Waldo's Wonderful World

The Great Wall

2011-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

I was so excited the day we went to see the Great Wall. I have been wanting see the GW since we arrived in China. It was my favorite day. When I taught 5th grade, I loved teaching the chapter on China and the Great Wall. I can't believe that I finally got to see it. We arrived and I was in awe. To think that people built this hundreds of years ago without the modern tools of today is just unbelievable.

The first thing was saw as we began our adventure were the locks hanging on the side of the wall. Our guide told us that people used to be able to get married on the wall and they would hang a lock to symbolize their "locked" love. I wish I had remember this. I would've brought a lock and placed it among the others.

Next, we started our climb. We could see three or four towers on the mountain and we made that last tower that we could see our goal. We wanted to make it to the top tower. As we began our climb, we could already tell that this trip was going to be hard. Immediately it was steep and the steps were tall. As we made it to the first tower, we were already out of breath. Well, mom and I were.

Our climb ahead

Stopped at the first tower

Mom and me climbing. It was hard and very steep.

Ronny and Joseph

At the second tower, Joseph was finished. He stayed behind with our guide. She took him back down to the bottom to play. We kept climbing to the third tower and mom decided she was finished. So, it was just me and Ronny. We continued to climb and finally made it to our goal. But, once we got there we realized that there were two more towers after that. It killed Ronny to think about coming this far and not finishing. He wanted to continue so I trudged along behind him. Out of breath and moaning the whole way.

Leaving Joseph behind

This sign cracked me up. It was saying not to climb on the outside of the towers, but I always joked that the GW was dangerous and we weren't supposed to climb it.

There was a large wall where everyone signed their names.

This sign was hilarious too!

As we were climbing the last two towers of this section of the GW, I suddenly realized that I REALLY had to go to the bathroom. We had passed two bathrooms on the way that were disgusting and I didn't want to use them but they were nothing compared to the last bathroom that we came to. I didn't go in, but Ronny said that he stuck his head in the building and thought he was going to puke. Obviously, it is never cleaned. So I decided to hold it.

Our view from the top. We finally made it!

Two little buildings off to the side of the wall. We don't know what these were.

We Made It!

I knew I was going to be sore after this, but I didn't realize how sore. I have never been so sore in my life! My right leg hurt the worst. Sometimes, it would even give out on me as I was walking and I would almost fall down. Even four days after the climb, it was still hurting and giving out on me. But, I can now say that I've climbed the great wall. I am so blessed to have had that experience. Aside from Gotcha Day, this was my favorite day in China!

Video of us at the top of the Great Wall of China.

What It's REALLY Like In Beijing, China Part 2

2011-02-20T00:31:00.000-08:00

8. Paper products are a luxury here. We read that you sometimes have to pay for toliet paper and soap in public bathrooms. We have not had to do this yet, but we have used bathrooms that have the toliet paper outside of the stalls instead of inside. Restaurants do not give large napkins like they do in the states. Their napkins are more like the small square napkins that we serve with cake at birthday parties, but much thinner. Or they give out travel size kleenexes for a napkin.

9. We get a lot of stares when Ronny carries Joseph on his shoulders. People here don't carry their kids that way. They mostly just hold them.

10. The bathrooms in China are disgusting. They think it is gross to sit on a toilet seat that others have also sat on. So they have what are called squatty potties. It's like a flat toilet in the ground that they stand over and do their business. I haven't had to use one yet but I have taken Joseph to the restroom and he has used them. They are nasty. There is always pee all over the ground around the potty. They think it's gross to sit on seat and I think it's gross to step in pee! Yuck!

11. The pollution in Beijing is so thick it looks like it is foggy all the time outside. Because of the pollution and the excessive smoking here, people spit constantly on the ground. Nasty!

That is not fog that you see. It is pollution.

12. Squatty potties have to be the grossest thing that I have seen here. But the 2nd grossest are split pants. Some families don't potty train there children as early as we do and they dress them in split pants. These pants have a slit from back to front where they can just squat and go. But they don't take them to the restroom to go. The just squat whenever they get the urge. Yes, right on the sidewalk! We saw a little girl do this at the children's park inside the zoo. Nasty! On a slightly different note, as we were walking down the street, I saw a mom tell her son who was about 7 or 8 to go pee by the fence. So he walked right over there and did his business. Right next to the street.

