Suze Is Back, Alright! (duh, duh nuh nuh nuh nuh, duh, nuh nuh nuh)

Whoever gets the title song reference wins a prize! (not really, but you'll be LOVED by me)

 

Well it's been a long 4 months away from blogging, but I think it's about time I get back into the habit. We've had a crazy 4 months. Here's what we've been up to:

• Finalized our two older girl's adoptions
• Vacation in the Tri-Cities and the WA/OR Coasts
• Back to school for all 4 girls

Doesn't seem like much, but it was a fun summer for us and I can't wait to go on vacation next year!

However this season is my favorite one! I LOVE Autumn and all of the fun and excitement it brings. Back to school, Halloween, two Thanksgivings (CAN & US), my birthday, etc... Seriously this is my FAVORITE time of year.

BTW Have you discovered Pinterest yet? It is like every blogstalkers dream worst nightmare! Okay it's both. I find myself spending a lot of time on there. But I have gathered a lot of great ideas from it, so I justify it in every way.

Today I made these for my big girls: (camera phone pics - sorry!)

I got the idea from here. I saw it on Pinterest and thought it would be a GREAT idea to build a better relationship with my two older ones. Because they're adopted they still have "mom issues" and what better way to bond and attach to me, than to become pen pals! I LOVED the idea and I got right onto making them.

I just cut out some pretty paper and made a title and their name using Microsoft Publisher; a little Mod Podge to glue and seal it all up and voila! I put a letter inside to start. It says:

 Dear ______,

Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. I think it would be a lot of fun! 

I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my office desk when you are done.

You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious. About life, friends, boys, church, whatever! Just write about anythnig that is on your mind!

I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!

Love,

Mom

P.S. Write back soon!

On the back I also put a quote that I liked, that I also found on Pinterest (seriously LOVE that site!)

New Menu Items At McDonalds!

Introducing the new McFried Beef.

One 45% all-beef pattie deep fried in 65% all-vegetable oil.
Limited time only.


MixDonald's is now also prescribing drugs! Call your local restaurant to get your prescriptions refilled and try the new McFried Beef!

So my sweet little Kayla has a crazy imagination. When we're driving in the car she'll sometimes play "drive-thru" with herself. She'll pretend like she's at the window ordering a bunch of stuff and crazy stuff like trees, signs etc... Well yesterday she was playing it a different way and I thought it was totally blogworthy. Instead of "driving-thru", she "called" her order in.

Hello MixDonald's?....Yes, my ear hurts and I need some medicine......I also want a McFried Beef, umm.....some Chicken Nuggets, some umm......Fries.......some trees, a sign......

I asked her what a McFried Beef was and she just said in her cute voice, I dunno?

Maybe she's on to something, eh? Deep fried Hambugers and Pharmacy? Talk about your one stop shop!

The Facts Of Life

And I ain't talkin' Tootie here.....

Life on a farm brings you many forms of education. There's the "what you eat turns into poop to make the grass grow"......there's the "eventually this animal is going to be 'breakfast', 'lunch', or 'dinner'".....then there's the "animals in heat makes them randy".

The girls were playing outside just now and Desiree proceeded to tell us that the dog was being very playful with her. To say it in her own words (and I quote):

"Chocolate was wiggling on me with her privates......She was getting on me like a horsey ride for me to run away.......I think she needs her privacies to get the puppies out".

She knows the fact that babies come out of you know where, so I guess she figured that she was needing to get puppies out of her tummy, 'cause she was "wiggling her privates".

Of course we didn't tell her the real reason Chocolate was trying to mount her.

There you have the facts of life.

Halloween~2010 Style!

Hope yours was frightfully fun!

How To Throw A Rock Into A River

A How-To Video by Kayla. She's definitely in a "League of her own".
This makes me laugh out loud every time and the more I watch it, the funnier it gets. See for yourself....

Terror In The Treehouse

Operator: 911. What's your emergency?

Me: Uh...my daughter climbed up our tree house and is afraid to come down.

Op: Ma'am is she okay? Is she hurt? Is she breathing?

