My Three Sons!

Survived the Wedding and Life is Good

2011-10-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

The wedding went well, except for my $15 of music that did not get played while the guests were arriving. I was a little bugged about that because we had the music at rehersal but they wouldn't play it on their sound system. We had to play it on our player. Thus, the day of the big event, the music would not play. The start of the ceremony was delayed about 15 minutes because they had to copy the processional and wedding march songs onto another CD.

It was a hot July day, but actually the coolest of all the days of July. Once again, I picked the perfect day!

Mike and the boys looked so handsome! The girls all looked beautiful and I felt like a princess! I love my dress and wish I could wear it any ol' time. I have had it cleaned and boxed for a future woman to wear. Maybe one of my future daughters-in-law, who knows.

Life is going on just as before, no new changes except for the rings on our fingers. Life is good. I couldn't be any happier!

Wedding Approaching

2011-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

The big day is creeping up quickly. This week I have managed to order the foil for the chocolates we are making...yep, we are making them. Mike is obsessed with Oreo cookies, so there will be two chocolate covered Oreo cookies at each place setting, along with a box or bag of chocolates. I am anxiously awaiting our bigger guest gift. It should be in this next week. I have ordered one of the girls items I am giving them and have purchased their jewelry. My friend Tracee is working on the deoorations and they are turning out fabulous! I am so excited to see the hall when it is all decked out. We paid in full for the flowers, cake, and other rented items; including the margarita machine! We are meeting with the DJ on Wednesday to go over the reception stuff. I downloaded and made a CD of the music for the wedding ceremony. I am pretty excited about it as it is not all traditional stuff, but more meaningful for us.

I go for my final dress fitting on the 2nd of July. My mom and sister are meeting me there. I am excited for them to see my dress. My sister needs to know how to bustle up the back. I think there will be quite a few buttons.

It's just a task of cleaning the house for the in-laws that are coming in and getting the little things done.

Other excitement this week was the butchering of our meat hens. I was fretting how I was going to take it, but let me tell you, it is all worth it. I had a friend come out and walk us through the whole process step by step. His method is much easier than what I have watched on TV. Speaking of TV, this is what brought me to raising my own meat hens. After watching several specials on Kentucky Fried Chicken and the chicken in the grocery store, I thought I would go vegetarian. Then, after speaking with families in our area I convinced myself to try meat hens. I know exactly what they have been eating and their pristine living conditions. They are cage free, free range, grain fed, and healthy, healthy, healthy! Tomorrow we are cooking up one. I wanted so bad to cook one yesterday freshly filleted, but Mike would have had to microwave it. We want to try it fresh off the grill. I am sure I will be raising more next spring. Hopefully enough to get us through the year. I am filleted 4 of my 5 and will use the carcasses for soup stock. I am not an avid soup eater, but think I will become one now! It is good for me to know I can keep us fed if times become tough. Beside our meat hens we have the 20 other hens and two roosters. We hatched 15 babies in May. So we have plenty of eggs to go along with our chicken. We also have our garden growing strong. I picked 5 cherry tomatoes today. They are so much better than the store bought!

We are on break from school this summer. Nico still does math and reading, but everything else is on hold. It has actually been very nice! We are planning on staying off until the end of August. We will definitely start up the beginning of September. We have a family camping trip planned for mid-August, so I know it will be after that. It is nice having so much free time and not worrying about getting lesson plans done for the next day. I have been preparing for the next school year by getting our curriculum in order. Luca will be starting a more structured pre-school program. Nico is moving onto 5th grade. I have changed some of our things around to a more literature based program. More the Charlotte Mason style of learning. I am excited about it as several of the classes I'll be able to dual teach in the future years, at the different levels.

That about wraps it up here.

Too Long!

2011-05-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Oh My! Time has gotten away from me~ I check in every week and read all the blogs I follow but am bad about updating my own. One I don't think many people read it and two I spend a lot of time on facebook and am posting so much there.

Anyway, wedding plans are on track. We have done a lot in the past week doing all the little things. We met with the florist, applied for our marriage license, ordered the cake, and visited the garden center for ideas and things to rent for the reception. My dress is in and it fits just about perfect, except for the bust area - go figure! I bought my shoes today and have an appointment with the seamstress next Saturday for a fitting. The invitations are all out. I love going to the mailbox to see who sent their RSVP back.

Our school year is still in progress but will be wrapping up within the next few weeks. We finally finished the school house! I spent the last week also moving things out of the house into the school. I can't believe the amount of stuff I have accumulated. I am sooooo glad I bought the building with the loft overhead, because I can hide most of my stuff. I have everything organized in totes by subject so when we finish one year, I just go through all the totes to see what I need for the next. I am also working on making lists of all the books I have so when we study a topic I can look at the list and go up and dig out what books I need.

Here are the boys in the new school house. We hope to run electric from the house to the building by winter so I can run a heater. We have the room all wired up and ready to go. I have added a small futon for a reading corner and a large bookshelf in the back for all our books we use and reference material. Nico will be moving onto 5th grade and Luca will be starting a more organized Pre-K year 2 program. He loves creating his letters with Hand Writing Without Tears and asks to do his lessons everyday.

Both boys played soccer this year. Luca had a blast just running around and making friends. Nico was more serious this year and really focused on his skills. I am so proud of both of them. Nico continues to dance HipHop and does his tumbling. He is excelling at both and hoping to go competitive in HipHop next year. He will be getting one on one lessons this summer. Luca will be starting tumbling and dance this summer. I am really pushing for him in tap and jazz to start with because now I can't get Nico to try tap at all. Luca can't take hiphop until he is 5.

Luca turned 4 this May. I can't believe it has been 3 years since my trip to Guatemala with Brian and Nico to celebrate his first birthday. He is such a character. He cracks me up everyday. He always has something funny coming out of his mouth. He is into so much more than Nico ever was and I mean getting into things. I have to keep a sharp eye on him. Nico is the best big brother ever and is a great help. It does not go unappreciated.

We have been having a good time with our chickens. Well, after the bout of largnyotrachetitis that they had. Many still have garbling breath sounds. I lost about 10 hens this summer. Lucky for me Missouri University Veterninary School took two of my birds and tested them so I could find out what they had. There is a vaccine for it. My 22 remaining chickens (2 roosters and 20 hens) are all immune to it now, but are carries of it. This spring one of the hens got really broody so we let her sit on 10 eggs. None of them hatched. They were slowing dissappearing and the last one she walked away from. We broke it open on day 24. There was a chick inside, but it must have stopped developing. I decided I was going to break down and buy an incubator. We put 15 eggs in it. We candled them and let them all go. I was totally surprised to find that all 15 hatched!!!! I cannot yet determine how many roosters we have ended up with though. I am hoping for more hens than roos. They are all so cute. Our two roosters are white leg horn and rhode island red. Thus, our chicks are mutts. Our hens range from americauna, rhode island red, red/white sex link, black austrolope, and new hampshire red.

We have been blessed to be missed by the horrible storms raging through the midwest. I pray for all those who have lost everything. I can't imagine what it would be like. We went through the house and collected toys and clothing to donate to some of the families. I know it is not a lot, but hoping it gave help to some.

So, until later.....all is good in our neck of the woods.

Say Yes To The Dress!

2011-01-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Since I started looking for a wedding dress, I have gotten addicted to this TV show. (Say Yes to the Dress)

So, I have said YES to my dress!

I am super excited about it and can't wait until July to walk down the aisle in it. I cannot post pictures because I don't want to ruin any surprises. I'll just say I was going to go with what I thought would be a '2nd wedding style' dress, but once I started trying on all the pretty dresses I had to change my mind! I remember my first marriage when I put on the dress I just knew it was the one. I walked out of the dress store last Wednesday evening pretty sure I wanted that dress but not totally convinced. That night I dreamt all night about me in that dress. So, Thursday evening I went up for a fitting and put my deposit down. I have about 4 months to wait for it to come in. I'll also add it is a designer dress, Alfred Angelo. (I had one I sort of liked at David's Bridal, but was so dissappointed with their service I didn't want to give them anything!)

I also have some fabulous tuxes picked out for Mike and the boys. We will made an appt. soon for them to try them on to be sure they all look fabulous in them. I am sure they will. Brian is going to be walking me down the aisle. I feel at 19 he is perfect for the job. I asked my dad today if he would be upset if Brian walked me down the aisle instead of him. He said, "No, not at all." With a big grin, "Brian will like that a lot." I think he was proud of my decision. Brian is very excited for me. He likes Mike and knows that we are very happy together. I have lots of other exciting surprises and beautiful things in store.

I am also amazed at the outpouring of help I am getting. My cousin is going to be our officiant - super excited about this. I also have a homeschool mom who I recently met that has offered to help me make the ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket with her lace machine!

On that note, I will leave you with pictures of me in my brother's wedding just two months ago.

Walking with my nephew. I can't believe he just turned 21!

My sister, my new sister-in-law, me having a drink at Hooter's!

Coming Together

2010-12-15T21:14:00.000-08:00

The wedding plans are starting to unfold now. Now that we have a date it is more encouraging to get moving. We have decided to look at a hall for the reception instead of the backyard. July in MO can be pretty awful and I was starting to fret about preparing and not being there in the morning. So, the boys had their dance recital and the Knights of Columbus Hall. I was surprised at how nice it was so I called to see how much it cost. I was pleasantly surprised!!! Mike did not get to go to the recital so we are going Sunday to look at it together and take some pictures of it to think about decorations. We are looking at tuxes on Friday.

We have selected our first dance and I have come up with some other great ideas. Most will be kept a secret until the big day. I am trying to make this wedding as different from my first as possible.

Other than that we have been busy with school, work, and preparing for Christmas. We had a nice little snow this week which brought us all outside with a new sled! It was heaps of fun. However, tonight it was freezing rain...ugh!!! Mike is at work so I hope he gets home safely tomorrow morning.

The chickens are doing great and keeping warm. They don't really have much desire to get out in the cold. It's a good thing because today I saw a coyote in the field as we were driving in. He was beautiful, but I don't want him eating my chickens.
here are the girls and two guys keeping warm. We got one rooster (the big white leghorn) from a friend and then it turns out one of the Rhode Island Reds is a rooster. I don't mind I love the sound of my roosters as long as they get along and aren't mean to us. We handle them as much as we can when they are young. I never thought I would have such a fondness for chickens, but they are great!!!!
I just had to add a picture of my handsome Nico. He is growing up so fast!!! Please someone stop time!!! He is such a charmer and a sweet, loving boy. He is truly a dream come true for me. My life is so full and perfect!!!

Wedding Plans

2010-12-06T02:22:00.000-08:00

Well, the wedding plans are underway! The date is set for July 16, 2011. This just happens to be my big sister's birthday. She is delighted to have such a big party on her birthday.

The plan is to have it in our backyard. I am on the search for free tables. I figure the less tables I have to rent the better off I am. We are trying to keep the cost as low as we can, but yet still have a beautiful wedding. I know it will work out just fine. I think the most expensive part will be the food and beverages.

More to follow as the plan unfolds.

Adoption Blog Hop

2010-11-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

In the month of November, for Adoption Awareness month, there is an adoption blog hop taking place. Even if you do not have a blog or do not want to enter yours, take this opportunity to visit other blogs and meet other families who have been blessed by the miracle of adoption. You can find out more about it here at http://foster2forever.blogspot.com/p/adoption-blog-hop.html

What a great idea to help those who are interested in adoption, are adopting, or who have adopted meet other families in similar situations. The adoption community is full of the most supportive, amazing people I have had the privilege of "meeting".

My name is Debbie, the adoptive mom to 3 wonderful boys.

My oldest son, Brian, is now 18 and living on his own. He was a private adoption that popped up when we were getting ready to start the waiting game with Catholic Charities. He came to us with a few know complications, which turned out to be a misdiagnosis. He was finally diagnosed correctly when he was 7 years old. His dad and I divorced when he was 2 years old. It was a very difficult journey, but he thrived. He still struggles with some things in life, but has gone farther than anyone expected.

(You can follow more of Brian's story at http://lifewithcms.blogspot.com/

When I was divorced I knew I wanted to have more children. Through international adoption I brought home Nico. He was 18 months and is such a joy. I had brought Brian to an Adoption Fair at one of the local high schools. This is where the adoption agencies present their programs. Brian was 9 at the time. He was so disappointed when I didn't bring him home a baby brother that night. I was blessed to select Nico off a waiting list on the internet and bring him home 7 months later. He is now 9 years old and such a charmer. He is so intellegent, funny, and a fantastic brother.

I thought I was finished adopting and started getting rid of the baby items I had. Suddenly I felt the pull for another child. By this time I was living with Mike and told him I wanted to adopt again. I proceeded with the paperwork and had to have him involved even though he was not adopting. He was such a trooper through it all. It took me 8 months to get the dossier ready. I was so frustrated because Guatemala was going to stop taking referrals the end of Dec. 2007. I finally received the referral for Luca mid October. I was on cloud 9...3 boys!!! Again, I hit all the lucky spots as I got Luca home in 9 months. I visited him twice because I was so worried he wouldn't get home. (Sadly, several children are still stuck in the changed process in Guatemala).

My life would not be as full if these wonderful boys had not come into my life. People always tell me how special I am and how lucky the boys are....they are so wrong. It is the other way around. My boys are the special ones and I am the lucky one to be blessed to be their mama!

A Few Pictures

2010-09-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

We have been crazy busy since we started full swing back to school. All the sports and extra curricular activities started back up and it's go, go, go.

Nico is continuing his tumbling and hip hop. He is in an advanced hip hop class at a new studio. It is my sweet 9 year old and about 10 teen age girls. It is so adorably cute. He doesn't have all the hip swinging, chest wagging moves, but he has the floor moves such as the worm and head spins. The recital should be quite spectacular! He is also playing soccer this fall. We really like his coach this year. Hopefully it is a team he can stick with.

Luca started hip hop bitty bop this semester. For two weeks all we heard was, 'hip hop, hip hop'. We get to class and all he does is stand there. I was so disappointed, but we will try again next week. He was paying attention because he heard the song the other day and immediately said, 'hip hop'. I told him yes, now show me the peanut butter smash, and he did. Thus, he was totally paying attention!

As for me, it's work, create lesson plans, teach, work with the now 30 chickens we have, finish the school house, make a small chicken coop, and driving the kids around. I love my life!!!

We took a one day trip to Springfield, IL. Mike had training to do there, so we made a family trip out of it. We visited Abraham Lincoln's Home and the Museum. It was a great museum and trip. He we are at the corner with the house behind us.

Here we are posing with Lincoln and his family.

I couldn't pass up this picture of Luca walking down the sidewalk with the picket fence. Nothing like running your hand across the fence as you walk.

Luca and I sitting by the lake at the Air Evac base in Springfield, IL.

Here we are in our MOGUATE t-shirts on our trip to Tan-Tar-A for the MOGUATE get together. It was a beautiful weekend and a lot of fun.

My handsome, charming Nico on our trip to Daniel Boone's home right here in Defiance, MO.

Sweet, baby Luca. This has become his official PreK - 3 year picture.

Big, Bad Brian. This is him post 2nd surgery on his jaw. He can now bite with his front teeth. But still refuses to smile for a posed picture.

Time Gets Away

2010-08-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go? I can't believe kids are starting back to school already. For us, as homeschoolers, we attend school all year long. We take off when we go on vacation and cut back to a few classes during the summer instead of the full load. This summer just seemed so short for the 'regular' school kids. Nico gets a week off next week because he is attending a pottery class for 4 days for 3 hours a day. After that, it is full steam ahead for us too. I am looking forward to new text books and new topics. I am also starting Luca's year 1 preschool. I looked back at Nico's book and realized I started everything with him when he was 32 months. Luca is now 38 months. He is doing great, but I really need to start focusing on one-on-one time with him. I am also going to have his hearing checked as there are many words he has a hard time saying (I can't even begin to understand them). Often though, he speaks very well with 5-8 word sentences. Today he told me, "No, I stay here with dad." when I told him we had to leave.

Since our big vacation to the east coast we have also gone to Santa Claus, Indiana which has a super fun water and amusement park. There is a campground (Lake Rudolph) right next door where we camped. This is our second time there as it is only a 4 hour drive and a lot of fun. We attended MOGUATE at Tan-Tar-A on the Lake of the Ozarks. It is an annual get together of families with children adopted from Guatemala. It started out 4 years ago focusing around families from Missouri. It has now turned into much more with families from Ohio, Minnesota, and Louisiana. It was great fun. I hardly took any pictures. (We spent a lot of time in the pool). The kids all grow so much.

We have a mini trip to Springfield, IL coming up as Mike has some training to do there. We also have a family camping trip planned. Well, my cousins planned it (an annual trip for them) and we are joining in this year. It is at a campground within 25 minutes of our house. Super fun times coming there. My cousins have LOTS of boys near my boys ages.

Phew, that wore me out just thinking about all the fun we have had this summer. We have been truly blessed being able to spend this time together.

(I will post photos hopefully next week. I want to fix some up before I post them).

Post Vacation

2010-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Our vacation this year was one of the best. We saw and did so much in just 2.5 weeks, even with a minor delay (the breakdown). It was quite fun even spending the night in the Autozone parking lot. A wonderful couple stopped and helped us on Sunday morning. They were on their way home from church and saw the kids running around outside (and saw us the night before) so figured we were broke down. They drove Mike to every automotive store in town and no one had the parts we needed. Mike ended up bleeding the brakes thinking maybe something just got stuck in the master cylinder. Well, that seemed to do the trick. I was so worried about getting the RV back home and the cost of towing it from PA. Mike decided we were only 3 hours from Hershey, PA so we would try it. Someone was watching over us...we made it and continued each day on our trip. The ride home took us 23 hours (well, more with the traffic in CT, that was crazy!). We made it with no problems.

We learned so much on our journey. It was great to be able to add the hours of educational stuff to our homeschooling hours. I can tell Nico did retain a lot of information as he still talks about some of the things and is now able to picture the things in his mind as we started back up on our lessons this week.

I cannot pick one favorite thing as it was all great. Each place had something special about it. The most special though, was visiting these places with my children and fiance. It brought back so many memories of when I was a kid and we went RVing for two weeks. There is no way we could have done all we did by flying at the amount we spent.

Luca absorbed so many new words (and no not curse words :-) by being with us all day and NO TV!!! (only DVD's while we were driving). He is speaking with 4-5 words sentences and clearly gets his point across now. We will begin weaning off the TV viewing at home while I am working with Nico and getting Luca to sit in the classroom and work on things as well. Yesterday he spent 1/2 hour doing puzzles and another 20 minutes stringing beads. He really doesn't watch that much TV and is home with me all day, but the time closer together made a big difference. It was hard to leave them again and go back to work.

I wish Brian could have traveled with us. He was recovering from his second jaw surgery (which went very well.) Here we are on Pennsylvania Ave. with the Capitol building behind us.

I took over 900 photos! I will be busy scrapbooking soon I hope! Here are only 4 of the photos. By camera or camera lens needs a serious cleaning. Every photo needs to be edited. I will pick 4 of my favorites and use them to decorate the house with. We like to use our own photos instead of spending a fortune on some beach scene we have never been to.

Nico took this one of Mike and me at Plymouth Bay.

These two photos are of us at the Gettysburg Battle Field. It gave me goose bumps as we drove through here. We took a guided tour. It was very informational and taught me more than I ever learned in school.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. We are off to Santa Clause, Indiana for three fun filled days of amusement park!!!

Vacation Fun

2010-06-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we are on day 6 of our vacation. We have made it to DC and are looking forward to 5 days of visiting with family and sightseeing. We are here for a wedding reception for Mike's cousin and his family is coming from Oregon. We haven't seen them in about 5 years. I am excited to see them and get all the kids together.

