Thumbelina Growing Up

We celebrated Thumbelina's 8th birthday two Saturdays ago on the 18th. She had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before. We invited some of her school friends at the last minute but they weren't able to come. She helped bake cupcakes and her big sister, Miss Lady, helped wrap all the gifts. The kids had an absolute blast running from game to game. They all got lots of prizes at the end and two of them even hit jackpots on some of the games.

Thumbelina and Miss Lady told us that their family doesn't make a big deal of birthdays. Usually extended family members give Miss Lady some money to go buy gifts for her little sister and that's it. Although, sadly, sometimes they don't even get that. I hope that this year will be a birthday that Thumbelina remembers for years to come!

For Keeps

We found out some great news this week. Snow White and Brother's mom and dad have both told their caseworker that they want to sign over their parental rights so that we can adopt the kids! Of course, nothing is ever fast when the government is involved, but the court hearing is at the end of this month to start the ball rolling to make the kids legally free. It's exciting and nerve racking all at the same time, worrying that something will happen to change things.

I explained everything to Snow White yesterday. She's very happy that she gets to be part of our family forever, but also sad about the idea of losing her first family. We're not explaining things to Brother because we don't think he'd understand what it means really. He comes up to me constantly and lays his head on my shoulder saying, "Mom" and I get a real sense that even though he may not understand all the concepts involved, he has adopted us as his parents already. We're hoping and praying that everything can be finalized right around the same time that baby Katie arrives in February. Even though I've misplaced my camera card so can't post any photos, I wanted to let everyone know the big news!

Stranded

I can't post a picture of our car right now because it is currently broken down at the top of the on ramp at 104th and I-36 with Daniel sitting inside it freezing and waiting for a tow truck to arrive.

After the tow truck hauls it to the repair shop then Daniel will wait for our friend, Ron (yes, the trombone guy again), to come help us once again. He agreed to give Daniel a ride home. Daniel had been on his way to work when the car died. He's coming home because there is simply no way we can accomplish everything we need to tomorrow plus get the car fixed if Daniel doesn't get some sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is Foster Parent Food Bank delivery day. I won't be able to go anymore because of the multiple school bus schedule I'm dealing with, so Daniel was supposed to sleep from 7am to 11am and then again in the afternoon. Adding car trouble into the mix makes it simply impossible. Did I mention that the van is making a funny sound, too, and replacing all the tires didn't fix the problem? We'd appreciate any and all prayers for our transportation needs right now. I'm just so incredibly grateful that Daniel is okay tonight.

Bevy of Buses

Tomorrow will be rather crazy. We will officially begin having four kids all attending school. There will be buses to meet at 7am, 7:30, 11:00, 11:30, 2:40pm, 3:26, and 3:35. In the midst of all that I'll be attempting to conduct school with Danya, Gloria, and a little bit with Kevin. Since tomorrow is Miss Lady's first day in her new school I'll be driving her in to meet with the person who outlines the rules and gives a brief overview of what's expected of every student.

Last week we had to deal with some craziness involving Miss Lady's school situation. I'd already filled out the enrollment paperwork to get her set to start school here locally. We had decided to drive Miss Lady to her old school Wednesday through Friday so she could have a chance to say good-bye and transition somewhat. Then Daniel gets a call from the caseworker saying that Miss Lady's school councilor wants to drive her to school and back everyday so that Miss Lady doesn't have to change schools. But it seemed that nobody wanted to make a decision or consider the complications that would cause. So first I had a talk with the caseworker to explain why it was a terrible idea. Then I spoke to Miss Lady's school councilor and principal to explain it to them.

It was agreed that the councilor would subject the school to potential liability if there was an accident and could not be available to pick up and drop off Miss Lady for all her medical, family, and court appointments. They asked if she could ride a public bus if they gave her bus tokens, but I pointed out that the bus wouldn't always be available at a moment's notice for all her appointments either. There was also the complication of family members who attended the same school basically giving direct access to the parents. The main confusion was that the school personnel (who all adore Miss Lady) thought that she would be going home or to a relative placement in a week or two. That's just not likely to happen. Once I explained that Miss Lady and Thumbelina may be in foster placement for at least a month, maybe longer, they realized that the best idea would be for her to attend a local school until she leaves foster care. I'm just glad I could get it all settled on Friday.

