China or bust!

The girls left for China today!  Yesterday the media found out about the cleft bottles they are taking and wanted to talk to them.  Next week they will all be in our local (weekly) paper.  All kinds of excitement!  

We finally made it to a parade!  The boys have such fond memories of going to several each summer.  We never found any in Illinois so it was fun to go back to our old stomping grounds.  It was Paige's first parade and she was mainly excited about the candy.  We also had our newest nephew/cousin , Carson, with us for his first Parade!
Paige and I went to the bank and I asked for three suckers so she could bring one back for each of her brothers.  She ate hers on the way home and shortly after getting home this is how I found her!  Little stinker.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

I just wanted to let you all know that I so appreciated the gifts toward cleft bottles! I got anywhere from $5-$50 and believe me EVERY dollar made a difference. The total reached $200!! Since one case came to about $156 with tax I was also able to order 2 more boxes of 6 for $19 each + tax. With time running out (the girls leave this friday) I had to pay $14 to expedite shipping (on me!). So we were able to get a total of 84 bottles!! As I mentioned to many of you, each bottle has the potential to save a life so that is 84 precious little lives that will have a chance. I never could have made such an impact without all of you - Thank you!

Lazy days of summer

We are trying to venture out to a new park each week but so far we've only made it twice. This particular trip we wound up at an elementery school because all of the actual parks were too uninteresting for for the boys! It was awfully hot though with no shade so we didn't end up staying too long. In the bottom picture of Paige and Trace I just love the contrast in size! Holy Cow! Trace is about 5 inches shorter than me at the moment. Yes, he does have one sock pulled all the way up and one down - that isn't a new fashion trend he had some bug bites that he kept itching so I told him to pull his sock up to keep from scratching.
As usual, not much else going on! Rick has a really awful schedule this month which is keeping him away the majority of the time. The kids and I are just trying to stay sane together! We are always up for company, or free outings though, so give us a call if you find yourself bored!

The 4th in words - slide show below

We spent last weekend at the beach with family and friends. Rick had taken it off which made it extra special for all of us! On Friday night we went down on the beach to see the show and set off a few of our own. The smoke from fires and fireworks was so think you couldn't see very far at times. The best entertainment (see slide below with same title) though was watching the rednecks get their truck out of the sand. It was an old purple Ford, a bunch of rednecks who'd been partying too long, and two newer Fords. In the end it took both newer trucks and about ten or more people pushing to get the truck unstuck. We sat and laughed the whole time (aren't we nice?). On the fifth after roaming around the little town with their cousins the boys joined us at an open house. We only intended to stay a brief time but it turned into 9-10 hours! More fireworks, lots of happy people and just a good ole time. The "what not to do" picture below is courtesy of RICK. He threw a bunch of spent fireworks and cakes into the roaring bonfire we had going. 'Supposedly' he knew there were a couple of live ones in the bunch but it scared the you-know-what out of the rest of us when they started shooting out of the fire! Sunday was nice so we spent a few hours on the beach. Trace was feeling a little bored and left out so I took him for a walk. On the way back I told him how we used to jump over the waves and it entertained us for hours when we were kids. He gave me that typical 'you really are nuts' look. So I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the waves. Now, for those who don't know, the idea is to HOP over the little ripples of foam as the come onto the beach. There is generally a bit of splashing and wetness up to the knees. Well, the tide was coming in and I think we had wandered closer to the water but suddenly a wave came at us that couldn't be hopped! We were shrieking and laughing and soaked up to the nether regions! After that it didn't matter anymore. Caden joined us and we spent a good half hour numb in the surf. Trace told me today that he was really surprised how much fun it was because according to him most of my ideas are just weird. Gee thanks!

4th of July Weekend!

Cleft Bottles

I'm looking for a little help. Some teenage cousins are going to Beijing to perofrm in the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. They are willing to transport special cleft bottles to a woman there who is willing to pick them up where the girls are and deliver them to the babies in desperate need. These bottles are not available in China and must be brought in by caring people. Each bottle can literally save a life. Cleft affected babies are three times as likely to be born into an Asian family and without these bottles they have little more than a 10% chance of survival. Most are abandoned because their families can't afford the necessary surgery. Many never grow or gain enough strength to be candidates for surgery due to an inability to form a suction and get nutrition from a bottle. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that I would really like to send a case of these bottles with the girls to Beijing in a few weeks. They cost $17 for 6 bottles or $144 for a case of 72. Really, such a little thing and really not that much money but it would literally save lives. I am looking for anyone who might be willing to donate a couple of dollars. I plan to pitch in what I can but on our present income that isn't much. Even if I could just raise $100 it would so awsome! Please won't you consider it? You can leave me your e-mail address if you want me to send you my address or if you already know it and want to send something please feel free. Seriously, I'm not looking for more than maybe $5 from any one individual ever dollar will help! I do have to get on this quickly though in order to get the bottles here and to the girls before they leave at the end of the month. Thank you!

