Happy Birthday Russ....the big 40!

Although Russ does not like this photo, it is the most recent....Happy Birthday to you!

512 Quake.....

I found a blog the day of the Sichaun earthquake in China. I was amazed to actually find it because it was so hard to get Blogger in China. 512 Quake is a pictorial documentary of the tragedy in China. Many of the pictures are heartbreaking, yet among the tragedy sometimes there is hope.

Memorial Day 2008.....................

We enjoyed a fabulous Memorial Day hosted by our friends Greg and Cindy...thanks for the great day, as you can see below, a good time was had by all!

.....the party.....

June, ready for bed after her first back yard barbecue. June had a day of firsts...first baked beans, first deviled eggs, first trampoline, first dippin dots, and first time wearing the year of the pig p.j.'s!

A week in review......

Each week I wonder how Sunday night comes around so fast....I never kept a diary when I was young, I guess blogging is making up for it! As you may recall, I said we were working on our kitchen last week. Well, we made it through with "hot pockets", frozen pasta, cereal, and take out. I think all of us are looking forward to real food. However, take out has its' benefits, for example, June loves fries and can now drink from a straw.

If remodeling wasn't enough we did have one 911 call again for June. Her breath holding has been less and I am less panicked about it, however, she had a severe episode and I called. We live in the country and our EMS dept. is great. They have told me to call as many times a day as I need to and some of them even come just to see June when they get the call. I am linking a great article on BHS here, I knew nothing about it before June and since I blog about it once in a while I thought I would put the info out there. June is 14 months old, the neurologist says she will grow out of this between 18months and 3 years....I of course am hoping for 18 months!

It is still unusually cool in the Midwest this year, I am looking forward to some good warm weather soon, especially since I plan on planting the garden this week. We are growing a few new items this summer....Yukon gold potatoes, Napa cabbage, and zucchini, as well as some old favorites, tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, herbs, and carrots. I am going to try and document the garden weekly this year....wish me luck!

June's new ride.....

June got a new set of wheels, put together by me! It is a Little Tike push and ride with doll seat. As you can see Mrs. Monkey took a ride with her on the driveway.

Recorder..............

June picked up Jake's recorder this morning and started to play. I wish I had the camera handy for the first few toots....after she figured out she was making the noise....loud, loud, belly laugh! I caught her on tape after a little practice!

A week in review......

June decided she wanted to eat with a fork this week and there was no stopping her! When she eats she usually points to what she wants more of....well she was getting mad and I finally figured out...FORK. Now she is learning how to eat with silverware. She especially liked the frozen custard we had tonight at Culvers, spooned and enjoyed by June.

My Mom turns 60 in May and while my brother was in town from Arizona we had a surprise Birthday Party for my Mom. This picture is of June, myself, and my niece R. I really enjoyed having both girls in my arms at the same time!

June also received Birthday gifts at my Mom's party... a tea set....all she wants to do is play tea party. Russ has been playing with her and even taught her to make a sipping noise when she pretends to drink!

This week has been fairly busy, 8 soccer games in 7 days, the usual hustle and bustle of 4 kids, and of course the party. We had a great time at my Moms party. We had the opportunity to see my parents friends that we spent time with while we were growing up and the kids had the opportunity to see their cousin who we do not get to see as often as we would like. The party was a success, Mom was surprised and had a lovely time. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Our weekend started out with Russ taking a day off work to fix up the playground, we have new wood, new sand, a new tarp, and no weeds. June loves to dig in the sand and push the bulldozer and other trucks that the boys have collected over the years.

We had four soccer games yesterday and today we tried to get caught up around the house because the kitchen remodel starts tomorrow. Wish us luck....we will be living on cereal and takeout in whatever combination works! In preparing and removing everything from the kitchen I have decided I never would like to move again. We have moved twice with the kids and that is enough. I can't believe what can collect in cabinets, drawers, refrigerators, and freezers. It will be nice to have a clean start.

I guess the highlight of the evening is what June left in the tube. My dear friend Rebecca and I were taking this week about a blog describing the dreaded "poop in the tub". I said, "June has not done that yet". Well after today I can no longer make that claim. I was giving June her bath...there were bubbles from the shampoo and wash cloth...I took her out of the tub, got her dressed, turned her over to Russ(of course to play tea party), went back to empty the tub...and much to my surprise June had left a present in the tub. The clean up began, thank you Clorox! Have a great week!

The soccer car pool conversation.............

Jake: "Mom, the earthquake in China makes me sad, I wish there was something I could do."

before I could respond.....

Max: "Jake, you can pray for them."

The hearts of children.....if we all had one.

Love bug....

June is our "love bug"! I found this adorable sweatshirt and had to have it. Lady bugs are a symbol of good luck in the Chinese adoption community, so it was a must have. Life is Good has a whole "Love Bug" line this spring and it is all super cute!

Max's sweet note..............

...and I thought nobody noticed!

China....

