Life with the Three Amigos

Thankful Thursday...

2010-02-11T12:55:00.001-08:00

Today I am thankful for...

God's timing that is always perfect and that I can never rush.
the times when the things that I think I want/need to happen, don't happen...and then I'm blessed beyond measure by the things that do.
2nd graders...their sense of humor, their energy, their questions...everything about 2nd graders!
the opportunity to play teacher for a while and to see how much I miss and love teaching.
maps because, although I don't get them, they make Eli squeal with delight.
Noah's joy.
Grace's pretty little voice.
STEVE! Happy (almost) Valentine's Day, Honey!

Catching up!

2009-11-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have no excuse for myself. Blogging can be a bit like maintaining a long-distance friendship. You know...if you wait too long then you feel stupid calling (or blogging) or you think that you need to do it when you have enough time and energy to give it what it deserves and then it just continues the cycle until you've lost contact...or stopped blogging. Wow, my analogy doesn't make sense even to me anymore but there you have it!

I'm just going to jump back in here. Yesterday Steve took the afternoon off and we all went to the museum as a family. I don't know about the rest of you but my kids have a tendency to fixate on stuff and right now (and for a while now) Eli is fixated on space and Noah is fixated on sharks. Grace is taking some time off fixating for the moment, I guess. So as a result of our passions for science and nature, the museum was a perfect choice for an outing.

We started our time in the "zib-zibit" (as Eli called it). According to Eli, the space exhibit is the ONLY zib-zibit in the whole museum. We tried to park space shuttles, crashed meteors into the earth, checked out the relative weight of things on different planets, built a star and watched a star be born in the planetarium. It was pretty awesome!

Then we went upstairs and explored in the discovery zone. They had this great fan table that you could use to make things like scarves fly. And we built things out of logs. And we checked out a real human brain. And we took apart a human body and put it back together. It was pretty awesome, too.

Then we saw Wild Ocean (an IMAX movie). It had the perfect amount of predator attacks for Noah without making Grace need to get up and start cheering for the prey (as she likes to do). Noah says, "In the middle there was a lot of sharks. And it was very funny because the dolphins kept on making this screeching sound. And it was very beautiful!"

Then we went to BD's for mongolian barbeque which was very fun and delicious. It was the perfect day off for all of us!

Eli on the news...

2009-09-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a video of Eli on channel 4 news. The story is about how the Arvada Center is beating the recession but they play a video of one of the songs from Miss Saigon during the story. http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=62091@kcnc.dayport.com

Miss Saigon Photos

2009-09-15T12:42:00.001-07:00

The Birthday Celebrations...

2009-09-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

The fifth birthday was well celebrated! Today, Eli had a Chinese birthday party with a few good friends. They tried moon cakes, ate yummy Chinese food, tried Eli's favorite cookies from China, jumped on the trampoline and played in the hot tub. What more could one five year old ask for?

And last night, on the actual birthday (after Eli did his first performance) the absolutely amazing cast and crew celebrated Eli's birthday by singing the most beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday you've ever heard and eating cupcakes with him. Then he hammed it up for everyone and they all took pictures with him. It was amazing and very sweet and we're pretty sure he'll never have Happy Birthday sung to him like that again! If we look like we were just about bursting with pride in the picture that's because...well...we were! He was awesome last night and the show is fantastic! Can't wait to see it again!

Noah's First Soccer Game

2009-09-12T14:49:00.001-07:00

Noah got to play in his first soccer game today and he scored his first goal. He had so much fun that he giggled through most of the game!

Eli is 5!

2009-09-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th birthday, Eli! You are a treasure and a joy! I'm thinking today about the day you were born and wishing that I could have known you on that day, held your tiny little body in my arms and kissed your perfect little face. I'm praying for the woman who got to be the first to love you and the first to do those things, praying that she knows how loved you are, how cherished you are and what a healthy, happy, wonderful little boy you are. I'm praying for the women who snuggled you on that night and the next night and many, many more after that. The women who gave you your bottle and tucked you in your crib, who comforted you when you were afraid and taught you your first words. I thank God for their love for you. I'm praying for the woman who taught you to walk, who picked you up and kissed your boo-boos when you fell down, who loved you so obviously and so well. I thank God for the many mothers you've had. And I thank God that I get to be the last one, the one that gets to be yours forever. You are such a light in any group...quick to smile and quick to laugh. You are a friend to all and get so much joy out of everything you do. You are so smart and so interested in learning. I can't wait to see what God has in store for you, boy who is loved by so many across the world. We love you!

God talks...

2009-09-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last night Grace and Eli were talking about lightning and where it comes from and why. After much attempted 7 year old explanation of what causes lightning and very little four year old understanding, Grace said, "Why don't you just ask God, Eli? He made it." Eli said that sometimes he asks God stuff but he can't hear him. Grace replied, "Yes, you can. But only sometimes his voice sounds like your thoughts. You know, like when he says to tell the truth or be nice or stuff." Eli thought that was probably right.

The Schedule...

2009-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I decided just to post the Miss Saigon schedule in case anyone is interested in going. The tickets are selling out really quickly...we got the last 4 for his first performance...so if you'd like to go, get tickets soon! These are the performances that Eli is scheduled to play Tam. However, they have two kids coming each night in case one freaks out (genius!), so no guarantees. But so far he hasn't freaked out so here's hoping!
Sat. Sept 12 @ 7:30
Sun. Sept 20 @ 2:00
Sun. Sept 27 @ 2:00
Thurs. Oct 1 @ 7:30
Sat. Oct 3 @ 2:00
Fri. Oct 9 @ 7:30
(If they decide to extend the run, Eli will have two more shows the following week.)

Tam!

2009-09-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

This post has been a few days in the making (in my head) because I just don't really know how to post about it. So I'm just going to write because I have a feeling that this is going to be a big thing in Eli's life and I want to document it. So here goes. In May I got an audition notice for Miss Saigon from the Arvada Center, a professional, regional theatre in our area. They needed small, 4-6 year old Asian boys to play Tam in their upcoming production. I thought about it and talked to Steve and we thought Eli wasn't ready emotionally or even developmentally for something like that. So we passed.
This summer he LOVED being Crickee in Mulan, Jr. He loved everything about the production...every rehearsal, every dance, every scene...loved it! But he's only four (five next week!) so when I signed Grace and Noah up to do Beauty and the Beast this fall, Eli was too young. He was bummed but understood and we went on our merry way.
This week I got an email from the director of Beauty and the Beast telling me that they were looking for another little boy to play Tam at the Arvada Center and advising us to jump at the chance for Eli. Still I was unsure so I prayed about it, that the door would very clearly be open or shut, and called the Arvada Center. They asked us to send in a photo of Eli. Obviously I couldn't take a new one (due to the eyebrow incident) so I sent them one from camping this summer of a very muddy, happy Eli. They called us right back and asked us to come meet with them. And when we did they decided right away they wanted him. That day they measured him for costumes and he got to see all of the props and secret backstage stuff. He loved it! So...that long story to say that Eli will be one of six kids playing Tam in Arvada Center's production of Miss Saigon. What an amazing opportunity for him! More to come about the process and schedule and such. We don't know which of the 40 shows he'll be doing but if you're interested in seeing it, let me know. Wow. Okay, I think that's it for now.

Ice, Ice, Baby!

2009-08-30T14:05:00.001-07:00

Eli is a curious sort. The sort that pushes every button he sees and turns every knob...I'm sure I've mentioned this before. Well, he took his curiosity to a whole new level this week when he...dum, dum, dum...shaved off half of one of his eyebrows with Mommy's razor. We were so glad that he didn't injure himself in the process (although a little painful nick might have been a good deterrant from future experimentation). So here he is in all of his 80's Vanilla Ice glory...should be a cute school picture this year!

So it begins...

2009-08-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

This year Noah is in morning kindergarten, Grace is in 2nd grade and Eli is doing three afternoons of preschool a week. Besides a few minor gliches, they had a great first week of school. Grace is in class with two of her best buddies, Noah LOVES his teacher and the feeling seems to be mutual and Eli gets to follow in his siblings' footsteps and be in the famous DeAnn's class!

I only cried a little bit after I left my second born at his first day of kindergarten. Noah came home the first day a little sad after his first experience with "I'm not going to be your friend anymore!" from a boy in his class after Noah stepped on a spider. But the rest of the week was great for him and the friendship seems to have mended itself though I'm sure Noah will be careful around that friend and spiders from now on. Eli had a great first day especially since his buddies Sam and Owen are in his class this year. And Grace came home with a report that they had THREE RECESSES! and that she got to see Noah outside during the first one. Eli is loving having Mommy all to himself in the mornings and Noah likes having Mommy all to himself three afternoons a week. So...beginning of school success!

Roughing it!

2009-08-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Putting up the tent...

Playing in the "suck sand" (as the kids called it) and fishing was definitely a highlight!

Steve engineered a contraption to give the dogs more leash but they just kept tangling up anyway.

Steve turned 42 while we were camping. What a fun way to celebrate!

All tuckered out after all of that roughing it!

It was a great camping trip. The highlights for me were Grace saying, "This is so NOT this century!" about the outhouse, watching Steve and Noah fish and listening to the kids giggle in the tent and while they played with the "suck sand." A great time was had by all and we can't wait to go again next summer!

Selective Hearing?

2009-08-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Eli used to be our best listener...I mean if we said it, he did it. He's a pleaser anyway and he's a really easy kid (for the most part). But lately, like in the last few months, he kind of developed what I thought was selective hearing. Like, I would call his name in the store and he wouldn't turn around or I would tell him to go brush his teeth and he wouldn't move. It was getting a little bit...frustrating.
I don't know if I blogged about this or not but poor Eli had a REALLY nasty ear infection (I'll spare you the details but...yikes!) a few months ago. That combined with having one of his ear tubes fall right out of his ear initiated a visit with his ENT today. I really thought it would be a no-big-deal appointment. Eli's ear has been fine since the infection and, although his hearing has seemed a little selective lately, he seemed to be hearing just fine. And he is, mostly, but after two and a half hours at the ENT we discovered that, due to the hole in his ear drum, he is experiencing mild hearing loss.
Guess maybe he really couldn't hear me some of the time...huh. The ENT says Eli isn't off the hook, though. It's just a mild hearing loss and he can hear my voice but just may not understand what I'm saying sometimes. And he thinks he'll probably make a full recovery and that the hole will heal by itself. So until then, he'll just need to clarify what he doesn't understand.
On another positive note, they were amazed at Eli's speech. They haven't seen him in about a year and couldn't believe his progress. WAY TO GO, Theresa!

Eli's Head Strikes Again!

2009-08-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight Noah's front tooth, which over the years has required a great amount of maintainance and care, met its doom by crashing into Eli's head. I don't know if you remember but that is exactly how Grace's stubborn front tooth came out. I think Grace and Noah owe Eli a percentage of Tooth Fairy money!

When Noah was a little less than two we were playing at the park and he tripped and fell on the climber. When he stood up all afraid and bleeding, we discovered that 1/2 of his front tooth was gone. The dentist has built and rebuilt and fortified that tooth many times over the years. That tooth has received much care and lots of prayer that it would make it until he didn't need it anymore. And after months and months and months of being loose and just weeks from Noah starting kindergarten, the tooth has made it to the goal!

The haps...

2009-08-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering, here are the amigo haps for last weekend:

two Mulan performances -- when you're dressed like a sassy, fire-breathing dragon or a lucky cricket and get to do your thing in front of an audience...SUPER fun!

