Lila's 1st Christmas and Jake turns 7!!!!!!

Yes I know that it has been a while since I have posted anything here but not much happened before Christmas and since we were in SC for the past 10 days enjoying the family and weather the opportunity never came up. So first of all Lila loved Christmas she was so excited to open gifts that she unwrapped the box and move on to the next. She had no idea that items were inside the box. She was a lot of fun to watch! Jake also celebrated his 7th B-day a little early so all the family could attend. Grandma & Grandpa Bob, Aunt Krystina, Grandaddy Stark & and Aunt Nana all came for the big celebration!! Then the most anticipated news on the rouge tooth..... it finally gave in to all the pressure on Dec. 30th.Jake was officially 7 when he lost his 1st tooth and now the another is loose. We actually had a bit of an intervention with the tooth. We decided to tie a string around it and put in on the door knob and when that didn't work Scott hog tied that tooth and gave a quick tug and Jake was sooooo excited. He jumped up and down and ran to the bathroom to catch a glimpse of his new smile and immediately saw blood and ran back to the kitchen sounding the "blood" alarm. He rinsed his mouth a few times and all was good and he continued to celebrate his milestone with pride!!! We have it all on video!!! We had a great time in SC and the weather was just beautiful for the most part the kids even decided to jump in the ocean and yes it was cold, very cold, but it didn't seem to bother any of the delusional children.

Santa's "Little Helper" moves in!!!

Well as you can see Santa sent one of his helper elves, Bob,( no offense to you grandpa Bob; Jake took the reins naming our new roommate!!) to keep an eye on the Stark kids and report any naughty behavior directly to Santa!! So Bob the Elf uses his magic to move around the house everyday and take LOTS of notes for Santa! Bob will be coming to stay for the Christmas holiday from now on! Santa knows we need some intimidation tactics around here!!!

Stark's Christmas Tree

We picked up our tree Tues and had fun decorating it. This is Lila's first Christmas and so far like everything else she loves it!! Since she came home in July she has hit several holidays and 5 birthdays so she thinks life is a party!! The kids all picked out new ornaments this year Cade choose R2-D2, Jake a race car and Lila cute little Hello Kitty's... and they are so cute! We are looking forward to spending Christmas in Charleston with Gigi & Pop-pop with special guest appearance from Grandma & Grandpa Bob, Krystina and Grandaddy Stark and hopefuly Aunt Nana( please come)... even Mable and Lao can't wait to board the Quest!!! We are so happy to have Lila home this year and have our whole family together (finally)!!! Tomorrow is our first post-adoption visit with our social worker Leslie. I can't wait for her to meet Miss Lila!!!!China requires 2 visit at 6mos and 12mos.
Oh and yes the kids are shaving. Last Sunday before church it was VERY quite so I searched out my family to find all of them shaving. Tears came to my eyes as the years had flashed before me.... they were all very serious... and NO they were not using blades!! (In this day and time I feel that I must post all the facts before Dept of Children services are on my doorstep!!!!)
Still no tooth news!!! Jake's rouge tooth seems to be taking it's time fallingout ... anyone shocked! We will be sure to keep this audience posted on any new progress!

Thanksgiving Fun

We had a great Thanksgiving with Grandma & Grandpa Bob! The kids were happy to get to spend some time with their grandparents and so were Scott and I. Thanksgiving Day was beautiful and even was able to sit out on the deck and enjoy the sunshine and for that I was very thankful because we all know those days are numbered around here! Our dinner was a success and all was happy. Before I get any hate mail LILA IS NOT DRINKING WINE!!! so don't worry about her sobriety. Hope everyone had a great day and got to spend it with family and friends. Next up Christmas Tree!! Also I forgot to mention Lila was giving away complimentary manicures and Scott was persuaded to accept and WOW Lila did a very modern job!
UPDATE: Jake's tooth is still loose(if you can believe that it's
been over a month!!)we are patiently awaiting it's surrender!

Next up.....Turkey Time

Not much happening here in Charles Town just waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Bob to come and spend Thanksgiving with us and for that we are very thankful!! They will be here next Wed and the kids are excited to see them. It's a bit chilly here right now it went from 70 to 40 in 1 day(ugh) I guess I don't need to explain my feelings about being cold. We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and will post pics of our feast soon!!

Lila's Birthday/Baptsim Weekend!!!

Well as you can see Lila had a busy weekend.I am so happy to be able to spend her 3rd B-day with her and hope she loved being the B-Day girl. We all got to hear about it for the past 4 days. Gigi and Pop-pop came to take part in the 2 big events which meant alot to all of us. On Friday we went to the Japanese Restaurant and had a great time and all the kids ate like little champs( yes I know that is not hard to believe when Cade and Lila are involved)!! The restaurant had many B-Day celebrations going on while we were there but none as adorable as our little 3 year old! She even got an extra dessert with a candle which Jake & Cade attacked and lucky she allowed the "sharing" to pursue! Of course the camera was sitting at home wondering why she was left upon the counter during such an important event. Saturday we had a few people over for the cake and the present portion of her B-day and boy did she understand what a present was!! She was ripping through those packages like a real pro and it was so fun to watch but of course my camera battery died out of spite so I took some video. That brings us to the most important event of the weekend Lila's Baptism. I have really been excited about this for some time and was happy she could be baptised in the same church as her brothers and father. I had a dress made months ago just for this occasion and Scott and I gave her a beautiful cross and my parents a sterling bangle to remember the special day. So we got church all dressed and ready for the ceremony. Prior to leaving the house we gave the call for all to engage in a parting potty break where no one took advantage of.... this will come up later in the story. Jake has been sick all morning and had come into our room last night with a fever so he was just barley conscious getting to church and we didn't want to do ANYTHING to get him upset(my poor boy). The service started and Pastor John began his sermon..all was well. We are called to the front of the pulpit for the baptism. The pastor begins and I notice Cade is bending over, crouching on the floor and demonstrating the universal stance for " I need to use the bathroom". So he announces his intentions and runs out of the church to the bathroom minutes pass and here comes Cade pants unbuttoned and unzipped sweater tucked into his underwear/pants ready to stand up for his sister. Well my father is mouthing from the pew "His pants" and they are both trying to keep from laughing as so are we and the rest of the congregation!!! So Scott fixed the problem and Pastor John completed the ceremony! Lila was great throughout the whole ceremony and even poor sick Jake wanted to stand up for his sister. So all was well this weekend in the Stark house.

Halloween 08

The kids have been so excited for Halloween, even Lila who has no real idea what is going on with all the decoration and adults dressing up like witches and cats. Scott took Cade yesterday to the pumpkin patch with his class but forgot the camera. I know Cade loved having his dad their with him after all he is a daddy's boy! So Jake came running off the bus to see when we were going trick or treating and I had to break it to him that we couldn't go until 6:00. He was also excited to get his monthly reward for getting stickers for every day at school for Oct. and his dreams of the red Bakagun were made a reality! And yes Cade is just like Scott and can not take a picture without making some kind of crazy face!!