13. It gets to cold here that you will often see two girls walking arm in arm. They do this, obviously, to stay warm. I thought it looked sweet.

14. The hotel escalator runs at a slow speed until someone gets on it. Then it speeds up to what would be normal speed.

What It Is REALLY Like In Beijing, China Part 1

2011-02-17T00:49:00.000-08:00

This post is to tell you all about the everyday life in China and about the things that are different than they are back in the states.

1. Traffic - If you have ever been to NYC, then you have experience bad traffic. Well, that is nothing compared to the traffic in Beijing. Just like in NYC, there are tons of taxis and hardly any trucks. But, here the biggest thing on the road gets the right of way. You may be thinking, "That sounds right." Keep in mind that people are included in this. Yep, that's right. People better watch what's going on around them or they might get squashed! Drivers often honk at people who are crossing the street and are in their way. People are not even safe on sidewalks. We have seen cars driving and parking on some sidewalks. We haven't noticed how to determine which ones are car free and which ones aren't. We still have not figured out all the rules of driving around here. They seems to switch lanes without any reason. As they turn a curve, they may drive into two different lanes than they were originally in. There are many intersections that only have traffic lights on one of the two streets in the intersection. We still haven't figured out how the street without the traffic light figures out when to stop and go.

2. Fireworks - These Chinese New Year ended the week before we arrived. But fireworks are still around to celebrate. Every evening we hear them booming from all directions. Sometimes we see them out our window and sometimes we can't. Mostly because they are being shot from the middle of the streets and the buildings are blocking our view. They even shoot them off during the day. Which we haven't figures out why. Joseph is so used to hearing them that he never flinches or desires to look at the sound when he hears them from our room. We did see a guy shooting some off as we were walking down the road and he had quite a lot to say about them and he covered his ears.

3. Cleanliness - They are very into keeping appearance of being clean. I say it this was because the people themselves litter but the city has street cleaners who keep the streets clean. They do a great job, but I still see litter on the ground. The hotel maids clean our rooms several times a day. We know this because we like to keep the windows open in our room and every time we leave and come back to our room the windows are closed. However, they don't vacuum unless we ask them too. Ronny forgot his toothbrush at home so he has been using the free one that comes in the hotel bathroom. Today, we came in to find it in the trashcan and they gave him a new one. I guess they thought he had used it to much and it was dirty. LOL! They are really into recycling here. There are recycle bins instead of trash cans all over the city.

4. Every thing here in China is a lot cheaper than in the states. $1 = 6.5yuan. So when we exchange our money we feel like we are rich. The first day we exchanged $200 and got about 1400yuan in return! We bought a Toy Story 1 movie from Walmart and paid $2 (USA). We can go out to eat and feed our whole group for about $4 per person. It only cost about $3 to take a cab across town.

Only $2!

5. Ronny has found his new love, shopping in China markets! lol! He loves to negotiate the prices which is what is expected in Chinese markets. They always start with a ridiculously high price and our guide, Veronica, said to start the bargaining at less the half the price they started with. So if they tell you an item costs 85yuan, you come back a say that you will pay 40 yuan. Then go from there. Ronny is really good about sticking to the price he wants to pay. He doesn't go much higher than half of the original price. Then he walks away and the salesman will call him back and give the item to him at the price he wants. He bought a new wallet for 35 yuan and their starting price was 180yuan. 35yuan=$5. Then they told Ronny that he was a tough bargainer and that he had big muscles. Ha ha!

6. We've been told that it is not polite to stare at people in China. However, we get stares constantly! We were at Walmart and Joseph was sitting in the seat of the shopping cart. As we passed a lady, she strongly stared at us for a while and then started asking me a question. Veronica, told us she was asking why we were pushing a Chinese boy in our cart. lol! Veronic said that people hear don't understand adoption, but when this lady heard that we adopted him, she told us we were good Americans.