Wedding...the musical (which, sadly, I missed because someone needed to help the dragon and cricket) at which Steve and Noah got to listen to some amazing musicians and Noah got to entertain the reception with his break-dancing. (see photo) :)
BBQ in Cheyenne...so nice to see the fam and especially Susie who was home for a wedding. VERY fun. I love to watch the kids play with their awesome aunts and uncles. Uncle Dave and Eli seem to have an especially special little relationship and love to color and build together. Dave also spent a lot of time teaching Noah how to skateboard. And Aunt Dena always lets Grace play make-over all over her head and face...nothing like using lip gloss for all forms of make-up. How'd it all come off, Dena? Plus Sicken and BlaBla are always good for secrets and giggling. They had a great time playing soccer with Uncle Don...they're all awesome! I don't know about you other moms but I am a BIG fan of anyone who loves my kids!

As for me, I'm a bit tired. I forgot how very exhausting it is to manage kids backstage...and even more so when they have absolutely no reason to listen to you except that you're a grown-up and somebody's mom. Plus my tiny cricket sometimes gets tired or confused and must be searched for. But they are loving it and having so much fun! Deep breath...three more shows this week!

Buffalo Bill Days!

2009-07-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

The amigos got to be in the Buffalo Bill Days parade this morning with their gym. So fun to do cartwheels to applause and oohs and aahs for their cute little gymnast selves! And Grace got to do the parade twice! Once with the Salvation Army and once with 5280. Then we all got to eat turkey legs and tons of other super yummy fair junk! Love it!

Thankful Thursday...by Grace (she typed it! )

2009-07-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for...
My mommy and daddy who love me.
A good home to live in.
Kind friends and family.

Grace

The Clean-Up...

2009-07-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

The kids show off their hard work -- 8 bags of leaves and apples picked up!

(And eating well-deserved popsicles!)

HAIL!

2009-07-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

We had a most ginormous hailstorm last night. At first we thought it was just some very extreme and crazy wind beating the tree limbs against the house. Then it sounded like bullets hitting the windows. Scared little Grace ran into our room and we grabbed the boys and headed for the basement. Eli and Noah slept through all of the cacophany and rushing to the basement. While they were sleeping on Eli's bed, Noah threw up all over himself and Eli's bed. (The poor kid has been pretty sick the last few days.) Both Eli and Noah slept through that whole ordeal (I don't know how -- Grace was close to throwing up just from being in the room!). Then Noah slept through the shower to rinse off the nastiness, the putting on a clean pair of pjs and the going back upstairs after the storm passed. And Eli never woke up through the whole event. Grace, on the other hand, was very much awake and had a hard time going back to sleep from imagining all of the horrible things that could have happened. Sometimes that vivid imagination is more curse than blessing.

We didn't have very much damage in comparison to others who lost all of the windows on one side of their house. We just have a lot of yard salad right now...which I am heading out now to clean up.

Gracie D the Singer

2009-07-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

Gracie loves to sing! She sings in the shower, she sings in the car, she sings when she plays, she sings when she does chores (mostly because one must pretend one is Cinderella to make chores fun)...she sings all of the time. And now, after auditioning a few weeks ago, Grace gets to sing in the Colorado Children's Chorale! Congratulations, Gracie! (http://www.childrenschorale.org/)

photo is Grace before her audition

Eli's Baptism

2009-07-19T16:05:00.001-07:00

Today sweet Eli was baptized. He has been wanting to be baptized for a few months now and went to our pastor, Mimi, to talk about what baptism means and what happens when you are baptized. She talked to Eli about how being baptized is becoming part of God's forever family just like being adopted was becoming part of our forever family. Eli was so excited! He memorized a Bible verse..."I am devoted to you. You are my God. Psalm 86:2" and was excited to share it with the congregation.
The baptism itself went awesome. He was a bit nervous and was fiddling with his fingers and forgot the first word of his verse. But he jumped right in with a little help and was very attentive to everything everyone was saying, to answering the questions he was asked and to listen to the congregation answering their questions. He smiled about the water running down his little face and soaking his collar on his shirt. And he smiled as Mimi prayed for him. And after his baptism he got to sing in a choir with the other kids from Vacation Bible School in his costume. What a very special day for a very special boy!
The most touching thing about the whole service for me (aside, of course, from watching our sweet son be baptized) was looking out into the congregation and seeing several people wiping tears away as they committed to helping raise Eli in the faith. I love being part of a small congregation, a small community, that really knows and treasures our children! (more about that later...I've been thinking a lot about the great things about being a part of a small church...blog to follow...)
Afterward Eli said "when they were watering my head it feeled like I was taking a shower. It was all wet and warm. It felt different in my heart. It felt like it was like a birthday!"
Happy "birthday", sweet boy!

Noah's First Missing Tooth

2009-07-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

My First Wiggly Tooth by Noah
My dad was yanking on it and I cracked it and my dad pulled it and it was out. But not very big...small. It was my first bottom tooth. I'm going to show Grammy and Papa Joe. It is under my pillow.
By Noah the (self-proclaimed) awesome blogger

Thankful Thursday...by Eli

2009-07-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for our whole earth. I'm thankful for our whole city. I'm thankful for our whole family. Thank you for our special day. Thank you for my whole kids...my whole brother and sister. And thank you for a great God. Thank you for our special week. Thank you for a good special month. Thank you for letting us have our special stuff. Thank you for letting us keep the house and thank you for letting us buy the house.

Love,

Eli

Thankful Thursday...

2009-06-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm...what am I thankful for this week? I'm thankful that...

we have enough that we can share

it has been raining here and the grass is green and the trees and flowers look so pretty and that it reminds me that even when it's a bit "yucky out" God is making things beautiful

God gives all of us gifts and talents. And that we have this free will that allows us to embrace and use them however we choose (and sometimes those ways make us sad and needy and a little sick) but that, if we want to, we can let him work through us and he can do BIG things with them, if we want, and they can draw us nearer to him

that even when we've really messed up...I mean really, really messed up...there is hope for redemption and that we can learn and we don't have to do it alone

that all is well, and all is well and all manner of things is and shall be well

sometimes God is so close that I can feel his breath

What are you thankful for today, my friends? I really want to know.

Belated End of School, Yellowstone and Drum Recital stuff...

2009-06-19T19:19:00.001-07:00

Noah with DeAnn at the preschool picnic...

Eli and Sam on last day as a ladybug...

Family trip to Yellowstone on our way to Billings for my cousin's wedding...

Grace and Jackie pose after their Little Red Hen play at school...

Noah rocks it out at his drum recital...tiny boy...BIG SOUND!

So...to catch you up...you'll notice that I don't have a picture of Noah's last day of preschool or Grace's last day of school. Well...that's because I had jury duty starting on the last day of school. The trial lasted three days so our summer vacation started a little late. Jury duty was a pretty incredible experience (even though I didn't get my cathartic cry about my baby going on to kindergarten). The people on the jury were really great people and I was glad to serve...just wish it started a few days later!

Trip to Yellowstone...AMAZING! Eli has a new topic of interest (he gets fixated on learning everything about certain topics)...he's added geothermic activity to outer space. I sure learn a lot while I research whatever it is he's wondering about! We had a great time hiking around, checking out the geysers and mud pots (my favorites!) and saw millions of bison. And my cousin's wedding was very beautiful...unfortunately Noah got a high fever that night and he and I spent the evening cuddling in the lobby of the reception place. But we made it all the way to Denver before he started throwing up (I know, I know...TMI!). In all, super trip! We'd love to take the kids to Yellowstone again when they get a little older.

Noah's drum recital...So funny! Noah went first for the recital. When they announced his name he raised his drum sticks in the air like a rock star. He was supposed to play with a cd (his song was We Will Rock You!) but when there were technical difficulties, he just went ahead and started without the cd. When the cd finally started, he couldn't change his rhythm so he was a bit off from the cd but sure was rockin' it! And his one and a half minute song ended up lasting about five minutes (including his two minute fill at the end). So funny!

Scary Swimming Adventure!

2009-06-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day that I deemed it warm enough to swim outside. As you know, I am not a fan of cold, or water, or swimming suits but I braved it and the boys and I went swimming with some buddies.
We went to a pool that we'd never been to before but I looked around the play/baby pool area and saw that the deepest part was 3 feet. Perfect! Everyone could touch! So I stood on the edge of the pool (in my shorts and t-shirt) with my friend and watched as the kids excitedly jumped in the shallow water. I don't know about you but I like to watch from the side when the kids are in a shallow pool so I can see everyone at the same time. Mostly I watched Eli because, as I've talked about before, that little buddy thinks he can swim but he's just not there yet. Suddenly, I saw Eli in the middle of the pool bobbing up and down. He couldn't touch the bottom and he was going under and my friend was saying, "Can he touch there?" I jumped in the pool and ran/swam as fast as I could to him slipping on the bottom all the way there. It felt like a scary dream...like I was running in slow motion. When I grabbed him and pulled him out of the pool he was gasping and choking. He was so scared and so was I. Turns out that it's 3 feet at the edge of the pool but several inches deeper than that in the middle.
After both of us calmed down a little and I got out of my dripping wet shorts and t-shirt, we got back in (together this time!) and had a great time. We worked on floating on our backs when we realize we're in too deep. He doesn't have it yet and I sure won't be letting my sweet boy out of my sight or in a pool by himself for a long, long time!

Thankful Thursday...

2009-06-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been awhile since I've done Thankful Thursday. I've got some catching up to do! I'm thankful that...

Grace can swim the length of the pool! Now I don't have to worry about her so much in deep water! And she's learning new strokes which are very fun and challenging. YAY!
Noah and Eli LOVE swimming, their swim teachers and the chilly pool! When Noah first started lessons at around 3, he would cry all the way to the pool in the car, throw a huge fit when we got there and, after some exhausting parenting work to get him into the pool, whimper through his classes. Now he makes sure as we're getting ready in the morning that we'll be ON TIME for swimming lessons and jumps right in the pool when it's time. Eli would NOT get in the hotel pool in China. He thought it was so scary and couldn't possibly be any fun. He really didn't like baths, either. When we got home, he wouldn't get in the hot tub...especially not in his swimsuit. Why would one need to wear clothes in a hot tub when one does not need clothes in a bath? And now, he goes under water and swims, he floats and he LOVES it (all while wearing a swimsuit)! Whoo hoo!
Steve's job...I know I've written about it before but sometimes I have to remind myself, especially when he's travelling a lot, that I am truly thankful for him having a stable job that he loves, that feels fulfilling to him and that provides for our family so I can continue to stay home and eat bonbons all day! I do love my bonbons! :)
We get to see Grace's buddy Jobe from school everyday at swimming lessons. Jobe is one cute little fellow. He has some special needs that have made him unable to take any classes to this point. His mom was pretty worried about how it would go for him. In the past he hasn't done real well with a lot of noise, a lot of kids around and water. But this week, we've seen Jobe get in the pool with a class full of kids, go underwater, float on his back and jump off the diving board to be caught by his teacher. WOW! In fact, today it took quite a bit of work to get Jobe to get out of the pool! :) Sometimes I watch the way God works in the lives of special needs kids and their families (ours included) and I'm just amazed. What a blessing!

What are you thankful for this week?

Summer Stuff...

2009-06-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Gotta love summer...even though this summer is pretty chilly and rainy and not at all what one would imagine a summer to be! Here are the haps for the amigos this summer...

Due to our desire to keep all three amigos safe in the water and due to Eli's inaccurate and very frightening belief that he can swim, all three amigos start swimming lessons on Monday morning. Yay!
Grace, Eli and cousin Caleb are in a theatre class which will present Mulan, Jr. at the end of the summer. They are loving it! This is the first thing Eli's been involved in that he asks twenty times a day if it's time to go and if rehearsal is today. If you're interested in attending the production, let me know and I'll get you tickets. The shows are July 31st, August 1st and August 5-7th at 7 pm.
Noah, Grace and Eli are all in gymnastics classes this summer, too. All of their classes are in the evening and, of course, aren't on the same evenings. Makes for a tricky dinner schedule for all. But they are loving their new classes and making huge muscles! :) Noah told Papa Joe that his muscles are too big for his skin so they have to go around on the other side. Funny boy!
And we're doing our Sunday Barbecues again. All are welcome! This year Team Z has a blow up movie screen and we can watch movies outside on it when it gets dark. So fun! We gave it a test run with Cars last Sunday and it was too cool! Since all of the drive-ins in the area are closed (phooey!), it feels super fun and a bit nostalgic to lay on a blanket on our lawn and watch a flick!

