Scheduled Our Classes

In the state of Maryland, you have to take 27 training hours to become foster parents. Our county's next class doesn't start until September, but Cecil County is starting a class in 2 weeks. The September class here should be licensed by January and we don't want to wait that long. I still have to confirm with the coordinator there, but our coordinator here put our name on the list. We start May 12th. We'll be missing one class while we are in St. Lucia that will have to be made up in September, but that's okay. We can't complete our home study or be licensed until we complete the hours, which means we will hopefully be licensed by the end of September or beginning of October. I talked to our new baby sitter (yea, still love her) today and her mom is going to let her baby sit for us the hours that we need; so we are all set!

I'm actually getting very excited about this. I know it's not a sure thing, but I feel very hopeful about having another little boy. I guess I feel kind of like I did when we decided to pursue the girls' adoption. When we first started, I was excited, but very apprehensive about it, but within a few weeks, I was so sure it was what we were supposed to be doing. This feels the same way.

We talked with the kids tonight and explained as best we could on their levels about being a foster family. We have decided not to mention adoption to them until we get to that point. At dinner, Jaelyn counted us and said "There are 3 girls and 2 boys. When we got our little boy, there'll be 3 girls and 3 boys. Six!" Sounds like someone else likes the idea too.

A is for Awesome, B is for Babysitter, S is for Success

I picked up A at about 6:15 last night after having hyped the kids all day long about their new friend. They were so excited to meet her and jumped right at her. As a matter of fact, as Dan and I were readying to leave, Caden wouldn't leave A's side to give me a hug or kiss good bye. I had to go to him...the little stinker. I had given A the cliffnote's version of everyone's personalities and quirks so I was pretty confidant A would be okay. I actually didn't worry about the kids a single time while we were gone. We returned home at 9:15 to a quiet house. Amazing! A was on the couch reading a book and the kids were fast asleep in bed. I think I'm in love! She said that Caden was so sweet to her. Allie was good and didn't get into any trouble. Jaelyn was being silly when we left and A described her as a silly monkey. I didn't ask her to elaborate. I don't want to know. :p All the kids woke up asking for A this morning. We've asked A to come back and babysit for us while we take the 27 hours of foster care training that's required.

Why oh why wasn't I brave enough to find a babysitter sooner???

Exciting Announcement

For a very long time, I've felt like we were meant to have a fourth child. Three is just such an odd number. I think I'm more of an even kind of girl :). I know I haven't shared much about our infertility journey and I'm not planning on sharing now. I'll just say that a biological child is not in the picture for us. I don't even really desire a pregnancy or a newborn or a genetic connection to a child. I just want to find that fourth little person who's missing from our family. A few weeks ago, I asked Dan if he would consider adopting again. I didn't think he would as he's seemed pretty happy with our little family, but he said he'd be open to it. I've felt drawn to foster care and foster to adopt for a little while now so I started researching that. Dan and I attended an informational meeting last night through the county. We both left feeling positive and a tad bit excited about taking this huge leap of faith. Soooo....we are going to become licensed foster parents in the hope of finding a healthy, little boy under the age of two to adopt (how's that for a specific prayer you can pray for us?!). I have no idea what God has in store for us. Only He knows that and we might be opening ourselves and our children up to loss and pain because there are no guarantees in fostering, but I think we will also find great joy in being able to give a child a safe, happy home for as long as he is with us. And if it's God's will, we'll find that fourth little person I've been dreaming about for so long.

I ask that you'll join us in praying for the process of getting licensed (which looks like a piece of cake compared to our 4 inch thick Russian Dossier) and then praying for a placement. Please also pray for us as we prepare the kids for the exciting journey ahead! Thank You!

Jaelyn's Stories

Jaelyn has started writing stories in class and for homework. Here are two of the stories she wrote yesterday. She is learning about space.

In class:

We are in space. The moon is in space. The sun is in space. Pluto is in space. The Earth is in space. The comets are in space. Neptune is in space. Jupiter is in space. Mars is in space. The miky way is in space. We live on Earth.

For Homework after I talked with her about story structure and helped her brainstorm ideas:

I went to Pluto. I falnd (found) a alein. My alein is ornge. He has 9 srkcl eres (circle ears). We were frinds. I falnd (found) a dog and a cat. My cat falnd (found) a rok. My dog falnd (found) a botl. I like Pluto. The end.

Jerusalum Mills

We took a picnic to Jerusalum Mills this morning. It was the third time we've done this trail and I am happy to report that the kids have gotten stronger since last year. I didn't hear any whining that it was too far or crying to get carried. After our walk, we stopped to throw rocks in the creek before having our lunch. It was a fun morning. It's so nice to get outside again. I've missed warm weather.

