Monday, December 28, 2009

Weird Crazy Dream

Yesterday morning I woke up remembering a dream...

Me - very pregnant (with 5 babies) at a circus to have an ultrasound done!!!


Mike psycho analyzed this dream to mean...

Brooke, Lexy + three girls we are looking into adopting = one CRAZY circus :-)

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Word to live by

My friend Yaya has a wonderful idea...instead of a New Years Resolution she chooses a word to live by throughout the year. Yaya's word for 2010 is HOPE and I am HOPING right along with her that she and her husband Josh will be parents (possibly to many) by years end! Yaya asked us to leave a comment on what our word to live by for the year will be, this is what I wrote....

"My word for the New Year is Believe...believe that anything is possible, believe that things happen for a reason, believe that stepping out of our comfort zone will lead us to our next child(ren), believe that we can take on the responsibilities of our new child(ren) and will be given the resources we need!"

Over the past couple of weeks while doing family fun things like seeing Santa, looking at lights, opening presents, even eating dinner I've had an overwhelming feeling that someone (or more than one someone-maybe our three girls!) is missing. I believe that 2010 is the year that we will be shown who it is that has been missing and that they will be brought into our life and family! I'm SO excited!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Snow Fun







Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pictures coming soon! I wanted to share these pics taken today of Lexy playing in the snow. We've been in the house since Thurs. afternoon and don't plan on getting out until some of this yuckiness is gone :-)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009



The Richards Family wishes each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Let's see how much we can cram in :)

I've taken my own advice and focused more on rest and family this week! My sickies are still hanging around but I'm getting more rest so it's all working out.

As promised, a pic of my new van...
(Unfortunately every time I think to take a picture it's dark but you get the idea)

Before I forget...

Lexy on her Kindergarten Music Program night...

(Lexy with her presents from Papa & Grammy and Mammaw & Grandpa)

(Lexy with her teacher Mrs. Woolsey and her friend Chance)


And Brooke from her play...
And at Brooke's Choir concert...


On Friday, Mike and I went to Lexy's Winter Party at school. I can't believe that I forgot my camera again but they were all so cute eating their goodies (LOTS), making crafts and playing reindeer games!


On Saturday, we loaded up in our new van for some Family Fun - Holiday Style. We went to Bass Pro Shop where we started off having a nice lunch at one of their restaurants and then we wrote letters to Santa, played games and decorated cookies while we waited FOREVER for our turn to see Santa. Afterwards we did some last minute Christmas shopping, ate a quick dinner and headed home.




Yesterday and this morning, Brooke and I have been working on cleaning the house for Christmas and making the fudge that we give as gifts to some of our family and friends. This year we made chocolate, butterscotch and peanut butter, YUM!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Crazy

I so need a vacation! This has been the craziest week!!!

Van Update:
The bank was able to come through for us :-) We picked up our new-to-us van today. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

Adoption Update:
Still haven't heard from the adoption worker. I figure with our crazy week and the holiday coming up the timing is just bad. I will continue to gather the things I need to and be patient.

Mommy Update:
Sinus Infection and swollen tonsils. On antibiotics, just need to rest! I've been up pretty much all night long coughing the past two nights :( and running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day trying to get things done!

So my plan beginning tomorrow is to slow down, rest and enjoy my family. I have fudge (peanut butter, butterscotch and chocolate) to make and few odds and ends to buy and wrap but basically we're ready for Christmas. I want to focus on making memories with my girls so they can remember those (instead of a crazy busy, tired and grumpy mommy!).

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

2 weeks

Mike went to the Orthopedic doctor this morning and we learned that he has a small tear in his gluteus minimus muscle. It is a small but very important muscle in your hip area...not the butt area like everyone has liked to joke Mike about. It evidently takes quite a while to heal if torn :(

Mike will be on crutches and at home for the next 2 WEEKS and then they will evaluate further! Good news...Mike will be home with the girls and I for the Christmas break. Bad news...Mike will be home with the girls and I for Christmas break...just kidding :0) Actually the only thing I'm worried about is that we know nothing about workman's comp so hopefully we'll get some answers on wages, etc. in the next couple of days.

