Spring Break 2010

This week is spring break for Macomb schools. This is the first year since I left teaching that I too get to have spring break off with them. We were invited to go to the Wisconsin Dells with a group of families for a couple of nights. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge which has a great indoor water park. Of course I wish I would have gotten better pictures to capture how much fun we all had.  And I noticed that I have way more pictures of Blake than Brady and Madison.  Brady was off with his friend Tanner most of the time, and Madison was busy with her friends Emily and Reagan.  It is hard for me to get used to the idea that they are big enough to be running around without being in our site ALL of the time!

Here are a few highlights…

You can almost see how purple Blake's lips were.  He is so skinny - he just shivered the whole time!  But of course he was not interested in getting out of the water and warming up for a few minutes.

In the evening they have a pajama story hour in the lobby.  The kids go down in their jammies and hear a story.  They then got their picture taken with the animal below (I actually am not 100% sure what animal it is!)  Brady was a good sport and got in the picture for me!

Just across the parking lot was a restaurant called Buffalo Phil's.  We had 23 in our party for dinner.  Here are 7 of the 23!  It was hard to get a good picture, but the kids ate at a little bar that had a railroad track attached.  Their drinks and food were delivered to them by the train.  It was adorable!

The kids were excited to see Mr. Squiggles when we got home!

Baby….Grand

Seems like we are very busy as usual. I always wish I can blog more. I have grown to really enjoy it, but by the time the kids are in bed and the basic mess from the day is picked up I am soooo ready for bed!

I have been trying to take more pictures to help me remember all of the ‘little’ stuff that is filling our time. Last Thursday we were able to watch Madison’s ballet class. This is her first year doing ballet and she is learning a lot. Her favorite move is to spin and spin and spin.

On Saturday, Justin’s parents, Aunt and Uncle, and cousin came over for the afternoon. We always enjoy playing cards when we get together. After everyone left, Brady thought that we needed to play Texas Hold ‘em. Blake of course wanted to play so Brady and Madison gave him his first poker lesson. Please note that there was no money that exchanged hands while they were playing!

We have had an ongoing battle with Blake sucking his first two fingers on his right hand when he is asleep. He does not suck on them to go to sleep. He only sucks once he is in a very deep sleep. We purchased a finger guard that is supposed to break him of the habit, but each time we think we are set and go a night or two without the guard his fingers are soggy and sore again. The past week or so we think that maybe he was attempting to suck with the guard on and saliva was sitting under it. This has caused his skin to peel. So now we are trying this new technique -pinning a glove to his jammies. We have put triple antibiotic on his fingers before putting glove on and his skin is almost completely heeled. So for now we will go with this plan.

Tonight was an exciting night in our house. For a few years a gentleman has been trying to get us to buy his piano. He purchased it for his daughters when they were at home and now they are in college. He is now a bachelor and really wanted to get rid of it. I think he wanted it to go to a home where there would be children playing it for many years. Brady has been taking lessons for about 2 years and he was using an electric keyboard. He is playing songs that require all of the notes on the piano and so we knew we needed to do something. So basically we were given a deal of the century and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have this gergeous piano sitting in our great room. Of course now we have told Brady, Blake, and Madison that they will all be taking lessons and practing piano for the rest of their lives! We are very thankful to the guys that helped move this massive thing. Thankfully noone threw our their back…. at least as far as we know. There will probablly be some very sore muscles tomorrow!

You can see on the far right side of this photo one of the drywall repairs that is taking place in the house. As you can imagine it drives me batty having these litte mud spots all over the house! Hopefully they won’t remain there for the next two years!

Adopted: the Comic

I saw a magazine article about two Vietnamese adoptees that do a weekly cartoon strip on their website adoptedcomic.com and thought this one has to have some truth to it.  Ohhh the teenage years have to be difficult for all parents (and kids for that matter)!  They take a serious topic and give people the ability to laugh about it. 