Me: Yes, she's fine but she's just afraid to come down.

Op: And you let her climb up ma'am?

Me: Yes. She's been afraid to climb it before, but she asked if she could climb it today and I said sure.

Op: So you let your daughter climb up and now she won't come down? Is that the situation ma'am?

Me: Yes. She was so darn determined to climb up and after about 10 minutes of crying and whining about it, she finally did it. Once she got up there though she got really scared and refused to come down the ladder. She's freaking out.

Op: "Freaking out" ma'am? Can you describe the "freaking out"?

Me: Well she's scared......and she's choked up on her tears. She wants my help, but I can't get to her. Can you help her?

Op: Well ma'am, what would you like us to do about it?

Me: Pardon me?

Op: Ma'am you let her climb up there. Now it's time to help her down.

Me: But I'm afraid of heights. I'm not going up there!

Op: Okay ma'am calm down. Just calm down.

Me: My daughter's up a tree house and I have no idea how to get her down and your telling me to calm down!

Op: Ma'am don't raise your voice at me. I'm trying to help you.

Me: Okay, okay. I'm sorry. What should I do?....oh wait, my cat is going up there to help her.

Op: Your cat ma'am?

Me: Yeah, one of our kittens is climbing up to help her. Good girl Raja! Go help Desiree! Good kitty!

Op: Ma'am are you still there?

Me: Yeah I'm here. One of my cats is up there now with my daughter. But she still won't come down.

Op: Ma'am did you think your cat was going to help her down?

Me: Uh.....maybe?

Op: What's a cat supposed to do ma'am? Carry her on her back. Perhaps grab her neck in her mouth?

Me: Your right. I'm stupid to think a cat would help her down.

Op: Ma'am don't put words in my mouth. I didn't call you stupid.

Me: I'm sorry. I'm just worried about her. She's still freaking out. - Oh wait. The other cat is climbing up there now. Good girl Jasmine! Go help Desiree!

Op: Ma'am what are 2 cats supposed to do? Carry her down around their shoulders? They don't have oposable thumbs ma'am!

Me: You're right, I know.

Op: No oposable thumbs!

Me: I know! I know! I'm stupid!

Op: Darn rights you are ma'am!

Me: Oh great! The second cat can't even figure out how to climb up the treehouse. Now she's stuck up the tree!

Op: You have a cat stuck up a tree ma'am?

Me: Yes!

Op: Well that I can help you with. We'll dispatch a rescue team to your tree house right away.

Me: But what about my daughter!?

Op: Is your daughter still up the tree house?

Me: YES!!!

Op: Well did you call your home teachers?

Me: .............Um.......not yet.

Op: Well don't you think you should've thought about them first, before you called us ma'am?

Me: Gosh I'm sorry. I didn't think about it.

Op: That's okay ma'am. I dispatch your home teacher up the street from you instead of our rescue team.

Me: Thank you! Thank you SO much!

Op: Is your daughter still okay ma'am.

Me: Well, she's still freaking out, but she's breathing.

Op: Did you offer her any form of comfort ma'am?

Me: Let me try that......Desiree, would you like me to sing you a song?....................She said yes.

Op: Okay ma'am. Ask her which one.

Me: Okay.......Desiree? Which one?........She said, "Just Let Me Cry".

Op: Is that the song by Hilary Weeks ma'am?

Me: Yeah that one. It's one of her favorites.

Op: Okay go ahead ma'am.

Me: Oh gosh I can't sing that song! I'm about to cry just thinking about it.

Op: Look ma'am, just sing the song as best you can, alright? Your daughter needs comfort right now and singing that song is the best thing you can do until help arrives, okay?

Me: Okay, I'll give it a shot.........."Just let me cry......I ......know.......it's hard....to see."........That's all I could get out. I'm all choked up.

Op: Good job ma'am. You did you best considering the situation. I'm proud of you.

Me: Thank you............Oh! My home teacher's son just got here.

Op: Okay ma'am I'm going to stay on the line until I know everyone's okay.