Van Update:
Did not hear from the bank today, will call tomorrow. I SO hope they can do what we need so we can move on from this and get a van!

Adoption Update:
Have not heard from the adoption worker to go over the packet she sent. I'm going to start gathering the things I need to photocopy and have those ready to send in as soon as I talk with her.

Mommy Update:
I'm SICK! My throat, ears, sinuses, head, neck, chest all are in bad shape! I want to just lay down and sleep for about 6 days straight but there is cleaning, cooking, bathing, laundry, homework, taking care of a poor out-of-commission hubby that someone must do. So for now I will just push through :-)

Monday, December 14, 2009

OH GOOD GRIEF!! What else???? This has been a crazy, hectic, weird, exhausting week and Mike added to it by calling this afternoon to let me know he was at the HOSPITAL!!! Seems he thought it might be fun to hurt himself getting out of a dump truck at work.

After many hours at the ER it was determined that he must have done something to a muscle or tendon in his hip area. He got a lesson on how to use crutches, told to ice the area, given some pain pills and told that he would probably be home the rest of the week.

UGH!

Updates

I have pics from Lexy's Kindergarten music program and Brooke's play from the end of last week/weekend to get on here. I started feeling icky yesterday and all I want to do is sit around or sleep so I'll get to the pics eventually. I probably caught something from all the places we went/being outside in the cold looking for a new(er) van on Friday and Saturday.

My van made it's last trip to pick up the girls from school on Thursday. On Wednesday the oil light came on and we had the oil changed that day but it must not have been soon enough b/c it ran great Wed. evening and Thurs. morning but by the afternoon it was knocking. Unfortunately the van isn't worth what it would take to get a new engine put in (plus at this point we don't have extra money laying around the house). We spent all day Friday at the bank seeing what they could do for us and going from car lot to car lot looking at vans. On Saturday my brother CJ and I went back out looking at vans (in the freezing cold). We did find one that I really like, now we just have to wait until Tues. to find out if the bank can do what we need done. If they can then hopefully we'll have a new-to-us van by the end of the week!!

Adoption update:
I was worried that with my van going to crap that we would have to hold off on the adoption stuff but I think everything might just work out anyway. I got the papers in the mail at the end of last week from the agency and the worker should be calling to go over those with me any day.

A couple pictures to tide you over...



Thursday, December 10, 2009

busy busy

Yesterday we had the teeniest bit of snow left on the ground after school so Lexy HAD to play in it! I only let her play for a few minutes b/c the wind was so bone chilling but she had a great time!



Lexy's Kindergarten Christmas Music Program is tonight, it'll be SO cute! Tomorrow and Saturday night is Brooke's Middle School Play. The play will be performed this morning for the grade school students, Brooke was excited but nervous this morning!



Monday, December 7, 2009

Our Weekend

For our weekend family fun we went out to eat and then to see Old Dogs at the theatre on Friday night. We all enjoyed the movie and spending time together! Lexy loved these statues in the lobby of the theatre and just had to have her picture taken with them...


On Saturday we spent the morning wrapping presents...Brooke wrapped Lexy's and Lexy wrapped Brooke's (hopefully neither of them slip and say what they saw!). Then I had to work that afternoon/evening....but for the last time.

After getting yelled at by the person that does scheduling on Thursday when I called, I talked with the store manager after work on Sat. and was beyond disappointed in how he spoke to me. I won't put myself in the position to be verbally assaulted anymore so I called on Sunday to say that I wouldn't be returning. The human resource person I talked to had no better attitude or people skills than the other two...I'm just SO glad to be out of there. I don't need negativity and stress...everything will work out as it is supposed to!

Since I didn't have to work on Sunday we all stayed in our jammies all day and watched movies :-)

Friday, December 4, 2009

Adoption News!