What are your plans for the summer?

And now...after many techno problems...Argentina!

2009-06-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

So...I have been trying to blog...really, I have. But for some reason for the past few weeks my computer shuts down every time I try. Weird. But it's working today so, quick, here I go...

Argentina...
Amazing!
Truly one of the most powerful experiences of God's strength being made manifest in my weakness that I've ever had! As you know, I was feeling pretty out of my league about this whole thing...speaking publicly -- not my favorite thing to do, leaving my kiddos and Steve for several days -- not so easy. And yet from the beginning we (Andi and I) just knew we needed to go. And in the end, Andi and I came up with a very long list of God-sightings. More than I can, or probably should, share here. But here are a few...
In the weeks before we left I was struggling with my role in the whole retreat. I just wasn't sure what that was to be. But I very clearly knew that I needed to pray with the women. That's all I had. Which is interesting because I'm not sure that's what people who know me well would think of as my role for a retreat. Not that I'm not a praying gal because I am but I'm also pretty loud, silly and creative and am a big fan of fun. But as we planned, those things were not my role here. Talk about being in areas of weakness...contemplative...quiet...listening... And for me probably one of the most powerful parts of the retreat was praying with the women there. God gave me words to pray for these sisters I'd never met and may not ever see again on this side of heaven. And clear words of encouragement for them, too. And they, and I, left with tears in our eyes. Amazing!
Of the 40ish women that attended the retreat, there were probably more than 20 countries represented (including the Philippines). There were several denominations represented. I can't even come close to telling you how many languages were spoken in the group. It was such a privilege to worship with God's gals from all over the world!
One of the things that I've been struggling with lately has been being myself. Being truly who I am, who God created me to be, without fear. Not easy. And, for the weekend in Argentina, I was fully, 100% me. The people I met in Argentina, Andi, Andi's parents and sister, got full-force ME. It was an amazing, freeing experience to be somewhere where there aren't any preconceived notions about who you are, no baggage from past hurts, just the ability to be wholly yourself. Wow. That's just about all I can say about that...wow.
The whole weekend, I felt like God was doing big things in the women's lives (and in ours!), in their relationships (and in ours!) and in their hearts (and in ours!) and I knew 100% that I had absolutely NOTHING to do with it. I can't tell you how completely freeing that is, too. I just felt like a vessel that He was pouring out. He gave me words, I said them. He told me to be quiet, I did. He had me pray with and for people, I did. And I experienced amazing little God-winks throughout the weekend...like hearing that the Whitworth Choir was coming to Argentina the next week on tour (I was in that choir in college), having people seem to really like me, experiencing amazing generosity (with no guilty feelings!) and many other such things.
So many more God-sightings and I'd love to share them with you but I'll stop here. Want more? Let's go to coffee (actually, I hate coffee! How about tea?)!
As for Argentina, we saw a bit of Buenos Aires on Sunday...but not enough! I'd love to go back! And hopefully I will someday. But I don't think the point of the trip, for my soul at least, was flying off to Argentina though I have to admit I thought it was. I think the same thing could have happened in Kansas. The point was that God was saying, "Come away with me, let's spend some time together and you can meet some of my friends." And I did. And it was awesome!

Argentina Bound!

2009-05-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Andi and I leave for Argentina. It has been such a whirlwind preparing for this retreat and my head is buzzing and I am incapable of any logical thought which may not be a good thing for the whole speaking part...still, I feel clear that there is a reason that God is drawing us to Argentina. And clearer still that God will speak to, in and through us while we're there if we'll just get out of the way! Please pray for the women, for us and for our families as we travel. I'll tell you all about it when we get back!

Thankful Thursday...um...Friday

2009-05-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for...

Grace...our daughter, of course, but also for God's grace. For how we can mess up royally and He can love us anyway. And for the way that experiencing his grace allows us to extend grace to others...even when it's hard.

tennis...the amigos and I had a great time hitting tennis balls today. I just love the ages they are right now and how we can go do new fun things that weren't possible before.

Friends and family who come to our kids' stuff...we have lots of friends and family who go beyond the call of duty to come celebrate and support our kids. I don't know how it is for your family but in our family May seems to be the month of recitals, games, and shows. Just this week we had a gymnastics show for all three amigos, Grace was Mowgli in the Jungle Book at her school, and Eli has a violin recital on Saturday. That's a lot of amigo watching!

Eli and Noah's preschool...we chose their preschool because if the diversity of kiddos that go there. I have loved seeing how being there has effected each of their hearts. I volunteered in both boys' classes this week. It was such an awesome experience to see how God is working through their preschool class to teach their little hearts. From Eli's special needs friend who "does not follow the rules. He needs to follow the rules, Mommy!" (Eli is a fan of rule-followers and it has been a struggle to love this friend this year) but who he now believes that "God made him and loves him and I love him, too...and I can teach him to follow the rules!" To an autistic boy (we'll call him Jonah) in Noah's class (who we just LOVE) who Noah struggled with at the beginning of the year because he was always knocking down his block structures. On my last volunteer day, I got to see Noah very carefully build a huge zoo out of blocks. It was a great zoo, a detailed zoo, a zoo replete with animals of all kinds (although they all looked like tiny plastic cats). Noah was proud of his zoo. And Jonah came by and had the "I really want to knock down your zoo" look in his eyes. And Noah said, "Jonah, please don't knock down my zoo. I'll help you build your own zoo to knock down." And he did. And then Jonah accidentally knocked down a pretty big section of the African exhibit with his shoe and Noah said, "That's okay, Jonah! I can fix it!" And he did.

That when I can't do it...God can! Because this women's retreat in Argentina is definitely something that I can't do. But, thankfully, I know I won't be doing it alone!

Also...this just in...I'm super thankful for baby Caden who was born today! Whoo hoo! Congrats to Linds and Jer, Paul and Terry and all!

The Gymnastics show...

2009-05-05T12:07:00.001-07:00

The amigos had their spring gymnastics show this weekend. Each of them got to show us what they have learned, received a medal and received ribbons for each event they participated in.

Prom...

2009-04-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

So Grace and I spent the afternoon on Saturday getting our hairs cut. Always an adventure...but this time more of a princess story. For, you see, the high school had prom on Saturday and the salon was just filled with lovely high school princesses getting their hair and make-up done. Grace's eyes just about popped out of her head and she may need to be treated for whiplash from all of the necessary quick head turning from 'do to 'do. Her favorites seemed to be the curly up-do variety. At dinner on Saturday night she told us all about her future prom look and I thought I'd share it with you. Grace's hair will be pulled back and covered in flowers. She will be wearing blue eyeshadow and dark red lipstick. Which is great because the blue will match the blue in her blue and purple gown. The gown will have a huge purple flower on it (she draws a circle on her chest and tummy covering the whole area) and tiny blue flowers all around the purple flower. She will wear blue and purple shoes with pom-poms on the toes. Her neck will be adorned with a necklace which says Eli, Noah, Mommy and Daddy all around it. And on her ears will delicately hang HUGE hoop earrings that go down to her shoulders. Daddy says that look sounds just fine to him. After all, he plans on being her prom date, anyway!

Eli Dances to 80's Tune

2009-04-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Noah's Splits Walk

2009-04-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Thankful Thursday...Let's just pretend it's Thursday, shall we?

2009-04-24T06:51:00.001-07:00

I am thankful for...

Grace's fever going down, for catching that she had the flu in time to give her medicine and that the rest of us haven't caught it
Esther! I spent the last 1/2 of the week doing the Beth Moore study on Esther...Amazing!
Steve's hard work in building the new fence which will allow the dogs to wrestle, run, and be crazy labradoodles without tearing up the lawn, the flowers or any people.
Snuggle time!

What are you thankful for this Thankful Thursday (we're pretending, remember?)?

And we've got talent...

2009-04-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a family recital/talent show. It was pretty darn fun and hilarious. Everyone in the family including the great grandparents had to come up with a talent to share. Our little (and big) pianists shared their hard work with us. Grammy has been teaching Grace, Caleb and Uncle Matt piano for the last few months. Each of them did a fabulous job on their little duets with Grammy. Eli played I'm a Little Monkey on his violin. Noah played the We Will Rock You rhythm on his drums. Joshy played on his drum. Joey sang I'm a Little Teapot and counted to 10 and Levi showed us rolling over. Papa Joe taught us about sculpting and Grandma June taught us about finding inspiration for art. Grandpa Lou taught us what different tools are for and about the best tool of all (the Bible). Gigi read a poem about a shadow to us. Aunt Brooke shared her scrapbooking skills, Steve did magic tricks, I did two minute poems and Auntie Mimers played the water flutes. It was awesome. Can't wait until the next one in the fall!

You've Got Talent...

2009-04-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

I don't know how many of you have watched Susan Boyle sing I Dreamed a Dream on YouTube but if you have not...DO IT!
Here's the link if you haven't seen it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY.
Today, when I watched it for the first time, it had more than 12 million views. I watched it with tears in my eyes and then immediately watched it again...once was not enough. Why do you think 12 million plus of us are drawn to watching Susan sing?
Could it be that we each have the hope that there is something secret inside us that is valuable? Could it be that we dream that we've been gifted in something in such a way that it would make people stop and take notice? That we hope that the real could be much more important, much more beautiful, much more valuable than the reconstructed, the repositioned, the skin-deep beauty that greets us from billboards, television shows and magazines over and over again. I think it could be, friends. I think you are gifted in that way. I think God has something in you that the rest of us severely need. And I think that in fear, we all hide that very thing away. Afraid it wouldn't be enough. We allow the jeers of the crowd and their contemptuous glances at us to paralyze us and keep that something hidden. What if we, like Susan Boyle, stand up in all of our human glory with our scary flaws that petrify us and go ahead and share with gusto whatever it is we've got? I can't imagine anything that would make God smile more than that!

Thankful Thursday...

2009-04-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for...

Crazy, amazing opportunities to do last minute really fun things...like, for example, going to Argentina in May to lead a women's retreat! I'm so excited I can't stand it!
Claire and Marc who will come to team up with Steve while I'm in Argentina to take care of the three amigos.
Noah is napping. Noah needs naps. When he has enough sleep and enough of the right stuff to eat, Noah is a super fun, amazing, wonderful kid. When he doesn't, he's a bit of a bear. This morning was rough but HOORAY! he's sleeping! Looking forward to a great afternoon!
Eli's annual review...for him being able to have another year of services in preschool and for some special education teachers that really get him and love him! Thanks, ladies!

And you?

Noah's New Star Wars Room

2009-04-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here is Jedi Hoan in his Jedi room. Thanks to Mr. Jason for letting him borrow the super sweet posters! Noah and Eli both were so excited to get to choose how to decorate a room all by themselves. Eli's is forthcoming (and a bit more labor intensive!).

Thankful Thursday...

2009-04-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for...

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs...yum!
the silliness that is fractured fairy tales and the opportunity to create some with very funny, silly and creative first graders
dinnertime spelling bees...favorite word tonight - pototo (potato)
a surprise thanksgiving dinner in April
the kids' senses of humor...Noah just walked in brushing his hair and asking, "Mommy, do I look like Elvis?"
EASTER! He said He would and He did it. And it's done.

Grace is thankful for...

Jesus rising from the dead (AKA Easter)
gymnastics especially being able to get stronger because I couldn't climb the rope when I was little
two silly brothers who make me laugh

He is risen!

Yay, Gracie!

2009-04-09T09:13:00.001-07:00

Grace was chosen by her class as student of the month this month and was just thrilled! This has been such an amazing year for her at school. Here's what the great Mrs. Goad had to say about her at the awards assembly...

