NINE

I have no idea how my baby boy is nine today!! 

Some of our very best friends came for a visit today and I kept it a secret from my kids. I picked them up and we headed to school where I had Jake and Cara called to the office for early dismissal. When they walked in they were shocked to see their buddies had come all they way from Iowa to see them!!! HUGS all around. It was a sweet moment. Jake reached out and hugged his friend and Cara did the same with Reagan.

It was a blast!!!

What an awesome birthday surprise for Jake!! We had lunch and headed to their hotel for some pool time and then back to our house for awhile before having dinner at Marion's. 

We didn't have a party this year for Jake and I think this made up for it!! 

Jake, I love you so much!! 

You are a fun little guy who has had my heart since

before you were born!!!

I am so thankful that I get to be your Mom. 

You are pretty much a carbon copy of your Daddy. He loves you so much too!!!

I can still hear him announce, "It's a BOY!" and see his proud smile. 

Here are a few of my favorites of the two of you. 

I am thankful to have you boys in my life even though sometimes you can 

make me a tiny bit crazy!

You are a joy to us.

I remember some of the phases I thought we just might not make it through, but we did!!

Oh, the Tigger phase. 

That costume was worn everyday for a very, very long time. 

Not only did you wear the costume.....you totally thought you were Tigger and were in character most of the time.

 

This picture of you heading off to preschool seems like yesterday. 

Now you are a big third grader and I can hardly handle it!!! 

Love you so much, Buddy!!

Because I hate being negative....

That previous post was negative. I don't like to be negative. After I posted that, I sat down at my desktop and looked at a post-it that I have taped to the box. I can't figure out where I copied it from.

"We are all capable of making a difference in others. It may be in the words we speak or a smile we give. Giving into negativity within you, fuels the fire to destroy you. Instead foster the strength and support to which greater outcomes can grow and let your light shine." 

This is who I really want to be. Even when it is hard.

My Motto This Week

I want this for my wall. I love it. 

barnowlprimitives

Court is next week. I am feeling a little on edge. It is hard to sit and listen to hard things about someone you love. It is sad. It is depressing, It is frustrating. It is infuriating. It is annoying. It is just overall a great big bummer! I hate it. I hate that bad things happen. I hate that people make really, really bad choices that cause so much pain for other people. I hate that my little guy will probably at some point feel rejected. I hate that no matter how hard I try and no matter how much I love I can not make his history go away. 

I like to be positive and focus on the good. There is good in this situation. I know it and I see it all the time. Just wish we could somehow bypass court hearings. 

Back

Sorry for the "going private" thing. What a crazy week last week was!! Some friends and I launched a special project to raise money to buy ALL the children in our county some AWESOME Christmas presents.

We have almost met our goal of $5000!!! I can hardly believe it. I am totally blown away by the generosity and support from almost everyone I know and lots of people I don't! It has been overwhelming in a good way.

So, if you would like to help us wrap up this project, go to our blog 

www.fosteringchristmascare.blogspot 

Read how this came about and think about how you might want to be involved. It is exciting!

It's that time of year...

The kids are selling nuts. 

They really want to win some prizes. 

So....here is a message from Caraline :)

Re-Do's

We are still working (and probably always will be) on some things with the kids that we learned at the ETC conference. I told Jeremy last night that the redo thing applys to me too! My "Try that again with respect." :) :) has turned into, "TRY THAT AGAIN WITH RESPECT.....!!!!" You get the point :).

Today is a new day and I am looking forward to another day with these little people. Seriously, friends, I really think that when they came out all sweet and snuggly I thought they would just BE GOOD. Not sure which fantasyland I was in at the time, but I am a constant work in progress, so why I set my expectations SO high for little people is a mystery to me. I have to give up my perfectionistic tendencies daily around here. It might surprise you that I have some if you come over!

God knew what he was doing when he arranged the birthorder in our house! Had I parented #2 first, I would have been rather full of myself.

I am loving this blog. We were able to hear her speak about their journey at ETC and she is working through the tools taught there with her children. Good stuff!

http://www.onethankfulmom.com/attachment-and-trauma/my-learning-curve-a-real-life-re-do/

We are off to lunch with the big kids today and Cara is having a friends over after school. Looking forward to a good day.

Girls Night Out

On Friday night I took Cara out for some one on one time and we had a blast! She is a funny little girl and so sweet. Jeremy had her conference at school and it went really well and I thought to myself, "there are really good things about this, and there are some bad things about this." As a teacher, I know that the easy kids are a dream come true, but I also know that they sometimes get lost in the crowd a bit because they don't need much. I think that can happen in a family setting too. As parents, we have noticed from day one that Cara was our easy kid. She slept great, she was rarely unhappy and just an easy little baby. She would be singing in her crib when we woke up just waiting for us to come in. She was always full of smiles and still is. 

Sometimes the child who doesn't require as much work just needs to know that we appreciate them and love them and want to give them just as much attention as their siblings who * might * need more guidance :)! So, with that in mind and also just because I hadn't done anything with Cara alone for awhile that was fun (not running an errand), we got ourselves ready and when Jeremy got home we took off. 

She picked what she wanted to do and I enjoyed just saying YES to all of it. We probably spent too much money.......but we did have a ton of fun together!!!

First stop was the nail salon. 

At this salon, they have a mini pedicure which is a lot less expensive.

She was cracking me up....when she is all by herself, she has a whole lot to say. She said,

 "Mom, this is F-U-N!" 

Our next stop was dinner. It was a toss up for her. She was trying to decide between PF Changs and Bravo and in the end Bravo won out. The girl has good taste. She told me all kinds of fun things during dinner. It is so interesting the things she tells me. She's got the scoop! This is going to be really beneficial down the road since Jake doesn't tell me anything about school ;). 

After dinner, we headed to Target to pick up a birthday present for her friend. 

This is with one of her best buddies from school last year. This sweet girl was a huge blessing to me as I prayed that Cara would make good friends. Unfortunately, her family didn't come back to school this year (but they do hope to next year) and these girls really miss each other. I am so glad her Mom called and invited Cara to her party. It was such a fun and happy reunion!! And, since she is on our way home from school, I think we will be picking her up some and seeing more of her.  Isn't she adorable??