Que Sera Sera

2010-09-29T10:36:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-29T05:19:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-26T07:44:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-11T08:34:00.001-07:00

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Down the drive and through the snow... Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas 2009 morning took off well. NOT!!

I had so carefully planned ahead and had gifts all ready at Grandpa's for the kids to find there when we came over Christmas morning. We had decided to celebrate there since it is easier for us to get out and be out of our own comfy chairs, than it is for him to do at 81. At least I thought I was carefully planning....

Since having my wonderful Aztec ( which we lost this summer due to being T boned) snow has not been the slightest problem for me. I could go where I wanted to without getting stuck or sliding. When I bought my RAV4 to replace the totaled Atec, I was assured it would handle just as well in the snow. WHOAAA..... After buzzing out Christmas morning and taking out of the garage like there will be no problem driving the block or so to Grandpa's on the new snow and promptly getting stuck at the bottom of the drive, despite all my best attempts to rock myself into moment, NO it does NOT!! It is lower to the ground and when the snow is higher than the car, well... it means kids have to stay at home without their Christmas gifts!

Thankfully, I have a very kind neighbor who helped me get back up the drive or we might have had to leave the car in the street. This was a morning I really regretted being a single mom with a bad leg!! The snow in the street was over my knees. Not easy for me to move in, by far. It had drifted, because we were actually under a blizzard warning, and was way too deep for us to even think of safely walking to Pop's.

Pop was OK and if he needed something, we would have to figure out a different game plan, but everyone was able to be safe at home and warm! Our power had actually gone off for over 5 hours that morning as well, so we took it as a blessing that we were not freezing!

Ham dinner aborted, presents postponed, we still had fun though. The kids played in the snow and then came in for hot roast and rice. We had a good day celebrating the birth of our Savior and enjoyed being with each other, which is what the holiday was about in the first place.

Christmas 2009, will hold good memories and it is doubtful that they will be forgotten!

Unimaginably behind.....

2009-12-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

There is no way to begin to catch up, so our past few months will have to be shared in just a few pics ( and some pretty poor pics at that) and a few words..... My health has kept me very tired when the work day is done and even on the weekends, but since I now have a reason to account for why I feel this way, as in several combined autoimmune disorders, I don't feel too badly about trying to catch up now. Don't worry, I will be fine. I am just pacing myself more, rather than trying to be superwoman and ending up flat as a pancake with ulcers and hives :-)

October... Halloween, more specifically. Aubri wanted to go to the amusement park rather than Trick or Treat. She is a big kid now!

Grandpa took the little ones to Trunk or Treat at church, and forgot his camera, so the only photos I have are what I tried to grab at school..... They were cuties though!

Sera- 2 years ago in October. Here she is at her SWI watching another child be adopted.

Here she is traveling to her SWI. 'Proof to her kindergarten class that she is Chinese :-)
Some day soon, I will post my thoughts on the past two years, once I get time. She is such a special little one and deserves to have her changes recorded. We first met her on November 9th.... She has changed so much!Thanksgiving at Grandpa's. I cooked a simple meal and we just enjoyed being together! Time with Grandpa is always good time!

A trip to the mall to see Santa.... Now if I could only find the pictures we took with him!!

I promise to set aside more time to simply put the camera battery in to charge before picture worthy events and not rely on my cell as well as to just write a few words. These little ones are such special blessings and whether or not anyone else wants to know what they are doing.... I want to REMEMBER :-)

Pre flu photos

2009-10-25T04:10:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe how fast they have grown! Aubri is just 11!! Each year she has shot up at least 6 inches! Andy is now almost 4 ft tall and where did my tiny little one go??

We did the pumpkin patch trip last weekend just before the flu hit Sera hard.... She has been such a sick little girl this past week with a high fever and breathing troubles. She has been up with breathing treatments at least 3 times each night and needed to have her 02 levels monitored closely. All kind of nebulizer meds and oral meds.....Thankfully, I was able to keep working a few days out of the week, since Aubri was able to care for her very well and get her home school assignments done with Grandpa's supervision. Now Aubri has had a fever and got a cough and is feeling pretty badly though.... So far, Andy seems to be doing OK with just a minor coughing fit once in a while and no fever yet. I am not too sure what I feel like. I am too tired to notice :-) Grandpa wore a mask while the kids were with him and I pray that he will not get it. He has Tamiflu, just in case, though!

In any case, we had fun at the pumpkin patch this year. Grandpa went with us, but stayed in the car due to the wind. We liked having him with us all the same! Sera knew what to expect this time and was so excited to go play there and the other two... well, they definitely know how to have fun in the hay :-) I am so glad we did it before the flu hit! There is no way I would take Sera there now.... Seeing her struggle to breathe just rips me apart! She will not complain but is so thankful for her breathing mask that helps her feel better. I so wish that her little lungs were not so fragile...

New look!

2009-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Isn't he so handsome in his new specs? I certainly think so! He is so happy to be able to see things on the board at school and see details he was missing before. He also thinks it makes him look like a different person and was worried that people would not know him. Now he knows that they will and is now happy to be a member of the four eyes club like his mom! 4 eyes are always better than just 2! He understands that math!

Unbelievable!!! I don't understand!!!

2009-10-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

As I sit to write this, I am wondering IF I should write it at all AND IF it really happened..... My mind wants so badly to believe that it cannot be possible!!

Andy has weight issues. Not that he is too skinny, but that he is very thin, no matter how much I feed him. His metablism and his constant movement just seems to burn it all off. Since he takes Adderall which also decreases his appetite and I wanted to make sure he was eating at lunch, I have been packing him thermoses of his favorite high calorie comfort foods in his lunch daily. He generally eats about half of it. There just isn't time for him to eat and talk durring his 20 minute lunch.

I had been praising Sera for eating all of the lunch I had been packing for her each day to help encourage Andy to try to eat more. WOW did that ever backfire on me!! He evidently decided that he wanted to be praised too, but that there were other ways of accomplishing that... He simply dumped the leftover contents of his thermos behind the dog food bag in the garage before bringing in the thermos to proudly show me he had eaten everything!! I found this spoilage on Saturday and sent him to his grandpa's, because I was so put out that I truly could not be around him with out feeling like I would steam over.... I cannot stand lying! Evidently Grandpa mentioned to him that leftovers needed to be put down the garbage disposal.

Well, this morning, after telling Andy to bring in his lunch box so that I could pack it, I was doing Sera's hair in the bathroom. I heard an odd sound, kind of like a chair scooting on the floor that was loud and short. I didn't think much of it. When I walked out of the bathroom though, I noticed water and chicken noodles covering my hall walls. It appeared that someone had made snow angels on the walls, ALL down the hall with wet arms. I immediately yelled at Andy.... YEP!! He had taken a wad of wet paper towels and stuffed them in the garbage disposal drain, then poured his left over soup on top and tried to run the garbage disposal before I could get out there. Yep. That is my boy!!! Sneaky Petey!!

I kind of understood this, because of what Grandpa had told him, even though I was so frustrated I could not see straight. We came to school in a hurry, after I cleaned up as much as I could and he now has to come eat in my classroom where I can see him eat. I don't know what else will happen, and I think just wondering has him very worried, almost better than knowing a punishment. I don't think there will be much more of a punishment for the garbage disposal, since he was actually doing what he feels he was told to do. I semi understand it, even though I am not happy about having to replace a garbage disposal. It could be worse! His hand could have been in there!!

BUT, can anyone explain what this kid was thinking while making snow/ soup angels ALL OVER my walls!!!!!!!!!!?????????

Fall is here!!

2009-10-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

We went out for a drive today after church to enjoy the crisp air and beautiful hues of fall. Aubri had wanted to Picnik a photo for Halloween, and a local cemetery seemed like a good setting. I had some pretty scary looking zombies ready to be altered, but once they saw what they were changed into they were not so thrilled.... Since Aubri has been devouring the Twilight series, of course she preferred to be a vampire. Oh well! We had fun and I have to admit that I like my little ones in their current "scary" form :-)

BTW, Sera's dress is a Poppydip! She adores this dress and with leggings it is great for the fall. Check them out if you have a little one who loves twirly dresses!! Your purchase will help bring home a sweetheart from Ethiopia!

Names

2009-10-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

My kids all have rather unfavorable names for each other when they are annoyed with each other, but heaven forbid if anyone but them ever use that same kind of name on their siblings! They are so protective of each other. They have also picked up calling each other by nicknames of endearment, in twisted versions of the names they call each other when they are annoyed.... Aubri is "Bossy", Andy is "Trouble" and Sera is "Stinky". No one else has permission to use these names either!

I have my own nick names for them too.. Not planned ones, but ones that have stuck. Aubri is my Doodlebug, Andy is my Noodle boy and Sera is my Snickerdoodle... Somehow I must like the sound of "oodle"!

As for their legal names each child has a family name, a name I liked for specific reasons and Sera and Andy kept their Chinese names ( minus the surname) as a 2nd middle name.

Aubri is named after a little girl I was blessed to meet in college who changed my life forever. She was a student I worked with while taking a SpEd class as a gen ed requirement to ease my workload from a Chem E major. I so enjoyed working with her that I totally changed directions in career planning. I knew my Aubri would also change my life for the better forever, and she definitely has! Her middle name is a derivative of my grandmother's middle name.

Andy was given a first name I really liked due to it meaning "strength" but also because I naively thought it sounded similar to his Chinese name and would be easier for him to adjust to. Little did I know that it did not.... His middle name is my father's middle name and he also kept his Chinese name as a 2nd middle name.

Sera was named based on her future full of hope. I had been told that she could easily have lifelong delays. I did not care. I wanted, and will always want her (and my other 2 also) to become who they could aspire be, so her name is my grandmother's firstname with a twist. It is said like Sarah, but spelled like the french verb "to become- she will become- elle sera". Her middle name means garden of beauty. She also kept her Chinese name as a 2nd middle name.

I have no idea if Andy and Sera will ever use their Chinese names. Both were given by the orphanage they were in. Neither has any special meaning or connections to their personality, but they are theirs and are the only things they have of their life in China. I know Andy has to have had another name given to him with more meaning and love, since his first family tried to provide him the medical care he needed before realizing it was beyond the scope of what could be done there. He was about 4-5 months old when he was found. Maybe someday he will know that name. Maybe he will not. I don't know if Sera was named before she was born, or when she was born, before she was left in the hospital.

I do know that their Father knows all of their names, however, and despite the meanings they have to me, to them, to their siblings, to their friends, to their teachers or to their first parents, their names are precious to him. They are precious to him.

Bugs and barks

2009-09-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

This past week has just been wild, but then again it is not too different from last week. Busy schedules filled with more things than I seem to have energy to accomplish! However, I must add, since our schedule seems to really worry my dad, that I think everyone I know has been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately and is having trouble keeping up without feeling tired. It is not just me :-)

Sera came down with a nasty virus. I think she may have been coming down with it over the weekend, because she as a bit crabby, but then again she may have just been tired too. She woke Monday morning with 102 temp and it went up from there, even with motrin. The physicians assistant I took her too, since my doctor is out on family leave right now, was great with her and put her on more breathing treatments, steroids, albuterol and antibiotics to keep her from getting pneumonia with the coughing she was doing. He did not test her for H1N1 and said that they only test cases tht need to be hospitalized, she was "healthy" and would get over it. "HEALTHY!!!!" Oh how I loved hearing that!! After all the malnutrition issues, urinary tract issues and frequent bouts of pneumonia, she is now overcoming it all and is considered healthy!! Last year she was at the beginning of the list to get a flu shot, due to her breathing problems with asthma and pneumonia, but this year she has done so much better that she is only on the list because of my profession!

Aubri also came down with it, but knowing that it was a virus, I just kept her home. She only missed band and art anyhow. Well, when she was ready to go back on Friday, I found out that I had to take her to the doctor, because the school would not believe me that she had been sick until she had a Dr note. To say the least, I was not happy with having to take her in and pay a co pay just to expose her to more bugs. Of course, this am she is complaining about a sore throat again and I am praying that she did not get strep while there..

Trying to keep up with school work, getting kids to gymnastics and dance etc... was crazy, but it usually is :-) Even with missing a few things for Aubri and Sera this week, I was still feeling stretched, but that might have been due to being up listening to the nebulizer and coughing going on. Who knows! Anyhow, I just love watching them in gymnastics! Andy is so flexible and can turn himself into such a pretzel, but I most love seeing how he is now able to follow directions, work in a group and do his best without clowning around to get extra attention! Sera is so spunky, when she can go to class, that is, and is laughing and smiling even when she makes mistakes. They have fun and are proud of their accomplishments, which is why I do this!

We went to a fundraiser in the park this past Saturday. The kids had wanted to take our standard poodle, Bella, but we just took our "littles", BaoBao and Bitzi. Our Aztec transported our big dogs well, but this Toyota is a pain when it comes to transporting dogs... No space for a big dog without taking everything, including the kids backpacks out of the back and praying she stays there, since there in nothing to tie her too.

I had not taken a camera. We were not even dressed presentably at all and basically were just out bumming and watching all the cute the dogs as distractions. No one was back to full speed from being ill, except for Andy, who has yet to get sick and I am praying that stays that way! No.. I did not take the kids out to infect anyone, they had been fever free for 3 and 2 full days:-) We basically just walked around and donated a few dollars to the local animal shelter. A photographer decided that he needed take our photo in all of our exhausted glory, though. I was so worried it would be gruesome, but it wasn't too horrible and since we don't have many photos all together, I decided it was OK to share :-)

Yes... my 11 yr old is almost as tall as I am, the photo is not lying!! I cannot believe it!! Oh.... how I feel so OLD!!!

Feeling a bit blue and overwhelemed?

2009-09-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

NOT something that happened in Belgium!! I am so envious of those people who witnessed this, but very glad I got to see it! That old "spoonful of sugar" sure does make life more pleasant! Especially when most video footage we see any more does not bring smiles.

Labor Day weekend photos

2009-09-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Our labor day was quiet and without lots of work involved at all! No big picnics or crowds of people for us... I needed some quiet time with my kids and that is exactly what we got! Pop had spent the day with Evelyn and we took off to the pool. I forgot my camera again, but I did grab Pop's on the way out!

Sera has decided that since the water isn't leaking in her mouth now, she is brave enough to try some slides and even try to blow bubbles in the water. BIG change for her!!

Andy has discovered that he is just at the height limit to go down the bigger slide with Aubri and while he was excited to try it, he decided that he would rather practice floating! He looked so little up there and it really made me wish my knee would have held me up at the bottom of the slide.. I could not take him on it.

We did spend lots of time on the lazy river together, though.

Aubri spent most of her time either helping Sera learn to slide or going down the big slide in the deep pool or the high dive. She was so proud that she could do these things without being scared this year!! I was a bit sad, too. My baby is 11 and she is really growing up so fast!! I am OK with her being afraid of a few things and needing me!

It has taken me a week to get a moment to post the pictures, because the following week was definitely very laborious!! Oh, well, it is Saturday again and life is a bit calmer once again. I am so very grateful for weekends!!!

Love Without Boundaries

2009-09-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

Love Without Boundaries (helping children in China through medical & foster care) is giving away their gorgeous book, Love's Journey 2. Andy and Aubri's getting to know you story and photos are in this!

I love to look through mine!! So do the kids!

