3 Months in 30 Seconds

Go!

Amy the Lady Bug,

Kala the Bumblebee

(note the stinger),

Sara the Dragonfly,

and Claire the Butterfly.

Amy the 6 Year Old,

with best friend Anna Grace,

and Kala the Birthday Chorister.

Pile of Christmas presents before...

...and after.

Happy Amy, and

CHEESE!

Done.

Pop Quiz #2

It's that time again! Who will earn the highest score?

Here's how to play (for those of you who are new to this game):

below is a list of words our children say, spelled phonetically. Simply reply with your answers in the comments.

1. I scay-wee (Claire) (hint: fireworks) (1 pt for what she says, and 1 pt for what it's s'posed to be)
2. bay-bee-soup (Mikala) (hint: Pine Island) (4 pts)
3. goy-car (Mikala) (hint: singing time) (5 pts)
4. pick-a-bud-da (Claire) (hint: snack time) (1 pt)
5. clock-a-muk (Claire) (hint: snack time again) (3 pts)
6. blib-blop (Amy) (hint: summer fashion) (2 pts)
7. hock-a-bus (Claire) (hint: ocean friend) (4 pts) <-- our favorite
8. chiths (Sara) (hint: Moooo) (5 pts)
9. Laaah! (guttural) (Sara) (hint: ceiling) (2 pts)
10. Neh-wah (Amy, Mikala, Claire) (hint: relative) (4 pts)

On your mark, get set, GO!

Winner gets a fully stamped Marble Slab Club Card good for one free ice cream that expires 9-30-09 (at the Lexington location--sorry to those of you who moved away!)

Easter Dresses

My little munchkins (more from Grandma's House)

Sara's cute little mischief mixed with some cousin interaction

Amy's new favorite hobby...we're so proud!

SC "Snow"

It's white . . .



It's cold . . .

Maybe it's snow!

Anniversary Post!

To mark the 1st anniversary since our first blog post, we're posting our family picture taken after Sara's adoption was final. I thought it only fitting since our first post, entitled Sara Christine Hood, was about introducing her to everyone.

This is what we wore as a family to the court room. We had a hard time getting everyone to settle down . . . and we're lucky we got them to look toward the camera, much less get any smiles.

So, in celebrating our blog's 1st anniversary: here's to you--all ye who dwell in the bloggernacle--may your posts be fun and your comments be many!


While I'm at it, I may as well mention some milestones from the past year:

1-The kids are all still alive, and relatively well (this was harder than you think to achieve).

2-I'm not crazy . . . yet. But I am suffering from some sort of Post-finalization Depression (I went through PPD with the other three and it's fitting for it to happen with Sara--just means I have truly accepted her as my own) who knew!?!

3-Our cars are still alive, but our HVAC system, washing machine (twice), dishwasher, stove, alternator, 2 car batteries, and the radio in the van all died beyond repair and had to be replaced. (yes, all while paying for a VERY expensive adoption)

Finally, Finalization.

It's official--this little girl's name is Sara, and Joseph and Tamra Hood are her legal parents. The adoption was finalized on Sep. 5th, 2008. I know what you're asking, and yes, all of her sisters were there in the courtroom and there was NO order in the court. There were however a lot of smiles. We are a happy family

4 Little Girls + Sleeping Parents + Markers =

Amy sports a phat goatee . . .

Claire contracts a rare case of Smokey Mountain Spotted Fever . . .

Sara's outfit gets a makeover . . .

Mikala draws an amoeba, while Amy experiments with a new subject: a One Eyed Monster . . .

Amy practices her art next to Daddy's artwork on the playroom wall (Amy is understandably confused about why she is not allowed to draw on the wall) . . .

Mikala thinks Amy's artwork is very hip and commissions body art based on her One Eyed Monster.

Lessons learned:

• The Olympics are fun, but sleeping is better.
• Do not leave markers where children can find them.
• If you absolutely must leave markers where children can find them, remove the sharpies from the mix.
• Use a Magic eraser for the walls, baby oil for the babies.
  

Nebulizer Baby

Sara had a bad cough--bad enough that we had to take her to the urgent care to have her checked out. Apparently, she was working on getting pneumonia, and she was almost there. Her treatment is a nebulizer, steroids, and antibiotics. She doesn't mind the nebulizer too much, except that she hates it. She pulls it off constantly so you can't leave because you have to hold it in place the whole time. Anyway, her cough went away very quickly and she's pretty much back to normal.

