Our stay at home vacation

This was the week we had planned to go on vacation to Utah. As you'll see, we didn't make it. For a number of reasons, we decided to stay at home and do some activities around here. I still took vacation from work, but P has continued working all week long & it's been a very stressful week indeed for him. Poor P needs a vacation more than any of us!

Our first activity was to go to the park to feed the ducks and geese. We got two HUGE bags of day old bread from the Franz outlet for $4. They even have you sign a waiver that it isn't for human consumption. The girls had a good time. Sadly, an 11 year old boy scout drowned in the river while participating in a troop canoeing activity, and the diving search and rescue team found his body while we were there. It sounds like there wasn't much that could have been done to avoid that tragedy, short of simply staying home. I can't even fathom how that boy's family must feel. We left as they were setting up for the press conference.



Since we've had some wet weather (surprise!), we've had to find some indoor activities as well - so the girls went to open gym at the local gymnastic center. The only major disappointment I have with my camera is that it cannot adequately capture action shots. I've found that even with general pictures of the kids, that would be a handy feature, since they are always on the move. When it comes to photos at the gymnastic center, all I get is a bunch of blur!




Yesterday we went to the zoo with our cousins next door, and we met up with Grandma and Grandpa at the Beach. It was a fun and tiring day! Every year my favorite exhibit is the polar bears. They always put on such a great show!






My goal is to check out more of our local parks this summer. Today we went to the only park in the city that is on a dormant volcano. There was a fun playground for the girls, great views of the city and nearby mountains, and lots of fun paths. We're going to have to come back again to finish exploring. I'd never been here before, but P lived nearby when he was a kid - so he had lots of fun memories to share as we walked around. By the time we started climbing to where we had some views, it was getting late - so I don't have any photos to share.

Preschool graduation

Last Friday C had her preschool graduation.  If I'd read the monthly newsletter a little closer I may have realized that they were going to have a graduation event, and not just a last day of school potluck.  Oh, well.  It was a cute program, with the kids getting certificates and then they sang a bunch of songs.  Finally, a clown came to entertain the young'uns.

I'm sad to see the year come to a close.  Miss Crystal was a fabulous teacher, and her love for the kids was truly evident. She even gave us all a photo CD with 471 pics, which should help make up for my failure to bring a camera every day!

What a difference the teachers she has had for preschool have made in her life!  I'm looking forward to M starting preschool this fall.  She's going to love it!

Fifth Disease

A couple of weeks ago, the mother to one of C's classmates let me know that her son had come down with a virus. They didn't know he had the virus until his cheeks turned all red, but by then he was no longer contagious. I am so glad she gave me this heads up, because I probably would have been rather alarmed when those scarlet patches showed up on C's face and arms.

Despite the rather vague but ominous sounding name - and the fact that it is caused by a human parvovirus (not the dog virus), Fifth Disease is a pretty mild illness. Most don't know they have it until the rash appears. C has had an on again, off again scratchy throat and a slightly watery nose that I thought was probably just allergies, but it could have been this instead.

In case you're wondering, as I was, why it is called Fifth Disease, I will enlighten you. This is taken directly from kidshealth.org. (http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/fifth.html)

The name "fifth disease" is historic. This infection was counted among the five classical rash-associated infections of childhood. The other four were measles, scarlet fever, rubella (German measles), and a rash-producing infection that's unknown to doctors today and is simple referred to as "fourth disease."

At any rate, C is doing well. Sometimes she tries to play the sick card, but basically she's carrying on as usual. Here's a photo of her rash. Luckily, when I came home tonight to take photos, the rash on her face was significantly improved - so I'll just show where it is worst now. It's the strangest thing how this rash is just working its way down her body.



A funny little side note. We took the girls to church yesterday since Grandpa at home was being put into the bishopric, but P took the girls home during Primary. Even though C shouldn't be contagious, I didn't want any parents thinking I had exposed their kids since her rash is so visible. And even though M isn't showing any signs, she could be infected and contagious - so I figured better safe than sorry. Anyway, our bishop came up to C and was trying to pay her a compliment by commenting that she must be wearing pretty "rouge". Yes, I usually do send my five year old to church wearing makeup ;) Despite the brilliant cheeks, she does look really cute because the pink hue really brings out her blue eyes.

