FIVE!!!

 

I am about a week late on the birthday post, but such is life these days, always late for something!  On Dec. 14th our little or should I say BIG boy turned 5!  I can't believe that he is already 5 yrs old.  I remember when he was just a few days old, looking down at him and thinking to myself, man 5 years seems a long way off, I wonder what he will be like when he is 5...and here we are!  He has accomplished so much in just one year! Overcoming great hurdles, and growing beyond measure.  He seems so old, but so young at the same time.  I thought him turning one was a rough one for me, but I will have to admit, that turning 5 hit me hard and fast and weeks before his actually birthday!  I guess maybe it is because he is no longer in a baby, toddler or even pre-k catagory anymore.  He will be in kindergarten next August and that makes me a little crazy!  We are so proud of the little man he has become!  He has the sweetest, most giving spirit!  He definitely takes on the first sibling roll well.  He is very independent, but still needs me sometimes and for that I am greatful, because I know that soon he will not!  Let me share a little example of how giving his little heart is and this is probably one of the proudest moments to date for me as a mom:  Every year before his birthday, we clean out all of his old toys that he truly does not play with, so we can make way for all the new stuff that he will get.  I always done this without him, because well, as most kids do, they finally want to play with it when you are wanting to get rid of it.  I decided that this year, I would get him invovled and he can learn a lesson in gving.  I was all prepared for this to be a disaster, not because he didn't want to give his stuff away, but because he has a great attachment to most of his cars and trains that are in his room.  He has always been very protective of his cars and trains.  Not any particular ones per say, just trains and cars in general.  I started talking to him about it a few days before hand and I didn't know if he completely understood what was going to happen, but we would soon find out.  The day came and I explained to him one more time what we were doing.  He said ok.  We made two piles, one to keep and one to give away.  I explained to him that the ones he gave away would go to some little boys that would not have anything to open on Christmas and that he would never see the toys he was given to the little boys again. He wanted to know what there names where(ha!).  I told him there were too many to know all of their names.  Anyway, as we went through his room he bagan to give away all of his cars and trains.  We made him stop and explain to us what he was doing, to make sure he understood.  He said, "momma, I am giving these toys to some little boy that doesn't have any so he will be happy at Christmas! If I don't give it to him he will be sad."  Ok, he gets it!  I tried to tell him that he didn't have to give every single car and train away!  He did keep some but insisted on giving about 90% of them away.  He kept saying this little boy is going to be so happy!  I found myself asking him, "don't you want to keep this one?"  Shame on me!  It actually became too much for me, I started to cry.  I couldn't believe that he was giving all his precious cars and trains away, the ones he had to have and sleep with and play with constantly.  I also couldn't believe how grown up he was being about it.  He was actually giving with a cheerful heart, because he wanted to, not because we were forcing him to.  We ended up with a huge garbage bag full of toys.  I let him go with me to take it to the children's shelter. He walked up and said, I have all these toys for a little boy and he is going to smile!!  MELT MY HEART!  He actually got the whole point of what I was trying to teach him!  Proud, Proud moment!!  He is growing up so very fast!  He still makes us laugh and still puts a smile on our face.  He is still very stubborn and strong willed, and we love that about him, even though sometimes we want to cry!  He went to his 5 yr well check yesterday and he is good to go!

 

He weighs: 38 lbs (50%)

His height is 42 in (25%)

 

His taste for food hasn't changed much.  Still pretty much likes the same foods as before. He is willing to try alot more things than before, so that is good!  He can put his shoes and socks without any assitance.  He still needs help fastening things, but can pretty much dress himself when he wants to.  He is pretty chatty these days and we love that!  He still loves to play outside and even asked for a skateboard for Christmas(we will see)! 

 

WE LOVE OUR BIG 5 YR OLD! 

