Texas, Here We Come!

The week after Christmas, Rocco and I headed out to Frisco, Texas. Our purpose was to spend some time with the Carlson's. Maile is now 6 years old, but she was barely 2 when we first met her in Vietnam. Don and Kim Lan adopted her out of the same orphanage that we adopted Rocco from. These two little tikes have come a long way, both having the same adoption date back in March of 2007. We try to get together once or twice a year to let the kids play together. Just look at our two Asian beauties today.

We arrived in Texas on Tuesday, Dec. 28th, and Kim Lan took us to their home. While the kids played all afternoon, Kim Lan and I went shopping. During our stay, I was able to see her church, the kids' school, and her dance studio. That evening we went to Mr. Gatti's for some pizza and game time. Following our supper, we went to downtown Frisco to see the Christmas lights. The entire city block was lit up and synchronized to some music.

On Wednesday we went for a walk around their large neighborhood. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes, scooters, and hot wheels. Little man did really well pedaling for such a long distance. It wasn't long ago that he couldn't even reach the pedals, much less pedal them. Here are the kids (Maile, Rocco, and Maile's brothers - Joe and Sam).

Around lunch time, we all headed to Dallas to see the historic site where JFK was assassinated. We spent a good bit of time walking on the grassy knoll and seeing all the historic roads and buildings of that awful day that occurred 47 years ago. Here's the whole Carlson crew in Dallas right off Houston Street.

That evening Kim Lan and I went to a gym where we did some kick boxing. It kicked my tail. Here we are posing...trust me. I didn't lift all that weight. But if I did I'm sure my strong, Asian backup could spot me.

The next day we had a play date at McDonald's. And that night we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Rocco did, too. Our favorite? Jack fruit smoothie. The Carlson's and us weren't the only ones at dinner. Kim Lan's mother (pictured at far left) was there along with a good friend of Kim Lan's. Her name is Gloria. The cool thing about all 4 of us ladies is that we are all adoptive moms. Here we are with all of our babies - each one adopted.

Friday came in a hurry, and it was already time for us to head back to GA. I'll close here with double trouble. We have the best time when we get together. We've taken on Vietnam, GA, TX, Las Vegas and have decided we are going to tackle New York city next!

Four Years and Nine Months Old

As you already know, Rocco has been reading simple sentences. Mrs. Bond, his pre-K teacher, began working with him recently during some of his nap time. While other kids are resting, Rocco and another student have been working on sight words. It seems he is one of the few ready to begin reading. Some of his words are up, we, red, big, is, me, and can. It's neat to watch him sound out the words. He tries to follow all the phonetic rules. He'll say, "ppp, ulll, aaaa, yuh. Play! Hey, mommy. You don't hear the Y in play." Pretty smart if you ask me. ;) I've taught him that when two e's walk together they make the long e sound. So, he also knows the word see and some other words like that. He's really excited about reading, and he still begs me to read books....lots of them. No matter how many I read it isn't enough.

Other than reading, we have another craze at our house. Monster trucks! It all started when my nana and papaw gave him a set of them for Christmas. The pack of 3 trucks also came with a DVD. These huge trucks that race, crash, jump, and demolish buses and trailers were all new to him. All it took was one time watching the 30 minute clips of this rough and tough crashing with some loud rocking music in the background and he was hooked! Here he is watching it with Carolyn, his nana.

When we went to Texas, he said something so cute that I had to remember to write it down. While traveling in the shuttle to the airport, I was talking to the riders and drivers about Rocco. I mentioned that this was probably his 8th time flying in an airplane. "By now," the bus driver remarked, "he's probably working on how many languages?" Without skipping a beat, Rocco replied, "I talk smack talk!"

Here are some other cute or smart things he's said recently.

"Hey, mom. A shadow doesn't have a mouth. So when you talk your shadow can't talk. And it can't smile."

"Truth is something you do right. Lie means you are in 'truvel'."

"A book has a spine. It holds the book together really tight so it doesn't fall to pieces. It has a front and back cover."

I was having tired pains from the end of the day, and Rocco said, "Mommy, can I kiss it?" He did so very sweetly. Then, he said, "Mommy can I pray for you?" He bowed his head and said, "Jesus, help mama feel better. Amen."

"Saturday is a house day. Sunday is a church day. The other days are school days." He then continued to tell me all the days of the week in the correct order.

His latest phrase is, "I promise," or "Trust me." For example, when he wants to wear shorts and a play shirt on a really cold day and I tell him, "No," he'll say, "I won't be cold, mama. Trust me."At four he already thinks sometimes that he knows more than me. Oh, brother!

I have to close with this picture because I finally was able to convince Rocco to get dressed up. No matter where we go, he thinks he has to wear a comfortable, cotton, short sleeved play shirt. He was real excited, though, when I told him that he was going to get to dress up like daddy one Sunday morning. These handsome guys took my breath away!

The Polar Express

On this cold night in Decembr, we embarked upon an adventure like none before. At 7pm, we boarded a train in Tennessee. Daelyn, my niece, was there with us.

Our destination? The North Pole! Well, it wasn't the true North Pole. That would have taken hours. If it was the true North Pole then our train moved really fast because we there in 30 minutes. ;) While on our way, we listened to a lady read The Polar Express. Then, we were served Yoo Hoo's and a gingerbread cookie. By the time we finished our snack, we saw something magical. For a moment I felt like a kid again as I looked out the train window and found a large sign with dancing lights that said, "North Pole." And there he was. That right jolly old man...Santa Claus. He was waving to us. Within a few minutes the train came to a stop, and I was surprised to find that the big man with the red suit and hat was boarding OUR train. Rocco was so excited that he started burying his head in the seat, bouncing up and down, and telling me, "I'm too excited for this!"