7. Chinese people do not like to be cold so inside the buildings it is like 75-80 degrees.

The Best Valentine's Day Gift Ever!

2011-02-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

Today Joseph officially became our son. We went to the Chinese Consulate and finished all the paperwork. We wanted to take pictures but they wouldn't let us. So I thought that I would take a picture of the certificate and post it. Well, we won't get it until tomorrow. Oh well.

Happy Valentine's Day to us! Joseph Baojiang Waldo is part of our family.

Gotcha Day!

2011-02-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

I will never forget today as long as I live! Wow! Thank you God for giving us such a wonderful Gotcha Day. We left at 9:30 this morning to go to Joseph's orphanage to get him. Our nerves and anticipation were at their max. We arrived at huge, beautiful building that was newer than what I had anticipated. We were taken to large room which looked like a waiting room. It had chairs that circled the room with end tables between them and a large empty space in the middle of the room. They brought him in as we were finishing up some paperwork and he immediately started crying. He cried for quite awhile. They ended up moving him around the corner where he couldn't see us. They talked to him for awhile, but you can tell when they mentioned us being his mama and papa but the would cry harder. It was really sad. I tried giving he a toy and he said, "I don't want it" They told him to come and see us just for 2 minutes and he agreed. They brought him to us and he reluctantly sat with us. The whole time he kept saying "2 minutes, then I want to go upstairs." Our guide talked to him for a long time with us. By this point, he was sitting in Ronny's lap, eating a hot dog and still crying. We started playing with the dinosaurs and the cars I brought by balancing them on his knee. He would knock if off (probably because he wanted us to stop) and we would laugh and do it again. We kept doing this and eventually he started laughing about it too. Soon, he started playing with the cars too. We crashed cars and dinosaurs for a long time. As we took pictures we would show them to him and decided he wanted to look at all the pictures on my mom's camera. So we let him and that led him to want to take pictures himself. After he took several pictures, our guide told him that we should go outside and he could take pictures of the snow. He agreed and that how we got him to leave with us. From that point on it has been smooth sailing.

We left the orphanage and drove to the hotel. We played for a few minutes in our room and left to go to McDonald's for lunch. He doesn't seem to be picky at all with his food. Our guide told us that his meals for different each week and so he is used to a variation of food. After McDonald's we went to a market to get him some gloves and a hat. We spent the afternoon in the room playing and went to the mall for dinner. He told us that he liked that food better than McDonald's.

That night he slept very well. He cried just a little when we went to bed but he was so tired from not getting a nap that he fell asleep fast. He seems to be a hard sleeper. He didn't wake up at all during the night.

We are having the time of our lives! He is the sweetest and funniest little boy. He makes us laugh all the time even when we can't understand him. When he smiles, he wrinkles his nose and it melts our hearts. He is a very happy little boy and very smart. On the bus we were asking him if he liked the name Joseph. He said, "No, my name is Chang Bao Jiang" Our guide told him that his name translates to Joseph. He was ok with it, but still doesn't like it." The bus driver told him, "When you here us say, Joseph, you need to answer" Bao Jiang said, "Drive your bus". ha ha! He is very funny.

Day 1

2011-02-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

We are here! We finally made it to China. Our two flights here were the longest 14 hours that I have ever spent. But praise the Lord, we made it safely and with all our luggage! Today we had a free day to rest and recuperate. Ronny is bound and determined to get us lost in Beijing. Since our guide was touring with two other families who are not on the same schedule as we are, she was not around to help us. So, Ronny planned our day. I took my first taxi ever and we went to see the Beijing Olympic Buildings. It was just as majestic as we remember seeing on TV 3 years ago. We toured the Bird's Nest, the Olympic Aquatics Center and walked around the massive Olympic area they built for the 2008 Olympics. Inside the bird's nest they were having some sort of winter festival. There was so much to do inside. They had snow hills, a life sized ice maze, ropes course, and bumper boats on ice. We decided not to spend the money to do all of it because we are planning to go back and take Joseph.

After spending the morning sight seeing, we came back to the hotel and ate lunch. Most restaurants serve their food family style so we ordered four different dishes. We like 3 out of the 4. Not bad! My favorites were what we would call Pot Stickers in America and a beef and noodle dish that tasted a lot like roast beef.

