*sigh*

Well, NoBloPoMo has come to an end. I was driving to a shopping center today when I realized that I did not have to post tomorrow. Wow. Who knew when I started this month that we'd be without internet for over a week at the end. It's been rough, but I've managed.

We're still settling in. I should have some photos very soon, especially of JM's birthday. I can not believe my BABY is turning 10. We're hitting the double digits. I remember when I turned 10, and how "big" I thought I was. I remember well the happiness I felt at being "double digits" and that I would be in the double digits for a VERY VERY VERY long time. I felt so grown up.

I was such a child! I know that JM now has memories he will forever carry into adulthood, and that feels kind of weird to me. Like Katie doesn't really have any concrete memories she'll have into adulthood right now. JM, though, IS making them. Samuel will have a few, but not true memories. It feels like such a responsibility to know JM will forever remember many of the details of our day-to-day lives right now. He'll remember how he felt about different things. Wow.

TWILIGHT!!!!

I'm so excited. I'm having a girls night out this evening, well, I am assuming I am as we planned it on Thursday and I've not heard yet if plans fell through. It all started about 2-3 weeks ago. I picked up a book in the store. Twilight. I'd heard about it. I wanted to check it out. The next day I was buying Full Moon. 2 days later I was on the hunt for Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I figured I might as well.

I read all 4 books in about a week, while trying to get packed to move.

Yes, I read fast. Yes, I stayed up way too late. Yes, it was not my smartest move. Yes, I became addicted to the saga. Yes, I told a friend she HAD to read them.

This friend that I every so lovingly shared my addiction with, emailed a few of us girls who had been similarly afflicted. She organized a movie night out. We're going to see Twilight together.

Did I mention I get to go out with the GIRLS?!

Did I mention I looooooove having friends?!

Yes, I'm a wee bit excited.

even better? Monday night? I think it's Bunco night with the girls again. *big grin*




I so need the time away after this move.

Snippets from moving

Yes, we're still without phone, internet, and cable in the house. But really, the cable was never going to be here so I shouldn't count it. Thank goodness for the internet capabilities of the crackberry. Yes, tethering is good. Could be very expensive, but good.

On the phone front, we're going to go over our allotted minutes for this month. We have roughly another week and less than 30 minutes left. It's not good. There have been too many different kinds of phone calls since we moved, and it's all adding up. Plus the business phone calls. Yikes. It's the first time in over 5 years we've gone over, so I doubt we need to up our plan minutes right now. Perhaps in the future.

We already have some minor house issues. A few dings, a couple of smudges, a scratch in the floor, and oh yeah...a water leak. The dings, smudges, and scratches are really just touchups and to be expected when you move. The water leak? It should fall under the home warranty thing. It better at least. It will be a headache though getting it all fixed.

How many boxes have I unpacked? Quite a few. We have the kids' rooms pretty much settled and unpacked. Nothing on the walls yet. The office is...well...sort of unpacked. There are still boxes out. The "living" areas in our home are mostly unpacked. Our bedroom has about 4 boxes left. I have way too many photos to hang though, and no idea where. I need someone to help me with that! Not to mention I need to purchase a few others (especially from the recent session we did).

We're getting Christmas decorations up.

I would say we're about 3/4 of the way unpacked. It's that last 1/4 of stuff that will take forever. The kids seem to all really like this house. Which is good. I will like it so much better once photos are hung, leaks are taken care of, and we're all unpacked. 100%

Until then....I just want to bury my head in the sand a little more.

Thankful Thanksgiving!

Today I'm thankful for...



My family.

I'm thankful for 3 wonderful children. I'm thankful for having the experiences I have had with all 3 coming into my life. Each and every one of them (like it's more than 3), has a different story to their history. Each is special.

I'm thankful for my extended family. On both sides.

I'm thankful for the ability to worship as I want, and as often as I want.

I'm thankful for my freedom.

I'm thankful for the work and income we currently enjoy, and I hope and pray it continues.

I'm thankful we learned about Dave Ramsey and budgeting 6 years ago. It has truly changed our lives. It changed our thoughts. It changed our patterns.

I'm thankful for friends. We are blessed beyond measure in that regard. So many good good friends.

I'm thankful for the health of my family. It is such a fleeting and precarious thing. Life is precious.

I'm thankful for how blessed we've been this year, in so many ways. We've made more friends. We've seen love grow and blossom within our family. Oh so much.

I'm thankful I have the chance to homeschool. It's truly an experience...both good and bad things about it. It's not for everyone, and I'm glad that I have the choice.