There's no place like home

We are sooo glad to have M back home with us!!! She had a great time at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa. So much so that I was worried she might want to stay there, but my fears were unfounded. Whew.  They said she was the perfect kid. Cooperative, obedient and always happy.  While I agree that she is a good kid, why do Grandma and Grandpa get the best behavior?  

C and I headed out to the beach last Friday for Memorial Weekend. I guess M saw the van coming down the road and started screaming with excitement. She was still screaming when we got out of the car. What a happy reunion!

The weather wasn't real cooperative for our stay at the beach. The clouds refused to burn off, even though it didn't really rain that much. We spent a little time at the beach, but on Monday we decided to go to the Air Museum.

If you look at the rocks you can see how hazy it is.

The museum was pretty interesting. The hangar that houses the museum is the largest wooden building in the world (according to one employee, but I didn't see it in writing) and was built in WWII to house blimps that patrolled the coastline. It is 15 stories high and seven acres in area. The hangar alone was pretty impressive in my book.  Now it is home to "one of the finest collections of privately owned WWII flying aircraft in the nation." The girls really enjoyed seeing the planes, and there were several trainer cockpits that they were able to play in. The girls kept a pretty brisk pace, which worked out well with my level of interest in the planes - so P, Grandma and Grandpa took their time at the exhibits.

My little posers.

And now it is so wonderful to have the whole family back home again! Soon we're going to have the girls sign legally binding contracts that they won't ever leave again. Or get married until they're 30. While we're at it, we also need to video tape them proclaiming that we are the best mommy and daddy ever so we can play it back for them when they're teenagers.

15 years of bliss

So, you may ask, what does 15 years of wedded bliss look like?

No, really, it has been a great 15 years.  Maybe not always blissful, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.  On one hand, it's hard to believe that we've been married for so long, but at the same time it feels long enough that I hardly remember life without P.  Imagine what eternity must feel like! I couldn't ask for a better husband and father to my children.  Well, I guess I could ask, but I wouldn't get one.  And for those who said it wouldn't last, nah nah nah nah nah nah.

Thanks to our five year old photographer for these pictures.

Finally, here are those wee kids who married 15 years ago today.

Missing M!

My parents came into town for part of last weekend, and took M home with them. We are really missing her, but I think that C is missing her most of all! I think it's good for her to have a few days to not take her sister/playmate for granted. In M's absence, I thought I'd post a couple recent cute pics of the girls together. However, this first one is from this weekend's visit. Since C was going to be left behind, Grandma offered for C to take a nap with her on Sunday. M was upset to not be included, but she didn't want Mommy or Daddy to join her for nap time - it had to be Grandpa!

Usually it's C that sneaks into M's bed, but this time it was the other way around. If memory serves me, this was a night that Grandma and Grandpa at home were babysitting.

Sharing the last smoothie.

Piggy back ride - even though there is only 8 lbs difference!

Just stuff

I think I finally figured out the root of my computer woes. My anti spyware program was bogging down the system, especially after the most recent update. Stupid program! It's a good thing it was free after the rebate, or I'd be pretty upset about shelling out money to slow my computer to less than a snail's pace. On top of that, P has advised that he would rather have me play Wii than work on the computer. So with the green light to play to my hearts content, I have neglected you. Sorry! Besides, there hasn't really been much to write about.

We finally decided to enroll C in private kindergarten next fall, which is a full day, as opposed to public kindergarten which is only 2 1/2 hours a day. Since we've seen so much progress with her lately, we think she may actually be up to a full day after all. Our hope is that she'll get lots of extra attention this year so that when she starts 1st grade she'll have the confidence of being one of the "smart kids". I really like the teacher she'll have for kindergarten, and several of the preschool kids from her current class will be in her new class. I think it will be less overwhelming to be at the same school as opposed to the new, huge, K-8 school they are building two blocks away from our house. On Friday her preschool teacher stopped me to say how proud she is of C and the amazing progress she has seen in her this year - both academically and especially socially. It's so nice to know that others can see the same positive changes we have.

