Snow Day?

Last night the weather got a little crazy, for Texas anyway. It started sleeting around 5pm and continued off and on through the night. At some point we even got a little snow! All schools were delayed for 2 hours at first, but then around 6am on Friday, they closed. As I was getting comfortable in bed thinking I was going to get to sleep in, Joshua busted through the door asking if it was snowing! Good bye to sleeping in! The other two littles followed soon there after in getting up. The older two wanted to go outside so bad, and who am I to say no, even if it was 7:00am. I knew it wouldn't last long and soon would start melting away. They loved it! There wasn't a lot obviously, but they didn't care! That's the beauty of children, they didn't care that is was not covering the ground completely or that it was freezing, all they saw was a chance to play in the snow. I couldn't take the cold anymore, so they moved to the backyard and continued their fun. They eventually came in and Joshua declared it was the best "snow day" ever! So the sleet/slow is starting to melt away and we are spending the rest of the day inside, taking it easy and enjoying our "snow day"!


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M.I.A.

I can't believe it has been 4 months since I have blogged.  Man, alot has happened in these past 4 months.  I am not going to recount everything that has gone on, but highlight the big stuff, like Joshua is halfway through Kindergarten, we celebrated 3 birthdays(2 were 4 days apart), Halloween, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New years.  Part of the reason, why I have not blogged in a while is because I feel quilty

posting only about Joshua.  Since the girls are foster children, I can't post any pics or use their names.  I know how much everyone loves pictures and lets face it, that is a huge part of blogging and what everyone wants to see.  I have 3 kids and if I can't post about all of them, then I don't feel it is worth it.  I am just being honest here.  The other reason is I just either run out of hours in the day or I just run out of energy.  I know I have said this before, but it is the truth.  By the time I can sit down to blog, it is usually 8:30 or 9:00, and all I want to do is either sit and watch TVLand or go to bed.  I suppose I could get up early and blog but I cherish every single minute I can have my eyes shut.  We have done alot of fun things and I have tons of pictures to document said fun times, but I can't post any of them, because of the rules for fostering. 

I will say that everyone is doing well, and we have a sweet, and very busy 15 month old and a tinkerbell loving 4 yr old who is a girly girl through and through and a 6 yr old who thinks he is a ninja turtle or spiderman(depending on the day).  All 3 keep us very busy! The blogging has taken a backset for many reasons, but I will try to blog again before 4 more months go by. 

How the Other TWO Spend Thier Day

So, there are two more still at home while Johsua is at school, and I thought I would let you all in on their day.  Sorry, there will be no pictures as I can not post pictures of them on the internet, because they are foster kiddos.  Believe me if I could post pictures I most certainly would!!

Here we go:

Wake up when Big brother does, because we all get the pleasure of taking him to school.  Get home from taking brother and then there is the big decision on what to eat for breakfast.  The oldest, who is 3 starts off with saying she wants cereal, after I get said cereal, she then changes her mind and says she wants waffles.  I make her waffles and when they are placed in front of her she proclaims they are not her favorite  and then I proclaim back that "I don't care, and its what she asked for so she needs to eat it!" Her response, because she always feels she has to have the last word is, "I asked for cereal!! 

