Christmas Morning 2007!!

The kids went to bed really late on Christmas eve but decided to wake up very early on Christmas morning. They went downstairs and came running back up announcing Santa had come. We told them to wait in the family room (where the presents were not) for us to come down and then we would begin. We came down quickly and the boys proceeded to open their stockings. They so enjoyed opening every little thing. We do not go crazy on Christmas. They get a couple gifts-- typically one big gift and a few small ones-- and then a the gifts from Santa. We try to keep Christmas in perspective and to focus on the reason for the season as opposed to gifts. Anyway, the boys opened their stockings and a few gifts.

Mia also opened her gift including a Cabbage Patch Doll that I have been trying to give Mia for 2 years. I think she is almost old enough so we got it out of the closet, dusted it off and gave it this Christmas. She seemed to like it although she may be a tiny but young but give her a few months and I think she will be perfect.

The boys opened their helmets and realized something was going on so we quickly usurer them outside to see their big gift-- A gas powered scooter!! They were sooooo excited and surprised since they were not expecting it.

Mia enjoyed the scooter also.

At about 10am we went to Kevin's parents home and opened our Bock family gifts together. We had a wonderful breakfast and enjoyed opening our family gifts from our exchange. Mia was still feeling really sick and needed to be in the Ergo again so keep from falling apart. She did fine in the ergo and we were able to have a wonderful Bock family Christmas morning-- a tradition we have been doing for many years.

After our time at Grandma and Grandpa Bock's we went home and started cooking for the big Christmas dinner at my parents home. Those pictures will be coming very quickly as well as a few from our time going to THE ROCKETS at the Orange County Performing Arts Center last night. I will post those pics in a few. We are also heading out to Dumont Dunes tomorrow morning until Jan 1, 08. So I will make sure to post those pics before we take off tomorrow.

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas eve started with last minute gift buying and running from place to place. Unfortunately, the sickness that seemed to be leaving the boys and myself seemed to be hitting Mia on Christmas eve. Up until then she has been kind of sick with a cough and not really being herself, but on Christmas eve, she really started to become FUSSY-- I MEAN REALLY FUSSY!!! Before her major fussiness began I took her shopping with me and her cute pinafores came in the mail from LassyGirl and they turned out so darn cute I put her in one for the day.

Our family has a tradition of attending the Christmas Eve service at our Church Pomona First Baptist and then going back to my parents house for Soup and gifts. Those in attendance are always our family, my brother and his family, my parents, my sister and my grandparents (who by the way are 90 and 91 and in wonderful health and still drive all around :). We keep it small (it doesn't sound small but it is for us) so we can have a more intimate time.

As previously mentioned, Mia was not feeling well. At the Christmas eve service she was not happy. Kevin had to take her out most of the time and when she was there she was mostly fussing. It was a great service with music and the traditional candle lighting ceremony. We have been going to our church since I was a little kid and I attended the school part of the church from Kinder to 8th grade. When Kevin and I were 16 years old we met in our Church youth group. We started dating then and have been together ever since- almost 20 years ago-- wow are we getting old. Anyway, our church is very special to our family and we love and appreciate it's ministry. It is a very large church but feels small. It is all around a WONDERFUL church. Back to Christmas eve- our church has a tradition of one single candle lighting the candles all around the church. You can see the light spread throughout the sanctuary and it is spectacular. The little kids get glow sticks but overall it is a tradition the boys look forward to each year and it was fun to watch Mia stop fussing for a short bit of time while watching the light spread. The first collage is of Mia basically doing what she did during the service. The second collage is of the kids and Kev with their candles.

The next collage is of us once we got back to my parents house. Brad and Amy made a ton of food and Kevin helped. We all enjoyed sitting around my parents huge dinner table (sits like 16) and laughing together. After dinner we adjourned to the family room and began getting things ready for dessert and presents. The tradition is that my dad reads the Christmas story from the Bible but this year he wanted Ethan to read it. It caught Ethan off guard but he was happy to comply and read us the whole Christmas story. Ethan is a great reader so he did a wonderful job. After the Christmas story we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and began opening gifts.