We are staying at the Poly Plaza. It is a nice hotel but as expected it is very hot in our room. We have turned the air off and opened the windows. It is in the 30’s outside but we are still hot because the outside air doesn't circulate much into our room. The hotels here have all the amenities that we have at home. Ours has a computer, flat screen TV, a hair dryer and a mini-fridge. The beds are super hard. Every hotel that I have stayed at in the US has had hard beds, but they do not compare to the ones in China.

If every day that we are here is like today, we are going to have a great time! Today was great. So far the worst part of the trip was the flight. We are meeting with our Guide, Veronica, (who we love!) tonight to discuss the details of Gotcha Day tomorrow. I can't wait to meet Joseph and make him part of our family.

Mom's room is across the hall. We can leave our doors open and talk to each other.

Our Icy Frozen World

2011-02-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Well, there are only 9 days left until we leave for China and God is trying to prepare us for the cold weather. Today it is 26* and the ground is covered in a blanket of ice. So we did what we do best in Texas, we closed the schools. Snow Day!!!! Yippee!!! As expected, Will wanted to go outside and play. So we bundled up and headed out into the freezing, icy world outside. It took lots of layers to be warm enough.

1st Layer!

2nd Layer!

3rd Layer!

(Can you tell that Katelyn is getting tired of pictures)

Then we put our coats on and head out. It was sooo windy. We only stayed outside for about 5 minutes. Even Will was ready to come in. They both had red, rosy cheeks and Rudolph the Reindeer noses by the time we can in. Here are a few pictures of the ~~snow~~ ice.

This last picture is of all our clothes after we came inside and got undressed. It sure was a lot of work for just 5 minutes of playtime.

This Journey Finally Feels Real

2011-01-29T07:33:00.000-08:00

The time has finally come. After a loooong journey of paperwork and waiting and praying, our time to go to China, adopt our son and bring him home with us has finally arrived. I can't believe we will be leaving for China in only 12 days. We are overjoyed knowing that soon we will be able to meet and hold our son. I keep wondering how tall he is, what he sounds like when he talks, what his interests are. I wonder if he will like cars and stuffed animals like Will does. I also wonder how he will interact with his new brother and sister. All these questions will soon be answered!!! I often think "What if this was Will going through an adoption? How would I help him?" I just can't imagine the changes that Joseph is going to go through in such a short amount of time. All his senses are going to be working in overtime. We will also be experiencing a lot of changes. We welcome all the changes though. We are excited and nervous and can't wait to get there. We hope that the trip goes smoothly and that Joseph adjusts well. Please pray for him. I can't imagine how tough this will be for him.

I leave you with the only two pictures that we have of our son.

Thanks for reading. We will keep you updated!

Top Ten Things I Have Learned From My Friends

2010-06-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

1. How To Blog - Blogging was a new and scary thing for me to learn. Luckily, my friend Melissa walked me through the process which turned out to be one of the easiest things I've every learned. I still ask her questions all the time as I learn more about the blogging world and she is always patient with me and never makes me feel like my questions are silly or stupid. Thank you, Melissa. You are a great friend.

2. How To Work Hard - Just like her mom, Rachel, is a very hard worker. If it needs to be done she does it with all her heart and as best as she can. She doesn't waste any time and does things that need to be done as quickly as possible. She is always ready and willing to learn something new. Since she has had her children she has studied and passed the tests to become a realtor and a Special Ed teacher. Thank you, Rachel. You are a great friend.

3. Useful Advice - My friend, Michelle, is like a walking baby book. If she has wondered about it then she has read about it or looked it up online. If I'm curious about anything having to do with children then I can always ask her advice. Thank you, Michelle. You are a great friend.

4. To Enjoy Every Minute With My Kids - I don't have a lot of memories from when I was a kid. I'm not sure why, but I don't. My friend, Lisa, is a great mom and as I watch her be a mom she reminds me to constantly make memories with my kids. I really look up to her and ask her advice often. She has taught me to take time to just be with my kids and enjoy them. Play with them. Do the things they want to do. Listen to them. Thank you, Lisa. You are a great friend.