"She Shells Shea Shells by the Sheashore"

2009-09-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

Andy is attempting tongue twisters. He thinks he is doing them right and is so proud of himself for getting all the words in the right order :-) Yesterday morning he was singing the above and I asked him what a "sheashore" was. I truly thought he knew. Well, he did, it was not what I expected. He happily told me, " It's a dead EGG, Mom!".

WOW!! I never knew....

I think we will have to check out some beach video... No time or moolah for a trip to the ocean :-)

A few quick photos

2009-08-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

I have more I want to write about, I just can't right now though, so here are a few photos instead.

Last weekend at the Science Center

2009-08-29T19:03:00.001-07:00

I forgot to take my camera, but thanks to my cell, we still have something for the memory books:-)

I love being with these kids and helping them learn and grow!!

Huh??? Do I know my name??? Let me think....

2009-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

If you think your day was wild.... This might make you feel better!

I was 2 paras short staffed. All my students were at school. ALL of them... including the ones who had not slept well last night and who were cranky bears....

I actually rode in a school bus to the library and back with the heater on full blast and the windows open because the driver truly did not know how to turn it to air conditioner... It was on red and on number 4...... I tried to explain it to him and it went right over his head. He insisted it was right. I gave up!! We did make it back to school safely though. We were just all VERY hot and sweaty!! It was a good excuse or popsicles though!

Then a sub para quit because he saw student in the break room, when a "vampire" para ( since he thought that my regular staff and I were all vampires) was taking the student with her to make a copy. It infringed on his duty free lunch.... Poor guy! NOT! I never even made it to the bathroom all day, let alone eat lunch and definitely NOT student free, because I was responsible for them not just sitting and watching someone else take care of them.... He was ranting something about Lizzie Borden before this and I had tuned him out.... I never even knew what had truly offended him, since I had sent him out for another break to make up for what he thought he lost and then discovered he had stormed out. I guess I was in a confrontation without even knowing it.... Not good at all.

My sweetie Sera had a tough day and her heart was heavy when she came home and could let it all out.

I need a drink and I DON'T drink:-)

So... I am just going to laugh about the crazy stuff, share it to hopefully let someone know their day might have not been s bad as they thought, maybe make someone smile, hug my sweet little one and PRAY for saner day tomorrow!!!!

Red Threads

2009-08-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Many people in the Chinese adoption community will refer to the red threads which have connected them to their child. They are referring to a Chinese belief that children are connected to those who will love them in their lifetime by invisible red threads which will never break.

Sera and Andy came into our lives in round about ways. Both were brought to my attention by friends who had adopted previously. I fell in love with them, but did not search for birth date commonalities with people in my family or other commonalities which could be seen as red threads. The only red threads were that I loved their sad little faces in their photo and knew that I wanted to know them and love them, enough to commit to them. They did not know each other in China. Our red thread story is not elaborate or full of special connections before we met, but it is ours and it is what connected us and will always connect us.

Another family who is adopting right now, has a much larger red thread connecting them to their new son. This thread is actually the love their daughter has for this boy, since they were friends before she was adopted. She has prayed diligently that David would have a mom and a dad of his own to love him as much as her new family loves her. It has been hard for her to accept that she is loved, while he has waited alone... This family really hadn't planned on adopting again so soon, and did not have the fees saved up yet when they found David on a list. They could not pass up trying to bring him home, though, since his SN would make him very difficult to place. Trying to reassure Maddy that he head a family while knowing he didn't was not possible. They loved him already and had even met him and spent time with him while bringing Maddy home. They are the perfect family for him.

Right now, though, they are having trouble fundraising to get their dossier sent off in a timely manner. They are having a raffle on their blog For the Journey to help bring him home. If you are lucky, you will win 500 bucks for just a 10 buck donation. I know that funds are tight everywhere, but once you see this boy, I will be that many of you will be willing to gamble a bit and enjoy seeing this sweet boy come home! Personally, I cannot wait to see Maddy hear about the fact that David is going to be her brother. She doesn't know yet!

Check out their blog to read this wonderful story about this little girl's love for her brother!

Storms

2009-08-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Storms seem to bring out the unusual.... In my classroom, seizures and meltdowns are much more common to see increase, but so does the "crazy". Folks trying to work together in a small space with needy little people, start to get on each other's nerves a bit more easily. My kids at home are a bit more clingy, or they are more energetic and loud. Kind of the same effect as on a full moon.

Today must have been a full moon and a storm!! I actually had a sub para decide that another para had been "touched" and was a vampire..... A student was seeing ghosts and panicking the tables were floating. Several kids were sleep deprived from the thunder last night and melted down with frustration and exhaustion for the tiniest of things, like a milk cap falling.

I also heard about a disruption of a child I had followed on his journey to his new family. He is just a preschooler and had been reported to already have serious problems. He had only been home about 6 months. Not long enough for any real changes to happen in attachment or bonding for both the parents or the child.

I remember only too well how stressed we all were 6 months after Andy came home. He was still grieving the loss of his foster family and was VERY sneaky in finding ways to destroy things in order to make me not love him. He was so afraid of being loved and rejected again.... We have had many struggles and while I admit to having entertained the thought of giving up, it only lasts fleetingly and I remember why I need to hang in there and never give up! These little ones we have brought home through adoption have faced so many huge losses in their lives. Who could possibly expect them to "fit in" to a family without issues. I know that I can't!

I just cannot wrap my mind around the all "crazy" I have encountered since this most recent bout of thunder storms ( the past 2 days). I cannot understand how a child can not receive unconditional love just for being them, any more than I can begin to understand how this sub para can think my other para is a vampire...

As much as I love listening to the thunder and rain, I want the storms to go away!!

Never, never, never.....

2009-08-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

NEVER leave a little boy alone with ANYTHING that comes apart and can be broken, jumped on or used as a weapon!!!

NEVER work so hard without getting enough sleep all week that your body literally stops when the adrenaline wears out and you have no energy left to keep a little boy busy!

NEVER expect a little boy to just play quietly with his toys without an adult structuring his day to keep him from getting bored!

NEVER leave your son with his grandfather who forgot to NEVER leave a little boy in a room with his hearing aids and a stapler full of staples, when the little boy has closed the door and can be heard banging around in the room!!

He was trusting him, which I rarely ever do anymore....

I have to be able to see him at all times. It is a panic I cannot escape from. I am always worried he is doing something destructive before thinking about the consequences...... He has taken so many things apart and broken them. I even have dreams about him having taken our house apart. So does Aubri.....

You would think I would have learned by now how to prevent this..... but NOPE!! Not me. This kid seems to always be able to find an opportunity for destruction, especially when I am worn out and cannot keep up with him!

Sigh.......... yes, I bet you can guess what happened tonight!!! I was so tired that I literally felt sick. The kids went to grandpa's for dinner to let me have a few minutes of quiet, since Andy had broke Sera's bed this am while refusing to stay off it and stop trying to wrestle with his sisters....

Andy decided to empty a stapler by shooting the staples all over his grandpa's study and to climb up on the desk and take grandpa's hearing aids out, take the batteries out and break the battery cover off of one....... Just because he wanted to put them in his ears and find out what they do. He told me that he ran out of things to "wiggle" and did not want to make a mess, so he thought he should just see what the hearing aids did. He also said that he did not think about what he was doing, but quickly admitted that he did know what he was doing, because he did not want Grandpa to catch him. He thought he could pick up all the staples.... but the hearing aids distracted him. Sad thing is, I do believe him! They were calling to him from the top shelf of Grandpa's book case. They must speak more clearly than I do, since he never seems to hear me so well!

I don't get it!!! I just don't!!! I never wonder how anything works, I just like it when it does. It's only when it doesn't work that it even begins to cross my mind to try to figure out how it works, and fix it. My girls never do this. They both love making and building things, just like Andy also does, but they just don't take things apart, especially when they know they are not supposed to even be touching them..... Why Andy cannot respect other people's things is still a mystery to me. Since I am a single parent, I cannot blame it as a trait he learned from his dad :-) I know his grandpa doesn't do things like this and if he did as a kid, my grandma would have never put up with it long. I have dated several guys who had to take computers apart, but since they weren't mine and were not something I needed, I never thought much about it before Andy arrived and has dismanteled everything he sees. He sees things I never see too!! Although I have learned to scope some of these things out when we are out and tell him to not touch them, just seconds before he starts to take them apart.... Most of the time though, I have no clue what he is going to be thinking about taking apart!! Is this desire to take things apart and break them beyond repair the difference between boys and girls? Does it ever get better???? Don't answer if it doesn't PLEASE :-)

I love this little boy so much, but WOW, I have no clue why he does these things!!! Maybe when I am not so tired it will seem comical, but Grandpa really needs his hearing aids to hear!! GeeZ!!!

It is a good thing that he is so darned CUTE!!

2009-08-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Whew!!

2009-08-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

Sera's stitches are out, we are home and school has started! This week is really testing my endurance levels!! I am definitely feelin' OLD and out of pep!

First of all, have I mentioned how much I despise having to be patted down and "wanded" any time I think about setting foot on a plane....? If not, just know that security is NOT my favorite part of traveling, especially in the Chicago Midway airport, where there are literally hundreds of people behind you pushing you to move faster and/or just flat out pushing you out of their way. ( I am discovering that China is not unique to doing this! It seems to be very common where folks live together in crowded spaces...... NOT what I am used to at home, but will adapt to in order to get Sera's surgeries done!) My metal knee requires that I be checked out thoroughly each time. At least this trip, Sera had figured out that it really was OK and knew to just get her little backpack, watch security get our other things and not to get near me until they gave me the all clear :)

Hanging out at Shriner's is not miserable. Sera had plenty of toys and videos. It just felt like I was wasting time. Time that was pretty scarce to get things ready for school, get thing done at home etc... I know that it is worth it though! Sleeping at Shriner's is another thing entirely, however. Sera's bed would inflate and deflate every time she moved. This meant that it buzzed and hummed each time she turned over, which would then wake her and she would start to rock... and well, then it drove the bed absolutely NUTS! The parent chair to sleep in is a trundle chair, where your butt is at least 4 inches below your torso.... No joke! I am a bit spoiled and like to sleep on even surfaces, so I fight that trundle all night. I finally decided it is easier to sleep sitting straight up, since the chair does not recline. The back stays in place and does not move at all. Definitely not a huge problem, but not a good way to start the first week of school for me, since when I am sleep deprived, I have mush brain....

Sera's stitches came out quickly and she was a trooper going in to surgery. She keeps winning hearts, where ever she goes. Dr. Patel was not able to open all of her tear ducts and we will go back in a month to find out what the plan is for them. He is going to try to create new ducts. He is amazing!!

Sera woke in a horrible state, however and tried to hurt herself and everyone trying to calm her for almost a full hour, before the anesthesia left her system. I do not want this anesthesia again! the last time was much better! She even fought so hard that she scared the nurses and even the hospital director walked though to see what the commotion was. It is obvious that she was terrified and totally angry with all of us who tried to help. She would recognize me on and off and start to settle down, but then they would try to get her vitals and she would come uncorked again. Then once she settled down, she insisted on walking back to her room to put on her dress and jewelery :-) She was fine. She didn't want Sprite or any of the juices they offered her, she wanted to go to the cafeteria herself and get PINK lemonade :-) That's my girl !!

She has to wear tape on her lip when she is at home, to keep the scarring down and we have to massage her lip often. The tape is not a favorite thing for her, as you can probably guess, but she is doing it without too much fuss. The lip looks great! Now, she just needs to learn how to move it and use it :-)

After she played and shocked her nurse at how quickly she rallied, we left for the airport to try to catch a stand by flight and get home earlier. Well..... best laid plans.... We got home on our originally scheduled flight, which was over 2 hours late!! We got good doses of people watching, and even had some lady get bit nuts and the airport staff had to have security take her away when she started cursing Sera. Yep. Somehow Sera's skirt, a longer tiered, twirly skirt, offended her. No clue why! She screamed and ranted while trying to pull at Sera's skirt and shaking her finger at us. I blocked her, and that just made her madder. Sera got a bit scared, but handled it well. She ignored the lady, instinctively did not make eye contact with her, and just clung to me. But believe me, she wasn't the only unusual sight we saw! I think we lead very sheltered lives, and must also have very boring lives compared to many folks we saw. I am truly happy to come home to our own life!! Home sweet home!

I finally fell in bed at 1 am ofter driving home and getting the kids all loved on and settled to bed, getting household stuff etc... done. Up again at 5 am ....I had to have my classroom ready for the meet the teacher event from 6 to 7 pm. It was great to be back to work, but I craved a nap so badly.... Maybe this weekend!

School is started and Sera and Andy had great first day! They were so excited! I was short staffed, but our crew worked together and were able to enjoy the day with our students also. No major melt downs!! Aubri starts band and art at the middle school tomorrow.... no wait, today!

I need to get busy since it is 5 am now! Hopefully tonight I will have some energy left and post the photos. If not it will have to wait until the wee hours of the am :-)

Positive Message Tees for Kids

2009-08-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

Check out the new t shirts Wild Olive is selling. They are really gorgeous. They definitely don't advertise being rude or disrespectful as many t's seem to today. Some of the proceeds will also go to Love without Boundaries. I am hoping we can win one, since right now, thanks to the car situation, new t shirts are out of the budget.... I keep having to remind myself that God never promised this life would be fair, only that it would be worth it. Thanks for reminding me, McKenzie!

Rivalry??

2009-08-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Since Sera has continued to insist that we call her " Cute Little Muffin Girl What Has Sprinkles" due to her new smile and being a "different girl", Andy has been asking what his new name should be since he lost his front tooth and his smile is different too. I kept telling him that I did not rename Sera and don't want to rename him. I like their names.

Well, tonight Sera was teasing with me and trying to bounce on me, so I started to call her a Banana Nut Muffin.... You can guess who wanted in on the name calling and rough housing!
( Aubri slept through it all- she has really been tired!) So... since he is such a long and skinny little guy, he is now our Chief Noodle Boy! Two of my favorite foods!!!

I found this photo below online while looking for a photo of noodles. It looks so much like Andy did as a baby, from photos I was given of him. I wonder where that precious pudge went! You can purchase it by clicking on the link, should you feel so inclined. I am sure the photographer would be pleased. I mainly linked it so that someday I just might need to purchase it myself to remind me of the fun we had tonight, my little Muffin girl, my Noodle boy and I.

Hinesburg, Vermont

2009-08-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Would who ever reads this blog from Hinesburg please give my Aunt Marion Davis a hug for me if you ever see her? She lives there and I know that it is definitely not a big town. I have wanted to get up there to hug her in person, and time to travel there just has not allowed it.

THANKS!!!!

Planning meals on an increasingly smaller budget....

2009-08-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

We are tying some of the recipes on the Once A Month Mom site. I am not able to cook everything we will eat for a month in one day, the way they have very clear recipes and shopping lists created for those folks who can spend a full day cooking and have that much freezer space, BUT we are doing some of them!!

Today we made bacon, cheddar potato pancakes for lunch boxes and on the run breakfasts. We are going to make cheesy chicken fingers, mac and cheese in cup and pizza muffins later this afternoon. Can you tell that my kids like cheese?

I am discovering that Aubri is a wonderful cooking partner. We may make a few more things tomorrow, to prepare for the exhaustion that is no doubt going to hit me hard as I get ready to go back to work on Wednesday, just due to being overwhelmed :-) Sera will be in Chicago on Sunday and coming back on the 11th... Then kids start. I have to plan a head!

Can you feel my panic!!?