I felt so badly for Mia. She was just so not herself. During dinner she was fussing so much that I took her upstairs (after heavily medicating her) and tried to lay down with her. She laid there and calmed down but did not sleep. After about a half hour I brought her back down and she was fine for a few and then started fussing again. I finally went out to the car and got the ERGO (thank the Lord for the ERGO!!) and put her in it for the rest of the night. She seemed much better once in the Ergo and was relatively calm the rest of the night. Not sure what she had but the fussiness continued for through Christmas Day (more to come later).

Update on the Sicko Family + some pics

When I typed my post the other day about everyone catching what is going around I never imagined it would turn into what it did. So, here I am on Sunday morning and I think I am actually feeling better. After dealing with Ethan's vomit all night on Thursday night we woke up on Friday morning without him being able to go to his Christmas party at school and having to stay home again. About 10am I started feeling horrible. Literally horrible. I put Mia down for a nap at 10:15am and went to bed at the same time and once I was down it was more horrible to think about having to pull myself out of bed to get up and take a NyQuil rather than just lay there in misery. I was sick sick sick. I went to bed at 10:15am and slept through the rest of that day (missing our neighborhood HO HO parade-- ugg) all through the night (thank God for my awesome hubby)and into the next day until about noon. So that put me to Saturday at noon. Kevin had to go out for a few hours so I had to wake up and come downstairs to watch Mia. I hardly could stand watching her. She herself was fussy because she has been fighting this whole sick thing also so she was needy and I was not feeling up to a needy child. So I made it thorough the couple hours with Mia until Kevin came home then I went back upstairs, went back to bed heavily medicated and woke up this morning feeling pretty OK. I am on Day quill and Motrin but I do feel the best I have in 3 days so yaaa!! I still have Christmas shopping to do so I need to get out today so I am pleased I am feeling wellish. OK enough about me-- what about the other 4 in my family? Ethan seemed better but went to a friends house on Saturday and puked there but still seems fine so I think he is pretty over it. Mia still is quiet and slow. I have been medicating her but she does not seem 100%. She has not thrown up yet but she is not really eating much. I feel bad because she is so little to begin with I just don't want her to lose weight. Kevin had not seemed to get this yet. He has been so wonderful and taken on all of us and caring for our sick needs-- poor guy. Owen was the champ and had not been sick at all until last night. He started complaining about a tummy ache and sure enough after going to bed he threw up all over his bed. Kevin changed the sheets and Owen threw up on those again. He came into our bed and proceeded to make it to the bathroom and throw up a few more times throughout the night. This morning he seems OK but his stomach still hurts.

So, final score-- 4 down 1 up. Kevin has somehow, without a spleen (lost it in high school in a skiing accident), with his broken hip and other sporting activity accidents (way too many to list-- includes being hit by cars in Mammoth while mountain biking and many more) has taken care of our whole sicko family on his own. It is amazing how much work it is and I feel so bad for him and I think he is getting a bit sick of it because he has not been able to do any of the things that he wanted to get done this weekend. So honny-- THANKS YOU ROCK!! I just keep praying that this thing is gone by Monday as I want to totally and fully enjoy Christmas eve and Christmas Day. It is a day I have looked forward to for so long (having Mia here) that I want to be 100% present and not be distracted by illness. So, with that said, I will probably be off line for a few days until after Christmas but when I come back I should have a ton of great pics to post. I am so so sorry for being so absent with pictures and video over the last week. Sick sucks!! When I return I promise a ton of great pics and maybe a few great videos.

I am leaving you with our Christmas card-- thanks for everyone who helped choose the pictures to be used. I am also including the letter we sent out (very long but we had a crazy year). I am also including the collage of pictures we had to do for China for our 6 month update with our social worker we had a few weeks ago. And speaking of that, I missed posting on Mia's 7 month anniversary this past Friday because of being sick. I will prepare something after the holidays. Until then, enjoy!!

Click collage to enlarge

This was the Bock Christmas Card for 2007

Click collage to enlarge

This was the 6 month update collage required for China

Here is the text to our Christmas letter 2007 if anyone wants to read it. It is long.

