How to NOT Say No

So Monday night, I am sitting at my computer, minding my own business after Holly went to bed, when the phone rang. The caller, Cindy, introduces herself and says "I got your name from X." For a fleeting moment, I want to groan and never forgive X, because I know what Cindy is going to ask me.

Cindy and I speak for about 30 minutes and by the end of the conversation, I have basically committed to hosting a foreign exchange student this school year. She emailed me information on several girls from different countries for me to choose who to host. By the time I got off the phone with her, I was interested.

She emailed me the pictures right away and I emailed her back with my choice. At that point, I was happy with my decision. Then I filled out the paperwork, went to my boss (the school principal) the next day and said "Guess what I'm doing?" He happily signed the papers for her to come to our school. The students are excited that we will have a girl foreign exchange student because we have only had boys for the last 6 years or so.

Then, I had to start shoveling out the playroom/spare room/junk accumulation room. Wednesday evening, the exchange student's brother called from Madison, Wisconsin where he goes to college just to thank me and express the family's gratitude. How nice is that? Cindy came and did a home visit late Wednesday night and brought a twin bed for me to put in the room. The room is almost cleaned out all the way; I just need to get a few more boxes of books out of the closet. By Wednesday evening, I am truly excited about this idea!

I don't know exactly when we will meet the new addition to our household at the airport yet. Hopefully, I will hear very soon, because now I really am looking forward to hosting her far more than I ever imagined I would! I want her to get here soon! Of course, it takes a little time to make flight arrangements, but she may arrive as early as Labor Day.

I have thought for some time about hosting an exchange student, but I planned for it to be several years from now, when Holly is a bit older. I am looking forward to this strange turn of events, though. I guess since I have gotten a major thing or two off of my "to do" list this summer, I am just adding something major in my life back onto my plate. But its going to be major fun & excitement, and full of new experiences for us all!

Odd how our lives and our attitudes can change so drastically from Monday to Thursday, isn't it?

Catching Up

I'm not quite sure where the time has gone, but this month has flown by! I have been trying to post for over a week, and keep having technical difficulties, so I am glad that I was finally able to get something up before school starts.

For those of you who are keeping track, I finally finish my Masters!!! Which means that I got that dreaded thesis done and turned in. I just got a letter telling me that I completed my oral exams...like I wasn't there and didn't know that already? Anyway, the dark cloud has now lifted and I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulders now that it is completed.

After working all summer on that, I had about two weeks of freedom before going back to work. Of course, the time filled up quickly. Last weekend, Holly and I walked in the Relay for Life. My parents came over and also joined the fun. Here is Holly taking a little rest with Nana.


For every lap you walk in the Relay, you can pick up a paper clip to keep track of how far you walked. Each paper clip represents 1/4 of a mile (or one lap around the track). Here is Holly...

playing with PopPop's paper clips. He walked a lot throughout the night when Nana, Mama, and Holly were sleeping in the motor home. =) Holly loved playing with those paper clips. They kept her entertained all morning long. She also liked watching the high school cheerleaders bright and early at 7:00 am. To her credit, Holly did walk one lap all by herself. Half a lap in the evening and another half a lap in the morning.

When we got home, we were all tuckered out and had to spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday recuperating. Holly spent some time sitting in her toy box. (Ignore those wires in the corner. Usually they are covered up with a blanket. Holly doesn't ever even care that they are there, fortunately!)
We all wore hats at Relay for Life, so after her bath, Holly decided that she had to try on all her other hats. Here is my favorite one of hers, although it is still way too big!

This is a picture of a truly happy girl. Hat on her head, binkie in her mouth, and spoon in her hand - ready to eat at a moment's notice!
Unfortunately, there really isn't anything terribly exciting going on around here. Also, I noticed that I have been very lax in the pictures department. I will try to do better in September!

I start back to school Monday and Holly has a new babysitter who will be coming to the house. I am sad that she won't be around other kids at daycare anymore, but I will have to schedule some play dates for her or something.

I know this isn't a super exciting post, but I wanted you all to know that we are alive and well! Hopefully, my next post will only be a couple of weeks, not a whole month away!

JOH picnic

Recently, Holly has decided that she is a big girl in many new ways. Now, she gets off the coffee table front first instead of flipping over onto her belly and sliding off. She has usually dropped several things off the coffee table that are at her feet when she gets off the table and I am just waiting for the day that she slips and bonks her head on the way down. Fortunately, that hasn't happened yet. I am pretending that it won't ever happen...