My heart breaks for China this morning.....I feel a very strong bond with China and the people of China because they have shared one of their most precious gifts with me, one of their daughters. As I watch the news about the earthquake I just wonder how all those affected are coping. My heart is also heavy for all the families who have been matched with a child in the affected Provence, they can only be overcome with worry waiting for information on their child.......

A week in review.......

The week is over....as you can see it has been a long one. Each day was filled with errands, sports, homework, housework, and much, much more. I blogged almost every day so there is not to much to say. However, I did have a great Mother's day!

My Mother's Day gift was being able to pick out and plant the flowers that help brighten our yard, porch, and deck. Since it was supposed to rain today I worked yesterday at planting, it is one of my favorite things to do each spring. It was a challenge due to three away soccer games.....but all is well, almost all the plants are in the ground. This year was extra special because June was with me. As I have said before she loves to be outside and she loves to dig, so planting flowers was right up her alley. I filled the planters with dirt and while I decided what to plant in each she sat in front of the pots scooping and digging. Although it takes a little longer with a one year old helping it was well worth the time.

Tonight for dinner Russ cooked. He made authentic Mexican cuisine from recipes by Rick Bayless, dinner was delicious. It was nice to just have down time today, I work a few Sundays each month and sports take up our Saturdays, therefore, when I am off it is nice just to relax.

Have a great week and again...Happy Mother's Day to all!

Happy Mother's Day...................

Happy Mother's Day....to my mother and mother-in-law, also to all my friends, have a wonderful day. I also can't help but think of June's birth mother and foster mother this day. I am so thankful to both of them for giving June such a good start. I could tell from the moment she was put in my arms that she was loved and well taken care of. Thank you for June, she is a true blessing.

End of year programs.....

This is my first attempt at making a movie. Instead of posting 3 separate videos...I thought I would link them all together. Thursday night was TJ's jazz band concert and Friday was Grandparent's Day at Max's school. The video is the 2 programs combined.....enjoy.

Our fairy princess...

Look, there is a turtle in the yard.....

Surprise in the yard!

TJ holding the box turtle..

"June did you know that turtles represent longevity?"

I took June out to play this afternoon and much to our surprise there was a box turtle on our front lawn, no we did not keep him!

A splash a day.....

June enjoyed a puddle on the driveway today!

New look.....

We have a new look! Although I had many other things to do...spring inspired me. I bought this dress over a year ago for Gracie and today June wore it for the first time. I always am praying for Gracie, but especially now with the HFM(hand,foot, mouth) virus affecting so many children in China. From what I have read Jiangxi Provence has not yet been effected.

June loved being outside today, barefoot and running through the grass. She went through the yard dandelion to dandelion pulling everyone up into her little hands.

In the afternoon we had our appointment with the neurologist.....I showed up a day early, surprise, surprise! Although there is a six month wait to see this group of doctors they generously worked us into their schedule. With no surprise the diagnosis of breath holding was confirmed.

Overall a good day.....and Jake even won his soccer game!

A week in review....

Spring has finally sprung in the Midwest after a very LONG winter! Flowers are blooming and the grass is green and growing fast. We live in what many would consider the rural Midwest....corn and soybean country. I never considered myself interested in farming, however, I guess I am. I think farming is beautiful, I love every season of it. Right now the farmers are tilling and planting, the straight lines of black earth against the green grass and the sky is beautiful(cheesy I know). The summer comes and you can see what each farmer has chosen to plant. I love when the farmer across from our subdivision plants corn because in the heat of the summer I can see it from the front porch. I also love fall, during a harvest moon you can hear the combine in the middle of the night harvesting the corn at just the perfect time. I don't think I will begin farming anytime soon....just planting my garden is going to be a miracle this year!

June had a great week no BHS episodes and a calmer Mom. I only hope the changes we made and the hours of prayer continue to ease the episodes. June loves to be outside. One day this week we just sat in the grass, she picks up bits of this and that and hands them to me curious on what they are. She also loves to dig in the dirt which she has mastered on some of the potted plants on the deck, did anyone say "tomboy"?

As I posted earlier, this week was fine arts and science fair night at the little boys school. I forgot to take a picture of Max's(my) dinosaur project. I am a firm believer in letting the kids do their own projects(they learn, less work for me). However, this week, I completed Max's dinosaur project because we ran out of time. I must say, it looked like an eight year old did the project because I completed the whole thing while June took a nap the day before it was due. If Max would only have chosen the same dinosaur as Jake did 2 years ago I could have recycled!

I think that about covers it, a pretty standard week for a stay at home Mom.......I forgot to talk about laundry, interested?

I forgot, Max had a birthday sleep over, I love this picture of Max and his cake!


"A boy and his cake"

Fine arts night/science fair......

Jake playing a rain stick...
Penguin parade....
Rain forest project...

Jake playing the bongos for one of the songs during the program. The 4th grade spends a good portion of the spring studying the rain forest. Each child does a report on a chosen animal, they study the rain forest canopy, raise money to save the rain forest, and the music program ties it all together.