The Bock Family
Christmas 2007

Friends & Family,

2007 has been an amazing year for the Bock family. It has been a mixture of heartache and happiness with a multitude of blessings. To start, February became a monumental month. Our family was camping at Dumont Dunes where Kevin was involved in an ATV accident. He and Ethan were out riding when the wind and sand began to blow and the dunes turned into a kind of optical illusion. Kevin nosed his quad into a dune and broke the ball of his right femur in half. Literally the ball was chopped in half and the leg was dislocated. He was rushed to Las Vegas where he had to have surgery immediately. They were able to save the bone and not have to replace it—thank God—and Kevin is now in the final stages of recovery expected to go back to work after the first of the year. It was a traumatic event but we can see the Lords blessing on this event as Kevin has been able to be at home with the boys before the adoption and has been able to bond with Mia by being home after the adoption. It was truly a blessing having Kevin home as much as he has been and the traumatic event has become a gift. .

Shortly after returning from Las Vegas in February for Kevin’s surgery our neighborhood friends were in a tragic car accident. The mother, father and 18 year old son were all killed when another driver ran a red estimated traveling 80 miles per hour. Their 9 year old son had been at a movie with us at the time of the accident and their 14 year old daughter was at home alone. It has been a tragic event that still requires prayer. The family was a wonderful Christian family and we thank God that they are home with Him but Jordan and Paiten are still struggling with their lives being forever changed. The kids are living with their aunt Paulette who has moved to Southern California with her daughter to take in Jordan and Paiten. They lived in the family home until about a month ago and just bought a home in Hesperia. We miss the kids but we will continue to be a part of their lives.

As 2007 and the tragic events progressed we had another hit on March 5. After 19 months of waiting, we were to receive our referral (find out who Mia was) for our daughter in China. Everyone who had our date received their referral but we were skipped. It was horrible and we had no explanation why. After much research by our agency, they found out that our file was lost and that we would receive our referral the following month. We were very upset by this but now can see the Lords leading in this whole event. On April 5 we got the phone call that our Mia has been chosen and that our agency had her picture and information. She was one of the youngest babies ever referred being only 5 months in April. She was adorable and we felt so blessed to have our little Mia’s information.

On May 15 Kevin and I left China to pick up our little girl. Mia was placed in our arms on May 21, 2007—a day we will never forget!! Our time in China with Mia was phenomenal. Mia bonded with us immediately and it was as if she had always been ours. We really are so blessed that Mia was so young when we received her (only 6 months) as it made the bonding so easy. God chose the perfect baby for our family as she is a perfect fit. You can read about our whole trip to China and see the first time Mia was placed in our arms on video as well as much much more on our family blog http://www.tomiawithlove.blogspot.com/. It is our online scrapbook so you can keep up on what we as a family are up to by visiting out blog frequently.

Mia has been home over 6 months now and she is just amazing. The boys are so in love with her and play beautifully with her. Mia is 13 months now and is walking—I mean running all over the place. She is such a charmer and has sweet disposition. She is really starting to say a number of words and is starting to understand what we say. She is just amazing and a wonderful gift from God.

Ethan is doing great. He is now a 4th grader and doing very well in school. He is still the most social kid I have ever seen. He is still involved in Boy Scouts and is excited about the impending snowboarding season. He is also an avid quad rider and desperately wants a dirt bike as he loves to ride his friend Carson’s dirt bike. We are planning on putting both boys in ice hockey in the spring so our lives will be very busy.

Owen is just his usual happy self. He is now a 2nd grader and is working hard. He is still a clone of his dad as he could literally work along side of Kevin all day long. Owen is an avid builder and if he has wood and screws, he will create something. He used molding and screws to create a “domino table” just yesterday. He is so talented in this area. He is also looking forward to snowboarding and hockey and is an amazing little dirt bike/ quad rider. He is a natural on a bike.