Yummmmmmmmmy!

2009-04-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

Because we have very good buddies named JZ and Linds, we got to spend the last day of spring break on a behind the scenes tour of Hammond's Candy Factory. We got to sample all sorts of yumminess, watch them make their famous ribbon and art candy (the process they use to make a Santa face inside candy is pretty amazing) and they gave us lots of yummy treats to take home. It was the best way to end spring break ever! Thanks Linds and Jer!

P.S. Linds...don't think I didn't notice that you totally cheated and still looked cute even in a hair net. Not fair. :)

Noah-isms...

2009-04-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

All of our kids have had or currently have their own version of the English language. When Grace was Gretl in the Sound of Music, she had a line "I have a sore finger" which was pronounced "I have a sore thinger" at every show. Eli calls Grace and I "gwoils" (girls). And Grace wrote the word "yoinked" as a synonym for took in a story in kindergarten (okay, that one's my fault!). Right now my favorites are Noah-isms. When you have two jedis battling, they are going "bagainst" the bad guys. And if you'd prefer not to do something you've been told to, you should say "butcept I don't want to." So...there you go. Feel free to add those to your own vocabulary. I'm sure Webster will add them to the dictionary soon.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-04-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

...also, today is Thankful Thursday so without further ado...

road trips with seemingly unlimited talking and laughing time
the sun! and swimming pools!
Noah's giggle which is super contagious and just the most bubbling, joyful sound in the whole, wide world
being married to my best friend and one of the funniest people I know. Really makes road trips go by quickly when he can find humor in most anything.
my mom who took care of our pooches even better than we do while we were gone

And you? What are you thankful for this sunny/snowy spring day?

The Family Who Went to Phoenix by Grace, Noah and Eli

2009-04-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Last week we decided to take an impromptu trip to Phoenix for the kids' spring break. Steve had to go to Phoenix for work on Monday and Tuesday and the idea of swimming pools and sunshine (especially in the face of the blizzard hitting us at home) seemed super inviting. So we packed everyone up in Ruby and off we went on our adventure. My guest bloggers will tell you all about it...

By Noah...Noah and all the family had fun driving in the car to Phoenix because we were on Spring Break. And we had fun driving in the car eating candy stuff because we were laughing and being funny and that's all. That is our house, all the snow at our house, and it was full of snow. We were excited to go to Phoenix so that's how it all happened out.That's the traffic we had when we were driving in Colorado. We had a blizzard and we drove a long time.That's me being funny in the car. (Editor's note...he was wearing these as we went through the car wash. Photo of Ruby being evidence of the need for the car wash. Hee hee). We watched movies.
That's fun time tents. We builded them in the car when we were almost to the desert. We were very excited to see the desert.

By Grace...In Moab, me and Eli hid in the teepee. We drove through Native American reservations. They were just mountains and prettiness.

Eli and Daddy love each other very much. We got drinks everytime we stopped (except for when we had to go to the bathroom).
While the boys are still in the bathroom, Singing Bird (Grace) is in her tent.

We went through four states and this was one of them...UTAH! We also saw Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

By Eli...I like to swim. I go under the water and kick and dive in the pool with my goggles on.By Noah...That's "Daddy surfing!" You just stand on my dad and then he moves and you're surfing.By Grace...Poor Grace couldn't read the tongue twister right and she got water ballooned. It was freezing!By Noah...This is me. I got the answer right so I got a slime balloon. It was fun and it was cold. So we went to go get in the water and WARM UP!By Grace...I LOVE SWIMMING! I made new friends named Grace II and Maddie. Me and Maddie just swam around and also Maddie taught me how to do handstands in the pool. And we played frisbee. And then we went around the lazy river 200,000 times with her sisters and also her dad.

By Noah...We were laying down. We got out of the pool and Mommy told us it would be warmer if we layed in the sun. By Noah...I had a double burger and I told the guy that we ate from at In-N-Out Burger that I ate the whole thing. I ate more than Daddy!By Grace...Stylish Grace coming through. We were going to In-N-Out Burger but I got a tummy ache.By Eli...We danced with Sponge Bob and we take a picture with Sponge Bob during our breakfast time. I like Sponge Bob. (And Steve at lunch with John Elway...see him in the background?)By Eli...We are floating with Daddy and Gracie and Noah.
It was a great trip! We can't wait to go again! Who's coming next year?

Thankful Thursday...

2009-03-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for...

SNOW DAY!

Off to play with the amigos!

Tooth #4...

2009-03-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Princess Grace lost tooth #4 this week. It just doesn't get any cuter than a toothless first grade grin!

Glimpses of God's Grace

2009-03-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Noah's a big fan of his big sister.
A pre-date night photo of us taken by our stylists.

Me and my stylist

Right now I am typing and listening to Eli over the monitor singing his little heart out during nap time. Currently he's doing his rendition of "Tantrum" from Sandra Boynton's Cow Planet CD. It's a pretty jazzy version. (Too funny, if you haven't heard it, by the way.) He's pretty funny but I can see why he drove Noah a little nutso while they were sharing a room. See Eli sings and talks himself to sleep while Noah needs peace, quiet, stillness (things that aren't part of any other part of his life!) to be able to rest. So when Eli moved into his own room this weekend, we immediately noticed a change in their relationship. They are Jedi partners now. They battle the bad guys together. What a blessing!

Here are glimpses of God's grace over the past few days. Some of them may seem a bit trite but, to me, they have made all the difference!

hearing songs that soothed my heart and soul on the radio with just the right lyrics at just the right time

feeling God's presence in a very real and tangible way when I really needed Him most

a worship service that was both amazingly personal and powerful...and having my WHOLE heart in worship for the first time in a long time

conversations with friends and with Steve that were so Spirit-filled that I felt like I was walking on holy ground

discovering, to my delight, that Family Bookstore's $5 items right now happen to be a pink New Testament (which I really wanted) and the Wemmick story on DVD (which, as you know, just happens to be my favorite kids' story!).

The photos are Steve and I prepared for date night by our stylists, Grace and Noah. Notice my very fashionable pink feather boa and purple eyeshadow and Steve's very handsome tie (as you'll remember, ties are the key to true handsomeness) tucked into his shirt to prevent tie-stains from dinner. Fabulous stylists, eh? Stacy and Clinton have nothing on them. We expect a call from TLC any day now.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-03-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for...

worship team. The people, the praise, the songs...good, good, good!
being able to lose myself in a book.
having people who are willing to help so close by for things like...returning escape artist dogs, staying with sleeping kiddos when it's time to pick up Grace from school, telling me when my lights have been left on...
the kids' really kind friends.

Eli is thankful for...

eating lunch with Mommy and Noah
playing with Sam and Nevin at school and playing dinosaurs with them
resting in the basement (Eli has decided that life is better as a basement dweller...more on that later)
taking my shower and brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. And that's all.

Grace is thankful for...

God and Jesus
my family
Mr. Bear (her VERY well loved teddy bear that she's slept with since she was born)
a warm house to live in
good things to eat
able to learn at school
having so much love from my family
lunch and dinner and breakfast
a comfortable/not so comfortable bed...it's just that I have so many pillows and stuffed animals at the end so I'm like...(mimes kicking)

What are you thankful for?

St. Patty's Day...

2009-03-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patty's Day! I'm such a big fan of St. Patrick. What an amazing guy...heading back to the place of his slavery to bring the good news! Seriously!
But, of course, that was not on the amigos' minds this morning as they dressed in as much green as humanly possible (I won't tell you which amigo is even wearing green underwear!). Grace's first grade class is writing a how-to paper about how to make a leprechaun trap. She had to make the actual leprechaun trap at home so there has been much leprechaun discussion at home. So this morning, Noah asked (a bit meekly I might add) from the back seat as we drove to school, "How hard do the teeny leprechauns pinch you if you don't wear green?" Poor kiddo was pretty afraid of tiny leprechauns wielding tiny pinching fingers searching for people not wearing green. I assured him that people do the pinching and he happily hopped into preschool searching for people who needed a little pinch. Huh. Wonder how preschool went today...

Thankful Thursday...

2009-03-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Have you read the Max Lucado children's book about the Wemmicks? See Wemmicks are these little wooden creatures that run around all day putting dot and star stickers on each other. If they think the other Wemmick is "bad," they put a dot sticker on them. And if they think the other Wemmick is "good," they put a star sticker on them. Well, there was one little Wemmick named Punchinello that had many, many dot stickers plastered all over him, so many you could hardly see his little wooden body. And it bummed Punchinello out to have so many dots...bummed him out so much that he just hid so the other Wemmicks wouldn't be able to put more dots on him for tripping, or dropping something, or saying the wrong thing... And there was another Wemmick who, Punchinello noticed, had no dots or stars. So he asked her why. Turns out, she was spending time everyday with the woodcarver and because she cared more about what he thought than what the other Wemmicks thought, their stars and dots just didn't stick. So our sweet Punchinello started spending time with the woodcarver, too. And as he did, one by one, his dots fell off.
So today, I'm thankful for the woodcarver, for spending time with Him and for each time a star or dot is unable to stick or falls off.

Really? Huh.

2009-03-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

Usually, I am a fan of telling happy tales here. And this one is as well, kind of. Well...I guess it depends on your perspective. Grace came home from school a bit upset today. Seems some boys were taking the opportunity (while there was a substitute there) to make fun of China, its people and specifically her brother. Grace was heartbroken but strongly stood up for her brother and the country of his birth. And her friend told on the boys and they got in "big trouble...well, kind of big trouble...they didn't get on yellow (the discipline system) or anything." It was all I could do not to grab the school directory and call the boys' parents right up and give them a little Chinese culture lesson. But tonight when Grace and Eli prayed, Eli prayed that people would not say bad things about China and Grace thanked God that he made people different all over the world, thanked God for her "awesome littlest brother" and prayed that her friends would be able to experience China so they would know more and understand. And I learned from them. I learned that we have the opportunity to teach through our family, in love, what diversity means. That we have a calling to live out loud a celebration of God's people everywhere. I am surprised at how early those little amigos understand such things. And I'm grateful that Grace had an opportunity to be strong for her brother and his country of birth and that she was willing to be. And I'm so glad I didn't pick up that phone.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-03-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

'Sup with your thankful self? As for me...

I'm thankful for warm weather and gardening and new growth springing up everywhere.
for smelly markers and how much fun it is to color with them.
for Papa Noodle and how much Noah loved spending time with him yesterday.
for friends who have different gifts than me and share them...like Andi's gift for floral design for Lindsey's shower!
for being so close to finished with adoption paperwork that I can almost taste it!
for Eli and Noah's rest/nap time in the afternoon that allows me to get stuff done and refreshes me.
for all of the new family members my buddies are adding to their families...for Janet, Ayden, Sophia and many more babies to come (hopefully one for us, too!)
for you!

Speech Therapy...

2009-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

Eli's journey though speech therapy began after his palate surgery. The first few weeks at speech therapy started with us singing the "Who's in charge of speech therapy? Miss Theresa! Who's not in charge? Not me!" all the way to speech. Eli, you see, wanted to do speech his way. His way was defined as fixing all of the toys in the room so that they were in the right (Eli's right) spots and organized correctly. Then he wanted to direct his own therapy by choosing the activities and the sounds he wanted to work on. It took him a little while and a bit of singing to realize that possibly Miss Theresa knew better than Eli what was best for him when it came to his speech development. He also struggled a lot with focused sitting and working and needed some help from some therapeutic aids. He also was pretty difficult to understand. Theresa needed lots of translation from Mommy at the beginning.

And now on this, his last day of speech therapy, he sits, he reads, he focuses, he listens, he talks and she can understand every word. Theresa and I were tearing up as we remembered the Eli of less than a year ago and looked at the very different little boy before us. I have to admit, there were quite a few tears in the waiting room while I listened to Eli and Theresa have their final chat through the door. Eli looked at my tears in the car on the way home and said, "Why are you crying? I all done with speech therapy!" Thank you, God, for Theresa and for Eli and for him being here and having the opportunity to have her in his life!

