the Life of Olena

My Old Navy clearance find...$1.99. She looks so adorable in it. "Hand Picked" Pretty fitting to the occasion don't you think? Granted I am crazy for paying $12.99 for a pair of pjs but I just couldn't resist. I even bought them big so that she could wear them longer. Mommy's sick baby.

So much for a daily diary of our lives. Though my intentions are there, I just haven't felt like being on the computer. The weather is finally getting nice, my chores have been stepped up a notch and at the end of the night, sitting here trying to write something logical, just doesn't seem appealing to me. Good news is that I do have a few interesting things to post about... We are MOVING!!!! not anytime real soon, but within the next year. Jason and I finally made the decision to put the house up for sale next spring. This is a bittersweet decision. This is my first house, the house that I built my marriage in, and my family. This is also the home that Lana has grown to love and found comfort in But on the other hand I am singing with glory right now. We need something bigger. 3 big dogs, 2 cats, a lot of crap, and 3 people in a 1000 sq ft house. We're like sardines. Bad part of this of course is the market is not very promising right now, but we weighed our ...

I don't think they come much cuter than this!

too cute!

As you know we went to KY to camp with the Kissacks and Whites for a long weekend. We stayed at Big Bone Lick State Park, and despite the rainy weather it was perfect. For those of you who remember, the Kissacks and Whites are the families that adopted the other 2 girls from Olena's groupa. For lack of a better term, they are Olena's "orphanage sisters". The 3 families endured 5 1/2 weeks of Ukraine and the roller coaster adoption process together. During that time and over the past 16 months we have all become "family", so the reunion was heartwarming. The 3 of us come from opposites points of the US (MI-GA-OR), meet up half way around the world at an orphanage that had not had any adoptions in 1 1/2 years, and we adopt girls from the same groupa who are all the same age within weeks of each other; something tells me that these three girls are destine for something big and a life long friendship. For those of you who read Tonya's blog, I want to comment...

Lana playing foosball with Dadu and uncle Mike. Are we dying Easter eggs Olena? or Mugsy? That's right! Eggs. Drinking juice, eating some Easter eggs. playing good ole' Bunny Bowling.

Life around here has been crazy busy so I apologize for the lack of posts, but I am sure you have all been just as busy as us, so hopefully you have read blogs enough lately to notice?! :) Anyhow, I know I tend to babble so I will do my best to catch you up with everything sweet and simply. CVS: Last week I put my plan to action and boy did I save! It took 4 separate trips to CVS, thankfully we have 5 all within a 5 mile radius. I started with $8 ECBs. I spent a total of $12 out of pocket and got $98 worth of stuff! I posted the picture below for you to see. I was so proud of myself and even better I got more than what I needed so I will not need to make a trip this week. Which is being well enjoyed since I am already so busy. 12 pack of tp, 2 boxes of Raisin Bran, jumbo pack of pull ups, bottle of Dove shampoo, conditioner and body wash, 2 woman's deodorant (Dove and Degree), Maybaline color stay lip gloss, box of Hershey Pot of Gold chocolates, 2 boxes of sweet-n-low, 1 bottle o...

Finally after weeks of reading various blogs, studying the CVS "followers", and strategically planning - I did it! I went to CVS and got $33 worth of stuff for about $2.00! WooWho. The best part of it all, Jason was in shock about what I managed to do. I was very proud of myself and walked out of those doors with my head high! I made him go with me, because I needed to make 2 transactions and I did not feel like making two trips. He was so nervous it was funny. He kept asking "what if they see me give you back the card?? what if they know we are together??" I kept reassuring him that we were not doing anything wrong. When we got back into the car, he said he felt like he stole everything because we saved so much money!! Here is what we got. 1st transaction: 1 bottle of Irish Springs body wash for 4.99 1 pack of 8 bars of Irish Springs 5.99 1 box of Alavert (normally 11.99) on sale for 6.99 Total came to $19.xx I had a coupon for $5 off of a $15 or more purc...

