Merry Christmas to Me

My Christmas presents are finally installed. 

You know you are getting old when you ask for sconces and wallpaper for Christmas :)

My mom came over to help with the wallpaper b/c I've never ever hung wallpaper. Quite frankly, I was nervous b/c I've read of people giving up and hiring a professional mid project. Mom has hung her fair share (back in the day) and we just kept reminding ourselves it's only ONE wall.

 We did the entire wall during 1 nap time. It really wasn't that bad. 

Trimming at the corners was the worst part. I LOVE the results. 

The jury is still out as to whether I'll do it again.

The vanity arrived today and as soon as EJ recovers from a nasty stomach bug (pray no one else gets it) I will be bugging him to get it in place!

Indoor Water Table

It seems the 4th rarely sees the creative momma I was for my 1st. Shocking, right ;) My girl loves water and bubbles. She can now open the bathroom door (sigh), climb the stool and help herself to the sink.

One day, while everyone else was at school, I set her up with a makeshift water table. Call me crazy or dumb or a gluten for punishment, but she enjoyed herself.

Like most activities, this did not last long. Maybe 5-10 minutes. 

She stood up and started pouring, things went down hill from there ;)

 

Off went the shirt, so she could water her belly.

Let the splashing begin. And we are done! 

I am consider another bean bin, but I don't think she is quite ready to handle the responsibility.

Big Dreams

No school today, AGAIN. That's all I will say about that ;)

Our lunch talk landed on basketball. Surprise, Surprise! It was decided (by Owen, of course) that he and Joshua and Mason were going to play college ball for JMU. AND they were going to win the Final Four.

After lunch, they quickly headed upstairs to Owen's room to play on his door hoop. I suppose they are in training.

I am still chuckling in my head. Oh, how I love these boys :)

Peacefully Resting

I couldn't help but snap this picture. With our busy weekend and the time change, Avery was sleeping more than normal at the beginning of the week. This was taken after 4 p.m. A record for her ;)
She looks so peaceful and relaxed, doesn't she? Does this momma's heart good!

I have noticed her anxiety seems a bit higher lately. I am always analyzing her, poor thing ;) I have come to several conclusions but these are the top two :)
1. I know her better now, so I can read her body language/facial expressions even more.
OR
2. She is so less focused on physically moving that her brain's attention has more energy to focus on her surroundings which are still so new and constantly changing (when we are out).

I am by no means a brain development expert, but I think it's the later. It's truly like the scales are falling from her eyes. It happened a few weeks after we first came home and it's happening again now.

Thankfully there is usually a quick fix. Picking her up, holding her hand or just an "it's ok" normally does the trick. If it's involving food, it's much harder (a common theme among adopted children)

It's a blessing to see her in this picture, so comfortable!

Basement Reno (Week 15)

I had to go back and do the math. 15 weeks is a long time. Most of the painting progress is not exciting so I haven't bothered posting pics. We do however, have a working toilet and shower now. The shower door and vanity will go in soon. We've had a hard time nailing down a painter for the stairs so we've been in a bit of a stand still. I am almost done with the painting. Hooray! Fingers crossed we'll be able to use the space in less than 3 weeks.

The subway tiles and walls are both white. The grout is gray. I was nervous how it would look in real life, but I am so happy with it. The shower niche has a piece of floor tile in it. These pictures are not great color representations but you get the point. The ceiling has to be repainted :(