Only Way to Describe It

 So, the only way to describe our life right now is BUSY!!!  This is why the blog has taken a backseat. The older two are outside playing and the baby is sleeping, so I thought I would sneak in a post before someone starts to cry or tattle on the other one. :-)  Our life is not BUSY in a bad way, but in away that keeps us on our toes!  After the last post, we received another placement!  A sweet little 4 day old baby girl(Oct. 31).  So, that makes 3 total kids 5 and under.  I used to think I was busy with one child, HA!  We basically went from 1 to 3 in a matter of 3 weeks. We are still getting used to the idea of 3, but it seems to be going fairly well.  The oldest thinks he is the boss, the oldest of the 2 girls thinks she is a princess, and the little one well, she likes to party when others like to sleep!  I have never seen so much laundry in my life and the crockpot has become my new best friend!  We have 3 carseats packed into the backseat of our car and someone is always asking "where are we going?"  I am by no means complaining about this, because this is exactly what I prayed for and what my heart desired.  I am just describing this choatic life that we live right now.  Thank goodness for a husband who is willing to jump in and help after being at work for 9 hrs.  He is very sweet to give me a break once he gets home.  We are both learning together this new controlled chaos that our new family brings.  It is like we have always been a family of 5!

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Sandbox

 

On October the 8th, we received a call from our agency about a foster placement.  She is 2 and fits right in with our family.  She comes with the 2 yr old "Nos" and an oscar winning pouty face, but she also has the best giggle and laugh!  Joshua and her are getting a long quite well for both of them living as an only child.  We are especially proud of Joshua.  He has done a great job with her and sharing his toys!  She does have toys of her own, but being the younger one, she wants to be where Joshua is and doing or play with anything that Joshua has or is doing.  This morning, they were outside playing very well together, a little too well, because it was quite.  I look out the window and see the picture above.  The two of them crowded together in this tiny sandbox, playing!  They played in the sandbox for awhile.  It was fun to watch them out there playing and running around together. 

Golfing Around

Joshua is still going strong at The Little Gym!  He absolutley loves this place!  We love it to.  All the instructors are super nice and seem like they really enjoy what they do!  I  love the fact that all the way across the gym is all windows, so we are able to watch and take pictures!  Joshua is going twice a week now and instead of doing all tumbling, we decided to enroll him in a sports class.  This class is on Mondays, and 30 mins is about sports and the other 30 mins is tumbling or games.  The first 4 weeks was soccer and now they are learning the fundamentals of Golf(every 4 weeks is a new sport)!  I didn't take any pictures of the soccer session, but here are some pics of him practicing his putting skills.  I love that they are learning the fundamentals of each sport.  It gives them a nice base of what each sport is and how it works, so maybe later on it will help them decide what sport to play(if they want to play a sport).

 

The first picture up top is Ms. Ashley helping Joshua with his putting skills.  They really show them how to grip the club and how to stand, etc.

 

The picture right below is Joshua showing off his mad putting skills.  I really thought it would frusturate him if he didn't get the ball in the hole on the first try, but he seemed to do really well and kept trying.

                                                                   
                                                                
                                                                  Ready to Putt!

Joshua is still enjoying his tumbling class on Wednesday nights!  He loves that he gets to go to TLG twice a week.  It is a needed change from all of his therapies that he goes to during the week.  TLG is NO work and ALL play!

Southern Secret

 

Ok, I am a little late on getting my usual everything about fall post up, but better late than never, right?  As you know, or don't know I absolutely love Fall!  This year it seems that we are actually getting to experience the Fall season!  Yippee!  I am typing this blog with all the windows in my house opened and enjoying the cool temperatures.  The season also brings with it football!  Go Longhorns!  The first game was over labor day weekend and they have won all their games so far.  Last night's game against OSU almost gave Dan and I a heart attack, but none the less they won!  This is the time of year when I begin to look for new soup recipes to make and bring back the good ol' favorites, like chicken tortilla and vegetable beef!  YUM!  Last but not least, Fall also starts the beginning of consuming one of my favorite drinks...Pumpkin Spice Latte!  Starbucks is responsible for this fabulous drink and I wish they would keep it all year round.  I seem to get headaches when I drink coffee drinks, but I will certainly suffer through a headache every now and then for this yummy, fall drink!  So, YAY for the fall season and everything that comes with it!  I have added something new to the list this year, I will probably use it all year round, but I will share the secret!