I'm thankful that I have another year ahead of us, and all the unknown joys we will find there. Joys such as family game nights, learning with the kids, making new friends, keeping up with "old" friends, and seeing the love our family has grow and grow and grow.


So, Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. I hope you have a very happy TURKEY day (even if you don't eat turkey). Just think, I'm cooking the meal for one of the very first times EVER. Not to mention, we don't have cable/sat hooked up to the TV. Poor Dh and FIL. Of course, we're still moving and settling in.

He's just like me.

I don't like change. I really don't. I get all anxious, and emotional when big changes are going on. I get weepy. I get all sad about leaving a house behind. You know...that kind of thing.

Samuel, we learned this past weekend, is just like me. We were sitting in the new house Friday night with our small loads of kitchen stuff and such. He came downstairs and knelt down on the floor. I heard the slightest little hitch, and looked over.

He was trying to hold back the tears.

He was sad to be leaving our home. He wasn't sure if he would really like this new house. He loved his home. He didn't mind sharing a room with JM. He liked how close we all were.

He was scared. He didn't like the change. Yet, he was also excited about the possibilities of the new house...but really, only when JM was around. JM is thrilled. JM is more like Dh in regards to change, they embrace it fully.

Me & Samuel? Eh, we take a little while to warm up to it. We're all discombobulated. We're all anxious and weepy, and sad about the silliest things. Like I'm going to miss our "growth wall" and even thought I wrote down the heights...it's just NOT going to be same. *sniff*

Looking forward to tomorrow...and my Thankful Thanksgiving post. I have so much to be thankful for this year. So very very much.

Homeschooling update - Katie

Yeah, I know, she's 2.

Katie can play really well now, and is especially good at playing pretend with her dolls.

She's got a pretty impressive vocabulary.

She's got spunk.

She's pretty normal for a 2 year old.

I really don't want to list all she can do, but if you look at developmental milestones for her age, she meets every one of them for 24-30 months (well, a few aren't mastered yet).

She's especially good at screeching and screaming. Ear plugs anyone?

Homeschooling update - Samuel

Samuel is officially Kindergarten age this year, and as such we don't have a ton of things for him to be doing.

Science - we only do the homeschool classes at the science museum. He's got a great grasp of science already, and would say that he's early elementary level with physical science. He understands the concepts of different states of matter, life cycles of animals, the water cycle, the concepts of flight (lift and thrust), what chemical reactions are, survival of animals and how camouflage helps, how bubbles are made and how they "work," and oh so much more. Really he knows so much we are not even sure about as I'm only skimming a few of the things he's talked about.

Bible - we've been reading Bible stories, and he knows them quite well. That's as far as I'm taking him this year, well, besides working on memorization of verses.

Handwriting - he's doing very well for his age. He's in a 1st grade book for this, printing letters and sentences.

Math - he's doing awesome! He's more than halfway through 1st grade in math, has no trouble adding numbers within 100, or carrying. We've just about gotten to "borrowing" in subtraction. He knows place value, calendars, shapes, etc. He can add multiple numbers together, and really, he knows how to do addition and subtraction within 1000 as long as we don't borrow or carry. He is also doing the word problems on his own now. We're working really hard on all currency, and making "change" and using money.

Language Arts - he's doing well here. He's in the 1st semester 1st grade book now. He's reading books like Dr. Seuss ones to Katie. He has read easy readers from the library. He's tried to convince us he can read the Magic Treehouse books, but I'm not so sure of that. I am guessing he'll be there by mid-next semester though. He's definitely 1st grade level in reading comprehension at least, and possibly early 2nd grade. It's hard to tell as he is the most like me in learning style. He refuses to "perform" unless he's positive he's 100% mastered it.

Spelling - we've recently started spelling, and so far he's doing really well. This I can tell has been helped (and is helping) his reading skills. With this program, he's having to write sentences and stories as well. So far, he's up to about 3 sentence paragraphs. We're working on the correct grammar and punctuations, but not making a big deal out of it yet. I'm just thrilled he's writing 3 sentences that go together about a subject.

In his extracurricular activities, he's going to Kindergarten class on Fridays. It's more "fun" than learning for him. He loves painting, and singing, and doing the fun things. He also goes to a Storyhour class. I'm supposed to be recording what books he reads daily, but I've slacked off on that. Bad MOMMY! He's also going to Karate and doing very well. He's a belt behind JM, and yellow-stripe. As he just turned 6, we're all still really proud of him. He's the youngest in his class by 2 years. His forms look great, his sparring needs some work, and he still can not do a sit up. Given the discipline we chose, he's going to be doing this for years and years to come, so we're not in a hurry to get him through all the belts. My only concern is that I want to only have to take the boys to ONE class time per day.