I know, I need to change the background around here...I'll try to get around to it :-)


NOTE TO SELF:

Do not go shopping when you have had a bad day (my job UGH!) and a very good day (I finally talked with the adoption worker) on the same day...

Emotionally charged day = severe $$ spent on retail therapy!!!!!!

I woke up this morning thinking that I needed to get up to "the city" and get a few things I had left to get for Christmas. Then I talked with the lady in charge of scheduling at Target (she messed up again and started scheduling me for Sat. & Sun. again) and she was NOT polite. When I got off the phone I was so frustrated and mad that I was shaking. I took off intending to now do some retail therapy and on my way the adoption worker called my cell phone!!!! We talked for about 45 minutes and it looks like we are in the green to start the process!!! So of course then I was over-the-top happy....and....well lets just say I spent WAY MORE than I intended :-)

I did find out that the three girls we are interested in are not with the foster agency that is going to be doing our homestudy so until we get our homestudy done they can't inquire about the girls to find out more information but I'm hoping that maybe I can through the lady that e-mailed me when I inquired on the website.

So the process is looking something like this...

1.) Next week Angela (worker) is sending us an information packet and then calling to go over it with me when I get it.

2.) We need to watch a 6 min. video on their website.

3.) We'll fill out the paperwork that comes with the information packet and send back those, release forms (for them to talk with our former foster agencies), copies of our MAPP (adoption classes) certificate and a copy of our homestudy from when we adopted Lexy. Angela said that there is a possibility that they can use our old homestudy and just do an update (much cheaper!) if the homestudy is thorough enough.

4.) Angela will then request information from our old foster agencies and send our homestudy to be reviewed by another lady to see if we can just do an update or if we will need a new one. This process she said would take a couple of weeks.

5.) In the meantime we will be scheduling health assessments for everyone, finger printing and updating the cat/dog on shots.

6.) After we get all the paperwork stuff done and they decide if we need an updated or new homestudy then we will move forward with the pile of homestudy paperwork, budget, references, etc.

7.) Homestudy completed.

8.) Send homestudy to be considered for the three little girls (if they haven't decided to pick another family before that). If we don't get everything done in time to be considered for these girls at least this will have lit a fire under us to get things done...so that we CAN find our next kiddos :-)


Can you tell I'm excited???? Well except for all the paperwork to be done, juggling schedules (as if this time of year isn't hectic enough), people in and out of the house (best part of no longer fostering!), others judging us (based on house size, income, parenting skills, etc.) but I AM WILLING TO HAPPILY DO ALL OF THAT IF IT BRINGS US OUR NEXT CHILD/REN!!!!!

I'm sure the scared silly, way out of my comfort zone feelings will hit tomorrow :-)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Traditions

No news so far on the three girls. I did get a message from the adoption worker I e-mailed with back in Sept. but she said she'd call back tomorrow.


As per tradition, Brooke & Lexy opened the first door on their Advent calendars this morning...


And Mrs. Claus and the Elves visited our house today while we were gone and left a note, candy and new ornaments for Brooke and Lexy to find when they got home from school...


A cheerleader ornament for Brooke and a soccer ornament for Lexy! After they saw what Mrs. Claus left Brooke said "thanks Mom" without even realizing what she was doing and Lexy corrected her that she needed to thank Mrs. Claus :-)

Monday, November 30, 2009

Comfort Zones

Recently I have found myself surrounded (in real life and blog world) with stories of families going above and beyond what they ever dreamt they would to add to their family. They have stepped out of their comfort zone to do what they felt they were being led to do.

I've been pondering what I'm supposed to be learning from knowing about these situations. I've found myself wondering what made those families know what path they were to take, what made them step out of their comfort zone, were they scared but knew this is what they were meant to do so accepted without question and moved forward???

I think I might have gotten a glimpse of what I'm supposed to be learning when I opened up a photolisting of waiting children on Wednesday evening. I think just maybe I was having my eyes opened to the fact that what we thought was what and how we were supposed to add to our family may not be the plan after all! We have been under the impression that we were working towards doing a special needs adoption (possibly thu the agency in New York) of an infant. While we were having some set backs in moving forward with this, we were excited.