I mentioned Kevin has been off since February but will be going back to his motorcycle position with Claremont PD after the first of the year. The doctor has been very conservative on releasing him because of being a motor officer but he feels confidant that after the first of the year he should be ready. I am still working my 2 days a week as a school psychologist with Upland Unified School District. Luckily we have not needed a babysitter for Mia as Kevin has been home but we have to face the fact that Mia will need to have a babysitter 1 day a week while Kevin and I are at work. This has been a hard realization and while we know Mia has bonded well with us, it is hard leaving her because she is so attached to Kevin and I and she does not like to go to others when we are not there. Whatever the case, we need prayer and direction with this area as it is coming quickly.

Other than that, the rest of 2007 has been relatively calm. We had a crazy beginning of 2007 but after getting home from China, the rest has been pretty calm.

I want to thank you all for your support of our family. I am constantly amazed at how much support and love we have from our family, friends and cyber friends. Your support and prayers got us through some of the most challenging events we have ever had to face in our lives. You were there to support us with your prayers in the tough times and to celebrate with us during the happy times. 2007 has been the most eventful year of our lives and we would not have been able to get through it without all of your love and support!

Merry Christmas to all as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love,

The Bock Family
Visit our family bog at www.tomiawithlove.blogspot.com

A House Full of Sickos

Well it is official. We have officially passed our first illness throughout our family. Ethan was sick with a fever 2 days ago and at that point he was the only one sick (our family never gets sick-- so this was strange). Yesterday he seamed fine and went to school. Last night I could tell he wasn't feeling well and Mia was real fussy yesterday so I was sure she wasn't feeling well. Then, last night I started feeling achy-- uggg!! Then in the middle of the night Ethan came in and said he has thrown up so he stayed in our bedroom to sleep and proceeded to throw up another 3 or 4 time (again, I cant remember the last time any of my kids puked- they just are never sick)-- NOT FUN! Well, in the midst of dealing with vomit, I had Mia constantly crying and each time I went in she was feverish and had bubbles of green snot boiling from her nose. Then to make matters worse I woke up (after maybe 2 hour of sleep in you add all the little pieces of sleep together) totally feeling bad. Kevin also said he can tell he is getting whatever is being passed around. Owen seems to be the only one who has not gotten sick but I am sure he will. This just sucks as Ethan has to miss his Christmas party at school toady and I have a ton of Christmas shopping to do but I hardly feel like getting off the couch so shopping is probably not going to happen until I feel better. Anyway, I hope your families are doing better than ours-- this is not fun!!!

Lost Pictures

I was looking through old pictures and there was a grouping of pictures that were on a different camera so they never made it on my blog. Most of them are from once we were home but there were these 4 pictures from when we were waiting in Changsha to get on the plane to go to Guangzhou. I just thought they were so cute. She looks so young and tiny. She was only 6 months at the time and looks so different than she does now. My has she changed!!!!

Fun Day At Disneyland!!

We did Disneyland again and of course we had to do the pictures in front of the big Christmas tree. Disneyland is just magical during Christmas and we had a wonderful time!!

The following is of the boys are the Jedi Training Academy. Basically they choose a bunch of kids out of the audience and they learn a routine and then they get to fight Darth Vader or Darth Mall. The boys have wanted to do this forever but we have never been there at the right time. They were so excited to make it on time and then to be chosen to do the academy. It was so cute. After the slide show is a short video of each of the boys fighting the DARTHS!!

Here is Ethan fighting Darth Mall:


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
This is Owen fighting Darth Vadar:


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

OK, I had to do the picture with the princesses. We have yet to get in one of the lines to take a picture with a princess, but we were waiting for my sister and the line for Ariel was short so we jumped in. The boys absolutely refused to get their picture taken with Ariel but Mia was compliant. So, here is Mia's first picture with a princess-- my favorite-- Airel!!

Pictures with Goofy. Mia was totally fascinated by Goofy. She was trying to touch him and play with him. It was totally cute!

Disneyland is just amazingly beautiful!! Here are some pictures of the castle all lit up as well as New Orleans Square. There are also a couple of Reindeer from Rudolph's Round Up area. In the Rudolph Reindeer area we decorated Christmas cookies and watched a magic show. It was a lot of fun!