Preschool and the Zoo

2009-03-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

Noah's preschool class (with super teacher DeAnn) getting ready to act out a book.

The three bionicles...Joshy, Noah and Joe playing on the school playground.

Eli and his friend Ryan building roads like Daddy.

Adam, Owen, Noah and Eli run from the HUGE elephant at the zoo (notice the shorts...nice weather, huh?).

Love languages...

2009-02-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

So the question at dinner tonight was...how do you know someone loves you? I thought I'd see if it would give me some insight into the amigos' love languages. Steve and I had our theories, of course, about how each of our kids receives love the best but I wanted to see what the kids themselves thought.
I started with Grace who said, "I know because they snuggle and smooch me a lot. I mean A LOT! And also kids at school don't smooch me because that would be so weird but, like, my friend Jackie hangs on my backpack and is always touching me so she really likes me A LOT! Also, I know Mommy and Daddy love me because they are hard workers and paint my room and help me clean up and cook and clean and stuff." Interesting...Grace isn't the cuddliest of our kids. She's not one to just come sit on your lap (at least not very often) nor is she one to shower you with kisses. So we guessed that physical touch was not her favorite love language. Of course after her answer I asked her if she liked it when Jackie hung on her and she said, "Not really...but I know she really loves me." And then I asked her if she likes lots of hugs and kisses and she said, "Um....sometimes..." She's still an enigma to me. My guesses are still quality time and words of affirmation.
Eli said, "I know Mommy loves me because she snuggles me and gives me smooches." Now that one we could have guessed. That Eli needs a lot of physical affection...and we're happy to give it to him. I think he would like me to wear him as a coat if I could! I don't know how much of that comes from the way his life began or if his little heart just was born with a high need for physical touch. Either way, we're happy to fill his little love bucket as often as he needs it filled!
Noah said, "I know Mommy and Daddy love me because they play with me and they snuggle me. But I don't like kisses so much as hugs. And they give me presents for my birthday!" Yep, could have guessed those, too...and probably that's the right order for him.
Interestingly, the way Eli gives love is by helping...he helps Grace clean her disaster of a room, he helps me do the laundry, he helps Steve organize the basement...he is a helper guy. Noah rubs our backs and says very nice things to us. My favorite so far has been one day when I was dressed up for something and he said, "Wow! Mommy, you look beautiful. (pause for thinking) But you look beautiful everyday." (I know, makes your heart melt, doesn't it?) And Grace also shows love by words of encouragement and affirmation.
It's a happy challenge to love them the way they need to be loved.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-02-26T18:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Thankful Thursday everyone! Today I am thankful for...

Sam who spent the afternoon with us and is a fun friend for Eli and Noah.
my little writers' club of first graders who have great imaginations, who are very kind and encouraging to each other and who are pretty amazing little first grade writers.
the weather allowing us to play baseball and ride bikes outside today!
my sweet girl who likes to tell me everything that happens at school (here's hoping it will last!)
Lent and the opportunity to refocus on Jesus.

How 'bout you?

Eli learns to read!

2009-02-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

Amigo happenings...

2009-02-19T23:02:00.001-08:00

Noah dressed for gymnastics (the outfit was so interesting I just had to post it!)...

Grace, Eli, Lilly and Adelaide at the aquarium...

Grace climbing the coconut tree at the aquarium...

Eli could not get enough of the fish. He would have spent all day staring at them.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-02-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for...

Ruby...the new car that had to replace the Batmobile. I'm thankful for my aunt and uncle and their generosity. I'm thankful for the wonderful people at their dealership. I'm thankful that we have a car that should last a long time (I hope to drive it at least 200,000 miles). I'm thankful that we can all fit in there with room for a few more!
having my parents live close enough so that they can drop by for meatloaf.
that Eli is now securely attaching to other people besides me and Steve. He will now go sit on my mom's lap spontaneously and snuggle her and tell her his very funny stories. He will initiate a conversation with my dad about super heroes and how bad guys never win. (He and Noah have a theory that "bad guys never win because they don't have any friends to train with so they don't train and their muscles aren't so strong as the good guys.") He loves to go up and visit Gigi and Papo and read and play with them. And, of course, there are many others that he's attaching to. It's so awesome to see this sweet little fellow with an entire network of people who love him and who he loves back!
my small group gals...it isn't always easy being vulnerable and being called to a deeper place but it's always worth it. Thanks, ladies.
Noah's gymnastic coach, Tony, and the way he inspires Noah to do his best...and not just at gymnastics. I'm so grateful that God has gifted people to inspire us and bring out the best in us. (video is Noah with Tony)
antibiotics...it was so hard to see sweet Noah with zero energy and a lot of pain from ear infections earlier this week. What a relief to see him feeling so much better with just a few doses of antibiotics!

How 'bout you?

Introducing Mr. Flexible and his Side-kick Flexiboy!

2009-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

Happy V Day!

2009-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

Eli and Nico heading into the Home Depot for some male bonding...

Grace at her school Valentine's party...

Grace and Cara making bracelets...

Catching up on some photos and videos. Here's Noah playing his new drum set. (Anyone but me feel the need to watch some old Muppet show re-runs? ANIMAL!)

Thankful Thursday...

2009-02-12T18:37:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for...

no one being hurt in the accident. The batmobile is a tough ol' bird!
Steve getting home on the early flight today!
three healthy little bodies
having family nearby to pick me up when I have a car accident and need to go pick Grace up from school.
our kids' godparents and the way that each of them show the kids love in different ways.
feeling better!
LOVE! Boy, it's everywhere! In all forms! What a gift! I'm thankful for the love of my funny and fabulous friends, for the love of our closer-than-most families, for the love of my sticky-kisses kiddos, for the love of my fantastic husband and for the love of our amazing and awesome God!

What are you thankful for this Valentine's week?

The Batmobile...

2009-02-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

So...the batmobile is out of commission. The boys and I were driving to get Noah a haircut and chatting away and got into a car accident in the parking lot of Fantastic Sams. Not so fantastic. The batmobile's wheel is shoved up into the side of the car. The batmobile is not drive-able. The batmoblie was stinky and smoky and leaking some fluid that I am certain wasn't water. Phooey. And scary. The boys did fine. Later Noah said, "Mommy, you and that other girl should have watched where you were going. But you said you were sorry. It's good to say we're sorry when we break some one's stuff." Excellent point. And Eli said, "Oh, I'm sad. I miss Mommy's car." Me, too, buddy. Me, too.
Good news...the next time Eli goes to speech therapy will be the last time. Eli went into speech therapy telling Miss Theresa about "diarrhea" and everyone in the family's experiences with it (I know, TMI). Theresa said, "Eli, when you can have an entire conversation with me about diarrhea and I can understand every word, you have graduated from speech therapy." An odd graduate thesis, for sure, but, hey, whatever works!
Also, today all amigos were working on their valentines for their friends at school. It was a study on the way each of them approach such tasks. Eli carefully wrote "Eli P." on every card and was finished. Noah wrote his friends' names and his name on a few cards and picked super "cool" tattoos for his buddies, complained about how hard it was, put on a few tattoos from the valentines, wrote just his name on some cards, picked out special cards for all of his boy cousins and special buddies, taped lollipops on all of them with copious amounts of tape and finally finished. Grace carefully chose out the valentines that weren't too "girly" for the boys in her class, went through her class list and checked off every friend as she addressed their valentines and attached their lollipops. Also, she wrote BFF on six of the valentines. Wow. That's a lot of best friends. And where did she learn BFF? Isn't it crazy how phrases from our childhood come flying out of our children's mouths (or pens) and we have no idea how they got there? (Well, we might have a little clue...)

Sometimes One Must Paint...

2009-02-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find myself in these places (emotionally probably...not physically) where I really need to see transformation. And when I find myself in those places you know what I do? I paint a room. (This time, by "I" I mean "we" being me and Steve.) So recently we've painted the kids' bathroom (a cheery blue) and replaced the light fixture and painted the main floor bathroom a pale green and replaced that light fixture. Unfortunately the green reminds me of a hospital (the very thing that I did not want to be reminded of). However, it's starting to grow on me. And the next project, hopefully to be started tomorrow, is to paint our bedroom. My goal is to have it finished before Valentine's day. It's not looking good for me, there, but you never know. Sometimes I get a little obsessive and do whatever's necessary to complete the project. I think this may be a sign of some deep-seated neuroses but maybe not.
Don't we all need to see transformation sometimes? Transformation gives me hope. Hope that God's work in me is not yet complete but that it will be, really will be, someday. Hope that who I am is not who I'll be in 10 years, next year, or maybe even tomorrow. Hope that the pain that the people I love feel today will be gone tomorrow. Hope that this fallen world we call our home can and will be transformed. Hope that the future is different, brighter somehow, than the present. Not that I'm all depressed about the present...I'm not. Because there is beauty right here and now. I can enjoy the frozen beauty of the winter. But I light up and dance when the tulip first pokes its brave little shoot out of the near frozen ground. I long for spring. I long for the budding transformation...so I paint.

Thankful Thursday...

2009-02-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

This Thursday I am thankful for...

Eli starting each morning by saying, "Mommy, it's going to be a good day!" I hate to admit it but sometimes I don't think it will be...but then he says it and I believe it!

Steve...who might just be the best husband ever. He's a great friend, a good listener, a great provider, super fun and funny and just wonderful. I'm so blessed! Love you, Steve!

my cousin Julia's healthy new baby, Georgia. I can't wait to meet her!

my Grammy who always brings me Time magazine and the newspaper, who takes our kids whenever we need her to and enjoys spending time with them and who has more energy than anyone I know!

THE SUN! Today it is almost 70 degrees! Whoo hoo! You can't beat the Colorado sun! Yesterday when the boys and I walked to pick Grace up from school, Noah was in shorts and a tanktop and was perfectly comfortable....crazy!
for our kids varied interests and unique personalities. (photo is Noah learning drums)

What are you thankful for today?

The Tooth...

2009-01-30T15:29:00.001-08:00

Today we celebrate the loss of Grace's tooth also known as "snaggle" and "pokey". We will be forever grateful for Eli's hard little head and the collision which started the process. This is how the tooth met its demise...

Hooray, hooray! Doesn't her little smile look so cute with the first grade gaping hole in the front? Love it!

Thankful Thursday...

2009-01-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful...

that it has been a long while (at least a week or two) since Noah has had a night terror or migraine!
that Eli made his bed all by himself this morning even though he thought he couldn't. I'm thankful that he's learning that he can!
that, even though Steve was out of town last night, the dogs did not wake me up 5,000 times looking for him.
that we are super blessed with good health most of the time.
that my brother and his family live so close by now! It's been awesome for our kids (especially Noah) to see them so often. I'm thankful for Joshy and Noah's funny little relationship -- they have a great time together! And it's been awesome for me to be able to build a "grown-up" relationship with Matthew and a friendship with Brooke (which includes but is not limited to each of us only having to cook 6 nights out of the week and only having to drive one way to preschool. Hooray!).
that Joey's hearing is okay and he seems to have come out of a really scary accident relatively unscathed! Yay, God!

Xīn nián kuài lè!

2009-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! The amigos celebrated Chinese New Year on New Year's Eve this year by going to Happy G's for some yummy Chinese food with our buddies the Wyss family. We met the Wysses a few years ago when Grace and Emma were in preschool together and we were waiting, waiting, waiting to bring Eli home. Their very handsome and sweet Chinese son, Sam, had been home for a while (I want to say a year or so) and we were all so excited to meet another family who were adopting/had adopted a boy from China. The boys are all great friends (Eli and Sam are in the same preschool class) and Grace and Emma, too. Tonight Noah was asked a few times if he was from China, too...from Sam and from the waitress who was from Guangzhou. The waitress was very fun and funny and taught the kids many things about Chinese New Year. She even tried speaking in Mandarin to Eli (who doesn't seem to have retained much, if any). It was a great night! What a blessing to have another culture to weave into the fabric of our family!