Homeschooling update - JM

It's been awhile. As we've been taking a long break, I thought I would remind myself of where the boys are academically, and how far they have to go!

JM is in 4th grade this year. It seems like we are not learning too many new concepts, but expanding upon concepts we have learned in the past. He is still excelling in science, so I'm not going to go too much into that. Suffice it to say he could hold his own with many high school students. He just needs some of the dissection, and some of the mathematical formulas for figuring some of the physics out. KWIM? Oh, and chemistry and chemical formulas are a little beyond him at the moment. But physical science? He's got that down.

We've had trouble keeping him in books. He's become a voracious reader, but only of things he finds interesting. It's been okay as I feel like he will read plenty. He loves the classics like Moby Dick, and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. He also has read all 7 of the Harry Potter books. He's started in on the Magic of Xanth series by Piers Anthony, and he's reading those Star Wars fiction books. This is, of course, when he's not reading science books or history books.

History, we've been doing our state history this year. I bought the Alpha Omega state history for him, but it's really geared toward High schoolers. He's doing okay with it, but we can tell he's gotten somewhat frustrated. So, next semester we're doing unit studies on American History. I figure books like Red Badge of Courage, Johnny Tremain, etc. will be good. We visited Washington DC last spring, so he has some of the context already. We'll just go a little further into it.

In Math, we're going back and relearning the "tables" for everything. He rebelled against us learning and memorizing them. So, we finally hit a point where he realizes he does need to know them and wants to memorize them. He's doing long division, stuff with fractions, and solving equations. We've had discussions that things in parentheses go first, that letters can mean "any number," and how these are like big puzzles.

With handwriting and such, he's still working on it. We aren't pushing it as per the OT suggestions. He does it, we just don't grade it anymore.

Then, our nemesis. Language Arts, the composition and grammar variety. Oh boy has this been fun this year! We are giving him "extra" work to do on learning grammar and how to write good sentences. We're trying to help him with ideas for writing. We're doing as much as we can. Some is sinking in. However, we doubt he'll ever be a best selling author. He wrote a recent essay, and we let him choose any topic. He chose to write the report on a World War 2 airplane. I was fairly impressed by it.

In extra curricular activities, he's writing a book that is a guide to Disney World. He'll be "publishing" it this spring in his Young Authors class. He's also creating a Mexican restaurant menu for his Spanish class (yes he has now had 3 years of elementary Spanish and is doing very well with it). He loves his art class, which I'm glad for. Other than that, we're still going strong in Karate. He's now a Gold belt, working on the gold stripe. His focus and determination in karate has greatly improved over the last year. For that I'm thankful.

Visiting our past

Well, our college past. Where Dh and I met, spent a lot of time together, and found many friends.



This is the view I remember most though. The dorm rooms. Dh actually stayed in these dorms for some of his college. Trust me when I say that they are not glorious living spaces. ;)


Our boys making friends with the child of one of our friends (felt I was good to post this one as his back is to the camera). Those arches? THAT is what I remember most about this building.


Then...yes, a landmark for us then. Only, it used to be filled with cigarette smoke. Smoking bans helped that. I was too broke to go very often during college, but I remember one or two times going (and not being able to stand inside long due to the smoke).


*sigh* College was so much fun!

2 posts...wow

Yes, I updated the header...finally. That I can do. It's the rest of the blog page and getting it pretty that I had issues with. It's 1am, and we start moving tomorrow...uh...tonight.

Oh well. It will work for now. Oh heck, who am I kidding. It's going to stay that way for a good long while I'm sure!

The last night.

Tonight is the last night we spend as our little family in this house...alone. I think back to when we were buying this home, and all the changes that had occurred in our lives during that time. Things going on that remain heavy on my mind, even to this day. Memories that aren't the greatest, and now comprise many of my own private nightmares. Memories that make even moving to a larger home a hugely scary step for me.

I'm thinking of these things, and thinking back to how much JOY we've found in this house. I'm a tiny bit sad to be leaving it. Not as sad as I was to be leaving our first home, but sad nonetheless.