Arrowhead Cabin and Christmas Lights

On Saturday we went up to my parents cabin in Arrowhead (the one that almost burnt down in the So Cal fires) to do some sledding and have a nice family dinner. My brothers family, my sister and my parents hung out all day. We went sledding and then had an amazing dinner prepared by Brad and Kevin. When we all get together will all our kids it is a crazy time with a ton of crazy kids running around having a great time. Luckily the bottom story of my parents cabin is a kind of rec room complete with movies, a pool table, a basketball thing and an air hockey table. The kids spend most of their time down there so we get times of peace but for the most part, it is a crazy time.

Here are pictures of the kids sledding and swinging on a tree swing.

Cute picture of my dad and Mia!

Cute picture of my mom and Mia.

These pictures are so darn cute. Mia and her cousin Haileyanna were totally playing together at the cabin. I cannot believe how well they interact. Mia was totally playing with Hailey and they were interacting really well. I don't really remember with the boys if they interacted with other kids at a year but Mia totally does. Maybe it is a girl thing but it is so cute and they really had a ton of fun.

This first video is of the girls and my mom playing on the stairs at the cabin. Mia has learned a new wave-- the pageant wave--very funny.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Tonight we had some friends from Church over- The Evans- for dinner. After dinner we went to see the Christmas lights up in Alta Loma. It was a lot of fun and the lights are fabulous. This is one of those landmark things that I always wanted to do with Mia and this year we got to see the lights together as a complete family. It was very cool.

Tutu's, Mother Mia and Cookies

Lot's of stuff over the last few days and a lot more to come.

First off, I am into this cute little tutu thing. Interesting style and Kevin thinks it is hilarious but I totally love it. So, Mia wore her full on tutu and just looked so cute I had to photograph it again (like I ever hold back on taking pictures). So here are her cute tutu pics:

Ever wonder what Mia's personality is like? Well, here it is. This is totally her in all her loud animated glory. We were at the mall's play area yesterday and she was acting so funny I pulled out my camera to take some pics. As you look at the 4 pictures imagine she is talking constantly and talking louder than you can imagine that tiny body could. She is so loud and so animated. It is so cute and she surprises everyone because she looks so small and cute and then she opens her mouth and people are like "holy cow-- that loud voice came out of that little thing?"

Ever wonder how Mia interacts with other kids? Well, here it is. She loves other kids and really interacts well. Again, she looks so much younger than she is so people are 1, shocked she walks, and 2, that she interacts so well with other kids. Mia loves little people and even though this boy was bigger than Mia and only a few months younger, she acts like she is taking care of him. She is concerned for him-- very cute! I guess the motherly instinct is there even at 13 months of age :)

Kevin's parents came over last night to make sugar cookies with the boys. They had so much fun and so did their daddy. Kevin's mom is a teacher and she is the most organized and creative person around. During summer she watched the boys and my nieces for a day and the actually came over and set up centers that the kids rotated through. It blows me away because I am SO NOT LIKE THAT!! I wish I were but way too much work. That is why we have grandma-- she love to do that. Anyway, they made BEAUTIFUL cookies and had a blast doing it. My sister Cassie was heading to the cabin in Arrowhead and was dropping her dogs off for the night and we were having so much fun making cookies that she stayed for dinner and cookie making. Kevin made wonderful soup and homemade bread and we all sat around and chatted all night. It was a great time and the kids just loved making cookies.

Today we are heading to the cabin in Arrowhead. They got snow last weekend so maybe we will do some sledding. We will be up there till late tonight so I will post pictures tomorrow. Have a great day!!

The Gingerbread House

First off, my motherboard was fixed and my computer is up and running again-- yaaa!!!

We had a lot of fun the other night making a gingerbread house. The boys just loved it. Belive it or not, it was the first we had ever made- imagine that!! Mia helped eat the cookies but did not do a lot of decorating-- oh well-- she liked the frosting.

Computer Issues- Ugg!!!

