Thankful...

...for sun kissed skin and knees with band-aids. 

And for this girl who adopted us 4 years ago today. Happy Gotcha Day, Princess Peanut Butter Cup!

...for polyester bell bottoms from Good Will.
And kids who are brave enough to wear them on stage for Airband and rock Stayin' Alive.
(Check out the YouTube video HERE. They won first place. We're so proud. )

...for a fall sport other than football and soccer.

And this second son; so much like his dad.

...for wigs.
And the kid with the mullet who's as tall as me.

...for hair scrunchies that match their soccer uniforms.
And this girl; my very best soccer player.


...for this Stewart Marine shirt that used to be Dave's.
And these grandparents who drop everything to come play with us.


...for waterpolo.
And this hotty who, at 41, still rocks the Speedo.

...for neighbors who take great pics of my kids.

And toothless grins. 

...for this awesome catch. (Click to make bigger.)

And a football season with no broken bones. 

...for roadside Taquerias.
And a lunch date with this Grandpa.

...for a strawberry, an Alice, an Earp, and a bling. 

And for these kids; still excited to dress up on Halloween.  

...for da Bulls and da Broncos. 

Can't we all just get along? 

...for six weeks in Mexico. 

And coronas with lime.
(We'll be home for Christmas.)

...for kid sized waves at Lancha.
And this surfer girl.


...for the sweet silence of the sea.
And this boy; he makes my heart smile.

...for the splendor of our Earth. 

And sharing it with magnificent creatures like this. 

...for sting rays whose stings hurt like a mother but don't do any permanent damage. 

And this boy who taught us that; the hard way. 

...for the Christmas picture; done for another year.

And for another year with this amazing family of mine.

Feliz Navidad,

Dave & Heather

Cole, Emerson, Eve & Soleil

Evie's New 'Do

After months of fun in the sun Evie's hair was...well....it needed a trim. She's been asking to cut it short for about a year and, finally, I acquiesced. How adorable is it? Of course, her "best friends" made fun of her at school and told her she looked like a boy. Now she's traumatized. I didn't miss that nonsense.

But, I did miss this darling sense of style. White pedal pushers under a yellow paisley skirt with a Red Mexican tunic, a size too small. Love. It. Truly. And her haircut is so Junie B. Jones.

My Christmas Birthday Girl

Did you know Evie was born on Christmas Eve? Seven years ago, today? Indeed she was, and that's how she got her pretty name


So this year, to celebrate her day, we had a beach side birthday party complete with pinata and pina coladas. That was on the 23rd and today (I guess technically it was yesterday since it's currently way past midnight- merry christmas) she opened presents under her birthday tree, we went out to breakfast at "Rollie's" and then, per her request, she and I went horseback riding on the beach - just the two of us. She is such a delight and I am so thankful to be her mama. I love you, Sissy. Here are some highlights:

"A bunny? A begging poodle? A...Idunno. What? Oh, duh. A reindeer."

Those two could almost be twins.

My best Christmas present ever.

With Edgar.

I love this one.

Sissy - you get more beautiful inside and out every year. I am so lucky to be your mama. I love you so much. Happy Birthday.

P.S. I just checked NORAD - Santa's in Greenland. I'm off to bed before he gets to my house. Merry Christmas.

Quote of the Day

As usual, accredited to Evie...

The other day Evie and Soli went to visit our neighbor Gayle. Evie began to tell Gayle a story, and Soli, being the little parrot that she is, promptly began copying Evie's story and hand gestures, repeating the story just a few words behind the original still being told by her sister. Gayle looked down at Soli and said to her,

"Well, you are such a character."

And Evie corrected her with all seriousness,

"No, she's a Mexican."

Most definitely a character.
Our Soleil Mia 3 1/4
Zion National Park August 09

A White Birthday

This year for Evie's 6th birthday we had a Winter Wonderland Party complete with snowflake cupcakes, chocolate fodue, snowflake making, and a jumpy house. The weather cooperated nicely with very cold temps (for us Central Coasters very cold is the low 50's -- burr!!), rain, and even HAIL (which is pretty much as close as we get to snow). But the wintry weather did not detour the kids from playing outside and enjoying the soggy jumpy house. A great day all around.

My beautiful birthday girl. Wow, 6 years old!!

Snowflake cupcakes - credit to the Williams-Sonoma Birthday Book (a must have for all birthday party fanatics).

A winter wonderland.

Happy birthday, Sissy. We love you!
XOXO,
Mommy

P.S. Thank you all for your well wishes and sweet notes about my Gramma. Yesterday I was sad and today I feel at peace. Things are as they should be. Babies are born into this world and Grammas are born into the next. And the circle of life goes on.

Quote of the Day

There are actually two. Both accredited to Evie -- love five year olds for a priceless quote.

two days ago

Evie: Mommy? What will I be when I grow up?
Me: You can be ANYTHING you want!
Evie: Can I be a turtle?
Me: Mmmm, no.
Evie: Can I be a priness?

Pause

Me: Um...well...if you marry a prince...or if you work at Disneyland.

(I guess you can't really be anything you want when you grow up...)


tonight while she was coloring

Evie: Mommy, I drew Soli with brownish orange skin....Maybe when she grows up, she'll be orange!