5. Go The Second Mile - The Bible tells us "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two." Matthew 5:41. Christi is the perfect example of this. She is always willing to help others no matter what. And she often does more than she is asked to do. She has not only been my friend, but for the last 3 1/2 years, she has been my boss. When you have a boss that goes the second mile for you, you love your job!!! Thank you, Christi. You are a great friend.

6. Walk With The Lord Daily - My friend, Melissa, is the perfect example of walking with the Lord. She serves him everyday with all her heart. She is a daily witness of our Lord and shows kindness everywhere she goes. She is a great example of taking up your cross daily. Thank you, Melissa. You are a great friend.

7. Teaching Strategies - I taught 5th grade for five years before I had my first child. My friend, Shelley, was my mentor teacher. She is a fabulous teacher! I just soaked up everything I could learn from her those five years. More than anything else, I learned from her to teach more than just the book work. Life lessons are way more important and will probably be remembered more. Thank you, Shelley. You are a great friend.

8. Patience - I have lost my temper with my children more than once. I hate to admit it, but I have. I don't always calm my self down before I discipline. My sister, Rebecca, is very patient with her daughter. She always takes her out of the room to discipline her. I like this technique. It gives me time to cool off as well as not embarrassing my children. I am trying to remember to do this more often. Thank you, Rebecca. You are a great friend and sister.

9. Be Merciful - My mom is a great mom. Of course, I didn't realize this until I became a mom myself. I remember all the times that I have said hurtful things to her and she would just turn around and walk away. There were so many times that I should have been punished for something but my mom chose to show mercy and grace. I want to be this way to my children. Because, as I am trying to be like my mom, I am also trying to be like Jesus. The Lord, daily, chooses to be merciful to me and give me grace. Thank you, Mom. I love you.

10. Unconditional Love - Ronny and I have known each other for 15 years. He has been my acquaintance, my friend, my boyfriend, my fiancé, and now my husband. We have had our great years together. And he still loves me. We have also had those not so good years. And he still loves me. We have shared secrets with each other that only God knew. And he still loves me. I know that he will love me know matter what I say or do. He has truly been sent by God to my husband and best friend. Thank you, Ronny. You are great friend and husband.

10 Words Will Mispronounces But Are So Cute!

2010-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

My son was an early mover but a late talker. He was army crawling at 5 months and crawling on his knees at 6 months. But, talking was a little more of a challenge for him. Because of this, he still struggles with some of his letters. He is improving every day, but these are some of my favorite mispronunciations.

First, names of family members. Lots of kids can't say family member's names correctly and what they come up with are very cute nicknames. Here are some of my sons best!

1. His cousin Sarah has been nicknamed "Setah".

2. My mom, Grammie, was a struggle so he says, "Gigi". (This may never be corrected. I like it!)

3. His sister, Katelyn - "Katewin"

4. And of course, our King of Kings, Jesus is called, "Keysus". :o)

Of course, my favorite words that he misspeaks are just normally everyday words.

5. Okay is "ohay". He has been doing this forever. He does say it correctly too. But every once in a while, ohay comes out again and I smile.

6. Thanks is "Kanks". When he says, "Kanks, Mama" out of the blue without being prompted, it melts my heart.

7. Open this is "ope this" - Once again, he can say "open this", but habits are hard to break.

8. Mailman is "mailguy" - He used to say firetruck guy, and police guy. The mailman is a new community helper that he has learned since we have started letting him get the mail. I guess it's easier to say mailguy.

9. This one is not a mispronunciation, but a wrong word that he uses. He calls mushrooms, "marshmellows". I have no idea where this came from. You should see the looks we get at the grocery store. Hee hee!

10. My favorite one... The one that makes me laugh every time... Monster truck is pronounced "Monster cock" Ha ha ha! Don't you just love it.

Please don't misunderstand me. I am not trying to make fun of my sweet boy. These little imperfections are some of my favorite parts of him. When he first started talking, any word that he mispronounced and then started to say correctly, a little part of me was sad because my little boy was growing up.