We have already been to Hershey, PA and Gettysburg, PA. We enjoyed it all, especially the chocolate.

We ran into a little difficulties early in the trip with the brakes. Mike seems to think the problem is solved since we have not had any issues since. I believe we were not suppose to be where we wanted to be so our guardian angel, Grandpa Sequeira, who owned the RV before us stopped us from going. For whatever reason, all is good now. We will plan on continuing up the east coast.

One downfall is the death of two of our chickens at home. We have friends who are 'farm-camping' at our house and are dealing with the issues. I feel bad for them as we have not had any predators get our chickens in the last year until we have left. I feel not having our dog around may have brought other critters to the house. Poor Petey was put to sleep about 3 weeks ago. Now I have an excuse to get a new puppy!!!! Although I miss Petey deeply.

Well, off for now as we are relaxing to cold beers and the boys playing.

Dance Recital Video

2010-06-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple links Nico's dance recital. I am so proud of him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34dUZpWzso this link is the actual recital. It is not very clear, but it is the actual with all the crowd cheering...sorry for my loud voice ;-) (I have a professional video on order).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHOhaHiUNVc this link is the dress rehearsal. It is much clearer, but he doesn't do his head spin on this one.

We like this studio, but are checking out a new one in town next week. They perform in nursing homes, street shows, parades, and have an end of the year performance. I really want Nico to get comfortable with all kinds of performances.

Enjoy!

Pay It Forward

2010-06-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner has a McLinky up on Random Acts of Kindness. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/06/show-us-your-life-random-acts-of.html

I wanted to link my Pay it Forward expereince to this.

Saturday we had a wonderful 'Pay it Forward' experience. I had just donated some money that morning to the relief funds for Guatemala. They were hit hard with a volcano eruption then a tropical storm with mudslides and flooding. Families lost what very little they had many including their whole home.

A few hours later we went to an auction in town. We were browsing the items on the trailers when Nico spotted a tackle box. He kept admiring it and all its contents asking us, "Can we bid on it?" We told him we would when they got down to it. About 45 minutes they got to that trailer. The whole time Nico had be 'guarding' and admiring the tackle box. The bidding started and we capped out at $20. The bidding for this tackle box kept going. When the final bid was done, the man who won it said, "Pass that box over to that little boy." (meaning Nico). He must have been watching Nico admiring that tackle box the whole time. We have no idea who this man is but Nico went over to him and gave him a hug and a thank you. Never would I have expected someone I have never met to give something like that to my son.

The rest of the week Nico has been trying to think of a way to Pay it Forward. He donated his $1 he earned for getting an A on a test to the kidney foundation outside the grocery store instead of buying a toy.

Spring Recital

2010-06-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

Nico had his dress rehearsal and pictures for the spring recital tonight. He looked soooo good. He remembered his routine and did great. The real show is Sunday. Here are some photos of my handsome young man. I am so proud of him.

Our Life in Pictures

2010-05-06T10:03:00.001-07:00

This is a post of pictures and the happenings of the last month or so. I can't believe it but Brian turned 18 in March. This picture was from November, but you get the idea of how he has changed. He now has his own car. It scares me to think of him driving around on his own, but he seems to have matured a bit with the added responsibility of driving. I pray he keeps his head about him and doesn't do anything stupid like hot-rodding, drinking and driving, drugs, acting cool. You get the point.

This is Brian at 3 months of age. We had no idea of the obstacles we/he would face. He was always so strong willed. He gave it his all. I wish he still had that motivation. He seems to give up a lot as he got older. He is so smart and funny. People really enjoy him when they meet him. He is very social and loving. I can't imagine my life without this special boy.

Our homeschool coop is getting ready to wrap up our 'structured' learning classes. We will be switching to park days for the summer. We have been studying the states all year. This is a picture of our study of Hawaii. We learned many fact about Hawaii, set off a volcano, and had a luau. The kids were adorable and had fun wearing their bright colors.

Here are the boys Easter Day. It turned out to be such a warm beautiful day. For once we had an Easter with no rain.

Luca smelling the flowers.

This is our rooster Devestator. Unfortunately he is no longer with us. We think the buffalo gnats got him, however, we are not sure. The hens all seem fine. We do not know how old he was since we got him from another family. He may have died of other complications. I really miss his crowing throughout the day. We have 15 new chickens so we are hoping one is a rooster.
Mike had 2 large piles of dirt delivered to the house. The boys had a couple of fun days playing in the dirt before it was all moved around.
Luca especially had a blast on the dirt.

Nico and Luca have fun feeding the chicks by hand. We purchased 10 chicks that are growing up together. I never knew that chickens could be so affectionate. We have handled them since we got them (at 5 days of age). They still like to come right up to you and let you hold them. We are hoping we can introduce them to the 5 remaining big hens without any problem.

Last week we purchased 5 Americauna chicks. They are suppose to lay bluish/greenish eggs. They are so adorably cute. They have these little round heads and big eyes. (just like Nico here).

Surgeries for Brian

2010-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Brian surgeries have both been scheduled for June 17. He is having his jaw surgery redone. Yep, redone. This time they are working on the upper jaw. Totally removing the jaw and moving it around The procedure sounds painful, but Brian is so strong! He has to donate blood for this one. This surgery will probably change the shape of his face more. They expect to bring the 'sunken' in part of his cheeks out and his upper lip down. I hate that he has to have this a second time, but with all he has been through, we feel he needs to have it finished up. This surgery is being redone because the first one did not close his jaw as expected.

His back surgery (to fuse the lower part of his back, not fused when he was 5) is scheduled for October. He has to donate blood for this one as well. This surgery will fix the very large curve that has occurred in the lower portion of his back as he has grown over the last 13 years. His hips are greatly out of line and he walks with a large limp. With the spine being fused and straightened it will realign his hips. We are hoping this fixes the problem he has been having with pain in his knees.

I hate to see my baby boy go through so much, but hopefully these are the last. We knew he would have at least the jaw surgery once he was grown, but the back was not expected. I am so grateful for the wonderful surgeons we have and the skill they have to help Brian.

Brian is doing well with school. He should be finished with his online degree by December. He is driving his own car now...this scares me so much!!!! I know we have to let go sometime, but I am just not ready. He seems to be maturing a bit more. I love this boy with all my heart and pray that he makes the right decisions in his life. He has come so far and battled so much.

Talking Machine!

2010-04-11T03:06:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! Luca has taken off talking and is not stopping. He was doing great before, but over the last two weeks he is really going to town.

The new cute word he says is HOME. I love to hear him say this for more than its cuteness, but because it is home to him and he feels right at home. He says this when we are driving or out, "Mama, where go? Home?"

He loves the sun. We had several weeks a few months back where we didn't see the sun for several days at a time. Everytime the sun was out I would say, "Yay, SUN!" He now says this in the morning as I open his bedroom curtain. He says, "Yay, sun" while clapping his little hands together and the biggest grin on his face.

He cannot say helicopter, but instead makes the sound of a helicopter. Nico was trying to get Luca to say, "Daddy flies a helicopter." Luca would repeat, "Daddy fly bbmmmm." We cracked up!

He verbalizes well what he wants. If we don't understand him he grabs our hands and leads us to what he is talking about. He tends to drop the ending sounds off many words such as up, cup, net, etc...but will put the ending on words such as home, dime, down, etc. We just keep reiterating the ending sounds on words to him. I know he will get it. Nico did the same thing when he was that age.

His new favorite TV show is "Diego." We were in blockbuster and he saw a video and quickly grabbed it saying, "wayweo" his version of Diego. He watches that DVD over and over. The Easter Bunny brought him his own Rescue Pack and he carries it around quite a lot.

He loves to sing. We will be driving and a song will come on, suddenly this cute little voice from the back seat is singing the words right along with the radio. His favorite songs are by the Black Eyed Peas, but he sings several. I need to start him on the preschool nursery rhyme songs rather than my 107.7 music.

He loves the new baby chickens and is not afraid to let them eat out of his hands. He giggles when they peck the food out of them.

We started potty training Dec. 23...that was the last day of diapers. He is doing great with the peeing in the potty, but we were having a hard time with the pooping. I refused to put him back in diapers!! He would run and hide then come out (with his pants full) and tell us, "doo-doo". Welllll, for the last week he has told me each time he has had to go poopy. He calls it 'nana butt'. It got this name because the one time earlier he went on the potty, he looked in and said, "nana!" (banana). I said yes, "nana butt"....ever since then it stuck...I figure, hey whatever works!

Luca just loves his brothers to death. He is also very much a daddy's boy. He is my boy too, but when Daddy comes in, forget about mom.

There are lots and lots of other adorable things about him and his development, but those are some of the high spots on my mind at 5am in the morning after a long night of work. I will post pictures later this week.

Pictures

2010-03-19T17:09:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the fun we have been having so far this year. Just last week we bought these adorable little chicks. We are now up to 10 baby chicks to add to our already 5 hens and 1 rooster. We are on the hold list for 5 araucana chicks. Nico is hoping to go to the farmer's markets next year when the chicks should be at their peek production.

This was an interesting adventure on our trip to Montauk State Park, in southern Missouri. Our accelerator cable broke as we were getting off the highway. Mike with all his ingenuity rigged the cable up so he could get us to a part store. He was able to get it fixed enough to get us to the park where it then broke again when we went to leave - luckily my brother had his truck there and brought Mike into town to get more wire to repair it again. Lucky for us we made it back home.

Here are my mom, dad, and my crew of boys. It was a great trip because my mom and dad came and stayed in my brother's camper.
Vernon, my younger brother (but the oldest twin) is helping Nico get ready to fish. I think Vernon enjoyed showing Nico the ropes.

A hollow log we found that was fun to take pictures while looking through.

A snapshot of us on our little hike.

Nico won't eat the fish, but he will kiss them. He caught one each day. We cooked them up when we got home. They were delicious. We had fish fry one night at camp from the fish Vernon caught. He could only have 8 in his possession at one time, so we had to eat some so he could catch more.

This was the last morning. It was the only morning we got Nico up early to start fishing when the siren started. The fog over the river was beautiful. Mike and I sat on the bank with our coffee and watched them fish. Nico had one and it got away. Vernon caught two within a half hour. We are definitely looking forward to going again next year.

In February we went to Kansas City, Kansas to get a little 'warm weather' fix. While it wasn't warm outside, it was warm inside the indoor water park. Brian went with us on this trip.

I love this picture of Mike and Luca. I love Luca's pose. He is such a doll and Mike is a great Daddy!

Here we are. The love of my life.

Mommy and her littlest angel.

The kids sleep area was their own little sectioned off area. It had bunk beds on the other side. Luca slept in his first big boy bed without any problems. He didn't get out of bed at all.
They had story time each night. I dressed Luca in his jammies and we snuggled down to listen to the story.

Luca absolutely loved the water slide. He went non-stop.

Nico also had a great time on the slides. I love seeing my boys smile. Seeing these happy faces and hearing their laughter make me one, proud, happy mama!

Spring Break!

2010-03-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

One of the many things I love about homeschooling is that we get to pick the week we take spring break. My brother asked early in the year for us to join him on a camping trip this month. It quickly became our spring break. It looks like the weather might even cooperate and be nice!

We are headed to Montauk State Park in southern Missouri. The park is known for its trout fishing. Nico is looking forward to fishing with his Uncle Vernon, Grandpa, and dad. I am excited my mom and dad are going as well. It was on the fence for mom as she came down with an infection in her gum but was able to get to the dentist to get some medicine. She will be heading out with us in our camper on Tuesday. Dad and Vernon went on Monday.

Brian was going to go with us, but I finally convinced him to call his dad last Thursday. They chatted for a while and he went over there this weekend. He decided he is going to go to Wisconsin with them as they are headed there for some family event on their side. I am glad he talked to his dad and hope that all stays on tract. I hope he stays away from the rotten kids he was hanging out with too. I think he is coming back to our house next week, but who knows. As he said in a letter to his, "DIVORCE STINKS!". We have been divorced since he was 2 yo but I guess you just don't get used to it. He is lucky he has two parents who love him and fight over him so much!

We did have a great week and a half while Brian was with us. The kids got along great, Brian did as he was told, and he completed his school work as instructed and did well. He applied for a few jobs, but hasn't gotten any phone calls yet. I am just glad he made the effort. I can't ask for more than that. We had a great time in Kansas City. It actually worked well in that we left the boys at the hotel since Brian was there while Mike and I went out to The Yard House, for an appetizer and beer sampling. (I found a new yummy beer called the Lindeman's Framboise. It is a delicious raspberry beer).

I will post pictures next week of both of our trips. We will also be getting new baby chicks. Nico has requested baby chicks that he can raise and hopes to sell the eggs. (This is to go with our 5 hens and 1 rooster we already have.)

Crazy Happenings

2010-03-08T02:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, things have been busy at our house!

Brian, the 17 year old, has been keeping us on our toes. A few weeks ago he stayed out for 36 hours (without his medication) and would not answer his phone. You talk about a frazzled mama and papa! We were to the point where I was calling news stations to get his picture on the news when his dad found him at someone's house. Oh boy the relief. But, oh boy, the anger at him for not at least calling. His dad kept him with him for a week; taking him to work and keeping him close to him. The next week he gave him a little bit of lee-way, leaves him at home and he pulls it again! He takes off with these kids and doesn't tell anyone and doesn't come home! His dad called me, so I tried calling Brian and he did answer the phone when I called. I don't know what was going on in his mind (or what still is), but he refused to go back to his dad's house and would only let me pick him up. (At least he came home with me!) We talked to his dad, but Brian wouldn't give any explanations, just that he wasn't going to stay there with his dad. I felt so bad for his dad as I know how he was feeling because Brian did the same thing about a year ago. He said he hated my house and wanted to live with his dad, however, he didn't sever the ties like he did with his dad this time. Even though I am divorced from his dad, his dad is always there. I couldn't have made it through these years without the help from his dad. With all of Brian's medical issues, it takes two! So, now we are establishing our lives again with Brian in the house full time. I love having him home, but get so frustrated at having to remind him to do anything! (clean up after yourself, take a shower, brush your teeth, no eating in the LR, eat healthy, do some chores, take your medicine, complete your school work). On the school work front at least he is doing that. He is completing an online HS degree (which I don't particularly like, but at this point we will continue with it and get it done. I'll fill in as we go along). I love him to death and am hoping I can get him to see how precious his life is and how much he really has to offer to the world. He is filling out job applications and hoping to land at least a part time job and meet some good friends from the area. Living in the country makes it hard to meet people.

I have had to explain to Nico that he needs to keep doing what he has always done. Nico is a self motivator and will pick up and clean when he sees it needs to be done. He keeps his toys in order and works hard at his school work. He very rarely talks back. We have seen when Brian is with us that Nico will tend to act up (not listening, lagging behind, goofing off when he needs to focus, etc). After the first couple days, things settled in and our week went smoothly.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our journey. Brian has two more major surgeries coming up and cannot risk going out on his own yet. He has so much to learn and so much to do before he is even ready to take that leap. I pray he gains the sight to see this and strive to get where he needs to be with our help. I am with him every step of the way. I pray I have the patience to hold my tongue and not say some of the things I am feeling, but be able to communicate effectively with Brian and the boys. I will be using this blog as my venting stage, so please don't think poorly of me if my frustration shows through here.

The Valentine Box

2010-02-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Every year is so much fun for Valentine's Day. It was tradition when we were kids to make a valentine box for school. There were always competitions and we would try to make the best. My dad would come up with the best ideas. I am so uncreative in this area. Every year now I let Nico choose what kind of box he wants to make (pasts boxes; T-Rex and a giraffe). It is always something quite challenging. This year proved to be no different. I enjoy helping him create them, but they are always his idea, Mike and I just help with cutting shapes, etc. This year though, Nico was able to do most of it himself. Don't look ahead and see if you can figure out what he made by looking at each picture. He asked for help with the painting and holding boxes together, but that was it. Here's the start...taping a series of boxes in a certain order.
Spray painting it gray...thanks to daddy for having the gray primer spray paint, this would have taken forever to paint by hand.
Adding some fine details.
Adding even finer details....you probably guessed it by now!
And here it is in all it's glory...the Empire State Building...complete with King Kong, the girl, and the airplane. He really wanted to make the airplane fly around the top...but we didn't have all the parts to make that happen this year. Nico stands about 45"...so you can see how tall this is. I am hoping it rides carefully in the van to our Valentine Party with our homeschool friends. (We have two of them to attend).

We don't have competitions anymore, but Nico has fun creating and showing his work. He is going to be making a box for Luca to bring as well....not near as elaborate, but sure to be adorable! Pictures next week!

Just the Run of the Mill

2010-02-07T17:47:00.001-08:00

I feel so bad not getting my blog updated, but not a whole lot has been happening. Since Christmas we are just in the mode of school work, cleaning the closets, and organizing the house.

Nico is doing fanastic on his lessons and it makes the days go by quickly. Luca is doing better keeping himself occupied (in a good way) while we are doing lessons. He likes to sit and watch TV more (only educational shows) and he likes to draw. He will come in the school room and say, "Draw" and pull out his special box of crayons. He'll sit at the table and draw. He is now drawing small circles vs the big round scribbles. He will say, "round, round, round; see mommy!" Of course, we praise with great voices and clapping. He also likes drawing on the dry erase board. We plan to start preschool (at home of course) in July when our next school year starts. He will be 3 in May! He is already doing school type things anyway, but we will officially start organized activities for a couple hours a day. He also loves puzzles and is very good at them.

We are excited to be going to Kansas City, Kansas the end of the month with my friend from work (and her husband). We are headed to the Great Wolf Lodge which has an indoor water park. I am so ready to get a break and go somewhere. The kids will have a blast. We are hoping to go to a couple of other museums or such in the area as well. Just quality time away from home will be fun.

I am hoping to post pictures soon. I haven't taken a whole lot since Christmas. Nico did make an amazing Valentine box this year and I will post pictures of that.

You Tube videos

2010-01-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

Mike bought me a new video camera for Christmas. I wanted to take video and put it on my blog or youtube so the family could see us in action.

It seems to take FOREVER for the video to load on the blog so I have put them on youtube. The first was a trial run to see if it worked. This one is a short one of Luca laughing hysterically as he crashes the R/C helicopter on the simulator. Hearing my boys laughing and playing makes my day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1Y076nnPI

Debbie's Daybook

2010-01-12T19:49:00.001-08:00

FOR TODAY January 12... from Debbie's Daybook
http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Outside my window... a cold, clear night with lots and lots of stars shining overhead.

I am thinking... how cold I am.

I am thankful for... a nice house to keep me warm (although I can't seem to warm up after being outside).

I am wearing... jeans and a flannel shirt (yep, still cold).

I am remembering... 2007, as I want to continue scrapbooking tonight and am that far behind.

I am going... to scrapbook tonight while sipping wine and catching up on "Lost" (season 4).

I am currently reading...the same thing I was last week.

I am hoping... for a productive day tomorrow. We start back to art class and have to get our lessons finished before we leave.

On my mind... my renters who have avoided my phone calls to pay their rent this month.

Noticing that... my desk is a mess.

Pondering these words... "pun bah" (I am hearing my 2 year old's little voice in my head trying to say Sponge Bob)

From the kitchen... bean soaking for home-made ham and bean soup.

Around the house... Luca sleeping and Nico getting his PJ's on.

One of my favorite things~ Nico's laugh

From My Picture Journal:

Nico playing in the first snow of 2010. It was so cold and windy. However, we had to go out and take some pictures.

Yep, that's Luca in there, not Sponge Bob!

Catching UP

2010-01-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, having our modem down really gave me time to organize some things around the house, but I felt lost not checking facebook and updating my blog with pictures. Here are only a few of the many, many pictures I took during our holiday.