With my salary not going up at all this year, adding in new payments for a car I didn't want, looming medical bills for Andy's upcoming surgery, all of our very needed dental care, as well as all other bills increasing, including school breakfast and lunch prices going up, my routine of just letting the kids eat at school is going to have to stop. It would run me a bout 150 a month to have them eat at school. If I pack pre packaged food, it will run me even more.... So I am going to have to get creative and see if this is an area I can cut costs on..

I bought the kids Disney Bento boxes on clearance and I am going to learn how to pack Bentos with kid friendly foods, also easy on the budget! I found a neat site Maisy Eats Bento and am hoping I can mange even half as creative lunches for my kids, so that they do not get mad that they have to take a sack lunch and actually eat what I pack. It is a good thing they love rice!! I got a few rice molds and Aubri is going to be in charge of making the rice and molding it and freezing it. I think I am also going to have her help plan some of the foods and help cook them while she is home with Grandpa and has finished her school work.

BTW, She is doing home school this year using the K12 Online program. We are excited about it and I think she will be able to learn so much more. Especially if she learns some good life skills in addition to her academics! She can take band at our local public school and is even getting to take Chinese! Having more time with Grandpa is a big plus too!

In any case I am going to commit to share some of the stuff we are trying to make, mostly to keep me honest and not slack off and just buy the prepared foods or school lunches :-) I know there is NO WA?Y that I will be able to take any photos and post them... That is just not me. I will share some of the things that are big hits, though, just in case anyone might find them useful. If you know of any good ideas to pack for school lunches, freezer meals or other good recipes that might freeze, please share them in the comment section. I am going to need help with this! :-)

Adjustments

2009-07-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

Bad Mom!!! There was still an electrode hiding under her armpit!! I showered her and never saw it until tonight!!!

Isn't that a gorgeous profile?

Caramel Dancing in the car!

It's crazy how a little girl can have such major life altering surgery and be understandably uneasy about her new appearance one moment and then just forget all about it and be the same sweet and spunky little monkey she has always been the next moment. Even when it has to be painful! It may be hard to understand, but it is definitely where Sera is at right now. I was so glad to see her enjoy being with good friends to night!! I am adjusting to her new looks too! ( I could easily be on the autism spectrum with how much I dislike change with certain things in my life....) However, changing my precious little doll was the right thing to do, I know. She knows it too. I think she is beginning to like her new looks too. She was a "fashionista" again tonight and was flirting and teasing just like before!

Dr. Patel and the others did such an amazing job! I am in absolute awe at Shriner's gift to this little girl. It definitely is going to change her life in so many good ways. We may be adjusting inside longer than I think it is going to take for these stitches to heal! The swelling is really going down quickly and it is not bleeding as much as they told me it would either. I think both Sera and I better adjust FAST!! Somehow, I will bet that she beats me, though!

Audio books

2009-07-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

I would have never considered myself a fan. I love to read and used to be able to devour a good book in a short amount of time. I was actually quite a speed reader and I loved traveling with the plots and characters in my imagination as a great escape from the trials of the work day. It was so much better than TV ever could be. I picked up a book and read for pure pleasure every day.

Hmmm.... until about 11 yrs ago and then I would read on weekends etc.... then 3 yrs ago, that turned into about once a month. I would pick a good book to read each month. Then when Sera joined the family and I discovered the joy of reading blogs.... Well, I have had three books I had planned to read over my summer break. Only one is read!!

Aubri had a vision convergence issue in 2nd and 3rd grade and she had needed to read while listening to the book to help keep from getting headaches. She has continued with her love of audio books and loves to read this way when we are in the car or waiting in offices etc. It makes her look cooler with the ear buds in her ears, I guess. She is a good reader, but she says that she enjoys the drama a good reader gives the texts. She is a drama fan, so that made sense to me.

This summer we have been listening to many kids audio books in the car and at bedtime to help Andy with his vocabulary and sentence structure. He will say things the ODDEST way! I have actually enjoyed listening along with them!

Then I realized that I can listen to my own audio books while I read online!! WOW!! The best of two worlds!

My favorite has been one I read about, recommended by another parent, and I just have to share it.

Delivered From Distraction-Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Defecit Disorder.

I had been actually reading The Gift OF ADHD while in airports and hospitals etc..to help figure out my sweet and very busy little boy and while it helped some, the above book written about adults helped more!

Here is the one Aubri has loved most this summer .

Andy has loved the Magic Tree House Series the most.

Sera loves..... can you guess???

..................

Fancy Nancy of course!!!!

Oh, and a lot of the kids favorites and my choices are on our state online library!! Check out for 2 weeks!! Perfect!

I am a fan now!

Scary stuff!!

2009-07-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

Normally I keep my political views to myself, but WOW!!! This is terrifyingly scary stuff Obabma is trying to shove into place!!! This means that not only will my students be on the cut off list for medical treatment when labeled and non contributing members of society, but so will I also be old someday and will also be labeled as non contributing... and just allowed palliative care... I understand needing to balance a budget, but this is so far from where we thought that American's have been heading.....

NO photos MOM!!!

2009-07-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Sera's face is looking better and better! It is no longer lopsided and she looks like she is going to have a precious little bow mouth. It makes her look so dainty and delicate. Sadly, she is not as in love with it and has absolutely refused to let me photo it today. She did spend about an hour in the bathroom mirror, getting to know herself again, however, so maybe tomorrow she will not chew me out when I get out the camera :-)

Keeping her quiet is much easier said than done. Andy and Aubri entice her to join in their play, so I had to keep them all quiet. For those of you who know Andy in person, you understand that this is no easy feat at all without the use of a straight jacket... Of course I did not resort to that, but the thought did cross my mind several times! Bad mom!!! So she escaped scraping and banging her face 2 times today while interacting with her siblings.............. Please say a prayer that I can continue to avoid the disaster of a ripped stitch!!!!!

Another changed grin!!!

2009-07-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Photos!

2009-07-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken the day of surgery. The last glimpse of the sweet little mouth we first fell in love with! I will always love this little face!!

We got home safely last night. Sera slept well on my bed with me, spinning in circles as she slept, BUT she never touched her face!! I know because I watched her all night and am soooo tired this am. Oh well! We need those stitches to all stay in place!

She is still very much her spunky little self. She was waving goodbye and telling all the passengers on the plane last night good bye, while copying the stewardesses. She was so precious!! Everyone was laughing and smiling as they got off the plane! I keep looking at her and thinking I have someone else's child with us... She thinks she is a different little girl now and needs a new name. She told the team at Shriner's that she wanted to be called " cute little muffin girl with sprinkles on top"! She definitely is a cute little muffin! We will be working on helping her learn to recognize herself.

Here is what you really want :-)
When I first saw her. I wasn't sure she was mine... Then she started rocking and I was sure!

So sweet!!!!! She still has her dimples!!!

She loved riding around the hospital in this car!! I couldn't get her to stay still for a photo though!

In the airport. She wanted to go home NOW!! She also decided that she did not want photos... I am going to have to be sneaky to get her to let me take her photo for a while, until she gets used to her new look!

When the swelling goes down, this little grin will be so sweet! It won't gather crowds to stare. This old mom is just going to miss her wide smile and will always treasure the times I was blessed to be able to share it with her!

Whew!!!

2009-07-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

I was worred about whether or not I was bringing what I needed for Sera's surgery, since I had not received any real info about what the hospital stay would be like. I had done everything the PA had asked me to do, like get the CT scan done, get a UA done, have the family physician fax health status updates to Shriner's, put Sera on a preventative antibiotic and give her daily breathing treatments.

However, in not getting the kind of info from Shriner's, like I had received from our nearby children's hospital, I worried. I like to plan in advance and prepare for potential problems. I worried about security in the airports after her surgery when she felt awful since I had trouble just last week with Sera in security at the airports, since it scared her for people in uniforms to take me away from her and not let her get near me. I worried if I would be able to carry all the bags and push Sera in a stroller on the way home. I worried that my legs, which are pretty bruised and not working well from the wreck, would be able to keep me upright. I worried, enough to decide bring Aubri with me so that I would have some help in the airports and help with Sera and the bags and, honestly, to have some company. I purchased her a ticket and she came along with us.

When we arrived at Shiner's last night however, they told me that Aubri would not be allowed to stay. I had planned on staying in a regular chair and having Aubri sleep in the recliner. They would NOT allow that. It did not matter that she was 11. It did not matter that she was quiet and responsible. Nothing mattered. A rule is a rule and I should abide by it even if I knew nothing about it and no one had tried to begin to prepare us for this surgery and the hospital requirements.

So after much ado....including me loosing my patience at being told to send her to a hotel all by herself to check in so that Sera could be admitted... We all ended up at a hotel with Sera needing to come back at 9 am. It worked out well, because Sera really loves going to that hotel and staying in the hospital all night without being sick would have bored her to tears! She loved getting a pizza again and eating late at night. For the girls it was a special treat! I was so tired from having been angry that I just greatly welcomed a good nights rest in a comfortable bed :-)

Also, our travel to and from the hospital and where we were staying was totally unknown to the person in charge of setting these things up... Evidently it should have been faxed from our Topeka office.... None of this is anything I could have prevented, even though I kept trying to arrange travel way before March.

Evidently there have been some budget cuts and everyone seems to think that the other person is sharing the necessary information with me regarding the logistics of this surgery. It really isn't the "fault" of anyone's actions or lack of action. It is just a bit of confusion as they also learn to survive these nasty budget cuts our economy has placed on people everywere. So sad!!

The surgeons, however, have been wonderful and kept me very in the loop with what they are needing to do. The are wonderful and I know they will do an amazing job. Much better than I could have done near home.

Every year at work, I am reminded by a sign given to me byone of my university professors to stay flexible and roll with the changes to best be able to handle them. I know that it is an important skill in the field I teach in. I hadn't carried it over to home life much though. Now I am taking that advice to heart daily in my own personal life now!! I must need to learn to be more flexible however, because I keep getting these "lessons" on a regular basis! I am going to learn how to not need to plan for every action and just try to breathe more deeply when I don't know what is happening :-)

Sera is in surgery now. She went in about 2:20. She had to wait all day with nothing to eat or drink. She was such a little trooper!! She would ask me for food often, but would accept not yet for an answer and go back to watching a movie on the computer or even snoozing on the bed while waiting. It was a horribly long day for all of us, since Aubri and I also fasted with her and were also both nervous about her upcoming procedure.

Evidently she will be coming out of surgery soon, within an hour. The nurse report is good. She says that she looks very different now and to be prepared to not recognise her.... :-( I loved the little face that she had. I know we will also love her new little smile, because honestly, her lip shape does not define her smile. It is her pure little joyful spirit that shines through!

I will post photos as soon as I can. This computer does not allow uploads of any kind.

Andy's testing done!

2009-07-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

One step forward! Aubri, Andy and I left Sera off with Grandpa at 4 am so that we could get Andy to the children's hospital and have him checked in at 7 am.

I drove our newly acquired little RAV4 in the dark all the way there! That would normally not be a big feat, but since last Thursday, I HATE driving! I keep replaying that crash and seeing Aubri next to me struggling to breathe with her beautiful blue eyes bulging in fear.... Every car that passes me or moves around me as we go through intersections and mostly as we pass parking lots, sets me to extreme hypervigilant mode. I needed no caffeine, since my own adrenaline was working quite well! But by the time we got there, I was worn out!!

Andy was a trooper and loved getting to play all the video games there. He especially was interested in a Lego game. The exam rooms had animal tables. He had a beluga whale and we could see a dinosaur across the hall. It was kind of like going to an amusement park! He was quite happy to get ready to breathe his strawberry gas and take a nap. We went to the waiting room, which was was super decorated as a forest, complete with large trees for lighting and tables looking like mushrooms etc... There were lots of families there waiting for the little ones. Some were extremely distraught, some were checking their notes on what they needed to do and others looked like they had done this before and knew the ropes. I learned that some families get really distraught over little things, since I tried to comfort a lady who kept crying and pacing and discovered that her child was just there to have a tooth pulled under general anesthesia. The thought of him being in there with people she did not know just had absolutely terrified her. While I had been nervous about driving, and really felt for this lady and her fears, I was sooo glad that I trust Andy's doctors and was not dealing with that level of anxiety. If I did, I don't know that we would make it through all the things he and Sera will be needing in the next few months!

Andy's testing after the testing the Dr did in the OR, while he was awake, was much less pleasant for him. He was VERY uncomfortable. He was a good little guy, though and did what they told him to do. It took quite a long time and I was surprised that he was still dizzy and off balance when he could get dressed. I had wanted to take both him and Aubri to a science museum while we were there in the city, but we decided to abort those plans when we discovered that he needed to be carried...
Oh, he also lost his first top tooth today! It was wiggly and to have anesthesia safely, they pulled it out! He is thrilled and excited about adding to his stash of dollar bills. He loves money and saves every penny! I already miss his smile, but his new grin is cute too! I cannot imagine how much his little face is going to change with big teeth in that little mouth, but as with all change I resist, I am sure I will enjoy the new look he will have! I only had my cell phone, so no good photo. He wiggled in every one I tried to take. I will get one today though!

Once we got home, he was still out of it a bit, but was mostly just sleepy. He could walk on his own :-) By the time his gymnastics was starting, he was full of bounce again! I just love watching him!

The doctor hasn't called me to tell me what his plan for Andy is and to discuss it with me. While we talked in the consultation room after the first tests, it does sound like more surgery will be needed along with some additional daily medical care. No arguments from me! What ever he needs, I will try to find a way to help him with it. I may have to explore getting him disability to help with additional medical coverage, but what is more red tape at this point? :-) He is definitely worth it!

CT done!

2009-07-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sera had her CT scan done this am. It had to be done twice to get the right information requested by Shriner's and since when Sera had already started to wake up from her first dose of ketamine, she had to be put under again. I had wanted her to use the gas she had for her first CT, but the Dr liked to use ketamine and said it was less invasive. It was a shot, which she hated :-( Our day has been spent trying to help her wake up without letting her fall and hurt herself. The medication has not wanted to leave her system and I know that I will not let her have that med again. Poor baby has been like a drunken sailor most of the day. She is now able to walk around without falling, but she is still very quiet and not her bouncy little self yet.

I wonder if this is a warning for what might happen when she has that long surgery on Monday...... Please keep her in your prayers!!

This looks good compared to how she looked the first 2 hours.... She was waving her arms around and batting my face like a baby. Nothing worked right for her and she would just topple over. She was a floppy headed newborn for the longest time while waving her arms reflexively. They kept telling me that she was looking at her rings. I knew better... She was not even looking in their direction. It broke my heart. Next CT scan, I am only going to let them give her a little bit of gas to calm her, nothing else!!!

Sera's CAKE Party

2009-07-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sera had her CAKE party! When we returned from Shriner's on her real birthday we had a dessert at the restaurant while the waiters sang to her and she basked in the attention. I wondered if she would remember that she had asked for a princess cake every time we went to the grocery store for the last 6 months, and of course she did!! In fact, she reminded me as we walked out of the restaurant and practically every waking hour since!

So we asked a few of her favorite adult friends and some of her kid friends to share some with us at a local pizza buffet. Sera could not wait to rip the tiara off the cake! She tried to take it off as soon as I opened the box!! She finally understood that she could have the bling, only after she had blown out her candles, so it was still on the cake for the formalities :-)

She was given all kinds of BLING and is definitely considering herself quite fashionable. As she would put it, she is a "fashionista" ?? Aubri tells me that she heard this term on TV and she has hung onto it! She is definitely an all frills kind of girl!