Do you have favorite words that your kids say? What are your favorites?

Do you have a Top Ten list.
Link up at Oh Amanda
http://ohamanda.com/about-2/top-ten-tuesday/

Will and Katelyn Update

2010-06-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I've blogged. I think Katelyn was 4 months old and now she is 11 months. I can't believe I've taken so long to get back to it. This past few months have been crazy busy and I'm so glad it is summer and time seems to slowing down. I think another reason I've been putting it off is because I get overwhelmed when I get behind on something. I kept thinking, "I've missed two months of my kids updates. I don't have time right now to do that" Soon it was 3 months, then 4 months. I just got so overwhelmed and so I just didn't do it at all. I finally had to tell myself to forget about making up those months and just start fresh. That makes things feel more doable.

Will turned 4 in April and he had such a fun birthday. My sister and I did a combo birthday for him and her daughter, Sarah (who turned 3 in May). We had their party at Build-A-Bear. They had a lot of fun, but it sure was a lot of work. I'm still at the point where I'm saying, "I'll never do that again." We'll see.... We had the cake and present part of the party in the food court of the mall. It was sooo loud in there. I felt like I was yelling to everyone and they still couldn't hear me. That part of the party was the reason why I can't imagine doing a party there again. But the kids had a great time and I know that is all that matters.

Will and Sarah giving there stuffed animals a bath.

Will and Transformer the Dog!

We had all the kids paint preemie diaper shirts for there stuffed animals.

(It was cheaper than buying all of them a shirt, and more fun too!).

Will has also started T-ball. He team is called the Angels. When he first heard that he said, "but Mommy, Angels are girls" Isn't it funny how kids pick up on these things even though we really have not ever talked about angels before. I just told him that the angels in the Bible have boy names and I told him about the angel that was at Jesus's resurrection. What do you think? Do you think angels have a gender? I tend to think that they don't.

My shy little boy who doesn't like getting his picture taken. ;)

I hate to admit that I don't have nearly as many pictures as I would like. I have a lot of videos though. It's hard to take pictures when I have to hold and entertain Katelyn also.

Katelyn is 11 months old now. I can't believe she is so big. I'm looking forward to her walking. She can stand on her own for a short time but she has not been brave enough to take a step. She will, however, walk anywhere she can holding on to something. She is a mess. She could have every toy she owns on the floor but she will only want the one dog toy or the one toy that is Will's that she can't have. She is just a doll though. So sweet and funny. She will wrinkle her nose to smile and she claps and says "Yea". I just love it. I can't believe that it took me so long to decide to have a 2nd child. What was I so afraid of? I've really come to realize why the Bible says that children are a gift from the Lord. He gives them to us and he will help us provide for them.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Katelyn from the last few months.

Will is sharing his ice cream with Katelyn. So sweet. He is really sweet to her.

I just love this picture.

Will decided to put his tent on top of Katelyn while she was in her excersaucer. The next picture shows them both under it.

I told you he was sweet to her. :)

Another favorite picture.

Kateyn and Will

2009-11-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Katelyn, you are 4 months old now, and Will, you are 3 years old.

Katelyn, you are now 14 lbs. and 21 in. long. You wear size 3-6 mo. clothes. You are doing so many fun things now. You have rolled over from your stomach to your back twice. You like to lay on the floor and look up at your toys. You try to get them in your mouth and you are often successful. You are cooing and trying to talk a lot and when you do I can see your tongue moving continuously. It is so funny. You have begun a new way of talking that sounds a lot like yelling. Your sure have found your high pitched voice! You also like your excersaucer. You have been playing in it since you were 3.5 months old. I know it was a little early to be putting you in it, but I was desperate for you to stop crying and none of your other toys were interesting to you. I tried your excersaucer and it worked like magic. You sat in it and looked at all your toys for about 10 minutes. Will enjoyed you sitting in it also. He just talked to you and showed you all the toys and how they worked. About a week later, I put you in it again and you actually played with the spinning toy. I was amazed. You still seemed too little to be able to play like that. It was not accidental. You actually reached out and spun the toy over and over. Very cool! You also like to lay on the floor and you will wiggle yourself around in a circle. You are starting to sleep through the night more, but sometimes you wiggle and squirm because you want your pacifier. Once I give it to you, you go right back to sleep. I have started giving you rice cereal before your last feeding of the night. You are eating it very well. So far it has not helped to keep from waking up for your pacifier at night, but I'm hopeful that soon it will.