Our adoption agency, Children of the World, had their annual Christmas party. There was a big turn out. It was so great to meet many families that I talked with, but never met in person. The children are all so beautiful. Here is Uncle Rudy with all his kids.

The boys visited with Santa while we were at the Christmas party.

Mike, Nico, and I had a big night out to see the Ambassadors of Harmony. We went with our friends Bill and Ellen. We couldn't take pictures of the show, but here we are together at the show. Nico was excited to have a night out with mom and dad.

Another holiday activity we did was go to the St. Louis Zoo for their holiday lights. My uncle took us on a special day when there was free food and drinks (well, free to us :-) Here is Luca showing off his favorie ~ COOKIE!

We got to ride the merry-go-round. We actually rode it twice, even though it makes me sick. Here is my dad and Nico. He is the best dad EVER!

Here is Nico and my sister, Sandi. She is the boys second mom as they are with her 3 nights a week while I am working. I have nothing to worry about when they are with her. She is the best sister EVER!

Nico is making Zeus a reindeer kitty. He looks thrilled doesn't he.

Nico and I posing by our tree just minutes after decorating it :-)

A great photo of me decorating the tree.

Here we are Christmas morning in our Sponge Bob Jammies! The boys shirts say, Sponge Bob Merrypants.
Here is the whole clan (minus Mike as he was working.) We will also be gaining a sister-in-law along with her two daughters in October. She lives in Australia and will join us in Oct. 2010. We are looking forward to our family getting larger.

I am hoping to have video tomorrow. Mike bought me a new mini camcorder to do some videos with that I can upload to you tube and hopefully my blog.

Debbie's Daybook

2010-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is something new I am going to try. It is "The Simple Women's Daybook" blog. It was started by Peggy.

I want to try to put some more thought into my days and memories, instead of just plugging along in a hurry all day.

The Simple Woman's Daybook will be posted each Monday.

To participate, click on this link
http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY, January 4, 2010... from Debbie's Daybook

Outside my window… snow, ice, and very cold temperatures.

I am thinking... about some fun things to do with the kids on our last two days of Christmas vacation.

I am thankful for... my family and another wonderful holiday being all together.

I am wearing... jeans and a Rams sweatshirt…but would love to be in my comfy Sponge Bob jammies.

I am remembering... our first Christmas home with Luca last year and how much he has changed in the year.

I am going... to get some scrapbooking completed this week.

I am currently reading... The Weight of Silence, a novel, by Heather Gudenkauf

I am hoping... to bring the boys to see The Chipmunks, the Squeakqul.

On my mind... my oldest son Brian and how he is doing.

Noticing that... my house is a disaster from all the Christmas gatherings. I must get the tree down this week.

From the kitchen... planning on making ham and bean soup with the leftover ham bone.

Around the house... take the tree down, organize the downstairs closet, and get the new toys organized.

One of my favorite things~ my children!

From my picture journal...

Here we are, Luca (14 months in the picture) and myself, arriving in St. Louis from Guatemala, August 7, 2008. He was forever home! My family was there to greet us and meet our newest addition. What a memorable day. (Oh, how I miss those curls!)

Luca's Present to Me!

2009-12-27T23:27:00.001-08:00

At 31 months, Luca gave me a wonderful Christmas present this year....he is potty trained (well, except for the poopy part). As of Christmas Day he was wearing big boys for the third day and dry all three days. I was a little worried about Christmas Day with all the excitement, but he did great! He now tells us when he has to go 'do-do'. His reward is a dum-dum sucker. It is so cute when he says "dum-dum" when he is finished. That reward will be tapering off and only given when a poopy is given in the toilet.

My goal was to have this accomplished by Christmas. I use cloth diapers and many of the cloth diapers are wearing thin. I did not want to have to buy new ones.

He is still in a diaper for bed time, but wakes up every morning dry. This week I'll be trying the big boy's I bought that we can put inserts in for sleeping - just in case.

Hopefully pictures to come this week (we are waiting for a working modem to arrive at home).

I want to wish everyone a blessed and safe New Year!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

I want to wish all my blog followers (and lurkers) a very Merry Christmas!!!

My modem is down at home and I am internetless there. I was going through withdrawal until I arrived at work on Friday. I have some really cute pictures of the boys to post with Santa and our tree, but I can't load the photos at work.

The boys are all ready for Santa's big night, however, mom is not quite. I still have a few last gifts and all the food to purchase. I am so grateful I am off the 3 days before Christmas and Mike is off to. (that means he can help - but not eat all the cookies - he has eaten almost all of the two batches I already made). I still have to wrap all the presents, but this will be fun. I am planning on locking Mike and myself in the bedroom after the kiddos are in bed, watching Weeds, Season 4, sipping wine, and wrapping away!

Luca is growing so fast. My baby boy is turning into a little boy. He is a talking machine. He now says, "I want one", soft (while rubbing his jammies), outside, boots, coat, socks, "I love you", "Petey, no" (that's the dog), and many other phrases. He is such a character. He is also into EVERYTHING. Neither one of the other two boys were chair movers or climbers....Luca keeps me busy. He rearranges the kitchen chairs to get to the cabinets where he knows there is candy or gum. We know when it is too quiet in the house he is up to something. I love his adventerous spirit. He is trying to count. We always count steps when we go up and down them. He has now started counting them on his own...but skips number 2. He loves to sing and sings the ABC's with his leap frog.

We are looking forward to a wonderful holiday. Mike is working day shift and will be gone from 5:30am-7pm...but the boys will open most of their gifts with me and we'll save several for when daddy gets home.

I can't wait for our fun filled day on Christmas when the whole family gets together. I love this time of year!

Happy Holidays to everyone. (Hopefully this week we'll have our new modem and back on line so I can post pictures. I am also missing my facebook!)

I Love Being Fought Over

2009-12-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

Even though I was dead tired today (after working all night), I totally enjoyed hearing my children fight over me. I was sleeping when little Luca wondered in the bedroom and climbed up in bed with me. He snuggled up to me and asked for "Ponge Ba" (Sponge Bob). I turned on the TV and dozed back off. Soon Nico came in and snuggled up next to me with a big hug. Next thing I know here is Luca again, hugging me and saying, "Mommy". Nico then says, "My Mommy", Luca says "My Mommy" and tries to push Nico's arm off of me.

It made my day and made me get up and give them both huge hugs and kisses.

What I am Most Thankful For...My Family

2009-12-01T20:33:00.000-08:00

My family means everything to me. My brothers, sister, and I have always been close. While it might not have appeared that way, we were. We always stuck up for each other and helped each other out (Well, except when Sandi had that nasty bug on her nose in Branson, no one helped her then..sorry). My family is always there when I call. My 3 beautiful sons make my world. The wonderful blessing of adoption is something else I am thankful for. Without it, I wouldn't be a MOMMY! I love you family! Thanks for always being there, even if you don't agree with what I say or do.

Just Another Day

2009-11-25T21:53:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone. I will have photos to post later in the week as tomorrow we are heading to my sister's house for some yummy fixings and family fun. I am also going into work at midnight, but that's okay, they will all be sleeping anyway.

Last week Brian spent some time with us. Luca and Nico were so excited! Luca now says "BriBri" for Brian. That is what I taught Nico to call him when he was young. Luca picked it up quick. He has been looking for BriBri all week.

We went roller skating with our Lincoln County Homeschool group. They get together once a month as the local Skate Barn for some leisure time. Nico has to get his lessons completed on that Friday in order for us to go. This week he made it and we were glad. Brian came up to me, gave me a hug and said, "Thanks for taking me here mom, this was fun!" (That totally made my day - he is 17!) I had told him when they started skating, "Just don't fall on your face!" He is doing absolutely fantastic!!! He ate well while he was here and I sent him home to his dad's with some goodies to eat.

Here is Brian 14 days post op. He is actually smiling with his mouth open! I am so happy for him. I think this surgery will not only help him eat better, but also boost his self esteem! I just can't believe how big he has gotten - where did my baby go?

We made every attempt last week to get a good group photo of the boys....yeah, right, 3 boys, good photo?

Actually, this is the boys in all their beauty. These are the pictures I like best, showing how they really are. Anyone can pose for a photo (well, except my boys, all at one time)...
I think the photo with the funny faces makes the Christmas card this year. Luca was saying, "loodul, loodul", while flapping his fingers.

What do you expect for 17, 8, and 2. These three are what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving!!!! My life would be so boring without these three in it. Fun times!
My favorite photo of Brian (above), the sleeky, slyness.
What was Luca doing???

What We've Been Doing

2009-11-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

I thought I would take a few moments and add just a few updates and pictures of what we have been doing over the last few weeks.

First off, Brian is doing well. I saw him on Monday and he was up walking around, talking, and says he is eating soup and smoothies. I took more pictures, but he is still swollen and he was bruised all down his chin and next (a nice yellow color not the purple and blues). So, as promised to him, I am not going to post any pictures yet. However, he is doing great.

Next, if you haven't seen the pictures on Facebook, I finally broke down and had Luca's hair cut. YES, it totally hurt me to have his curls cut off, but he still looks as cute as ever. It was just getting way to out of control in the front. I couldn't cut the the front without making it look totally like a mullet. (not that there is anything wrong with mullets, just not for us). Ms. Brenda put his long curls in a ponytail and snipped it off. I have them in a bag for his scrapbook. Somehow in the bag, they don't look near as long. It grew tremendously over the last month as when I look back at pictures from last year or the summer it wasn't that bad.

"No Mommy, don't let them take my hair!" I ask him where his hair is and he shakes his head and says, "Were go?" then reaches up to his head and rubs his hair.
Look, he aged a couple years....when he is sleeping though he looks like the little angel I met in Guatemala. He is sooo cute I just melt every morning when I see these boys. I am so blessed.

So, most of you know I homeschool. We do most of homeschooling at home (of course), but we do attend two homeschool coops. One is in our old neighborhood which we have belonged to since Nico was 3 (my gosh, has it been 5 years already!). We always rotated between houses for our meetings, this year we were able to get a location for free. Our group has grown and it is nice to have one place to go to. Here are the boys on the first day (back in September). Luca was so excited to have a backpack. He even says 'backpack' (thanks to Dora!)
I love the brotherly photos from the back. My sweet angels.
Here is Nico just this last week working with his group. Look at that smile...he loves his friends. We are studying the 50 states. Each week a mom hosts the day and comes up with activties for the state we are studying that week. Yep, we even have a CHALKBOARD! I love chalkboards. Notice the kids all working so hard. I love it. This also gives the kids a chance to listen to other adults as the moms let the older kids do their thing with the mom hosting.
This is our preschool group. We finally have enough kids to create the two groups. I love it since I have kids in each group. It is great for Luca as he is used to playing with older kids and needs to learn how to associate with kids his age. At this age he is still in independent play when it comes to sitting and playing imaginative toys, although he can sit next to others, but has a hard time sharing (typical). I loved the activity this week. Can you guess what it was??? Yep, trains. We sang a song, made a train snack, and the kids each designed their own train car. So cute!

Onto the fall leaves! Oh my gosh, I don't miss all these leaves at our new house. We have been spending a few hours each day at our old house getting it ready for its new tenant (yes, I have someone ready to rent it). He seems to be a great guy as he has already helped clean up the leaves in the front yard and hasn't even moved in yet.

So here are the boys having a blast in the leaf piles. Watching the joy on their faces made the job a whole lot easier. It also brought back great memories of when we were kids jumping in the leaves.

BONZAI! There goes Nico, big jump.
Here goes Luca, big jump for a little guy. All that movement made the photo blurry, but the smile is priceless!
Nico labeled themselves the 'leaf boorers'. They would start at one side of the leaf pile and crawl under to the other side. I think they are cutest leaf boorers I have ever seen.
This boy loved the leaves. I can't wait to doctor up some of these fall photos on Lightroom.

Surgery Went Well!

2009-11-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

Brian's surgery went very well. He is out of PICU as of yesterday. Hopefully he will be going home tomorrow. I sat with him for 8 hours yesterday. He finally ate a little bit of applesauce and today he had chicken noodle soup and applesauce.

The jaw broke fine and they didn't have to wire the jaw shut---yipee!!! He cannot afford to lose any weight so this way he can eat soups and pastas to keep his weight up. He just cannot eat anything he has to chew for at least 6 weeks.

He is such a tough guy!! I love him so much. I promised him I would not post pictures while he is swollen up. He wants everyone to see the final outcome, not the inbetween. So, I am sticking to my promise and not posting any pics. (sorry). However, I am taking them and they will be in his scrapbook.

Brian is my hero. He has gone through more than any 17 year old should have to, especially in the first 7 years of his life. He has endured more pain than anyone I know and never complains. As a parent I always want to be in his place and take the pain from him. He avoided taking the morphin and just took the tylenol with codeine every 4 hours. He knew he could go home sooner if he wasn't on the morphine.

We will hopefully be visiting him at his dad's house tomorrow or Monday. Nico can't wait to see him and was very disappointed he couldn't go to the hospital room to see him. Nico made a very cute get well card for him. I am so proud of all my boys.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers it truely means alot.

Brian's Upcoming Surgery

2009-11-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Brian's jaw reconstruction is occurring this week. Please keep him in your prayers as Thursday and the days following approach. He will be in ICU for at least one night and hospitalized for about 3-4 days.

I have every confidence all will go well. Brian is so much stronger than he used to be. I asked him the other day if he was nervous about it. His words, "What's there to be nervous about?" "I am ready." He is so much braver than I would ever be. He has been through so much in his 17 years, that this is one positive hurdle we have been waiting for.

I already warned him pictures would be taken. I promised I wouldn't take any pictures right after the surgery, but would wait a day or so. We are excited about the outcome and I am hoping I can be one of the first to take him out to eat when the jaw is all healed to see him take his first 'real' bite of food.

To read more about why Brian is having surgery check out my other blog www.lifewithcms.blogspot.com
There is some history there of Brian. I have yet to update and put more of the last 17 years on there, but it is a start.

Fall Fun and Halloween

2009-10-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it is October already. I don't know where the year suddenly went. We have had a busy couple of weeks. My posts are going to be a bit out of order as last weekend we attended a wedding (at which the boys looked fabulous!), went to the pumpkin patch, and worked at our other house (which I have someone wanting to rent it - YAY!), all while trying to stay dry from the torrential rains we had, get our lessons finished each day, tend our chickens, clean house, and all the daily things going on. I am posting the pictures that I have edited first. This week it was preparing for Luca's first major haircut and Halloween. Luca and Nico at the pumpkin patch.

"Oh NO! It's a witch!"

Momma and her boy!

"I like this one!" said Luca. He loved the pumpkins.

Our family photo on the tractor going out to the pumpkin patch.

Photo editing on a cute picture of the boys in the pumpkin patch. Luca is loving the picture game.

I think I am going to use this photo for Nico's 3rd grade photo in his school scrapbook. He was so excited to go search for a pumpkin.

We ended up painting our pumpkins this year (at least for now). We just ran out of time to carve them. That is our plan for this next week. We want to carve them and try to make some homemade pumpkin bread, seeds, and pie.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. That means that mom has to work. Lucky for us Main Street St. Charles was hosting their trick-or-treat on Friday. We love going here as it is from 3pm-5pm in the afternoon. We walk up and down the street visiting all the cute stores and collecting candy. It is fun while it is light outside. I enjoy seeing all the costumes. I always try to dress up too. This year I just added a little something. We received great comments on our costumes.

Luca did so good. He walked on his own and carried his own bucket of candy. He kept saying, "MINE!" He learned how to say "Trick-or-treat" while watching Dora's Halloween on video in the van. He also said, "AARGH" so darn cute. I have it on video this year. Nico had fun scaring a few little kids. We try to be creepy each year, to me that's what it is all about. The creepier the better.

The Grim Reaper. (I loved the eyes rolled back).

Captain Jack Sparrow when he was 2 years old. TOOO CUTE he was. "AARRGH!"

Well, that's it for now. I must get to bed. I'll post photos from the wedding and Luca's haircut soon. He looks amazing!

Photos of the trip

2009-10-17T08:36:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few of the photos from our trip to Florida. I took over 500 pictures. I can't wait to have the time to scrapbook them. Luca and mom posing at Barkley Lake in KY. We stopped here our last night before getting home. A huge storm came through that night really rocking the RV. We woke up and found trees down around us and many RV's that are there permanently through the year had their awnings ripped off.

Mike posing with the boys or should I say the boys posing with Mike.

A beautiful butterfly I had to get a photo of. He sat there drinking pollen while I took about 5 macro pictures of him.

Mike, Nico, Luca, and Mom posing at Animal Kingdom. This is my favorite park. I love the animals and the rides here the best. Brian did not go with us the last day. He was beat from all the walking the previous 5 days.

My sister, Sandi, Nico, and me again at Animal Kingdom.

Most nights we ate at the RV but we had two scheduled out dinner nights with Sandi and Flori. This one was at the campground called "The Hoop-De-Doo Review". It was fabulous. The food was all you could eat, ribs, chicken, salad, cornbread, dessert, and drinks (We had beer as it was too expensive to buy beer at the campground or park, - $5.25 a 12 oz can!!!).

The waitress plopped this bucket of chicken down in front of Luca. He jumped and stared in awe. Then he dug right in, grabbing him some chicken.

My sister made this trip so special for us. She goes several times a year so this was a treat for us to meet them out there. They stayed in a hotel and we drove and camped. It also happened to be right after Nico's 8th birthday and right at Brian's 17th Gothca Day. For Nico, my sister had a special time set up for him to get his face painted like a pirate. He chose the cursed pirate. It turned out so cute and he had so much fun being piratey the rest of the day. Luca had fallen asleep while it was being done. He woke up, saw Nico like this and pretty much laughed. He wasn't phased.

Sandi also made this cute shirt for him to wear on this special day. It is sooo cute and went great with the face painting.

Luca was a ham with all the characters. He was leary of Stitch, but after that, there was not one he wouldn't go up to. These two were his absolute favorite. He did not want to leave these guys. He was sitting here with them and the bear kept tickling his face. He was giggling and just loving it. It is funny because Luca has really only seen a few of the movies so I figured he would not want to have photos taken. He surprised me. Especially since they are soooo much bigger than he is.

Luca and Bubee (as Luca calls him) in front of the Nemo ("Meo" as Luca calls it) display.

Luca loves to dance!!! Here he is dancing in the street to the celebration parade.

Nico watching the parade. I love these little boys faces!

Luca watching teh parade.

Is he excited about driving that car? Nico didn't even want to do on the cars, but look how much fun he had.

Here is the whole group with Stitch. Sorry Flori's eyes are closed, but in every photo someone is either looking away or looking goofy. My sister made these shirts for us. On the back it says, "Has anyone seen my family". We had three days where we wore matching shirts. One day was tye-dye, one the black shirts, and one day we had green shirts with our names on the front and a disney design.

Meeting our first character....MIKE! Luca couldn't wait to run up to him. He has watched this video ALOT in the van driving back and forth from St. Louis to home.

A cute photo on Luca and daddy on Tye-dye day. I think we were on the behind the scenes ride at Disney Hollywood.

This was on the beginning of our trip. We stopped at Vetern's Memorial State Park in GA. The campsite was beautiful. We were right on the water. The boys were skipping rocks and having a good ol' time. Then I saw this sign....that put an end to being too near the water.

Our trip was wonderful!!! It will be one that lives on in our memories for many years to come. I love vacationing with my extended family. RVing also brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. Mike did a great job driving and got us everywhere safely. I drove briefly and it makes me nervous with all those big trucks zipping by on the highway.

I love my family!