We said good-bye to Samuel's babyhood in this home (he was 2 when we moved here).
We potty trained Samuel in this home.
We said goodbye to our cat in this home.
We did Katie's entire adoption from this home (application to 12 months home).
We did so much "changing" things in this home...all floors except for about 15 square feet have been changed out.
We learned how to lay tile in this house.
We did the majority of our first years homeschooling from this home.
We paid off a great majority of our debt in this home.
We built wonderful friendships from this home.
We learned to love simple things in this home (not much room for big things).
We grew closer together.
We laughed.
We cried.
We rejoiced.
We played together.

But mostly, I have loved the peace I felt financially while being in this home. It's a peace only appreciated when you've struggled so hard and have faced times where money was so incredibly tight. Then, to be in a place, where it's NOT tight anymore...to know that you truly are living beneath your means and are content with what you have. Knowing you have the ability to give to others. Only, you are cramped in the house. Bursting at the seams sometimes. Knowing, you COULD live there longer if you had to. But also knowing, truly, that it was time to have faith...and move to a larger house. Not one that is a HUGE leap, not that glamorous home you first fell in love with...but one...that feels like the right step forward.

I'm sad to be leaving this home. Like I was sad to be graduating high school. Leaving what was familiar. What was easy. What was comfortable, and taking that tenuous step out of my comfort zone, trusting that things would be good. Fearful that something bad was looming on the horizon.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a "worrier" by nature.

Financial peace. That's the part that really has me sad about leaving this house. We'll have it in the new house (living under our means again), but not quite the cushion we had in this house. It was a trade off of that for sanity in having 3 kids in a larger space. Trust me. Sanity is much better for me at the moment.

WOW! An award.

Thanks to Three Channels! I've earned on of my very first blog awards. Awww...*sniff* I feel all warm and fuzzy and loved.



As the rules were specified, I am just going to award it to a few friends!

Sharon
Cheri
Julie
Lindsey's mom
Tam

and to Erin, who is patiently waiting for approval to go to Vietnam to get her little one. Soon...very soon!

The new house...

Here are some of the locations of where I want to put some portraits.





Then here are some of the yard...yes, I will probably kill those plants.






The rest of the inside photos will have to wait. Except for this one. It's looking from the dining area back toward the front of the house with the kitchen and breakfast nook.

I ALMOST MISSED IT!

Ack! Today's post just about snuck by me, and I have so much I can write about. :)

I can choose from the new series I've been reading - Twilight saga. But, well, I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

I could choose to write about Birthday season here. But, as we have a strict "try not to share anything too personal" about people other than ME. Yeah, that won't fly either.

I could choose to talk about how busy the business is. But well, I think you've heard about that ad nauseam. FYI, it's not slowed down any at all.

I could choose to talk about how horribly I feel about homeschooling stuff. See, busy season for us means not as much time for devoting to "educating our young." Which, in all honesty is okay. We start June 1st, and school through the summer for this reason. I mean, we've already completed roughly 1 semester already.

But, instead, I can talk about how much I just enjoy packing. Did you catch that sarcasm? Packing. Moving. Inspecting. Repairing. Packing. It's never ending...well, it will end. This time next week I will be busy UNPACKING. If you could see my house you'd think we were months from moving. I've done THAT much. *giggle*

(sigh)

99 things I've done - Lizzy's List

Stealing a fellow blogger's list to see how much I have done of it. :)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity - don't really feel right marking this one, as I always feel like I can give more
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - well content, truly satisfied will come when I can help others in the world without thought to financial obligations
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing - didn't specify that it couldn't be one of the fake walls with safety harnesses at recreation places!
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar - it was YUCKY, one bite.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book - does the one I did in 3rd grade count?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

My world is different

I've got this friend, she's an Army wife and a fellow photographer. She's also living in a slightly different world than I am. We've chatted for hours, mainly at night when she lived in Hawaii. She lives in Germany now, and our chatting is much less now due to time zone and my sleeping patterns.

She made a post on her blog recently. She described her life. It's beautiful. It's different than my own, but in a way that brings tears to my eyes. It's the that true, deep down appreciation for the people in our lives who serve in the military. It's the that feeling of being in awe at that one little glimpse into her world.

Go and read her post This is our world

Go on, I'll wait.








What she has not said here are all the little things WE non-military folk take for granted. Things, that well, I never even thought about before. Like, not getting a say so in where you move. Not getting much choice in where you live in some places. Not having options about careers, you can not build a good career when you only live in a place for a few years. You have to deal with your kids making friends, then telling them good-bye. You have to deal with making friends and leaving them. You have to learn how to deal with all aspects of family when your spouse deploys, then you have to learn how to "re-integrate" when they come home. So many little things. Yet, all of it combined makes me want to fully honor our military servicemen and women AND their spouses and children.