If you click on the picture you will be able to enlarge it to read it better.  :o)

No fun Needles

Sooo many times last week I intended to get an update done and just could not find the time to do it. So instead of sharing all my ‘deeper’ thoughts about various events, I am back to random updates as usual. On Sunday, February 21 our church had a child dedication that we participated in. This is not a baptism. We were in front of the congregation and our minister prayed for the children, for our families, for the church to play a role in raising them, etc…

Last Thursday, Blake had a doctor’s appointment scheduled to get his checkup for the post placement report. We were thankful it was scheduled because earlier in the week he got a repeat ear infection and broke out in a rash. The rash is from a viral infection so they say and it just has to go away on its own, but we did get another round of antibiotics for his ears. He also had to get his second Hep A vaccine. Last May when he got the first shot he barely flinched. Everyone commented on how awesome he did. This time was quite different. He saw the needle and freaked! Tears started rolling and his little body tensed up. Thankfully the nurse was super fast and as soon as I scooped him up, he stopped crying and all was well. BUT I then learned that our homestudy agency recommends a follow up HIV and Hepatitis B screening. For those that don’t know, this involves more than one vial of blood and we had to have it drawn at the hospital. So off we went next door and Blake was less than thrilled about the experience. It didn’t help that his little arms are so tiny and the lab technician had a hard time getting the needle in the vein. When we got back to the car, Blake looked at me wide eyed and said “No More!” I felt bad for him. Thankfully (as far as I know) we are done with the blood work for a long time.

I haven’t taken too many pictures lately. Here is Brady in the George Washington wig he wore for a reader’s theater at school.

Justin and Brady went skiing for the first time with Bill and Tanner Buchanan – well first time for Brady and like the third time for Justin. They had a blast and continue to talk about it a week later.

Brady then gained a new interest in skiing and I found him watching the Olympic skiers on television while wearing his ski goggles!

This week is parent watch week at the dance and tumbling studio the kids go to. Tonight we watched Blake attempt to do somersaults in his pre-tumbling class while Madison was working on her running round off double flip flop – or something like that! And we watched her hip-hop dance class.  I am sad I didn't grab our good camera because none of Madison's pictures turned out.

What we do during snow days!

We very rarely are still. We have to be busy all of the time. It is how Justin and I are wired which then passes on to Brady, Madison, and Blake. We aren’t always proud of the fact that we don’t know how to relax, but we are often times productive. Sometimes though we create more work for ourselves than we had intended. Last week the kids had snow days on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Here is what we did on Tuesday…

Justin has started finishing our basement this winter. It was time to pour the shower ‘pan’ thing and Justin thought we should all help out. So after hauling up unneeded things to the garage we got into the cement action. The kids had a good time. There was some cement/concrete left over so Justin thought we should get the kids footprints molded. It was some great team work that day!

So on Wednesday we had another snow day. I needed to go in to work and Justin was available to stay at home with kids. At about 12:30, I got a call letting me know that Brady and Madison were putting together a presentation as to why they were responsible enough to have a hamster. I expressed all of the typical motherly concerns… like who is going to feed it and clean its cage when they lose interest!?! Well I guess their presentation worked (not to mention dad can be a big softly!) and Mr, Squiggles made his way into our house that day…. Guess that‘s what I get for going in to work on a snow day!

The snow covered trees were pretty!

 

Justin and I decided that we were not getting each other anything for Valentine’s Day since our Vegas weekend was our treat to ourselves. Well I guess ‘the kids’ (aka Justin the big kid) thought I needed to be serenaded at work. It was really rather embarrassing. And the question I have for everyone is where on earth do you look when someone is singing to you? My face was red as a beet and the entire time I was thinking... Do I look as these gentleman? Do I look into their eyes? It was just weird!

Wow – What a difference a year makes!

With the business of our everyday life I don’t often get time to reflect on the past. We just got an email reminder that we need to schedule our one year post placement report. The visit with the social worker will have to be done in March so that the report is certified and in Moscow by April 14th. I have been thinking how much time sure flies. THEN I remembered February of last year. I took a look at some of our blog entries from February 2009 and I can remember the horribleness of the wait. Of course it becomes an interesting part of our adoption story, but thinking about it still brings back the feelings of heartache. I can not tell you how thankful I am to be done with that season on life.