Me: Alright thank you.........Desiree go with Chris........Okay she's safe on the ground.

Op: Well that's good ma'am. How are the cats?

Me: Chris is getting them down now..........Okay Jasmine's down. Raja is stuck in the treehouse and refuses to come down with Chris..........okay he's got her!

Op: I'm glad everyone's safe now ma'am.

Me: Me too. Thank you soo much!

Op: You're welcome ma'am. Now there's a few of things I'm going to suggest, before we disconnect ma'am.

Me: Okay. What's that?

Op: The first one is give your daughter a BIG snuggle. The second is make sure you make Chris a big batch of Chocolate Chip cookies as a thank you. And last but not least ma'am......don't let your kids climb up the treehouse for a long time. Can you do those things ma'am?

Me: Oh don't worry, THOSE are already on my mind......Thanks again!

Op: No problem. You have a nice day.

Me: Thank you. You too.

Op: I will. Bye bye.

Me: Bye.

This is our treehouse

Okay so you've probably figured out that it wasn't a real call to 911, but that was a very real situation that happend yesterday. This conversation was pretty much the internal conversation I was having with myself as Desiree was distraught with severe fear of coming back down the treehouse ladder.

I swear that girl's first name should've been "Determination", cause when she's determined to do something, she'll do it at all cost. For ten minutes she fought with herself to climb up to the treehouse and even though I told her to just come down (she was SO full of drama the whole time, with the tears and bemoaning that she couldn't do it). But she was determined to climb that treehouse yesterday and with tear filled stubborness she did!

Coming down.......was another story.

I hope this made your day as much as I had fun writing it.

Almost Paradise

I'm still trying to catch up on blogging about my latest trips, but there are a lot of pictures to go through and edit. So in the meantime, I'm bloggin' about what a great day it was (still is) today.

My friend Cheri came over to play. We ended up painting birdhouses

(that I bought months ago and never got around to painting with the girls).

And by the way I take no responsibility for my girls outfits. I shouldn't have to remind you that they dress themselves and they decided that even thought it was 68+ degrees outside, they still wanted to wear their "long pants/shirt plus winter boots-combo", instead of shorts & a t-shirt. What a bunch of weirdos!

Can you tell who's belongs to who?

Let me give you a hint.....just pop on over to Cheri's blog and you'll see which one made the best house! She's so darn talented, it makes me sick!

Today was also the perfect day to give "Freida" a bath. She desperately needed it.

(And YES I name my cars. My dearly departed Caroline was my first.......*tear)

What a beautiful day! Thanks Cheri for makin' it extra special.

(and for putting up with my 80's Mega Mix and my wonderful purposely off-key singing!)

By the way today's title was brought to you by the song by Heart; Courtesy of my 80's Mega Mix.

Life School

I was playing a game with the girls this morning.




Since it's a game about school, it has a space that you land on, that you have to pick up a Report Card.

Well Desiree landed on this spot.......and forgetting what it was called, named it a "Credit Card".

Goes to show you what real life education she's been getting lately.

Writing A Letter To Santa

My girls are drawing pictures and Desiree just came down to show me the letter she wrote to Santa. Here's how our conversation went....

D: This is a letter for Santa.

Me: Sweetie it's not Christmas. I know it's snowing outside, but it's not Christmas.

D: I know, but we have to put it in the mail.

Me: (*try to think of something to say) Santa doesn't take letters right now........he's on vacation.

D: ......I know that

It's one of those, "had to be there", moments, but I thought it was funny enough to share.

Proud Momma

Modesty (mod/es/ty)
noun

1. humility: unwillingness to draw attention to your own achievements or abilities
2. sexual reserve: reserve in appearance, manner, and speech, especially in relation to sexual matters
3. shyness: lack of confidence or assertiveness, with a tendency to embarrass easily
4. simplicity: lack of grandeur or ostentation
5. moderation: moderation in size, scale, or extent

I had a Proud Mommy Moment the other day, that I wanted to share....

I do my best to teach my girls about being modestly dressed as far as #2 in the definition goes. I've done this since they came to us 2 years ago, when they were just 3.5 and 2 years old.