She has also suddenly decided that she wants to feed herself. I have always given her a spoon when I feed her, just in case she felt compelled to use it, but just the other day she was insistent that she do it herself. Most often, she wants me to scoop the food and then she will feed herself, but she fed herself almost the entire bowl of Kix the morning I took this picture. Btw, this was pre-hair combing on a day after she had pigtails in, so excuse the bad morning hair!
On Friday morning, we left for Seattle for the Journeys of the Heart Taiwan Reunion that was happening on Saturday. I timed our leaving with Holly's morning nap, so she slept pretty much the entire way there. When we got almost to Seattle, the Blue Angels were practicing over Lake Washington, so traffic was detoured off of Interstate 90. I don't know my way around very well over there, so it was VERY annoying to have this happen. I had planned to take Holly to the Children's Museum to stretch her legs and run around for the afternoon, but that plan got scrapped, since it took my an hour and a half to get from the east side of Lake Washington to our hotel. Good thing I had my IPhone with internet access to find my way while sitting in traffic!

Once our plans got altered, I went straight to the hotel to check in and then we had an early dinner at China Buffet. I figured I would go to a nearby park afterward to let Holly play, but we got back in the car and she fell asleep on the way there! So, we just went back to the hotel room. I was concerned that there wouldn't be anything to entertain her; it is a plain old hotel room, after all.

No worries there, however! Holly played on the bed, figured out the remote control, and the buttons on the TV, which entertained her greatly when she discovered she could turn it off and on or change channels.


When that got boring, she played with the air conditioner for a while. I am not exactly sure what is so fascinating about the air blowing out of it, but it entertained her for quite some time.
Holly was also very proud of herself that she could crawl through the chair legs and out the front of the chair. She did this over and over and over again, giggling the entire time! She has recently discovered that drawers open, so she spent some time opening and slamming the ones in the dresser, or putting bunny and Binky in the nightstand drawer.
So, have no fear, hotel rooms are not as boring as adults think they are! Holly wore herself out completely with all this activity and went to sleep at her usual time. I took the porta-crib because I figured it was familiar and she might sleep better. She did; she slept better in it than she does at my parents. Which was heavenly!
On Saturday, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel, then Holly played with a little girl named Sophia who also was at breakfast. We went to the picnic about 10:30 and by 11:00 the fun had started! Here is Holly making herself at home on someone else's blanket. However, she is eating her own cookie, not theirs!
She got to meet Katie, Michelle and Joe. While it looks like she is very interested in Katie, Holly was really eyeing her Binky. Its just like the one Holly came home with from Taiwan.
Holly felt very comfortable with Kyle and his mom, Cindi. Fortunately, she is a likeable kid, not an annoying one who everyone wants to get rid of.

Many people commented that Holly never stopped moving and that she was go, go, go the entire time. She hardly took time to eat lunch - which is a shock. She is on some type of mission here, but I don't know what!
She tried for a long time to sit on this little lip that divided the play area from the grass, but every time she got her butt almost onto the lip, she would slip and end up sitting on the grass. This was NOT her plan, so she would start all over again and tried for a very long time before giving up and moving on to something else.
My little bear completely wore herself out and slept almost the entire way home once we left at 2:00. She woke up before we got to Moses Lake, so we stopped at McDonald's so I could feed her some dinner. She got her first Happy Meal and had a great time playing with Polly Pocket when we got home. I had no idea until I read the fine print that you can request toys for kids under 3. She didn't try to eat Polly Pocket, so I figure we are good there.
Holly loves to go places and see new people, but she also really likes to be home. She played to her heart's content when we got back, but was ready for bed early. She slept incredibly well that night and took two fabulous naps on Sunday, which meant that Mama got two fabulous naps as well!

One of our friends gave her a John Deere barn shape sorter when she got home from Taiwan and Holly has decided it is very similar to a purse. She likes to sling it over her shoulder and carry it around. She has a bottle of water in the other hand and was about to jump off the coffee table again.

I am telling you, everywhere we go, this little girl worms her way into everyone's hearts and has the best time meeting new people. She definitely knows who her Mama is and wants me when she wants me, but I really like the fact that she is so easy-going and social.

As a side note, Grandma and Grandpa have now been designated by Holly as Nana and Pop Pop. It has taken a little getting used to by all of us, but that is how they will be referred to from here on out! Just a heads up for you, so you don't wonder how Holly suddenly got another set of grandparents. ;-0