This past week or so people have really been commenting on how far Blake’s language has come. He is really stringing words together and is capable of getting his point across. We still have several letter sounds to work on. For instance all f’s are p’s (fall=pall; five=pive) and h’s are a variety of sounds depending on the word – but he is consistent each time (house =kouse; hand = nand; help=yelp). We have quickly discovered that we need to help him with tone and inflection before he gets himself in trouble. I should get a recording of this to help describe it better. When someone asks him an obvious questions he say (picture teenage girl with attitude) “Well yeah!” He also has picked up one of my bad sayings and is using it at the wrong times… “Whatever.” Something that is cute and I am not sure where it comes from is that he says “all day” at the end of phrases. It is sort of like he is meaning to say a lot. For instance, “I like daddy’s truck all day!” “I like M&M all day!” “I wanna go to speech all day!”

The most endearing language development is the clarity and sincerity that he tells us he loves us. He says “I love-a you mom!” and I will say “I love you Blake” and right away he adds “I love-a my daddy too!” So sweet. We are such a blessed family!

This past Saturday Justin and Brady went to the Dolphin swim meet and Blake, Maddie and I headed to Peoria for our niece’s birthday skating party. Of course Blake insisted that he wanted to skate. At first he couldn’t do a thing in the skates without falling – even while holding my hand…. Uncle Jake was a trouper and tried to help.

Madison also tried to helped.

By the end of the party he was actually able to navigate his way around the exterior of the rink. It is pretty amazing how fast you can improve when you have no fear of falling!

On Sunday Maddie lost her fourth tooth. This was her first one in the first grade so she was very excited to get her initials on the tooth chart at school.

Boys will be boys!  They have so much fun playing with each other.

Sin City and More

We are trying to get back into our ‘normal’ routine, but it seems like if we are gone for a few days it takes awhile to get our act together. Head colds and such have been making their rounds. We took Blake to the doctor yesterday and he has an ear infection. On a good note though, he is up to 33 pounds! They didn’t measure how tall he was, but we can tell by his how things fit that he is definitely taller.

So now I get to use this blog as an outlet so feel free to stop reading and pardon my rambling. More than one person has asked in some fashion, “What does a Christian girl do in Las Vegas?” The motives behind the question vary from person to person. Some are legitimately curious what we do for fun when we go; others are teasing and are not looking for a response; and there are the people that ask that want to cast judgment in some fashion. I must first say that Christians that separate themselves from the world are not being obedient in my opinion. Jesus lived among the people and ministered to those that were hurting and sinning the most. We are called to set examples and be as Christ-like as we can given out human limitations. Is Vegas the place for everyone? No! Is Vegas full of sin? Yes! Is Macomb, Chicago, Roseville, full of sin? Yes! Ok enough of that. Below is a random list of what I did in Vegas….

- Enjoyed the sunshine and temperatures each day that were WAY above freezing!

- Had uninterrupted adult conversations with my dear husband and held his hand as we walked down the strip.

- Saw a magic show at the Luxor and was a bit disappointed. However laughed hysterically at the pre-show entertainment and got the weekend’s mantra of “FU FU Fu!”

- Spent time with our new friends Bill and Malloree and learned so much about the things we have in common. Kindled a friendship that will last a lifetime.

- Walked past a gambling area where half naked girls were dancing for the gamblers at the table. I said a silent prayer for them and let my mind wonder how hard times have to be for them to think such a job is ok?

- Saw the world’s largest chocolate fountain at the Bellagio hotel and enjoyed their fresh flower arrangements.

- Stepped on a slew of cards that people were handing out of have topless women and again wondered whose daughters these women were. Prayed that they too would find a better way to support themselves and their families.

- Shopped at the M&M store for great gifts for the kids. Talked with Justin about what a great job the company has done with marketing and keeping their product alive.

- At a magnificent dinner at the top of the Stratosphere after the four of us said grace and thanked God for blessing us with great food, friendships, and so many other blessings.

- Saw the Cirque du Soleil show O at the Bellagio. Oh my gosh it was soooo amazing! The talent of the performers is unbelievable. The choreography is complex and intricate. The mechanics of the stage and floor was unreal.

- I gambled a total of $20 between two slot machines. I do not like to gamble – I do not like losing my money. For me there is way too much to do and see in Vegas to waste time on gambling!

Ok, so my list could go on and on. The bottom line is that we had a great time in a city where there is always something to do no matter what your interests are. I am thankful to have had the time with Justin and with Bill and Malloree – it was very rejuvenating!

Here I am outside the M&M store.

Justin and Bill with SpongeBob!

Hopefully Malloree’s pictures turned out better than mine and I will have more to share.