A couple of pictures...

Our new short-haired girl! I still swing between liking it and feeling sick. I cut it myself for a couple of reasons. 1) It is so fine I couldn't do anything with it anyway (pony tails always slid out of the holders) and 2) I wanted to eventually even the sides up with the back so it could all grow the same length. Now seemed like as good a time as any, especially with the heat of summer!
Trying to stay cool in Aunt Karen's pool. This was our first swim of the year and the kids were so excited! Paige is doing MUCH better than last year and really seems to be liking the water.

Caden wacking the pinata!

We went to the HOLT family picnic today in Portland. It was probably the hottest day of the year and must have reached 100 degrees! Holy cow were we hot. We ate a picnic lunch and the kids had fun on the huge playground for a while. Then they did two pinatas which of course the kids loved! The second one was a unicorn and after the second kid the rope broke off so they tied a noose around it's neck only to have the whole head fall off next! It was hilarious but thankfully Trace was finally able to put it out of its misery! Unless I get to know some people in the area that are with HOLT I don't think we'll be going again next year. It wasn't all that fun not knowing anyone. On our way home we stopped off at Aunt Chris's place to go for a quick swim. It felt sooooo good to get cooled off. The boys tired themselves out and Paige used me for an underwater jungle gym. Seems like we are having a contentedly busy summer - not chaotic just busy.

Life (just venting not whining)

It is starting to look like monthly or maybe bi-monthly updates are all I'll ever get around to! There honestly isn't much going on though. I am still trying to adjust to our new life. There are days when I just really wish we were back in Chicago. I miss the neighbors, the kids playmates, having Rick home in the evening, and just - our life. So I try to remind myself that the neighbors really weren't around all that much, the boys got tired of always having to play with someone else, Rick was generally crabby because he hated his job, and I desperately missed having family around! Life is never perfect and for now it is what it is. Rick is much happier which in turn makes the rest of us happier - or should. It is just incredibly hard to not be able to run to the grocery store for one quick item without hauling three kids, or to never manage to get the dishes done because I am barely able to get dinner picked up before it is time to get kids into bed. By the time I get everyone in bed and actually asleep it is at least nine - and I start by SEVEN! So then I stay up to have two hours of my own then am too tired to get up before 8:30 in the morning by which point the boys are fighting and Paige is whining (and justifiably since she is hungry and her brothers won't feed her!). Whew, that was one long run on! Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I probably expected too much of this move but generally I'm 99% happy we made it. A lot of the stresses from Chicago are gone which helps tremendously and if I can just get my kids to get along life will be all rosy! I ran into a mom at the library yesterday and when I asked how her summer was going she said, "oh, it been just w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l! We are having so much fun. How about you?" Uh-well, the boys are fighting constantly, I feel like all I do is yell and they don't listen anyway, I'm on overload, and oh-yeah, how many more days until school starts? Actually I just said, "well, it's going." What's wrong with me how come we aren't just having a w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l summer?

I know, it's been a while!

The end of the school year is always so much fun. Teacher gifts to figure out, classroom parties, field day, 1/2 days... You get the idea! Caden's last 1/2 day is tomorrow and Trace is done on the 17th so we are almost there. Then I of course decided to throw in a trip to the beach with all three kids by myself! We packed that little Hyundai until we couldn't fit anything else in then hooked the bikes on the back and took off. It was supposed to be a beautiful weekend but true to the Long Beach Peninsula a cloud bank decided to sit there all weekend except for a couple hours late Saturday. It wasn't miserable by any means just not the 70+ degrees everyone else was having back home. Oh-well we had a good time anyway. It only took me about an hour and a half to get the fire going (and a whole bag of fire starters). It turns out that old, dry wood burns better than new wet stuff. Um, yeah I knew that at one time long before my mommy brain took over and made me look completely incompetent! Apparently I did a good job after that though because we got a really HOT fire going. The boys, of course being boys, were having lots of fun 'helping' me keep the fire going. About 8:30 we decided to drive down to watch the sunset, which was beautiful until the last ten minutes when the clouds blocked everything out. While we were sitting there waiting Caden asked me to look at his hair and tell him what was in it because it felt sticky "or something". I took one look and immediately started laughing - he had somehow managed to scorch the top of his head! Trace and I were laughing but Mr. Style was so embarrassed that he was crying. I took a couple of pictures (against his will) which he grudgingly smiled for. I'm still getting a chuckle out of that one. We spent over 4 hours on the beach Saturday hunkered down in the dunes to avoid the wind and the kids had so much fun. They dug until they couldn't dig any more and we all got a little sun on our cheeks. Well, on Sunday when we finally made it home we couldn't find Tigger who normally greets us at the door. I had my suspicions which were prooved correct shortly when we found him crying in the backyard. That darned cat thinks he should be an outdoor cat despite the fact that he has had no shots and has no coller. So now do we make him and indoor/outdoor cat? Or keep fighting an endless battle? So in short we couldn't start a fire, Caden nearly burned the hair off his head, and we left the cat out with no food or water for two days - but it was a great weekend!

