Snow for Kevin

All this snow is really a new experience for Kevin. Last year he was too young to enjoy it. This year he practically hyper ventilates every time he sees snow. He points and yells, "snow! snow!" He despises the gloves we make him wear. He already lost one of the new set we got him, so he's wearing a mismatched pair. The first chance he gets he will pull them off so that he can feel the snow on his bare hands. Then he gets mad because it freezes his fingers. He also dislikes his hat.

This week we got a surprise card and gift in the mail. It was a gingerbread bear making kit for the kids and a gift card to Target from my high school buddy, Jennifer W. It was totally out of the blue, but perfect timing. Our bank was closed by the time Daniel got home from work so we couldn't cash the check from our church, but Kevin still badly needed a coat and snow boots. So now he is warm and toasty and has been enjoying the snow. He's not sure what to think of the hood on his new coat yet, but he adores the boots and would wear the coat to bed if we let him. We've had over 6 inches of snow so far and are expecting more by Friday. I can't really complain though, since we didn't lose our power in that massive ice storm that hit our family members living in Oklahoma. Instead, (in my most Martha Stewart-ish voice) I just want to say having friends who care about you....it's a good thing.

Spitting in Church

We've been at our church at least once a day every day for the past nine days! What with orchestra practices, concert performances, AWANA, and Sunday worship service we feel like we should be paying them rent!

Ever since last week the orchestra has been moved down in front of the stage. Hopefully now that the Christmas concert is over we'll get moved back up onto the stage so I can go back to enjoying hiding behind the big red curtain when we play on Sundays. It's bad enough emptying my spit valve out of sight up there, but having to blow spit onto the church carpet in front of the entire congregation is awful.

Through years of high school band and practicing at home off and on, I've gotten over the initial revulsion of the idea of emptying spit onto the floor. It's not a lot of moisture and it dries quickly. Somehow, though, the thought of spitting on church carpet rather than my carpet at home or really anywhere else seems wrong. It's not like it's "holy carpet" or something. I have to just remember that the "church" is the people, not the building. You don't not change a baby's dirty diaper at a church just because it's a church. While I'm continuing to tell myself that it shouldn't matter, I will still be much happier when I'm at least not spitting in church in front of an audience.

Christmas Blessing!

Although we were trying to make the best of a bad situation, our whole family has been disappointed about having no money for Christmas gifts. Also, we were wondering what we were going to do about basic needs like gas, food, and warm winter clothes for the kids. The huge unexpected van repair bill on top of everything else lately (vacation, 3 sick kids, etc.) really hit us hard.

Today Ron, the other trombone player in our church band, and his wife took Daniel and I aside at church. They told us that the orchestra and choir, when they heard about our situation, all took up a love offering for us. I'm sitting here crying again just thinking about it. We've never had anyone do something like this for us. We had completely handed this financial burden over to God because there was no sense being depressed about something so totally out of our control. He is so amazingly wonderfully able to meet all our needs!

Right after church we took the kids out to Fazoli's and told them that Christmas was offically "un-postponed" and that they could start making a list of things they might like to have. Then we took them shopping at Walmart for some warm things. We got Gloria and Latte snow boots and Latte also got a snow suit. As soon as we got home they put their new things on and went sledding with Daniel at the park! Our next purchase will be a coat for Kevin who has been making do with just a zippered sweater, poor guy. We're going to be very careful and make this gift stretch. In the meantime I'll probably be wearing out a few boxes of tissues since every time I think about this I get all weepy again. God is good! We are so thankful to have a loving church family and friends.

Mommy's Boots

Kevin wanted to wear my boots the other night. He was so cute saying, "boos" and flopping them around on his hands. It took me years to learn to walk properly in high heels, but Kevin managed to at least stand in them in just minutes.

This kid is a shoe lover, it doesn't matter what kind or size. I wonder if he'll grow up to work for Nike?

We Love Snow!

I think my kids would live in the snow if they could. Maybe they wish their parents had been Eskimos. They will take two bites of breakfast and claim they are stuffed just to get out the door quicker. They will wear socks on their hands if they can't find a glove fast enough. Gloria even squeezed herself into Latte's old purple jacket because she has lost her blue one somewhere and was told she couldn't go out without a coat.