I look at photolistings of waiting children almost daily. Most waiting children are not single children and certainly not infants...both things that we felt we were being led to...so really not sure why I still look at these daily. On Wed. night when I was searching thru the photolistings I came across a sibling group of three little ones. I kept going back to their picture...so much so that I finally called Brooke and Mike over to look at them. We talked about them a little and then went to bed.

The next morning Mike woke me up asking if I was going to call about the little girls that I had shown him the picture of. I asked if he was really serious...he doesn't usually say anything about any kiddos I tell him about. He said he thought we should look into it so that evening I filled out a form of interest and e-mailed it. We should hear something soon (or at least the website says they will contact us within 2 business days)!

Ok sooooo....the comfort zone thing.....we have never considered adding three more children at once nor do we have the space in our house! The day after I sent in our form of interest I kinda freaked out in my mind about the what if's, hows, whys etc. I let myself freak for a little bit and then realized that if it's meant to be then we will get the answers we need and we will be provided what we need to prepare for and care for these kiddos. We have the love to share and that's the most important part!

We have been talking all weekend about these girls and we are all excited for the possibility. Lexy even says she will share (her home, toys and parents) with them and show them how to play quietly in the mornings so we can sleep :-) But we've also talked a lot about that these may not be our daughters/sisters but maybe just another eye opening experience on our journey (like when we realized that Johnny/Joshua weren't meant to be with us forever but that we were but a stepping stone to them going to the forever family that was meant for them).

Either way hopefully we'll have more information soon!

Thanksgiving, Tree, Lights...OH MY!

So...for Thanksgiving, Papa & Grammy came to our house this year because Mike was on call. While it was a little harder for Papa to maneuver around our little kitchen to get the turkey and all the trimmings done, we did get it done! We enjoyed a day of watching movies, talking and eating great food!!!



On Friday, we spent the day puttering around the house. We put up the Christmas tree and then headed outside to put the lights on the house while the weather was nice. It was even nice enough that Lexy, Brooke and Kenzie got to ride bikes and play outside while we (ok I really mean Mike) did the lights!



Saturday and Sunday were spent relaxing and enjoying our family (except when I had to work on Sat.). We had an impromptu game night on Sunday night before bed playing Monopoly Jr., so fun!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend, it started with...

Last year for Christmas, Brooke & Lexy gave Mammaw & Grandpa Tom and Papa & Grammy one of these "Spoil Your Granddaughters Jars" that they made by themselves (see directions here)...


On Friday, Mammaw & Grandpa Tom brought their jar back to Brooke & Lexy filled to the top. They all (I had to work) went to the bank to cash in all the change and to the surprise of everyone, Brooke and Lexy ended up with $77 EACH!!! It was unbelievable that there was THAT much change in that jar! Mammaw & Grandpa Tom have said that if the girls put a new piece of fabric on the top of the jar and give it back to them for Christmas this year that they will fill it again...you can bet the girls are going to do that...Mike and I just may make one for us too :-)

On Saturday, I had to work most of the day but Mike and the girls met me in Olathe after work and took me to the buffet for dinner!

On Sunday, Brooke, her full wallet and I went for a Mommy & Me Retail Therapy Day together! We went to several stores, bought lots of neat stuff, ate a great lunch and had a wonderful silly time together...




















Brooke bought a ton of clothes and even a pink Christmas tree and ornaments for her room with her money and still has quite a bit left...I've taught her well when it comes to bargain shopping :-)
Lexy spent a few dollars on a new snowglobe and a plastic candy cane but hasn't decided yet what she wants to spend all that money on!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

AHHHHHH....retail therapy!