Santa made his way past each child, giving them each a moment of his time, and then it was our turn. He stopped at our train seat, and Rocco sat on his lap and told him that he wanted a red, kitchen play sink for Christmas. Daelyn didn't speak to him, and she certainly didn't sit in his lap. I don't think she liked him very much, but as least she didn't cry.

All of the passengers were filled with excitement. After Santa left, our train began moving once more. This time we were headed back toward Tennessee. The trip had been magical and unforgettable, but what made it most special was that all of my immediate family was there. (Rocco is making some silly face here, but it's the only we got of all 6 of us. From left to right: Rocco, my brother, mom, me, niece, and my dad).

From Rocco's Mouth

"Frosty the Snowman was a happy jolly toe and a button hose and two eyes made out of cold
Frosty the Snowman button and a hutton hose and two eyes made out of foal
Oh Frosty the snowman was a fairty tail they say and ..what's next?
but the children know oh the hat they found when they placed it on his head and he waved goodbye don't you cry I'll be back on Kiss-mas day. There must have been some magic in that old silver hat they found when they placed it on his head he tend to dance around. Oh Frosty is a happy jolly soul, and he waved goodbye saying don't you cry I'll be back on Kiss-mas Day!"

Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go? Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, down through the chimney with Shote Naint Nick."

Dashing through the snow, one horse open sleigh,
Laughing all the way, He, he, he.
Over the fields we go in a one horse open sleigh.
Ohhhh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!

Rudolph you 'll go down in mystery!

"Mommy, who's my wife?"
I reply, "You don't have a wife."
"Yes, I do."
"No you don't." I say again.
"Yes, I do. Nana!"

Callaway Gardens

My birthday is December 7th. Being born in 1976, I turned 34 this year. I decided I wanted to do a birthday get-away with my mom. . . and of course I wanted my sidekick to go, too. The three of us drove down Saturday morning. We took our time getting there; we had to stop along the way and do some Christmas shopping. What should have been a 2 1/2 hour trip turned out more like four, but that was the fun of it all. There were no "men" to hurry us around. ;)

I booked everything through Callaway, and the package included our one night's stay at the Mountain Creek Inn, the Fantasy in Lights show, a Christmas ornament, the breakfast buffet, and all day garden entrance. It was worth every penny we spent.

We arrived in Pine Mountain, GA, around 3:30pm. Once we checked in, we wasted no time getting to the Christmas village, a super large tent with shopping, food treats, gingerbread house with a train circling it, crafts, and even Santa himself! Even though Rocco had already seen Santa on his pre-K field trip to the mall, we encouraged him to sit on his lap again. A little reluctant, Rocco agreed. He was later glad he did so, because when he was finished Santa gave him a candy cane. I love his cute smile here. He's not wearing his cute Christmas clothes. He thinks he is supposed to wear a "play shirt" all the time. Play shirts, according to him, are all short sleeves and cotton comfortable. (So much for the cute outfit I bought him.)

Right outside the village there was a fun playground we took advantage of. I found a lot of pine cones lying around; I collected a big bag for my Aunt Katie who plans on doing some craft with them. We also found a mini putt putt course; this was right up Rocco's alley.

After the village, we went further up the mountain to view one of God's beautiful sunsets. It was very cold and windy up there, but the sight was breathtaking. Then, we ate supper at the Country Store. By the time we finished eating it was time to bundle up in our many layers and prepare for the trolley ride along the 5 mile trail of lights. Nothing I've ever seen even compares to the Fantasy of Lights that we saw. The trolley held about 60 people and was pulled by a big Ford truck. A speaker played a narrator's voice and neighing horses. It made it feel like you were in a horse-drawn sleigh. All of the lights were synchronized to music and many of them moved. It was beautiful. Many of the lights reflected off of the large ponds off of the golf course. Honestly any picture I took did not do what we really saw justice. We traveled through about 14 different scenes. My favorite was the Winter Wonderland scene. We were entirely surround by white lights and snowflakes; it was like a dream.

When the trolley ride ended, there was more! We stopped to watch "Twas the Night Before Christmas" light show and then "The Christmas Story" of Jesus. My mom treated us to some hot chocolate and funnel cakes afterwards.

Rocco loved it, and so did my mom and I. He kept saying, "I've never been to this place before. I love Callaway Gardens. I want to stay here forever!" I explained to him it was only a short time that we'd be there. "I don't like short vacations," was his reply.

The day we packed up to leave, we decided to spend some time at the gardens since it came with our package. The weather was so very cold, so we bundled up and visited the butterfly house, birds of prey show, and the many gift shops. The greenhouse we visited had a tall Christmas tree made out of poinsettias... and animals shaped from various plants. I'm so thankful we took this trip. It turned out to be one of my favorite weekend get-aways of all time.

Gingerbread Train

Each year Rocco and I try to assemble and decorate a gingerbread house. This year was no exception...only this year we found a gingerbread train. We had so much fun adding icing and candy to this thing. He kept wanting to eat all the decorations on it.

This is what we started with...

By the time we added some leftover Halloween candy, we had the train covered in yummy, sugary treats. We even had a little candy bench for the passengers to sit on. Check out this cute little guy posing for his picture...

What's up with this expression?

Here we are together.