P.S. The 2nd to last photo is the kids pointing at themselves in the first photo we ever had taken as a family of five. Look how much they've grown almost a year and a half!

"Mental Detector"

2009-01-24T19:46:00.001-08:00

So the kids were in the back seat of the car rejoicing over their new toys from Arby's. Noah wanted to know what the other options were that they didn't get and was trying to sound out the words on the Arby's bag. Grace looked at her bag and quickly responded, "Noah, you can get a tape measurer, a magnifying glass or a mental detector." Steve and I grinned at each other and really hoped someone did get a "mental detector". We could really use one.

Belated Thankful Thursday...

2009-01-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for...

Colorado...I can't imagine a better place to live.

Ella and Hero...although they are, at times, crazy pooches, they're ours and we love them so much. I love the companions they are for each other and for us and I REALLY love that they play together to channel all their labradoodle energy in a positive direction. I'm thankful that Hero survived, that he's healthy and that we're allowed to be his family. And I'm grateful that sometimes we allow ourselves to make stupid choices with our hearts (like, say, for example, getting another dog) while our heads say, "What are you thinking???" and they work out.

my friends, old and new. I'm thankful that there is an abundance of amazing people to befriend and that God brings them into our lives at just the right time. I'm thankful for reconnecting with people who I haven't seen in years and hearing their stories of God's grace in their lives. I'm thankful for friends who've been super consistent and loyal over all the years and thankful that we're allowed to walk through life together. I'm thankful for new friends who are encouraging and fun.

my van. Even though it has seen better days, still it gets us to preschool, to school, to doctors and therapists, to gymnastics, to violin...all in one piece.

our kids' teachers. Grace's first grade teacher is amazing and such a blessing to her this year. She challenges her and encourages her and allows her to discover that she is capable of more than she thought possible. Noah's preschool teachers encourage him to lead and call him to a higher standard...and he meets it. And they enjoy him! Eli's team of teachers work hard with him to help him become the four year old boy that God intended. They truly like him, which warms this mama's heart, and he feels safe with them.

What are you thankful for today?

2009-01-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

Here's Eli singing a song from preschool. Listen to how clear his words are! He's been working so hard over the past few months and we're so proud of him!

Muppets...

2009-01-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

Today we had a special visit from UPS delivering...you guessed it...Grace's self-portrait as a muppet. Thanks, Memere, Pepere, Aunt Susie, Aunt Ne, Uncle Dave, Cole and Andy! The new muppet is very fun! Here it is:
In unrelated news, yesterday I asked Grace and Noah to help with folding some laundry while Eli and I did the dishes. We heard immense amounts of giggling followed by the word "underwear" over and over again. Hey, whatever gets them helping! :) (Please tell me that our laundry room isn't the only one that looks like a bomb went off!)
Also, Grace has a tooth that just will not say die. It's her front tooth and it is highly unfortunate as it sticks straight out. So here she is modeling her very attractive tooth (and new-found eye-crossing abilities...this might be yet another post that she might not love as a teenager!):

Yee haw!

2009-01-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

Today we spent the whole day with Team Z at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo. Here are my observations from the day...

This morning before we left I told Eli we were going to see some cows today. "In America?" he asked.

Once we got to the Stock Show, Grace and I in particular were pretty focused on finding some pygmy goats. Sadly, no pygmy goats...but lots of llamas and alpacas. I mean LOTS of llamas and alpacas.

Grace, like her mom, cheers for the cows instead of the cowboys during the rodeo. Hee hee!

Eli DOES NOT want to be a cowboy. But he said he wouldn't mind being a tiny cow if he could run away from the cowboys.

Steve and Linds like maps. Mandy and Jer like to wander aimlessly and stop when we feel like it.

Linds and Grace are allergic to rodeos. Rodeos have a very well equipped first aid station with LOTS of allergy medicine options. Maybe it's not just Linds and Grace that are allergic to rodeos.

Eli liked the "horsies" and the "teeny cows" the best while Grace loved the "buckin' bull cows." Noah loved those horses that "blast out and you're like 'whoa, whoa, whoa!'"

Some people can do days and days and days and days of Stock Show and rodeo fun but Teams Z and P can only handle around 7 hours.

People watching at said events can be very interesting. Quite a variety of folks there!

The three amigos can put away a large bucket of cotton candy in record time.

A fried twinkie, according to Steve, should be re-named deep fried love on a stick.

Steve(in his Wyoming shirt) is no match for the CSU ram in a fight. li>

One should not accidently try to exit out of the wrong exit at the Stock Show because a security guard might tell one (and one's children) that he will "put them in jail" if they continue to exit that way. It might frighten one's children to be told this unfortunate information about "jail." (Where might this "jail" be? I wonder.) Also, said security guard might not care that it would take the three short-legged children, pregnant woman and three other very tired and lazy adults an extra 15 minutes to exit when they were 50 feet away from freedom on the other side.

And now I shall put three tired, but happy, amigos to bed! Night night!

Thankful Thursday...

2009-01-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am now unabashedly yoinking an idea from a fellow blogger to have Thursdays be Thankful Thursdays. This Thankful Thursday I am thankful for...

Steve's job...especially in this crazy economy, I'm so grateful that Steve has a job that he loves and that that is able to support all five of us yahoos.
Our home...the precious fellow blogger that I referenced earlier just lost her home to a fire. Please pray for their family as they have just adopted two children and, as you can imagine, are concerned about how this will effect the two newbies and all of their six children that are living at home. Reading her amazing entry today made me realize how thankful I am for our warm home, the land to run and play on and our family all around us.
Eli's growth in speech...when Eli first started speech therapy, super therapist Theresa told us to expect many years of private therapy. This week, when Eli came out of his session with her, she told me that she expects that he'll be FINISHED with therapy within a month or so! WOW!
That every morning all three amigos pile on Grace's bed for some sibling cuddle and giggle time. Too cute! I'm so thankful that they love each other so much!

More next Thursday! There is so much to be thankful for...boy, I could go on and on!

You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly!

2009-01-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Noah and Eli were giggling in the front room while I was working on something in the kitchen. After almost 15 minutes of giggling, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to go check it out. As I came around the corner, I saw Eli with three baby shower helium balloons tied around his waist and Noah tying a fourth one on. "Whatcha doing?" I asked. Noah replied, "We're trying to make Eli fly with balloons." Awesome! I wish it would work, I'd want a ride, too!

Our little writer...

2009-01-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Our little Gracie loves to write. We have pages and pages of stories to be found in every drawer in the house written by our prolific writer. A few months ago Grace wrote a piece for the Reflections contest at her school. Turned out, little pumpkin won second place in literature for her school and got to go on to the district contest. Today was the open house to celebrate the competitors and winners for the district contest. While Grace was a little bit disappointed that she didn't win, she enjoyed seeing her work up at the community college and really liked the writing of the child who did win. We're just so proud of Grace for trying! Yea, Grace!

Monkeys Everywhere!

2009-01-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

For Grace's kid party, she chose a monkey theme which was appropriate since we had the party at her gymnastics gym. The kids had a great time playing the parachute games, swinging on the bars, jumping on the trampoline and climbing various apparatuses (or apparati?).

Grace Turns 7!

2009-01-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Grace had a great 7th birthday! It started in a bummer way with her throwing up from midnight on but became super awesome with every passing moment once the sicky night hours ended. Most of her family came over for her family birthday party today. The Vielhaks and Cheyenne Pouliots came down and Gigi and Pap, Grammy and Papa Joe, Grandma June and Grandpa Lou, Team Z and the Rillos family came over to celebrate with Grace. She got to do a lovely do in Aunt Dena's hair, open fabulous presents from family near and far, (Aunt Susie, she loved the American Girl t-shirt maker...Memere and Pepere, she loved the scooter and sweatshirt and Tita et al, she loved the clothes for Kit! Thanks!) eat LOTS of chocolate ice cream (Grace often says she'd like to swim in a vat of chocolate!), and hang out with some of her favorite people. From Grammy and Papa Joe, Grace got a choose your own adventure gift of sorts. She gets to choose a pygmy goat or a doll. Everyone had very strong opinions on which she should choose...Linds said, "of course, doll" and Matthew said, "of course, goat." Grace is torn though. She's thinking she'll name her goat after one of the American Girls. :)

It was especially nice to see sweet Joey up and about after his accident. We were so relieved to see his smiling face at the party. And we're so grateful to have Gracie!

Tappy New Year!

2008-12-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

The tres amigos celebrated New Year's Eve with their good buddies Mr. Dave, Miss Izzy, Adam and Owie-Boots. So much fun! We drank "bubble juice" (sparkling cider), opened crackers, played with rocket balloons, played a Seinfeld game, the wii and played superheros in pjs to our hearts' content. Eli also shouted "Tappy New Year" many times throughout the evening. I'm not sure what a "tappy" new year is but we sure wish you one!

Dora, Diego and Whose Line Is Is Anyway?

2008-12-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

This morning Eli and Noah were watching Dora and Diego while I was getting ready. Now if you know anything about Dora and Diego, you know that they are big fans of having kids yell out stuff during the show. I heard Dora say, "Say your line..." meaning the kids were supposed to say "Give it back" to these pigs that stole their treasure. However, Eli and Noah simultaneously said, "Peace" and "They opened their treasures and presented him with gifts." (These were their "lines" in the Christmas musical.) Then Dora said (as she always does), "Louder!" (As an aside, does anyone's child really need to be told "louder"? For our amigos, volume is never a problem.) And Eli and Noah yelled, "PEACE" and "THEY OPENED THEIR TREASURES AND PRESENTED HIM WITH GIFTS!" I giggled as the pigs gave back the treasure and the boys nodded triumphantly at the TV.

Amazing Grace...

2008-12-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.box.net/shared/lvrrekl98g

Here's Eli's version of Amazing Grace from the kids' new karaoke game from Linds and Jer. Enjoy!

Christmas Day...

2008-12-26T15:25:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun on Christmas day hanging out with Steve's side of the fam! After waking up and praying and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus (Noah and Grace's idea), the kids opened their gifts with Gigi, Papo, Nancy, Auntie Mimers, Grammy and Papa Joe watching. They especially loved their gifts from each other. They really know each other well, I don't know that I would have chosen the gifts they did for each other but now I think I'll have them choose gifts for everyone. If you get a Mr. Potato Head R2D2 for your next birthday, try it...you just might love it!
Then we headed up to Cheyenne for more fun! We played Wii, the kids opened super exciting presents and we ate great food! Grace's presents from all the Cheyenne and Boise-based clan was a muppet that she gets to design herself. How cool is that? She gets to choose its eyes, its nose, its hair and its clothes. And then it gets made by the same people who make regular muppets. She had so much fun with Sicken and Bla-Bla designing various muppets and having people vote on which muppet should be produced. The boys loved, loved, loved their new toys and there was some cut-throat Wii competition going on with the grown-ups. (Pretty sure the Wii was for the kids but you wouldn't know it if you looked at hours spent playing the thing per person!) Our kids always have such a good time in Cheyenne. They cheer as soon as they see the Wyoming sign when we cross the state line. It's so fun to watch them play with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and big cousins. Don and Noah had quite a hilarious foam airplane war in the backyard. Eli and Dave colored together for a very long time. Grace and Sicken and Bla-Bla designed the muppet and wrote a riveting princess story. We're so blessed to have family that loves our kiddos so much!
I've also included photos of our Christmas with Grammy and Papa Joe. It was such a good time. After they opened their gifts they got to play with them/put them together with Grammy and Papa Joe. Eli wanted to put together his scuba diver and shark legos with "just Grammy." And Grace and Papa Joe researched the breed of horse that she got for her American Girl doll and set up a very tricky jumping course. And Noah loves his new lego dune-buggy that Papa Joe and Daddy helped him build. It's super fun to have so many cousins their age on that side of the family and they love to get together with everyone but it was also nice to have some time with just Grammy and Papa Joe.
So there you have it...awesome Christmas! Doubly blessed!