When I went to check her a few minutes ago, she was trying to take a nap on a new sleeping bag, given to her today, while blowing boa feathers away from her face and adjusting her bling. As soon as I went to get the camera, though, she woke and fussed at me for trying to take a photo of her sleeping. Drat!!!

This little one is so spunky!

A fitting quote to live by

2009-07-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denials into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Battine

'Found this quote somewhere online and copied it to my files, but for the life of me I cannot find where it came from. I found it by chance again today, with a bit of Guidance, I am sure.

While the kids and I actually cried today as we took our belongings out of our mangled car, and I was frustrated calling in the claims and coping with the arrangements for it to be evaluated and eventually - I could not help by cry in relief that I was not making funeral arrangements.

BIG difference!!!

We are definitely grateful this quote popped out at me and are going to make every effort to live it. Each time I start to feel vengeful and angry about our car situation and our aches and pains today, simply remembering that I have my kids and the abilities to regroup, I must be thankful! We all need some peace.... The fear and frustration have been more chaotic than we could imagine and we really need to move forward into the next week of Dr appointments and surgeries with some order and a sense of calm...

I am sadly being very human and am having to remind myself constantly of how blessed we are since I am not doing so well at forgiveness..... I know that must also come for us to all move on .

Hug your loved ones!

2009-07-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we were T boned forcefully, by a driver who did not even stop at the entry way from a parking lot. He just barreled out of it without stopping to check for traffic and right into us. We were on our way home from gymnastics and were not far from home at all. There was nothing I could do to avoid it. He hit the passenger side doors head on at at least 20 miles and hour when I was traveling 30mph. It crushed into passenger side and and Aubri had the wind knocked out of her by the airbags. She could not breathe and all I could do was try to figure out how I was going to do CPR on my own daughter with my legs stuck under the steering wheel...

Several bystanders came to our aid, and one gentleman came to my door to tell me that 911 had been called. My cell had been thrown into the car and I could not find it while trying to calm my kids. Andy was screaming that he hurt is head and Sera was just screaming. Aubri was able to breathe before she passsed out and was just sobbing quietly. I was trying to keep them calm while the EMS extricated them from the car. They had to cut the car open to get Aubri out. Grandpa came and Sera would not let go of him. She would not let any EMT touch her. He drove her to the hospital. Both Aubri and Andy were transported via ambulance on backboards, and I could not go with both of them because I had injured my leg and they wanted me checked out too. Aubri was a sweet big sister and actually told me to go with Andy. My bloodpressure was 176 over 100 so I guess they were right in deciding to play it safe. The EMS workers were so nice and gentle with my kids! I am so grateful to them!!

I saw the driver of the big white Ford Explorer that had crashed into us walk around the car, when the kind man who had called 911 for us pointed him out to me. The driver never spoke to me at all. He just stood and stared at us. I hate to be judgemental, but he truly looked like a lost soul, with a very glazed look, stringy hair and an unbuttoned shirt. My first impression was that he was stoned or drunk. I may have been wrong, but the EMT's seemd to all be under the same impression. He refused assistance however... Who knows. The police gave me a victim's sheet with insurance info and I can get a police report in 5 working days, by paying 5 bucks for it....

We all are fine and got to come home last night. We are banged up and bruised and I had to watch Andy for head injury, Aubri probably has a broken rib and I am limping more than usual, BUT even if we are all sore, we are all together!!! I am so blessed! If we had been in a smaller car, or the kids had not been restrained correctly, the story would be very different.... I cannot hardly imagine it without crying...

We go see the car today and empty it and send it off to the insurance lot. I honestly did not look at it yesterday. All I could focus on was my kids cries. It makes me so sad to lose it and have to take on a car payment and insurance deductible, when I don't have the funds to do that without making big cuts in a budget with little room to cut, BUT my kids are happily munching on chips while watching Pokemon right now and I am able to hug and kiss on them all I want.

Please hug your loved ones and let them know just how much you love them! A split second can really rob you of them forever! We are all very acutely aware of that here today.

I just earned a $5 Amazon gift card by using Swagbucks!

2009-07-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

It isn't hard a all. In fact it takes no effort at all! Just install the Swagbucks toolbar ad use it to search online. I search lots of things to find out more about them, so this equals really easy money! Any extra money I can use for things I would buy regularly is exciting news for me!

It does not install spyware or viruses. I check that all the time. Click on the picture above and try it!

Pre Op visit- part 2

2009-07-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

First of all, I guess I had better explain what type of cleft Sera has, so that those reading, who have not followed Sera from the start can understand why we are at Shriner's. We have a great Children's hospital just over an hour from home. We are traveling all the way to Chicago for a good reason. Sera does not just have a cleft lip and palate, she has a Tessier 4 cleft. (Craniofacial clefts are rare among facial anomalies, with an incidence of 1.5 to 5 per 100,000 births, and 1 per 100 cases of cleft lip and palate. The Tessier No. 4 oro-ocular cleft is one of the rarest, with 33 unilateral and bilateral clefts reported in the literature. Among the bilateral clefts only 3 of 9 involved Tessier No. 4 cleft bilaterally.) I was told that Shriner's would have the most experience with this type of cleft repair and would also be able to follow her for complications should anythng come up. So far they are everything I had been told. they have just been wonderful with her and have not treated her like an oddity for everyone to come examine, while leaving her feeling like a circus exhibit. They have treated her like a princess and I feel very comfortable having her in their care. It will be well worth all the travel time!

Well, it wasn't easy waking int the am after such a late night, but yet it was, since I woke at 5 am and could not go back to sleep. I was so tired, but couldn't fight routine. Our room was facing the street and I kept listening to the traffic and then going to look! I love different sights and sounds. I really enjoyed watching all the dog walkers. Not just folks walking their own dog, but actual dog walkers. There must be lots of dogs in the apartment complexes around the Inn. It was so nice to be able to fix a cup of tea and just sit by the window and watch life go by.

Sera slept peacefully until 8 am when I woke her and sang Happy Birthday to her. She was all smiles and very excited to put on her new birthday cake dress and tiara. We ate in the room, since I had brought oatmeal and we had left over pizza. She was excited to got downstairs and explore, but not so happy to get in a cab to go to the hospital. In fact she refused to even get out of the cab until I distracted her with a fish statue in the lobby.

The hospital staff were so sweet to her and really helped ease her fears. We met with the doctors and found out that Sera will have a lip revision and a bone graft into her jaw, from her ribs. They are not going to work on her sinuses or cheekbones yet. In fact she will have to go back for another lip revision in about 8 months, since her lip repair will not be able to be done in just one step. We will have to gt another CT scan this week and have some other pre op things done, like put her on preventative antibiotics, since she has a cough. With waiting this long for surgery, we don't want to have to reschedule it ! :-)

BTW, once again I was told that she should have been receiving speech therapy at school... The SLP laughed when I told her the reasons I had ben given as to why they could not do anything for her until her lip was repaired. I was told that it is only because they do not know what to do that I was given these reasons... How is a parent supposed to make decisions and know what to fight for or how with two such strongly opposing opinions!? Especially since I also work for the same school district! When school starts, she will be in contact ith the new SLP at our school and try to help. I wish she had done more of this before now though!

Sera was so totally spoiled by the staff there because it was her birthday, I think she will want to go there every year for her birthday! She raked in a new HMontanna backpack, and Ariel doll, and DreamScene Doll, a CD, a Carebears video, flashcards and at least 4 activity books. She was so happy playing and telling everyone she met that she had a birthday.

We caught a cab back to the airport and instead of waiting to get on our plane at 6:45 in the evening and just hanging around the airport, I requested standby to get home sooner. Since our plane was running late already ( how they knew that at 1pm, I won't know, but am very glad they did!) After waiting for one lane and rushing to the next, we got on and were home before we should have left :-)
Meet the newest member of the Chicago Mob!

Mmmmm 5 dollar airport drinks are yummy!! At least she loved it and actually drank it!! :-)

Sera was thrilled to see our family at Applbe*s waiting for her, to celebrate her birthday. She loved being sung too and was so excited to be 5!!!

We then came home to crash!

Now I am making arrangements for all her pre op stuff they need in less than 2 weeks. I hope we can get a CT scan done that fast!!

Isn't that the most beautiful smile!!! I need to remember it! I know it will be more "typical" in a few weeks, but I think her Father made her perfectly!!

Chicago - pre op appt, part one.

2009-07-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, after waiting at the airport for over 2 hours for our flight, which had been delayed in Colorado, we finally got on an hour and a half flight to Chicago. Sera was a happy camper and was very excited the whole way. She could not wait to put down her tray to watch her new Barbie movie. Once we got to Chicago, however, she decided that she wanted to be at home and was asking over and over again if we were going home now. She wanted to see Aubri and Andy and was done with the airplanes. She would settle down when I told her that we were just seeing the doctor in the morning and would fly home again right after seeing him. This would be OK for about 5 minutes and then she would ask again. Our taxi driver asked who Aubri and Andy were that she had to get home to them. It was sweet.

We are at the Write Inn in Oak Park. It is a nice place to stay. We were here the last time and once again when I requested just a queen size bed, the cheapest room, we were upgraded to a family suite. I think it must be because we are a Shriner's family. Who knows! It is a nice room with a kitchenette and a sitting area and 2 queen size beds. Some day it would be a nice place to stay with all the kids and just go exploring, but... I don't know when time will ever allow for that, or the funds to just come here to play would appear from :-) So for now, we are just enjoying it for what it is. We ordered delivery pizza last night when we came in from a nearby Itailian place. Oooh, it was WONDERFUL!!! We still have some in the fridge for breakfast! Artichoke, spinach, chicken and all kinds of gooey cheese... Good stuff!

Sera will be up in a few minutes, since I am going to wake her :-) She was so tired from the traveling yesterday and all the excitement. I hope traveling home today goes as smoothly though. I can forsee her getting impatient with getting HOME. I am trying to imagine making this trip home with her face so swollen and sore though and I have to admit, that scares me much more! We will just have to wait and see.

Stinkyfeet

2009-07-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

Our local public library always has lots of great kids entertainment programs during the summer. My kids always want to participate :-)

They have read their 20 hours, either on their own or with me reading to them and have earned lots of free food treats and last night they got to pick out books. Sera got one about Pandas, Andy got a Junie B Jones and Aubri got something I can't remember... but then that's not too shocking since she actually looks though the books and makes her own choices without my having to redirect her to something more at her level :-)

Mr. Stinkyfeet, Jim Cosgrove, put on 3 shows yesterday and we caught the evening show. His music is very catchy, he is a great entertainer, and the kids just love him. I especially like him, because the summer Andy first saw him, he thought all librarians were called Mr. Stinky feet, since the children's librarian is also a man and he also plays the guitar and sings with the kids. When Andy first sarted school, it took him several months to figure out that our public librarian was not Mrs. Stinkyfeet! He shocked her several times by calling her that!

I love free quality entertainment for all!!! That said, here is a video of Andy and Sera dancing in Mr Stinkyfeet's band for you to enjoy :-) * If Andy looks a bit sad at times, it is because he is feeling bad that Aubri did not also get to go up with them. They may squabble, but they do love each other fiercely!! Seeing him look sad for this reason actually makes me smile. Oh, and the cows chewing their cud imitations were definitely not planned. I had given Andy gum so that he would be able to sit more quietly without moving into his neighbor's spaces. Of course Andy gets nothing without Sera wanting it too!

VATER???

2009-07-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Nope, in this case it is not the German word for father.

When the technologist called me yesterday to discuss what would happen when Andy has his ur*dynamics study and his cystosc*pe done, she dropped this word as what Andy has been diagnosed with. I told he very quickly that she must be looking at the wrong child's file, because my son did not have that dx. He just has repaired hyp*spadias and related complications along with repaired an*l atresia and constipation issues.

WRONG..... Evidently he had been dxd with this last year, but no one had bothered to share that information with me, or what it meant for Andy.

I am still waiting for a doctor to explain this.

I did some reading on my own and it sounds like it is just a name for a bunch of different birth defects which may or may not be present. As far as 'I can tell from what I have read, he has the A and the R. With the additional possibility of needing to catheterize him every 4 hours looming ahead of us following these tests, I am definitely praying that this poor kid will not have to endure much more..... I want someone to explain why this is on his chart though! He does not have any of the other issues.

I just wish the doctors would not have assumed that I knew what he needed. I obviously do not know why he has these problems or how to solve them when I took him in for them to help me! I so hope that they tell me more SOON!! Not knowing what medical things I should be watching for with Andy is worrying me and I am feeling like a pretty lousy mom right now...

5 hours later .....

PS... Andy's doctor called me this am and told me not to worry any more. The VATER dx was just because of the 3 symptoms Andy has ( anal atresia at birth, hypospadias and mild urinary incontinence) and he seriously doubts that he will have others. They would have been much more obvious at birth and shortly after.

In other words, VATER is just a dx given to any child with more than one birth defect. It does not imply that he will have more to deal with or that I am going to be clueless about what to look for! I freaked out for no reason.

Whew!! I can easily cope with the rest and it has all been explained very clearly :-)

I keep wanting this parenting thing to have an instruction manual and need to just take it one step at a time. I love this boy so much and just need to sit back and enjoy him!

Lessons in physics

2009-07-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our Fourth was pretty simple and we stayed at home. We watched a movie and played on the Wii when we came home from eating at grandpa's. We really enjoyed celebrating with him a bit. The kids just love being with him and their excitement is contagious. He went to the Kelly house to spend some time with Evelyn and avoid all the noise, heat and confusion.

We did not eat elaborately, but we enjoyed making and eating grilled hamburgers, squash, chips, watermelon and homemade chocolate chip cookies and popsicles while sitting outside listening to the neighbors make our subdivision sound like it was under direct artillery fire... The kids loved every boom!

Poppers, sparklers and just a few little fountains were the extent of our pyrotechnics this 4th, but our neighbors were very kind to share their fun and put on a huge light up, boom, boom pow show! It never ceases to amaze me how large the displays are, in the city limits no less!

Confetti is much more fun when you can shoot it onto something and Sera seemed to be a bit confused as to how to aim, at first, but after a few shots, she was decorating our garden right along with her siblings. Our tomato plant became our Fourth of July "tree"..... They were quite proud of it!

Aubri did a wonderful job lighting our little fountains, but the wind defintely posed some challenges. She figured out how to compensate though! The sparklers were blown out almost as soon as they were lit, but they all figured out how to put their backs to the wind! Motivational learning!!!

The wind added other concerns, however, because it would seem that some of our neighbors were not compensating nearly as well as Aubri had and the large, sky high, spark shows were blown into our house several times. Good thing we had just had a good rain! I was a bit nervous and kept my cell phone handy and the kids under the trees when the big shows were going on.

Then the kids had a blast in our new hammock while we watched the neighbors parties. I had told them I would buy it, rather than a bunch of fireworks, because it would not blow up and I knew our neighbors would entertain us :-) They had so much fun trying to get all 3 of them on it at once! Once they managed to get up there calmly and stay on for a few minutes, of course the wiggles and goofies got to them and they would spill out! When they got to bed, they were BEAT! They slept soundly through the remaining explosions, which lasted well past 2 am..... Mom is not so well rested today :-) 'Good thing the fourth fell on a Saturday!!

