Blessings

We didn't blow out the last weekend of summer....cause it'll be above 95 deg for at least a few more weeks:)

Hubs worked most of it, so my gracious friend Kelly braved the pool and the park with me.  I was telling her, I'm kind of to the point where I can't go many places with out two adults.  We only lost one child....but we found him relatively quickly.  It's really the only way I get my heart rate up these days.

I posted this picture because it is pathetic.  It is the ONLY picture I took all weekend...and my finger is in front of the lens.  I'm really down on my game!

I caught the kids doing a little jammie dance off.  I didn't know Garrett was into Just Dance these days.  

I started reading "1000 gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  I bought it maybe last year, but never really had the desire to read it.  I needed to read it...now.

The past few months, I feel like I've been walking in quick sand....working really hard and going no where.  Yes, as a family we've come a LONG way from three months ago, but as a mamma I am in one of those exhausting phases where I am spinning my wheels with what feels like very little to show for it.

You've been there.  We all have seasons like this, and I'm in one of those times.  It's hard to be patient.  It's hard to get excited about spending the day making a lot of meals, folding a lot of laundry, watching a lot of blues clues, reading a lot of books, working a lot of puzzles, putting a lot of sunscreen on, breaking up a lot of boy battles, answering a lot of questions, driving kids a lot of places, cleaning up a lot of messes....and then doing it all over again.  This is the typical day of a stay-at-home mamma.  I know I'm BY FAR not the only one!!!!  

Did I mention how many fights I am busting up between the boys??

Ok sorry.  There is a point.

I have fallen into the trap of being very negative.  I've had no tragedies or illness to battle or REAL hardship.  I've just been REAL down as a mamma because breaking up fights and fits all day will do that to a person.  

....So I read this book.  It's nothing earth shattering (but a great read).  It's right there in the Bible.  "Give Thanks."  How many times do we read over and over to give thanks?  Jesus did it repeatedly...even at the Garden in his darkest hours before the cross.  

I was reminded over and over that a heart of ingratitude is really contrary to Christ.  I've been letting that sink in.

It's not my desire to be ungrateful.  I want to be thankful, but I think it will require a change in my thoughts.  Sometimes we just have to train ourselves to think a certain way even when we don't feel like it.  BOO!  (Of course, the best of training and intent is futile without the work of the Holy Spirit, but it does require a will on our part to try!)

I've noticed I may have rubbed off on Allie because she is waking up very funky these days.  She has been so negative, and I'm left scratching my head, "Why is she acting like this?"  Hmmm...I'm so thick skulled some times.

She and I had a date night on Friday and I asked her why she is so negative when she wakes up.  She didn't really have an answer.  "I just want to be."  Hmmm...sounded a bit familiar.

I told her we should try something together since it was a struggle we share.  I told her we should write down a blessing every morning at breakfast and then maybe just maybe we would start out NOT being so negative.  (The book is about writing down 1000 blessings...did I mention it's a good read?)

I gathered the note cards up from the past couple of days.  Mary decided to join us, and I will say...

They made me smile...

They made me...Thankful.

Busted

It's not nearly as exciting as you think.

I caught the boys PLAYING today.

PLAYING.

When I say this is one of the first times in 3 months that I've seen this, I'm not stretching the truth too much.

Last week was down right ugly.  David wanted "mamee" (Mary), and missed her while she was at school.  Garrett (Gebut) was not really on his short list of entertainment choices.  With good reason, I might add.  Garrett has not been willing to play.   He's been the great instigator with David.  He's spent three months aggravating him actually.

  Because the girls are out of the picture during the morning, they've started to notice each other.  David wants to hold Gebut's hand in the parking lot now, and Gebut has gladly allowed.  

This morning, Gebut was so excited to find a real live calepittar (caterpillar).  He asked for a cup, and David wanted a cup too.  They went out digging for worms...a perfect male bonding experience.

Tonight, as I often do, I asked Gebut, "do you like your brother?" (I've asked this question at least 4 x a week.)  He almost always says no.  

Tonight, he said, "yeah I love him."

He said it casually, but I think it was a change in the tide. 

