Pettiskirt Pictures and Puzzles

As promised, here are the pictures of Anna in her pettiskirt I got her for Christmas.
Emma got a box of 8 puzzles from her cousin Riley in Utah. The whole family enjoyed putting them together.

Adoption is FINALIZED! December 30, 2009

Well on the 29th, after getting up early, getting 4 children dressed and looking nice, after going to court and being there by 8 am, the judge didn't like the fact that a piece of paperwork from Utah didn't have a file number stamped on it. So, we were really concerned that we wouldn't finalze by the end of the year. During the day the judge called the Utah courts and found out that the paperwork doesn't get a file number. So, that afternoon we got a new scheduled time of 8:15 am on the 30th. This was the last day that we could do it this year, as the courts were closed on the 31st. We stood before the judge, proclaimed that we were taking care of Virginia, she was healthy and we wanted her in our family, she approved our adoption and signed the finalization papers.

Virginia is legally ours!

Oh yeah, and we weren't quite as primped as we were the day before and James' shirt said, "Save the Planet, send all sisters to the moon". I didn't screen that carefully before leaving that morning.

Now I must start working on the plans to take her to the Temple so she can be sealed to our family for all time and eternity.

I have been waiting for Virginia and Anna since I was a little girl. I knew that I wanted to adopt african american children, and now it is a lifelong dream come true. Just the thought of that brings tears to my eyes.

14 Years - December 27, 2009

It was our 14th anniversary on Sunday. We had a really nice day, mostly we just went to church and then worked on puzzles that afternoon and evening. I cooked some nice venison tenderloin steaks, rice pilaf and some vegetables. Normally on the fourth Sunday Carl has a lot of meetings for the Young Men Presidency, but they got cancelled due to the holidays. So, it was nice to have him home.

Christmas Morning with the Missionaries

Christmas 2009 came with the flying of wrapping paper witnessed by the parents and the missionaries. We invited them over for the morning festivities and for a platter full of freshly cooked scones. James with one of his new books, a new fantasy series, he is already started by this evening. He also got The Little Red Hen, a kentucky hiking stick, shooting bag, some great clothes, two flashlights, a silver bookmark, and Santa brought him new arrows, which were quickly put to good use on the old pumpkin in the back yard.

Emma really wanted the Wilder panda family from the calico critters toys, she was really excited to have them. She had already gotten the baby twins for her birthday, so now she has the whole family. Emma also got some great clothes, jewelry hanger, jammies, chinese jumprope, Judy Moody Goes to College, a Judy Moody doll. Oh, and a PIANO!

Anna loves barbies, she really skipped the baby doll stage. She got some cute barbie dishes, cute clothes, pettiskirt (picture coming later), the calico critters Pickelweed hedgehog family, bunk beds for the calico critters, a princess Tiana book, a princess Tiana barbie doll, and a rubber sit on bouncy ball thing with a handle to release her constant energy.

James in his awesome hat from his Grandma and Grandpa Frost.

The missionaries were not left out of the festivities and received Skyline chili gift certificates.

Virginia stayed up way too late and so slept through the morning wrapping paper extravaganza, but when she finally got up for the day, she had to try on her brand new darling headband. She was so excited and she knew she was the most beautiful baby ever.

Emma was a little intimidated by the piano at first, but then after sitting with her for 20 minutes with her lesson book, she took off and now even has a very simple song memorized. She will start her piano lessons in January.

Oh, and another hit of Christmas, was all the children got walkie-talkies for Christmas.

Christmas Eve and Reindeer Chow

Christmas eve was great, the family helped to clean the house earlier that week so I had a "relatively" clean house for Christmas. Every year I get the label of "cleaning Nazi" on Christmas Eve. It is my last chance to have a clean house for Christmas, also one of the last times it gets cleaned before tax season, when no cleaning gets done at all. Hopefully this tax season will be better since I instilled a chore chart for the kids this past fall.

We baked a ham, I made a loaf of rye bread (I am in pursuit of the perfect rye like what we had in Germany), vegetables, rolls, and baked potatoes. Emma declared it was a "feast". We also got the camera out when the reindeer chow got spread out on the grass. Santa always gets his cookies, but seldom do the reindeer get to eat.