They get it.

*They probably get it too much, as we're out shopping and my 4 year old says in her "loud" voice about the lady with the mini skirt on, "Mommy, that lady is not being modest!".......talk about embarrassing!

It's not hard to teach kids about this, you just have to do it. Start when they're young too, cause when they get older they won't have to change the way they dress, especially if they choose to receive their endowment in the temple.

Anyways the other day I had the girls get dressed in their, "Going out in public with mommy, so you have to look less like a blind vagabond"-Clothes.

(Disclaimer: *I am in NO WAY making fun of the sight impaired or the homeless......I am merely stating that my kids dress themselves and most often I feel like they got dressed in the dark or they are seriously blind! Sometimes their choices even hurt their daddy's eyes!)

For example:

I rest my case.

Now where was I.....

So anyways I made them get dressed and it happened to be coordinating shirts that were new, (that I bought at Old Navy clearance rack for $2 each) that they'd never worn before.

BTW I most often dress my girls alike, or in coordinating clothes, just so I can give the lady who asks me, "Are they twins?", a strange look of, "are you kidding me? One's like a foot taller than the other!" Ahhhh, the simple pleasures I enjoy in life.

Anyways.....so......new shirt, yes. So I left them to get dressed and I jolted off to a physical therapy appointment (for my leg) and Dan took them to work with him, (so that I didn't have to bring them to my appointment). When I arrived to pick them up from Dan's work, I was horrified to see that my precious little angel, Desiree, was NOT wearing the shirt I told her to wear! In fact she was wearing the same icky stained t-shirt she'd been wearing the day before......and the day before that.

I was peeved at the fact that my husband would allow my child not only go out in public looking like that, but the fact that she'd already been SEEN in public like that. I was SO embarrassed. Until he explained......

I sure was humbled when he told me what happened. Apparently Desiree put the shirt on and came and showed him as she said, "Everybody can see me!", pointing to the front of her shirt. Well she was trying to say that her shirt came down a little too uncomfortably low, that she figured everyone could see her naked chest. It really wasn't that bad, but for her to say that about the shirt and be uncomfortable wearing it, I tell ya, it was one of those moments.....

Those moments, as a parent, where you've taught your child something important and it becomes apparent that they are listening, cause it now becomes important to them too.

*Let's take a moment and sigh a little, shall we?......

This was definitely one of those moments I pat myself on the back.

*Oh and BTW I was SO glad that I had a jacket in the car, so I could cover up her shirt. Gotta love mommy preparedness!

Oh and as far as the shirt goes, it was only $2, so no big loss there!

You'd Think It Was Monday.....

I have to blog about this, so I can feel like I'm still a good mom.

About 30 min ago, I was making my breakfast (before 11am, even!) and I heard my daughter crying. Just to clarify, this isn't an unusual event in my day. She's the youngest and feels constantly picked on and almost ALWAYS feels the need to get her sister in trouble. So anyways she's crying and I do what I normally do and that's yell up "What's going on?".

Well I did that. Twice.

All I heard was more crying. So I headed upstairs to see what was going on.

By the way this isn't an easy feat for me these days. My leg is still a bit stiff after surgery and my knee swells up as well, so climbing the stairs is usually a "one step at a time" thing. But as soon as I heard my daughter crying specifically for ME, I knew this wasn't a case of "my sister is bugging me and this is my way of getting her in trouble".

I was up the stairs faster than I thought possible.

The scene as I entered their room was this. My youngest daughter was "tied" to the bed post by a necklace and my oldest was trying to "free" her. Thank goodness she was still conscious enough to be crying and calling for me (and thank goodness she was still a normal color). But the sight of her trapped like that still sent my heart racing.

I was surprisingly calm as I asked my oldest daughter why she was choking her sister to death, (okay so I didn't say it like that) and she simply replied, "I was pretending to be the Big Bad Wolf".

So after I comforted them both, we had a nice lecture chat about how we don't put things around people's necks and choke them. I immediately threw away all their necklaces. I might have slight regret over that, but I just don't trust them with those right now.