Wet Shoes

Signs that there is finally snow in Colorado. Jackets hung on chairs all over the house (because we turned the coat closet into a pantry), constantly searching for one lost glove, and wet shoes lined up by the door. And if the shoes are not left by the door, a sign of that would be Mom screeching as she steps into an undetected pile of slush which immediately soaks through her socks. Followed quickly by a hunt for the culprit who tracked snow into the house.

Christmas Concert

The concert went smoothly both nights. We had almost no technical errors, just a couple of microphone mishaps that didn't interrupt the performance. The worst thing that happened wasn't really that bad. It started snowing Friday night and was just deep enough by Saturday night that I had to help carry the kids from the van to the church so that they wouldn't get their dress shoes full of snow.

We have some wonderful soloists in our church. They sang beautifully, even the guys. I was impressed with how many people went out in heavy snowfall with messy wet roads to see the performance. Several people raised their hands each night during the invitation, which means there are going to be some new saints joining us in eternity! Nights like that always remind me of that story about the man walking down the beach that is covered in hundreds of starfish that have washed up on shore. He's tossing them back into the ocean one by one when another man asks, "What difference will that make? All the rest of them will still die." And the first man picks up another starfish, tosses it back, and says, "It matters to that one."

Curls

For the Christmas concert this weekend I curled the girls' hair both Friday and Saturday night. Danya was my first guinea pig since I've never used a curling iron on the girls before. It took so long to do that many curls that for Gloria I just did the sides and bangs. They both looked beautiful. It was time consuming, but fun!

Self Discovery

Kevin has been making a lot of new discoveries recently. When we play the "where are they" game we say "Where's Danya? Where's Gloria?" etc. and Kevin points to each person wherever they are at in the room. Lately when we say, "Where's Kevin?" he actually points at himself!

He's also figured out that he is tall enough to reach doorknobs and if he twists and fiddles with them long enough he may even get them open. Additionally, he can steal drinks off the table and anything near the edge of the counters. His favorite new word, of course, is "MINE!"

AWANA Oops!

Yesterday while the kids and I were having dinner, just before it was time to leave for AWANA, Daniel woke up and came out to join us. That was when he asked if I had forgotten that it was Crazy Hair Night at AWANA. Yup, I had completely forgotten.

So we rushed frantically to make Gloria and Danya's hair into crazy mohawk ponytails and spiky bangs. Then I did mine up in a top knot with Kevin's toothbrush stuck through it. The teams get bonus points if their leaders dress up crazy, too. Daniel just swirled his hair all around. Then we rushed off to church.

Just as we were unloading everyone from the van, frantic because we were already late, an acquaintance of ours (another foster mom) hollered hello from her vehicle. I made a joke about my hair and she let me know that Crazy Hair Night is actually NEXT week. Eeeek!! So we had to hurriedly undo everyone's hair and finger come it into some semblance of normalcy. I gave the girls regular piggy tails as fast as I could, but we were still very very late. I had to explain why we were late to the director and the other leaders in our group. One of them said she almost made the same mistake. I'm just soooo thankful that someone we don't know all that well took the time to warn us.

Deck the Halls! ...and the cabinets..

Just before discovering the cost of fixing our van the kids and I were at Target waiting for Kevin's antibiotic prescription to be filled. So while we were there we bought a cheap set of ornaments (since we still can't find our Christmas box) to go with the other little things we had gotten a couple of days before. Tuesday we decided to make merry and decorate the whole house to improve our Christmas spirit!

The girls wrapped Latte up in garland. She thought it was strange at first but loved it when we pretended she was a pretty Christmas tree. Then Gloria destroyed some of the garland downstairs and Latte threw it all over Glory's room. We also made a paper Christmas tree for homeschool. We decorated it with craft supplies. Each time one of the girls reads a book (or has a book read to her in Latte's case) they get to decorate a paper ornament and add it to the tree. Unfortunately a lot of my little plans for holiday crafts won't happen because we've run out of ink for the copier/printers and can't afford more right now.