Oops Eeps

I have truly meant to take a copy of our key to our friends that live in the next neighborhood. It's just one of those things I've kept putting off. Not anymore...they now have a key - 1 hour too late.

Yesterday was a beautiful day so when Jaelyn got home at 1 (early release day), we all stayed in the front yard. Caden and I had gone on the great hula hoop hunt earlier in the day so I was prepared for our afternoon with hula hoops, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and bikes. We played with neighbors for a little while and Caden got comfortable on his new bike ($1 at a garage sale - a deal). I decided to let the kids ride around the block; so I went in to lock up the house. I had a cell phone in one pocket and keys in the other. At the last second, I decided I didn't need the cell so I reach into my pocket, threw something out and closed the door. The second after I closed the door, my brain dinged and I realized I had thrown my keys on the floor instead of the cell. Oops eeps. Thankfully my cell phone was in my pocket because I have no numbers in my head anymore. I called Dan at work and even though he was tremendously busy, he came home and unlocked the door for us. Thank you, Dan! After we got into the house and Caden went to the bathroom (he was jumping around like crazy trying to hold it until Daddy got home), I found a spare key and we drove straight to our friend's house. I feel safer now, but oh, how I miss our garage with the keypad to raise the door!

Our First Babysitter

Next Monday night is going to be monumental in our house. Dan and I have a class to go to so we need a babysitter. In the past, we've only ever left the kids with grandparents or a handful of adult friends. We've never used a teenager. My friend, Kelley, gave me the number of her babysitter. I've met A's mom at MOPS so that's helping, but I'm still apprehensive. I was baby sitting at 13, but now that I'm a parent, I'm convinced I wasn't old enough to be left in charge of young children (especially those 2 monsters - remember them Mom, across the street?). A is 15 and Kelley says she's wonderful so I really shouldn't be worrying, it's just the over-protective mommy in me. Please pray. I'll let you know how it goes.

If it goes well, I see date nights in our future :p!

Progress on Jae's Scarf

It's finally long enough to take a picture. I'm probably 3/4 of the way through. The scarf is filled with mistakes if you look closely, but Jaelyn keeps telling me it's okay if I make a mistake. I should finish it tonight, almost. I still don't know how to cast off (take it off the needles) but I'll learn that tomorrow night. What do you think?

An Amelia Bedelia Moment

Jaelyn told us about her day at dinner tonight. She said she made a flag and carried it in a parade. That sounded like fun. I asked her "Who did you parade in front of" Her answer..."Wesley." He was behind her in line. She was in front of him. The logic of a five year old! I rephrased the question to "Who watched your parade?" and found out her class paraded in front of a 1st grade class. I still have no idea why they were parading carrying white flags, but that's a question for another day.

ETA - The parade was for Earth Day. I found her white flag in her backpack. She wrote "Yoos Les Wodr" on it (Use Less Water for those that can't translate). Cute.

Our Bedtime Books

Bedtimes have always been the most challenging part of the day to me. I've tried just about everything strategy I could think of and anything anyone suggested to me. In the fall, we started reading chapter books. Dan or I sit in the hall so the kids can see us and read by the bathroom light. I've enjoyed rediscovering my childhood favorites and adding some new favorites to my list. So far, here are the books we've read that we can remember:

Ralph and the Motorcycle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny the Champion of the World, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, The Whipping Boy, Trumpet of the Swan, Mr. Popper's Penguins, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Rabbit Hill, several in the Magic Tree House Series, The Boxcar Children, Pippi Longstocking, several Junie B. Jones, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Freckle Juice, The Borrowers, Indian in the Cupboard

So, do you have any childhood favorites that aren't on our list? Please share them so I can add them to the "need to read" list.

Proving Me Right...3 is a Big Year

Admittedly, our church attendance has been less than stellar. We found a church we really liked not too long after we moved, but Caden has major seperation anxiety. It was becoming a huge stressor to me (and him) so we stopped going for a while. Now that Caden has done so well at the child care at the gym and is happy to be left at his friend Lyssie's to play, we decided it was time to try again. On the way to church this morning, I repeatedly talked with Caden about going into his class and how he was going to get to play with his friends. I reassured him I would be back to get him just like I do at the gym. We dropped the girls off at their classes first and then took Caden. Normally, he would have been in full hysterics mode or at least be developing a pouty, quivering lip as we walked up to his door. Not today, he hugged me bye and I told him again I'd be back. Then he went into the room and never looked back. During church, I kept a vigilant eye on the kids number board, but Caden's number never popped up. He was all smiles and happy to see me when we went back to get him and he was excited to tell me what he had done. Caden says he wants to go back to church again next week....a big year indeed!