Back From Vacation

2009-10-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

We are back from our wonderful 11 day vacation! We had a fabulous trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We drove the RV and had all three boys. Everyone got along well and the RV made it with no problems.

I will post pictures soon as I am back to work after just getting home yesterday. I will play with the pictures next week when I am off and post them.

I just love the fun we had together as a family. We met my sister there and spent the week with her and her daughter.

ARRGGH! A Pirate Festival for Us

2009-09-22T19:37:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I actually had a Saturday and Sunday off of work. They had a scheduled power shut down over the weeekend which caused me to have to work on Thursday and Friday night. It was actually really nice to have a 'weekend' off. We got the family (well, some of it) together and went to the Pirate Festival. This is the first year we attended. I usually attend the Renaissance Faire which is in May, but I have missed it the past few years. Nico's birthday is in September so this was a fun way to get the family together and then head to Culver's for dinner and ice cream cake.

Every parent needs one of these in their backyard for those wonderful teenagers ~arrgggh!

My brother, Vince, sitting with the ladies at the Gentlemen's Club.

I can't get the photos to move around right, so I am giving up posting photos for the night. I hope to get more on soon.

Kreative Blogger Award

2009-09-18T16:52:00.001-07:00

I have been so busy with the beautiful weather and getting ready for vacation that I have forgotten to post my blogger award I received. I have received the "Kreativ" Blog Award from http://lifeafter18seconds.blogspot.com This family has a beautiful daughter adopted from China. I love following blogs of other adoptive families.

So here are the rules for the "Kreativ" Blog award:

Thank the person who nominated you.

Copy and paste the logo on your blog.

Link the nominator on your blog.

Name seven things about yourself.

Nominate seven "kreativ bloggers".

Post links to the nominated blogs.

Leave a comment on each of the blogs.

Okay, so the 7 things about myself:
1. I can be very stubborn and very independent. Since getting divorced 15 years ago I became a stronger, more independent person. I think this is a good thing for me as I was always very shy. I love my life now and where I am at in it.

2. I love children. I would have a houseful if I could. I am so thankful to have my three boys through adoption and to have been able to adopt two of them by myself. They bring all the joy I need.

3. I enjoy the outdoors. We recently moved to the country and I could not be happier than just sitting on my front porch watching my boys run around the yard or looking for frogs by the pond. The quiet of the country is one of the many things I love.

4. I am so happy I have found my soul mate and love of my life via internet dating. I never thought I would try internet dating and my mom was scared for me when I told her about it. However, I never would have met Mike if I had not done it. We have so much in common in our likes, dislikes, and beliefs. He is a super dad to the boys. I cannot get over how he is so taken with them and supported me so much in the second Guatemalan adoption.

5. I love roller coasters but can't ride them because they upset my stomach too bad. However, I love watching my family get off the rides and seeing the thrill on their faces from the rush they get. I can stand in line and wait for them all day as long as they are enjoying themselves and not fighting. :-)

6. I love camping. I am so glad we were able to inherit a motor home and Mike is fantastic about getting everything working so we can use it.

7. I am thankful I have a good job, especially in today's economy. They just had a layoff at work and I made the cut to keep my job. I no longer complain about going to work and am more willint to put in some overtime. I know that the job could be gone at any moment.

Have fun visiting the following "Kreativ" blogs.

www.guatemala-leslie.blogspot.com. Leslie's blog is so cute. Her posts are short and sweet and her children are beautiful.

kellyskornerblog.com. Kelly's blog has several blog hops. This week is recipes! Yummy. She also went through a trial of trying to get pregnant and finally had a beautiful daughter who spent quite a while in the hospital after birth. She is adorable!

avianareese.blogspot.com. Sweet Aviana was hit by a car as she and her grandpa were crossing the street. My heart goes out to her parents as her mom is so open about everything and Aviana is such a fighter. She is home and her parents are now able to give her the undivided attention and love she can only get at home.

MckLinky Blog Hop - Show Off Your Art

2009-09-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

We are a homeschooling family. My 7 year old son loves art. Since I hated art in grade school and am not what I consider an artist or someone who can teach it well, Nico takes an art class outside of our home. This is just a sampling of his art work from last year. We now decorate our home with his art work and my photography.

Several pictures Nico, 7 yo, drew and painted in art class.

This picture now is framed and hangs by our Christmas tree. (This way Luca won't grab the baby Jesus from the manger ;-)

I have been having fun using the Lightroom photo editing program to edit some of my photos. It has been 7 years since I have had professional photos taken of my children. I enjoy getting the real life photos as they don't sit still like that anyway.

School is in Session!

2009-09-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

Flowers in our back field. We were learning about flowers this week and I couldn't wait to get out and take some photos of these. I love this one and plan to enlarge it, frame it, and hang it on the wall.

We officially started our first day of school on August 31. We continue to do lessons through the summer, but focus on them for 3 days out of the week, we are now back to 5 days a week. We also added in the extra subjects such as Health, Writing, US History, and Spelling. Nico is enjoying everything so far and doing well. We are finished with lessons in about 4 hours. I have been making us get up by 8am and started by 8:30am or 9 am at the latest.

My handsome prince!

This week we add to our schedule art classes, hip-hop, and tumbling.

Luca is learning so much! He has been telling us when he poops ( "doo-doo" in Luca language) and last week actually went on the toilet---yipee! At only 27 months I am excited. Nico was potty trained by 32 months, so we are shooting for 3o months for Luca.

Luca is counting, "one, three, one, two, one, one..." it is so cute! He points to things or moves them as he counts so he is making the association of a number to an object. He loves doing puzzles and always asks to draw when Nico is doing his lessons. He is so proud of his work.

His vocabulary is expanding and changing. He was saying 'dye' for bye, and just today said, 'bye-bye' with a 'b'....I liked the incorrect pronuciation it kept him little. He also says, "I want...", and will say, "mommy, I want...) and either point or say what he wants. My favorite is hearing him say MAMA! He is really quite a clown and loves his big brother. He did say Brian last week when we had Brian with us for an afternoon. Of course, Brian was excited since he doesn't see him much.

These boys just make my day everyday. They have so much fun together. Nico takes Luca down to the pond and is teaching him how to look for frogs. I love watching them walk down there with Luca keeping right up with Nico. They played outside for about an hour the other evening with Luca picking berries off the tree and Nico smashing them. Nico said they were playing Indians.

Luca is going to be one smart cookie just like his brothers. He absorbs EVERYTHING!

Luca using the magnifying glass to get a close up look at the flowers.

Big News and Soccer

2009-08-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Mike popped the question today. I picked up the ring from the jewelers (it was resized). I took it off of my finger so he could look at it under the microscope and when he put it back on he got on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" My response, "Yes" (one day)....heeheee. I love this man!

Wow, what an exciting week we have had.

First I would like to post the sad news of the people who have been laid off from Covidien. I feel so bad for these people and know that I was probably close to the lay off as I have 18 years in the company. Many people that were cut had been there longer and close to that time. I feel blessed to have not been one to be cut. I swear I will not complain about it again. It is all beyond my control and I am thankful to have a good job with good benefits. I just hope I can stay on a night shift schedule so I can have the time to homeschool my boys the way I want to do it. Whatever happens we will work through it. My cousin was one who was laid off. My heart goes out to all laid off that they can quickly find new, good, if not better, jobs.

Okay, now the good news. Mike and I are now engaged. Well, I say engaged because he gave me the big diamond ring, however, he never really asked the question, "Will you marry me?" The joke is I just got the big ring and am going to call him fiance because it sounds better than boyfriend. He gave me the ring before we went to dinner with his coworker Bill and his wife Ellen. We went to a fabulous Japanese Hibachi Restaruant. It was great! The ring is now at the jewelers getting resized. I can't wait to wear it on the correct finger. Over the weekend I had to wear it on my index finger.

The fine dining establishment we went to. They have a great lunch buffet....but dinner was fantastic.

Here we are, the happy couple. This is truly the love of mylife. He supports me in everything I do and is not afraid to tell me it is a bad idea. He keeps me strong when things are looking grim. Even if we never got engaged or never actually get married, he is the one I want to be with until the day I die.

Our chef. I was not overly impressed with his fanciness as he didn't do all the food flipping and creativity stuff the others were doing. However, the food was cooked to perfection.
Mike picked out a beautiful ring. I always said I don't want to pick out my own engagement ring. It should be a surprise....and a surprise it was.

Last weekend was also Nico's first soccer game of the season. He and his team played so well for being together for the first time. They were passing the ball and not always playing mob ball. Nico scored two goals and ran his little tush off.

Nico always has a smile on his face. Even on some of the pictures where he is down on the ground, he is smiling. If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me how he smiles all the time, I would be rich.Nico has his game face on. No, not a smile yet, it is the look of "I'm ready, bring it on!"

Nico is one of the smallest on the team, but always seems to keep up running with the big guys. Now I know why....look at that stride.
Here he is making one of his goals. This is the first time I ever captured a picture of him scoring. However, this time I took about 70 pictures. I was snapping the whole game.

Just Hanging Out - A Quick Post

2009-08-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

This has been a week of just hanging out at home. Last Friday my friend Melissa and her fiance, Nate, came over for some BBQ. Melissa and I tie-dyed shirts with the boys while the big boys went flying and taking pictures with a tilt lens Nate was trying out. It was a lot of fun. I took pictures of us creating them, but still need to photograph the finished products. My family and I are going to wear our matching shirts in Disney during one of our days there. My sister is also making us all matching shirts to wear. It makes it much easier to find your family when you can look at what you are wearing and remember what color shirt to look for.

Below are some random photos of the kids. I was playing around on Lightroom adjusting some photos and thought I would share. Brian was here on Friday and Saturday, but I didn't get any real good pictures of him. I need to do a Senior Photo Shoot with him this fall.

Here is my baby doll, Luca. I captured this photo in Tan-Tar-A. He was looking over the back of a chair. The best photos are the ones caught off guard and not posed.

Nico went to the neighbors house last week and did some fishing. He caught two huge catfish. Although he refused to eat them, he let Daddy and I eat them (and clean them). They were quite tasty. This is one of the photos. I like the effect of it. He was so proud of himself (as can be seen by the smile!)

I liked the portrait picture I had of Luca and needed one of Nico. We attempted to take one outside. He kept complaining about the sun and this is the best I was able to get. He is adorable no matter what pose he has. This will go in his school scrapbook as his 3rd grade picture. I can't believe he is going to be 8 in another month!

Friend Award

2009-08-15T18:40:00.001-07:00

Sorry Audrey, http://acountrymomma.blogspot.com/, for not getting on this sooner. Audrey, a new blog follower, has given me "The Loyal Friend Award". I need to pass on this award. I don't have many followers, but the ones I have I am thankful for. I think I have a lot more people reading my blog, they just don't post messages. I wish they did. I love reading and following everyone's blog.

My friend awards go to:

Melissa - http://www.mbenyr.blogspot.com/- my good friend at work and out of work. We have a great time together. She makes my work nights bearable and our days off together fun (on those occasions we get to hang out together).

Vanessa- http://www.bayoandvane.blogspot.com/ - this is a wonderful couple who are doctors in the Dominican Republic. I love following the wonderful things they are doing and the dedication they have.

Leslie - http://www.guatmama-leslie.blogspot.com/ - she is a very funny mom with a beautiful daughter from Guatemala who I recently met through FB.

Thank you to my new and old friends.

Photos

2009-08-11T14:33:00.001-07:00

The children! Aren't they all adorable!

Two brothers; best buddies. My boys Nico and Luca
Luca loves the water.
Nico and Luca hanging with some new friends: Ethan, Jacob, and Tanner
Cheesy smile!
Two spoiled Guat babies.
We were so excited to get eggs on the first day.
The chicken coop. We are going to extend the roaming area for them once we get the fencing from our other house. This was going to be our school house....but the chickens sure seem to like it.
Our newest additions. The two roosters are the all white silky and the large black and white one on the right. (Devastator and Black Out)
Here's Nico...happy with his new pets. Yep, they are pets and will not be eaten for dinner. We will be eating the eggs though. Thanks girls!
From California surfer boy to Troy, MO country boy. You should see him driving my tractor!

Another Busy Weekend

2009-08-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of blog catching up to do this week. I am so far behind on reading all the blogs I follow.

This last week for us was busy, busy. After coming home from WI, we spent a day getting our out building (which was to be the schoolhouse), turned into a chicken coop. We went to pick up the chickens on Wednesday thinking we were only going to get 3 or 4 hens but when we got there she asked if we wanted them all. We were like sure, they're free, why not? Well, we found out there were 8 hens and 2 roosters. I didn't really want roosters, but we couldn't tell her no as they were free. They had been in their coop all day until we got there. Her two older boys were trying to get a system down to get one out of the coop at a time to load in the dog cage we had brought, when three chickens 'flew the coop'. It was fun watching them trying to catch these last three chickens as they went under the coop. They had to be bribed out with goodies. Eventually they were all caught and brought to their new home. We were curious to see how they would adjust and if they would start laying right away.....well, Thursday we ended up with 4 eggs. We were excited. Everyday since then we have gotten on average 3 eggs. I know they are not all laying yet, so we are anxious to see what happens when they all get going. My mom has already agreed to buy eggs off of us. I can't wait to get home tomorrow morning and have some for breakfast!

Nico and I have named all the chickens. Nico named the roosters Devastator and BlackOut (yep, Transformers names). I love it! We also have Penny, Millie, Chloe (the escape artist, but she flies back in), Marsha, Jan, and Cindy (these are our 3 reds), Bella and one left unnamed. Mike is suppose to name her, but keeps coming up with stupid names.

On Thursday, Nico, Luca, and I left for Tan-Tar-A resort on the Lake of the Ozarks. It was the MOGUAT weekend. This is a get together of families from Missouri and extended areas that have adopted children from Guatemala. It was so great to see so many families; some even came from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas. We had a great turnout. Nico had a blast this year playing with the kids his age and older. Luca pretty much stuck to mom, but some of the older girls just loved him and played with him on the couple of evenings when we had big get togethers.

We spent 2 full days out in the sun. The boys got nicely tanned and mom got nicely sun burnt. I didn't get burnt too bad as I had Nico put sunscreen on me Saturday so I wouldn't turn 'red like a cherry' as he says. I missed having Mike there, but it was a great time for me to have special time with my boys. Nico, especially, likes to have mom and Nico time. They both behaved SOOOOO well I am so proud of them. All the kids were great!!! They are all so adorable! We are truely blessed.

I will post pictures in a day or two of both of these exciting events!

Oshkosh, WI photos

2009-08-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few photos from our trip to Oshkosh, WI.

I need to dig out the old photos when I was a kid and show a 'then and now' photo. We always took a family photo standing in front of our RV before we left.
This is my future car, Terrafugia; except I want mine to have rotor blades on top to get me out of the traffic jam I am stuck in. This one still needs a run way.
Just a cool pics of several airplanes flying through the sky in groups.
Yay, a photo of me with the kids!
Like father, like son! These boys are the loves of my life. (Brian too, but he is not into airplanes and I knew he would not enjoy this trip).
Withstanding 78 mph hurricane winds. Luca loved the wind blowing in his face.
Car vs. airplane. Nothing really hit and blew up, just pyrotechnics to make it look cool. There were two planes and two cars racing each other going in opposite directions.
This little experimental helicopter is called the Mosquito. There is no way I would get in that thing and actually go up in the sky.
Nico was excited to get to go up into an old Canadian fighter plane.
It rained one morning, but we put on our raincoats and forged ahead. The rain only lasted for a few hours. It was then just overcast the rest of the day (and cool).
I love the skywriter!
This is a jet powered glider.
A wing walker....nuts!
The parachute team opened the airshow each day.
They SkyCrane releasing a load of water in its demonstration. This was cool!
Nico getting into a little 'hands on' demonstration in the NASA building.
Luca loving the ride on airplanes. I actually made a rocking airplane and gave it to a benefit auction. I have more pieces to make one but just need to get it put together.
This boy loves his ice cream!!!! He would take a bite and just giggle.

A Year Ago!

2009-08-04T02:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it was a year ago that I arrived in Guatemala City, Guatemala to hold my little boy and prepare to go to the US Embassy on August 5. I can remember the excitement so well. After visiting twice I was so excited to get there and know I was bringing him home this time. It was a difficult time as there were/are many babies still stuck there in the process waiting to get home to their forever families. I am thankful I had a great agency in our process. From referral to bringing him home it was about 9.5 months waiting.

Here we are the morning of August 5, 2008, bright and early prepared to go the US Embassy for our special day, the adoption! This is what we call our Gotcha Day. I am not sure how we are going to spend it; probably some cake and icecream with the immediate family. Here he is almost a year later. He settled into our family with no issues at all. He is such a loving, cuddly, funny little boy. He has a great sense of humor for such a little guy. He has brought so much joy to our family. He has Daddy twisted around his finger and Nico and Brian love him immensely. Someone was looking out for all of us when he placed these three special boys in my arms!

A Wonderful Trip

2009-08-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

We made it back from our trip to WI. We had a wonderful time. I am definitely airplaned and helicoptered out; although Nico says he is not. He had so much fun trying to find particular planes he wanted to see. He had about 15 books he had checked out of the library that he and Luca browsed through on the drive up. He also brought his little back pack with him full of his die cast helicopters and airplanes. Luca and him spent a lot of time playing with these.

Speaking of the drive, the boys did fabulous in the RV. Nico spent a few hours watching some DVD's on the mini player and Luca took a nice nap, as did I. I even took over driving for a while so Mike could stretch his legs. We were able to drive straight through as we had the bathroom to use and made lunch while driving. It brought back so many great memories of when I was a child. (The trip home was a bit different.)

Nico only had one melt down when we wouldn't let him spend all his money on the first day for a big set of airplanes. We hadn't even seen all the tents (which sell all the same stuff). He cried for over an hour as we had to drag him along as we walked back to the camper. It is quite unusual for Nico to throw a fit, especially for so long. He was grounded for a day of not buying anything. Eventually we let him buy his items but he couldn't open them. It drove him crazy. Finally we talked about why he couldn't get them and why he was in trouble so he understood what was going on. I feel like he learned his lesson. He is usually one thrifty spender, but was so excited to buy new planes and be on vacation he wanted it NOW! I can so relate!

Other than that, the trip was without tears and screaming. The boys played around the camper in the evening. One night we went to the outdoor theater and watched part of "Six Nights, Seven Days" with Harrison Ford. We even got to see Harrison Ford as he was there. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera to the event, so have no pictures of him. We were hoping to run into him throughout the week but never did.

Our journey home gave us a little of an event, we had to replace a tire. Mike went to fill up the front tire and a huge bubble came out the side of it. He knew there was no driving on it, so we pulled over to a truck stop and he changed it out with the spare tire. He had filled the spare before we left so it had air in it, but as we were driving it was slowly leaking. We pulled into a little town to get some new tires when he realized the spare was a 16" tire and all the other tires were 16.5"....oops, a problem with two different size tires on the front and of course, the place we stopped at did not have 16.5" tires. So, Mike swapped the spare out with one tire in the back (there is a double axle), so the two front tires were the same size. The tire continued to lose air. We drove a few more hours and then used our handy dandy GPS to locate a Super WalMart and prayed their tire service was still open. It was 6:10pm and I just knew they closed at 6pm....we were lucky, they were open until 8pm and had a 16" tire for the spare (but no 16.5"...apparently not a common size anymore!). Anyway, we replaced that tire and carried on!

When were an hour from home, Mike stepped on the brake and said, "UH-OH!",,,I don't like those words associated with the brakes...He said, "We lost the brakes on one side, but it's okay." Eventually he stopped for gas and found that a brake line was leaking. He tightened it up, added some brake fluid, we bled the brakes, and all was well. Half an hour later we were at home.