Paige Singing Veggie Tales

"Hi Daddy!"

Paige just wanted to say "hi" to Daddy from her new slide. If it would quit raining and let the sun come out I'm sure she would be on it continuously! The only problem she has is with the "spiders" which can barely be seen but for some reason seem to freak her out - oh puuleees!

Memorial Weekend 2008

The strangest conversation...

As I was leaving Costco today with Paige in tow I stopped to answer my phone. When I hung up a lady sitting there asked if she was my daughter or if she was adopted. I answered that she was my daughter and yes she was adopted. I was already a little bit bugged by this lady but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and allowed the conversation to continue. She mentioned that she had been to an agency to talk about adoption and that she couldn't believe how much it cost! Yes it is expensive. What she said next was what really floored me though. "Wow! Is that ever a money maker for the government! They are making money and then on top of it sending their children here for us to raise!" I am not a quick thinker and just stood there speechless. I'm glad that I did because she continued to tell me that they had lost a child to cancer four years ago and she really wanted to adopt. I had to assume she is just very uneducated about adoption, and went ahead and attempted to educate her a little about different options available. In the end I walked away though just shaking my head and kicking myself at the same time. Many people don't get it, but I sure hope before they actually adopt that they get a little information. I was kicking myself a bit too though because it was another reminder that I am still not prepared for these encounters. It needs to be my number one priority to protect Paige from comments that are negative and secondly I need to set an example for all my children as to how to reply. Guess I'd better get practicing!

The latest happenings...

We took the kids to Steakburger the other night for a round of mini golf. They were so excited and insisted we not go anywhere but Steakburger. The place is ancient - it was there when my mom was a kid (sorry mom)! Every so often there is talk of bulldozing it but everyone gets upset and fights it. Anyway, they had fun and got to spend some quality time with Daddy between trips.

Savor Each and Every Moment!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day. I feel like it should be something profound. Something magical. Something... I don't know. So what is it? Another day of potty training, another day of bickering, room cleaning, laundry and fixing meals for kids. The big difference is that I get to keep saying to them, "Hey! This is mother's day. Is this the way you are going to behave?" The problem is that I have to keep saying it!

I am acutely aware today though of a group of mother's especially close to my heart. These are the mother's still waiting. Many of them know their child has been born but have no idea where or when, let alone how he/she is. They wait day in and day out hoping China will have mercy on them. They are mother's and yet rather than celebrate they will likely choose to hide today, it just hurts so much. I know this feeling only a little. While I was waiting I had two precious boys to celebrate with. It didn't make the hole for the missing child any smaller, but it gave me a distraction. For those who don't have any other "distractions" I hope you know you are every bit a mother.

Telefloral recently ran an ad where they separted mother's into categories. (they later posted a retracting with an apology saying they didn't realize it might offend!?) One category was labeled "non - mom's" for aunts, grandparents, foster and ADOPTIVE parents. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that there is at least one person with that view point. NON moms? Is there really such a thing? If you are kissing owies, cleaning up vomit at 2am, and correcting school papers then you are a mom. It makes no difference if you gave birth to that child, foster or ADOPTED them. A non mom. So if I'm Paige's non mom does that make her a non child? I agree with a fellow blogger who said that the part that makes us the saddest is that these types of people will someday come into contact with my precious child. Someday a comment or article like that will make my child cry and ask questions she should never have. Just for those of you who aren't aware, Paige WAS adopted. Adoption is an action not a state of being. She is not our adopted daughter, she is our daughter. And I am her mom. (even now as she glares at me for taking her off the counter!)

For me, mother's day is really just another day. But it is another day to remember my blessings and share my pride in them. When Trace was born, I became a mom. I was so excited to show him off and "play" mom (though I didn't realize it then). Reality didn't hit for quite a while. By the time Caden came along I just wanted to take him home and get back to life. The novelty of showing him off had faded into the reality of being a family. When Paige finally arrived we were ready to move on. Our family complete. I am fascinated by the phases of motherhood and how universal they seem to be. We all think we are so ready and know so much with the first one. Several years down the line we begin to grow and it is easier to see not only where we've been but where we are going. I ran into someone the other day whom I know has always used a very strict parenting theory. Her children are well behaved. At one time I would have been acutely aware of Trace interrupting that conversation and Paige wandering off. I was comforted to realize that for the first time - I didn't care! I really didn't care. In fact I didn't even think about it until we got out to the car 20 minutes later. My children are my children and I'm proud of them. Do they always behave perfectly? Nope but I know they can. Most importantly I have finally figured out that it matters little what I do. They are going to become who they are meant to be and I am mearly here to guide and assist them along the way. Motherhood is very humbling.