If you aren't completely bored, I have a funny from Monday to share.

I was at Chickfilet with the boys.  I have to sit inside the kid aquarium or David will start screaming, so I sat on a bench while they went up and down the slide.  I was reading on my phone and not paying any attention.  ('cause you really do quit paying attention by the fourth.) 

I didn't realize a conflict brewing.  David was grabbing a toy from another child, and he did it silently, but the child became upset as expected and started crying.

The mom of the child, was sitting with them and also became upset.  I finally noticed, and jumped up to intervene.  She looked at me irritatedly, and said, "Where is this boy's mamma?!"

I immediately said, "he's mine."  And she either didn't hear me because by now they were both screaming, or it didn't register immediately.

She started to ask again, "Where's this boy's .....?"

I then said a little more loudly, "He's MINE."

At first I didn't realize the confusion on her face.

And then it hit me.  She was looking for an Asian mamma!

(The very same thing could have happened to me because I'm really bad about saying the first thing on my mind.)

Ba ha ha. 

It was my first adoption "funny" since we've been home.  

Had to write it down....

RIP Hermie

While at the beach a few weeks ago, the kids talked me into buying hermit crabs to take home. (I only went for it because of peer pressure from the cousins..how could I say no?)

The girls both bought one.

Olivia (oldest cousin) quickly emailed me a google search about caring for our new pets.  Olivia...we have failed you.  Thank you for your love an concern.

Today, there were many tears before school.  

Mary's little "hermie" failed to be a hermit.  At first their was excitement because her crab was in full view..no shell..nothin' but his bday suit. (see left side of box).  And then, there were tears and tears as she realized that Hermie was not moving...not a pincer, not an antennae...nothing:(

(For those of you ignorant to crabs, apparently, they crawl out of their shells before they die.)

Allie was pretty much in charge of keeping the little dudes watered, and let's just say they were parched. She was also devastated.

Allie has the ability to earn money at home, but Mary doesn't, and Allie put her arm around Mary, and as both of them cried, she offered to buy her a brand new crab.

...and just like that...the prospect of a bigger prettier shell came into view.  Mary quit crying.  

I'm so glad she cared so much.

Same day...

...five years ago.

Allie was 4 1/2 (looking much like Garrett)

And that chubby girl was 18 months.  

Nothing special about today (actually this post was written yesterday) .  

Just can't believe I'm still meeting at the park for play dates!

I took chubby boy, Garrett, and Abbott yesterday, and they about wore me out!  I'm getting too old for the park.  Didn't even take a pic.  Slacker.

He's a real BOY!

It's not easy having two older sisters.

The dress up, the nail painting, the twirling.  It's all Gman has ever known.  As of recent, he asked Becky to have his nails painted.  He has told me he really likes my outfit.  He is definitely a wild and crazy boy, but he's around girls all the time.

Hubs was getting stressed.

He has joked around (or he may not be joking) that Garrett can have no more soy milk (possible estrogenic properties found in soy), and that he needed to something MANly..FAST.

I've been dragging my feet because for most activities boys have to be 4. (my first excuse)  My second excuse is that he's only 4, and the girls are so busy that I wanted to squeeze one more year out of him before adding another busy kid to the mix.

Hubs could NOT WAIT to try (excuse me, for Garrett to try) out Tae Kwon Do.  He filmed the whole lesson.  He's got him all signed up, and has already looked at his schedule and reported that he can take him all of September and October.

His first lesson was a huge success... daddy and boy very excited.

So excited that hubs posted on Facebook.  I think he's posted like 2 things on FB...that David came home, and now that Garrett is in Tae kwon do.  I'm totally going to get in trouble for the over exaggerating.  

They topped the night off with a MAN DATE.

at Chickfila....the boy's favorite.

We have been TERRIBLE about the kids' date nights this past summer.  I don't think we missed a month for 2 years, and when David arrived, that all went south.

September is almost here, and we decided to start including Garrett.  Can't wait for my turn!  

This boy has made me flat out crazy this summer in some ways, but he is rotten cute...thankfully.