For those that know me and my family's wonderful vacation excursions as a kid might find this humorous. We always had a break down on our trips. Mom would get so mad and swore she was not camping again! I am so glad I have a man that knows how to fix these things and I give him the award for the fastest tire changer ever! He had those tires swapped out in no time flat. He got us home safely! I also feel his grandpa was watching over us. The RV is the one his grandpa and grandma used. I am sure his grandpa was smiling down on us and watching our journey. I am sure he is happy it is being used and we are loving it!

I will take RVing over dealing with airports, airplanes and airfare any day! Especially with the kids.

I took 335 pictures of our trip and just downloaded them today. I did not have time to do any resizing or modifications to them so I could post them. I can't do any of that at work so I will make a new post later this week with some of the pictures.

Blog Hop - Favorite Kid Photos

2009-07-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, after watching a few videos, I think (I hope) I have the MckLinky thing down.

I have so many favorite photos of my kids, but here are a couple recent favorites.

This picture does not show their faces, but it speaks a thousand words! These two boys are so wonderful together. They are best buds! I couldn't be more proud of them! Nico has taken to big brotherhood like a true champ! They have brought such joy to my life.This is Nico. He was trying to hide from the snapping camera and a great photo was shot.

(I have to admit, I did not take these photos, my friend Nate took them- what great shots he took of two of my kids).

Preparing to Travel

2009-07-27T02:21:00.001-07:00

We are getting ready to leave on our first big road trip in the RV. We are heading to OshKosh, WI on Tuesday morning. We will be there for 5 days. We are really looking forward to getting away and all riding in the RV together. I loved it when we were kids!

What's in OshKosh you're asking? Well, we are headed there for the GINORMOUS airplane and helicopter fly in. I have never been before, but for the whole week people fly in their airplanes and helicopters and hang out. There will be air shows, static displays, a museum, a kids tent, movies, and nightly entertainment.

We went to the library last week and Nico checked out about 10 books on helicopter and airplanes (not that we already have several at home, but you can never have too many!). He actually sat down and read a whole book (YES!). He is studying up on his identifaction of the planes and helies. He already knows quite a few. He amazes me! I am so proud of everything he does.

Luca is showing great interest in planes and helicopters too. Everytime he sees one in the sky he says, "Daddy", because Daddy flies one at work (and home). He doesn't yet say airplane or helicopter, but instead says, "brrrrmmm" (well whatever sound they make as they fly through the air). Nico and Luca sat for an hour last week lining up all of Nico's airplane/heli toys and playing. It was awesome! Luca will be in awe at the show I am sure and come back with toys of his own. Nico has his little backpack ready to carry his new things in. We are on a mission to find a wallet with a helicopter on it.

We hope to get some spectacular photos to post and scrapbook.

I'll post more after we return from our trip.

Baby's Got Words!

2009-07-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

Luca's vocabulary is skyrocketing!

Just this week he started saying "All Done" and "Done", "doo-doo" (for poo-poo), "I want out", "I come down" and "What you doing?"

His other words include: "Sponge Bob" (which is pronounced 'pum bob' - my cousin's boys think it is hilarious the way he says it and try to get him to say everytime they see him). It is quite adorable....especially since it was one of his first words. He also says, "Dye-Dye" for bye-bye, "hello", "hi", "dink" for drink, "eeee" for eat, "Dico" for Nico, "mama, mom", "daddy, dad", "I see", "moo" for move, "uuu" for up, "thank you", "peas" for please, "go", "me", "mow" for No and many more. (He also signs for many of these)

He says a few more that I can't think of off the top of my head. I just love how their vocabulary starts to grow. Sometimes I wonder how they figure out what they are suppose to say, such as "ME". I don't go around saying, "me do it" I say "I will do it", but somehow he started in with, "mow, me" which is "No, me!" I love that he is starting to express himself with words and being able to ask for things. We really try to stress that he uses words or signs to get what he wants.

I just love being home with my boys and watching the developement and spending so much time with them. I am blessed to have a great job that allows me to be with them and not have to stick them in daycare all day....plus to homeschool them and have them home with me...I LOVE IT!

I can't believe August 5 is soon approaching. This is Luca's Gotcha Day. I am not sure what celebrations we are having, but we are headed to Tan-Tar-A for the weekend for MOGUATE. I was so excited to go last year with him in tow as I was not sure when he was coming home. So, every year Tan-Tar-A MOGUATE weekend will be a special event for us.

More later as it is time for me to sign off and get home (I am working some overtime tonight and ready to go).

Playing with Photo Program

2009-07-23T18:29:00.001-07:00

I have been having fun over the past couple of days playing with my new photo enhancement program. I have ALOT to learn about it, but had fun playing with some of the settings on some recent photos we took.

Today we sat on our front porch and watched a thunderstorm build up. The clouds were rolling, lightening flashing, and thunder growling. We were able to catch a couple flashes of lightening as it streaked out of the sky. It was a great science lesson for Nico as he was able to see the cooler clouds being pushed up and around by the warm air moving in. We were wondering if a tornado was going to occur it was rolling so much.

Nico found this adorable little green tree frog in the yard. Nico posed the little guy on the branch so I could take some macro photos of him. I love how you can see all his little bumps and wrinkles. We printed them out to frame and decorate my 'nature' bathroom with. They turned out pretty nice.

Here is one of our kitty cats. This is Zeus. I truly believe he is a little boy reincarnated. He is such a little rascal, just like my 3 boys. Today he was hanging over the side of the swimming pool trying to get to the football floating in there. I was just waiting for him to fall in. One day he thought he would make use out of the bird bath since there was no water in it. I don't know if he thought he was going to catch himself a bird or if it was a nice comfy place to hang out. I like the pictures.

The photo of the bee was taken in Hannibal last week. I did some photo editing and just highlighted some colors. I am not printing it, but I kind of like the affect I got.
Our goal is to decorate our house with pictures of our vacations and pictures of our family. We can spend just as much money getting a picture I print professionally matted at Michael's as if we bought pictures that we don't even know where they are.

I would like to take some classes on photography. This is one of my goals for the year, if I can get someone to watch the boys for me for a few hours.

Camping

2009-07-19T09:16:00.001-07:00

We had a great time last week on our camping trip. This time we went just an hour north of us to Hannibal, MO. We stayed at a nice campground called Injun Joe Campground. Although we only spent two nights it was great just to get away.

We spent Thursday in the town of Hannibal doing some sightseeing. We toured Mark Twain Cave, Mark Twain's Boyhood Home, walked up the 244 steps to the lighthouse, ate some lunch, and toured Rockcliffe Mansion.

Trips like this really add to our homeschooling experience. Being able to see where Mark Twain lived and picturing what life was like in his lifetime really imprints on your mind. I have been to Hannibal many times since I was a kid and they keep expanding the museums and adding more information about Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) life growing up. I learn more each time and really enjoy sharing my childhood memories with my kids and Mike. I love creating our own memories. I sat Thursday night and watched the boys running around together. Luca was following Nico everywhere and imitating everything. Nico was teaching Luca the art of 'sticks as guns'. Some may say sticks as guns is a bad thing...but boys will create a gun out of anything, trust me having three boys I know. As the saying goes, "It's a boy thing." My kids know they go after the bad guys and they are also aware of the danger of guns. We don't have real guns in the house .

Me and my two babies in the Becky Thatcher Butterfly Garden.

Mike and his boys.

Luca went up and posed in this doorway. He just loves when the camera comes out.

I like this photo of the lighthouse. We walked the 244 steps up to it and then found out we couldn't go up inside the lighthouse. Oh well, it was great exercise. Mike carried Luca up in his stroller - luckily it was an umbrella stroller.

We did some fishing on our first night there. They had a couple of nibbles but no fish for dinner. Nico was glad, he just likes to catch and release, not eat them. I love both of these pictures of the boys. Nico looks so cute with his new tackle box and Transformers fishing pole. He did pretty good casting this time, although I did untangle his line several times! That is what it is all about. Luca did great just hanging out throwing rocks. Mike did come over and let him hold the pole.

Here are a couple of photos from the cave. It was a cool 54 degrees. This cave is not as spectacular as Meremac Caverns as it did not have all the formations in it as there is not a lot of water that runs through the cave. Missouri is known as the cave state because of all the caves found here. If you are ever in MO be sure to check out at least 3 of them. They are all different. Mark Twain cave is neat because they tell the story as based from the book, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", by Mark Twain. One can just picture young Samuel Clemens running around in the cave with his friends and creating this story as he got older.

With all the adventure last week I decided that for fourth grade (2010-2011) we will be studying American Literature, with Mark Twain as one of our authors.

I love these family times together away from home. It gets us out of our work mode and into relax mode. I also enjoy these times as these are some of my favorite memories from when I was a kid....vacations and camping with my family. I am planning on creating a "Then and Now" Scrapbook with photos of myself as a child and my children in the some of the same locations.

Boys of Summer

2009-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

One Happy Boy!

I have had Brian for a few days. It is so nice to see him again. Nico loves having him here because it gives him someone to play Wii with and today they were able to go swimming without mom having to hang out right there. They are all getting along really well this time. I think Brian being away helped their bond. Although I really miss him, the house is alot calmer when he is not here. I know he is 17 and I know our bond will get stonger again too. He is a very loving boy and still gives me hugs and kisses. He is doing good and enjoying working with his dad. As always I worry about him and am always excited to see him and have him with us.
(The Three Amigos!)

We are planning on going to Tan-Tar-A with Brian in August for the MO-Guate weekend. He is really a big help to me with the boys. I really need to try to plan a night or weekend away with just Brian and myself.

Luca's personality is growing every day. He is so funny and has the cutest expressions. I try to capture them on film, but of course, he won't perform on demand. He is very empathic and tends to go up to children when they are crying and pats them on the back or arm. It is so cute. He is enjoying drawing (scribbling) on paper and then proudly shows us the beautiful work he has done. He does most of this while Nico is doing his lessons. He is also getting very interested in looking at books and 'pretending' to read. In his mind he is reading. He loves music and enjoys singing and dancing. He loves Mike's guitars and the piano.
Guitar Hero!

Luca's vocabulary is coming along. He now has two and three word sentences; although most can't understand him, we can. He tends to be lazy in forming his words completely. He is still picking up on the sign language and signing while saying the words. Nico and I are having fun learning sign language and have used it a few times amongst ourselves. We play games like Simon Says and Red light, Green Light (stop and go). Hopefully soon we can get some sentences together and carry on a mini conversation.

Writing an important note to Daddy! He holds his pencil right already.

Oh, I forgot, he is also showing signs of using the potty. He now runs and hides when he is pooping in his pants. We were in the middle of playing catch tonight when he ran off around the corner. I heard some grunting and said, "Are you pooping." He lauged and ran off....yep, a load in the diaper. So, we are working on the potty chair.

This week was not overly exciting in our activity calendar. Next week we are going camping at Mark Twain State Park and the Lincoln County Fair is going on. Nico is on the look out for a turtle and a bullfrog for the turtle and frog races. He is also practicing for the watermelon eating contest. Last year he came in 2nd place....shooting for 1st and the $3.00 jackpot. (Hopefully this year it won't pour down rain while the event is taking place, I had to put my camera away early and obtained blurry photos...but blurry is better than none!)

A Rainy 4th of July

2009-07-05T02:47:00.001-07:00

My Firecrackers!

We started the 4th of July with buckets and buckets of rain. It stopped for a bit in the afternoon and then continued again in time to stop the fireworks show in our home town. We ended up doing a lot of housework today and were able to get a couple of rooms straightened out and shelves hung up. I had to work Saturday night, so Friday we spent our family time together.

We take Fridays off from schoolwork (during the summer) and plan a special activity for the day. This week we went to Grant's Farm with our friends, Melissa and Nate. We have so much fun hanging out with them.

Luca did great feeding the baby goats. He did not freak out at all when they all huddled around him trying to get that little baby bottle from his hands. We were afraid he was going to want to drink it, but he has been baby bottle free for 5 months now and did fine. He was not afraid to pet the snake or touch the nasty hissing cockroaches....ewww, gives me the shivers just thinking of them. (As a matter of fact, just this afternoon, he picked up two dead beetles and brought them to me....great, thanks!!! - at least they were dead...my point, he is not afraid to touch creepy, crawly bugs).

You can see the nasty cockroach in the picture.

Nico had a great time. He kept telling me last night how much fun he had. That is what totally makes my day. It is also great because of the special memories I have of going to Grant's Farm as a kid and then bringing each of my children there. My parent's gave me such special memories and I am blessed to have these three boys in my life to carry on the memories.

This is Luca's first merry-go-round ride! He was in awe of the lights and mirrors. Nico enjoyed making faces at us as he was going around. Melissa managed to snap a photo of it....unknown to her until she looked at the picture.

I had the boys dressed in their red, white, and blue and pose to take photos. Luca is getting into the posing thing. He stands and crosses his arms then gives me 'the look'. Luckily today 'the look' was a BIG smile!

After Grant's Farm we went to Winfield (a little town near us) for a 4th of July carnival and were then going to watch fireworks. However, it started raining so we left after Nico rode the spinning swings for the 6th time in a row!!! (Ugh, I would have been puking after the first.) I think he is gearing up for Disney. We ended up going home and setting off some of the fireworks we had bought earlier in the week.

Am I cute or what????

Mike kept the boys tonight and planned to take them to the firework show in Troy, but when they arrived they found out it was canceled. There were also a ton of people stuck in the mud of the fairgrounds!!!! Mike had his big pick-em up truck but was unable to pull anyone out for fear of getting himself stuck, so homeward bound they went. Mike and Nico finished setting off the few fireworks we had bought. All in all, still a great 4th of July.

Busy, Busy

2009-06-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

How can you tell you are in St. Louis? Our beautiful Arch! I took this photo while we were driving on the highway. The first one had a pole smack-dap in the middle of the pic.

Gosh, I thought the regular school year was always busy, but we still haven't stopped! The summer brings so much time outside that I am not in front of the computer much. We have recently put up a new pool that my brother gave us. We have been swimming in it although we can't quite seem to get it sparkling clear. Nico absolutely loves having the pool out the back door. Luca is doing better in it. He loves just laying on a raft floating around, but we had hime doing some swimming the other day. The pics of the filling of the pool are still on the camera. We had to have a 4,000 gallon tanker truck bring water as we are on well water where we live. We didn't want to drain the well and knew it would take DAYS to fill the pool otherwise.

Mike and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago at our beautiful Missouri Botanical Garden. We went early and walked around taking photos and looking at the beautiful flowers in bloom.

Mike and I at the Garden.I couldn't resist taking the photo of this man painting the flowers. I have no idea how to spell the artists name who made all the glass blown features in the Garden so I apologize (Chalui??). They were on display a couple years ago and some of the pieces stayed. this is one of them surrounding the rose garden.

Before we had the pool set up I let the boys play in the sprinkler. I thought Luca would be a little freaked out, but, no worries, he jumped right in! That well water is sooooo cold I don't know how they stood it.

This boy sleeps with a smile on his face! He loves life!

Here's another that is always smiling...not quite as much as Nico, but he is up there! One fearless little boy!

We continue to do school work 3 days a week during the summer. This is so we can take breaks in the winter and still get all the hours we need for the year in, plus to keep Nico up on his skills.

Luca likes to be right next to Nico when we are doing lessons. He imitates big bro so much. Luca brought his paper down to the floor to 'write' like Nico. I LOVE THEIR TOGETHERNESS.

However, we have been trying to schedule Fridays for our fun days. Last week we went the the St. Louis Zoo. It is a FREE Zoo and fun to visit. The big event now is the stingrays. Nico couldn't wait to get in and pet them, however, this compared nothing to swimming with the Ginormous ones in the Grand Caymans when we were on our cruise. (That was Nico's favorite part of the cruise....fearless at 5 yo).

Here are some pics from our Zoo trip and a quick visit to Turtle Park (which is just a little park with a bunch of HUGE turtles to climb on).

Stingrays!

The train ride.

Luca really got into looking at the animals on this visit. Last year we went when he was home only a month or two and he was not so into it.We very rarely get to see the Gorillas close up. This big guy was sleeping right next to the window.

Luca is continuing to say more words and learning more sign language. Nico has learned to sign the alphabet and we are working on spelling words with our hands....so fun! We are also learning word signs. (Much easier to remember than Spanish...but I want them to learn that too..I just can't teach it). Luca now likes to walk up the stairs sometimes he is alternating feet! He still slides down the stairs on his bottom....fine with me! We took the baby gates down and he is doing great.

Brian is also doing well. I haven't seen him in a couple weeks, but we talk at least once a week. I am hoping to see him soon. We are still waiting for the decision on his jaw surgery. I wish they would hurry up, but it seems it is a bit complicated, so we want to make sure they get it right the first time!

Well, I better get off of here and get breakfast started and get my sleepy heads out of bed.

Recital Was Great!

2009-06-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Nico's second dance recital was great. It lasted three hours, which was a bit long, but we made it. His group only had one dance, but all the others were fun to watch. Luca fell asleep right before Nico's performance. Here are a few photos of Nico's dance. He did great. If I could figure out how to upload the video I would, but you'll have to make do with a few blurry photos. We could not use flash and it was hard to get a good, clear shot, but you get the idea. Nico has some great moves and received a lot of hoots and hollers for his solo segment. Of course, everyone did a great job, but I have to brag on my son. I am so proud of him at 7 yo getting in front of an audience and doing his thing. He has so much fun!

The start of his solo segment. He nailed this move - the 'wave like' arm movements of the arms across his body and had his feet in it too.He then proceeded to knee spins, alternating knees.The group then went into the group routine.Nico has practiced this move alot at home. I think his tumbling really helps him out.

Have I Said, "I Love My Boys" today?

2009-06-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Gosh, everyday amazes me with the boys. Today Luca worked a shape puzzle 3 times by himself. Tomorrow we'll get out a new one. Luca is saying more and more words. He is signing and saying the words now with the sign he already knew. Next week we start our sign language curriculum (all of us). Luca enjoyed his first Kindermusik class. He was quiet at first, but got into it when the instruments and parachute came out. I think he will do fine. He loves to dance and tonight came up to me and said, "dance" while moving his arms around. Next week he starts his tumbling and dance classes. I can't wait to see how that all goes. We are having the family celebration of Luca's 2nd birthday on Sunday. Luca has really warmed up to everyone in the family and just loves his Grandpa.

This week I finally got to attend one of Nico's baseball games. He looks so sharp in his uniform. He got 3 foul tips this week. It is coach pitch and unfortunately the coach pitching is not very good. They have some strange rules, but, we attend for fun and exercise. I also finally got to watch Nico's routine for his recital on Sunday. They had dress rehearsal and picture day so parent's were allowed to stay and watch. I loved it. I can't wait to see the live show on Sunday. All the kids looked so adorable in their outfits. We are wrapping up 2nd grade over the next few weeks. Missouri's homeschool year runs July 1-June 30 so we homeschool all year round. We have to keep up with the reading and math. We are also going to be working on language, geography, and Nico's favorite, science....specifically insects (Oh yay!) These are mini lessons and not a full blown schedule. Also, we only work on these 3 days a week. He has done so well. Just today he corrected himself in grammar while he was speaking. I forget specifically what he said, but he ended up saying, "That didn't make any sense." He laughed and corrected the sentence. Gosh, I love homeschooling and love being home with the boys to see them learn.

Brian is coming over to hang out this weekend. I am excited to see him and spend some time with him. I hope he is in a good mood. We need a good few days together. He tells me he is doing well in his online classes and working for the company his dad works for. I worry about him over doing it in the heat, but he is 17 and I have to let him grow up sometime. At least he is with his dad and not haning out with who knows who doing who knows what.