I'm glad I have had the chance to be her friend, and to learn from her.

Enginerds in the making

If it weren't bad enough we've corrupted our kids with Monte Python at an early age, drug them over to the dark side of being Trekkies, totally immersed them in Sci-Fi shows like Stargate, and punish them by NOT taking them to Chess club. We had to drag them to see Dh's adviser for his master's degree (aka, mentor and adviser for that thesis).


We ran into him and 4 of his current students. Dr. A was doing the advising thing, and my kids? Oh it was quite interesting to see their reactions. The 4 students were working on their robot project. When it's completed I think Dh is going to take them to see it working completely. I know it's something they'll enjoy too.

Samuel was as close as Dh would let him get. He would move along with the robot, he excitedly ran up to the computer monitors to exclaim over what the robot was seeing, he yelled instructions to the operator (watch out! it's going to run into the wall), and he was entranced. Like, 100% enamored of this robot.


JM, he stood a bit further back, studying intently. He paid close attention to the details and remarked that when the controller told it to turn to the left it listed a little. Or something like that. He was, however, 100% enamored of the circuit board with the timer on it. He was intently gazing at it and following the circuits of it. He asked questions regarding it's use, why they had it out, did it go into the robot, was it really a timer? Here he is watching...he's out of focus because I was taking a photo of Dh and Dr. A.


Katie, well, Katie wasn't too sure about this robot thing that MOVED. This, I've been told, is not the final robot they will use. This is a testing platform to test a specific set of components (or at least that was what I got out of it). I followed it about as well as I follow Dh when he tries to explain what he does.

Right after this photo, the robot moved toward her (she was between it and the door, and the student didn't realize she was a wee bit unsure about it and made it go toward the door to test it out of his sight). As soon as it started moving toward her, she backed up. Then it advanced again, and she turned and ran toward me. I picked her up and she was crying a little (no tears kind of crying), and then she dove into Dh's arms. Where she proceeded to LAUGH.


BTW, just in case you were wondering, Dr. A didn't get that glazed look to his eyes that 95% of people get when Dh starts telling someone what he does and gives just a little too much technical jargon with it. Dr. A is a really smart man. One Dh needs to EMAIL! :) See, Dr. A, I'm trying.

The way we figure it, we have 2 Enginerds in the making and one girl who might not be into robots too much.

Giving the boys some bloggy love..

I really do need to post more photos of the boys and brag about them more, but well, they hardly EVER let me take photos of them anymore. I don't really understand why either.



We were recently at our old college visiting with friends, and looking at the buildings we practically lived in. You know, impressing upon the kids that college is fun but also for studying REALLY hard. It was BEAUTIFUL there with the fall leaves, and sadly my kids had no real idea of how to play in leaves. See, we've only lived in homes with little tiny sticks for trees (young, newly planted ones). We've just not had good "leaves" in our yard to rake and jump in. JM wasn't too sure, and we think he thought himself a little too mature for such childish antics as throwing leaves around. Samuel, on the other hand, really had fun.




*darn it...one of Katie snuck in there...she had to warm up to the idea, but since Samuel was having fun and not one to ever be left out of fun that Samuel is having, she dove right in with gleeful laughter. Sibling peer pressure is a wonderful thing...sometimes.*

Katie fell in love with Tea Parties

We went to visit her friend "Lu-she" this week, and "Lu-she" has a tea set in her room. The girls, who are only about 7.5 months apart in age, both sat down at the table and pretended to pour tea, drink tea, and stir the tea. All without words.



Katie loved it. She loved it so much she went back in there after we had done something else to play tea party AGAIN, but with "Lu-she's bay-bee dah" to which "Lu-she" did not respond so well.


and here's one JUST so you can see her outfit. :) I think it's a little funny how her hand on the standard height railing is above her head.


We're hoping this means that the Dora Star Mountain Ball pit toy thing can go WAAAY down on Katie's Christmas wish list. BTW, if you happen to see a child's play table and chair that looks similar to the one in these photos...please please please let me know. :)

5 months without cable

At the beginning of the year, I told Dh that I thought it was silly we were paying $55 a month for the satellite tv when we hardly watched anything. He agreed, but felt like the kids watched enough, and we weren't sure how much we truly would miss it or not.