Will, my big boy, you really need to stop growing. You are wearing 4T clothes and size 10 shoes. You are still way into sports. You have started a Sports For Shorties class at the Rec center. You absolutely love it! So far you have played soccer, football, kickball, ,and volleyball. You are learning to recognize your ABC's and numbers, which is a lot of fun for me to teach you. You can write your name although your W looks like a M and you call it "double S". You are started to talk more in complete sentences and say funny things. We just finished Halloween and you had so much fun getting ready for it. You always asked to go to the "scary guy store". We did go several times and unfortunately now you fight us to go to bed because you are afraid. You have had two bad dreams lately. When we asked you what you dreamed, you said, "A scary guy poked me on my face!" Ha! I'm sad that you are having bad dreams, but it is hilarious that your bad dream is that someone poked your face! One of your favorite things to do is box with your Daddy. When he comes home from work, you and him go into the bedroom and you "help" him change his clothes and then the two of you box each other. You probablly spend about 20 minutes boxing. You have also been going to high school football games with Daddy and Papa. You look forward to every Friday night and ask each day if you get to go. You also love to play with Sarah. You always want her to come over after school. You and Sarah love each other so much, but you two also know how to push each other's buttons and you fight all the time! But no matter how much you fight you still love to play with her.

I can't believe how much fun it is to be your Mommy. I love the both of you sooo much.

Love Dare Giveaway

2009-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. My friend Melissa is giving away a copy of the Love Dare. If you want to be entered to win, check out her blog. http://www.simplymelsblog.com/a-love-dare-giveaway/. I've been told it's a great book and can really strengthen your marriage. Check it out!

Our trip to the State Fair

2009-10-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, we all went to the State Fair. I absolutely love having family outings. I love watching Will do and learn new things and have fun at the same time. We had a great time. The first thing we did was go to the car show (of course) :) Will enjoyed getting in and playing in the cars. We also saw a dog stunt show, ate lots of junk food, the petting zoo, a kids pretend farm and saw a parade. Another fun thing that we did was we went to the backyard circus. This was great! The ring master chose kids to be apart of the circus. Will was chosen to be a tiger. He was given a T-shirt that said "tiger" on it and a tiger mask. I was so shocked that he actually wore them. There were other lions and tigers and a lion tamer was to tame them and make them lie down and play dead, show their terrible claws and jump through a fiery hoop (a hula hoop). Will did all of this. I couldn't believe it! Unfortunately, I didn't charge my camera battery before we left and I didn't get any pictures. We stayed all day and Will only had one meltdown. It was after his last ride. We let him ride four rides. Ronny took him on the Super Slide and he loved it, even though his face coming down had a concerned expression on it. I took him on a roller coaster and he did not like it at all. He almost cried the third time we went around the track. After that he rode the log ride and a race car ride. I can't believe how much fun I have just watching him have fun. It was a very long, but fun day.

Oh, and if you are wondering, yes, we took Katelyn too. She did great. She slept a lot, but when she was awake I either held her or we carried her in a sling. She was such a good girl at the fair.

Making Cupcakes

2009-09-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Will and I made cupcakes! He loves helping me in the kitchen. I haven't let him help with dinner yet, because I'm afraid of him touching the hot skillets and such, but I've let him make cookies and cupcakes. I am so surprised at how well he does. I let him try to crack open an egg and he did it perfectly! No shells at all. He added 2 eggs and I think that this will always be his job now when we are cooking! We only made 12 cupcakes and we had half the batter left. So, when we were licking the bowl (our favorite part), I decided to paint Will a little bit. He thought that was funny. Next time, I may let him go outside and paint himself with the leftover batter. (The 2nd picture is a close up of the 3 cupcakes that he frosted).