Here are a couple of photos of Nico and Luca. I will get updated ones of Brian this weekend.

Troy Dragons BaseballYeah, I'm too cool to really pose for this baseball photo.

He's the man. I love the fact that Nico likes dancing. I always wanted to take tap lessons, but Mom never let me. I am living through my kids. Luckily they like it. I would never push them to do something they didn't enjoy. He comes out of class every week soaked with sweat. Peace Out!"I can do it too!!!!" Luca was getting his 'hiphop' look on too. I had more photos of him with his 'hiphop' face, but they were all blurry....Ugh, trying to snap photos of a toddler is hard. He loves having his photo taken.

Again, I can't stress how much I love these boys. My life would be so empty without them in it. I am thankful everyday for the unselfishness of their birth mothers and pray every day that they are well. I often wonder how much they think about their boys and what kind of beautiful little boys they are.

Life is good, even though my van is broke down again, the car engine is locked up....I have my wonderful honey, Mike, who is willing to let me use one of his vehicles.....I LOVE MY LIFE AND MY FAMILY!

A Priceless Few Weeks

2009-05-30T21:44:00.001-07:00

Wow, we have had a great couple of weeks. The weather in MO has finally warmed up. Although we have had quite a bit of rain, the temperatures are perfect (for me).

After Mother's Day we celebrated my birthday on May 17. Mike was so thoughtful and bought me a little cake and peanut butter cup icecream...YUM...on Friday night (I work Sat-Mon night so we celebrated early). I was really surprised and that was all I needed. Nico made me the cutest card and gave me $2 out of his piggy bank (I snuck it back in there though). I did not want anything else for my birthday as there is nothing I need except for my family.

The following week was Luca's 2nd birthday. Because it fell on a Saturday I decided to wait to have the big family party until June 7 when the family will be coming to the house for a BBQ and to watch Nico's Hip-Hop recital (can't wait~and I get to take a vacation day). However, I did give Luca a couple of his presents and we made cupcakes for him and sang HB to him on his day.

This week, the 31st, is bringing Daddy's (Mike's) Bday. Again, we are both working, so Nico and I are planning on getting a Dairy Queen IceCream Cake on Monday to celebrate during the day (we both work Monday night).

This week, we took a couple of days and went on another camping trip. Once again, we went to Cuivre River State Park. It is very close to our home but we wanted to try out the RV again and make sure things were working properly before we take it on a big trip (the end of July-WI here we come). We found a water leak and one a/c keeps kicking off the breaker. So, the next month, Mike will be doing a few repairs. Thank goodness he is a handy man!

Back to the trip. Melissa, my coworker and very good friend, met us on Friday with her fiance, Nate. We had arrived on Thursday. I had the wonderful experience of driving the RV for the first time as I had to drive it back Saturday on my own since Mike was working during the day. I did fine, but sure was nervous. However, now I know I can do it!!

We had a great time swimming in the lake (well, the boys swam and played in the water), and sitting on the beach. We took a couple of hikes and Luca did soooo good walking most of the 1.5 mile hike. Nico found butterfly wings, frogs, turtles, and all kinds of fungus. I took several pictures and so did Nate. Here is one picture Nate took. He is such a good photographer. I will be enlarging this photo and hanging it on my wall.

I love taking the boys camping and going on trips. It brings back such fun memories of when I was a kid. Two weeks out of the summer we would jump in the camper and hit the road. Mom had the rest stops all planned out and places to visit. I am not that organized and we tend to just wing it most of the time. However, the joy of the great outdoors and such quality family time is so PRICELESS. No TV, no Gameboy or Nintendo DS, just family board games, bike riding, hiking, washers, and sitting around the campfire.

I enjoyed this week so much, when I came into work Saturday night, it seemed like I had been away for quite a while. Those four days off sure were special and we only camped for two nights.

I love my family!

Mother's Day Collage

2009-05-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is a collage of the photos we took for Mother's Day. These three boys are truley my dream come true! I have always wanted children and having endometriosis kept me from having them on my own. Someone above had other plans for me as these three beautiful children were meant to be mine. We all fit so well together.

Just tonight I was watching and listening to Nico and Luca playing cars. Luca turns 2 on Saturday, May 23, and Nico is 7.5. Luca was lining the cars up and making car noises. Nico decided to not play on the computer and play with his little brother. I loved having siblings and am sure glad I have been blessed with this precious family of mine.

Mother's Day at Our House

2009-05-14T18:37:00.001-07:00

Brian posed the boys as such....my "See no Evil, Hear no Evil, and Speak no Evil" monkeys!

Mother's Day was pretty much like any other Sunday here. I worked Saturday night, slept part of Sunday, and off to work again Sunday night. I did get wonderful chocolates and my favorite candy, Swedish Fish! I pretty much celebrated Mother's Day by picking Brian up Thursday evening from his dad's and keeping him until Saturday on my way to work. He enjoyed being able to relax and sleep in for a change. It was nice to have all the boys together. We didn't do anything extra special except spend time together. We had the Lincoln County Homeschool Fair to attend on Friday morning, we went to dinner at our favorite Chinese Restaruant in Troy (only two of those to pick from :-), and just hung out with the beautiful weather. Oh yeah, we also rented and watched "Twilight". Brian and I both read the book so it was fun watching it together and being able to discuss it. Nico joined us in the viewing.
I had Mike snap some photos of the boys and me. I usually hate having my picture taken, but I am actually happy with the photos we took....I think I actually look good in them.

I love wrestling with my boys. I love having them all home. It was such a beautiful day.

Vocabulary Explosion!

2009-04-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

Luca has started using a few more words this week. 'shoe and eat' (I am surprised 'eat' wasn't his first word :-). He is also signing for water and saying 'wawa'. He also signs for milk. It is so cute! My baby is growing up.

He totally understands us when we talk to him. I tell him to get me his shoes, he trots off and comes back everytime with a matching pair!

He is quite the ham too. I wish I could figure out how to load the video on here from my dvd's so I could show everyone his cuteness.

Luca is really starting to get the language thing down. However, I just love listening to him 'babble' off a whole sentence that he surely understands, but we don't.

His newest words are ' yellow, balloon, night-night, and choo-choo train'. He is able to say NICO and also calls Nico 'Bu-bee' which is what Nico wants to be called by him. I just love the bond that these two rascals have.

Luca really tries to imitate the words we say to him. It is so funny because he will nod his little head when he says it and laugh. He is so proud of himself. He still only signs for 'more, please, and thank-you'.

He now imitates an elephant by making the nose and using his arm up to his face like a nose. He also imitates a chicken and duck. (Added to horse, cow, dog, and cat).

He is all about daddy and cries when Mike leaves without saying goodbye to him. Luca is such a loving little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses. When I tell him to say 'night-night' to everyone he makes his rounds to everyone giving kisses (even the dog and cats if they are within range). Everytime he sees a helicopter he says, 'daddy!' (because daddy flies one at work).

I cannot imagine our life with out this bundle of joy. He has such a personality and knows he is a comedian.

Pictures and info about our spring break later this week.

Spring Break

2009-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Mike's Dad, Jim, and Step-mom, Darla, came to St. Louis from CA. This is their first time to St. Louis and they didn't get to stay long enough. Mike has lived here for 15 years and, of course, I have been here my whole life. Nico wanted to show them so much, but there are just not enough days.
Luca was running to Darla by the last day. He took to her quickly. She doesn't look old enough to be a grandma does she? (Luca had many nicknames over the week. These included, Rocky, Popeye, and Chucky....his face swelled all across and he did look like Chucky).

We spent Monday waiting on Mike and his dad to get back with Mike's new 'pickem up truck'. Darla came over and brought the boys "Mario Cart" for Wii. Nico was SUPER EXCITED! Grandma's are so good for spoiling our kids. Once the guys got back we took Jim and Darla to Mount Pleasant Winery (only 25 minutes from our house...yipee!). They were celebrating their 24th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful, but breezy, day.

This is just the wine tasting and Darla looks looped already! (Love you Darla)
My honeybunch and I. It was so nice to have some time off and away from home.

On Tuesday we went to Branson and home on Thursday. They left on Friday. Darla's family was having a family reunion in Branson, so she was able to kill two birds with one stone. :-)

Here is 'Papa Quackers'

As you can tell, we rode the ducks and got our 'quackers'. We had a 'quacker of a time". Nico even lost his tooth because of the quacker.

We were able to get in some miniature golf. Luca found it was a lot easier to pick up the ball and try to throw it in the little hole rather than using the golf club.

I love how Nico is linning up the ball.

I absolutely love homeschooling. It was nice to pick when we wanted to take spring break and the weather turned out AWESOME!

Boy vs Dog

2009-04-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

This photo is from Friday morning (4/24). The bite happened on Sunday (4/19). We took the stitches out Thursday night. As of this Sunday (4/27) the eye is almost all the way open. There is still some swelling at the top of the eyelid. I am amazed at how fast he healed!

Update:
Luca's eye and head are doing much better. He was able to start opening his eye yesterday (Thursday) and Thursday night we took the stitches out while he slept. He twitched a bit, but never opened his eyes. The thought of holding him while the doctor attempted to remove them was not good, especially with the one cut right on his eyelid.

The wounds look good and he is as happy and active as ever. He is also still petting and kissing on Petey. Yes, Petey is still there. I am making sure to keep him locked in the laundry room with his food until he is finished and then it gets picked up. If we are upstairs I keep Petey downstairs. Petey is giving kisses back and still seems to avoid Luca if he can. I truely believe he realizes he did wrong and did not mean to; it was just instinct.

My poor little Luca was bitten by none other than my own dog yesterday. I am so mad at Petey, but Luca was playing in his food dish while he was eating. Petey is 12 years old and came into my life when I just had Brian. Petey has never bitten anyone (he has snapped at a few people), so this was really disheartening to me. We were not in the room when it happened, but Mike had just fed Petey, Luca walked past him, Mike went to the restroom, and suddenly heard the dog noises and Luca screaming. I am kicking myself because I was upstairs on the computer. I didn't even hear anything, until Mike said, "OH NO!" Of course, I was a beeline downstairs and saw Mike holding Luca with blood streaming down the left side of his face and Luca, of course, in hysterics. We were quickly in action getting to blood off to see the damages. We weren't sure what happened to his eye....Thank God it was still intact!

I knew the cut on his forehead would need stitches, so off we went to the hospital. 2 hours later, Luca had 4 stitches. There is a pretty good gash right underneath the eyelash too, but the dr. did not want to try to stitch it. It swelled up big time by 9pm but I think this was due to his running around.

He slept through the night fine and it still sleeping at 8am. I will wake him soon to see how the healing did over night. I am hoping it is not too pasted shut to irritate it all again.

Before the stitches, but after we had it cleaned up. (3pm)

After the stitches (5pm), it is already starting to swell up.

Taken at 9pm. It really swelled after an evening of running around. The one tear breaks my heart!

Our Own Photo shoot

2009-04-10T17:58:00.002-07:00

I took the boys to the local city park to try to get some photographs. (I spend too much money when I go get professional photos taken.) The trees were all in bloom and it was sunny out for a change. However, it was a bit chilly and windy. But, we got a few good shots. Brian was even with us. These are untouched photos. The focus on some of them is out. I need more practice with my camera!!! But, this is our life and our casualness. I am a scrapbook addict and will admit it. I like my photos to capture who we really are.

It has been so rainy, windy, and cold here. I am so ready for the nice weather. One of the many perks of homeschooling is we can take our spring break when we want to. So, we have postponed ours until April 20, for two reasons: we have family come in from California, and two hoping the weather will finally break (maybe they'll bring some warm weather.)
The Three Amigos - Luca not so much wanting to stand there, he wanted to get the ducks. This resembles the first photo I took of the boys in Guatemala when we visited for Luca's first birthday.
This was our first photo in May 2008....Luca still not wanting to be there, although this time was because he just met these crazy characters.
Brian, he just turned 17 the end of March.
Nico was not into posing and trying to get great photos. I always have to catch him on the fly or in action when we are outside. Nico is 7.5 years old.
Look at me climb!

I just love this photo of Luca. He was laughing hysterically at Nico. He can be seen laughing in the next photo. He finds his big brothers so funny. This is Luca's Embassy shirt.

"I'm going to get me some ducks!!!"

Momma and her Luca Bear!

New Words, New Haircut, and Togetherness

2009-03-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

"I'll make use of this potty chair." "I'll just scoot it over here and then I can turn on the water and play in it." Luca was caught in the act. I actually watched him move the potty over and arrange himself up there.

Luca is really starting to get some words out. He now says, "help" and "ball" and babbles non stop. He continues to sign for 'more', 'please', and 'thank-you' and has also added his own form of 'drink' and 'napkin'. It is too cute and so great to communicate with him. He fully understands us now when we talk to him. It has been 7. 5 months since his homecoming. Another great thing was his excitement in seeing me last week and today. I left him at my brother and sister-in-law's house while I went scrapbooking last Friday. I snuck in and watched him play for a while. Suddenly he noticed me and came running (full speed) over to me laughing and holding his arms up. It brought tears to my eyes. Then last night he stayed there again while Mike, Nico, and I went to an overnight camping trip. Heather answered the door with Luca in her arms and he reached over and started laughing hysterically. He didn't even want to go to Mike. It is so awesome to have this little bug know I am mommy and to be so excited to see me!!! Luca is now able to sit and watch TV for about 20 -30 minutes. He loves Barney, Sesame Street, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I was so excited only because he watches it while I am working on lessons with Nico. As with Nico, once he is understanding the language he is able to sit and watch TV. He loves the singing and dancing and is becoming quite a dancer and gymnast himself (he watches big bro). Luca's new name is NO. He should be saying that soon as he hears it often. He is into everything. But, he is so cute and creative and not even two it is too cute!!! He is now 32" tall and weighs 30 pounds at 22 months of age.

Nico received a new haircut this week. He was trying to let his hair grow out, but decided to cut it because it was in his eyes. But, instead of just asking mom or dad to trim it, he took the scissors on his own and took a chunk out of the front. I took him to get it buzzed. He looks like his little baby self when he came home 6 years ago. His head was shaved and he was so tiny. He looks so cute with it shaved and I love rubbing his fuzzy head.

We had a great weekend together with Nico. There was an overnight camping trip at Shaw Nature Reserve for kids 5-8yo. I thought it would be a great time for Nico and I to get away and spend time together. Mike happened to be off this weekend and went with us. Luckily we stayed in heated cabins, because it was rather chilly last night (they are prediciting snow tonight). We went frog hunting, made s'mores, then taught Nico how to play checkers (which he thought was boring since he knows how to play chess). We stayed up until 10:30pm and then turned in sleeping in our sleeping bags in nice beds. In the morning we had breakfast and a hike in the rain. We made a lot of fun crafts such as stepping stones and gourdes. It was so much fun and great quality time with Nico.

I am sad to say that Brian is going through a rough time. Please say prayers for him that he can get himself together. It breaks my heart to see him hurting so and he refuses to help himself by not taking his medicine he needs to take. I love my sweet boy and miss having him here with us.

Nico and mommy on the night hike looking for frogs. (well, posing here, but the hike was looking for frogs).

Playing checkers. Nico did not know how to play until last night. He learned chess when he was 4 and found checkers to be boring.Nico all snuggled in this morning. Still so adorable when he is sleeping.Nico painting his gourd.Our finished gourds.

Luca gets into the TV.

Green Eggs and Ham

2009-03-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had a fun filled St. Patrick's day. The day started with the cooking of our green eggs. Yes, the shells of the eggs were a tint of green. They were farm fresh eggs bought from a friend. (gotta love the country).

We then proceeded to the classroom where Nico made his own green eggs with rhyming words. He also drew his own leprechaun (because no one has seen one he was able to draw what he things one looks like).

Anyone for green eggs and rhymes!

Silly me, the one with a 1/4 of Irish in me, didn't wear green, but I dressed my 100% Guatemalan boys in green! I told Nico, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

These boys melt my heart (yes, Luca has a helicopter in his hand..he is very into them already too)

The weather was FABULOUS! A beautiful 78 degrees. We spent a lot of time playing outside and I went snap crazy with the camera, here are only just a few.

Tree climber

Fun new ways to catch a ball.... too funny...he picked up the drain hose and entertained us with fun ways to try to catch a ball.

Praise to the sun god, also to the ball god, I love ya man, you make my day!

Michael decided to build a bonfire and had dragged a bunch of old boards, wood, and doors out. Nico helped by dragging out this huge board. However, Nico was going to first use it as a ramp. Daddy turned it into science fun (although Nico didn't realize it), by making their own teeter-totter! How fun is that! (Just look below)

Pure JOY!

To end the day, I was looking back through my pictures and decided my shaggy little Luca needed a hair trimming. I decided to trim the front and sides of his hair on my own. It didn't turn out too badly. I still couldn't bring myself to cut the curls in the back. I think he looks adorable.

Before

After (Do they get any cuter!!!!)

SPLISH-SPLASH We are taking a bath!

2009-03-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

Nico absolutely loves his little brother Luca. They play so well together. Nico is always coming up to him and giving him kisses and hugs. I shouldn't be surprised, but I am and love seeing the outpouring of love that goes both ways. Luca was truely meant to be with us. He fits so perfectly. He will go up to both big brothers and give them hugs on their legs or roll up next to them and just let out a yell. It is so much fun to watch them all.

Nico takes a bath with Luca and is such a great big brother he even washes his little brothers hair for him. What seven year old does that??? Nico also likes to use my almost empty shampoo bottles to create LOTS and LOTS of bubbles. This week both boys ended up throwing the bubbles at each other, clapping in them, and having a splashing good time (as you can tell from the photos).

Pardon the blurry photos. The only camera readily accessible was my sony cybershot....I hate the photos it takes....but at least they are photos.

I love my boys. Daddy just keeps asking, "You didn't get water all over the floor did you?" "It will come through the ceiling downstairs!"

Brian's upcoming surgery

2009-03-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

We had a 3 hour doctor visit Friday for Brian's upcoming jaw surgery. Brian has an open bite which he has always had. He has never been able to actually 'bite' into a cheeseburger, slice of pizza, ear of corn, or an apple. He always has to use his back molars to bite and tear instead of his front and canines. This is all due to his congenital myasthenia. www.lifewithcms.blogspot.com is the blog I started that goes into detail Brian's history and living with CMS and also being misdiagnosed for 7 years.

Brian has seen this surgeon, Dr. Marsh, several times over his 16 years. We visit frequently for team evaluations, especially when he was younger. He was not originally going to do the surgery, but my wonderful company changed insurance companies this year on me. The original surgeon does not take my present insurance, so we are back to Dr. Marsh. However, I feel this is a blessing in disguise as Dr. Marsh is said to be 'the best of the best'. I just hope the new insurance approves it all. (It was all approved under the other insurance).

Brian is really scared but was excited about it, but now not so much. It is totally understandable when you are talking about breaking and reforming a jaw. His lower jaw is too big and set off the right side. The back molars hit first causing the front teeth to remain open with a big gap. He will not be wired shut as the dr. said they try to avoid this. However, no chewing for up to 6 weeks. Brian cannot afford to lose any weight. He only weighs 98 pounds as it is. I will be forcing lots of veggie and fruit shakes fortified with wheat germ and flax seed. Plus he will be able to drink creamed soups...his favorite cream of broccili (yummy-St. Louis Bread company soup!- with a little more pureeing).

Not only does the open bite cause problems for biting, he also breaths through his mouth as he cannot close his mouth comfortably. The speech pathologists was highly impressed with the way he is able to self correct his speech. She mentioned what a good ear he has....he has a great ear for music too (if he would only use it to his fullest potential).