BTW, The dogs were very happy to snuggle and cuddle with us all today. They are very glad there are 365 more days until this happens again! BaoBao was the only one who did not hide and thought it was no big deal !

It is always nice to celebrate Independence Day with my kids. After being stuck in Ch*nese police stations and having seen someone beat and treated like an animal, Aubri understands a small portion of the freedoms we have here. Andy and Sera's futures are both so different here, with being able to be citizens, where in their own country they would never have had the privledges of even being abe to attend school with peers who were not orphaned. It is hard to see our economy under such duress right now, but is is so good to be able to count the blessings we do have!! So many people in this world are not sharing in the blessings we can so easily take for granted.

We hope you were able to enjoy some holiday fun too!!

Celebrating at Grandpa's

2009-07-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really do forget

2009-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

just how much different my little Sera is now from when I first heard about her.

I just read a comment on FB from the man who saw Sera in China and hoped for a better future for her while he orchestrated her adoption from China. He noted how much change he was seeing in her photos from the child he saw in China, who was

"withdrawn and would not look at anyone, or do anything."

That is soooo NOT the child she has become!! I try not to wonder too much about what would have become of her if so many people had not helped me bring her home and give her a chance to blossom.... Once in a while though, I think it is OK, so that I can thank them again!! YOU know who you are and I so hope that you know what wonderful works you have done!!!

She is JOY in every aspect and has blessed us all immeasurably. 'No doubts that these blessings will continue to multiply and be shared with even more people as she grows up and her circles of friends increase and multiply as well.

Here is a photo page of the child he met (when she was 2 yrs 8 months yrs old.) I think that is when he was there... These were the first set of photos I received when she had just been placed in the foster home for a little over a month. She was still not even trying to learn to crawl or walk, not trying to talk, just quietly pulling away from the world as she knew it. Doctors did not believe she was hiding in there and thought she was most likely facing severe cognitive and physical disability. She knew better though!

Here is a video clip I took of her Saturday. ( 4 yrs 11 months old- less than one month until her first major facial repair!!) I was taking the video because she was just being a ham for no reason, just because she was happy :-) If I got the camera out more often I would have many more clips of her singing and dancing though her days. She really did not know I was videoing, her... she was oblivious in her enjoyment of tippy toeing through the store, which she had been doing out in the parking lot prior to coming in the store :-)

I need to be sneaky to get more video of her just talking and playing which she does almost every moment of the day... really, except when she is sleeping or angry at her sibilings :-) The joy and animation in her voice is really something a photo just cannot capture! The bad part is my other kids all try to jump in and making it just a goof fest... She is goofy and doesn't always know I have the camera on, but once they all get going, knowing they are on camera... WATCH OUT!! She is a character and has learned from true camera hams!!

If you would like to meet more sweet little people this man and his wife have been helping, please visit www.bringinghopetochildren.org and you will even see some of the nannies who helped Sera begin to learn escape her protective shell and learn to walk. You won't regret it. they even have a video cam to watch the babies in the foster center on Sunday evenings. Sera loves watching them and always prays for the Changchun babies. I think it plays on her heart, as it does mine and Aubri's, that there are more children there in similar circumstances as Sera once was, who desperately need our hopes and prayers. ( Andy may understand, but since his experiences have been so different, he relates China to his foster care and being treated like an emperor ) They do such wonderful things there in the foster home! Kids survive and THRIVE!!!! I have living proof telling me to get off the computer to go help her take a bath right now!

Summer Fun

2009-06-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Half of our summer break is already over! Time flies so fast!

It is odd, but even though I am only working half days, it truly feels as if we are even busier than when school is in session! I guess it is because I want the kids to enjoy every possible opportunity they can while we have more time, which leads us to less time. Oh well!! They are having a blast!

We are in our neighboor hood pool almost daily. I swear I have fish for children!! Andy and Aubri will be taking swim lessons next month and have had several in the evenings this month. Andy is swimming underwater and above water like he was born in the water. It is hard to believe that 2 summers ago he would scream and scream when he had to take his toes off the bottom of the pool. I think Aubri has been a better teacher for him than swimming lessons have. She is a pro and may consider joining a swim team this next fall. Sera doesn't swim, but she loves to play in the water. Someday SOON, her little lip will close and she will be able to keep the water out of her mouth. I think talking about her lip surgery when she wants so badly to swim like her siblings, has helped her want to have it done even more. She will be a fish next summer, no doubt there!

Sera is taking a ballet class that I got to watch for the first time this last week. It was so cute!! She tries so hard and really does a great job following directions. Now balancing on one foot, well that will come :-) I had several good chuckles as I watched her bounce around. She was very clear to Aubri, Andy and I that we were to watch her, because " I am a ballerina and you must watch me! " I was so proud of her. Especially knowing that since most of the other girls she is in class with were just 3 and that at 3 she was truly toddling and falling on her bottom like an 18 month old. She is catching up by leaps and bounds!

Additional to her ballet class, she is also taking gymnastics, as are both Aubri and Andy. Aubri is a very late starter, but she is enjoying learning and that is what it is all about. She had not taken a gymnastics class before, but has enjoyed dance classes. I had not put her in them for a while while completing adoptions and putting her in more music lessons, but she really wanted to do this with her little bro and sis. Her class is more focused on skills for cheerleading which I doubt she ever really uses for that purpose, but she will use the stretching. dance techniques and self confidence she is building. Andy loves bouncing and flying around the house, so a place where this is encouraged and shaped into more useful practice is truly right up his alley. Sera is so excited to try everything and has really made huge improvements with her balance. They will all be taking a week long camp program there this next week and all of them are really excited about it. I am taking kids back and forth all week for these classes!

Aubri has a band concert this week, and a choir concert. She had to make a mask for the band concert so I am very curious as to what the director has up his sleeve. She really is enjoying the French horn and I am very proud of her efforts.

Andy had a Dr appt this week to talk about some issues he has been having with bladder incontinence. The anal atresia repair he had as a baby may have damaged some of his nerves. He will be going in for a huge study under total anesthesia in July to determine if further surgery is needed or if we will be catheterizing him. I am really hoping that his leaking is due to a fistula, which can be repaired surgically. Neither option sounds very good to my ears, but we will figure out how to help him cope with this somehow.

We also went to a Cricket game this last weekend, to figure out what it was like and the kids had fun until we were rained out. It was a very different game from what we are used to watching but since I have Quiddit*h fans in Andy and Aubri, they both had figured out some of the similarities Cricket has to their favorite magical sport. The league here is not used to many specatators, and we stuck out a bit as total newbies who knew nothing about the game. It was OK though, because one of the players was very kind to explain what was going on. It was a good learning experience and we even had fun doing it :-)

Now that ESY will be out on Friday, we are going to head to Science City a few times to check out the Chocolate exhibits, the Dinosaur digs and the Narnia experience. Gymnastics camp and swim lessons will keep us out and about too. The public library will also be keeping us busy. Then Sera's Chicago appts, Andy's testing, Sera's surgery and then back to school!

Wish me luck in getting some of the other more mundane housekeeping things I had wanted to do in the meantime!!! I think I will need it!

My oldest baby...

2009-06-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

is growing up so fast! She has been spending her mornings going to summer band and honor choir, then coming to my classroom to help for an hour before ESY lets out. She has been so excited about the new music she is learning and has been a pretty good helper too. She will tend to ask why, more than my paras do, when I ask her to do something, but once she understands, she is on it. I have really been impressed with her abilities to see the children in my class for the sweet and wonderful kids they are. She enjoys being there and they know it and also enjoy her attention, especially when she talks to them about stuff that "us old folks" cannot relate to. It is good all the way around! I included a photo of her with one of my students she is exceptionally fond of. I wish I could include the smile being returned, but if you imagine the smile of an angel, you will know why Aubri is smiling too!

Aubri is also helping me in the afternoons, enjoying a summer dance class, her youth group activities and of course SWIMMING! She is such a joy to parent! She is so good with her siblings, most of the time, and when they annoy her, she is also god at putting them in their place :-) I love that they are enjoying good times together and that they enjoy being with each other. I am so grateful for her help, too!

I don't really know why I have been so blessed to be mom to this sweet girl, and for that matter, all 3 of my kids, or to have a job I would do for free ( if I won the lottery) but I am sure glad I have been!! I know true blessings!

3 years ago today...

2009-06-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Aubri and I flew into Shenyang from Beijing and traveled directly to the Civil Affairs to "take a peek" , as our guide translated to us, at our Andy. At that point he knew he was meeting us and had said his goodbyes to his nanny and foster family. He was asleep on the couch when we arrived and I was asked to immediately start signing paperwork. When he woke, he enjoyed playing with a red car with Aubri, but really did not want much to do with me and clung to his orphanage director. We were then rushed to have our photos taken and then taken back to the hotel, where Andy was left with us before I had even understood that he was being left. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about it but after about an hour of crying, he was willing to go out to the Walmart to shop with us. It was not my brightest move to do without a guide as a brand new parent in a city where very few people speak English and I had absolutely no knowledge of how shopping works in China. After being horribly stressed with crowds of people following us around and little Andy/HuaDi laughing his head off at us crazy white folks while commenting to the crowd how he thought we were nuts... We finally made it back to the hotel and eventually got to sleep. It was definitely an extremely adrenaline filled day!!!

Today was soooo much easier!! This little boy who thought he was emperor of the world, thought girls were definite second class citizens and had no idea how to cope with rules, went to school and had a wonderful morning. He was not in trouble at all and was even very helpful! He chose a movie to go see and where to go eat, while considering his sisters likes and dislikes as well. I bought him a new DS, since water had "accidentally" spilled on the one he got for Christmas sometime in the month of January... This time he promises to keep it dry! :-) We had to go to Walmart, just for the tradition, of course!

I wish I could say that the least three years have been easy. With Andy's learning disability, his ADHD, his exceptionally high IQ, and initial attachment issues, there have definitely been struggles for him, and for us, along the way. I can say, however, that they have been worth every moment of frustration while Andy learned to acclimate to a family and attach to us. We love him so and cannot imagine life without him!! He is "our boy", as Sera calls him and definitely is an amazingly smart, funny, and super sweet one!! He is my baby boy and I love him more than he will ever know! He definitely brings a different perspective to this family and we are truly blessed by it!

Need an instruction book!!!!

2009-06-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have been torn recently as I try to psych Sera up for her surgery and help her be excited about being able to speak clearly. I have not talked as much about how different her lip looks from other peoples lips, but always tell her that I love her little lip. Right now I really don't know if I am approaching it from the right perspective. I need a parenting manual with directions on how to handle this!

Now, mind you we deal with people stopping to glance quickly at Sera's face when they first see it on a regular basis. Most of the time they go on as if they had not seen any differences. All of my friends and people in her school are very accustomed to it and honestly it is easy to forget there are differences in her lip when we are at school. Most other places are pretty easy to go to also, without having to explain about it too many times. My kids and I all stop people when they stare openly and rudely and simply tell them that she is not in pain and will have surgery soon to repair her lip so that she can speak more clearly. That generally is very sufficient and most people smile at her and are very kind follwing this type of intervention. It actually works best if my kids explain it and it seems to help ease children's fears.

Today, however, we had a BAD day with it! We had gone to the public library and Sera was literally drawing a CROWD of little open mouthed staring children, along with several gaping mouthed teenagers!! It was unbelieveable!! We provided our routine explanation and went on reading our book together while we continued to have a very rude audience who absolutely refused to quit gaping at her until our good friend who was with us actually told them they were being VERY rude and needed to leave! Believe it or not, they still stared! It was like Sera had suddenly turned into a Martian!! I hid her face with the book and just continued reading to her and even reread the book, in hopes they would leave before I had to put it down. Finally I started glaring and staring back over the top of the book. One little boy absolutely refused to back down until I coughed and caught his eye with the most evil teacher glare I could muster. Then he backed off with a very frightened look and went into another section quickly, while calling for a sibling. I felt badly for him but was so annoyed that I truly did not care if he had a parent come yell at me and was very prepared to call for security. Thankfully, nothing came of it and we finished our books and decided to leave to get our groceries. My oldest knew it was to leave before anyone else came over to stare, but she was so good to not say a thing. Sera was a happy little shopper and the afternoon went much better from that point on. I was very grateful that I did not see one person in the grocery store stare at all, and several people even spoke very kindly to her and my other children.

Nothing is all black and white and there truly are very kind people around us most every day. It just scares me sometimes how a few people can make such a big impression on my heart in not such a positive way. It scares me more to think of what types of impressions they have left on her heart.....

So, while I will desperately miss my baby's special little face, I truly do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it must be repaired. Thanks to the families who do not bother to teach children about respecting accepting differences in people, my baby has had far too much grief thrown her way in her short little life. She has been such a survivor and is the sweetest, happiest and spunkiest little kid despite it all. However changed her little face will be, her sweet little spirit with undoubtably still shine through.

I can only hope that I have said the right things to her and to others about her in her presence. I can only pray that the scars she wears on her heart will not continue to be bigger than the scars she will hide on her face.... I can only hope and pray that someday she will know how much I love her, scars and all...

Messing with perfection... Why? :-(

2009-06-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

After a good friend suggested that I Ph*toshop Sera's face for her so that she could see what her surgery was going to do for her, I decided to try it. I really did not do it well, but it was the best approximation I could do. I used a smile from another sweetie who has had her lip repaired since I really do not know how Sera's lip will look. I am guessing it will be similar since they both have full little lips, but who knows.

I am glad that she suggested this because I am going to really have my work cut out for me, just getting myself to accept Sera's changes!! I love her little face like it is, gunky eyes and all... I know that her surgery is going to make her even more beautiful than I can imagine with photoshop, but I am so going to miss the sweet and spunky face she has now!

She will have her eye repaired by an occulopastic surgeon, once her facial clefting is worked on here the end of July. I had wanted to do this first, since we have had to wait so long to coordinate surgeons, but the occuloplastic surgeon wants to be last, so that they don't mess up his work... It will all be done by December and healed enough to hopefully look something like the above photo. Maybe??

I know that she will be so much happier when people do not do double takes upon meeting her, or stare openly at her. I just can't help feeling that part of her will be missing. The sweet and spunky little sloppy grin that kisses me each morning will be gone.... I have fallen so deeply in love with her and every aspect of her, that losing this special smile of hers is feeling very unfair to me right now. I really do believe and know that these surgeries are all in her best interest, but so wish that they were not necessary... To this old mom, she is just PERFECT, just the way her H*avenly F*ther created her!!

Garage Sales!

2009-05-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

We LOVE 'em!!! Today we hit the jackpot for Aubri, who is growing so fast that I just cannot keep her in clothes. We found her several brand new pairs of Old N*vy Jeans for 2 bucks a piece! We also found several Abercr*mbie and H*llister t shirts for her. She is thrilled! I can't buy these brands for her any other way and the clothes look new! We also found a little dog crate for 3 bucks and a couple of G*p button down shirts for Andy for a buck a piece and a super cute gymnastics leotard for Sera for a buck. It is a fun time to get out as a family and bargain hunt. We got a Little Ce*sar's pizza for 6 bucks on the way home. Cheap fun, but we like it that way!!

We are getting ready to have a garage sale at my dad's this next week. I am hoping I can get the kids as excited about getting rid of some of their stuff! Wish me luck!

I will try to post photos of their efforts next week when it all gets a bit more organized.... In the mean time, I go back to work half days on Monday, Andy starts summer school for a half day, Aubri starts honors band and honors choir and Sera gets to spend some special time with Grandpa. They are all taking gymnastics and swimming in the afternoons and then swiming in our neighboor hood pool. Life is busy!