Knitting

I am learning to knit. Dan's Aunt Rena made the kids hats for Christmas and I thought it would be neat to be able to make more for them. The girls aren't really into hats at the moment, but Caden has worn his hat constantly. He was wearing it in the car the other day as a "motorcycle helmet." Anyway, after Christmas, a friend asked if I'd be interested in taking a class with her. I jumped at the opportunity. I missed the first class because Dan was out of town, but Angie gave me a lesson this week so I was ready for Thursday night's class. I'm really enjoying it. So far, I've learned how to cast on and do a knit and a purl stitch. Next week, we learn how to increase and decrease stitches and how to cast off. The kids have ordered scarves and I've started with Jaelyn. It's only about 6 inches long so far. She keeps holding it up to her neck and telling me it needs to be longer. You think? I'm using regular purple yarn and funky, purple yarn that has little purple hairs coming out of it. I've come up with my own little pattern and I'm really happy with it so far. I also checked out knitting for kids books from the library. I figured if a 10 year old can follow the patterns, then I should be able to as well. My first project from the books I want to make is a stuffed lamb. Allie's also picked out a stuffed doll for me to make her. I'll post pictures when I finish Jaelyn's scarf.

Ladew Gardens

We see a sign for Ladew Garderns on the interstate, but we've never stopped to investigate. A friend mentioned that they had free admittance this weekend so we went today. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out. It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed the gardens. It's a little pricey to get in so I'm not sure if it would have been worth paying full price, but it was definitely worth the drive for the free day. The biggest excitement wasn't from the plants, but from the critters. We saw huge koi in the Japanese Garden, frogs in one of the water features, nesting geese on a lake, and a snake on the nature walk.

Thank for telling us about it and meeting us Kelley! We had a super fun time!

Chasing Frogs

Pretty Days

Spring has finally sprung and I think summer might be on the way. We've had a few days of temperatures in the high 80s. My air conditioner is running at the moment. It's crazy. My heater was still running on Monday. We have taken advantage of the weather and spent lots of time playing in the backyard. The kids absolutely love their swing set. I know I wrote about only having 2 swings and it has become an issue...oops. Our 2 sand boxes are also big hits. I don't know if I mentioned Dan way over bought play sand so I filled up the sandbox under the swingset and our turtle sandbox. The kids have made coffee, baked cakes and pies and hunted for buried treasure and dinosaur bones.

Yellow Light...Slow Down

Jaelyn has a stop light discipline system at school. We've just come to accept the fact that Jaelyn is social and being the youngest, not quiet as mature as the rest of her classmates. She's prone to calling out and not focusing on what she's supposed to be doing. She normally gets at least 1 yellow light a week. She has consequences which I enforce, but the yellow lights keep coming. I've been really proud of her lately, however, because she was working on her 3rd straight week of green lights! And then Thursday happened. Anyone want to guess what she got the yellow light for??? I'm so not ready for this...KISSING BOYS! 2 to be exact! It's taken a few days to get the story out and I still don't have the whole thing. I know she kissed a boy named Jae-Hoon on the head in the lunch line when he bent over to tie her shoe for her. I knew we should have gone with velcro! We've had lots of issues with Jae-Hoon. He and Jaelyn really like each other and tend to gravitate towards each other. She's even giggled to me that he's her boyfriend. Um, excuse me, kindergarteners don't have boyfriends. I don't think she believes me. The other little boy she kissed is named Liam and that's a name I hear a lot when Jaelyn gets in trouble for calling out and being silly. She says she kissed him on the lips. Oh dear! I am sooo not ready for those teenage years that'll be here before we know it!

Reaching New Heights

We love to eat and play at Chick-Fil-A. The girls have always gone up into the play area, but Caden has never ventured up. He'll something climb up a couple of platforms, but he always comes back down...until last week that is. On Wednesday, Allie had early preschool so Caden and I met our friends Kelley and Lyssie at Chick-fil-A for lunch. We ate lunch (Caden ate all of his chicken and fruit with just a little prompting, yea!) and then sent the kids to the play area to play. Kelley and I had a table right outside the door. Normally Caden would cry for me to come in too, but he was fine going in without me. The play area was pretty empty and I was shocked to see Caden climbing up the platforms towards the tubes overhead. He didn't stop or turn around (except to look for Lyssie who decided half way up to not follow him - that time anyway). Before I knew it, he was playing up in the tubes and coming down the slides. 3 is truly going to be a big, independent year for Caden!