Play in the living room with the oldest and youngest. Babies, tents, its up to her.  While trying to play with her, the baby plays her own little game of hide and seek.  Once I discover her and put her where I can see her and continue to play with the oldest, the littlest is off again this time I find her under the side table with all the magazines pulled down.  This is actually repeated several times through out the day. She thinks its the best game ever of course, I feel like I am on a never ending hunt and find mission.  Almost always there are tears from both the oldest and the littlest one.  Over what, you might ask?  I would like to know, myself, but when I ask the 3 yr old, she proceeds to tell me nothing every time.  Baby takes a nap or maybe not! I try to do a little bit of work or maybe not! Lunch is another one of those tough decisions.  Luckily the baby will eat just about anything I put in front of her, because I have to fight the battle with indesisive over what she wants for lunch.  It usually ends with PB&J and a banana.  Naptime for the oldest goes smoothly for the most part unless I forget to say quiet time and instead say naptime and then there is more crying, which only proves that she needs to take a NAP!!!  Baby sometimes decides to treat me and take a nap at the same time, which is HEAVEN!!!!  My "heaven" usually last about 45 minutes.  The baby gets up and starts demanding a snack.  The baby is only 10 months old, so when I say demand, I mean she asks using her signing of "more" and then if the food doesn't magically appear, she begins to slam her hands on the high chair and squeal, which eventually turns into a scream!  The oldest wakes up just in time for us to go pick up Joshua from school.  Load em up and move em out!  Baby screams and fights me because she doesn't want to get in the carseat, and the oldest forgot something that she just has to have for the 2 min car ride.  Finally, get to the school only to wait in the dreaded car pool line, to which should be faster, but it isn't.  There is not a groove to the system yet!  The baby falls asleep but then wakes up because the car stopped moving and proceeds to scream for the next 10-15 minutes while we wait, which I get to hear from the oldest, she is crying so loud, stop crying baby!  Oh, thank you for that!  I wasn't aware that there was a screaming baby directly behind me!!!  Big brother gets in the car and we head home or to therapy depending on what day it is.  You can see that it is quite eventful here with us 3 while brother is at school!  We all love when daddy walks through the door! 

We Survived The First Day of Kindergarten

 I have "We" in the title of the post, because I am including myself as having survived the whole day with minimal tears while he was at school.  The alarm went off at 6:00 this morning, but I was up around 5:45.  I woke Joshua up around 6:20 and I was a little nervous, because he is not the happiest person first thing in the morning, and pressuring him to hurry and something makes matters worse, but he did well with getting up and moving.  My nerves were all over the place, but I did my best to hide them.  When it was time for us to start loading up, he looked at me as he held his blankets and said "Mommy I am scared!"  I actually had to open the fridge and pretend to look for something while I tried to get myself under control, because I told myself not to cry in front of him.  Not because I dont like showing emotion, but it makes him nervous to see me cry and I didn't want that the first day.

 So we walked out the house around 7:15, took the famous first day of school pic, which he hammed it up for me!  We then loaded the car as a family of five and headed to take Joshua to school.  They can enter the school starting at 7:20, and we happen to be in walking distance, so it didn't take us that long to get there.  The front of the school was crowded!! Joshua squeezed my hand super tight, but I didn't mind, because at least he wanted to hold my hand( I know the day will come when he want, so I will take the circulation being cut off for now).  He seemed excited and kept smiling and jumping and giving me loads of hugs (sweet boy).

 After we walked in and signed into the office for our "vistor" tag, we walked to the cafeteria, this is where I think we both began to feel the reality of what was about to happen.  His table with class and teacher was right when we walked in.  We took 3 steps in and he froze.  Like his feet had glue on the bottom and he would move.  I knelt down and said it was going to be ok, we needed to go say hello to Miss Zuris, and sit down.  He still didn't move.  Finally, Dan was able to coax him forward.  He hid behind me the whole time, but eventually sat down.  His school provides breakfast for all the kids, so, even though he had already eaten breakfast at home, he chose to have some orange juice while he waited for the bell to ring. 

 Finally the moment came where we had to say goodbye.  I gave him a hug, ok I gave him like 3 long hugs, and then had to walk away because the water works started.  Dan assured me that when he looked back, Joshua was fine and drinking his orange juice.  The look in the picture below was what we got when we told him it was time for us to go and he had to stay all by himself.  Say What?!?!

I went on about my day, trying to keep myself busy, which wasn't too hard.  My schedule stays pretty full.  Joshua seemed to have a busy day as well(the class schedule looked busy, but fun).  2:30 couldn't come fast enough.  The carpool lane drove me absolutely insane.  I was the 6th car in line, and it was so chaotic that I saw Joshua come out, but I couldn't get out to get him.  So I waited and waited.  It was so hard seeing him sit there, but not be able to get him.  But, rules are rules and all that matters in the end is that I got him.  His teacher finally saw me waving and brought him to the car.  She told me that he had a great day.  When I asked him, he told me he didn't want to talk.  I was expecting that.  I am sure his brain was buzzing from everything that he had done today.  He finally told Dan that he had such a fun time on his first day of Kinder!  Tomorrow will be a whole new day, with me dropping off all by myself, and I think I will park and wait out front instead of sitting in the never ending carpool line.  So, I only cried the one time today, pretty proud of myself for that.  Joshua didn't cry or meltdown at all either!  So, I call that a win for everyone.  YAY for surviving the first day of school!!!

