas party. Dawson ran around and really tried to take in what was going on. Dawson and Grace are the two youngest in the group but, both are so independent, they can hold their own with the big kids. We ate bananas, had a juice box, did some crafts, strung a necklace and watched our cousin Andrew perform a magic show. It's always fun to spend time with other Guatemalan parents and kids. I'm always amazed at how beautiful the children are from Guatemala! We are all so lucky!

Just hanging out by the Christmas tree

Playing with a random truck

Stringing our noodle necklace

SHARING with Grace (which we are just learning)

December 8th, 2008

Congratulations Dawson! You are officially a United States Citizen!

December 6th, 2008

One thing I really want to make sure Dawson experiences is traditions. I am a believer that traditions are an important part of every child's life. With this in mind, I decided to start another one with St. Nicholas Day. Here is a little info about it in case you don't know!

"In many places St. Nicholas is the main gift giver. His feast day, St. Nicholas Day, is December 6, which falls early in the Advent season. Some places he arrives in the middle of November and moves about the countryside, visiting schools and homes to find out if children have been good. Other places he comes in the night and finds carrots and hay for his horse or donkey along with children's wish lists. Small treats are left in shoes or stockings so the children will know he has come."

Last night we left our shoes out and here is what we found this morning! Gold coins, a finger puppet, a clementine and a rubber duck. I'm thankful her shoes are small this year!

December 4th, 2008

About a year ago today, I got this picture via email and just couldn't believe how cute she was! This was her Christmas picture in Guatemala. It's hard to believe I used to wait every single month to get pictures. On Monday, Dawson and I go to Probate court in Summit County to complete her readoption in the state of Ohio and a name change. This will give me an Ohio birth certificate and one in English too! This should be the last of the finalization stuff... (I can only hope!).

Happy Thanksgiving to all! What am I thankful for this year......of course...DAWSON! I am so greatful she is home and loving the U.S.A.! Please keep the other adopted children from Guatemala in your prayers. There are still so many left that are not yet home! I was fortunate to get her out but, many remain due to governmental problems. On another note, we had a fun day today. We stopped by the little gym to play and then went to Buehlers to get a few things! I am just enjoying my 5 days off!

November 24th, 2008

How do you like my new hat? I still have a bad cold and really bad eyes but, don't I look cute?

November 23rd, 2008

On Saturday we went to breakfast with Santa, downtown Akron, where the annual Children's Hospital Tree Festival is held. Dawson continues to struggle with a major cold that has caused a bad cough and some yucky eyes. She felt good enough to go but, as you can see from the scanned picture...she looks a little Chinese instead of Guatemalan. She didn't like Santa at all and barely tolerated Mrs. Claus. She is slowly stretching out her hands to get away! I'm thinking this will be my only Santa picture this year!!

November 16, 2008

Last night we had our first snow fall of the season and DAWSON saw snow for the very first time. She ran to the window and just kept pointing. We only had a dusting on the ground but, the snow was falling really hard. The ground was just too warm for it to stick. I tried to get the snow to show up in the picture but, it just wouldn't work. Here she is, ready for bed with her bear, just amazed at the snow falling down!

November 10th 2008

We went to Step 2 in Hudson looking for some Christmas ideas. We tried ........

(PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH YOUR VOTES...WHAT SHOULD I BUY?)

OHARA25@AOL.COM

A HOUSE....

A SLIDE......

A NEW RED CAR

OR A DINER......

(YOU COOK ON ONE SIDE, EAT ON THE OTHER! )

November 9th, 2008

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile...I've been busy putting away Halloween things, getting out Thanksgiving things, parent conferences, Dr. follow-up appointments and preparing documents for Dawson's readoption. I'm hoping this is going to happen in December. Here are a few pictures from our Guatemalan play group event on Friday. We went to The Little Gym. Dawson really loves to climb and balance. Have you ever heard of a Guatemalan gymnast???

GREAT BALANCE DAWSON

PLAYING WITH SCARVES

GREAT LANDING!

ENJOYING SNACK WITH SOME GUATEMALANFRIENDS

This past weekend I had Dawson baptised. I didn't know she was going to have surgery and trick or treat the same weekend! What a weekend we had and what a party girl she was!!! Her baptism was at St. Sebastian's church and a small brunch followed after with family. I kept everything small due to the fact we have had many small gatherings in her honor these past few months!

Thanks Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ric for the beautiful bracelet! We missed you!!

Look at my beautiful dress!!

Here is my cousin Sophia. I need to learn better manners when I wear a dress!!

My Godparents..Grammy and Tommy

I'm ready to leave the party now!!! Trick or Treat starts in 2 hours!!!

October 27th, 2008

Last night we went trick or treating. Dawson picked up on what to do quite quickly. The funny thing about it is that she would get the candy, put it in her bag, sit in the wagon and then drop the candy out the wagon leaving a trail. What she didn't understand is that candy is for eating! I'm not going to tell her about that until she's smart enough to figure it out!

October 24th, 2008

We just got home from Children's Hospital and made it through the tubes in our ears. Dawson had a fun time running around the waiting area and visiting with the dogs. Children's Hospital has trained dogs known as the "Doggy Brigade" that came around with volunteers to visit all the patients. We were visited by about 3 dogs! Dawson is now napping peacefully! Another milestone!