In May he told me that I was going to have to be the one to pull the plug on our TV satellite. I did in early June. It was gone that night, which was a tiny bit abrupt for me. LOL Well, we had enough shows on the DVR for another 3 weeks. Then, life was busy traveling. So it wasn't until July that we really noticed that we didn't have it anymore. Since then, we've missed it only a few times. Homerun Derby, Monday Night football, one evening when I would have watched HGTV (watched a movie instead), Presidential election coverage, and that's really it. It's been 5 months. We hardly miss it. Sure it would be nice for the kids to be able to watch shows, but they pull out movies now. The boys play more with toys. They also played more with game systems. Me? I've read more books, and we've watched more DVD series of shows, and a few things we found online.

Adopted is NOT an adjective!

Just wanted to clarify that. Adopted is a verb. It's a PAST tense verb as well. Meaning that it happened in the past and is not happening.

Katie is NOT my adopted daughter. She is my daughter who was adopted. It is something that happened in our past. It is not going on any longer (well, okay, we need to do the re-adoption to get a birth certificate from our state). When you (general you) are introducing, please do not say, "This is Katie their adopted daughter." Or "This is their adopted daughter Katie." Who really cares if she is adopted or not...she is our daughter. Plain and simple.

When asking a question of a group of people, please don't say, "Those of you with adopted kids." Instead, can you please say, "Those of you with kids who were adopted." Or "Those of you who adopted your kids." It's a small thing, and it may seem petty to you. But it's part of the thousand cuts that build up and can really hurt someone.

So, ADOPT is a verb. ADOPTION is a noun. There is not an adjective for adoption, unless of course you want to use BEAUTIFUL. That one, yes, I think that is the best adjective for adoption and our children.

Laughing at myself.

Okay, so I joined this NoBloPoMo and I've been happily posting. I even started labeling all those posts for NoBloPoMo with a NoBloPoMo label...you know, so someone could easily find them if they so desired.

Yes, I probably should have had blond roots.

NoBloPoMo stands for NOVEMBER Blog Posting Month. Um, that NOVEMBER part. Yeah. Someone could click on the archives for NOVEMBER 2008 and find all the posts. No need for that NoBloPoMo label. No indeed.

*blush*

Wish I could claim something profound that allowed that little tidbit to come through, but alas I can not. I do this sort of thing all the time.

The question is, do I go back and remove the evidence or leave it for others to find?

Family Portraits

One of my friends, and an amazing photographer at that, Beth Valentine took our family portraits yesterday. Even more amazing, she had a sneak peek up on her blog last night!

Can I say that she totally rocks. Truly rocks. Not only did she have to deal with my indecisiveness on clothing choices, but she had to pick the location as well. It's a LOT of pressure to be told, "I trust you. I know I'll love them." Trust me on that. Those words make ME sweat bullets when someone says that to me. So, for her, I know it had to be hard. I like the all posed pretty and smiling at the camera kind of shots, I really do. But the visions I had in my head were so different, and more about the relationship of our family.



She did it. She totally put MY visions that I could hardly explain and took them. Most of the session could not be 100% planned because it's not a posed kind of session. She did her "directing" of us, she dealt with our kids being wild after 2 days in the car, going to grown up functions, and such. Katie was not in the best of moods either. Dh and I were "sweating" how it was going to go.


This image, well, it's one I adore. It shows Miss Katie in all her glorious personality. She had us laughing so hard.


I can not wait to see more, and hopefully I can share more later.

BUSY day!

We went to our college to say "have a great retirement" to the director of the Baptist Student ministries this weekend, see some old college friends, and then when that was all done we went to get family portraits made in Nashville!

Phew!

I'm tired. I'm worn out. I have nothing profound to say.

Tomorrow I should have some photos to share!

Reflections on what I learned from our China trip

Prior to even thinking about adoption, I had thought I was beyond all racial reactions in me. I thought that I was "color blind" and only judged people on their character. While that IS true (and after reading some great blogs, I'm learning that being "color blind" isn't quite right either as that denies a lot of WHO a person is). What I had not heard of, nor learned about, nor even seemed to care about is White Privilege. Huh? What in the HECK is that I wondered the first time I ever heard the term. After reading a few more blogs, I slowly began to understand it in my mind.

It's the knowledge that I will fit in when I go somewhere. It's the knowledge that I will be treated fairly in regards to race when I go shopping, or out to eat, or to the movies. It's really so very many things that I take for granted. It's the knowledge that when people SEE me, they know my cultural background and it's considered the "standard" one, the "ideal" one. It's the knowledge that ads are geared to appeal to me. It's the knowledge that television shows are geared to appeal to me. It's the fact that I can take my kids into a store and find toys that fit THEIR ideas of themselves, well okay not Katie and her baby dolls.