Christmas Eve...

2008-12-26T15:01:00.000-08:00

You know, we should know by now that when God shows up, he shows up BIG! You'd think I'd remember that. But I forget and every year I freak out about the Christmas musical and every year people talk about their hearts being touched by the kids and all they have to share through the service. And again this year...I freaked out. I thought that this musical, this year, BY FAR, was the most difficult we've ever put together. And it probably was. And because it was so difficult, I missed out on how touching it was. And you know what? People were touched. They were touched by our little dancers who danced with their whole hearts for Jesus. They were touched when Matthew sang his solo with a voice as pure as an angel's and with humility that humbled us all. They were touched when the kids offered their "gifts" to the baby Jesus...their wobbly cartwheels, their crayon pictures, their newly acquired flute-playing skills, and, in the case of our Eli, their kisses. And we all realized that Jesus is happy with what we give him. When we play our very best lullaby on our little violins to him and our notes are mostly in tune or when we play a concerto so beautifully that it makes grown men weep...Jesus is happy with that. We just need to humbly and happily bring what we have to offer and God does BIG THINGS with those little gifts!

The Law of Stinky Crazy Hair Day

2008-12-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

Heretofore, the day after school gets out shall be called "Stinky Crazy Hair Day" and none of the fair amigos shall shower and all amigos shall have crazy hair. Also, all amigos shall reside in a tent built by the amigos in the land of Mommy and Daddy and shall (attempt to) nap in said tent according to the law set by the princes and princesses of the land of kids.

Oh, the DRAMA!

2008-12-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

This week has been drama week for the Pouliots. It started with Grace's first grade Holidays Around the World program on Tuesday and culminated with Eli and Noah's preschool programs today. So first...Grace.
As you know, Grace is a big fan of a spotlight. Girlfriend is not shy. So she was just THRILLED to learn that she would be singing a duet in the first grade program at school. Grace and another little girl named Ella were to dress as reindeer and sing the beginning of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all by themselves before the other kids joined them on the chorus. She practiced Rudolph and all of the other songs from the program over and over at home, in the car, in the shower, everywhere. Finally, it was the day...Tuesday, December 16th. Grace had been counting down. The first graders got to do the program twice, once for the school and once for the families in the evening. Luckily, I got to go to both. I say luckily because when you put 100 first graders and all of the people that love them in a gym in folding chairs and your precious child is short (read on the first row of the risers) it is IMPOSSIBLE to see her. But during the school performance I had a great view (easier to see over small people sitting on the floor)! Grace and Ella came out on the stage first. They stood before two little microphones and the taped music began. The girls came in singing and they were not shy...they were nice and loud! After their duet, all of the other kids came in and lined up on the risers and the girls just kept singing their little hearts out and shaking their jingle bells. I'm not sure that I could have done that at 6 years old in front of the whole school and then hundreds of grown-ups but those two did it! Whoo hoo, Gracie! The whole program was just awesome. The teachers figured out a way to give each of the 100 kids a part that they were super excited about. I don't know how they did it but it was awesome!
Then, today, Noah and Eli had their holiday programs. Unfortunately for us, they were both at the same time. Steve was out of town (poor guy!) so the grandparents all stepped in and we had at least one grown up in each classroom to celebrate Joshy (Matt and Brooke's second), Noah and Eli. Noah has been pretty excited about today because today he got to be the gingerbread man just like Grace was when she was his age. They did the whole gingerbread man story and Noah got to say all of the lines. The best part, though, was watching that little gingerbread man run in place. He was RUNNING! When it was time for his lines, he was winded from all of that fast gingerbread man running! I'll try to post a video of both Grace and Noah's performances if I can figure out the technology. Then I got to watch sweet Eli sing "You Are my Sunshine" and "Jingle Bells". He was really into it, did all of the motions and sang his heart out. He's also been practicing all week..."Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, All the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Such a fun week!

Company Christmas and Salvation Army

2008-12-13T09:27:00.001-08:00

Today we went to Steve's company's kids' Christmas party. (Wow! That's a lot of possessives!) The party is one of the reasons we love Steve's company so much. They really value families, which we appreciate, and they celebrate kids, which we love. So every year they have a party for the kids in the company. Each kid receives a present and gets to participate in games and such. As we all know, Santa is a hit or miss for kids. Some kids are big fans of running up and sitting on Santa's lap and telling him all about themselves. Some think it's a little insane to run up to some man that you don't know and sit on their laps...they think, seriously, people, is this really safe? Our kids have definitely been in both camps at various times in their lives. We have photos of the kids with Santa from every year of their lives so far on the tree. Each year someone is screaming in the photo (or at least looking pretty freaked out). However, this year all three kids RAN up to Santa when it was their turn and jumped on his lap. They loved their presents, they loved the other kids, they loved decorating cookies (see photo of Noah's cookie...mmmmmm, frosting!) and writing on the glass wall at Daddy's work, they loved the whole shebang. Yay!
After the party, we took off to go ring bells for Salvation Army with Grammy. It was so awesome to see the kids ringing their little bells and thanking people for donating money and wishing them a Merry Christmas. There was a man playing his guitar and harmonica so they danced around and sang and were so joyful. Wouldn't it be awesome if we all served with joy? Anyway, if they were all joyful, Eli was exuberant! He rang his little bell with a great deal of energy, he yelled "Merry Christmas and thank you!" to everyone who gave, he galloped around the bucket and danced with joy. What a pleasure to see this boy who once was supported by a family through Love Without Boundaries to be able to live in a home with a foster family and receive the medical care he needed...to see this boy ringing his heart out to make sure other people could have those things, too. Yay, Jesus! Right before we had to leave to take the boys home for their nap, a teenage girl and her mom (who I'd noticed watching the kids ring for awhile before they went into King's Soopers) came out with a box full of candy canes for our kiddos to encourage them to keep ringing. People are so cool. Seriously. So cool.

Handsome!

2008-12-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

Our Noah has always been a fan of being "handsome". He really digs having people tell him how handsome he looks and being thought of as a handsome guy. But he's also a VERY "BOY" boy (if that means anything). He loves superheroes and baseball and getting dirty and injuring himself in any manner of ways and anything you can think of that would be a "typical" boy thing. So most of the time "handsome" means a shirt that is not ripped or dirty and some pants instead of shorts. But every once in a while, Noah goes through a hyped-up handsome phase. In these times, handsome means a tie (with any shirt, it is a tie that makes one handsome, you know!) and corduroy pants. I don't know why cords are handsome except, perhaps, that he doesn't really like to wear them with his usual Superman shirts. Maybe handsome pants are those which one does not like to wear. (That definition actually works for me with my "dressy" clothes, too, now that I think of it!)
Mr. Noah is one of his hyped-up handsome phases right now. This morning he came into our room all dressed and ready to go in his Christmas outfit from last year. The blue cords are a bit too short and tight but otherwise a very well put together ensemble...red vest over plaid shirt, red zip tie, belt and blue cords and, of course, snow boots. And he was ready for preschool (and very appropriately dressed for it, I might add)! He even brushed his hair and said, "Mommy, do I look just like Steve Carell?" (I should explain that I am a BIG fan of Steve Carell...possibly too much of a fan considering Noah's question...in all fairness to me, though, one of Noah's favorite scenes in any movie is the scene where Steve Carell gets ready for work--including some serious nose-hair extraction--in Evan Almighty.) "You look just like him!" I replied giving him a big hug and he grinned and happily went down the hall to put his brother into a head-lock. Sigh.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2008-12-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

Guess what? It snowed. And it was a good one! We love the snow! We love to play in it, throw it at unsuspecting loved ones, and our favorite thing to do, at least the three amigos favorite thing to do, is eat it. We all have differences of opinion about the cold, though. Me? I get cold really easily...I like to sit six inches from the fire and bake my skin. Noah joins me. Don't worry, we flip sides so we don't cook too much on one side. Gracie D. is somewhere in between. She is not crazy about heat like Noah and me but also not craving the Antarctic like her daddy. Steve is always hot. And Eli is definitely in Steve's camp. But Eli takes the cake in extreme temperature reaction. First of all, if it's possible to remove clothing in any situation, Eli wants to do it. As soon as he gets in the car he wants to quickly remove any outer layers and, if he could, shoes and socks, too. He asks to wear shorts every day of the year (even this morning he woke up and said, "SNOW! Can I wear shorts?") and would like to sleep in his underwear without covers every night (hmmmmm...he might not be happy with me sharing that one when he becomes a teenager. Oh well.).
Today was my volunteer day at school. I love volunteering at school. It's so fun to play with all of the kids and totally interesting to watch our kids interact with their peers. Also, it's interesting to see their little quirks come out at school. I was not disappointed today. Since it was above 20 degrees, the kids got to go outside to play. It was cold. Really cold. The other kids were doing a lot of whining and whimpering about their frozen little toes and fingers...some were even sobbing. The bravest were playing through the pain of their frozen little appendages. But Eli? Eli was intentionally falling face-first into the snow and laughing as he stood up with a "snow beard" all over his face. Over and over again he'd fall and stand with a face full of snow just cracking up. Gotta love that crazy kid!

All you ever wanted to know about Christmas musical rehearsal...

2008-12-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

We are on this awesome team at church that does a Christmas musical (almost) every year. Steve directs the acting, Lindsey heads up the kids' music stuff, Andi choreographs and costumes, Jason is the go-to guy for any of your Christmas musical needs, Jeremy is the king of sound, lights and special effects and I...do whatever I feel like and take a totally unfair share of the credit for all of the hard work that they do. But this year it's really hard for me to do even that because I have these two little 11 months apart 4 and 5 year old full-time jobs with me at every rehearsal. Noon is not their best time of day. Check them out at 9 am...awesome. Play with them around 3:30...such a pleasure. But noon? Well, noon is lunch time, nap time, being by themselves time. Noon is not sit and listen to everyone else's part during rehearsal time. Noon is not focus on your job and learn where to be time. But this is the first year the two littlest amigos get to be in the musical and they are all about that! They know their lines (Noah's is "Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts." Eli's is "Peace."), they know their acting parts, they love their parts and they love to be there. But they are tired. They are manic. I don't know about other kids because I only have these three as reference but when our kids get tired, since they were teeny-tiny, they get manic. They run around like crazy people. They are loud. Their little bodies are all over the place. It's like they are in a race against the sleepiness and they are not about to lose. So each Sunday, we try our best to control that manic drive just a bit. Today, though, Noah and I ended up running many races around the church while waiting for his turn. And Eli was flopping all over Linds and, with his total lack of volume control, talking REALLY LOUDLY during the entire rehearsal about who-knows-what.
Now Grace, on the other hand, is focused on the task at hand. There is nothing Grace loves more than theatre, nothing Grace loves more than a spotlight, nothing Grace loves more than singing and dancing...it is like a little piece of heaven for Grace. Today, she demonstrated that focus in the most interesting way. We were all watching a small gaggle of girls rehearse a dance. Grace, who being tiny is in the front row, was dancing her little heart out with the angriest expression on her face. The other grown-ups watching and I couldn't help but giggle. She was really punching those arms to the beat and militarily moving her little body back and forth. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on. After the rehearsal, I said, "Hey, great job with the dance! Your movements were right on the beat. Do you think you could try to have a more pleasant expression on your face when you do it?" "Oh, no!" she responded, "Andi said we had to be really sharp." "But, honey, why does that mean you have to look angry?" "Doesn't sharp mean pointy, like mad?" A thesaurus or dictionary for our oldest for Christmas, perhaps?

Getting our hairs cut...