A holiday tradition from my childhood is to wrap everything possible in the house with wrapping paper. When I was younger my mom even wrapped the telephone! We wrapped kitchen cabinets this week and pictures hanging on the walls. We also got the t.v. cabinet doors and are debating a few other things to wrap. The kids got to pick out the paper. My only requested was that it be a random pattern, nothing with lines or a straight pattern that I'd have to line up exactly.

Days Like This

Some times you have a day where you didn't get nearly enough sleep the night before and you're tired and cranky all day long, other times you have a day where you feel immensely upset about something beyond your control, and occasionally you have a day where you feel like the world's worst mom. Then there are days like this one where you have all three rolled into one.

This past week was already rough and emotionally draining because Daniel's grandma passed away. It happened just as we were heading home from visiting family for Thanksgiving in Oklahoma, so we were financially strapped. We've both been stressed and not sure if he should have used the very last bit of our emergency fund to get a last minute ticket to the funeral. Instead we had a tiny family memorial here at home with our older two girls. We pulled out all our family photos, older and more recent, of Great Grandma Arlene and talked about her life and Daniel's childhood memories of her. The girls loved learning about her and what it was like to go to her house when Daddy was little.

On top of that, this whole week Kevin has been fussy all day and won't sleep at night, so I've been going on about 3 hours of sleep each night. This morning we took him to see the doctor, and sure enough he still has an ear infection. I took him to get round two of antibiotics and they had a problem at the pharmacy so it took over an hour to get his prescription filled.

I also noticed this morning that the breaks were grinding and not working properly so I took the van to be checked at Just Brakes. It had several problems that totalled over $1,000 worth of repairs. To come up with the money we had to not only drain our emergency fund dry but also use our tithe money and our Christmas money and our food money. All we've got left is enough gas money for Daniel to get to work and back (hopefully) for the next two weeks.

I feel horrible (not just because I yelled at the kids due to stress and lack of sleep) because Christmas is going to really stink this year. I was hoping to make it really special since this may be the first real family Christmas Latte has ever had. So I'm going to try to think of ideas for crafts and fun stuff we can do with what we've got. And I'll have to find a way to be more creative with cooking at home because there will be zero eating out the rest of this month.

And just to top off my day, I had to wait in the lobby of Just Brakes for four hours with 4 cranky kids, one of whom was screaming due to his ear infection, and then I was late to Christmas Concert practice because I had to drive Daniel to work. Then I had to leave practice early at 8:30pm to get the kids home and in bed because we have to get up early and pick Daniel up from work tomorrow morning. I'm going to bed now just to make this day END.

Old Game, New Fun

We finally finished our first Story of the World book. We learned about the last Roman emperor who was only 6 years old. We went through the work book choosing our last few activities and maps to work on. We've got one final "test/review" map to do which is completely blank. They'll label all the continents we've discussed and the various countries around the mediterranean sea.

As a last fun activity about the Romans, I took the girls outside and showed them how to play an ancient Roman game. It was one of the activities in the workbook. I had Gloria lay on the ground with her arms and legs splayed as far as she could reach. Then we drew a circle around her and a second circle around that one. You can see I didn't get it perfect, but it worked for the purpose of the game. They had to bounce the ball into the center circle and try not to let the other person catch it. There are some other rules, but that's the basic idea. They both loved it and each of them won one game. Finally we can move on to Volume 2: The Middle Ages!

Cubby Award Night

Wednesday night Latte received her Cubby Bear Book for completing the introductory booklet. She learned a few short verses and the Cubby Motto. Now she can work on catching up to the rest of her class who have been learning one verse a week together for the past 10 weeks.

She was so thrilled to have her name called and go up to the front to get her book. She kept jumping up and heading toward the front after each kid was called. She was just too excited to wait. She's doing really well in her class. We are very proud of her!

Gloria's New Friend

Gloria informed us tonight that Hannah is her favorite friend in her AWANA Sparks group. She's a 1st grader who is a year older than Gloria. They both have the same silly goofy personality. Hannah has trouble seeing, so Gloria stays close to her during game time to help her out. Then Hannah waits for Gloria before going back upstairs after the bathroom and drink break.

