HAPPY HALLOWEEN~BIRTHDAY! 2010

HAPPY 36TH BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME HUSBAND DANNY! (Of course his b-day has already past....since I am posting this blog post way late!) We had a great Halloween! We always seem to do the same thing every year on Danny's birthday! That is, eat cake and take the kids trick-or-treating! Thankfully he doesn't seem to mind! He knows that someday they will all be grown and too old to trick-or-treat. Kendall and Terry always come over on Halloween and enjoy our little celebration! Danny's mom "Freda" and his sister "Donna" also came over to visit! They always take time to come see Danny on his birthday, and it means alot to him! Brennan and Ivey picked out a Ghostbusters shirt from Target that they wanted dad to wear on his birthday! It was perfect for him since he likes to watch Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters, and other similar shows that air on A&E, History and Travel channels. Of course, the kids have never seen those shows...it would probably scare Brennan to death! Ivey on the other hand will probably love shows like that when she gets old enough to watch!

Mylah was so sick on Halloween. She started running fever late that afternoon, and just did not feel good at all! I did not even put on her costume. She rode in her stroller the whole time and just enjoyed watching all the people walking around! Hopefully next year she can join in the fun of collecting candy! Our neighborhood is super fun on Halloween! There are TONS of people roaming around! We have many neighbors who go all out with the decorations! We even have a few "haunted" houses! Brennan and Kendall were sooo chicken this year! Ivey was the only one of them who went through the scariest haunted house in the neighborhood to get some candy! That child will do anything for candy! LOL Danny wanted a cheesecake this year for his birthday, so we ate cake and took the girls door to door. I had to work that night, but one of my wonderful co-workers (Teresa M.) stayed late for me so I could spend time with my family!

~Amber

PUMPKIN PATCH~OCTOBER

It is a tradition of ours to go to the pumpkin patch each year to take pics of the kids in their costumes! We also pick out a few pumkins to bring home to carve and decorate with. Ivey and Mylah had fun picking out lots of baby pumpkins! Ivey was a Sparkle Witch this year and Mylah dressed as Tinkerbell! Brennan had some other plans this year and did not go to the patch with us. She was having a good time at a farm enjoying a bon fire, and haunted hay ride with lots of her great friends! Here are some pics of us enjoying the pumpkins!

Blessings~

Amber

MEETING OUR FRIENDS!

There is a lady named "CoCo" that I met on an online adoption support group long ago! We became online friends and were always sharing valuable adoption advice with one another. We "met" long before our babies (Mylah and Blake) joined our families. We were lucky enough to get to follow one anothers amazing adoption journey through our blogs and emails to one another. We always knew we would meet in person someday! That someday finally happened back in Sept.! Mylah and I drove to CoCo's house to meet up with her and Blake! The drive is only a little over an hour, so we are hoping to visit each other once or twice a year. I had a great time talking with CoCo and having coffee while the babies played! Here are some pics of them together! I love connecting and getting to meet other families like our own. I think it is important for Mylah to see that there are similar families out there! Sometimes, due to the stares we get, it starts to feel like we are few and far between. I know this is not true though, and it is great to meet these other families face to face! CoCo has 3 children, all boys. Her oldest son is biological, the middle son was adopted from China, and her youngest son was adopted from the U.S. Her family is even more "mixed" than mine, and I like being able to go to her for advice from time to time! I'm so glad she invited Mylah and I over for a visit!

~Amber

We've Come A LONG Way Baby!!!

When in doubt....stick a giant bow in it like we do here in the South! Or there is always the trusty Hannah Montana wig!

I was looking back at pictures recently. I have began scrap-booking again, because I am WAY behind! I am embarrassed to even say how far behind I am! LOL Anyway, I have been going through tons of pictures. I began looking at the different styles I have tried on Mylah's hair. Some of them make me laugh now, and some make me proud! :) Just thought that you might want to look at how much I have learned during this first year! I learned everything I know from the internet...youtube videos and adoption forums that I have become a member of. I did another post on haircare a few weeks ago where there are links to some of my favorite sites for haircare. The styles I typically do on Mylah take less than an hour. I could get them done much faster if she would cooperate and sit still! LOL I normally can leave the style in for 3-4 days.

I take Mylah's hair pretty serious. I can't just throw it in a pony-tail like I can Brennan and Ivey's. No one thinks anything negative of me if I just brush Bren and Ivey's hair out and do not bother to style it at all. Their hair can look a mess, and I just don't think anyone cares one way or the other! LOL Black hair and its care is deeply rooted in African American identity and culture. There is a sense of pride and art in black hair care that I never even knew existed before adopting Mylah. It is part of her culture, and I want to honor Mylah's birth heritage by learning all I can about black hair care. In the AA community, hair styling is also a time of bonding. Mylah doesn't appreciate this bonding time at her age! She would rather be romping around playing then spending 30 minutes-1 hour on her hair style! I have high hopes for us though. I can imagine us popping in a movie and chatting away for hours while I style her hair in beautiful braids, cornrows, twists, micro-braids, or whatever I can create! I am really enjoying trying new things on her hair. I can't wait till she gets longer hair so I can really experiment!