Well, my computer is on the fritz. On Monday night I was reading my nightly blogs and all of a sudden my computer said the power was low. I checked and it was plugged in but it was not charging. Luckily I have the DELL extended warranty so I called and we trouble shot over the phone. Come to find out my computer was not taking a charge and because of this the motherboard had to be replaced-- Did you hear me-- MY MOTHERBOARD HAS TO BE REPLACED!!!!!! That is like huge (in my non computer mind)!! So, DELL shipped the part to a local repair shop and they just called me today and are coming tomorrow to repair the computer in our home. Gotta love the Extended In Home Warranty. Anyway, I have some pictures of our Gingerbread house making experience I need to post but I will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay but I should be back up and running tomorrow :)

First Snow in Oak Glen

***CLARIFICATION- We did not get snow where we live in Rancho Cucamonga, we got snow in our local mountains. We wanted to take the kids to the snow so we went up to the mountains to play. It has snowed at our house a couple times but it stays for an hour or so and melts away. We live at about 1600 elevation and the snow got down to about 5000 elevation this weekend - Just to clarify***

Well, it is finally looking a bit like winter (OK at least our winter here in So Cal). We had a cold and wet weekend and we got snow in our local mountains. We realized Mia has probably never seen snow before since she was from Hunan and I don't believe they get snow there + she was too young to remember if she did. Because of this we decided to leave church a little early and go up to Oak Glen to play in the snow and just relax a bit. The boys had a blast as you can see in the following collage. They love the snow and are already wondering when we are going snowboarding. Both boys are great snowboarders and have been doing so for 3 years (mom ain't too shabby herself- been snowboarding since college). We will probably get up to our local mountains this next week to go boarding.

These next pictures are in a cute little antique place that had a warm fire going. I was so happy with the cute pictures we got. I actually can say that the one of the kids is kind of cute. Probably one of the best we have of all 3 kids together. I also included the ones of each of the kids with me. They were pretty cute. Sorry about the big Michellin Man jacket. I am a total weather wimp.

These next pictures are labeled "Mia and Daddy". She is so attached to him right now and vice versa. They are just too darn cute together. He makes her laugh big old belly laughs and she just adores him. I thought these pictures were so cute of the two of them.

This was Mia's first experience with this cold stuff called snow. At first she seemed to like it but as soon as she felt it and fell down, she was not too happy. She got over it pretty quickly but she is going to have to get use to the snow every once in a while as I am sure she will be tagging along on a few Mammoth/ Snowboarding trips.

This last picture is of the boys with my sister Cassie. They love their auntie and Cass sees the kids all the time.

Awards, Parties & Shopping

On Thursday morning our boys had their awards assemblies. Both of them did well and were very proud of themselves.

Owen received two awards. He received the "ROAR" award which is for good behavior for 3 months. He also received the "On The Right Track" award which means he is working hard on his grades. The one picture is of Owen and his teacher Mrs. Kooyman who we LOVE!!!! Owen did a great job and we are proud of him.

Ethan also received two awards. Ethan made the Honor Roll for good grades and also the "ROAR" award for good behavior for 3 months. The last picture is of Ethan and his teacher Ms. Bruer. She is wonderful and we are so happy Ethan has her! GOOD JOB ETHAN!!!

On Thursday night we finally finished decorating the Christmas Tree. It was nice to finally get it finished but we had a good time doing so.

My moms birthday was Friday and on Saturday night we went to her annual Birthday Dinner to Three Forks in Claremont. It is a fine dining restaurant and since my brother is the head Chef Instructor at the culinary school in Pasadena (as well as the head wine expert) he knows most of the staff. Needless to say we were treated very well including siting at the Chef's Table. It was an amazing dinner that we only do a few times a year. Since fine dining is a bit pricey to say the least, it is a once every few month treat that we always look forward to. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Mia didn't get any awards at the awards assembly but she entertained us during the boring times. She also entertained Ethan's class while they were waiting to walk into their assembly. We had Owen's assembly and then we had to take a walk on the playground while the 3rd grade assembly went on and then finally we had Ethan's 4th grade assembly and then we got to go home. Mia did very well for being at the school for such a long time!

 

This last collage is of Mia at Ann Taylor again today. Mia loves the mirror and kissing herself and sticking her tongue out and talking to herself. It is so darn cute and luckily the girls that work there know me well (Ann Taylor is my favorite store) so don't mind Mia messing up the mirror.