Katelyn Is Here

2009-09-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have realized that I have not announced Katelyn's birth to some family members. Oops! :) Katelyn Ruby Waldo was born on July 14, 2009 (my mom's birthday) at 8:30 a.m. She was 8 lbs, 4 oz and 21 in. long. The name Ruby is Ronny's mom's name. As you can tell both Grandma's are thrilled! We are having a great time with both our kids. Will just loves "his baby". He wants to hug on her, hold her and kiss her all the time. He is always asking me if "his baby" is ok. So sweet!

I am finally feeling back to my old self. For those of you who didn't know, four weeks after she was born I had to have my gall bladder removed. Since Katelyn was born by C-sec, that is two surgery's in a month! I am so thankful for having family so close. Ronny's sister, Rachel, stayed with Will and Katelyn during my surgery and Rebecca stayed with them while I was in the hospital. Will stayed with Ronny's parents for a fews days while I was at home recovering. What a blessing! But we all made it through. We are all well and loving every bit of our newest addition to our family. The Lord is good and gives us grace to make it through the hard times. And those hard times make us remember the blessings He gives us during the good times. We have so much to be thankful for!

ACTS Club

2009-09-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

Will turned 3 this year and he has begun Children's Church and ACTS Club (Activities, Character Training and Scripture). I have been looking forward to him beginning these clubs since he was born. Silly huh? I'm just excited for him to learn about Jesus! He has a lot of fun. His first ACTS Club class was this past Wednesday. His class is called The Promises. He IS a promise from God, isn't he! He has a book with a Bible verse, The Promise Motto (Jesus Loves Me) and The song Jesus Loves Me that he has to memorize. We are working on it. We are going to add this book work to our daily Bible reading. It is exciting to hear him talk about the stories we read. Yesterday he told daddy all about how Joseph's brother threw him in a hole and were mean to him! Jesus, please instill all that You can into my little boy. Help me to be the best model of You that I can be so that he will learn about You through me. Grow him into a wonderful young man who loves You.

I Will Never Forget September 11, 2001

2009-09-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

I was in school teaching 5th grade. It was my first year to teach. My lead teacher and the principal were out in the hall talking and called me out. They told me that two planes had flown into the twin towers. My first thought was that they were joking. My second was total fear. They told me not to tell my class just yet. How was I supposed to go on teaching and acting as if everything was normal? I didn't have to. When I walked back in the room Dr. Brooke (the administrator) was on the speaker telling the school what had happened. Parents began coming an getting their kids and all I could think was "I sure wish I could be with Ronny." I think I was able to get home that day before lunchtime. I remember thinking how I wish I could be with all my family at one time. To hold them, see them, touch them and to know that they are safe. September 11, 2001 was one of the scariest days of my life and I was here safe in Texas. I will always remember this day and I will be thinking of those who lost loved ones and those who risked their lives to help others. What a sad day in our history. I am proud of those who worked and still are working to keep us safe. I am proud to be an American! We live in the best country of all!

Tell me about your experience on that day.

My Sweet Katelyn

2009-09-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is 7 weeks old this week and weighs 10lbs, 4oz. Yes, she is my tiny little girl. She is such a good baby. She has slept at least 5-6 hours at night since we brought her home from the hospital. She has started staying awake more between naps and this week she has started smiling. I love her sweet smile. It just makes me want to talk to her all the time. Will just laughs and laughs at her when she smiles at him. He loves her so much, but I think he is ready for her to get bigger so he can play with her.

Will's Haircut

2009-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Will got a horrible, horrible haircut from Great Clips. The top of his hair was all different lengths and you could see lines across the top of his hair. It was bad. Anyway, we decided to shave it off very short. He loves this look. He laughs when I rub his head and call him 'fuz head'. The first night it was shaved he said, "My hair looks like Katelyn's!" He's my funny little guy!

My New Blog

2009-09-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yes! I am now one of the millions of blog writers in the world. I must admit that I have no idea what I am doing. LOL! I will learn as I go. I want to start this blog to document my children's lives. Kind of like an online scrapbook. I hope this can be a way for family to stay in touch. Isn't the internet cool!