Anyways I'm much more calm about things now. I can laugh about the situation now, only cause I was planning on taking the girls to get their passport photos done and I really don't think it would look good with a big red mark on her neck.

This is what it looks like:
(Am I overreacting?)

I'm waiting to see if it calms down. I keep thinking that someone will see her and report me to the authorities. Not a good thing when we're trying to update our Foster License. Yeah.....nope.

Have your kids ever done this? Please tell me I'm not a bad mom. I know it's not my fault, but somehow I still feel guilty of not responding quicker. All the "what if's?".

I'd swear it was Monday, if not for the time and date on the computer.

Things That Are Keeping Me Going

I got my stitches out yesterday. Not that it means anything, cause of the last time I got my stitches out. But to me it means nearing the end. If there ever will be an end. In the meantime I'm on stinky antibiotics (they really do stink) and keepin' the leg up (although, not as much as I should be....oops!).

But I am grateful for all of the good things and people that keep me going each day.

First off, my husband. Seriously....he's the man.

He's awesome and he's doing a great job.

My girls, who "help mommy" all the time.

They're my go-to girls.

Visiting Teachers

Visits in general

Home Teachers

Hot meals brought in


Phone calls


Netflix


Dad's Oatmeal Cookies

(Imported from Canada)

Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer

Good books

Online Shopping (even if it's just browsing)

My daughters quoting Star Wars, or simply singing the theme song....(my current fav is when my oldest randomly quotes Aunt Beru)

"Luke's just not a farmer Owen..."


Anyways I just wanted to jot down some things that get me through the days of grief over this leg. It makes me not so low down. And that's the down low. Yo yo. I'm outta hee.

*I take no responsibility for the gangsta talk

Giving Mommy A Heart Attack

I had a very worrisome conversation with my 4 yr old yesterday. If any of you have had kids cut their own hair, or know someone who has, or like me-you've fixed some kids hair that they've cut themselves, you'll know the agony and despair that this simple act can bring on a mother.

So you won't blame me for being a little distraught and worried about the words my youngest daughter and I exchanged (and included is the internal conversation I was having with myself):


K: Mommy?

Me: Yes sweetheart?

K: Does big kids cut hair?

Me: (*Oh crap. Oh crap....she cut something, didn't she! Where on earth did she get scissors? Oh no! It must've been when I was cutting paper earlier and I left them out! Okay....stay calm and we'll figure it out) Uh…....only if they're an adult. Why sweetie? (*Please say you didn't cut your sister's hair. PLEASE say you didn't cut your sister's hair!)

K: 'Cause I was pretending to be Ellie and she was gonna cut Care Bear's hair.

Me: (*Oh! Thank the Maker! She's such a good girl! Good girl!) Oh, well it’s okay if you PRETEND to cut hair, just as long as you don’t use real scissors. (Get that sister? You ever touch real scissors to hair and I'll......oh thank goodness she didn't cut anyone's hair!)

I know. I'm weird. But it was a funny conversation to me and I just had to share.

A Date With My Daughter

I had my first official date with my daughter the other night. Well technically it would've been my first date with Dan in over 7 months, but we couldn't find a sitter on short notice so I took our oldest.

We went to see Michael McLean in The Forgotten Carols. This is my absolute FAVORITE event of the year. I've seen 3 times (so far!). I only missed it once last year, because they didn't come to Seattle last year. This year it was in Everett, so I was happy at that (driving an hour to Seattle as apposed to 20 minutes to Everett......yeah). We always go with somebody. In the past we've gone with Dan's parents and the year before it was TAKI. This year we went with TAKI & The Higham's (Dan's sis).

Each year they change the play a little, just to keep it different, but it's still the same story, songs & music and message.