Peace~

Amber

BIRTHDAY PHOTOS

Here are pics I had taken of the girls in June. Ivey had her 6 year old pics done and Mylah had her 1 year old ones taken. Mylah did not enjoy it much at all....but here are the pics that she was smiling in! LOL

~Amber

HAIRCARE!

I am passionate about learning to do Mylah's hair! People are always looking at her styles and asking me if I fixed her hair! LOL Sometimes I get compliments and sometimes I get tips on how I can improve my technique! I appreciate both! People often ask me how I learned to do her hair...I always tell them that I watched youtube videos! Then they laugh!!! I am serious though....everything I have learned came from 2 places. One is the youtube videos done by Katelynlyn (look her up there....she is AMAZING!). You can go to this GREAT site www.keepmecurly.com and find a link to the youtube videos by Katie. The other place I learn from is a Yahoo group about AA skin and haircare. It is called adoptionhair_skincare. I have ordered some cute beads and snaps from www.snapaholics.com .
I am all about natural haircare! I like to use organic, natural products in Mylah's hair, and these sites help me learn how to do just that! Some of the chemicals I try to avoid are: petroleum, mineral oil, parabens, silicone, and sulfates. There are others too that I am probably not thinking of right now! One of my favorite hair care products is virgin coconut oil! It smells divine and is sooo good for your hair and skin! Mylah's hair loves it! I also use Tate's conditioner at times. Tate's family makes a ton of natural, healthy products for hair and skin....including makeup and sunscreen! You can find their products here: www.trulypureandnatural.com . Some other good products for skin are cocoa butter and Shea butter. Mylah has eczema, so I have had alot to learn about caring for sensitive skin! Hope this article can help someone else!
Peace,
Amber

Cross Your Heart and Pray for Hope - Video

Cross Your Heart and Pray for Hope - Video (CLICK ON LINK HERE)

This is a beautiful song written by a friend of mine (David Hughes) and his band Mithril. This song was written in response to the oil spill here on the Gulf Coast. The oil spilled into God's wonderful creation for 85 days....polluting the ocean and beaches and killing so much wildlife. As of about 2 days ago, BP has finally placed a cap over the area that was leaking tremendous amounts of oil every day. Right now we continue to pray that the cap holds, so that focus can be placed on the cleanup and saving the wildlife. Please take a minute to enjoy this incredible song and video. The video has pictures of many cute kids playing on our beaches and in the ocean they love! There are pics of all 3 of my kids in the video, which makes it even more special for me! Enjoy!
P.S.~Thank you David and Mithril....you all did a wonderful job with this! So many Gulf Coast residents can really enjoy and appreciate your thoughtfulness when putting this together!
Blessings,
Amber

STRANGE CAT!

Ivey got in trouble when the baths first started happening b/c I kept thinking she was putting him in the tub! She would tell me he fell in or got in and I didn't believe her!

Then one day I found him bathing with our swimsuits that I was washing in the tub!

We have this really strange cat! His name is Jinx. He is a Bengal cat. It is a domestic cat, but they originally made this breed by mixing an Asian Leopard cat with a domestic cat. Therefore, it looks like a leopard, and acts like a regular house cat. Except....there are a few odd behaviors! The main thing is that many of them love water. Ours happens to be one of them! They also have a very odd sounding "meow". I can't explain it, you would just have to hear it! Our cat sortof acts like a dog. He is more dog-like than cat-like! He loves to be around people. He is always underfoot! He will greet you at the door. He is very vocal...too vocal! He likes alot of attention, and does not prefer to just lie somewhere and be left alone like many cats do. He loves to bathe with anyone he can jump in the tub with! There have been days where he has had 3 baths in 1 day! I must admit that it is getting very old having to get him out of the tub and dry him off! It's like having another kid! There are many youtube videos about this breed of cat. They are hilarious and if you have children you should let them watch! They will be very entertained! Here are some pics of our cat taking his baths! I have some funny pics of him taking a bath with the kids! They love to take a bath with him!

~Amber

4th of July!

This post is a little late! This year we didn't do much for the 4th. We went to the swim club for a while. They were cooking out so we ate there. There were lots of pool games for the kids and music too! When we got home we had cold watermelon...how could we celebrate the 4th without it?!

We've spent many 4th of July holidays at the beach, which is my favorite way to spend it! This year it is just too depressing on our beaches. Oil and tar balls are in the sand and water. The Gulf of Mexico is not safe to swim in now! The marine life has been devastated. It's very sad. Here is one blog about the oil spil if you are interested in learning more. http://www.gulfblog.uga.edu/

This will not impact just the Gulf Coast...but much of the country! You can also go to youtube to see some video footage.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few pics. I also want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to all the men and women who have fought, and are fighting for our freedom!!!

Peace,

Amber