Summer is quickly filling up with activities. We have a week of vacation scheduled for June in which we have planned to go to Utah. I'm excited to see everyone and do some of the activities I've planned, but I'm still less than thrilled at the thought of the drive. Last week we had some really hot days here, and the knowledge that it will be that hot every day in Utah is also daunting. I still haven't gotten P to commit to exact departure and return dates, so I can't book our hotel yet. It's frustrating to have so little time together to be able to actually plan things out. Vacation time is right around the corner, so I guess we really need to get this settled. Besides a trip, the girls are each signed up for six weekly dance classes, swimming lessons, and if there's room in the session we want then C will be going to a two week safety camp. So much for sleeping in. Not that that's an option with these two anyway!

I'm still smiling smugly to myself for pulling a fast one on the girls last Friday. P was trying to find a babysitter so we could go out to dinner with a work contact (snore) and then catch a movie afterwards. He couldn't find one on short notice so we scrapped dinner plans, but he did get his parents to come over for a few hours. Normally the girls are awesome for babysitters, but for some reason they just won't stay in bed for P's parents - which frustrates them enormously. We always seem to come home at 10 or 11pm to find the girls wide awake and knee deep in quiet mischief. So I suggested that we go about the evening as usual and put the girls to bed ourselves. We stuck around long enough to send them back to bed a second time, and then we scooted out to the movies. When we returned, they were sound asleep in the appropriate beds and grandma and grandpa hadn't heard a peep. They still don't know we snuck out ; ) I'm quite pleased with myself for hatching such a brilliant plan. We're going to have to use it again. And again. And again. Oh, and we went to see Iron Man. I'm not a fan of the comic book based movies, but P really wanted to see it, and it had good reviews so I agreed to go. It was an exceptional movie. Very engaging. I didn't look at my watch once.

I got your back

The complex relationship that sisters share never ceases to amaze, and sometimes amuse me. It's all new territory to me, since I don't have a sister. In our case, I'm specifically talking about how the girls stick up for each other. If one gets in trouble, the other gets mad at me for enforcing a punishment - even when it is for something they did against that sister. You'd think they'd be pushing for stiffer penalties, not yelling at me to "leave my sister alone" for sending her sister to her room for hitting her. (You following me?) For some reason, M is fiercely proctective of her big sister. While I'm not happy when she raises her voice at me, I can't help but be a little pleased that they do stand up for each other. I only hope it carries outside of the home too. Both girls have tall genes, but I think there is an excellent chance that M will outgrow C in size. We joke about M taking out the girl that picks on C, or the first boy that breaks her heart.

Tonight we were watching a Nancy Drew movie together. At the end of the movie, you could tell that the boy was going to plant an innocent little kiss on the girl. To tease C, 'cause she loves that stuff way too much, I quickly turned off the movie and announced that it was over before lip lock was acheived. Umm, well, she came unglued and just sobbed. Before I could respond, M became indignant and grabbed the remote, throwing it on the floor in a display of her disgust with my apparent flagrant disregard for C's tender feelings. Her face said it all. Did she care about the kiss, or seeing the ending scenes? I think not. It was all about looking out for her sister.

P's birthday

I haven't posted lately because something is wrong with my computer. It's slower than tar and I expect it to crash any day now. But at least everything's backed up, so I'm ready if it does happen.

This week was P's birthday. For the most part, it passed just like the days preceding and following it. He worked hard & had a stressful day. He came home from work later than anticipated. Pretty much the same ole, same ole. We did go out to eat at Olive Garden with his sister's family and his parents. The girls really are pretty good when we eat out these days. I am so loving the extra options that are opening up to us. C did complain initially that she didn't like her mac & cheese, but when her cousin told her that that was Brooke's favorite dish, she found her appetite and practically licked her bowl clean. (Brooke is her 13 year old cousin's good friend. She's at their house so much that I'm not sure C [or M] realizes that she isn't a cousin too. I'm not sure why, but the girls adore her!)

Our good friend "Mr. Hillbilly" had a birthday this week too, so we all (well, the adults) went out to celebrate at Macaroni Grill. I dare not say how late we were in arriving, for fear my extremely time conscious cousin has a coronary when he reads this and vows never to do anything socially with us again ; ) Suffice it to say, we were inexcusably late. In my defense, I have to say that it was 95% not my fault. They must really like us, because not one complaint passed their lips while we were with them. Despite our dubious start, we had a rollicking good time with them. We love you guys!