Construction errors

2009-05-26T09:31:00.001-07:00

You know, my grandma always told me that the best way to learn is from your mistakes. I was a timid and shy kid and was so often afraid to try new things, thus never learning how to do them well.... It was bad! My mom never wanted me in the kitchen and never taught me to cook. My grandma would try when I visited her, and I was always afraid I would ruin something. I never learned how to cook much of anything, except Grandma's recipes, as a result, until I had left home. This spilled over into so many areas of my life. Now that I am old ( especially in the eyes of my kids) I can see the error of my ways and really try to get my kids to be braver than I was. Thankfully they are!!

Aubri made cookies yesterday and is making dinner tonight from a cookbook our friend Kathy gave us with easy to make meals for families on a budget. Right up our alley!!!

In any case, I apologize for all the weird things you may see on the blog for a while. I see all these neat blogs and have wished that I knew how to set them up. I cannot afford to have any of the professional blog designers help me right now, since pennies are tight, so I am going to just have to learn how to do it myself! I am currently trying to be brave and actually learn how to format a template in HTML without copying and pasting everything and not having a clue what I am pasting and where it needs to go.... So I am learning a lot while I screw up this template. I am just using digital kits I have for scrapping for the kids and I cannot decide on what I like, and when I do, I can't seem to figure out how to put it on the page...

If any of you have any ideas on what I should try to do here, or not try for that matter, I am game!! It may take a while for me to figure it out though!!

My Posies....

2009-05-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

I just have to post these.They are not the best photos, since I don't seem to be able to get many good photos lately, but I have taken a pic of the kids in front of these bushes every year. I just love peonies!!

Celebrate the end of a long schoo year Great Wolf style!!

2009-05-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

This year I took advantage of a really good deal and booked us a room at Great Wolf Lodge about 6 months in advance. We went on a Friday night after school, the last Friday of school, to celebrate having had a great school year.

I was exhausted and had to drive in pouring rain for almost 2 hours to get there, but once we got there it was all worth it!! They upgraded us from the basic room to a room with bunk beds for the kids! They were thrilled and I had a bed all to myself!

Andy knew what to do, since we had done this once before after he first came home. Sera was caught up in all the excitement and didn't hesitate a bit, until water got in her face that is.... Then she backed off for a while, but discovered that she could play in the park areas not designed for swimming and had a blast! Andy is now swimming like a fish and has no problem swimming under water or above. He and Aubri hit the slides and I stayed with Sera or took her in the hot tub. It was great! She even relaxed with me and tried to float. Next year when summer comes around, she will be able to take swim lessons and not have to worry about water coming in her mouth unwanted :-)

It was well worth the expense we paid ( NOT full price by a long shot) to plan ahead to take the kids for a mini vacation. It will be the only travel fun we will have, outside of day trips and taking Sera to Chicago for her surgery so we really made the most of it.

A graduation, a concert and another graduation!!!

2009-05-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

My Aubri graduated 5th grade with a Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. I am so proud of her!! She was so beautiful and I felt so blessed to be her mom! I had to present awards to some of my students, but I got to sit back down to be her mom in the audience. The photos aren't so good, but my memories certainly are vivid. My baby has grown so much and it truly will only be a breathtaking moment before I am attending her highschool graduation. I want to enjoy each and every second with her. She is such a wonderful, sweet and charming girl!

Sera graduated Preschool with all the spunk and rhythm of a truly in tune new Kindergarten student! :-) She was a total ham on the stage. She has changed so much in the time she has been home that it is almost unbelieveable. Shy would not be a good descriptor for her at all now! She is the life of the party!!! She was not misbehaved, just very outgoing and very spunky while participating in the dances and songs the kids sang for the program. She had many people laughing at her antics and she loved every second!!It is a good thing she was so cute, because the ceremony drove me nuts.... No one would be quiet or even stay seated!! I took a video of Sera dancing and finally gave up after discovering that it looked like I was drunk while taking it. People kept standing up behind me and knocking me forward. I had to stand to take it because the people in front of me would not sit down.... The noise was horrendous and left all of us with a horrible headache. It is truly scary how few people seem to be able to be respectful of others in situations like this...... Manners seem to be non existant. I so wanted the director to tell the other parents to try to behave, since their kids were behaving better than they were..... But no matter what chaos was going on around her, my little star was a cute as can be as she moved on to the next educational step in her life! She was absolutely thrilled and her enthusiasm was contagious! She had new sparkly Princess shoes on her feet and she couldn't have been more proud of any thing. She danced and twirled to show them off all night while telling everyone in earshot that she is going to KINDERGARTEN!

Sera's graduation was on the same night as Aubri's band concert, so we flew from her noisy graduation to Aubri's concert and caught the last song! Grandpa had gone with her, thankfully, since I could not be in two places at once. She did and excellent job and will be doing summer band again as well as honor choir. She really enjoys music :-)

Andy was also excited to be moving from Kindergarten to first grade. Poor kid did not understand why there was not a progam for that, but he was a very super brother and really congratulated his sisters!
Crazy video below... I promise I was not drunk!!! I was tired, but I really was not that tired either!!! Sera was quite the bouncy little dancer though, so it is worth posting even though it may make you a bit dizzy.... Sorry!!!! I will also bet that it will make you smile, though!

The noise is overwhelming in the auditorium and you can hear it in the video.... You may want to watch it with no volume. If not, remember to tun off the music on the upper left of the page by clicking on the pause. It looks like this - II :-)

A few photos of the puppies...

2009-05-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

I really should have taken more photos and video of these three little balls of fluff before they moved on to their new families.

Bisou went with his new family, a teacher from school who finally had time to deal with a puppy when school let out, this last Thursday and Gucci went almost 3 weeks ago....

I am terribly behind and have no hopes of ever being caught up!! Catching good photos of little black fluff balls is not an easy feat for this photographically challenged mom, though... So I am some what excused I guess. I did manage to take these the day before Gucci, or the Gooch, went with his new family ( also a teacher from school).

We do miss the 2 boy fluff balls and really enjoyed watching them grow! I also appreciate not having so many little bodies to keep track of and care for.... It looks like Madeleine, the only girl, will be staying with us since the kids are not OK with me sending her out of state and really want to keep her. It is a good thing she will never be more then 4 lbs and doesn't eat much!! She has already learned how to keep out from underfoot and has the same personality as her Dad, very laid back and quiet, so she will not be much trouble.

She certainly provides the kids with hours of entertainment since Aubri walks her, while Andy walks BaoBao and Sera walks Bitsy ( momma dog). Our big Bella, the standard poodle, is mine to walk :-)

Yep! I can walk around the block this year without pain!!! I need a cane to make sure I don't fall due to not feeling my foot, but I can go out with my kids again, finally!!! It is a bit odd looking I am sure, as I do walk with a weird limp with the drop foot, but I truly don't care what people think about me and I really don't think they will even see the old lady walking with the cute kids and puppies. They like having me along and I love being able to go with them!!! Nothing like a moving circus!

Our weekend.... last weekend and news from this weekend

2009-04-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Andy would not sit down to let me take his photo until we checked carefully that there were NO BEES in sight!! For some reason he is now petrified at the thought of possibly getting stung. He has never been stung and has endured far worse pain, but he literally panics at the thought of a bee being anywhere near him right now.
Pop at the Wamego Tulip Festival last weekend. He wanted to come with us and brought his own seating. We are so glad that he did. Even if there were a few complications with fussy kids, we love spending time with Grandpa! There weren't many tulips, but the kids enjoyed eating outside and playing in the park and petting zoo. We didn't stay too long, since we had stuff to still get done at home, but it was a fun time, when the kids were not fussing at each other that is :-)

Andy and the llama who decided she liked me a lot and would not leave me alone..... She even jumped out of her pen to walk with me. Scared me to death, but it turned out that she was a real sweetheart. Kind of like a big dog!

This weekend we have stayed in a rested up a bit, while getting some things done at home. One of the puppies went to his new home and Pop gave us a huge scare. He had to be rushed from church to the hospital due to supra ventricular tachycardia. Evidently he told the folks at church to not tell me... So I did not know until he came home. I was so angry at them for not letting me know, but I am better now. He had told them to not call me. Why they listened to him I will never know. I love my dad so much! He truly is a stubborn old goat though!!

2009-04-12T01:59:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Our Week, the good and the bad....

2009-04-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Busy and crazy as usual.... We have been able to spend our dinner times this week with grandpa and the kid have loved it. We are so happy he has time to spend with us now!!

We had steaed asparagus this week and as you can see, Sera is a huge fan! This girl loves foods that are good for her! Beets, wheat bread, okra, asparagus, you name it!!!

Grandma had her 87th birthday and Pop went to see her during the day. By the time we get out of school, she is having a hard time, or we would also have gone. We will see her on Easter
though!

Aubri scored exemplary on her state exams and has started taking her placement tests for homeschooling. She is so excited to be able to learn at her own pace and go as fast as she wants!

Sera got to go to Kindergarten round up and was tickeled to the bone about it all! She told me as we went in, "Mommie, I be a Kindergarten girl because I am grow and grow and grow!!!" She loved the games and activities and is proudly wearing her super kid medal from her goodie bag. She tells everyone she sees that she is going to be a Kindergarten girl :-)

My leg sems to be doing better, where the hematoma is. Hopefully it will continue to shrink more on its own and there will be no surgery in the future.

Monday my glasses blew off my face, literally and I am wearing an old pair, which really is not easy, but at least I can see somethings, until my new frames come in to put my old lenses in. Thankfully I will not have to buy new lenses too!!

Friday was a long day for me, with para evals due and paras unhappy with each other... Then I find out that my sweet little boy, who I had hoped had learned to not use his fist when he is upset, had punched a very nice little boy in the nose for simply asking to see his watch.... SO.... we had pizza rolls, soda and ice cream for dinner and the girls got a new movie to watch. Andy sat on the bed, with a peanut butter sandwich and milk for dinner. I hope his punishment was sufficient so that he can enjoy the Easter we have planned. He is dreading having to go see the principal and he will not get recess all next week as well as no DS or TV for a week. Who knows....

I so pray that he will eventually learn to think before he acts and someday not have the thought of hitting someone even cross his mind!

Today we are off to ride an Easter train and see the Easter bunny. We have never done this before, but I had better stop typing, because I need to get a new tail light first!!

2009-04-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

A litte fresh air!!

2009-03-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

While we missed the St Patrick's Day parade today, due to my cleaning bug and not realizing the time, we did get out for some air. The kids all enjoyed the sun and while we were a bit miffed that we missed all the shamrocks, we still had an extremely enjoyable and fun day. Aubri's bedroom is on it's way to being reorganized too!!

It is amazing to me to see how much these little people are changing and growing. I had to post some photos just for this reason. We weren't doing anything special, but the sun on their faces and their sunny smiles sure made it a nice day, nice enough to share!

BTW.. It was 81 degrees today!! I could really get used to this spring weather, but alas, this is the midwest.... It will be cold tomorrow!

Whew… catching up

2009-03-08T10:28:00.001-07:00

It has been a wild few weeks here. We have yet to get to celebrate at T-Rex with Andy and our birthday celebrations for both Andy and Aubri were pretty low key. I like them better that way but it was not what we had really planned on. Both kids had chosen to take a day to go into Kansas City to eat out and enjoy the day as their party. Aubri wanted to just go and enjoy the day 1:1 with me and get her nails painted and do a little shopping. Nothing super huge on most people's scales, but none the less something we really only do for special occasions.

We had several complications come up which complicated our lives a bit. Nothing life threatening, but it has been an absolute whirlwind of Dr visits and recuperations, to say the least. I had a tooth pulled and ended up with a dry socket, and on pain meds, so driving long distances was not an option for the kid's desired out of town celebrations…. Then Aubri fell off her scooter when the handle bar came off and landed on her left hand. She fractures all of her growth plates in her knuckle joints and fractured two fingers. Then Pop decided to climb a step ladder to change a light bulb, rather than ask for help, and fell from the 2nd step. He tried to tough it out when his doctor told him that he would be fine, other than being sore. After 4 days of excruciating pain, I had him taken by ambulance to the ER. Sure enough, he had fractured a vertebra! Amazingly, after I had imagined having to have him in the rehab hospital to be able to care for him, they glued it back together and sent him home that day! He has been sore, but it really changed the recuperation time for the better! Sera had pneumonia in the midst of all this. Andy had a tooth pulled and another filled and also chewed up his lip. After Sera was off her antibiotics, she came down with a viral cough and a serious asthma flare, and has been down with it for over a week, now. She started antibiotics again yesterday.

We ended up eating at CiCi's on Andy's birthday because he wanted to make his own pizza. He really enjoyed this too and also liked being allowed to play in the arcade a bit, which I never generally allow them to do. ( I know…. I am cheap, but we ARE on a budget ;-) He loved his Ben 10 Voice changer and has been avidly playing his DS games and Leapster games. Aubri went out to eat 1:1 with Grandpa for her birthday and got a new DS lite. She had the older version, but was very excited to get a pink metallic one like her friends. She also got a game and an American Girl evening out IOU, for when we go to Chicago again. She also got to go out and eat at Applebee's so that she could be sung to. I also took her to have her nails done. ( jus 3 days before she fell and messed up her hand L) We had cake and ice cream at home with Grandpa. All was low key, but still went OK for them. Maybe next year I will do a party for them where they can invite friends. Aubri wants to do a skating party, so that will probably be what we do.

Sera was just getting to feel better from her first round of pneumonia for CNY, so we did not do the big group FCC activities. Getting too excited and playing hard just seemed to make her cough so much more…. We did go eat out at HuHot, however and I let the kids dress up in their Chinese clothes. They had fun showing them off and they looked so CUTE!!

I did not want Sera coming down with anything else at that point. Even with all the precautions I took, though, she still caught something …. I so hope the spring brings better health for her!! Respiratory difficulties seem to be a problem for her and everything she gets seems to settle in her lungs. Aubri had fairly serious asthma when she was younger, but she never struggled as hard as Sera has these past few weeks. Honestly, even with steroids, inhaler, breathing treatments and trying to keep her quiet, she sounds like she is coughing up a lung….

Pop has been recuperating well. He stayed house bound for over 2 weeks, but he is now getting out for short periods and is even driving again. We were both a bit worried, but he has done really, really well. He vows he will never climb a ladder again. I know this is hard on him, though. He is so independent….. We are just so glad to have him close and able to spend time with him!

Oh, also our little yorkiepoo, Bitzi, had a litter of 3 pups about 3 weeks ago. We stayed with her on puppy watch for a week, and I even took her to school with me . Finally I took her to the vet and they ./'
}|were delivered by C section. She is so tiny and I was so afraid of losing her. She weighed 6.2 lbs when she went in and 3.8 lbs when she came out. She has 3 very cute pups who are looking around now and trying to get up on their feet to walk a bit. Holding puppies is so calming. I just love our puppy therapy!!!

Ok… outside of all the normal chaos of work and daily life, I think that is all that has been going on! Please say a prayer for us that our Spring break will be totally boring and uneventful!!! No more Dr. visits!!! J

Wahoo!!! We have a DATE!!!