The only time they have a little trouble is during Green Meadow time at the end of the night because they tend to whisper and talk when they should be quiet and listen to the lesson. I met Hannah's mom tonight and we agreed to arrange a play date soon for the girls. Hannah was ecstatic and so was Gloria later tonight when I told her about it. So far we haven't managed to find a friend who is available very often for Gloria to visit outside of church, so I hope this works out for her.

Snow, Glorious Snow!

It snowed unexpectedly last night and the kids had a great time playing in it this morning. It was light and powdery, so they couldn't make much of anything out of it. Kevin made handprints on the driveway.

We searched the house and managed to come up with only one pair of gloves and two single unmatched gloves. Danya ended up wearing socks on her hands for warmth. It was too cold out to stay outside long, though. The kids came in with frozen fingers, grinning ear to ear with blue lips. Latte said her hands were "cold and sweaty" so Daniel shouldn't blow on them to warm them up.

These Boots were Made for Walkin'!

Latte found my boots yesterday and had a great time walking around in them. She was so cute stomping through my bedroom and posing for pictures.

After she took them off Gloria had to try them on, too. That seems to be a recurring theme in this house. If one kid is doing something fun with Daniel or me all the others have to do it, too. For instance if I am tickling one of them each of the others will present themselves to be tickled. Or if I bounce one on my lap or toss them in the air all the other kids run over for a turn. Since the older 3 weigh between 43 and 48 lbs each my back and shoulders have been aching lately.

Friends, Food, Family Photos

After church on Sunday we all went out to Perkin's Restaurant where we had reserved the party room. We told them that we had a group of 30 people and would need the whole room. When we got there they had only set up seating for about 20 people and had another couple seated in there for no apparent reason considering that the restaurant was almost deserted.

The waitress was good though, and the couple left after a few minutes (I'm sure the 17 children surrounding them had something to do with it). So we had a good time, delicious food, and got a chance to catch up with everyone. When we were finished eating we took turns posing for family photos which Uncle Matt took on his amazing camera. Hopefully he'll email them out to everyone to possibly use for Christmas cards.

Our Own Children's Church

When we all arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's church on Sunday morning we filled up the left side of the church. It was like we'd brought our own mobile children's church. Glenda said when she saw us over there she decided to keep her kids on the opposite side of the room to avoid adding to the chaos already in progress.

There were 12 kids in our group, so adding Glenda's 5 would have increased the number by almost half! Thankfully, the kids were only expected to participate during praise and worship. During the actual sermon the kids went off to Sunday school classes. While we were singing there was one song where everyone sings, "La la la la" for the chorus over and over. When we finished that song Kevin started making the "again" sign and saying, "La la la la" Then he went up and down the aisle dancing, bobbing his head, and stomping on the floor vents.

Sitting next to Christina, Daniel and I felt like we were back in youth group again. The assistant pastor who was giving the sermon was our former youth group leader and he made a comment about seeing us all back again, too. It was too bad that Ben and Steven couldn't have been there. Steven is in Washington getting ready to be deployed. Ben and his family left for home Saturday morning so that he could get back in time to help out at his church in Del Rio, TX. But Glenda and Robin, who were also in the youth group were both there, so there were quite a few of us.

Extended - Extended Family

Saturday night we went over to the Haley's house up on "Haley Hill" to visit more with Christina and her kids, and also to see her in-laws, the Haley's. Daniel practically grew up with their family. Whenever he wasn't at his own home he was here with his best friend Steven's family.

We played with Steven's little sister's kids and got to meet her newest little one, four month old Abby. Her older daughter, Kyla, even let me play "This Little Piggy" with her. We brought pizza with us and all the kids ate and then ran around together playing with the endless supply of toys they have there. When we left Danya asked if Don, Uncle Steven's dad, is her grandpa, too. We hadn't told her that he was, but now we explained that he is kind of her grandpa because Don and Bobbie are like "second parents" to her Daddy. She said, "We sure do have a LOT of grandparents!" I told her that she is very blessed.