For many years I have vowed that we will never own a video game system in our family. Luckily, video games aren't really P's thing either, so it's never been an issue. When the Wii came out I decided that it wouldn't be the end of the world if one landed in our household, but we weren't interested enough to look into them or add it to our mental wishlists. Imagine our surprise when P's brother gave him a Wii for his birthday! I am finding his gift entirely too entertaining. P's played the boxing game a couple times and was really impressed that it caused him to break a sweat. I'm loving the tennis game. I haven't had anyone to play tennis with me since college. P watched as I played a game of tennis and baseball one night, and was surprised that I did so well. He apparently had no idea he'd married such an athlete : )

Well, I've had enough typing for now. For some strange reason, I feel the need to ice my right arm and take some ibuprofen.

Tough decisions

I guess that maybe I'll start with a little background here. About a year and a half ago, someone close to us had an allegation made against them and the kids were removed from the home while DHS did an investigation. Our family & another offered to do emergency certification so that the kids wouldn't have to go to strangers. It was five weeks before the little boy we had was able to go home. Afterwards our certifier asked if they could keep our file open for future foster placements. We felt that perhaps we had found ourselves in this situation for a reason, and told her yes. We laid out a few parameters. Since our kids were so young, we didn't want to have a lot of children coming and going from our home. We were open to children younger than M, and either situations where it was anticipated that they would become free for adoption, or else we could help out by providing VERY short term (2-4 weeks in my mind) foster care.

Early last year DHS called us on a pretty much weekly basis with kids they needed to place - mostly children two and under, but some sibling groups too, and even a set of newborn twins. Many times we could make a decision right on the phone as to whether it was a situation we felt we could handle. Each call would tug at your heart strings, and you would wish that you had it in you to take care of all of these poor children who so far had had such a raw deal in life. P had a harder time than I did saying no, even though he does realize that we can't take them all. We did say yes to the short term care of a five year old girl just before Easter, but then they had a change in plans and she didn't come after all. A week or two after that is when they called us on the foster daughter we cared for for six months. Since they were only looking for a short term placement for her while they sorted some things out, and they needed a home for her in a matter of hours, I didn't really put a lot of effort into my decision. They had a need and it sounded like we could adequately fill that need, so sure. Four hours later she was in our home.

I quickly learned that there really is no such thing as short term in the foster system, and the only thing predictable about any case is that it is totally unpredictable. It gets a little frustrating, because even though the social workers we have dealt with to date have been very caring, it's still just a case for them - but for the children and the foster families, it is our LIVES! We got very involved in the process, hearings, etc. Perhaps we shouldn't have since then we felt every little bump of the roller coaster ride. For a while there it looked like we might want to be an adoptive resource, but the issue of whether she might become legally free changed on at least a weekly basis - and this went on for some time. After awhile we (particularly me) became emotionally run down. Then her dad came for his first visit (he lived out of state). From that point on, the goal for the father & for us was reunification. We did all we could to help support him and assist him with what he needed to do to get his daughter. However, the system became very adversarial towards him and the case kept dragging on. By the end of the summer, I was an emotional wreck. I could no longer live the drama on a daily basis, and I didn't think it was in our girls' best interest to continue bonding with a sister that wasn't going to stay here - so I made the heart wrenching decision to ask to have her moved to another family, and I suggested that she might do better in a family that didn't have such young children so she could have even more attention. Looking back now I can say with full confidence that everything has worked out as it should, but man was that a rough chapter in my life.

Our certification expired shortly after our foster daughter left, and we really deliberated long and hard as to whether we wanted to re-certify. I felt like my heart was still bruised and battered, but we finally decided to move ahead in that direction again and just have them keep us off of the call list to give us time to heal. Just because we're certified, doesn't mean that we HAVE to accept any children, but if we hear of a situation that feels right then we'll be in a position to accept. This time we gave them even narrower parameters. We are most interested in a minority boy under twelve months old. Our certifier is awesome, and she makes us feel like she is making it her mission to find a child that will be perfect for our family.