2008-12-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

Grace and I went to get our hairs cut today. Grace thinks she might want to be a hairstylist (or, depending on when you ask her, a singer, an actress or a teacher) when she grows up like her Aunt Nee and Aunt Dena (photo is Grace and Aunt Nee). So today she was paying close attention as Samantha the Super-Stylist highlighted and cut my hair. Her favorite part was the hair washing part. That part she could actually participate in. We didn't feel that six is a good age to become full apprentice with scissors and the works. Shampooing was plenty. She also wanted to go ahead and wax my eyebrows but we put the kibosh on that as well. While Samantha went to mix the toner, Grace gave me a mighty good head massage. And then Samantha taught her to do the secret-recipe towel wrap that doesn't fall off your head as you walk back to the chair. I think I would be quite happy with Grace the hairdresser. Although when it was time to style my hair she kept getting the comb stuck in my hair and was unable to extract it unassisted. No pain, no gain, I guess...
In other news, our violin buddies, the Youngs, left today for Korea to go get their baby girl! How exciting is that? If you think of them, you could pray for them as they're taking their 6 and 5 year old boys with them to Korea. The early days of adjusting to family life for an orphan are not always easy. I'm sure that they'll have the adventure of their lives, though!
Also, I have a pink camera. Just wanted to let you know. Got it for Christmas from Steve and my parents. They rock. Thought you should know. Any future awesome photographs that you see here...think pink.

Mommy and Eli Wednesday

2008-12-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Eli and I are going to blog together today so that you can get to know him (please bear with me if you already do!). We just got back from speech therapy and Grace and Noah are in school. Wednesday is special Eli and Mommy time. Eli is rocking speech therapy. A little more than a month ago, his super fantabulous speech therapist, Miss Theresa, thought he'd have to have another surgery to lengthen his palate because he was struggling to make "g" and "k" sounds. We prayed and prayed and he worked and worked and a few weeks ago, he started making those sounds! Whoo hoo! Right now, while I type, Eli is listing all of the people he knows and loves. It's quite an exhaustive list. In fact, just now he said that he loves "everyone" and...Gracie. And Mommy the best! Oh, and snowmen, too.
Eli was born in China with a cleft lip and palate. His lip surgery was done in China when he was around a year old. The surgeons did an absolutely amazing job. His lip is very handsome. After he was home for about 7 months he had a palate surgery to close the hole in his palate. He was so excited to be able to suck on a straw and make clicking sounds and not have everything he drank come out his nose. But most importantly, he was so anxious to have everyone understand what he had to say, because Eli has a lot to say and a lot of very important stuff to say. On days like today when it's just the two of us, he talks the entire time his siblings are away. You think I'm exaggerating (which you would have reason to think!) but I'm not. Literally the entire time, he talks. I think he's making up for the first 3 1/2 years of his life when he had a lot to share and no one could understand him. I'm happy to listen (although, I must admit, my ears are pretty tired by naptime on Eli and Mommy days!).
Today Eli wants to tell you about his palate surgery which happened in May. He says, "First I love Grammy. She goes to the hospital at the night time. I was going with Mommy. Daddy go home with Gracie and Noah. I wasn't scared at the night time. We just watched a movie at night time. Because Grammy come over to see who was in there in the hospital. And she see me. She come at the door. And then, we was watching a movie. It didn't hurt me. I tough. Now my palate is closed, I can talk and do it. Do click with my tongue. My teachers at school, I love them. And I love the Christmas tree and the snow man and our house and the dogs and the family and the friends..."
Now Eli wants to talk about China. He says, "In China, I play games. I live with Foster Mama. I play games with a lady but I don't know what games and I don't know what China lady I play games. And fly blue airplane...it was pretending to fly. And then I came back home and go in the airplane. And the family went in the airplane except the Pouliots were in a big airplane. And there was no movie and no windows...just seats. And the house has a movie we should watch and all the family...and I love sleeping in the drawer and going to the park and going back home. (I should clarify that Eli was pretending to sleep in a pillow-filled drawer in the hotel in China -- we do not make our children sleep in drawers.)"
Who Eli is..."I like to make a snowman. I like to make your hair with Noah and Gracie. I like to play with Daddy and Mommy in my room with toys. I like to do 'nastics (gymnastics) with Noah and Gracie. I like to cook with Mommy and help make baked ziti with Mommy. I love my Mommy and Daddy." Eli is a pretty easy guy to get along with. He likes to play with anyone and often by himself. He's a puzzle-doer and will do a puzzle over and over until he gets it fast and just right. He's a lego guy and loves to build airplanes and rockets out of legos. He loves beauty whether it's new paint on the wall or a mountain or doing Mommy's hair in a fancy new do (which is what he's doing right now -- I look lovely, by the way.). Eli is a very special little guy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-12-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

We love to decorate for Christmas. Love, love, love it! We love getting all of our boxes of memories out and finding fun places to showcase them all around our house. On Saturday, we decorated the ol' casa for Christmas. For those of you who don't know, our new house is my parents' old house, the one that I grew up in. You know how you have super strong memories of your parents' house at Christmas...this decoration is supposed to be here...we ALWAYS put the tree over there. Well, I was surprised to find that it was a bit of a struggle to decorate this year. There was always a certain feel about the house when it was decorated for Christmas, a warmth that I'm struggling to replicate.
The tree is up, the lights are all twinkly and colorful and the ornaments are a hit with the kiddos who hang out there asking me questions about whose is whose and what year they were from. The little Goebel angels that my Grammy collected for me when I was a kid were placed on the mantel by Grace who loved doing it almost as much as I did when I was little. The stockings are hanging above the fireplace from their P.E.A.C.E. letters. Gifts from former students are all around reminding me of some of my favorite people. Our many nativity scenes from around the world have not made the scene yet (we're waiting until balls don't suddenly fly toward breakable objects from out of nowhere...does that ever happen?) but we have a few of our favorites out. Christmas music was pumping throughout the house and Grace was dancing her little heart out with her silver leggings, pink sweater and Santa hat on. The boys were helping hang up ornaments and fluff the tree and making all of the noise-making stuffed animals dance and sing in one cacophanous, joyful chorus.
And yet, it just didn't feel quite...right. Maybe I need a little Linus telling me again the story of Jesus' birth to revive my Charlie Brown spirits. (That always gies me goosebumps...any child voice reading Scripture gives me goosebumps.) Or maybe I need to remember that, for our kids, these are the warm memories of their home at Christmas and, for them, it doesn't need to look just like the house I grew up in but rather to look just like the house they're growing up in.
Happy memory making to you and your family!

Wheeeee...it's a Wii.

2008-11-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

We celebrate "Children's Day" in September because that is when Eli was adopted, when we became a family of five. And we took the kids to a SUPER fancy dinner (Photos are of said celebration) at Noodles and Company (which we refer to as Noodle Bowl) and told them that they would be receiving a trampoline for Children's Day. "Yay! Yay!" they screamed. And then we came home from dinner and did some research. Turns out, trampolines, they're not so safe. Shocking? I know. I thought so, too. So then we had to come back the next day and say, "Sorry kiddos. No trampoline. We prefer your limbs intact and your brains the way they are."

So we did more research and thought a Wii might be a fun gift for the three of them to share and we could give it to them for Christmas and Children's Day combined. Brilliant! So today was Wii day. Who knew how difficult it would be to purchase a Wii for our kids. We thought we'd do it on-line last night only to discover that the on-line retailers were out of Wiis. Phooey. We were going to have to brave the...dum dum dum...black friday crowds.

No way to keep the Wii a surprise, we all crowded into Steve's little Escape and headed to Walmart to find a good deal on the Wii. (I'm a HUGE fan of good deals!) I know we probably should have gotten there at 6 am with the rest of you crazies but we decided 8 am was plenty early for our people. We hunted and hunted for that Wii. No Wiis to be found anywhere. But then just when all hope was lost...there it was...in the distance...Steve spotted a lonely Wii on top of the printers. Ha ha! We happily left with the last Wii in Walmart. Our ecstatic kids were doing the Wii dance and singing several verses of the little known Wii song.

Totally worth it.

Bap-tie...

2008-11-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Grace and Noah were baptized on Sunday. Super special. Can't really explain it although I'm going to try. Mostly 'cause it helps me to better understand...partially 'cause I really like to talk (or write).

Grace wanted to be baptized when she was around 2 and saw someone else being baptized at church. "I wanna bap-tie," said she. "Oh..." I responded. "Why, honey? What does it mean to be baptized?" "I wanna bap-tie 'cause I love Jesus, too." Hmmmmm....good answer. I think we'll wait awhile, though, until we can say the word "baptize."

Fast forward to Noah, around a similar age, expressing a similar interest for a bap-tie. Steve and I decide to hold off a little longer.

And then, a month or so ago, Noah again asked to be baptized. We had just had communion and he received a blessing though he really wanted to have communion. "I want to be baptized, Mom." he said. "Why, honey?" I asked, fully expecting his 5 year-old reason to be "because I want a snack during the worship service." "Because," he answered, "I want to tell everyone how much I love Jesus." Oh. Okay then. I told him that he should talk to Auntie Mimers (Dr. Miriam Dixon, our pastor) about that. So, after worship he marched his skinny little self right up to Auntie Mimers and said, "Auntie Mimers. I want to be baptized. Can I be?" So she set up a meeting with him and with 6 year old Grace who decided that she, too, wanted to be baptized.

Later that week she came over to meet with them, explain to them what communion and baptism are and what they mean and to answer any of their questions. Boy, they had a lot of questions. She talked about what heaven is like, why Jesus had to die, why Jesus got baptized and a host of other things. And in the end she decided that they get it, they're ready, let's do it.

Noah and Grace were so excited for their baptism. They talked about it constantly. They wondered if they'd feel different. They wondered if the water would feel cold or hot. They wondered how wet they'd get. They wondered if today was the day every morning when they got up.

Finally, it was the day of their baptism. We didn't do any presents from us (except for their new clothes -- Noah really wanted to look handsome for the occasion). We wanted the baptism to be what was special...not the gifts. They woke up early. Noah immediately put on his handsome outfit and grabbed a tie for his 4 year old brother, Eli, to wear, too. Everyone needed to be handsome. Daddy wore a tie, too. Grace carefully put on her pretty dress and shiny shoes. And we were off.

At the church, Auntie Mimers explained to them what was going to happen. She asked them both to recite their favorite verse as part of their baptism. They had practiced their favorite verses all week. She walked them through the Presbyterian questions. They answered them dutifully and seriously. And they were ready...it was go time.

When it was time for the baptism, Grace and Noah came together up to the front...before Auntie Mimers called them because they saw their names on the screen and they were too excited to wait. They held hands. Noah put his head on Grace's shoulder and Grace put her arm around him. Seriously. Same kids who were fighting over toothpaste yesterday. Made my heart melt. And they answered the questions. And they said their verses. Noah said, "John 3:16 God really loved the world. He sent his son so that whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16." I mean he proclaimed it. He was certain, certain, certain that it was true and that everyone needed to know. And Grace said, "Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." In the car, she told us that she was also going to explain to everyone what it meant...you know, that "I can do anything with God." But in the end she decided that the Bible could speak for itself. And the warm water ran down Grace's hair and face first and she giggled. And the water ran down Noah's hair and face and puddled on his shirt and he thought about that. And Auntie Mimers said, "Wow! God's love is running all over you." And Grace giggled and said, "Yes!"

After the baptism, before the sermon, Noah leaned over to Steve and asked, "Do you think a bird will get on my head when I go outside?" Steve responded, "What do you mean, buddy?" "Because Jesus had a bird get on his head when he was baptized." Maybe we need to clarify a few things. Or maybe God will send a bird to land on Noah's head. It wouldn't surprise me. That's the kind of relationship those two have.

And after church, when we asked them how it felt, Noah said, "I feel warm. And like I can love more." And Eli piped in, "I feel bigger!" And me? I felt like I wish I had the faith of a child. And I felt so grateful to have been given these three treasures to teach me how.