Thankful

Since Pilgrims came here for religious freedom and started the Thanksgiving tradition by thanking God I think I'll list a few things I'm thankful for, too.

I'm thankful:
1. For the freedom to not only worship and believe as I choose, but also the freedom to express my beliefs and opinions to others without fear
2. That my children are growing daily in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
3. For the freedom and ability to provide for our family financially
4. For the freedom to teach our children at home in the way we believe is right
5. That Jesus is the Lord of our lives and is directing our paths

Pilgrims and Indians

Aunt Christina's mom made these adorable little costumes for our kids, Glenda's kids, and Christina's kids. We had quite a time trying to get photos of them and never did manage to get one of all of them together. The kids thought they were fun and ran around being silly in them. We took photos in the lobby of the big hotel that Christina and her kids were staying in.

While we were down there two grandmotherly looking ladies stopped and asked if they could take pictures of our kids. We laughed and told them sure, but that there was no way we'd be able to get them to stay still. I eventually sat my crew on the blue couches near the big front windows and took photos of them. These may be the all time cutest Thanksgiving photos we ever get of our kids! Thanks Christina!

Sad, but True

Sadly, Gloria disregarded the repeated warnings of her mother and grandmothers and disaster finally struck. Yes, she made an ugly face one too many times when her mom was taking her picture and her face did indeed get "stuck that way". We'll love her just the same, but let this be a warning to other kids out there when their poor moms just want to take a nice photo of them.

Family Trivia Game

This year for Christmas, since we were very low on funds and using everything we had for this trip to Oklahoma, we needed a good group gift idea for very little cost.

So we used a blank board game board that we ordered online at Bare Books to create a family trivia game. I searched through all my old picture files on my computer to find individual photos of all of our family members (on Daniel's side of the family), and then we printed them at Sam's in wallet sizes. At Sam's you get two wallets for 17 cents.

Then I called Daniel's family to ask them a bunch of questions. I typed them up in question and answer form and printed them on the cards that came with the game board kit. Then we decorated the board with a different family's photos down each side. The game was a hit! The objective was to go around the board answering trivia questions until you collected one face card (another wallet size photo) of someone from each family. After we played, the Maxwells spent the evening thinking up new questions to make more cards. This is a great game because it will grow as our family grows.

Spreading Infection

What's that term for the very first person to carry an infectious disease? "Patient Zero" or something like that? This past week it was my niece, Shalom, who showed up sick at Thanksgiving. She felt terrible and was running a fever. Then our girls came down with it. Their cousin Meridian was sick by Saturday and didn't go to church the next day.

Today Aunt Christina called and said that her son has it, too. Daniel just got back from taking the kids to the doctor and it's official: strep throat. So I'm guessing that all the kids that our kids were in contact with last week will be passing it around this week. Our girls have to be on antibiotics for 24 hours before being around anyone else, so if they take their meds right now they should be okay to go to AWANAs tomorrow night.

The bigger question is whether or not Daniel and I will come down with it, too. Because then I could wipe out the entire praise band tomorrow night at practice just in time for next week's concert. And if some of them spread it to the choir... I guess depending on how we're feeling tomorrow we'll decide if we should skip church tomorrow night.

The End of an Age

I finally said goodbye to my 20's. This weekend we made a giant chocolate chip cookie cake to celebrate. We forgot to get candles, though, and Grandma didn't have any, so we used a big scented candle instead. Daniel gave me some clear acrylic stamps I'd been wanting and we went out for a date Sunday night while the kids baked cookies with Grandma. In recognition of turning 30 here are 15 things I'm happy about and 15 things I'd like to change:

Good Stuff:
1. I've lost a lot of weight
2. I love being a homeschooling mom
3. We are not drowning in debt anymore
4. I will soon need to buy a whole new wardrobe of "skinny clothes"
5. I reached my goal of being done with "child bearing" before turning 30
6. We are finally living our original dream of fostering and adopting
7. I'm playing my trombone again!
8. Daniel and I are still madly in love
9. My children love God and each other
10. The older I get, the better wife/mother I become
11. My favorite authors keep publishing new books
12. We've found an excellent Sunday school class with great people in it
13. Our neighborhood and new home are a perfect fit for us
14. Our foster daughter seems like she has always been part of our family
15. I enjoy being involved in our church band and AWANA program

