Friday, January 31, 2014

Two Years with Lulu

Yesterday we celebrated Forever Family Day #2 for Lulu! Two years ago this little character was placed in my arms all puffed up with 4 layers of clothing and a red silk Chinese suit to top it off, and screaming at the top of her little loud lungs. WOW!!!! What a day that was. A spicy Hunan girl we had/have! I am just so in love with this child and can't imagine our family without her. At times, when all my friends that are my age, are talking of high school graduations, college, and even weddings I start to sweat....I am in the potty training stage! How did I get there...again! At this stage/age of my life..... God brought me here. He asked me to bring her home. I tried very hard NOT to listen...but I am oh so VERY glad I did! She brings me/us unspeakable joy and when those tiny little legs and arms wrap themselves around me tight and she says, "You da best Mommy I ever had! I love you Mommy!" Well, my heart just melts. So I will be the old Mommy in preschool and the even older Mom on her wedding day :) But her Mommy I will be. And I will love her and adore her and cherish the fact that I, by God's design, get to walk through life with her, carrying that title.

She has come so very far in two years. She was really like a 9 month old at 21 months. Not so anymore. Full of life. Full of personality. All girly girl and princess....but...she can hang with her brothers and wrestle something fierce! She is beautiful, funny, clever, smart, stubborn, spoiled rotten, loving, determined, independent and spunky. Louisa Margaret Hatcher...we love you so and are so very blessed you are our littlest family member. Happy Forever Family Day Lulu Bug. I love you beyond words!

Our little celebration




Gotta love that $1 lipgloss gets this kind of reaction :)



Thursday, January 30, 2014

Snow 2014

Here in the deep south we don't get snow very often. In fact, the last time we had snow here was 2011. So when they predict the white stuff....everyone panics, jumps for joy, or dreads the cold. I personally LOVE snow! Schools decided Monday to close for Tuesday and Wednesday in anticipation. Great idea after seeing the debacle in Atlanta! We didn't actually see any flurries though until Tuesday evening when the sleet began followed by large fat fluffy flakes! I didn't want to go to sleep. It was just so beautiful. We woke to a few inches on the grass and trees and some slick spots on roads. The kids had a blast! Unfortunately, by afternoon there were more grassy spots than there were snowy spots. School for Julia was delayed until 10:00am today and the Littles...NO school. AGAIN! We enjoyed all the typical outdoor snow activities consisting of snowballs, snowmen/blobs, sledding-yes we actually have a sled, hot chocolate, fires and popcorn! MANY pictures of the "winter storm" follow :)






Looking out and ready to go!!!!!

  My southern snow bunnies






Lulu's 1st snow! She LOVED it!!!!


  Making snow angels







She so enjoyed "patting" the snowman/blob and must have worked on it for 30 minutes!








  A southern snow man/blob. The best you are going to get with snow like this!










Ok, so because we don't have real snow gear, one gets wet and cold quickly! In they came for some hot chocolate!


Notice the "deep" snow on the sledding hill :)



Another snow man/blob in the works with the neighbors


Isn't he cute?


These two girls work so hard at their studies and sports. I was SO glad to see them have a free day of FUN!!!!!!

Our snow blob today, surrounded by mostly grass :( He is still smiling though!

Here's to hoping we don't have to wait another 3 years for snow!!! What a fantastic atypical surprise, the kind of stuff that makes life just plain ole fun!!! Hope you are staying warm wherever you may be!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Big girl panties and a $30 diary

I guess when you are ready you are ready. Ready she was. She went 1 week with no accidents and off we went to Target to buy big girl panties and a toy of choice. A little bribery. She chose Sophia the First panties in a size 2T which I must say hang off her tiny hiney! :) Next, she has been talking about getting a diary she saw at Target one day with Sam and Jaida, as her potty training bribe present. I thought, wow! cute idea and a little educational too as she can practice writing her name in it. And I am thinking under $10 for sure... maybe even under 5 bucks! She knew exactly where the diary was as she led me straight back to the aisle containing the much anticipated diary. She shrieked with delight as she saw it!!!! I shrieked with fear as I saw it! 30 DOLLARS!!!!!! Oh my word!!! I even tried to gently suggest something else. NOPE!!!! She was delighted! We came home and installed the batteries so that this wonderful diary could sing its annoying lovely song....EACH time you turn the key!!! She carries it around with her and reluctantly lets her sister play with it momentarily. She is also quite proud of her panties and shows anyone who wants to see them!!!! Love this kid! So proud of you Lulu-bug!!