I decided that today was a good day to get my butt out of the house and do a little therapy...of the retail sort! I would have liked company but neither of my calls yielded a shopping/therapy partner so I sucked it up and did individual therapy :-)

My intention when starting out my therapy session was to cross off several of the gifts still on my "to buy" list since I won't be able to go shopping on Black Friday this year. Somewhere along the way, that intention went awry and I ended up with clothes. Some for me, some for Brooke (poor girl has outgrown almost all hers with the appearance of her girly curves) and a bag of skittles for Lexy. I did cross off a couple of the gifts on my list but not near as many as I wanted to. Oh well, now I have an excuse for another retail therapy day!!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I'm still here...

Not much to write about in the past few days. While we had a good weekend, we really did nothing special or picture worthy :-)

Yesterday I spent the day with my good friend Tiffany and her nine kiddos (one was at school so really only 8). Tiffany is very sick with an illness that was brought from Ethiopia with one of her newly adopted (and gorgeous) little ones. I have never seen her so sick hopefully it won't be much longer, hang in there Tiffany! I was very happy to help out yesterday although Tiffany's daughter Morgan is amazing and has stepped in and taken on the responsibility without complaint for the past couple of weeks. You know I'm here for you if needed!

Speaking of friends, my bloggy friend Yaya has been so much on my mind in the past week. Yaya (Alicia) and I have e-mailed and read each others blogs for quite a while now and I consider her a good friend from afar (she's in NY). Yaya has been trying to become a mommy for seven years and in the past year has included foster/private adoption in her quest. While in the midst of a family tragedy last week, Yaya and her hubby Josh got THE CALL from their adoption worker...they had been matched with a birthmom and their baby boy was due this week. I was SO thrilled for my friend! Unfortunately the birthmom chose to parent the baby after giving birth over the weekend and Yaya was told the news yesterday. Yaya shared her disappointment on her blog and evidently got slammed for sharing her feelings. Who has the right to judge...much less actually put that judgement in a comment to a wonderful person that is grieving! It makes me kind of glad that I wasn't blogging when we lost some of our most precious foster babies (Alex, Isaiah & Puddin') b/c in the midst of my grief I don't think I would have handled negative comments very well! My heart is breaking for Yaya and her hubby. All they want is to have a family...they will be such great parents! Please know Yaya and Josh that despite those negative comments, there are many of us out here that are your biggest supporters and pray everyday that you will be blessed with the child that you want and deserve!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sometimes you just have to laugh...

Yesterday Mike was off of work for Veteran's Day...we thought we would accomplish so much...ha!

It all started on Tuesday night when Lexy broke the sound mechanism in one of her beloved musical snow globes that she has gotten from Grammy & Papa. She brought it out to Mike in tears in hopes that he could fix it for her. After many trips back out to check on the progress, she finally went to sleep.

After getting the girls off to school, Mike treated me to breakfast out. After breakfast we stopped by Wal-Mart to do a little Christmas shopping. We walked out of there with ONE present...not much accomplished there! Although I do have quite a collection already waiting to be wrapped.

We headed back home where Mike spent another good while trying to fix Lexy's snow globe...nope didn't accomplish that!

So we moved on to trying to hook up the VCR/DVD player that I bought for Mike two years ago (yes we are a little slow at getting around to things)...probably should have gotten to this one sooner! We found out about two hours later after much trial and error and a couple of phone calls that the tuner is now an "extra feature" on a VCR/DVD player and if you have regular cable (not digital or satellite) that the cheaper players without this extra feature are totally unusable and worthless to you!!! Now you see if we had done this...oh I don't know TWO YEARS AGO we could have returned said player and found the extra cash to upgrade to one with that extra feature. As it is we not only did not accomplish getting our new VCR/DVD player set up but we are also out that $ and have a worthless piece of junk staring at us (I think it's laughing at us!).

As it got closer to time to pick Lexy up from school we decided that we wanted to go in search of a new Christmas snow globe for Lexy to replace hers that now didn't work. We finally DID accomplish this after traipsing around town to FOUR different stores, she loved it! BUT...