Could Be Improved: 1. I'm not yet at my goal weight, 2. I'm unhappy with my hair & teeth, 3. I wish I had a closer relationship with my family, 4. Our car seems to be slowly disintegrating, 5. My schedule has gotten out of whack lately, 6. I wish I had a really good friend living nearby, 7. There's never enough time to accomplish everything, 8. My hearing aide is broken, 9. I'd like a better trombone, 10. I need to develop patience, 11. Too often, I speak before I think, 12. Our families live too far away, 13. I miss Curly Top and The King, 14. Daniel and the kids are all sick, 15. I worry too much

Speaking of 30, wouldn't it be great to have... 30 minutes to yourself every day? 30 people who you know pray for you often?, 30 hours of holiday bonus pay?, 30 friends send you a Christmas card?, 30 pieces of calorie free chocolate?, 30 days notice before the next major emergency?, 30 unsolicited compliments in the next 30 days?, 30 seconds in the bathroom without kids knocking on the door?

Christmas Carols

This year I brought my trombone with me to practice while we were visiting family. Besides my Christmas concert music I also brought a book full of Christmas carols for trombone that my fellow tbone player gave me about a month ago.

Thanksgiving night I pulled it all out and played along with the CD while the kids gathered around and sang. The music had the words to the carols on it. This is the music I use for sight reading practice, so I wasn't exactly all that great, but we all had fun anyway.

The kids were singing and some were dancing. Even Aunt Robin got up and danced with Danya! What was really truly shocking, though, was when Judah, my very cool and aloof almost-13-year-old nephew, decided to join in to sing Silent Night. That was our final song of the evening, and it was perfect.

Oh, Tiny Tree

Every year on after the Thanksgiving meal we set up the Christmas tree at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It's a family tradition. When we attempted to set up our tree at home before leaving for vacation we couldn't find our box of ornaments. They got misplaced somehow in the move to our new home. The kids were disappointed but we reassured them that they'd get to help hang ornaments on Grandma's tree.

But it wasn't meant to be. For some reason Grandma and Grandpa decided to skip the big tree this year and instead just put up the dinky little thing you can see in the background of this photo of Robin and 3 of her kids. It just doesn't feel like Christmas time now. We have no photos of kids wrapped in garlands. There were no homemade ornaments or paper chains. Someone made popcorn while we were there, but can you believe they actually ATE IT instead of stringing it?! Oh, the inhumanity of it all!!

There's no help for it, I guess. We'll just have to buy some new ornaments. Ones that have no special meaning behind them like our missing ones do. It's just so sad that we won't be trimming the tree with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents this year. Maybe next year we can all work together to sneak a tree into Grandma's house?

What Makes an Aunt?

This is Aunt Claire and her son Drew. They came over to visit on Friday night since they were in town visiting her family. She's also expecting baby number 2 in a couple of months. She likes to be surprised, so we won't know if it's a girl or a boy until then.

My girls have asked me how she is their Aunt since she isn't my sister or Daniel's sister. I told them that sometimes you have a family friend that you love sooo much that you wish they were part of your family. In that case you can make them an honorary member of your family. That's what Aunt Claire is.

She has been Daniel's friend since they were 7 and my friend since we were teenagers. Claire was the first person to call me and try to become my friend when I started attending her church youth group. I found out later that she had been assigned my name in a new outreach program for the youth group. All I knew, though, was that this girl was suddenly calling me and inviting me to spend time with her and her friends.

Claire is amazing. When she was pregnant with Drew she rescued some friends of ours while we were away on a "Girl Vacation". We had gone floating on rafts down a river that had a stronger current than we had anticipated. Even though she was pregnant, she was the best swimmer among us. So she swam out, grabbed the rope on their raft, and pulled them to shore. Daniel and I are hoping to save up for a vacation to the Texas coast, possibly next summer. We'd like to rent a beach house near where Claire lives and spend a week there. The upside is, if we have any dangerous swimming moments at the ocean, I know Claire can save us!