The reason why I'm writing about all of this now is because it appears that we have been put back on the call list. Thankfully the calls are not so frequent now. So far none have exactly matched the narrow window we set up, but that's okay. Every time we get called, it seems to be because someone at DHS that has met us has felt the child would be a good match for our family - so it seems a little less random. In every case, the child sounds delightful, and young enough to have had little ill effects from being in the system or from being in the families from which they were removed (usually pretty close to birth). This sets us up for having to make some tough decisions. Each call we get is for a potential forever member of our family, AND the social worker is hoping to have an answer that day. It's a huge decision to make, for a child we've never seen, and in such a short time. Our lives could forever be changed in the course of 24 hours (or even less). These children are not yet legally free, but that is the direction their cases are headed, and we feel we'd rather take the risk and get the child younger than to have them move around in the system and only consider them once there is no legal risk. We know it could even take a few years for everything to work out. No matter the situation, we're sure to have a bumpy ride. So it's a decision that we don't take lightly. I personally feel like I'm going to need Heavenly Father's assurance from the onset that we are supposed to bring this particular child into our home, so I can cling to that during the stormy times.

Whenever we get that call from DHS, my heart leaps into my throat and I start to feel nervous. Life is so good right now, it's hard to consider making changes that will certainly make life more challenging. But I can't help but try to envision my family with the new face that I haven't seen yet. Will I be able to handle it? I know from experience that three is a lot harder than two! Will the girls be happy with the new dynamics?

Yesterday afternoon we got another call. An adorable 18 month old African American boy that is healthy and happy, no drug effects, and he has been in the same foster family since six weeks old. Although they say that boys are harder to place, this is only the second boy they have called us on (the first being one of the newborn twins last year). From what they say, he sounds like he would be a great match, although this move of families is certain to be very hard on him. I feel so sad for him and the trauma that is unavoidable, due to no fault of his or his loving foster family that will also be hurting. He needs to be moved by today. (His biological parents knew the foster parents before placement, but now with the case plan changing from reunification to adoption - they have begun threatening the foster family.) I think I want the answer to be yes, but after praying, I feel no strong feeling or enthusiasm for pursuing this. So I guess my answer is no. It's hard to call the social worker and tell her why we can't take this wonderful boy, but she's very understanding. Most social workers we've talked to really do believe that everything works out the way it is supposed to. So for now, it's back to life as normal ... until we get the next call.

The perfect day

Today was as pretty darn near perfect as you can get. I've been wanting to take the girls to the Gorge for several weeks now. I'd actually planned to go last weekend so we could catch the Cherry Festival in a small town, but we were having another raining/snowing/hailing weekend - plus C came down with the stomach flu.

With the promise of dry, 70 degree weather, it was the ideal day for a little sightseeing. As all good women do, we made our first stop at the outlet mall. New summer jammies for the girls, new silicon bakeware for me to try. Then as we were making our way to the front of the Gap Outlet with a few sweatshirts in hand, C announced "Mom, I've GOT to get out of this store!" M immediately started chanting the same mantra. Since there was an extremely long check out line, I asked the girls if they still wanted me to buy the clothes for them, or should we put them back and just leave? P must have started coaching them about shopping with mommy, because they were undeterred in their mission to exit the store and move on to the next (non-shopping) destination.

I was surprised when we arrived at the Falls to find a packed parking lot, and almost as many cars backed up trying to find spaces. However, we finally scored a spot after I took a detour to the historic highway and the smaller parking lot that is actually closer to the Falls. It turned out that there was a search and rescue event going on with volunteers doing training/demonstrations and manning several information booths. This was a total bonus for the girls as there were a bunch of rescue dogs on hand to pet. With the permission of the owners, we pretty much have to pet any dog that crosses our path wherever we may be. My favorite was a Newfoundland that reminded me of my sweet Oso.

It was pretty cool to see the volunteers rappeling down the cliff. We even ran into a friend just as her dad was heading down. One little girl was telling C with obvious pride that her dad had come down too. It's kind of hard to see the climber in the first picture. You'll probably have to double click on it to get the larger view. Look for the red jacket about halfway down on the left side of the falls. The second photo is a teenage volunteer who got to pick up litter while doing his training.