If you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about then here's pretty much the plot line (a la Suze):

There's a nurse, "Constance" (who gets called "Connie Lou" throughout the play), who's pretty much a "Grinch" about Christmastime and then she meets a patient named "John" who shows her the story of the Nativity with those who were forgotten. He uses an ornament to represent those forgotten people of the Nativity story, like, The Inn Keeper, A Shepherd who fell asleep during the Angels' visit, A woman who held the Baby Jesus, and just so many more great songs and music that bring in this wonderful holiday season. He's trying to help the nurse "find her carol" and the as the stories come to life, she finds that Carol and a special gift that John brings to her life. There's a certain "magic" in the air when you see this play. It will change your life forever.

I fortunately bought the DVD last year when it came out, (In fact I bought it for all my family at Christmas) and so I can never go hungry for this play again! It's just different when you see it live.

I was never a huge Michael McLean fan, except knowing that he wrote semi-cheesy songs. But I've grown to LOVE him and the music that he writes. He stars as John in the play and he's absolutely AMAZING! He's funny, witty and charming and although he says he can't sing, the songs from his heart are beautiful and touch my heart, every time I hear them. I can't help but cry every time I see this play or hear the music. It's that "magic" I guess.

Anyways I took a few pictures at the play. You weren't aloud to take flash photography, so my pictures didn't turn out too well. (I still haven't mastered that part of photography).

John (Michael McLean) showing the new ornament he made, to Connie Lou

The cast getting a standing ovation.

I was busy clapping for them, when I realized this would be a photo op and then they started walking off stage

If you want to check out some of the music, I found some on YouTube

Homeless

I Cannot Find My Way

Connie Lou's Carol

"Big Spiderman Mommy!"

Reading friends blogs today, (thanks Alana & Candice) spawned this story. Happy reading!

The other day I was at the beauty supply store with the girls and I was at the counter paying for my stuff and all of a sudden one of the workers shrieks and I look behind me at her and she's pointing to the ground and there's this HUGEMONGOUS Wolf Spider (it was at least 5 in circumference) headed towards my foot. It was seriously less than 6 inches away (I just got the shivers talking about it).

So I yelled, "Holy Crap!" (it was the least I could do for not swearing!) and I moved the girls away from the spider. Yeah about 10 feet away! As the worker put a small box on it and covered it up. Meanwhile the girl behind the counter who was helping me, comes around (by the way we were ALL freaked out of this spider) and stomps on the box. We all stood there shuddering in disgust. (I'm shuddering now in remembrance). No one wanted to check to see if it was even dead or not....so finally the girl from behind the counter did.....and it was. So we all took a huge sigh of relief.

It was then that I remembered the girls. No just kidding. They did surprisingly well through the ordeal. They stayed calm. They're usually pretty freaked out of bugs and stuff....mostly flying bugs, but they mostly just stood in shock.....probably stood in shock of grown women freakin' out of a spider that's 100 times smaller than them.

But after the ordeal Kayla says to me, (in little kid English of course) "That was a big Spiderman Mommy!"

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I guess we haven't taught her about arachnids. Only about SpiderMAN. Silly us.

Even funnier is that they still talk about it. I went back to the beauty supply store a couple of days later and as soon as we drive up to the store parking lot, Desiree says, "Big Spider Mommy" ......."Yes I know, Sweetheart. I was a big Spider!"

Never Too Young For ANNE!

*Because there's always so much more detail to the story that I'm really telling here it goes....

So a couple of days ago I mysteriously felt ill, mid-day..... (and I know what you're all thinking~NO, I'm not pregnant!)

I say mysteriously, cause it went down like this:

I felt fine when I woke up and I was doing my daily chores, when all of a sudden I felt this wave of nausea that caused me to go, "Woa! I don't feel so hot".

This is abnormal to me, cause I don't get nauseated. In fact I refuse to get nauseated! I will hold vomit in if I have to.....it's psychological or something......I just hate vomit and I will refuse to make myself sick and therefore I make myself sick. Sick ain't it?

Anyways I'm sure you wanted to hear that.....