We will know more in a couple weeks when the final report comes out. The orthodontist also has to send xrays and molds to Dr. Marsh so everything can be coordinated. They were preparing to take Brian's braces off, now they need to stay on until he is completed healing from the surgery.

Nico is so funny because he keeps saying, "I am not going to recognize him!" He will definitely look different and I am very excited for Brian to have this done. I think it will help his self esteem ALOT. Plus, I can't wait to scrapbook the page of him BITING into his first peice of food!

Fun at home

2009-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Brotherly love! (My oldest and my youngest)

There has not been a whole lot going on here. I can't believe February is over and onto March. I am excited though, I heard the frogs Thursday night when it was 60 degrees outside. Unfortunately it was short lived as there were snow flurries today....ugh...come on spring.

Luca turned 21 months old on Feb. 23. Where is the time going. He can now point to nose, eye, ear, and show us his teeth. He also says 'eye' when he points to(in) your or his eye. He says 'hello' so cute! and Hi. I was busy cleaning the house the other day and turned around where Luca was playing with blocks...he had 9 stacked up and was adding number 10 when it fell over. I stopped what I was doing to clap and go watch him build some more. He is so proud of himself when you praise him. He gets the biggest grin and performs some more. Yesterday he had bumble ball type thing from a game we had that he figured out how to turn on. He would let it on the floor and it would bounce all around and roll across the floor. I loved watching him chase it around. He then decided he needed to make it stand still (without turning it off). I watched as he put it in a little wagon from the blocks and tried to lay the blocks around this rolling, vibrating ball to get it to stop rolling away. It was great how he placed the blocks all around this thing! I am so excited he is 'trouble shooting' things already. I think I have another smarty pants in my house.

He also now signs 'milk' which looks more like he is dancing, 'apple', and 'orange'. My mom seems to be upset that he "doesn't talk but just makes hand signals"...ugh, mom, that is communicating. He does have a lot of words he says too for only being in the US for six months. We are working on pointing to pictures and saying names for what they are. He makes the sound for horse now...a really cute, 'neigh'.

Nico is anxiously awaiting his "Gotcha Day" coming up on March 11. 6 Years!!! he will be home with us. I am going to buy him a little gift, go to dinner at a place of his choosing, and we are going to watch his coming home video. It always makes me cry. Oh yeah, loose tooth number 4 fell out (or he pulled it out). He has pulled all his own teeth out. So brave of him. My baby is growing up. He is still so adorably cute. I just can't believe this little boy is mine. I get so many compliments on them when we are out in public.

Brian is doing well. A typical teen; after lessons he is on the phone or the computer. I can't wait for the warm weather to do our lessons outside! He is filling out job applications hoping to land a part time job. He will be 17 in a month! I had to call Luthern Family Services the other day for some information (they completed my homestudy for Luca). I ended up talking to the woman who did the homestudy for Brian (she worked at Catholic Charities at the time). It was so funny!

Below are some random pictures of some fun we have been having.

The dreaded 4th loose tooth sticking out of his mouth. We couldn't wait for it to come out.

Luca loves giving the dog and cats kisses. Petey was giving Luca kisses, but I couldn't quite capture the picture. Luca is doing so good feeding himself with utensils (and his hands). He loves homemade icecream (well, any kind of icecream, but this batch of homemade was really yummy!
Head of curls! Luca's curls are getting tighter as his hair grows. Folks keep telling me it will be curlier if I keep it short. I don't know it is pretty darn curly. Here he is after a bath with his hair wet. I just love putting my fingers in his curls. No hair cut yet!!!

Valentine Fun

2009-02-17T01:53:00.000-08:00

While I love being showered with gifts and love, it is really the displaying of love that I enjoy. I am not a material person and told my honey not to spend any money on Valentine's day(unless it was a nice peice of jewelry) buying my candy (don't need it - to fattening) or flowers that were just going to die anyway. I love spending time with my family, that is what is important to me.

I had to work Saturday night, so we went out Friday night; Michael, Nico, Luca, and I, to dinner at Chihauhau's (a yummy Mexican Restaurant in town). Brian was already at his dad's so missed the dinner. It was very nice to sit down with the love's of my life and have a nice dinner. My kids are so well behaved when we go out (well, they are very well behaved period). I am very proud to have them with me.

Nico talked Daddy into letting him stay home with him on Saturday night while Luca went to my sister's and me to work. Nico and Daddy made a trip into town and bought special gifts Saturday. When I got home Sunday morning from work....I had a beautiful green, palm tree plant and a current issue of STAR magazine (Nico knows I read the covers while standing in the grocery lines), and an adorable singing card. PERFECT gifts! I had Nerds Ropes for the boys and hugs and kisses and I love you's all day for my boys. (They get most of that all the time anyway).

Saturday morning Nico and I spent time making his valentine box for our homeschool coop valentine party on Monday. As kids we always made valentine boxes for school and there were prizes for the boxes. My dad always came up with the COOLEST ideas. (one year I had a record player and posted below is the guitar my mom actually still has in her attic). My creative little boy, Nico, decided this year he wanted a giraffe. OKay! A giraffe it is. A couple of years ago, his 4.5 year old mind wanted a triceratops....I was like - oh yeah, like we can make a shoe box look like a triceratops....well, we did,,,he used it for 2 years. So, a giraffe should be much easier. Once we got rolling it was great. See the pics below. (I am also posting the triceratops because he turned out awesome!) Nico is so imaginative and creative...I LOVE IT! His mind never stops going!

Guitar valentine box (circa 1975)

Nico's giraffe valentine box

So, on Monday we had the Valentine party and valentine exchange. The kids all made really cute crafts (decorative wooden hangars with their names in shrinky dinks on them). We ate yummy food and exchanged valentines. The kids just have a great time playing together and we moms love visiting and chatting and watching the kids. Luca is really settling in with the kids too. It is fun to watch all age levels interact with each other.

So, all in all, a great Valentine's Day for me...no complaining here!

6 MONTHS! Last Post Placement Visit

2009-02-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it was six months ago (well as of Feb. 7 - I am writing this now after midnight) that Luca and I walked off the plane in St. Louis. I was so excited to be home with my new little Luca and to see my family again after 5 days. I was welcomed home by my wonderful boyfriend Mike, my two wonderful boys, Brian and Nico, my mom, sister, neice, my Aunt and Uncle, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and other neice. Also, two of my good friends from work were there (M&M).

Me walking into the greeting area at the airport with my bundle of joy....so very close to my heart in every way. He looks a little freaked out but quickly had smiles on his face and remembered Brian from our visit 3 months ealier, he went right to him.

Some of my family.

Luca added such a new dynamic to our home. My two oldests boys hardly ever fight now. Everyone just seems to get along so well. I love hearing them all laugh together and watch them playing and wrestling together. Neither Brian or Nico had adjustment issues. Luca also did not have issues. Everyone just blended together as if we were always there.

I have adopted three children now and it is amazing to me how you just fall madly in love with this child that you did not even give birth too. All three of my boys grew in my heart before I even met them. I knew if I couldn't have kids I would adopt. Even after getting divorced I knew I would have more than one child, even if I had to do it on my own. Not only did I do it once more, but twice. I am soooo happy with my family (and often think that there is one more out there waiting for me).

Luca has changed so much in the 6 months. He has such a great sense of humor at 2o months of age. He will do things on purpose to get you to laugh and pay attention to him; such as pretending to be coughing or sneezing, it will be so quiet and suddenly a loud scream comes out of him for no apparent reason other than to say 'hey, I'm here!', or he does some silly trick. He loves to put on other people's shoes, especially Nico's crocs and walk around in them (I have to get a picture of that). His vocabulary is coming along well...he says, mom, mama, daddy, dada, i did it, uh-oh, ow, daw-daw (dog), barks like a dog, meows soooo cutely like a cat, moos like a cow and now whinnies like a horse. He says, na-naa-na (banana with all the right syllable sounds), hello, bye-bye, he signs more, please, and thank-you. He is trying to say Bri-Bri for Brian. There are more but I can't think of them all right now. He now does a somersault on his own. (We are at the gym every week watching Nico in tumbling). He cruises up and down the stairs and is trying to walk down them holding onto the handrail. He builds with blocks and can stack them about 4 high before they fall over. He plays with toy cars, airplanes, helicopters (anything with wheels) and makes all the appropriate vroom-vroom, helicopter propellor sounds, and pushes or flies them along.

We also had our last post placement visit this week. It is good to finally have that out of our way. I know they are important for the adoptions of Guatemala, but having one more thing finished for our adoption is nice. (I still have to file for the new CoC with his new name and a passport). From the assessment he is on target for his age. He was so funny wrestling with his big brother that day and just walking around like he owned the house.

My boys tell me at least once a week, "I am so glad you decided to adopt again." It makes me so happy to hear that they love their brother so much. They are so understanding when it takes more time for me to change a diaper or cuddle with him before bed. We usually all cuddle together over a book. His bedtime is 8pm, Nico's 9pm, and Brian 10pm. I am a night owl so still have a couple hours for myself and for Mike.

Our family is perfect (and there is always room for one more - if it is meant to be).

Here are the new pics!

Nico sitting in the big ampitheater chair on our field trip. (20 months old)Here's a perfect desk for me! It's amazing how Brian gets any school work done, but he does!

SNOW Fun

2009-01-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Being a homeschool family we rarely take a 'snow day' because we already have everything we need at home and if they finish their lessons they can go outside anyway.....however, today was an exception!!! We had a beautiful snow fall last night and the weather was perfect for bundling up and playing outside. There was minimal to no wind and the sun was shining brightly. We took the whole day off of school. The kids were excited!!!

We had plenty of ice around Christmas so were glad for some fluffy snow. This was really Luca's first time in the snow. He really liked it. He was on his hands and knees playing in it and throwing it around. He was laughing and following his big brothers everywhere.

Nico and I had a good snow ball fight going!

The boys wandered down to the pond which was frozen and covered with snow. (There is only about a foot of water in the pond right now). Here they made snow angels.

Luca gets some help

Even, Petey, the dog, had a great time in the snow. Petey has hip dysplasia and rarely gets too excited. However, today all his peeps were outside with him and he was loving the snow! He was rolling in it and sticking his face in it. The cats were out prowling and I have a picture of Hera watching the snow from the window last evening.

Both Petey and Luca wore themselves out today. Petey has been laying on the stair landing all afternoon and evening and Luca took a 3.5 hour nap!!!! (He needs to do that on the days I work).

It was also nice to get outside and maybe clear some germs from our systems. We are all feeling better now and hopefully it will stay that way.

We tried to talk Mike into using the car hood he had sitting around for a sled....but no go...shucks!! Nico even said, "But Dad, there is already a hook here to tie a rope to!!!" Maybe next time I'll remember to grab the sled from the other house.

We came inside and made some yummy cookies. Luca was so funny....he pulled the chair over to the oven, sat on it, and watched the cookies bake...only for a short while because he can't sit for 10 minutes. :-)

What a great day we had together!!!!

Now we have had our snow......Come on SPRING!

Wisdom Teeth, Inauguration, Losing Tooth #3, and 20 months old

2009-01-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

There has been the normal routine going on here. The boys were all on antibiotics over the last week and now everyone is doing great, except for Mom who now has the sinus congestion stuck in her sinuses and miserable with sinus pain and dried out from taking sinus medicine; even my eyes are dry. But, at least they are all feeling better.

Nico and Luca played for an hour today with a big box from some shelves I was putting together. It was so fun to watch them and listen to them laugh with each other. They love each other so much. Nico is so glad to have someone to play with. Luca fits right in and for 20 months old, plays like the big guys.

Brian had his wisdom teeth taken out Monday. Yep, he had all four removed. He did awesome! They put him to sleep for the surgery and it is always scary with Brian and his CMS. The surgeon did great monitoring and had all four out within 25 minutes. He has such a high tolerance to pain (with all his past history of surgies and just living with pain), he only took a couple doses of pain meds and even ate Jack in the Box that night (not by my choosing, he was with his dad), but he came out great. He had a bit of swelling and a little bruising. He's my trooper!

Yes, that is the "Mom, not pictures of this!!!!" look.

Here he is 3 days later with just a bit of chipmunk cheeks.

We spent Tuesday morning with our North County Homeschool Coop group watching the inauguration of President Obama. The kids made pennants and actually sat to watch what was going on. It was fun to watch it with others and make it an educational experience for our kids.

The boys working on their pennants.

The swearing in.

Luca intent on watching Obama.

I wanted to add a couple of pictures of Luca with the girls. I love this group because we have two sets of kids all around the same ages.

They were playing with a sticker under the edging of the fireplace. It was so cute to see them huddled there together.

Nico's 3rd loose tooth finally fell out. It has been driving me crazy. He pulled out the last two that fell out of the bottom, but he wanted this one to fall out on its own. It was sooo loose and he wouldn't pull it. The adult tooth started coming in behind it and pushed the baby tooth out so it was sticking out like a buck tooth and wouldn't wiggle backwards anymore. He was sleeping in Brian's room in the trundle bed. He said he rolled and fell out of the top bed hitting his tooth on the edge of the bed. The tooth fell out right into his palm. Brian yelled down to us and we ran up to see the splendor of another sign of my baby growing up. He now has a bit of a lisp. I need to video tape him.

The missing tooth. His lips were so chapped he didn't want to smile. He is so handsome.

"Alright already Mom, it hurts to smile!"

You can see the adult tooth now pushing the next one out. Pretty soon he'll have a big hole in the front of his mouth.

Luca turned 20 months old yesterday. His newest things are doing a somersault, saying 'nana' for banana, 'dye-dye' for bye-bye, says "Hi dad", can sign 'more, please, and thankyou'. He even puts the more and please together. I want to teach him more signing, but am afraid he won't talk if he knows how to do all the signing. It is great, he signs and gets this HUGE grin on his face. We all clap and get him what he wants. Yesterday he brought his bowl to the refridgerator, tried to open it, couldn't, then looked at me, set his bowl down and signed 'more, please'. I knew he wanted blueberries as he had just had some in the same bowl. So smart!!!! He is now walking backwards very well and laughs when he does it. He throws the ball accuratley and loves playing catch. He sits and draws and makes a point to be sure you look at his drawing. He babbbles alot and really knows what he is saying (although we don't quite know it all yet).

Here he is on his 'computer' during lesson time. He is getting to be quite a poser when I take pictures.

Started A New Blog

2009-01-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

For anyone who cares to follow more closely, I have started a new blog relating to the life of my son Brian. He was born with Congenital Myasthenia Syndrome. I have been searching the web for others with is syndrome and found a few blogs.

Visit my other blog at www.lifewithcms.blogspot.com to follow his beginnings as I backtrack through is life and how far he has come.

I will keep the family happenings here, but the gritty details on Brian's upcoming surgery and past will be at that blog.

A Fun Filled Day?!

2009-01-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

Today started out with another trip to the pediatrician. Unfortunately, I have not found a new one close to our new home. So, I drive an hour to see the dr. we have been seeing for 16 years. (It is time though to find one closer to home!). Anyway, this time I had to bring Luca. I believe he has a urinary tract infection. They started him on antibiotics once we got the urine sample. We'll know for sure next week when the lab results are in, but I am pretty sure that is it.

The next part of our day, we were driving home on hwy 70 when I got a flat tire. I am thankful it wasn't a huge blowout and I was able to keep control of the car. The funny thing is, I think I hexed myself. Last week I was driving to work thinking how much driving I do and thinking I haven't had a flat tire in over 20 years....ha, not anymore! AAA and MODOT saved the day. They had my donut on the van and I was rolling 15 minutes after he got there. Then I stopped in Troy and got 2 new tires put on. They were done if 15 minutes too. (I love my small town). I am also glad it didn't happen Thursday or Friday when it was 0 degrees and less with wind chill. Today it was abaout 25 and it felt good.

Other than that all is well. I will be happy if our weather stays on the warmer side. Although we really want a good snow for some sledding. Nico attempted to go out on the pond today to check the ice. He made it across. Don't worry there is not a whole lot of water in it...maybe up to his knees if he fell through and Daddy was hanging with him.

I stuck to my cooking resolution this week and had 4 great meals cooked on my days off. Is it good or bad if your son tells you "the Chili is good, but next time you should make it from scratch."? I was shocked, what did he think I was doing in the kitchen over the stove for a couple of hours! I sure thought my Chili from Scratch was waaaaayyy better than any canned chili. He laughed and said, 'really?', 'high five mom, you did good'.....silly boy...yes, this is my 16 yo talking. Usually I have home grown stewed tomatoes to use, but not a good crop of tomatoes this summer, so used can, but the chili was great. It went especially well with the cold temperatures we had.

Speaking of chili, off to my dinner here at work, of CHILI!

New Pictures and Update

2009-01-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

I took Nico to the doctor on Monday, lo and behold, he had strep throat, not an ear infection! We had to miss our North County Homeschool Coop. He was so dissappointed. He just loves playing his with friends. It was also hard because he was actually starting to feel better. He hates the strep test though. He gags so bad when they do it I thought he was going to throw up all over me. Brian never had a gag reflex, so when he was swabbed it was not big deal. Nico is on his antibiotics and soooo good at remembering he needs to take it.

Brian is doing well. He says he hates it here though because we have the satellite internet and he can't play his computer games on it. I was told I was 'cheap' today because I wouldn't upgrade the system. It is expensive enough already!!!! It is enough for what I need to do right now. I also need to save for our Disney trip.

Luca is our newest comedian and actor. I swear for a 19 month old he is GOOOOOD! He really hams it up. He is learning baby sign language really fast! He can now sign 'more', 'please', and 'thank you'. I am going to start working on a few more. I think I am going to make sign language our 'second language' for homeschooling. It was so cute tonight. Luca was standing at the table and Mike was feeding him some chili. Luca kept standing and starring when he was done eating with his sippy cup in his hands. Mike would ask him, "What do you want?" Luca would set his cup on the floor and then do the signing for 'more', with a big grin on his face! I have to get his signing on video, he is the first I have used it with. He is talking too. He now says 'up', 'nana' (for banana), and this morning he repeated, 'get up' when I told Brian and Nico to get up out of bed.

New Year's Eve, Luca had the best spot in the house.....his favorite place, right next to the food! He has grown 2.5 inches in 5 months and still weighs 28 pounds. How does he do it???? Oh, yeah, he neverrrrrrr stops! But when he does he is out like a light!

Daddy and his boys! I was wondering why it was so quiet in the living room. With three boys there is always noise. I walked in and here they were, all watching some 'manly' tv show (some car redesigning show). It was so cute, them all snuggled up together. He is such a great daddy to these boys.

Luca doing his 'lessons'. Luca is getting into the stacking of the cups. These are kept in our school room, that's why I say 'lessons' and Nico thinks he doesn't do anything! He sat for at least 10 minutes the other day stacking, knocking down, and restacking these cups. I was so excited to see him doing them on his own.

Hey, who turned the lights off???? Luca wearing his biggest brother's hat. He was walking around laughing.

Nothing too eventful

2009-01-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

Not a whole lot going on this week. We did get our 'hairs' cut. Luca received a trimming off the top, sides, and bangs. She also layered out the back, but she didn't take any off the length in the back. He still has all his curls! I just love rolling them around my fingers. Brian has his hair cut short and thinned out. He is ready to go apply for those jobs this week. I also had about an inch cut off of mine, just to get the split ends off. It is not near as scraggly now. Nico wants to let his hair grow out, so we are giving him another month until he will need to get it shaped up, but keep the length.

I have been so hungry for home meals that tonight I laid out a menu for my four days off. Kroger has some good 0.88 cent deals this week. I am sticking to this resolution fairly well. We even skipped using our Quizno coupon today and ate the food we had at home. Nico wanted soup instead. This week is going to be Cheeseburger casserole and cole slaw, salsa chicken made in the crockpot with mixed, sauted vegetables, cube steak and mashed potatoes, and chili and salad. Yum! I am hungry already.