A Letter to My Kindergartner

Dear Joshua, as I sit here tonight on the eve of your first day of Kindergarten, I can't help but think back almost 6 years ago, holding you in my arms, just a few weeks old and thinking to myself Kindergarten seems so far away right now, but here we are!

                                These past 5 years have flown by!  I really do feel like I have blinked and now you are entering your first year of school.  I hope that your dad and I have taught you enough to feel confident with yourself, to know who you are and to stand up for what you believe in.  Your desk at school seems so big to me, but I pray it is the perfect size for you and that you become great friends with the ones that sit next to you.

 I hope that you shine brighter than the sun inside and out this year!  I pray that your sweet smile and spirit show others what a great friend you can be and are.  Your so funny and have the best spirit that spills out and takes over a room.  You brighten our day and I know you will brighten everyone's day you come in contact with.

 To be honest I am nervous for you, as a mom, I just want what is best and I wish that I could be with you the whole day.   I want to be there to protect you, to make sure that you eat your lunch and play well with your new friends.  It pains me that I can't, but I know this is one of those stages that I need to let go and let God!  He will be with you every step of the way, and I have to have faith that he will protect you like I know He will. 

It is your turn to shine, sweet boy!  I hope that you have the best first day ever and that your year is filled with fun, learning and laughter.  I pray that your dad and I did the very best we could these past 5 years and I know there are many more years to come and many more milestones to cross, but at this moment, for this year, I hope we did you right, and that you can walk in Robertson Elementary tomorrow, Aug. 26th with your head held high! We love you with all our hearts and we will be praying for you!  Mommy will shed a few tears, ok alot of tears, but I want you to know that you are my shining star and I am so very proud of you!!!!!

Oh How I Love Summer!

 

So far we have had a pretty good summer!  Lots and lots of things keeping us busy.  We work hard, but we play even harder.  As you can tell from the pictures above, we have gone to seaworld, gone swimming(lots of swimming), fed dolphins, tended to a garden and celebrated a friend's birthday!  We have a lot more summer left and therefore a lot more fun to be had!  I love swimming and the fact that my kids love it too and that when they get home they crash!  So, nice!!  I would have to say that this has been the busiest summer so far, but we are having fun! It could be a little bit cooler, but we are staying cool in the pool! :-)

It's A Zoo!!

 Above: Joshua and his friend Finn feeding the sheep

Below: Joshua with the chickens

 Above:  Joshua loved the baby goats!  This one was a twin!

Below:  Cutest boy holding the cutest goat I have ever seen!!

Joshua's little program or school that he attends had a petting zoo set up for the kids on Monday!  Joshua was extremely excited about this!  He kept asking me if there were going to be cows, horses and goats?  I told him that I didn't know what would be there, we would have to wait and see!  He told me that he thought there would be goats there for sure!  He was right!  All the animals in the petting zoo were babies!  Baby goats, bunnies, sheep, pigs, and chickens.  The chickens were older, but they were still gentle.  The kids in his class had a ball!  Joshua was not afraid at all, he was very anxious to get in there and get started petting all the animals!  This did not surprise me, because we have been to a couple of petting zoos before and he seemed very relaxed.  He was all over the place, feeding, petting and even holding a baby goat!!  The goat in the picture above was super cute and so gentle!  Joshua even got to bottle feed the goats and sheep!  I thought he would be a little nervous about that because they all came at him at once, but he just laughed and kept backing up.  I love that he is not nervous and was able to get excited about this activity.  He doesn't get excited about much, so it makes me happy when he does!!  This program has done wonders for Joshua.  I will post about that later.