Now here's some photos of the girls. They had a great time, and they were so good. I'm such a proud mama!

Since we were now on the scenic route, we decided to stop at one of the view points. For some reason, the skies were a little hazy, so we weren't able to get any exceptional photos overlooking the Gorge, but it's pretty amazing to see snow on the tops of the hills in the distance given the time of year.

On the way home we dropped in on some dear friends that live in the Gorge and were able to spend a little time catching up. The perfect end to the perfect day!!!

Full circle

As I've mentioned before, I have worked for a large insurance company now for 11 1/2 years, on the claims side of things. About eight years ago, the large company bought a smaller company. (Well, one in particular - they're always selling and buying small companies within the larger corporate umbrella.) Very shortly afterwards, we were informed that all west coast claims handling operations were going to go under the management of this smaller company. There were all sorts of rumors going around to explain why it felt like the tail was wagging the dog, but whatever the reasoning was, it was something of a hostile takeover.

After all the layoffs and reorganization, we then shifted over to their computer system. It was DOS based and archaic and we hated it. The rollout seven years ago was sudden and chaotic, and the training provided wasn't particularly helpful when it came to actually working the claims. It was a very unhappy time and the whole transition appeared to me to be not well thought out.

A couple years ago the parent company announced that they wanted to work towards having a seamless claims operation, including all companies using the same system. That was easier said than done because there were many challenges in getting all of the platforms involved to talk to each other. The west coast was to pilot the roll out of the new system. Surprise! The new system is the same one we used seven years ago (with some updates, of course). I had actually predicted this would come about, but I really thought it would happen sooner than it did.

So the rollout was scheduled to happen on Friday, April 18th. Fine, since that's not a particularly busy day - and I don't work on Fridays. But as it turned out, there were set backs, and instead, the rollout happened the following Monday. Now why they couldn't just push it back another day or two so it wouldn't happen on the busiest day of the week, I just don't understand. When I left work for the week last Tuesday, we still had no idea what the new workflow was going to be. So Monday I came in to work and had to find out just how I was supposed to do my job that day. Although it was a familiar system to me, it was still a chaotic rollout. Then, to top it off, the system crashed at 10:30am due to server overload. Really? No one anticipated how many of us would be on the system? Lovely. So then we had nearly three hours that we could do next to nothing (except go to lunch, and stand around and complain). Just what I love. Knowing the work is piling up and having no way to do it. Tuesday was a slight improvement, the system only slowed down for about 30 mintues, but no crashes. However, we seemed to be experiencing a huge disconnect when it comes to management all being on the same page as to how they want things handled. No one seemed to be in agreement, which put me in the middle. I love my job, I love my job.

I'm so thankful that I'm only part time, and that I can get all my hours in in two days instead of having to spread it out over five! Hopefully they'll have worked out most of the bugs by Monday. It truly boggles my mind how a large corporation can do these half baked operations. It's times like these that keep me remembering why being a mom is so much more satisfying than trying to climb the corporate ladder and getting all caught up in the politics involved!

Darwin award?

For the gazillionth time I picked up the magazines and books off of the floor and rearranged them neatly on the coffee table. (I know, why do I even bother?) Then I noticed someone had written on the front of a book. As I started asking the girls who had been writing where they weren't supposed to, I turned the page - only to have the mystery solved. The inside cover showed that C had been practicing writing her name. Instead of remorse, C beamed with pride as she said "I wrote my name for you, Mommy!" Now who can be mad at that?

Beware of stickerpox!

I recently noticed that P had taken some pictures of the girls while I was at work. I was shocked to learn that last month they had contracted a bad case of stickerpox! Luckily they were all better by the time I got home.

Who's that girl?

I've been stewing over whether I should even write this entry. I fear that once I put it in writing, I'll be jinxed and the bliss I've been experiencing will prove to be short lived. I know for many of you, this may not even seem like a big deal or remotely news worthy, but in our household it is truly life changing!

Very recently, we've begun to notice a marked improvement in C's behavior. So much so that we've even questioned if we have the same girl. (Would the real C Mod please stand up?) It's almost weird, although certainly welcome, like someone flipped an internal switch.