After dinner Lexy was happily playing with her new musical snow globe in the kitchen when we heard a loud crash and saw a million little pieces of glass fly everywhere!!! Lexy was fine (except for the big crocodile tears running down her face and her repeating "but that was my favorite snow globe" over and over). Mike and I probably looked like crazy people making sure we got all the tiny pieces of glass picked up...by hand, towel, broom and vacuum.

SO...

As we drove back to the store to pick out another new snow globe, Mike and I just laughed and laughed every time we looked at each other...what else could we do after the day we had!

We may not have accomplished much for the day but we sure are thankful...

We have wonder grandparents for our daughters (even if they do buy gifts that cause such drama) :-)

We have jobs that we can have a day off from but know they are still there!

We have each other to spend time having breakfast with.

We have a car that runs that can take us to where we want/need to go (knock on wood).

We have two beautiful daughters that we have the privilege of raising, loving and buying presents for.

We have a useless piece of junk formerly called a VCR/DVD player but hey it's OUR useless piece of junk!

We have money to spoil our daughters every once in a while. Even buying two snow globes in one day!

We have a home with a kitchen...even if the floors may forever have tiny shards of glass lingering in the corners!

We have love, happiness and the ability to just laugh!

So how was your day????

Monday, November 9, 2009

Our Weekend and...the flu

We had a very good weekend! We stayed in on Friday and had the most delicious dinner...teriyaki chicken with cheesy hashbrown casserole (click on them for the recipes!)

On Saturday morning we went up to the newly reopened pharmacy in town for a pancake breakfast (that was FREE!). One of our good friends works for the company that was doing the breakfast so he gave Brooke an especially hard time while we waited in line for our pancakes to be tossed to us :-) but then he also let her "try" to flip pancakes which was a total flop (good thing she's pretty and has other talents!!!). After we got done there we headed to the mall for some family fun time. We watched the movie "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" which was very cute and had popcorn and pop for lunch...don't judge! We then walked around the mall and shopped at a couple of other stores and went to eat dinner (Mike and the girls) before meeting up with Robin. Mike and the girls headed home while Robin and I went to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner and then did a little shopping while catching up on all that we haven't had a chance to talk about the past couple of weeks! I LOVE a good Girls Night Out with my BFF!!!

On Sunday, we did some house cleaning and some being lazy. Before I went to work that evening I took Lexy (Mike stayed home with Brooke b/c she wasn't feeling well) to the park and we played for about an hour. We had a great time investigating crab apples :-)

I can't believe that I didn't take even one picture this weekend...I'm being so lazy!!

And THE FLU...

I woke Brooke up for school this morning to find her burning up with a fever of 102. A trip to the doctor and then to the hospital for a test and now we have a diagnosis of the flu...YUCK! She'll be starting on tamiflu right away in hopes that she doesn't get it quite as bad as she had it last winter!! Brooke is SO disappointed since she will be missing the dance unit in PE at school, she was so looking forward to it! Plus she hates missing school, she doesn't like getting behind in her school work and OMG she can't see her friends!

Friday, November 6, 2009

L.O.V.E.

This is what Brooke and Lexy left for me to find when I got home from work last night...



I LOVE those girls! I am such a blessed mom to have two wonderful daughters!!

Focus Friday

Last weeks goals...

1.) Do something for myself. My BFF Robin and I have plans to have a girls night out tomorrow night, yay!!!
2.) Continue to look for a new job. I have made the choice to be thankful for what I have. So for now I am going to be thankful that I have a job and stop complaining about it!
3.) Make a list of what I've bought/still need to buy for Christmas. I have started this. Lexy keeps adding to her list every time she sees a commercial :-)

This weeks goals...

1.) Finish up my Christmas List and order what needs ordering.
2.) Work on one particular Christmas present.
3.) Work on making new curtain toppers and vanity cover for our bedroom.
4.) ???

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Busy Busy

I've been keeping myself busy this week with doing some more freezer cooking/baking and working on the Christmas list and budget or lack thereof :(

Here's what I've been cooking/baking...