Caden's Preschool Orientation

Today was Caden's sort of first day of school. He and I went together for an hour this morning (while Allie stayed with Miss Angie and managed to stay out of trouble). Caden cried when we dropped off Allie and told me he didn't want me to leave him, but just a few minutes later was excited again about meeting his teachers and new friends and told me I didn't have to stay. They didn't do anything today - just let the kids play and handed out paperwork for the moms. We know 4 of the kids in his class already. And can you believe the only repeated name in the class is Caden so he will be officially Caden W. We've only ever met 2 other Cadens (and both spelled differently.) I think he's going to do really well next year and I'm praying we won't have the seperation anxiety rear it's ugly head again.

Finally a Beautiful Day

It's April. We are still having weather in the 30s and 40s and I don't like it. I am such a Florida girl. Today, finally, we have clear, blue skies, a beautiful, bright sun and a temperature of 71 degrees. We were busy this morning, but have spent a few hours outside this afternoon. I dressed Allie and Caden in shorts and T-Shirts. How nice is that? I should have waited for Dan, but instead I man handled five 50 lb bags of play sand off of our deck and filled the kids sandbox up. It was great fun until Caden fell and skinned his knee. Poor guy! Allie loves the swing set, and I especially love it now that she can pump and swing herself. I think Dan might have started a trend with our playset. One of our neighbors behind us is busily building this same one this afternoon!

All of my plants are starting to come back. The hostas are poking their little heads out of the ground. The hydrangea has buds all over it. Our tree in the back is covered in blooms (we were worried because last year, the top died and it had to come back from the bottom). My irises are up. I've spied day lilies and black eyed susans and my clematis is creeping slowly up the fence again. I can't wait to get our vegetables in the ground and see how they do.

All is well in my world today now that I have warm weather, green plants and sunshine!!!

Strolling Down Memory Lane (AKA Staff Circle)

Dan's at Ft. Gillem this week taking a class. We spent 2 1/2 years living on base there - it's the longest we've lived anywhere. He drove by our old house. We were in the midst of our struggle with infertility when we were there and I didn't work. I put ALL of my energy and angst into the yard. Dan drove by to take pictures of all of my pretty flowers and beds I put in that are still there. He said the altheas we dug up out of the woods (he got poison ivy for his efforts) and starting from clippings from my Mom's yard in Florida are a beautiful hedge row now. My tiger lilies have been divided and put into several of the beds and my lorapetalum are gorgeous. I've never lived anywhere long enough to see my yard come to fruition if that makes sense. It makes me feel good to know people have been taking care of it! Maybe we'll get to stay in Maryland long enough to enjoy the fruits of my labor here.

Allie's Artwork

Allie was very creative with her drawing today. I think it's a bat...


































...ON MY COUCH!!!

It's my fault. I left the sharpie in the basement and forgot about it, but Allie knows better! She lost her barbies and Pollys for a week (that's what she was supposed to be playing with) and she'll be my shadow until Friday when Dan gets home from his trip (that's as long as I think I can stand it). Whatever room I'm in, she'll be in or face severe consequences. There might have also been a spanking involved like one I have never given before!!!!

Thankfully, I discovered it within minutes of her doing it - that lovely sharpie smell. I've read enough stories from friends to know to run for the hair spray. That with goo-gone I bought later got it almost out. If you look closely at the picture, you can still see parts of the face. At least this is our basement couch which was literally the cheapest in the cheap furniture store I could find. We only intend to use it in this house and get rid of it when we move.

Our House

We finished Jaelyn's school project this weekend and turned it in yesterday. I think it turned out really well and we had fun making it. We taped boxes together with duct tape, used paper mache to smooth out the edges and grade the yard, mixed our own colors and painted the house, made a deck out of popscicle sticks and glued fake greenery for our bushes and flowers. Now, my question is can I keep it for next year and just change the name on the front???

March's Photo Album

Fish Tacos and Bean Soup

We have a great eater (Allie), an okay eater (Jaelyn) and a picky, I don't eat vegetables eater (Caden.) I will admit I cater to them a little too much with meals. I don't necessarily fix completely different meals, but I will modify what I'm making for Dan and I so they'll eat it. There are some foods I just expect kids to eat...kid foods like tacos and spaghetti. In the past, with tacos, I would make the kids cheese quesodillas, but one night last week I decided to make them eat tacos. I knew they wouldn't like the spicy beef so I cooked fish sticks and made them fish tacos. Allie loved them and had me pile on all kinds of toppings. Caden ate his fish tacos plain, but ate them like tacos (which was my goal). Jaelyn had a total fit that her cheese was touching her fish sticks (even though she topped the taco). She took one bite and then pulled hers apart and ate the fish sticks seperately. 2 out of 3 wasn't bad. I'm considering my fish tacos a success!