The diary, the expensive diary! :)

Sunday, January 12, 2014

This 5th Child of Mine

Lulu. Oh my! If you have enough kids sooner or later, odds have it, you will have a child do something or not do something you swore you would never have a child do or not do. Lulu is this child. This tiny, and I mean tiny, little ball of "stuff" makes our family laugh and fills our hearts with joy! 3 of the other 4 children of mine potty trained with ease or relative ease. Xin, fortunately came to us at 4 over this hurdle. I took great pride in this accomplishment of potty training my kids easily. Silly me... pride is usually not a good thing! Lulu will be 4 in April. She is NOT POTTY TRAINED! Now, this is partly my fault as sporting events spread out across the state of Georgia, PSAT tests and Chemistry finals, spelling tests and AR reading tests have pushed potty training of the littlest Hatcher to the back burner. And she truly wasn't ready. I am not sure what or why this milestone was met with such resistance, but it was. She would go ballistic when we sat her on the potty. We even purchased a cute little potty in the shape of a frog we named Francine to help with this "fear" of hers. Not having ANY part of Francine either. So......I talked up the "big day" for weeks. I told her we were going to start working on going on the potty after Christmas when all the kids went back to school. I made her pinky promise with me to try her best. Side note here...she has one sweet little pinky on her right hand that she uses for this. The day arrived and lo and behold she went twice on the first day! Tuesday and Wednesday we were back to square 1 and Thursday she never had an accident! She even went twice during "school", co-op. Now, granted she would not let her teachers help her so I had to excuse myself from teaching art class to assist with this  matter, but hey, she was GOING ON THE POTTY!!!!!! She is quite proud of herself and gets upset when she realizes she has gone in her pull-ups and the pretty design has faded, gotta love the Huggies crew for thinking up the fading design thingy! Yesterday we were frantically trying to get everyone out the door on time to watch Julia's basketball game. I just knew I had to have her go then or I would miss my oldest child's game by spending time in the lovely girls' bathroom at school. The conversation that ensued went like this:

Me: "Lulu, do you have to go potty? Let's try to go potty before we leave."
Lulu: "No. I no have to go."
Me: "Are you sure?"
Lulu: "No"
Me: "Do you want to just try."
Lulu: "Well, ok, fine."
She proceeds to head to the bathroom then stops....
Lulu: "Wait I have to check my eemo (mirror) to see if I look good." She opens her little pink sparkly box with the mirror inside and "checks" herself.
Lulu: "Yep. I look good."
Me: laughs a little...because I mean who wouldn't chuckle at this?
Lulu: Cuts her eyes at me..."Don't laugh! I a superstar!" said very firmly!

Oh my. My little superstar. You keep me on my toes. You keep me humble. You add so much joy and spirit to our home. I can't imagine our lives without you....potty trained or not!

On a side note......I visited the school restroom several times during the game with no results but a very in depth conversation about the workings of the toilet paper dispenser and the sliding door lock that just fascinated her! Thank goodness Julia's team beat their opponents by 40 points! I WILL be getting a babysitter for future games :)


Francine...wouldn't she make you want to sit awhile?

Friday, January 3, 2014

Our holiday in pictures


Christmas Eve getting ready to read "The Night Before Christmas"


Waiting to "attack" the gifts that await unsuspectingly at the bottom of the stairs and just around the corner!









Time for stockings



Blazen loved his new rope....it was shredded 2 minutes later!


This makes me laugh.....this headband was Sam's gift to Lulu...she wore it for hours this way....with the big blue Cherokee tag still on and sticking up! I laughed every time she ran by me!


Opening gifts from Nana and Poppy who always come and have lunch with us Christmas Day.


She was cracking herself up here....and everyone else!


My sweet Jaida just gets prettier and prettier! She asked for her 2 front teeth for Christmas but Santa did NOT deliver!




The girls got hats from my parents.



We celebrated on the 26th with Will's family. Some fun cousin time. Two peas in a pod..Anna and Jaida!







All the cousins on a cold southern day!



Ringing in the New Year with our awesome neighbors! Food, fun and fireworks...and we didn't have to go anywhere!
Hope your holidays were wonderful, warm and cozy and spent with those who bless your lives!