One End to the Other

Sorry about the lack of blogging.  I usually try to blog in the evenings after the kids go to bed, but lately I have just not had it in me.  I didn';t realize it had been since March that I had put a post up.  So, on to this new post...


I have a 5 yr old son and a daughter that is 3 yrs old(that we are in the process of adopting).  It seems that God has given me two VERY different children.  I know that all kids are not a like, I just find it humorous as to who God gave me the privilege of raising.  So, I thought I would jot down some differences between the two, so I can have something to look back on one day.

My 5 yr old

*Quiet
*Timid
*Plays well by himself
*Does not necessarily want to play with others
*Social settings are not really his thing, but he is getting better
*Is all about Routine


My 3 yr old

*Loud
*outing going
*does not play well by herself
*loves to play with others for the most part
*Social butterfly after she warms up
*More go with the flow, could careless about a routine


None of these are bad qualities and it makes them who they are!  I just thought it was funny that God placed this sweet little girl with us and she could not be more opposite of our 5 yr old!

I guess it is true that opposites do attract, because they balance each other out and play very well for the most part(the sibling love/hate relationship).  God knew exactly what he was doing when he placed her with us and when he gave us our son 5 yrs ago. 

What's Happening in Pictures

                                                      Joshua as Captian America

                                    Baby girl found her foot for the first time and is also eating rice cereal

                                     My big boy enjoying some very blue ice cream with sprinkles

                                            Hanging out with family and each other

Rainy Day Activities

 

This weekend has been pretty yucky outside!  Friday was beautiful, but Saturday and today were overcast and cloudy and then eventually it rained!  So, to keep the kids from going stir crazy, ok, who am I kidding, to keep ALL of us from going stir crazy, I decided to break out a few "rainy day activities" for the kids to do.  A big thank you to Pintrest for all these wonderful ideas.  First, the kids made their valentines for the kids in their class.  I found this cute idea on pintrest to use a white crayon and write on paper "You blow me away" and then let the kids paint over the wording with water color and the message appears and then you attach it to some bubbles. Brilliant!  They turned out cute, but I think you have to stick to the light colors for the wording to show up really well.  Today, we are playing with "fluffy stuff."  It is like moon sand, but with cornstarch and shaving cream.  The kids are calling it snow and having a blast.  They are still playing with the "snow" as I am typing this blog.  I think they have been playing for about 45 minutes and when I ask if they are done, they scream: "NO!"  I will tell you that it is not the cleanest of indoor activities and I will not lie and say that I haven't had a couple of moments of "what the heck was I thinking", but they are having fun and that is all that counts.  I can always sweep and mop my floors and the kids will get baths, so it's all good!!  So, I would say that we kicked this rainy weekend's booty!

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend as well!!

Dan Flew and We went to the Zoo

 

If you recall in my last post I was hoping that our January would slow down a bit, well since the last time I blogged was back in December and it is almost February, I guess we can say that didn't happen!  We are a busy family of 5!  We try to have alot of down time on the weekend and try to do some fun things with the kids,since they work so hard during the week, with school and therapies.  So, last Saturday we went to the zoo.  The kids had so much fun, ok, the adults did too!  I love seeing the kids explore and get excited over seeing all the animals.  We made a day of it and we all had a great time.  Joshua's favorite part was the aquarium and L's favorite part was the Giraffes.  The baby, well her favorite part was being snuggled up in her carrier and sleeping almost the entire time. After our eventful day at the zoo on Saturday, we went to watch Dan "fly" at a place called "Ifly" it is basically indoor skydiving.  I bought him a gift card for his birthday.  The kids loved watching him in the wind tunnel and even said that they wanted to "fly"!  You only have to be 3, so technically they could have both gone, but we weren't sure if they were ready.  In fact, Joshua was about 5 minutes away from us buying him a time slot for the next group, but he decided he wanted to wait and do it some other day.  It was a fun filled weekend.  This is weekend is not as busy, so we will be able to take it slow, which is always good to do.

 

Sorry, I am not able to post pics of the girls' faces, so that is why all the pics are of the kids backs.  I did get some cute ones of them smiling at me, and maybe someday I will be able to post them!

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!























































































































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