The picture above is not anything to sink your teeth into, but to make your home smell like Fall!  I found it on Pintrest and it is super easy and super cheap! You take a pot and peel about 3 or 4 oranges.  I am sure you can use more, but this is all that I had at the time.  Take the peels and put them in the pot add about 1 tblsp of cinnamon and then add water just until it covers the orange peels.  Set it on the burner and turn up the heat.  I usually start off on high then drop it down to med-high once it starts to boil.  You want to keep it at a steady boil. Pretty soon your house will smell so warm and wonderful!  I tried it last week and my mom and sister came in the house and instantly said the house smells so good, what candle is that you are burning?  Ha!  I shared with them the secret!  Today, we cooked bacon and you know how bacon can stink up your house, so I threw the oranges and spices together and in no time I was smelling the orange spice smell instead of bacon grease.  I actually decided to add cinnamon and pumpkin spice along with the oranges today.  There you have it!  A great natural and inexpensive way to fill your house with the smell of fall!  I took the peeled oranges and put them in the fridge for a healthy snack later!  I am starting to wonder if lemons and limes would work for the spring?  Hmmm? 

Joshua says the Darndest Things

 

Lately, Joshua has been some saying some really funny stuff, so I wanted to write it down, so I want forget.  He is so witty and comes up with the craziest stories!

 

Just today we were at a stop light and Joshua wanted his umbrella but couldn't reach, because it was on the floor.  He asked if I could get it for him.  I was trying to reach around my seat to grab it and told him that I couldn't reach it.  Joshua says, "Momma, yes you can,  just use your muscles and more muscles, you can do it!" Ha!

 

When leaving the gym he told the worker's in the childcare center, "Bye, thanks for having us!"

 

Almost everytime, I share something with Joshua in the form of good news, like we are going to "X" place or "X" people are coming over, how was his day, etc.  He almost always asks "Are you so happy?"  Apparently this is something that some PDD kids do.  They need that extra reassurance, because they do not know how to process self praise and encouragement, therefore they seek it out.  They are not very confident in what they accomplish, so their need to be praised is much greater.  None the less it is still something cute that he says, so I had to add it to the list.

 

 

He love to have our dog, Milo do tricks for treats!  Joshua will ask Milo to lay down or sit and after Milo follows the command, Joshua will say, "why thank you!"

 

Joshua is always encouraging Dan and I.  He will say, "You can do it!"  "You got it"  "Yay, you did it!"  He our little encourager for sure.

 

Joshua was telling me the other day about a game he played in Grapes class called "Whack A Mole". I asked, "what did you do?" His reply, "I whacked them moles right on their heads!"  haha!

 

This little man keeps us in stitches and we are always eager to hear what he is going to say next!

 

Thank you, Joshua for always making Daddy and I laugh!   

Fostering to Adopt

We started our foster to adopt journey back in May.  We have taken the training classes, turned in our mounds of paperwork, filled out our 40 page home study questionnaire and completed the home study interview.  We are about to be licensed!  We started this journey wanting to adopt and infant.  During our training we were told that if we wanted to straight adopt an infant it would not be possible.  We would need to foster to adopt in order to take care of the infant that we wanted.  I was not sure how I felt about it at first, but God completely changed my heart and is preparing me for the foster to adopt program. We are very excited to start this journey.  We are just waiting for the agency to give us our next instructions. 

We are so excited and we can't wait to start giving these sweet kids a loving enviroment and hopefully one or two will become our own through adoption!

Mini Vacation, Babymoon, or Whatever You want to call it

We decided we would take a little hiatus from our day to day norm and get away before Joshua starts school and we start our foster to adopt journey. We went to Kemah and the Houston Space Center. We had a lot of fun! I put the pictures pretty much in order of how it happened over the weekend. We first started out going to a place called Jumpoline! I have mentioned it before in a previous blog. We were waiting for daddy to get off work and getting some energy out before we got in the car and drove for 3 hours. On Saturday we went to Kemah Boardwalk and spent all day there. We met my sister and niece that evening for dinner and some splash pad fun! We ate at a really cool place called The Aquarium. The kids loved looking at all the fish in the tanks. We also got to feed the fish that were in the water once we were outside on the boardwalk. Sunday we went and ate a place called Kelleys for brunch before we went to The Houston Space Center. Kelleys has the best eggs Benedict! Yummy! The space center was fun, but a little to over Joshua's head. He loved looking at the space shuttle and playing inside the playscape, but he didn't really care about the learning aspect of it. We will give it a go in another couple of years! Before we headed home on Sunday we stopped and fed the ducks at a pond near by. Those ducks were not afraid to get close as you will see in the pictures. Oh and my son is not scared when it comes to carnival rides. He wanted to do every ride, but he couldn't do most because he wasn't tall enough. He did ask to do the ferris wheel and loved every minute of it! So, here are the tons of pictures that I posted. Enjoy!























































































































- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad