Who's the princess?

Paige and her Sunday school teacher made these crowns at church tonight. A few minutes after we got home I turned around to find this. It made me laugh out loud and, of course, run for the camera! Doesn't Rick look thrilled? He's a good sport though!

Bloom Where You are Planted

There is ALWAYS a plan. Sometimes we may not know what it is. Often we may not like what it is. And usually we don't even realize there is a plan! But there is. More often than not I've missed seeing the plan as I tried to change the path I was on. Little did I know that I was fighting a much better plan! You see, when we got married we had our lives all planned out. Then Rick lost his job without any explaination. So we changed course and returned to college. Rick intended to return to the Navy as a pilot but the military lost his paperwork for several months. By that point Trace had been born and he had new priorities in life. What we couldn't have known was that our country was soon to be in a war that would last many years. I prayed and prayed for a pilot position to become available and just couldn't understand why Rick didn't pass his interview in the summer of 2001. Who ever thought something as catastrophic as 9-11 could happen which would have left Rick jobless? Again, there was a better plan in the works. I find myself wondering now what the plan is. How long will we be in the position we are currently in? How much longer until Rick is able to make captain? Will we ever own our own home again?

One of the things that has stressed me out the most is the lack of stability for our kids (Trace in particular). The longest he has ever lived in one house is just over two years. We are coming up on our two year anniversary in this house next week. Recently our house hunting was put on hold and honestly, I'm ok with that. I'm hoping the plan is to be able to stay here long enough for the kids to really put down some roots. As the sun came out the other day and the doorbell rang I heard little voices asking the boys to come out and play. Soon our entire cul-de-sac was swarming with kids. There were 10-15 kids at one point and a bunch of them were wrestling in our front yard! Paige was happily running up and down the street playing with the other little girls and their dolls. The boys were having Nerf sword fights and chasing each other while other kids were riding our Green Machine and scooters. It felt so right. It felt so good. To see the kids knowing the neighbor kids, to have those neighbor kids come asking them to play and to be able to let them all go out and play with few worries - that's what I want for them. I want them to remember the fun times running around the neighborhood. The neighbor kids who were fun and the ones who drove them crazy. The joy of being children! I hope this is the plan.

Paige playing dolls with her friends at the end of the street.

It was the first time she was willing to go down and play by herself.

When she decided she wanted her doll,

Trace so kindly delivered it to her!
This is how the boys spent most of their time!

Or this... (notice Ally running from them!) Trace decided shortly after this that sword fighting while on his unicycle probably wasn't the best of ideas. I think the pavement and his knees helped with that decision!
It may not be the house we would have chosen. They may not be the neighbors we would have chosen. But isn't that the way all of life goes? Make the best of the situation - Bloom where you are planted.

Today...

I talked with some of the high school students, at the school where I work, about adoption this afternoon. Since Paige was going with me and they hadn't seen her I decided to do something a little special with her hair. With Valentines day coming we opted for hearts. Turned out pretty cute I think!

This evening Trace wanted to play a little Rock Band. While I was fixing dinner he set it up so Paige could play a little too. She was quite serious about it and amazingly enough was actually hitting notes!
It was a bit difficult though to hit the foot pedal so big brother decided to help out! What a nice kid.

The unicycle team had their first performance for the year last night. They have a new routine and several new kids so it was a little shaky, but not to the audience thank goodness. As they were lining up to start the audience started chanting, "U -NI -CYCLE, U-NI-CYCLE!" The kids performed at the same high school last year and obviously were a hit. They've gotten more "tricky" this year and got some roudy cheers also. Two more shows are scheduled right now (one at a local university). Trace absolutely loves being a part of it and I'm helping out during the shows now. I guess it's becomming a family thing - maybe we should look into joining the circus!

The basketball star

Caden's newest activity is playing community ed. basketball. He loves it! I wish you could see the smile on his face in the picture where he is dribbling!

Miss Muffit

Paige insists on "reading" me a bedtime story occasionally. If it is a story we've read recently she can usually repeat it back pretty well!

I finally decided to "pick my battle" as far as Paige's clothing choices go. She had a closet and dresser nearly overflowing with clothes. Yet, every morning when I pull something out she backs away from me whining that she doesn't like it. So, I pulled out everything she won't wear! We went shopping and bought five "new" shirts a "new" pair of jeans, and a new coat, that we agreed on, mostly from local consignment stores.

This is what her bedroom looked like midway through the purging! Look at all those clothes!
And here is the final result in her closet! It went from me literally jamming clothes in to having wide open spaces!

Who looks like Mom?

After seeing this picture of me on Facebook someone commented that Caden looked like me. So I decided to put together a little comparison and see what the general concensus was. So, tell me, what do you think?

White Weddings and Baby Cribs

Little girls dream of their wedding day. The dress they will wear, the handsome groom waiting at the end of the aisle, the flowers, the church and so much more. I guess there was something a little different about me though. I didn't give a whole lot of thought to the wedding. I was too busy planning the nursery. What crib and colors I would use. How it would be arranged. Of course there were hours spent choosing names for all the children that would sleep in that nursery. As I got older I thought about how much fun it would be to have a car seat in the backseat and a diaper bag full of those tiny diapers and little clothes. When I tried to imagine my children it was usually the back of a little girl playing on the floor of a bedroom. She had long, straight brown hair.