In other news, Sara's crawling now--not the commando crawl, but the real thing. That's right, she's able to get her belly off the floor and stop mopping the floor with her shirt. Good news for her, bad news for the floor.

Two Teefs

Guess who bit my finger at Stake Conference? That's right folks...Sara has two teeth that broke through on Sunday. I've been wondering when this milestone would come her way. With her being premature and all, I really wasn't sure. She's been acting like she was gonna cut teeth for about 4 months now, but her gums were never swollen. Oh well, maybe now I can start feeding her some actual food instead of mush.

Excuses

What has kept the Hood's so busy that they've been virtually blogless for the past 2 months? Let's see . . .

It all started when Joseph was sent on a week-long business trip to Las Vegas . . .

Red Rocks Canyon, NV

. . . Where he learned about fancy engineering things and had to go to Red Rocks all by himself because all his engineering friends were too busy trying to get rich quick.

Anyway, with Joseph gone for a week, Tammy was left to fend for herself against the heathens . . .

Mikala Wearing her War Paint

. . . And then Joseph was sent to New York for week . . .

China Town, NYC

. . . Where he learned about fancy engineering things and ate chinese food in china town, which coincidentally tastes a lot like chinese food in South Carolina.

Anyway, again, this left Tammy alone all week with the demolition crew . . .

Claire Taking a Quick Breather between Demolition Sessions

And then Joseph was sent to Chattanooga for a week. (A pattern has emerged) . . .

Lover's Leap at Rock City, Chattanooga

. . . And, because Tammy couldn't stand being left alone for another week with the infidels, we packed 'em up and made the Chattanooga trip a family vacation . . .sortof.

Sara and Claire, Just Thrilled to be on a Business Trip

After all this traveling hither and yon, we had a lot of work to do with the adoption . . .

Daddy Instilling Musical Genius with "Popcorn Popping . . ."

Tammy and "Sissa"

. . . And just when we thought life was back to normal and we could go back to our old blogging ways, the washing machine broke. More specifically, "there was an arching fault in the main relay on the motor inverter circuit." Unfortunately, the 1 year warranty was up a week ago . . .

The Late Washing Machine Motor

~ 2007-2008 ~

What you have just read is our post created directly after the washing machine was fixed the the backlog of clothes finally began to get washed. We are now out of excuses and excited about sharing our adventures again on Life is Hood.

Synchronized Swinging

We went to the lake last week, and yes, the water is still very cold. The kids had a blast, especially Mikala, who loved the water so much we had to manually regulate her temperature by pulling her out into the sun each time her lips started to lose color. Eventually, as the sun started to go down, we had to make the water off limits all together, and we all retired to the playground.

Mikala and Claire both wanted to swing. Because there are four swings in a row, we thought that it would be perfect to have them all swing at the same time. Mikala and Claire were loaded into their swings. We then put Sara in hers, and she didn't cry--which we took as a sign of approval.

Amy, however, had a sudden surge of her trademark fear hormone preventing her from consenting to the swing idea. Amy is very keen about always remaining well grounded. Any activity that separates her feet from the ground is a good candidate for her activity blacklist. Amy did want to push Sara however, which allowed her to keep her feet firmly on the ground and kept her in complete control of the situation.


Makala just wanted to go "High-ah". I had her going so high at one point that I had to wonder if Myth Busters ever busted that myth about being able to do a 360 swing. Makala would love to be the one to prove it right.

Claire had a swinging angle limit of about 30 degrees. Anything above that would consistently cause the tensed-up-shake-of-fear, which every parent is familiar with.

Sara was mostly unimpressed and apparently thought the whole swinging thing was way overrated. She would only laugh with Mommy make funny sound and faces at her, otherwise, she tended to doze off. She doesn't do the tensed-up-shake-of-fear yet, but she does express herself quite well with her spit-ups and vomits when in scary situations.

We should have more lake adventures soon, especially when the water warms up.

Easter Weekend in Savannah

Amy...
going into a sugar coma.


Kada, Ainslee, Amy & Tyler...
like kids in a candy store.


Amy & Claire...
enjoy long walks on the beach.


Kada...
in her own world.


Tyler & Kada...
blown away.


Ainslee, Tyler, Amy, Uncle Thomas & Claire...
getting their feet wet.


Sara...
just chillin' ... yo


Claire...
gold digger.


Claire & Sara...
having their day in the sun.


Tyler & Amy...
best friends forever.