In a final note, we also took Miss Lady and Thumbelina for eye doctor visits on Friday. They are both near sighted and will be getting glasses sometime in the next two weeks.

Staying a While

Just a quick update. The assessment worker called today to say that the parents were much more helpful yesterday at the court hearing. There isn't a suitable relative that lives far enough away from the parents for the kids to live with. So they'll be staying with us at least for now. He told us to go ahead and enroll them in school. So I did that today. The neat thing is that Miss Lady, Thumbelina, and Snow White will all be attending school in the same building. There are three schools that share a huge building. Thumbelina and Snow White will actually be in the same school and will get to ride the bus home together starting tomorrow.

I'm going to drive Thumbelina to school tomorrow so that we can find out who her new teacher is and she can get a quick tour to see where everything is located. I don't want to just stick her on the bus and hope someone meets her there and knows what to do with her. Miss Lady is sad that she has to say goodbye to friends over the next two days. Her new school sounds fun, though. It's a charter school with a focus on the arts like painting, music, and drama. Another bonus is that she'll be getting out of school an hour earlier every day and her bus stop is right in front of our house. Well, it's ten o'clock at night and I'm just now going to start on all the paperwork that I have to turn in to her school tomorrow.

Waiting to Exhale

We're all holding our breaths waiting to find out what's going to happen with Miss Lady and Thumbelina. The court hearing with their parents was this morning. The assessment worker called just as it started to give us an update. He said that he's spoken to the girls' parents and they don't seem to be very helpful. They didn't provide a list of possible relative's contact info. He's supposed to let us know by tomorrow if there is a safe relative that they can go to live with. He asked if we were willing to let them stay with us if there isn't any suitable family and of course we said we'd love for them to stay.

He also said it was up to us to decide if we wanted to enroll them in a local school or drive them to their previous school. We talked to the girls about it and decided to go ahead and drive Miss Lady to her middle school for the next couple of days until we know if they're going to be moved or not. Thumbelina's school was too far for us to try and drive, so we'll just hold off until we know if she's staying. If they stay then we'll enroll them both in a local school. Miss Lady was very happy to go back to school today and see all her friends and teachers. Apparently, today was a special day called "connect the dots day" and she was relieved that she didn't miss it. I also learned that she needs special help with reading and her school's "literacy class" teacher is encouraging her to "guess" at words. She has no idea of what phonics is about. So we're going to start working together with Snow White at the beginning. As she helps me teach Snow White, hopefully she'll start picking it up, too.

Speech Therapy?

So today was Brother's big evaluation through our local "Child Find" at a pre-K and K center that is anything but "local" to us. The speech therapist, a lady named Sara, determined that everything I told her was correct. He is normal in all areas except for speech/communication in which he scored a zero rating.

She wants me to register him to attend the school four days a week so that he can receive "speech therapy" that turns out to be nothing like what I thought it would be. I asked if there would be special equipment and techniques, if he'd be given individualized attention, pulled out of the classroom so that he could focus on the new sounds he's being taught, basically anything critical to his speech development that I simply can't provide for him. The answer is: none of the above. He will attend regular pre-K, but during "center time" as he wanders around to whatever area catches his interest a speech assistant will follow him. She will say the names of things that he's playing with and encourage him to say them, too. They'll also emphasize getting him to ask for the specific things he wants at snack time like "juice" and "cookie".