You can find the recipes at my recipe blog here.

My Christmas shopping for the girls is coming along fairly well but sadly there won't be much money left after that because we don't believe in adding debt for gifts, we only buy what we can pay for in cash. But I'm ok with that, Christmas is for the kids and I do still plan on making my fudge for everyone! As I've been doing my shopping for the girls a little at a time, I've been reminding myself just how lucky we are that we are able to afford these things. We all need to remember that right now there are MANY families that can't afford the basics much less extras like nice Christmas presents!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Our Weekend

Overall a good weekend...I am feeling much better and so far (knock on wood) nobody else has gotten sick!!!

On Friday I was the room mother for Lexy's class party. It was so fun to see them so excited! We had a relay race where the kids had to float like a ghost, stomp like a monster, crawl like a spider, etc. and then I told the kids that I had found a witch's spell book in the basement and we did a spell to turn yucky things into yummy things. I handed each kid a small "yucky thing" like a spider, eyeball, vampire teeth, etc. and as I read the ingredients for the spell they put their item into the witch's cauldron. After everything was added we said our spell...Hocus Pocus Ala-Kazam, turn all that is yucky, into something that is yummy...I know so creative, don't be jealous :-)...and with a swish of my hands inside the cauldron the yucky things were turned into something yummy (suckers)...the kids were so amazed! After the party we headed up to main street for our annual Halloween Spook Parade and trick or treating at the stores, it was cold but fun!

On Saturday I worked from 8-3. After I got home the girls got ready for the evening. Brooke decided this year not to go trick or treating so she and Kenzie stayed home to hand out candy while we took Lexy out. We went to Mammaw & Grandpa Tom's house, the local nursing home and then several houses in town. Lexy loved it this year and kept pointing ahead and saying "that light's on, let's go there"! At 7pm we headed back home since Brooke & Kenzie's boyfriends were coming over. Mike took Lexy back out around our neighborhood and Brooke, Kenzie and their boyfriends hung out in the playroom for the evening.



On Sunday I had to work from 8 to 2:30pm. I got to work at 8am only to realize that we had neglected to remember Daylight Savings Time and the time was really 7am so I got to spend an hour sitting in the car reading a magazine before going into work...I felt SO stupid (but I am only human) :-)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Focus Friday & more

Last weeks goals...

Well I did not get much accomplished this past week since I had the flu and couldn't get off the couch! We did go to the pumpkin patch over the weekend and I got Lexy's class bags/party taken care of but that's about it.

This weeks goals...
1.) Do something for myself...besides lay on the couch :-)
2.) Continue to look for a new job.
3.) Make a list of what I have bought/need to still buy for Christmas.
4.) IDK...I'm still not thinking straight from this flu thing!

AND FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE:

Here's how the girls went to school today. Lexy got to wear her costume, they only get to in preschool and kindergarten here so this will be her last year :(

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I've been hit...

with the flu that is! Not sure if the exhaustion I felt in my last post was due to or the cause of this but regardless by Tuesday morning I felt like a semi had run over me and then just for fun had backed up and run over me again! Today I still have a cough and feel sore all over and tired but I am able to get up off the couch for short periods. I've been trying to get things together for Lexy's class party tomorrow (talk about last minute!) and just that is wearing me out!


Here's the scrapbook page I made for our trip to the pumpkin patch over the weekend...


And last night Mike got home from work and told Lexy to get dressed to go play in the leaves. He must have been reading her mind b/c she had asked all the way home from school about doing that. Lexy had a fabulous time and Brooke even got in on it!



Monday, October 26, 2009

Pumpkin Pickin'

Here's where I have a pity party so if you want to only read the fun happy stuff scroll down a little...

I'm EXHAUSTED...mentally, physically and emotionally! I just want to crawl back in bed and cover my head...and I just might after I finish this!! I've worked the last three days b/c Target messed up again...same old story :( I think about just quitting everyday BUT we found out on Sat. that my van needs a new starter and I really want to get the girls their Christmas presents. And then I think...didn't I start this job to save up for a homestudy???? Homestudies, adoption and a new baby for us seems SO FAR AWAY right now.