Nico seems to have an ear infection so we'll be seeing the doctor tomorrow. The poor thing was feeling so awful on Friday, but is feeling better today. The fever is much lower and he only took aspirin twice today. I just hate when my babies don't feel well.

This week we were back in full swing with lessons, hiphop, tumbling, and art class. The boys are now working toward a fun day each month. Nico picked a trip to Brunswick Zone if they do their lessons well (without complaining). They can only have 2 bad days each for the month (because we all have bad days). Brian gets to pick an event next month. They did great this week!!! It took them forever to get their stuff done on Tuesday, but with two weeks off it was hard to get back into it (This is why we don't take a 3 month break in the summer). I can just imagine what those teachers felt like with a classroom full of 20-30 students after the Holiday break. I will post pictures later of Luca doing his lesson. He is learning to stack the stackable cups. We were busy working on our stuff and we turned around and Luca had a stack of 3 cups on top of each other. He was clapping for himself. It was so cute! Nico says, "It isn't fair that Luca's lessons are so easy!" I have to remind him that every minute of the day Luca is learning, just as we all are.

I am doing pretty good so far with my New Year's Resolutions. When people try to rile me up at work, I just kind of smile and bite my tongue (not always, but better than before). I am thankful to have a job! I have cooked several meals over the last week and a half. I need to make more at one time though to have leftovers for work. I don't really cook for two of my work days as it is all I can do to get 4 hours of sleep in the day and function to drive home and spend time with the kids. As for the house cleaning, well, it didn't all happen last Thursday as I hoped, but I did start cleaning up the kitchen today. My goal for this week is to get our front room clean out. This is the room in the new house that was not designated as any particular room, so all the extra boxes were placed here. Most of it is my homeschooling items that aren't in use right now, but will be in the future. I am going to go ahead and make sure they are in plastic containers and move them to what will become the school house. This room needs to be cleaned out as we are moving everything left at the other house on the 22nd. There are a couple of couches that will find their way into that room plus a TV for the kids to play their video games on so we can have the big screen. So, it is in the works!

Pictures coming later this week. Our internet at home has issues so we are hoping to get someone out to investigate. Living in the country we can only get satellite. I think our satellite is out of whack.

Bad Hair Day!

2009-01-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love Luca's curly hair; however, I think he is in the need for a trimming. When I walked in his room this morning, this is what I was greeted with....his cute, lovely, charming self, a few tears, and his hair......

What a precious face to see in the morning. I am calling this afternoon for trimmings for Luca, myself, and Brian.

New Photos

2009-01-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

I have the photos from my SIL of the baptism. Luca was so precious. (and is so precious). His new thing is trying to walk up the stairs like a real big boy - taking steps instead of crawling. I can't believe he has grown 2 inches since August 08 (his homecoming). He now says 'ow' when he bumps into something or falls and says 'up'. He loves all his new toys from Christmas; they all have buttons on them!

We have enjoyed our two week break from lessons and will be starting back up this Tuesday. We have a lot to do in 5 months! (We tend to work through the summer, but not every day of the week). Brian just informed me he may need another day or two off to go to Ohio to pick up a truck for him. Apparently his dad has decided to buy him a truck to drive. I am not ready for him to drive on his own yet. Driving will be limited at my house still. He is going to apply for a job next week. Hopefully he gets one quickly. (I was just informed they didn't win the truck from Ebay, so he is home on Tuesday...good, I miss him. He has been at his dad's for a week while we were on school break).

Nico has been having fun helping daddy on his hangar. He has earned extra money to do some after Christmas shopping. He is growing up so fast. Conversations with him are so adult like. I wonder where my baby is? He is getting ready to lose his third tooth. His smile is so funny. The tooth is hanging crooked and there is a big gap where his jaw has spread for the new adult tooth. I hope I have a picture of his new smile to post. I am also posting pictures of Nico's art work from his last semester art class. It was so awesome I framed them and hung them on the wall. One was our nativity scene, as Luca kept taking all the statues from under the tree. It will be framed and stored with the Christmas items and hung up each year now.

Mom and her prince - he wouldn't leave the hat on, but Heather snapped a quick photo.

How precious. We had lots of 'oohs' and 'aaahs' as we walked into church.

Three little monkeys. Just look at Luca looking at Connor - learning the ropes!

This picture I just love. Who is that little boy in the background drinking out of the baptismal font? Yes, that is my Nico. But he wasn't actually drinking out of it, just seeing if he could get his hair wet!

Christmas morning! My two Guatemalan Princes. I haven't had Brian on Christmas morning since I was divorced when he was 2 years old. His dad always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with his extended family and we did Xmas Day. So, it was conveinent and made us all happy to keep the same thing and Brian could spend the holiday with both families. I miss having those first morning pictures of him. Luckily I have been blessed with two more!

There's his new falling out tooth smile. I love his smile! He always has one on his face. Never mind where the bows are located. He is so silly!

A favorite gift from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Darla. The eyeclops was a hit with the older guys looking at their gray hairs and whiskers. Nico was looking in the carpet for bugs. Thank goodness he didn't find any.Nico loves his webkinz. He recieved 4 new ones Christmas morning. Here are Spots and Spartacus. (Yes, we have been studying Roman gladiators - thus the name).

Luca and his SmartEBear. He was leaning in to give him a kiss.

I love you SmartEBear!

My mom and dad with all their grandkids. Seven of them are not biological (2 step grandchildren and 5 adopted). But, mom and dad love them all the same! It was so great to actually have everyone at home this Christmas. We were only missing Mike's daughter who lives in California. Unfortunately we don't get to see her very often.

Grandpa sneaking in some icing and cake to Luca. Luca walked up to him and put his little arms up and said, 'up'. Of course, Grandpa swooped him right up. I love this photo!

Who is that guy at our window? We'll welcome you in! It is just my brother though. For some reason he went outside and peeked in the window. It would have been great if he put on a Santa suit while doing it. I'll have to remember that for next year.

Yep, Brian got his computer...eventually.... I made him wait until late in the afternoon to get it. Now he will be off of mine. I made him sign a contract and laid out the rules prior to opening the gift. All parental control is still maintained even though it is a gift.

The kids ready for Nerf Dart Tag. This is Connor and Nico. They are two years apart in age (Nico being older) they are great buddies. I am so thrilled Vernon met Heather and she had a young one so Nico could have a cousin close to his age to grow up with. I loved having my cousins to play with.

My nephew: BIG BAD BRAD. He just turned 19 this week. Goes to show you, you're never to old to play!

Our Nativity Scene. It couldn't get more beautiful for me than this. I found this to be more precious than the statues beneath the tree. Nico did a great job on it. It is hanging on the wall by the tree.

Three of his pieces I framed. The others I still need to get frames for. I could not buy pictures that complete my wall any better than these. Nico has such talent. I can't even draw a stick person right. We have decided to decorate most of our home with vacation photos and art work from the kids. I have a 13x19 inch printer that printed some awesome photos from Oregon and California. We have them framed. We just have to hang them up.

New Year's Resolutions!

2009-01-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a wonderful start to the New Year.

The boys and myself spent it with my family -again- at my brother's new house. It was great fun. I so enjoy spending time with my family and reliving old memories. This year was hysterically funny because the 'old folks' (my mom, dad, uncle, and aunt) were playing the Walgreen's Wii version of bowling. They were having a great time with the music turned up. Us kids are sitting at the kitchen table playing board games. We suddenly find ourselves all bopping to this music! It went on all night. I am surprised the tune is not still rattling through my head. I actually took video this year, but did not get footage of the bopping to music, darn!

Usually I don't make New Year's Resolutions, well, none that I actually stick to. This year I am going to make obtainable resolutions and do them. Here they go:
Cook a full/fresh dinner at least 3 nights a week. (Leftovers the rest of the week or quick meals). This is very hard for me. I have a hard time planning ahead for meals. I base my meals on what I am hungry for at the moment. Also, working 3 nights a week I am thrown off schedule for 4 of my days. However, last week, I went home and threw a meal in the oven and baked it before Luca and I went down for our naps. This worked perfectly because I then had a whole meal that we could just reheat before we headed out the door for the sitters and work. This is my new plan on the nights I work.
All of us will clean the house together with a thorough cleaning on Thursday afternoon. My plan for this is that after our lessons we will break up and do a thorough house cleaning. The jobs will rotate week to week so we all get the fun job of cleaning the 3.5 bathrooms! The kids will also be responsible for their rooms making sure nothing is on the floor to get sucked up by the vaccum monster.
I will quit complaining about my job and be thankful I have one; especially one that allows a schedule where I get to be home with my children and am able to homeschool them. (Melissa, you know you can catch me on this one - she is my favorite coworker.)We complain alot at work about how our raises stink, how much work we are expected to do, etc. This year I vow to not complain nearly as much - I can't promise not to complain ever. I am thankful I have a job where I only work 3 nights a week. It hasn't always been this way and it always has the potential to change, but for this year again, it looks like this is the schedule we will have. The time with my children is so precious and I am so fortunate to be able to work a full time job, full benefits, and good wages. There are many people laid off, without jobs that would do anything to be in my position. I do enjoy what I do, but often feel very under appreciated. I need to just know that I am doing a good for the community and it is appreciated, even though the people who are administered what we manufacture don't know us.

These three goals (resolutions) I know are attainable. We'll be starting tomorrow with a wonderful home cooked meal (pasta fritata) , a glass of Florida wine, and a comfy night with my honey and 2 of my boys. (Brian is hanging out with his dad over our Christmas break from lessons). Today we were at a friends house for late lunch/early dinner so I got out of cooking today. And starting tonight by working overtime and helping not only my pocket book but helping the company and my fellow team members.

Christmas All Together

2008-12-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful this year. It was so good to have Luca home with us. That is the only present I needed. He loved opening his gifts. He received lots of gifts with buttons and that make noise (just what he asked for from Santa and family). Nico was amazed at the gifts under the tree. He woke us at 7:30am and said, "WOW! We must have been good. You should see all the presents under the tree!" (I guess he thought he wasn't that good....but he was). Brian was delighted as well. He still gets so excited for his gifts. I, myself, did great with a new GPS, slippers, gift cards, a hairbrush (thanks Santa, I needed that one badly!), and my season 4 of "Lost".

The family all made it over admidst all the ice. Going home they were not so happy as some didn't heed my warning of taking a run at the icey hill to get back out. I think we have decided that I will give up hosting Christmas and stick with the summer holidays/events due to the uncertainty of winter weather in Missouri. My nephew was home from overseas. He is in the Marines. He had several pictures he shared with us and I was able to copy them to my computer. I am so glad to have these photos of this part of his life. I was able to get a picture of my mom and dad with all the grandkids - AMAZING.

I am excited to be off work New Year's Eve this year. My brother just moved into a new house and we are heading there on Wedensday evening. We have several new board games from Santa and will be playing those. Our family has always played board games and we love it. New ones are always great.

I thought I had copied the photos to my external drive and went to load pics and they are not there. I guess I didn't copy them yet. I'll do that today and post the rest of the photos.

I let the boys each open one gift on Christmas Eve. This year they opened the gifts from Grandma Karen (Mike's mom). She visited us in November so knew just what the boys liked. Here's Nico with his snake book. He looks through it every day!Here is Luca opening his new jacket! It is a perfect fit. While it wasn't warm enough for Christmas day, it was great to wear the day after when it was 65F. (Midwest weather!)

I never did post the photos from our Troy Homeschool Christmas Tea. Here are some of the photos. The kids all decorated the tables. We then got spiffied up and had a wonderful tea. The kids also sang a few Christmas songs. The boys table theme was Star Wars. The boys all made gingerbread houses and the girls made horse dioramas. They were all great.

Brian's "Farm" gingerbread house with a silo too.

Trying to get a picture where they all looked great was next to impossible. This is as good as it gets. But this is them,,,,silly all the way!
Mom and her boys. Again, hard to get one where we all looked perfect. We are far from perfect, so that is to be expected.

The Choir

The boys table with the Star Wars decorations.

Ice, Ice Baby!

2008-12-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

Brrr! It is cold here at home! We are slipping and a sliding through lots of ice. We live in the country and our country road is all ice. We also have to go up and down 2 huge hills to get to our house. Lucky for me, I got home yesterday with all the Christmas dinner fixins before the freezing rain started. Mike wasn't so lucky. He had to park at the top of the hills and walk home in the freezing rain-not so fun. We are hoping the sunshine today will melt some of it and a little bit of traffic (we don't have much here) may break the ice up; however, it is getting down to 19F again tonight. I love the snow, but the ice can be left behind. My family is expected to come over tomorrow for Christmas dinner. If they can't make it to the house, it will be my first Christmas ever without my whole family (on Christmas Day).

We make the best of it though and have been making cookies and wrapping presents. Nico and Luca had fun with both of these activites.

Nico wrapping a present. He loves to wrap them all by himself.

Luca likes to play in the ribbon.

"How does that crazy thing work?" (investigative, just like his big brother)

"Yes, it's hot, but there are some yummy cookies in there. I am just admiring them." I loved capturing this photo. It brought back great memories of my sister, brothers and myself sitting in front of the oven watching while the snickerdoodles went from balls to flat cookies - amazing!

Nico also had his taste and feel of his first snow, or rather, ice and snow. He didn't get to really play in it because it was so bitterly cold and slippery! We had a layer of ice, then a small layer of snow. But, we took a few pictures anyway and he was laughing while holding the cold icey snow.

"What is this stuff?"

"That's some cold stuff. Where is the warm Guatemalan weather?"

"It's okay, I don't need the warm weather, this stuff is FUNNY!"

"No throwing ice chunks at each other, and especially not over the baby's head!" BOYS!

Nico, clearing the snow off the ice so he could ice skate.

My Sweet Angel(s)

2008-12-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Luca was baptized last weekend. He looked so angelic in his beautiful, white outfit. Here are just a few pictures from the event. My sister-in-law has more pictures which I hope to get from her soon. My sister-in-law, Heather, is the Godmother and my brother, Vince, is the Godfather. Father Tom is always a joy to listen to in church and was even kidding at the ceremony. Luca even remembers Father Tom dipping his finger in the oil and rubbing it on his head, as the other day while we were wrapping presents, Luca stuck his finger in a roll of ribbon, tilted it over, and rubbed his hand on my forehead. He then walked over to Mike and did the same thing. Then he did it to himself. It was a week later....I was amazed! He is one smart cookie and doesn't miss a thing.

The boys are still getting along fantastically. Nico now gives Luca kisses goodnight and lets Luca kiss him. Before it was, "yuck, baby germs!" Nico was in a performance last weekend and Luca spotted him from the back of the auditorium and was shouting out and laughing. (It I can figure out how to get the video from the dvd to the computer, I will post the video.--any advise?). He immediately recognizes them. I also know he can see from far away now.

My angel standing at the baptismal font....."Hey Mom, there is a big bathtub here!"

The Godparents, Heather and Vince

Mom, Godparents, and the sweet, sweet angel.

First Flight

2008-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

Luca gets his first helicopter flight!

On my second date with Mike, he took me on a helicopter ride. I was so scared, but I was not about to tell him that!!!!! I didn't want him to not date me.....I even started to get queasy, but again, played it off - phew! I now enjoy going with him when I get a chance. It is so beautiful to see things from above and not so far up as in an airplane.

When I brought Nico home, March 15, 2003, Mike arrived home at the same time with his 'new baby'. He purchaced a helicopter from Oregon and flew it to Missouri. He was flying it back the same week I was in Guatemala. I was calling him everyday to check his progress. I was so worried about him flying it so far. Nico received his first flight the day after coming home. He has LOVED flying with Daddy ever since. (Once he turned 2 he kicked me out of my seat - as he couldn't sit on my lap anymore). He now flies with Daddy any chance he gets. Nico was not too happy when Daddy asked if Luca was ready for a helicopter ride. (He hates the thought of someone taking his spot in the helicopter). I loaded Luca up and we went on his first ride. The pictures show him by himself, but he was sitting on my lap. He really seemed to enjoy it. He was looking down and pointing at things and then looking up at the blades spinning over his head.

Mike flies helicopters as his job. He is the pilot for the medivac helicopter in our town. I am so proud of him. He was laid off from American Airlines working as a mechanic and went to Alaska for 6 months to obtain his hours to fly for his new career. He already had his license to fly and had his own helicopter, but what a wonderful thing....to get a job doing something you love to do; plus serve the community and save so many lives.

Daddy and Luca, ready for take off - almost - we need Mom.

He is so tiny in there.

What are you doing to me?? What are these things on my head?? I love his chubby cheeks!

Christmas Preparations part 1

2008-12-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Nico finally got me to get the tree out of the closet. We set it up and finally got it all decorated. I realized once we were finished that everyone was home. I quickly rounded us all together (regardless of what we were wearing or how we looked - thank goodness we were all dressed:-) and started taking some pictures. We finally have a family photo to put in the Christmas cards.

Next week we'll start making cookies. We may visit Santa next week too. Nico hated Santa until he was 5 years old. Luca probably won't be so thrilled either. Brian, however, didn't have any fear of the man with the big, white beard. They are all so different.

Luca digging through the box of ornaments. He is interested in anything he can find.

The Happy Family. It's as good as it's going to get! I love my boys!

What I am Thankful for!

2008-11-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Another Thanksgiving come and gone. Now it is onto the scurry of holiday shopping and craziness. I always hate that Thanksgiving seems to be forgotten in the stores. I did attempt to go shopping on Black Friday, but after working all night I realized I was too tired to deal with the crowds and driving around from store to store for 'the deal'. It is not worth it. So I drove back to my sister's house and picked up my baby's to spend Black Friday home with them. It was a very peaceful day here today.

I am so thankful for my family. I am most thankful to have our newest member home with us this year. My heart goes out to all the families that are still waiting for their precious ones to come home.

Luca and Brian

Luca and Nico

Big Boy Luca (18 months)

I am thankful for my family being healthy. I am thankful for the miracle that turned Brian's health around 11 years ago. My parents are both healthy and active and my nephew is home on leave from Iraq in good health and good spirits.

I am thankful for my loving boyfriend, Mike. He is always so supportive and patient with me and the kids. You are the best!

I am thankful for the support group I have in adoption, my cyberfriends, and friends that are near. Without others who have been through the process and understand our journey it is hard to cope sometimes.

Following are pictures of my blessings on this Thanksgiving 2008.

Nico and Uncle Vince

Vince, Mom, Sandi (my sister), and Brian
Luca and Daddy
Big Boy Luca sitting at the table and feeding himself!

Yep, this is a picture of me. I wanted one with all the kids, but trying to get them all in one place is hard.

18 months old

2008-11-24T00:38:00.001-08:00

Luca turned 18 months old yesterday! I can't believe he is a year and a half already. We are all having so much fun watching him RUN around the house exploring and learning.

Everyday he says or does something new. Today I was laying on the couch taking a rest after working all night. He carried over a toy with a couple of balls in it and attempted to climb up on the couch next to me. He was having a hard time getting up there with everything and actually said, 'help'. I have been trying to get him to say help each time he gets frustrated and starts fussing over something he can't do. He is starting to watch more of the PBS shows as he is understanding more English.

I sure love having a little bitty guy around again. I enjoy all my boys as they are all at different stages of their lives. Nico is still a cuddler and Brian is a teenager with the biggest heart and still likes to give his mom hugs in the morning and a 'good morning' to go with it.

This is a picture of him in Guatemala when I took Nico and Brian to visit him for his first birthday in May. It is hard to believe it was 6 months ago! The wait seemed forever and now the time is flying. I love the look on his face, like he is deep in thought (probably just savoring that icing from the cake).