Less attitude, fewer (and less severe) meltdowns, and I'm seeing a whole new level of cooperation and helpfulness. It's not that she didn't cooperate before, but it was entirely on her own terms. Now it seems I may have a generally cooperative little girl. Can I tell you how much I am loving this transformation?! I'm hoping that positive reinforcement will keep this going, because I'm dishing it out like there's no tomorrow.

Last Friday I had the girls clean their rooms in preparation for houseguests. Since I was still cleaning after C had finished, she asked what she could do to help. She cleaned her bathroom mirror and sink (and did a good job) before she moved on to mopping - which she really likes doing for some strange reason (I don't). When P walked in the door, she informed him that the mopping job was now his, but still she remained helpful in that she didn't create any more work for me by pulling out toys, paints, balls, etc and she made sure her sister didn't either.

On Thursday, C woke up before me and came into my room (fully dressed, I think) and told me she was going to play quietly in her room. Great! Since M was still sleeping, that meant I could sleep some more too. Next thing I know, I hear C & M playing, so I decided it was time to get up. I headed straight downstairs to get them fed, only to discover that C had gotten out bowls, spoons, cereal & milk and they had already eaten breakfast. And there wasn't even any more of a mess than there would have been had I been there to supervise. Wow, I am really loving this big girl stuff!

These are just a few stand out examples of the positive changes I've seen. Let me tell you, I couldn't be more pleased with my little girl!

Potty talk

OK, I need to know just how long this fascination with potty talk is going last! I am so tired of "poopy" this and "poop head" that. They use other terms too, but I can't think of any right now. Maybe I've just tried to block it out. However, unless they are calling someone a name I try to just ignore it or I'm simply fanning the flames.

So it stands to reason that any word that is associated with the bathroom is sure to be a big hit with the girls. Knowing this, I showed a temporary lapse in judgement when I saw M prancing around holding herself in front of the athletic center Saturday night. I asked her if she had to go to the bathroom and she said no. Then I said "well, if you don't have to go potty, then why are you doing the pee pee dance?" So, what you may ask did the girls talk about all the way home? You've got it! It was all about the pee pee dance - followed by hysterical laughter (particularly from M - if you haven't viewed her Stinka video, you need to go back and watch it now to see what I'm talking about). This lasted pretty much the entire one hour drive. But I do have to admit, it was pretty funny. At least for the first 15 minutes.

Then on Sunday, when the girls were all ready for church, I told them that they looked pretty stinkin' cute (and they did)! When P picked up M from nursery, her teacher informed him (with a smile) that M had told everyone how stinkin' cute they were all throughout class time.

The best laid plans

I was so excited to have something really interesting to post today. I recently learned that several local universities have Hawaiian clubs and a few host an annual lu'au. We planned to attend one last night in a small town an hour away where, surprisingly, 20% of the student body is Polynesian. I didn't get a chance to order reserved tickets, but the website said that general admission tickets would be available at the door.

The Lu'au started at 4:30 and the show started at 6:30, so I planned for us to leave at 3:30. Well 3:30 came and went with P still doing car paperwork. We finally head out the door at about 4:15, so I figure we're going to miss the meal and we'll have to pick something up to eat on the way, but we'll still be there by 5:30 when they open the doors to start seating for the show. Meanwhile, someone had the audacity to have an auto accident and block the right lane of the freeway, so we spent an extra 30 minutes hangin' out in gridlocked traffic. Later we pull into the only Sonic Burger in the metropolitan area and P decides he doesn't want to eat in the car, so we pile out to eat outside on this beautiful day. By the time we get back into the van, P realizes that maybe we didn't have time to sit around after all. (Really?) As we get closer to the town exit on the freeway, I learn that I misunderstood P when he said he knew the town and thus overestimated his ability to find the campus. I knew I should have mapquested it! We did find it, but I'm sure there is a more direct route.

Anyway, we arrived at the athletic center about 5 minutes before the show only to learn that the last tickets sold at noon and they sell out every year. It sure would have been nice if the website hinted at this possibility! We waited around for awhile to see if all the will call tickets got picked up, but no such luck. The girls were so disappointed (as were we)!

So, I'm afraid, I've got nothin' for ya!