See, I understood it intellectually before we adopted. I didn't understand what it meant emotionally. I had not really seen minorities treated badly in front of my own eyes in a long time, or perhaps I was just blind to it? I thought we had mostly moved past this stage.

Then...well, the trip to China happened. Specifically, the LAX airport happened. I was happy and secure in myself all the way through Denver. But it was going to the international terminal at LAX, and going through security. Seeing the TSA belittle the people around us from other countries. Seeing the exasperation and rudeness they displayed with people who didn't speak English and were not white. Then, I experienced stellar treatment when we went through. Why? Is it that we are American and spoke English? Is it that we had our paperwork ready like they had asked? Or was it something related to race? I don't know, but the TSA person was not white.

But I will never EVER forget how it felt to walk up to that China Air (or was it Air China) area and realize that we were the ONLY white people around. That we could not understand what anyone was saying. Where, for the first time, we were ignored when standing at the desk to ask a question. Where, when I smiled in greeting to people, I didn't get the same response back that I do at home. I got curious looks. I got stared at. I was watched. It made me uncomfortable. My heart starting breaking when I realized that THIS is how many people in our country live on a day to day basis. I started looking at the ground so I didn't have to see them staring at me. It hit me then that perhaps so many minorities around me look at the ground for the same reason. It made me want to cry for what Katie would experience growing up in our family and in our country. It opened my eyes to how far we really had to go. I wondered then how I would feel for the next 12 days while in China.

It was shocking to me to NOT hear English first in instructions while in America. I had sort of expected it in China, but not really given it much thought. I had not thought just how isolated I was going to feel in China not being able to speak the language, how out of place I would feel because no matter where I was I would stand out due to my skin color. It made me truly feel uncomfortable about how comfortable I have it here in America. It made me wonder how Katie was going to feel growing up in our home, in our lives, and I wondered...was I doing the right thing?

I felt very guilty for any of the bad thoughts I had previously had, especially in Disney where instructions are given in multiple languages. It's NOT easy to sit and wait to hear your language so you can understand what is being said. It's really not easy to sit through the quiet while the first set is being played, then everyone around you starts talking and you can't quite hear and understand the YOUR language instructions. It was very frustrating. It was very eye-opening.

Since our trip, where I learned exactly how hard it was to not fully understand people who were talking to you, and how difficult it was to order a meal when you couldn't speak with the person, I have looked around me with new eyes. I have tried to respond in ways that I do not hinder someone who might be in the situation of having to cope with not speaking the language. I have read numerous blogs on race issues. I have vowed to give as much support as I can to Katie's feelings about how she looks. We will also talk to her about how when she goes out without us around, people are going to assume she has a different cultural background than what she will have. We'll have to prepare her for people thinking she doesn't speak English when they first see her. We'll have to prepare her for dealing with racism in all forms, something I don't feel totally prepared for as I have never really experienced it. I hope that I can.

By the way, ordering a meal in China with picture menus was one interesting experience. It wasn't hard, but there was no way to order special. Not to mention trying to figure out the money. Basic life skills that I take for granted here. It is NOT easy, and patience and kindness go a VERY long way.

Halloween - FINALLY!

My 3 kids all ready for Halloween.

The Knight who says "Ni!"
Minnie Mouse with a sword, who ended up being Minnie Mouse who says "Ni!"
The Black Knight, with all his arms and legs...and only sometimes another knight who says "Ni!"

Unfortunately I couldn't find a bunny rabbit costume for Katie so she wasn't able to be the Vorpal Bunny.

If you have no idea who those characters are, then...well...you can go search for them. Monte Phython's The Holy Grail. Yes, we have indeed made geeks of our children.

History.

Yes, History was made last night. We elected a minority to be president, and I am very glad I was alive to see it. I'm glad my children will grow up in a country where racial issues are hopefully declining.

Did I vote for him? If you know me, you know the answer. :) We'll leave it at that. I don't want my political views to be front and center on this blog, mainly because who is president does not really change my day to day life. At least not right now. The sun still rises, I still have to feed my kids, homeschool my kids, and clean the house. What does concern me a little more are the Senate and Congressional races. Legislation is made in Congress, especially legislation that pertains to economics. If the Senate and Congress have more than 2/3 majority, then they can pretty much push through any legislation they would like. To me, that is way too much power for one party to have (and I would believe that if the Republicans had the super-majority). There are too many viewpoints and opinions about certain topics for sweeping legislation to just be able to be passed without a thorough look.