I made a chicken, bean soup one night for dinner. Allie eats beans that I pull out of other soups and chilis so I gave her a bowl of soup and told her to pick out the beans herself. She wasn't sure about it at first, but once she got brave and tried it, she loved the soup and ate 3 small bowls! She even asked for soup the next day for lunch. Jaelyn and Caden ate peanut butter. I'm excited that one of my "I don't eat wet things" kids has decided to eat "wet" soup!

New Shoes

We drove to Lancaster this weekend to buy shoes at the outlets. It's a beautiful drive through Amish farmland. There was a festival or market of some sort so we got to see lots of horse and buggies going to and from on the roads. The kids enjoyed seeing the cows, horses, sheep and goats. Jaelyn still desperately wants to ride a horse and she begged and begged every time we saw one. Maybe one day...



I've felt guilty because the kids are still wearing the shoes they got in September...7 months. None of them seemed really tight though. We apparently have mostly (except Allie) slow growing feet at our house. Caden went from a 7 1/2 to an 8, Jaelyn went from a 10 1/2 to an 11 and Allie, with the biggest jump, went from a 9 to a 10 1/2. No wonder she's been complaining about her feet hurting. Bad mommy!



Allie and Caden got velcro tennis shoes, but we let Jaelyn pick out a cute pair of lace up "sneakers" as she's learned to say while living in the North. I spent about 30 minutes working with her learning to tie Daddy's shoes (longer laces). She's not an expert by any means and still needs more practice, but she has the basics of bow tying down.

Taxes

Does anyone actually enjoy filing their tax return? I did this year because I knew we'd be getting a big refund. After I filed, one more W-2 showed up and I've been putting off filing an amendment for a month now. I finally sat down and spent about 3 hours figuring out what to do (about as long as it took to do our entire tax return). I'm thrilled to announce our amendment is completed and in the mail. And with help from a friend and the IRS 800 number, we are getting a little bit more back! Yippee!

To Nap or Not To Nap...

...That is the question. Caden has been my champion napper. Jaelyn and Allie both either had naps taken away (Jae) or gave up naps (Allie) at 2 1/2. The fact that Caden is 3 months past his 3rd birthday and is still taking naps makes me so happy. HOWEVER...I'm not so sure how much longer I'll get to enjoy an afternoon break. We noticed months ago that he was taking longer to go to sleep at night, but he would quietly lie in his bed so we weren't really too concerned. In the last few weeks, he's making bedtime no fun at all for us (and it had gotten so much better). Caden stays in his bed, but he calls out to us wanting to get out of bed to go potty, get a tissue, water, you name it, he cries and he plays with toys. It hasn't gotten to the "Jaelyn" point yet, but I am afraid we are close. To maintain morning naps, I woke the kids up after an hour, but Caden's afternoon nap is only usually an hour to an hour and a half so that won't work. I tried keeping Caden up today, but he got sleepy on the way home from Allie's preschool. He said he didn't want to sleep when I laid him down on the couch "to rest," but within 30 seconds, he was out cold. He still really needs a nap.

Hmmm...it's a phase that too shall pass. Until then, we might just have to deal with a few yucky nights.

Handy Danny and Our New Playset

Dan has talked about building the kids a swingset since we moved into our house last spring. Last year, we made do with our climbing fort and a slide, but the kids have gotten bigger. I discovered Craigslist and sold our current outdoor play equipment so it was time to find something new. Handy Danny rented a truck on Saturday and picked up a playset for the kids. It took him and his trusty tools most of the day on Sunday to assemble it. Our biggest obstacle was our yard. Who knew 25 feet with steps coming down from a deck could be so narrow. We took part of our patio walkway out and still had to cut down the swing set portion of the playset to accomadate 2 swings instead of 3 to make everything fit safely. I think the kids are really going to love it this summer and so will I!

Good Job, Handy Danny!

Sprouting News

Our plants have grown so much that they pushed the plastic cover off. Our green beans and zuccini are about 5" tall now and the cucumber plants are close behind.

I noticed yesterday that our shasta daisies and black eyed susans have started sprouting as well.