Socially inept

****SNOOZE ALERT - these are ramblings, proceed at your own risk.****

Several weeks ago I was at a going away party where I had a conversation with a woman I know from church. She confided that she feels a little like a social reject because she doesn't know how to talk to people. This is a lovely lady who is nice, intelligent, and a stay at home mom to a young daughter. I heaved a sigh of relief as I unloaded my secret that I, too, feel totally inept in the social department. I have lost my hold on the art on conversation.

I haven't always been a wallflower. Although I started out shy and insecure, I grew into a confident and outgoing teenager and young adult. I had no problem talking to my peers and even those outside of my peer group. After college, I worked for a few years as a sales manager at a large hotel where I often took clients out to lunch. While I was initially a little out of my comfort zone, I was able to step up to the plate (since I was being paid to do so) and I got to the point where I felt I could easily carry on an engaging conversation with pretty much anyone. I also put those skills to good use in some of the positions I held in church, including one where I had to frequently visit those women on the rolls of the church that never attended services.

So what has happened? It's not like I'm still a brand new mom, so sleep deprived that I can barely string three coherent words together. (Let me tell you, I felt like I'd been beat with the stupid stick back in those days!) I am no longer outgoing, although I still consider myself to be friendly. I find myself challenged to carry on a conversation that is not about kids, adoption, work or church, or anything else not immediately relevant to my now very small world. I'd rather stand around quietly than attempt to engage in small talk. Am I lazy, not wanting to make the effort? Have I become downright boring? Or is it that I'm merely out of practice and now feeling insecure in my ability to carry on an intelligent conversation with another human being with whom I do not already have a strong bond? (I'm hopeful that it is the latter.)

I'm not a gossip. I'm not judgemental. I can honestly say that I like almost everyone I meet (exceptions are rare). I'm easy to get along with, although I think I'm probably hard to get to know. I have so little free time that I don't have many opportunities to build new friendships beyond what I can do while being at work or church, and fulfilling those responsibilities. Although I associate with plenty of "new" people, I can't say that I've made any new friends in recent years. I can barely find time to maintain my long term close friendships. Luckily for me, most of my "old" friends became mothers later too, so I think we're all in the same boat right now when it comes to keeping up. I'm not lonely or unhappy. I'm too busy for that, and as long as I think people like me - I'm really okay with my current social standing. But will it always be this way? Will I start to feel like a real person with a real life as the kids get older? Or is the fact that I've allowed myself to become a bit withdrawn now indicative of what my future holds?

If you haven't fallen asleep and shorted out your keyboard with drool, is there anyone else that feels this way? Is this normal? Does one return to the land of the social living as the kids get older? How much older? School age? Teen age? Or is it all a matter of me morphing into a dweeb?

I am hopeful that this is just a normal phase of life. In fact, I had assumed this was the case. I have taken for granted that I will some day get to build friendships with the women that I meet and know that I really like, but don't truly get to know. However, the aforementioned going away party was for a woman that I knew I liked from the first time I heard her speak in church about three years ago. I always figured I'd have time to get to know her, so I was really bummed when I heard that my time had run out. I don't want to miss out on getting to know all the interesting people around me.

Poisoned apple

The other day, while we were still at the beach, the girls and I were having lunch. I'm convinced that C is going to be an actress when she grows up. For the life of me, I couldn't get her to sit down to eat. All she wanted to do was re-enact the poisoned apple scene from Enchanted with each and every bite she took of her apple. Naturally, M had to follow suit.

In hopes that I might get them to sit after I immortalize their acting debut on film (or whatever you call it now), I suggested that we make a movie and then finish lunch in peace.

Just a little disclaimer, I'm not a camera man, director or film editor - so this clip is even worse than amateurish. I also recorded the little scene from the movie first so you understand what is being re-created.

Hail, yeah, we had a great spring break!

It seems that Mother Nature is schizophrenic.

We had heavy rain, and wind,

and hail,
and even snow! (You can't tell, but these flakes were huge.)

This was the first time I've ever seen it snow at the beach.

And every once in awhile, the sun would peek out.

Oh, how they love to swing!

Here's your sneak peek at the new deck turned sunroom.

Ah, but it's always nice to come home.