Enjoying the sunshine

Robin and I took the two little girls to the park last week to enjoy a few moments of sun! Paige wanted her shoes and socks off and then spent a large portion of her time trying to clean the sand out of her toes! She loves spending time with Robin and Collette though and had a great time. I, of course, had a lot of fun with the camera!

We haven't been up to much else around here though. I feel bad about not updating the blog very often but there just isn't much to say about our rather uneventful lives right now! The boys are doing well in school and Trace seems to be missing Chicago considerably less. He said the other day that he did miss being able to see for miles and miles to which I responded that we had apparently lived out there too long then! I think they both feel that school can't get out soon enough right now. I think I'm ready for summer too - even if it does mean a lot more bickering! Rick is still foing well and seems to definately like his new job. The biggest challenge right now is the commute between here and Fresno. We are still learning the ropes and how to maneuver the system to eliminate long layovers - we'll get it eventually. Of course that is about the time they will change his base!

The babies are gone...

No more diapers, no more high chair, no more bottles, no more trips to wander Babies R Us aimlessly and most prominently no more crib. Isn't the crib the final thing most of us get rid of? The final farewell to our childbearing years? The last bit to hold onto "just in case"? Well ours is gone. I only wanted it to have a good home and it will now. As I loaded it into the car I thought only about how happy I'd be to get it out of our garage. As I talked to the mom I was giving it to I thought only that I hoped she'd like it. While I walked across the parking lot to her car I felt a twinge of something so brief that I might have missed it entirely if Paige had fallen and wacked her chin on the cement a second earlier. No tears. No depression. Of course Babies R Us will always be there if by some devine intervention another child should ever enter our home needing a crib!

A Day at the Lake

I decided Sunday morning to take the kids, after church, for a hike around a little local lake. Grandma decided to come along too. So we packed some snacks, water, first aid kit (no reason), and threw on our grubby clothes. The kids had a lot of fun throwing sticks and rocks into the water and exploring everything off the trail that Grandma and I would allow! We all got some good exercise and thoroughly enjoyed the nice weather.

"Yet's sit down, wyte here. Ok, mommy?"

"fishing"

Hiking around the lake

Cousins

We shared "Survivor" night with Aunt Cheryl, Uncle "Weedy" (Woody), Nichole and Coleen last week. Caden and Paige are especially enamored with Coleen and had to jockey for a position in her lap to watch the show!

Coconut and Survivor

Thursday nights at our house are "Survivor" and pizza night. For the last several weeks Caden had been asking what was in those things they were always knocking out of the trees on the show. So I picked up a small coconut at the grocery store. They each got to pound a hole in the top to drain the "milk" then we wrapped it in a towel and took it out back where they each had a turn at pounding it with the hammer. Trace finally split it! No one was especially excited about trying what was in there but they were definately curious and the 'mystery' has been solved!

How long do those little hands and feet stay cute enough to take a close up of?

Aren't they sweet?

At least sometimes! I wish it was always like this! We have had a lot of problems lately with behavior problems but I think we may have finally turned the corner. I know I shouldn't speak too soon though! The sunshine definately helps to put everyone in a better mood - how could it not!?

Yes, I know Caden's helmit is not on correctly! We are waiting for the income tax return to buy him a new one - at least he is wearing one though!

Watching her brothers

I caught our little princess watching her brothers out the window yesterday. It was a beautiful day and she was so excited to see them. I did take her out shortly after!

A quick overnight...

When Rick got home on Saturday (he's an official pilot now by-the-way) we took off for Long Beach. We met some family down there at their lot and tried (unsuccessfully) to get to bed early. The next morning at o'dark o'clock Everyone except Paige and I got up and headed down onto the beach for a couple hours of claming. Apparently the boys had a lot of fun. Caden caught two completely on his own and Trace got several too! Paige and I got the trailer picked up and breakfast started for the cold beachgoers. We spent the afternoon burning underbrush and fallen branches from the lot - in between downpours. The boys were exhausted but didn't want to give up! They hauled, chopped and climbed all afternoon. Trace's sweats are on their second wash cycle as I type! We laughed a lot about how different camping is here in the Northwest. If it rains you just pull out the raincoats and keep going. If you let the rain stop you then you might as well not bother going at all! Anyway, we all had a good time and are ready to go again, but for now it is back to school and work (Rick's first flight is Wednesday).

Camping NW style!