Check out the chow in midair on the next picture.

Emma read us all some traditional Christmas stories.

After Carl read to us The Real Story of Christmas, written by Cleon Skousen. It is the 40th year that it has been read in the Westergard family on Christmas Eve. A long standing family tradition.

Afterwards the kids all got to open a present, Emma and Anna opened jammies and James opened blocks of wood. You have never seen a kid so excited to see blocks of wood. It is basswood that you use for carving.

Finally by about 10:30 the evening came to an end for the kids and the fell asleep.

Snow Day, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera 12-19-09

Well, we had a busy day with the camera this day, and it was a lot of fun. We got our box of gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Frost for Christmas. Right on top was Anna's froggy umbrella I forgot in Utah, when we were there adopting Virginia. Grandma Frost had gotten it for her. She was so excited to see it again, I couldn't possibly make her wait until Christmas. Ginny is so darn cute! Sometimes the flash kinda scares her and she gets the deer-in-the-headlights look. She was sitting up in a big girl chair with the Snowman filling the gap for her to not tip over.

Sometimes Virginia loves her swing...sometimes not.

Emma's hair looked so beautiful for her play date with Madison (her friend) when we took out her curlers, then they went and played in the snow, but it still looked really nice. I love this picture of Emma, it captures her spirit.

Our children don't miss an opportunity to be in front of the camera. I had to set Virginia down to change the laundry and the closest thing was the tub of yarn I have.

Virginia looked so beautiful in this outfit!

Picture taken courtesy of Emma.


Anna was all ready to go out and play in the snow with Emma and James.

We got just enough snow to cover the lawn, and our hill in the yard is great for sledding down.

Curler Girls 12-20-09

So I convinced Emma to let me put curlers in, we also did Anna's hair. The hope was to curl Emma's and straighten out Anna's, Virginia was not to be excluded so she got a curler too. Yes, her hair is long enough, probably 1 1/2 inches long already! Emma's hair turned out great, and Anna's well, we will have to try something else.

We chose to not subject James to a curler.

Gingerbread

Making gingerbread houses is a long standing tradition in our home, I started when James was a baby, and every year we have done them. A few years ago, my friend Becca introduced me to using smaller stencils and fitting 2 houses on 1 cookie sheet. So, I now we make one for each child to decorate themselves. In addition to making the houses this year, I made gingerbread cookies from a receipe on the Grandmother's Molassas jar. The dough was really sticky, but made the best, chewiest cookies. They didn't last long in our home. We haven't decorated or constructed the houses yet, but that is coming soon.

First visit with Santa

On a fun trip to Louisville, we went to the Pottery Barn store (one of my very favorite places) and found out that Santa was there visiting, so we took the opportunity to get a picture.

Snuggles Fritz and Sleep 12-13-09

Cute daddy, cute baby. Cute outfit courtesy of Grandma Frost.

Fritz, our slightly highstrung, incredibly co dependent, Entlebucher dog.

They just couldn't stay awake any longer during our movie.

Virginia's Stocking is done! 12-5-09

Christmas stockings are a tradition in our home, much as they are in many homes during the holidays. Christmas morning you are able to find them overflowing with gifts from Santa Claus. All of the children have a knitted stocking that I have knitted and then felted. For those knitters out there you know what felting is, for others, it is also called boiled wool. You knit in 100% wool, really big and loose, then you wash it in HOT water in the washer and voila! it shrinks and becomes thick, fuzzy and the individual stitches disappear. I started making these felted stockings when James had his first Christmas, I also have pictures of all 4 of them inside their pre-felted stockings. I had intended on Virginia's to have a white top and toe, but the red bled and well, it is pink now. With pink and red being the colors of the stocking, I didn't know what color to do the hanger. In a recent trip to my local yarn shop (Knit On! in Newport) I saw a really cool "meshy" "yarn" that you knit with only 4 stitches into a short decorative scarf. Then, after it was done, I realized, I just made a great stocking hanger. I tried both the green and red one on the stocking and took a vote, the green one won. That, and Emma really wanted the red one to wear.

Pre felted picture...I just realized that I didn't take one with her next to her Post felted stocking...coming soon....then you can see the size difference better.

Inside her stocking

Happy with her new scarf.