2009-02-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

Sera's surgery has finally been scheduled!!! She will have 3 docs for a 4.5 hour surgery, so that complicated things among the other complications of lost 3D CT scans. HE has his hand in everything and they will be done during the summer while I am off work!! Sera has been down with pneumonia all this past week and has been such a sick little girl that I have almost used all my sick days already this school year and the deducts for a single parent hit hard. While part of me would love to have her have it sooner, and just stomach the deduct time, the docs even feel this is the best time for her growth wise.

She is very comfortable with me now and wants me when she is sick, which will definitely help when she tries to rock and bang herself when she is uncomfortable. I do believe that she will let me hold her, since she is enjoying having me rock her to sleep more and more each night now. I will worry that she will still want to rock herself hard and possibly disrupt her stitches, but that worry is easing too, each night she snuggles in with me to rock her to sleep in the rocking chair now.

I just love being out of LIMBO!!! :-) I can make plans now for spring break!!

CNY Tea Treasures!

2009-01-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

I have had an uncomfortable last week, with a tooth infection, extraction and now I have an even more painful dry socket.... Just my luck! I hope it does not bode anything for the upcoming year! It is also Chinese New Year tomorrow and Andy's birthday! Aubri's birthday is next Thursday! Life does not slow down when you want to hibernate... Getting myself animated to go to work this week, get the basics done here at home, get out to help him select his gifts and celebrate has been a bit tough, but in trying to find ways to do this while also soothing my nerves and sore face, we discovered a really cool kind of tea! Flowering tea!

The kids love to watch it bloom! Click on the photo of the tea to watch it yourself!

I had seen these little tea bulbs, so to speak while we were touring the teahouse in Beijing, when we traveled to bring Andy home. We never toured while bringing Sera home, but I know I also saw some in one of our hotels. I thought they were really odd looking and of course I was not brave enough at that point to investigate further. I read about the Numi teas while looking for some herbal relief and saw this photo. I had to check it out further. Turns out our local health food store carries it! It is tea leaves sewn together with flowers, which are also used as teas. When the boiling water seeps the tea benefits from the leaves, they unfurl and open. We don't have a glass teapot, but our glass measuring cup works great too! Maybe someday a teapot will turn up in my oldest's birthday gifts... Just maybe :-)

Now, finding this will not be all we will do to celebrate the CNY or Andy's birthday, don't worry! I just thought that it was a neat new experience and a different way to share my kids culture with them. Tonight we are going to our local Chinese community gathering for CNY. Andy has chosen to have pizza for dinner tomorrow, even though it is the real CNY. On birthdays, the birthday kids gets to pick the meal. so pizza it will be! He picked out very age approprite gifts which didi not break my bank! For that, I am so thankful!! He only wanted a Magna Bones Sabre Tooth Tiger, and Sp*nge Bob Lego kit and a Ben 10 DS game as his birthday gifts to open and a trip to TRex ( a huge restaurant with a fossil dig and animated dinosaurs) in Kansas City ( to be taken when mom is not on pain killers and can drive on the highway :-). Pictures will follow, don't worry!

This little boy is growing up so fast!! I so love the excitement on his face when he talks about dinosaurs, legos, Pokeman, Ben 10 and his DS! Oh, and when he even thnks about or talks about pizza and having a special day just for him, his eyes light up so brightly and he even bounces! It is just too cute!! I hope I can get some photos of that to share with you. It is the best!! Even if my face fell of, this old mom could not be more thrilled to watch him be so full of glee!

In the mean time, we are all getting our hair trimmed this afternoon and getting ready to celebrate the Year of the Ox. I wish I could say that I cleaned the house top to bottom to welcome the new lunar year...... But at least the kids have clean new clothes to wear, birthday plans in place and all their laundry is done for the week!

Now, we have heard it all!

2009-01-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

Or maybe that just jinxed me to hearing more...

With Sera's lip and eye still unrepaired, we have grown accustomed to the quick repeated sideways glances, the abrupt double takes paired with blatant staring, the curious child like comments from both adults and children and even the really rude comments questioning why I would want a child with this problem.

This weekend, however, we ran into a totally different take on someone's first glance at Sera's lip. We had gone out to a school fundraiser at our local highschol. Sera and I had left the cafeteria building and were coming back in when a man rushed out of the doors and the big door hit Sera on the shoulder and head. She fell back into me and started to whimper from fright. I knew this was not a cry from being hurt, since Sera rarely cries from pain, but I was quickly checking her to see if she had been hurt. She was fine. The man was so shocked and apologetic for having rushed out of the building and hit her. As I tried to reassure him that she would be OK, he backed up and pointed at her lip and exclaimed, " Oh, no! Look what I did to her face!!". It was so hard to not laugh out loud.... He finally looked a bit closer and started apologizing even more profusely. I just told him that we were fine and not to worry any more and brought Sera in the building. Sera told me when we came in that he did not hit her lip at all, as if she also needed to reassure me that she was OK.

I wish this whole thing did not make me want to giggle, but it surely does!

We went to eat at Taco Bell's really quickly today and there was a large group of people who spent more time staring at Sera, than they did eating. It was very uncomfortable for me. Sera ingored it completely, but it even upset a lady at a nearby table enough to come apologize for them! She thought Sera was just perfect. Most people do, who know her.

She has provided an education to many folks who had never seen a cleft and left them with a great impression of a wonderfully bubbly and intelligent little girl. She knows so many people now and has quite a fan club of kids at school. They all seem to know her and she just waves like a little celebrity when we see folks we know when we are out. I have to often ask her where she knows them from. If people meet her or even just see her and leave with an impression of disgust, they just were not bright enough to understand the content of the lesson!

Since the lady I talked to at Shriner's on Friday who was trying to track down Sera's MRI still assured me that they would be calling me on Tuesday, please pray that she calls with a surgery date!! I don't think I can keep this up! I think she has done enough educating.... She needs to just enjoy being the beautiful little girl that she is, with people looking at her only because she is so darn cute!

Is there a current Dnnis the Mnace Movie???

2009-01-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

If not, I have the perfect star for the Asian version!!

My sweet boy should be named Dennis and all the troubles he finds himself in would just be excused so much more readily!

He loves spending time with Grandpa, and until this weekend, I don't think Grandpa had ever fully believed me that Andy must always be within sight....

He tried to reset the thermostat, because he was too hot. He tried to help wind a clock and got the key stuck and the clock stopped... He tried to practice writing his letters... in salt he spilled all over the floor. He fell asleep with popcorn in his lap and poured in down the chair. He tried to figure out why a remote would not work and took it all apart. Since Grandpa was a bit reluctant to share all that he did there... I will bet that he did more that that in one overnight at Grandpa's house!! I know that last week he tried to replace the halogen bulb in the living room and ended up breaking 3 bulbs.... I wasn't watching him then either. He does these things so FAST! I can only hope and pray that I can work with him to help him direct this energy to something positive, or who knows what he will get into when he is bigger!!!????

At least now Grandpa is fully on board with not letting this boy out of our sight! He is such a sweet kid, and he knows he is not supposed to be doing these things, but just cannot stop himself when the thought hits him. At least when he knows no one is watching! :-) He is sneaky, but at least he is trying to be helpful while he is sneaking! :-)

New Year, New habits.... I hope!

2009-01-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

Well, making resolutions for the new year is a good thing. I really have not done many of them in the past, other than to lose weight :-)

This year, I decided to make a resolution to be different :-) I actually made some resolutions!

1. I want to be teaching my kids to help around the house more and to learn the value of money more... so my kids chore charts are now tied directly into their allowance and spending money. I made picture charts, paired with money allotments for the chores I expect them to do. I will pay them a quarter per big chore, and a quarter per week for the routine stuff, like keeping their socks together, clothes in the hamper, dogs fed etc.... I don't pay well at all, but it is money they will not have otherwise and added up it amounts to a bout 8 dollars a week for Aubri, five for Andy and three for Sera. Sera doesn't really understand the money concept and would happily accept pennies, but she is also very willing to put her money in her bank and will be grateful for it someday. Now I have to stick to checking off ther chores DAILY..... and getting MY chores done daily..... That will be the biggest feat!!

2. I want to get their memory books from their adoption trips and for Aubri's first year of life all put together digitally and bound.

3. I want to figure out a way to get my school work done in the time the district actually pays me to be working, rather than dragging it out longer and coming home more tired. I want to have energy left to devote more good time with my kids, rather than be dragging because I am so tired.

4. I want to have everyone drink more water and sleep more each night. I think that may help the grumpies that tend to plague Aubri and I in the morning as we get up.

5. I want to really try to push myself to actually accomplish the above 4, since the losing weight thing has just never come to pass.....

Now, I am writing this publicly, so maybe I will actually stick to it????

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

We had a very enjoyable Christmas! We hope that you did also!

We opened gifts at Grandpa's so that he could be with us and be part of all the excitement, and also for him to be able to share the Christmas story with the kids again before opening gifts. He likes his space and feels most comfortable in it, without my little dogs running around. I can understand that since the morning was a bit chaotic as it was :-) I truly do think Aubri and Andy understood and Sera knew it was Jesus' birthday. She also was very certain Santa had to come down the "fire" , since they had discussed this aspect at school. We did not not tell her otherwise, so she enjoyed the magical moments of thinking the gifts had been delivered through grandpa's Amish miracle heater :-)

The blessings of the season were definitely apparent as the children hugged each other and us as they rejoiced in ther newfound treasures. They really played well all day with very few squabbles, even though we were in tighter quarters at Grandpa's and they literally were in each other's space quite often. It was so nice to enjoy this day with Grandpa and celebrate the best gift of all, the most special birthday, together!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Whew! Last minute adventures!!

2008-12-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

With all of the hustle and buslte of the end of the school semester, etc... getting ready for Christmas at home had basically amounted to just getting the presents purchased. We did some cooking for snack type foods and wanted to do more, but time did not allow for it. So... we postponed to do some on Christmas day, rather than just play with toys. The kids liked that idea, so I relaxed a bit and decided to let that slide until then. Today, Aubri and I had planned on a leisurely wrapping/ cookie decorating day with Grandpa and possibly going out to see the Christmas lights before reading the Christmas story and going to bed.

Knowing that the wrapping was the last thing to do on the list, we slept in late, went to Grandpa's to eat a late brunch together and got ready to start wrapping. As I sorted out the gifts, which had been delivered to Grandpa's, or to our house and stashed away, I realized that a very major gift was missing!!! Andy had asked for a Nintendo DS for over a year. He has been very consistent in saying that was the one thing he wanted for a long time, especially when talking about his "Santa list". This little boy is so busy and active that I do not worry a bit about letting him have some sedentary time to sit and play a game some of the time ! In fact a few minutes of quiet are greatly appreciated by this old mom! :-)

We searched all over and since Grandpa had been the one to actually purchase this item in person, rather than the online shopping I have become so fond of, he started to question if he had actually purchased it. He got quite distressed that his memory is failing him and we decided to go to Best Buy to see if it actually did get purchased and if not we would get one and all would be just fine. Aubri stayed home with the little ones for the short time we planned to be out. She does a great job with them and I am so blessed! At the store, they were able to look it up and it had been purchased.

We decided. or rather I kept trying to convince him, that he must have been interrupted while he was putting it away and that it must be in the house somewhere, just not anywhere he was hiding anything else.

Since we were not sure that we would find it in time, however, we tried to find another one, so that Andy would have his desired gift tomorrow morning. WOW! Every child in town must have also asked for the same thing and the stores did not keep enough in stock. We raced into store after store. Each one filled with last minute shoppers! Our 2o minute jaunt took well over 4 hours!! Well, I hobbled in as fast as I could and my dad still kept up with me. No place we went had any... None at all! I truly did not know what to do, neither did my dad, but we kept calmly telling each other that it would be OK, while inside just feeling absolutely awful.

As we stopped at the grocery store quickly before going home, I called Aubri again to check on her and the kids and decided that I had to also enlist her eyes to try to help find the gift while they waited for us. I did not want her to give away what she was looking for to Andy though. I told her to look in all the places Grandpa might have just set a plastic bag. I told her not to look IN anything, just on every shelf in the garage, in the den, kitchen etc.... She already knew not to let Andy know what she was looking for and really took this new mission seriously!!! I should have enlisted her help with this so much earlier!!! I was just too worried to think straight, I guess....

Within 5 minutes she called me back telling me that she FOUND IT!! My baby girl, who is such a responsible young lady now, saved her little brother's AND her mom and grandpa's holiday!!!

She found it right it plain sight... on top of the book case, where Pop had evidently set it when bringing it in to hide, but was disrupted. He felt so badly that he was losing his mind. It did not matter how many times I tried to reassure him that I do the same thing far too often. It is so easy to start doing something and get interrupted, set things down to take care of the interruption and then have no clue where you left them. Less than 1 hour later, I was searching for some picture frames that I knew I had, but had no idea where I put them! Yep, same kind of situation and they were also found!

The Heavens were guarding my two littlest ones surprises for tomorrow morning since Aubri and I quickly wrapped gifts, Grandpa went to see Evelyn and Andy and Sera enjoyed Grandpa's wide selection of digital TV holiday specials. Both of the were totally clueless that Aubri and I were up to anything! If they did know, they were extremely cooperative in allowing for some surpise tomorrow!

Our Christmas eve was not what I planned it to be, but all is done and we enjoyed our time together, so it went just as it should!! Suprises are all ready for tomorrow morning! We will open gifts at Grandpa's tomorrow so that he can be there with us without having to get out. It will be so nice to have him with us as the kids enjoy their suprises!! We will just have to read our Bible story together, decorate some cookies and go see the lights tomorrow!

Always too many steps behind....

2008-12-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

I cannot begin to catch up... We are getting ready for Christmas today and will be wrapping packages etc... I went to charge the camera battery and realized that I hadn't even downloaded our Thanksgiving photos to the computer yet. Imagine that...

So, before I went to take my shower, I had to put some of them together to share and to print for our scrapbook before time slipped any further away and it didn't get done. Such is the life of a single parent of 3 busy little people :-)

Here are our scrapbook pages to record our Thanksgiving this year. It was the first we have been able to spend with our Grandpa in several years, since Evelyn had a difficult time being around the kids. As you can see from the photos, the kid love their 80 yr old grandpa and he loves them! I truly cannot imagine much more to be thankful for than the people in good health and sharing such happiness that day. We had a good family friend join us and enjoyed eating and playing the Wii, but the kids enjoyed playing with grandpa even more than the Wii!! Hard to imagine, but I am so thankful for his good health and the time the Lord is giving us to spend with him

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Santa, or Christ's Birthday? The answer is simple!

2008-12-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

Today we tried to get out to get some of the necessary shopping done for the week. We bought a toy for Toys for Tots and a couple of things for the kids gift exchanges at school while they looked at things they are hoping Santa will bring. After we did the shopping, and I had them in the car. Andy asked me a question I truly had no answer for and still really don't. Thankfully he let me put of answering him when the phone rang and has not pushed me for an answer since we have come home.

He asked me, "Mommie, Does Santa not know where China is? He never brought me anything of my own when I lived there and now he brings me toys and clothes I do not have to share with everyone. Was I a bad boy in China? He never brought me black rocks either. Where was he?"

I am really feeling that this year it is it is necessary to be telling him the truth about Santa and just having Christmas in our house be about celebrating Christ's birth and sharing his love with those we love, as it really should be. Aubri already knows and was excited to be sharing Santa with them, but she also thinks we should let Santa just visit other homes and our gifts all be gifts of love to each other. Sera will not have a Christmas with a visit from Santa that she will understand, since last year she had no clue why we had presents under the tree, but I think it will be for the best now, especially hearing how Andy felt he must have done something wrong for Santa to forget him. Little children's fascination with Santa and the glee of Christmas morning are all so wonderful, but for my little ones who know Santa was not there for them, I truly am not sure trying to get them to believe in Santa is a good thing. Especially when I have to tell Andy not to tell lies other times!