Olena finally experienced her first ballet over the weekend and she loved it :) It was the perfect evening out and I was so proud of our Lovely Lady! She was very well mannered, well behaved even on an empty stomach (because she refused to eat dinner and mommy forgot snacks) and was of course - adorable as ever. My awesome mom bought tickets to Peter Pan at the Detroit Opera House. We had a box all to ourselves, the view was incredible and it was very convenient with a toddler. She smiled ear to ear and watched the entire program with complete awe. She even cheered when they would do a great jump or spin! so cute! I cannot wait to take her back. We had considered Giselle, which is a beautiful ballet as well, but tickets were quite pricey so my mom found a Children's Opera which happens in May! It should be a lot of fun. Regarding Tonya's post again from the other day. Lyra and Olena are twins I swear. Hearing about how Lyra acts and how she thinks she is the center of the unive...

Not too much has been going on around here lately. The winter blues are starting to kick in and we are all getting cabin fever. When the three of us spend an evening all in different rooms because we honestly just need a break, you know Spring needs to come quick! I have however, taken advantage of the few wintry days we have left and have been somewhat productive. I spent the weekend cleaning and organizing my closets...bathroom, and bedrooms - and I even completely empty the pantry cupboard and reorganized. Life seems so less chaotic when things are nice are tidy! This motivated me so much and made me feel so good I decided to start my own Home Management Binder. I heard Tonya mention this first, and then it was like I started reading a flurry of blogs that discussed it. I took a couple of hours on Sunday night and goggled it - which brought me to many blogs and sites. I did some research, figured out what would work best for us, and put it all together by the time I went to bed! The...

I just finished going through all of the blogs in my favorites and of course Tonya always has something fun to say. Her last post being about nic names. Lana is a nic name in it's self I suppose; being that her name is Olena. On the fun side of things she is normally called either ChiChi or Lanabug. ChiChi is shortened from Monchichi! Not sure if any of you remember the Monchichi ? When I was little, I had one. They were these two little stuffed monkeys with plastic faces and plastic hands. One was a boy and the other a girl. Some were puppets and the most exciting thing they did was suck their thumbs. Don't ask me why, but it was one of my favorite toys :) Well that is where I got Monchichi because when we came home she was so tiny and cute just like my favorite Monchichi. Throughout the year it has fazed out to just chiChi! It is funny because if I walk into the local Walgreen’s everyone is always asking "where's chichi today?" She has paparazzi every...

We both got our hair cut!! Cut the same exact cut, yet they don't look much alike. She wears it much cuter than I can :) I don't have a picture of mine, but I had to share hers because it looks so cute on her. For all of those long hair lovers out there. I too usually opt for the little girls with gorgeous long hair but not for a 3 year old. Her hair never stays in the pig tails or pony tails longer than a couple hours. Barrettes never stay in because she still doesn't have a lot of hair, it is thin. I don't like chasing her around the house to get the hair out of her face (which drives me crazy). She also has a fetish with rubbing her hands through her hair so it always ends up looking like a crows nest at the end of the day and I have fight to get the snarls out. It just isn't appropriate for her right now. Besides, with all of the nutrition she gets now, it is always growing like crazy. She is getting new hairs all over her head and it is getting thicker and thic...

I have a bad habit of saving a lot of recyclable things because I think it would make a great art project. This usually is the case and many of the items I save, do get used. However my saving seems to FAR exceed my need. Over the weekend I took the paper towel tube off of the holder and walked right over to my craft box and tossed it in, then scolded myself and asked why the heck I am saving yet again another tube? At that moment it hit me. I decided to make a new house rule. Nothing is allowed to be saved unless I know exactly what it will be used for or it must be used in today’s project. If not, the item has go to the recycling bin. I picked up my tube and just stared at it??? What on earth was I going to do with this item I found so necessary to save???.... Ah, Jason just bought me some wild bird food. I was going to have her make a bird feeder with some seed and my just expired jar of PB that got shoved to the back of the cupboard. My intentions were to use pine cones,...