But anyways so this wave of nausea hit and I just had to lay down for the rest of the day. So I called Dan and he came home and brought me Ginger Ale (Canada Dry, my good man!) and took the rest of the day off so that he could look after the girls. I pretty much passed out after that for about 3 hours and didn't remember much, except for having the chills and being extremely hot the whole time. I got up and took my temperature and it read over 102. So I called our Microsoft Health line to see what they said I should do and they told me it was probably a virus that I had and to drink lots of fluids and to get lots of rest.

Hmmmm......

News flash!

How does a mom of two toddlers at home get lots of rest? Husband must alleviate wife, right?

He he....

Well....on this particular "next day" it was near IMPOSSIBLE that Dan could take the day off. (Explanation will come later...I promise)

So we hired a babysitter to come and be with the girls so that I could rest on the couch. It sure did help, but boy did it mess up the girl's routine! They just weren't the same at the end of the day.

Anyways on to today....

I'm feeling better; on the road to recovery, but still not my normal self (this illness is so bizarre I tell ya). So anyways my favorite thing to do when I'm sick is watch Anne of Green Gables. Since Desiree is a little couch potato she of course wanted to watch the show with Mommy, and so did Kayla. But I was honestly surprised that they watched the whole thing with me. I mean it's a 3 hour long show! Of course we took a break in between, but Desiree sat still the whole time and Kayla, who usually doesn't last 10 minutes through any show, sat pretty well through it all.

So it goes to show you that you're just never too young for Anne! They both loved it and they wanted more. I told them that there was another movie, (Anne: the Sequel) but they would have to wait another day to watch it. I'm so glad that they're going to turn into Anne Addicts like their mommy is. Makes me proud! (*tear)

I'm So Ashamed!

You know my housekeeping's gotten bad when my 4 year old (Desiree) walks into the kitchen just now to put her lunch bowl away and says with great amazement,

"WOW! Mommy did da pee nawp"

Translation: Mommy did the clean up!

I guess it's been really bad for a while and she's noticed that I've cleaned up.

I'm so ashamed!

I guess I shouldn't be a hypocrite when I tell them to be neat and tidy and clean up all the time, eh?

Last day of vacation...

All these years of "officially" being unemployed since quitting my full-time job in August of 2004, I've never felt any guilt being a stay-at-home-wife. Dan's let me have a good rest period before we had kids. He's always said, "It's your vacation time, until the kids come".

Well my family & friends, today has been my last official day of vacation, cause....

Tomorrow we bring home our girls for good!

Before you get too excited, let me explain a few things. We don't have custody of the girls yet. No paperwork has been filed with the courts, but all the adults (birth mom, foster mom & us) feel like this is the time to move them permanently and they are FULLY ready.

It's been a long road. But it's been worth it! Those two little girls have been meant to be in our home from the moment I heard about their birth mom at the begining of January. I've known it in my heart and this is just proof that Our Father in Heaven speaks to us through the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he will let us know the truth!

I can also say I've felt the joys and pains of a pregnancy, labor and post pardum depression. Anyone who ever says adoption is the "easy way" of getting children, can go shove their hands in a meat grinder! They have no idea what we've been through and only those who've been through adoption can understand. Even adopting toddlers is WAY more difficult emotionally that an infant....so unless you've been through what we've been through, don't even say you know how we feel. (I hope that didn't sound too bitter)

I truly am grateful for all those people who've sent thoughts & prayers on our behalf through all this. It's so appreciated, even though I can't send an email back to you personally. Please keep them coming, we still need them till it's all finished.

The journey is still not over.....but it's nearing the end!

Our girls are coming home!

More about the adoption stuff....

So I guess I should mention that we don't actually have the girls officially in our home yet and we're still in the "transitioning" period. Some of you don't understand this yet and I wanted to make this clear. We won't have a "permanent placement" date for at least another week and it's all a bunch of legal paperwork and stuff that the birth mom has to sign off on as well as the birth father and so we're still emotionally & physically trying to get things sorted out before we're full time parents to these beautiful girls.

In the meantime, I appreciate all the emails and comments on here and I want them to keep coming. They mean so much at this time!!! Thank you! Thank you!

I promise I will post pictures of the girls soon, but I wanted to post this as soon as possible as to not add anymore confusion.

Love you all!