I think we are going to have to have a very serious talk. My babies will all have to know the truth. I hope it helps them enjoy the season even more, rather than worry about why they had been forgotten by Santa before coming here. They really need to know that their Father in heaven has never forgotten them and what a great gift he has given them, even when they were in China and did not have the presence of their earthly loving family around them.

So, thanks to my very astute and questioning son, we are going to enjoy Christmas as it should be. A true CHRISTmas full of His love and family joy!

One Step at a Time

2008-12-13T05:55:00.000-08:00

This past week has been so long, and yet so short. Not enough time to get things done and not enough energy to do them! We have all had a bad cold and resulting complications and I am soooo ready for the break!!

This week while we were rushing out the door, though, I saw my sweet Sera make a huge accomplishment, and I was almost too rushed to see it! She has always had trouble going up and down steps, since her rickets had made her muscles so weak and her balance much more difficult to keep. She has made good gains in walking and running, but steps were still a cause for caution.

Thursday morning I saw her pick up her brother's hat to take it out to the car for him, where he was already waiting. She flew down the garage step and never once reached over to hang on to steady herself!!

ONE step mastered!!!

Santa

2008-12-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

Can you tell from the photo who was annoyed that Santa was not listening to what she wanted?

She didn't have a long list, but Santa did not understand her and would not let her explain.....

Mommie asked Santa to help hurry up the scheduling for her surgery!!!!

Opthamologist appt- the good and the bad news

2008-12-03T17:19:00.002-08:00

Well, after waiting for what feels like forever ( actually just a little over 2 months) to get an appt with the dept head of Opthamology at our local Childrens hospital, we finally got to go.

I had taken the day off work and entered my absence on the computer weeks ago, but amazingly when I went it to talk to the sub this morning as I dropped Andy off, there was NONE.... My absence had been deleted when Sp Ed had deleted an inservice absence and I had to wait for a sub to pick it up after we entered it again..... Not a good start to the day, but it worked out OK.

It did not snow on the hour and a half drive ,both to and from, , so that was really good news! I was prepared to be driving n snow and ice. Pop came with us and had even packed blankets and a spade.

Sera was willing to have her eyes dilated and checked and even cooperated in reading the pictures after Aubri did it, so that was also good news! Then the Dr. told me that outside of her duct problems and the lower eyelid not attaching where it should, her vision is great. Another really great piece of news for the day!

Then the bad news.... We have to come back to have the occuloplastic surgeon evaluate Sera in January. I will have to take another day off work (of which I have very precious few left due to my knee replacement and know that I will need them when she ever gets to have these surgeries, let alone if anyone actually gets sick...). When I set up the appointment with the referral from Shriner the receptionist assured me several times that I needed opthamology not plastic surgery. I told her repeatedly that Sera has a Tessier Cleft and that it affects her eyelid and tear ducts... I guess I just said these things for my own benefit.

Soooo we wait some more and see a different Dr. in January. Hopefully her surgeries will now not conflict!! I so wanted to have one done over the Christmas break!!

"He" must have a reason why surgery for Sera is constantly being delayed!! I guess that I am needing these lessons in waiting and just need to develop more patience, or maybe He is trying to save my budget and keep me from total confusion and bankruptcy from all the medical bills that have been coming in from my surgery. Who knows? I know that I am trying to get it done now that she has become more safely attached and able to understand what is happening, and something keeps stepping in the way to let me know that we are just not as ready as I wanted to be.....

Something to think about

2008-11-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

If we all take this approach, maybe no one else will literally get mowed down in our rush to spend money.

10 things

2008-11-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

We have decided to each write 10 things we are thankful for this year and review it in years to come and possibly in tough times to come. We thought it would be fun to share them with you too and maybe you would like to share with us what you are grateful for this year!

Counting blessings is actually really more fun than opening boxes with colored paper!We had a lot of fun together trying to figure out how to limit things to 10!

Aubri
1.My home- because with out it we would not be safe from the weather.
2. My family- because I love them and they make me smile and they love me and take care of me.
3. Food- so that I don't starve
4. Education, because when I get older I will be able to get a good scholarship and a good job.
5. My dogs, because they help me learn responsibility and because they are cute and make me smile.
6. Books, because I like to read about other places and people.
7. Friends, because they make me happy when I see them.
8. Toys, because I laugh when I get to play and it is nice to laugh once in a while.
9. Singing is something I like to do and it makes me feel magical.
10. Art because it is one of my favorite things to do when I am bored.

Andy
1. I am a boy, because I am happy like I am.
2. Food because I can share with people who need to eat.
3. My Mom, because I love her and she loves me and she feeds me and give me neat clothes and reads to me.
4. My sisters, because I love them and they love me and play with me.
5. My dogs because I like to play with them.
BaoBao, because he likes to play with me.
6. My family, because I love them.
7. My grandpa, because I love him and he cooks good food for me and plays games with me.
8. My teachers, because them help me to learn.
9. My country, because you have to keep your country safe and clean.
10. My drawing, because I can draw nice.

Sera
1. Mommie- I am a mommie's girl
2. My sister- She play wtih me
3. My brother- He play lego with me
4. My Grandpa and Grandma- He feeds me food
5. Dora and Kai Lan- I like the TV
6. Dogs- They cute animals. They nice doggies.
7. Eating- I get hungry
8. Miss Jenn- She MY teacher
9. Friends- They play with me
10. My blocks- They fun to play with.

Mom
1.My faith in my Heavenly Father and his help in guiding me though many difficult times.
2. My dad- because he has been my rock for my entire life. He stood by me and has helped support me emotionally and far to often financially when things have been tough. He has given me my sense of values and I know that they are the most important things in this life, both for me and for those sweet little people I am blessed to be able to also share them with as they begin their lives.
3. My sweet Aubri because she has been such a good influence on my life. Her bright and cheery spirit and abilities to care for others, especially when I have also needed her help this year are absolutely priceless.
4. My wonderful and loving, busy little boy, Andy, because his unique way of seeing things in this world from a different perspective has really helped me broaden mine and learn to see the fun in many things I would have simply ignored.
5. My sweet, silly and sassy Sera, who makes me smile every day and be so gratefu for everything we have. She has a true gift of warming hearts and l love her so much.
6. My health, while it definitey has been better in the past, I am so thankful that I am able toget up each day, walk on my own, think clearly ( most of the time, when I am not too tired :-)) and hold a useful job.
I really am not kidding when I say that I am grateful for my messed up leg (s), even though it has annoyed me often and caused me more pain than I ever want to admit, it has also taught me humility and patience which come in very handy on a day to day basis.
7. My job, because while it is definitely not the high paying job I might have held if I had taken a different road many years ago, it is very meaningful to me and has very little risk of disappearing and leaving my family without income.
8. My friends, who keep me honest, keep me smiling, listen to my gripes and shove me in directions I need to go.
9. My home, while messy and not the show place I would like it to be right now, it is very comfortable and keeps my children safe, healthy and happy ( due to all the toys scattered everywhere!) I also love my Amish heater which keeps us so toasty warm at night!
10. My dogs, who have kept me company in the past when I was lonely and who now ease my nerves after a long day of noise and kids :-)

Thanksgiving day photos to come later!

Amazing change....

2008-11-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last night as we hustled in and out of the grocery store to purchase a few last minute things, I realized something.

At this time last year, my little Sera never asked for anything, not a drink, not to eat or even to go to the bathroom. It was not just a communication issue either, since she did not ask our guide for any of these things either. She just sat and played with her empty bottle while she waited for life to pass by and was absolutely thrilled when anything was offered to her.

Last night, she was tired and hungry and was very clear about that as we waited in line. She wanted to eat and she wanted to do it SOON! When I would tell her that we were going to eat as soon as we got home, she would frown and put her little hands on her hips and tell me very loudly, "Dut Nonnie, dere is fwood here wite now!". Everyone around us could not help but smile.

While it would have been so much easier to have her simply wait quietly, I am so thankful for her to have been able to make this so important change in her way of interacting with the world! She now sees herself as IMPORTANT and deserving of having me meet her basic needs.

She truly has no idea how how much I love her, but she is learning!

365 days ago....

2008-11-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Aubri and I had traveled to Beijing, spent a day in Changchun and Siping visiting foster homes, and spent the previous day and part of the night fogged in the Shenyang Airport, managed to run to catch a flight to Shanghai, raced across Shanghai by taxi, slept for 3 hours at the Pudong Airport hotel, rushed through huge crowds to catch a flight to Taiyuan, worried all the way to Taiyuan about what would happen next, met our guide and traveled to the Taiyuan Civil affairs office and then FINALLY we met a wet, tired, scared and angry little Sera!!! It truly was the biggest whirlwind of travel I could ever have imagined possible!! I signed the paperwork saying that I wanted to be her mother, no matter what the nanny said about advising me to wait and see if I liked her since she was sooo "difficult", what ever that meant. It made me angry and I had no intention of not bringing her home, no matter how much she hated me ( which she very definitely did!) . Aubri was overwhelmed with exhaustion and excitement to meet her new little sister, only to be whacked in the head with her water bottle, repeatedly... Thankfully our guide was able to convince Sera to leave with us!

What an emotion filled family we were that day!

Fast forward to today, we are a busy and very happy little family! Sera is full of smiles and cuddles from the moment she wakes up each day. She can be stubborn and get her feelings hurt and wear them on her shirt sleeve a bit, but very quickly lets it roll of and is back to being her happy little self! Even today, when she has a stomach virus and cannot keep a thing down! She is quiet for a while, and then once she has an empty stomach again, she is up and playing and wanting to be cuddled and loved. She is as smart as a whip and learns new concepts so quickly! She loves to sing and dance and is a total little charmer! She mimics everything and keeps her preschool teacher on her toes too! She is talking a mile a minute and makes sure that everyone around her falls in love with her instantly!

I cannot imagine life without her. I cannot imagine not having survived and successfully made that life altering trek to Taiyuan to bring her home. I cannot imagine never having been inside the police stations in Taiyuan and GZ chasing down a new visa and reporting our stolen passports. I cannot imagine having closed my heart to even considering bringing her home when I was first told of her file and asked if I thought she would be OK. All of these things could easily have never worked out the way they did.

I am so grateful for His hand in shaping our lives and cannot wait to see what the next chapter will be, no matter what worries about the future may shade the path as we travel it!! We are truly blessed and I am so happy to be able to look into her sweet little face, receive the best sloppy kiss ever and cuddle her while telling her our story to bring her home.

We are finally part of the Wii generation!

2008-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and I had promised Aubri and Andy a Wii for their birthdays last January and they have patiently waited almost 10 months for me to find it in a price range we could swallow. We had put aside the money for it, so that I couldn't use the excuse that I couldn't buy it when we found it, which is a good thing since money has been so very tight due to my being off work with this knee replacement. I had truly been searching all this time. Finally today we found it!!! And is was in my price range!!! Aubri was so excited that she was literally bright red and jumping up and down for almost 30 minutes, before she started breathing easier as she realized we really did have it and she was going to get to play it! She has played it at some of her friends homes and has truly been such a trooper waiting for me to find it for her. I am definitely not a fan of buying games or even systems new, kind of like new cars, and absolute despise the inflated prices for buying something everyone wants.... We truly lucked out today!

The used game shop in town also had 2 of the games she and Andy had wanted and now they have something to put on their lists for Santa! We are using the poem of " Something you want, something you need, something to play with and something to read" for their Santa gifts and 2 will fit a game category :-) Today they got Nights and Mario Galaxy, which are both able to be played as 2 player. Sera is very interested in it and maybe a Princess game will be on her Santa list.. She is loving wathing Aubri try to learn to play Nights right now. We will see :-) I know Aubri wants Cooking Mama, Animal Crosing, Harvest Moon and some game that you sing and dance with. If I have to buy them new, she is going to have to make a choice of one! Geez ,these Wii games are really pricey!! Andy doesn't know yet what he wants, but I have no fears that he will soon! I need to get him deciding so that I can put in a wish list at the used game shop. Good thing their birthdays are coming soon after Christmas and they can get a game then too.

I guess I will not be watching much TV in the future, but that really may be a very good thing! they won't be wanting to either!

Some photos of the crazy times around here

2008-11-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I wish I had been able to get more photos of Trunk or Treats or out Trick or Treating last night. I at least got one of each child in their parade at school. We went to a small town about 20 miles from home and had and old time Halloween. The kids walked to the church and to trunk or treats and then rode around in the back of a truck to the different houses. The church had a really neat Enchated Forest and Sera fell in LOVE with the miniature horses. We also saw owls, close up! We went back to a good friend's house and had the best ribs and potato salad ! It was tiring and lots of walking for Mom and for little legs, but it was worth every step. They will have lots of memories, I hope and I know they had fun!

Fall Frenzy Photos

2008-10-28T19:00:00.001-07:00

To say that things around here are a bit busy, would be as much an understatement as saying I am only mildly concerned about my children's future in a country ready to give up on the work ethic it was founded on....

So instead of a boring and long story of our Boo at the Zoo trip (in which I was able to hobble around the entire zoo on, BTW) and our rapid dash to the pumpkin patch due to all the schedule, weather and illness conflicts. Here are some photos of my sweeties. They tell the stories well enough!!

side note- Sera has had horrible sinus problems and I have called Shriners to hurry up and schedule her repairs!! She is happy and smiley, but oh, so congested!!! Please keep her surgery date in your prayers! It needs to be SOON!

I love this photo!!! Sera loves her grandpa too!

This photo was taken just before Andy lost his sword..... Imagine that!

Apple Pickin'

2008-10-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

We went with Grandpa to go pick some apples from Grandma's old farm. We had a blast, once the kids got sorted out and calmed down.... that is. They so love to spend time with Grandpa but when they are all together, they all compete for attention and it is so hard for him to listen to them all at once and cope with their squabbling which inevitably results when one feels left out :-) Thanks to the IPod and their audiobooks and Chinese lessons, we calmly and safely made it to the farm! They had so much fun collecting the apples and pears! Aubri loved climbing the trees and Grandpa was so unsteady on his feet, along with myself not being able to feel my left foot at all and landing precariously with each step on all the rotten apples, that I spent most of the time praying we would all go home safely. Thankfully my prayers were heard and we really enjoyed the ride home looking at all the farm animals and crops and listening to Grandpa tell us about them.

We so LOVE spending time with him!!!

New Teeth!!!

2008-09-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Andy worried all last year that he was never going to lose a tooth, like his friends. Well, just last week he lost his first tooth!! The adult tooth was actually already there, behind it, and already through the skin. I had wanted to take a photo, but somehow my charger moved.... all by itself, it would seem, to Andy's room! So I could not, and he was disappointed. I guess the Love and Logic for this was really apparent to him since he just brought it to me and told me that he was not going to touch it again so that I can take a photo of his next lost tooth!

Here is a photo of the space his first lost tooth was in! ( Yes.... orthodontics are definitely in his future!)

****** Photo will be posted when my new hard drive is installed and I figure out how to put the old one in this external case to try to recover my photos I had not yet backed up!!! WAHH!!!!

Last day of summer swimming at our favorite community pool!

2008-09-01T17:48:00.000-07:00