One other totally non-related thing on adoption.

You know I'm a total Jenn Hatmaker groupie.  Her blog makes me laugh and cry.  I saw her speak last year, and she's really an amazing, raw communicator.  Her two youngest kids celebrated their one year mark at home after being adopted from Ethiopia.   I LOVED her post about it because I could relate to so many things she said.  I think having a 2 year old meant having "shorter" durations of the phases she articulated because 2 year olds probably adapt better than 5 year olds because they don't remember their past for very long. I made a total generalization without thinking just then.  (I meant having a 2 year old from a nurturing home where there was no neglect at any point.) However, I definitely found myself in each of the phases she described.

http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2012/08/21/the-truth-about-adoption-one-year-later

500

This marks my 500th post milestone.  I guess the whole post is about milestones....warning, this post is way too long.  I combined posts because of my internet situation.

The girls started school last week.  Allie is in fourth, and Mary is in first.  They are so happy at their schools, and weren't hesitant, but they were really tired by the end of the week.  

I made a collage for Allie's school book this year.  This is her 5th year of real school, so I made a milestone page.

I just now finished last year's school books on Shutterfly.  I haven't done Garrett's yet.  My plan was to do them a book every year at least through elementary school (They probably don't want me walking right behind them with a camera on every field trip after 5th grade.)  

I'm not sure if that's realistic now that there are four of them!  The dilemma is that if I put all their school activities in our family book, then it becomes too much.

You see the debacles I face as a scrapbooking addict:)

Sweet sisters!  Mary was not able to play much with Allie on the playground last year because they keep the kindergarteners separate.  She told me she was looking forward most to playing with Allie...not sure how Allie feels about this.

Switching gears.  I'll go ahead and do a 3 month update on David because it's almost here!

We had our 3 month visit with our social worker yesterday.  I had to turn in 8 pics of him in a collared shirt.  He NEVER wears collared shirts in the summer because it's too hot.  Therefore, I had to change his clothes five times on Thursday to get some pics.

He looks so different than he did when he first came home!  He's grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds...oh my!  My back is tired!

Here are a couple of videos.  David LOVES to sing.  He is trying so hard to say the ABC's but he is still missing quite a few sounds in the English language.  

He and Garrett are making some real progress!  They still fight quite a bit, but I think boys play by fighting...so I'm not used to it.  

I happened to be videoing David when Garrett walked up, and I caught a rare sweet moment on video.  They've started sharing a little better.  David is giving him more of a chance now that the girls are at school.  He even asked to hold Garrett's hand yesterday.  That was HUGE!

Overall, David turned a corner about 3 weeks ago.  He seems to be very settled and very attached to us all.  I was putting him to bed last night, and he always shuts the shudders.  He saw hubs drive in from work, and he went crazy screaming, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"  He adores Mary like no other (shhh..don't tell Allie).  Mary has really surprised me because I thought she would resent more chaos, but she really enjoys him, and wouldn't change a thing.

Our social worker was describing another family by saying that the dad would come home from work, and feel anxious right before walking in the door because he didn't know what to expect when he walked in.  Would his wife have been "spent" by another day with their new child?, etc.  

She said that for him, one day, that feeling just disappeared.

I could DEFINITELY relate.  Every morning, when I walked in David's room, I had that same described anxious feeling.  There were many days that I didn't want to walk in!  And everyday, I'd walk in and say, Good morning, good morning.  Three months ago, he'd sheww me off and say (yell) no!  Now I'm greeted with a HUGE CHUBBY SMILE...followed by  , "MORNIN'!"

That feeling did disappear.  I'm totally attached:)

Thank you God for this sweet boy.

  

Weekend

I'm still internet scavenging...making the most of my sister's bed rest:)

Bunny and Pappy came down for the weekend.  We had a great time!  Bunny's birthday was Saturday and mine was Sunday. 

The kids love a good party:)  Bunny's birthday was also Reese's birthday.  We love and miss you Reese!

My big girl is looking so big!

Everytime David poses, he hugs up to Mary!  

Sorry for the lame blog post, but about all I can do is get pics posted!