As so often happens in life, reality eventually set in. That crib cost money and we didn't even have a house to put it in when our firstborn came along. So he got it for his first Christmas gift. The car seat was heavy to lug around and all those tiny diapers eventually got dirty - as did the little clothes! And finally, that little girl with the long brown hair was actually a blond little boy. Then it was two little blond boys.

Even though reality was very different from the dream, life was good. We had everything we needed. Those little boys made us laugh and kept me busy. Something inside of me though was missing that brown haired little girl. Where was she? Who was she? Would she ever be more than just a figment of my imagination? I worried that those little boys would grow and not need me anymore. They would not have any interest in baking or cleaning with me and they most definitely would never have hair I could braid and put ribbons in! I dreaded the day they would be too busy for me and I'd be alone with my interests. It was a sadness that is hard to explain.

Then as I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes last night it suddenly dawned on me. My dream was unfolding before me. You see, my little brown haired girl sat on the counter in front of me with a dish towel in her hand happily drying the dishes for me and chatting away. When she asked if the boys used to dry the dishes when they were little like her I told her that no, boys weren't usually interested in that sort of thing. Then I contentedly smiled as she simply stated that she thought that was strange. The boys were in the other room laughing with their dad over video games and it was then that I realized what I had - that I wasn't alone.

Does he look comfortable?

As I was fixing dinner last night I peeked into the living room and found this. Judging by the wrappers he wasn't overly hungry. And looking at the pillows and computer I'd say he was rather comfy too!

I'm not sure if the antibiotics are doing their job just yet though. Despite the doctor saying to keep him home a day or two I decided to keep him home again today as well. His cough sounds worse to me but I'm hoping it is just breaking up in his chest. Guess I'll be continuing to watch him over the weekend. It was interesting though that once the doctor told him he was sick - it was almost like she gave him permission - he sort of collapsed. It was kicking his behind and he just wouldn't give in! As my mom said, let's just hope that he continues to fight/deny being sick as an adult (since we all know it is not a common thing for grown men to do!).

Is there hope?

Santa has tried really hard every year to encourage a love of dolls in Paige. After he left this one she literally didn't even touch it for over a week. She was completely uninterested! I was resigned to the fact that it just wasn't to be. THEN... I was straightening her room and in doing so made the baby "cry". Paige looked up and I said, "oh, no I think the baby needs a bottle!" She came running over and put the bottle in its mouth then picked it up and held it for a bit before laying it back down. I asked if she needed a blanket and she said YES! Ever since then that baby has been with her almost constantly. It even went to the book store with us yesterday (all wrapped up in a mini version of Paige's favorite blanket). She has chosen the decidedly uncreative name of Little Paige but I guess that can be forgiven as long as she is playing with it!

Ever have one of THOSE days?

After work yesterday I had a message from the vice-principal at Trace's school. It seems she had him in her office for disrupting class and he was being sent home with a warning referral. According to her he was kicking the desks around his trying to get someones attention. Another boy got mad (a buddy she said) and as a result they were both in trouble. Well, Rick and I were pretty upset naturally. We agreed upon a discipline (three days with no t.v./computer/video games).

Then he got home from school...

He came in happy and excited because he had made the honor roll and his name was in the paper. He was also just 4 points away from earning a Beaver Bravo (a school award that's a pretty big deal). So I asked for his side of the story knowing that he has never given me any reason not to trust what he tells me. He says that he was "jiggling" the desk in front of him to get Kayla's attention so he could ask her the name of her Bible (doesn't that make you think the rest of the story just shouldn't matter? I digress). In the process he jiggled another boys desk. Now according to the VP this boy was a buddy of Trace's which couldn't have been farther from the truth. This other boy comes from a very troubled background and is known to cause problems and be in the office a lot - Trace has never been his friend. Well this other boy got mad and threw all of his own papers and books on the floor. The teacher immediately sent him to the office where he said Trace had made him mad. So the VP walked down to the classroom and called Trace out of class (does that count as "being sent" to the VP's office?). She also had talked with the teacher and found that yes, Trace had been somewhat disruptive and had also been in trouble yesterday for talking in class and being disruptive (the first day back after Christmas break - aren't they all a bit disruptive and talkative that day?). So Trace is given a referral warning and has to stay out of trouble for two months for it to be cleared from his record.

(For those of you who are parents or teachers... I'd really like your thoughts on this. You have pretty much all the information I have. Personally I don't think Trace deserved the referral (but we have not said that to him). I think his desk should have been moved and possibly he could have been sent to the hall to work - but honestly, the principal's office? I know when I was a kid the principal was where the really "bad" kids went.)

And now for the rest of the story...

As he is telling me this I notice immediately that he is hoarse. He had been coughing a lot recently and I was just beginning to think maybe we needed to see the doctor. So I asked how he was feeling (not very good) and took his temperature (100.6). Trace is the kind of kid that doesn't say anything when he is sick until he is practically dying. Knowing this I immediately call and get him an appointment. After listening to his lungs for a few minutes and listening to the cough with a very concerned expression she lets me know that he has a very deep and diffuse lung infection - walking pneumonia. His lungs, she said sounded really bad. He is home from school and on the couch for two days! In light of that we lifted the no t.v. portion of his discipline (and also knowing now more of what had actually happened we felt any more discipline wasn't really called for).

So, talk about having quite a day! I realize the pictures don't go with the post but I liked them and just wanted to share.

Hope your day is better than Trace's was yesterday!