What I find appalling, however, is all the talk on Facebook and on blogs from people from both sides. I felt this way after the last 3 presidential elections as well. The gloating from the winning side, the whining and complaining from the losing side. Yes, I remember it from Clinton's 2nd term and I remember it from both of Bush's terms. I see it, and my opinions of people are changed because I feel like their true characters are showing. I don't mind the "I'm happy." or "I'm disappointed." It's the "OH MY GOSH I can't believe this is REAL and America's voice has finally been heard!!!" Or the "I'm so scared about what this means and we're going to just fall apart as a nation now." The "oh it was so unfair!" and stomping of feet (yes, this election and the 3 prior ones...Florida anyone? Bush/Kerry election where people were bemoaning "Shrub's" victory).

Look at the percentages of voters. Look at them. 46% voted for McCain, that's 46% of AMERICANS who feel like their viewpoints are not being represented now. It's not all of America who voted for Obama. I said this exact same thing, except for the percentage and name of Kerry last election. Put yourself in the other's shoes. If your side won...and you didn't vote for Bush, you remember how it felt. If your side lost this time, and you voted for Bush last time (or two), you know how THAT felt. Celebrating or complain quietly...and be respectful of how others are feeling.

Will our lives change, in a fundamental way? Not immediately. Yes, there are changes, but it's going to take Congress, Senate, and the President working together to bring that change. If they make sweeping changes that are 100% on the left side, the liberal side, then those changes are not reflecting what 46% of this country wants. Is that truly fair? Could 46% of the country be totally wrong, or could they have some right things to think about? Think about that.

I don't think politics are all black and white. I believe, truly, that in order for our country to change we are ALL going to need to work together to find solutions that we can all believe in. Both sides are going to have to compromise, and I'm sorry, but I don't see that happening easily at all.

tomorrow...tomorrow I promise to show off my Halloween cuties. Then on to rather boring day to day posts about how my life is going. 2.5 weeks until we move and I've only packed 5 boxes.

I can now complain.

Yes, internets, I'm allowed to complain now. I voted, so I have the right to complain about the people elected. That's my philosophy! If you don't vote, then you don't have the right to complain because you didn't make your voice heard.

We waited 1.5 hours on a crisp fall morning, with sunshine and good natured people all around. I was a wee bit concerned about the people and voting, and how crazy some could be. But everyone was happy, smiling, and chatting...with everyone around them. They smiled at Katie, the kids who were there played together, and I felt a sense of community with these strangers.

I wonder though how it would be if we had to divide into lines for presidential candidates instead of "A-L" and "M-Z" lines. I truly wish the division between the parties wasn't so horrid, and it seems to only get worse and worse. I wish I knew why, and I wish we could fix it. Our country is so incredible, so diverse. I love that we don't all think alike, or want the exact same things. How boring would it be if we all thought the same?

Of course, I wish more people thought like I did, and I hope the people I voted for today all win. But if they don't, I'll move on. I'll still respect those who were voted (at least the office they were voted into). I'll still be friends with those who voted differently than I did. I'll let my kids play with their kids.

I only wish I had had my t-shirt on that says "I'm Blogging This." But as I wasn't the only one taking photos (I just took photos of the kids, not the line), I didn't feel strange pulling out my camera.

The stroller? It was less than useful for corralling Katie.


The boys did GREAT standing in line, only complained every 5 minutes or so. No, really, they were fairly calm (it helped that gameboys came with us).



Did I mention the stroller wasn't very useful for corralling Katie?


The stroller was useful for something:


In honor of ELECTION DAY, and Katie's first time voting, she wore Red, White, and Blue. :) But alas her coat/jacket was pink. At least you can see the hair bow.


The best part though? Katie woke up with a nasty cold.

*sigh*

Week 3 of contaminated household.

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Yes, this will be a photo intensive post. :) Our carving night, in photo essay.

Answers to some possible things - we use the kit and templates for carving. Yes, it's somewhat tedious. No, it's actually VERY easy. The tools make a HUGE difference.

Yes, Katie dug right in. The boys...not so much. The boys took some convincing to stick their hands in pumpkin guts.












I really wonder what Katie's thinking here...








Not a moment's hesitation on Katie's part.



















Katie's pumpkin was the cat, Samuel's was the Pirates logo, and JM's was the Black Pearl.

If you think these are cool, you should have seen the one we did when Dh and I were engaged! It threw bats up on the wall behind the pumpkin and had a moon with a witch in it on the front. It was a very cool pumpkin, but my photo skills could NOT do it justice (I've learned quite a bit since then). :)