She's such a funny, loving, sweet girl who reminds me of Eloise of the Plaza. She's scheming and naughty but kind and good hearted and has everyone wrapped around her little finger. She insists that she will not marry a man or have any boy children. When I ask why she doesn't want to get married she says:

"Because I don't want to kiss a MAN!"

Indeed.

And when I told her she doesn't really get to choose whether she has girl babies or boy babies she politely corrected me by saying, "If I adopt them all I do."

Indeed.

This outfit is an Evie Original - one of my favorites, actually. She dresses like this everyday. And I just love her unique sense of style - usually. One time when she came out of her room in an exceptionally exceptional outfit, I said gently, "Evie, that shirt and those pants don't really look cute together."
She looked at me with utter disbelief in her eyes. Her little chin started to quiver and she said, "Mommy, I look cute in everything I wear!"
Indeed.

Evie turns five!!

I can't believe our little Eviebelle is already five years old!! That seems like such a big birthday. She'll be starting kindergarten in the fall, and then I'll be back down to just one at home with me.

I took Evie to the city to see the Nutcracker for her big fifth!

This coat belonged to Dave's Gramma Eleanor. When she passed away my father in law gave it to me. It has recently become my favorite coat. We forgot Evie's coat in the car when we stopped for lunch so she borrowed mine, and I just thought she looked so cute. I loved seeing generations tied together through a favorite coat.

Posing with Maria and the Nutcracker.

For Evie's birthday this year we took her and about 10 little friends to see "Enchanted". Evie helped me bake her cake (or maybe I helped her?), but I told her I would decorate it after she had gone to bed. She woke up bright and early the next morning to see how it had turned out. I had to laugh when she whispered in my ear at 6am, "Mommy, my cake looks pretty, but someone spilled popcorn on it." And, of course, no cake is complete without the sprinkles...all of the sprinkles.

May all your wishes come true, my beautiful birthday girl!

Evie's birthday is on Christmas Eve, so we try especially hard to make her birthday special. One of her favorite things about having a Christmas birthday is getting her very own Birthday Tree. She gets to decorate it herself (this year she let Emerson help) with all things pink and girly. So fun.

Never a dull moment in Antigua...

We made it through Rotavirus and stomach flu now we're moving on to head lice. Yikes!! They seem to be going around our little complex. So far, Evie is the only one with the creepy crawlies (and she actually only had one), but just thinking about it is making me itchy all over. Luckily, Catalina, our caretaker's wife, was able to set me up with the poison and the protocol that I need to get rid of the buggers. Oh well, at least I'm not bored. On the up side we got Soli's new birth certificate today, and our attorney is planning to submit our case to the embassy on Monday. The embassy then has 48 hours to issue the "pink slip" which gives the time for the final embassy appointment (usally a week or so after the date of issuance). During this appointment the US Embassy gives the adoption one final seal of approval, there is some exchange of paperwork, and I think this is when the baby's visa is paid for (which has to be picked up the next day). Dave is flying down Monday, and we are all tentatively planning to fly home on February 12. I have such mixed feelings about going home. I love it here. I love that we have no car, no Costco, no boy scouts, no school. I miss my husband desperately, and single parenting obviously has its challenges (especially where large quantities of vomit are involved), but otherwise I don't miss the hustle and bustle of our California life. I know that I'll have major culture shock when we get home, and I just hope we can bring a little of our Antigua lifestyle home with us to California (minus the head lice!). We'll see...Thanks for checking in. ~Heather

Happy Birthday Evie!!

Evie turned four on Christmas Eve. But since that tends to be a rather busy day for everyone we had her party on the 23rd. This year Evie opted for a Dora theme which I thought seemed rather appropriate! So we had a jumpy house, pizza and a pinata. Thankfully, our complex has ready-made party goers available at no extra charge! We had close to 20 kiddos attending the festivities! The weather was beautiful and it turned out to be a very fun, low stress day.

I had brought Christmas sprinkles with us from the states to make Christmas cookies. Since I knew we wouldn't need them all for cookies I thought I'd be rather efficient and let Evie use some to decorate her birthday cake. Apparently, I wasn't quite clear enough about the SOME part...Before I knew it she and Emerson had covered her cake with every last sprinkle that I had brought!! That was one crunchy cake! We skipped the Christmas cookies this year, and no one (not even Santa) seemed to mind...

The "big kids" giving the "little kids" a turn in the jumpy house. ~Savannah, Austin, Clay, Cole, Charlotte, and Eliana.

My beautiful birthday girl.

"I wish I had just a few more sprinkles for my cake!"

Grace, Aspen, Calla, Evie, Reagan, Quintin and Delaney.

Evie takin' a swing at Dora's "backpack, backpack".

Assessing her pinata bounty...

"I'm just about too cool for Dora birthday parties, but I guess I'll stick around for the candy."

I told Dave that Soli could have a "taste" of banana (she's hardly ever had any solids). Next time I looked over she was gnawing on half a banana in the peel. (Oh how those peels stain!)

Emerson and Jhonathan ( pronounced Yonathan) are two peas in a pod. Neither speaks the other's language and yet they hang out all day and have a great time together. I guess they both speak the universal language of Kid.


Happy birthday my sweet, 4 year old girl! I love you so much, Sissy!

Wow! That's a lot of kids!