Oh and did I mention that Mike just called and told me that he realized this morning that he is on call the week of Thanksgiving which means that we can't go to my Dad & Karen's house like we do every year????

I'm EXHAUSTED!!!

Ok now on to the happy stuff...

Before I went to work on Sat. we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Lexy has been asking everyday when we were going and then we got a note on Friday that she had to take one to school this week so she got two!

Brooke, Kenzie, Lexy at the Pumpkin Patch!

Friday, October 23, 2009

The Dance

Last night I was lucky enough to get to do something few parents get to experience. Brooke's cheer squad sponsored the middle school dance and the cheer moms were asked to help chaperone. Usually the teachers are the ones chaperoning and our kids would "just die" if we were there! Last night the cheerleaders made an exception and with strict orders for us not to dance (ok so this one we didn't listen to), have fun or embarrass them in any way they allowed us to be a part of a very special night. Boy are they growing up WAY too fast!!!

Seth & Cassie, JoJo & Kenzie, Nick & Brooke

Focus Friday

Last weeks goals...
1.) Enjoy meeting, holding and loving on my newest nephew (when he gets here). Buying a couple of cute things for him and helping in anyway I can. I did get to meet and love on little Toby, he is so gorgeous. We got him a couple of cute little outfits and tiny socks!
2.) Do something fun with my girls on Monday since there is no school again! Brooke, Lexy and I decided to go to chinese (our favorite) and then do our grocery shopping.
3.) Get those clothes photographed and out of my basement! Clothes photographed and listed, hopefully they'll go soon!
4.) Call the adoption agency if that's what I'm led to do. Still did not do this. With not knowing if I'm staying at my job I just don't feel comfortable starting this process yet.
5.) DO NOT stress about work this week...it is what it is! I really haven't thought about work too much since I worked on Sun. and didn't have to go back until tonight. Although I did get another lecture for supposedly changing my availability...which I did not, it's the same as what I talked about in my interview. I'm beginning to believe that they told me whatever I wanted to hear in the interview just to change things once I started working, ugh!

This weeks goals...
1.) Go to the pumpkin patch and get our pumpkins (Lexy has been begging). We were suppose to go this weekend but I was sched. to work both Sat. & Sun. even though I'm only available one or the other not both. They said very unhappily that they would try to find someone to replace me one of the days but I haven't heard anything.
2.) Get things ready for Halloween. Make Lexy's class bags and plan games for her class party that I'm in charge of. Put a couple of decorations up b/c after school everyday Lexy asks why we aren't ready for Halloween, everyone else is 'cause they have decorations :-) And get snacks and rent a movie for Brooke & Kenzie and their boyfriends who are coming over on Halloween night for a while.
3.) Continue to look for jobs and put in applications hoping to find a job that better suits my family.
4.) Do something for myself this week. I'm beginning to feel down because things aren't working out how I think they should be...and although I know I'm not the one in charge, I AM in charge of my attitude and emotions and I need to do something to get those back to the right place.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday


October 2004
Brooke - 8 years as a nurse
Lexy - 7 months as Piglet
Isaiah (our foster son) - 15 months as Tigger


I loved that I could dress Lexy and Isaiah in coordinating costumes...Brooke refused to take part in that and be Pooh but she was cute all the same!!! This is one of my happiest Halloween memories...Isaiah had come back to us and we had been told that our chances of adopting him were very high and Lexy's case was looking to be in our favor too. A couple of months after this we were devastated when Isaiah left us again...this time forever.

This was also the only Halloween that we have not gone trick or treating. We went to the town Spook Parade in the afternoon (where we took these pics) but by evening Brooke was running a fever and felt miserable so we had to fore go trick or treating that year...Brooke was SO disappointed!
To check out who else is playing along join Cheryl for Way Back When-esday and Angie at Wordful Wednesday !