I'm pretty much stunned. They want me to take him to and from the nearest bus stop (a mile away) four times a week in the afternoons so that he can miss his nap, disrupt a class full of kids, and get the exact same help he's already getting at home. If he was in the terrible home situation that he was pulled out of originally, I could see how that would be beneficial to him. I asked about getting him speech therapy in our home and Sara said that legally they have to do the "least restrictive" method. In home therapy is considered "more restrictive" because then Brother wouldn't get all that beneficial social interaction with his "peer group" meaning that he'll learn better speech from a class full of 3 and 4 year olds than he would from a home environment with older (and younger) kids and adults who all speak clearly already. Somehow, I don't see how spending three hours a day hearing only one adult and 15 other pre-K age kids speak is better, but then again, I'm not a speech therapist, so what do I know? He's supposed to start school on Monday.

Pioneer Dioramas

Since we're finishing up the book "The Cabin Faced West" I decided to let the kids do a project with all the shoe boxes we collected last Friday. They started work today on prairie dioramas. They painted the backgrounds and started building "log cabins" out of Popsicle sticks. Tomorrow we'll all brain storm to see what else we'd like to add to the scenes. Most of them did pretty good. Snow White didn't listen to the directions I gave and ended up painting her sky green. Daniel says that her cabin will just be on a very big hill.

Tonight was also Snow White's "special day" and she was kind enough to share it with Thumbelina since poor Thumbelina slept through her time last night. We stayed up late reading the end of a different chapter book and she fell asleep just before the ending. I think it's great that they all get so excited to find out what happens next in the story and beg me all day long to finish the book. Anyway, tonight Snow White and Thumbelina played Candy Land with me and then made foam animal puppets on Popsicle sticks. Thumbelina was just amazed at the concept of a mom wanting to sit down and play a board game with her. She and Miss Lady have started calling Daniel and I "Daddy" and "Mommy" in the last two days. It really surprised me coming from Miss Lady, but she says it's just easier since that's what everyone else calls us. I sure don't mind!

It's a Girl!

Here's a photo of Daniel and I at my last doctor's appointment. We had the ultrasound that day and found out that we're having a little girl. We're currently thinking that we'll name her Katelyn Grace. We've been calling her Baby Katie. I'm approximately 22 weeks along.

Sing Your Way to Church

Today was so much fun! We loaded up the van with all nine of us and then picked up Sarah and Shannon. We almost filled the van! The kids wanted to sing church songs all the way there, so we all had a great time singing, clapping, and laughing. At church everything went well, despite my fear that missing band practice Wednesday night and not playing at all last week would mean I'd sound awful during worship. It was fine, though. I need to get working on the music for the Christmas concert.

Miss Lady and Thumbelina did well in their Sunday school classes. Shannon and Sarah helped Miss Lady to feel included in the youth group, which was great. Brother's teacher asked that we move him down to the 2 year old class with Kevin because Brother just isn't able to participate in class time with the three and four year olds. He did fine in Kevin's class. I'm worried, though, since Brother's "Child Find" evaluation is this Tuesday. They already said they have an afternoon Pre-K class open that he can join. He just would not do well in a situation like that at all. I'm really hoping they see that. We're going to be praying like crazy that they do.

Getting to Know You

On our long walk home Saturday morning we took a scenic walking trail and stopped by a playground. It always amuses me to see my older kids hop right onto the "baby toys" at a playground designed for younger kids. Sometimes they seem to be growing up so quickly. With Brother, on the other hand, I'm treating him more like Kevin. He gets lots of snuggle time, tickles, and silliness. I think he needs some of the interaction that he missed as a toddler.

We're also getting to know our two newest additions a bit, too. I've decided on nicknames for them. Since the younger sister who will be eight in a couple of weeks is so very petite, I'm going to call her Thumbelina. She's actually almost the same size as Snow White, who is two years younger than her. For the older girl, I had a harder time thinking of a nickname.

Friday night when they arrived we took all the kids shoe shopping. We bought 10 pairs of shoes! While we were there a lady walked up to our 12 year old and said, "Excuse me, Miss. Do you work here?" I cracked up, but I have to admit that she does seem older. She wears her hair styled nicely, dresses mature, and wears big silver hoop earings that make her seem like a young lady of about 17 or so. That's why I'm going to call her "Miss Lady".

Miss Lady and I went with a friend of mine from church named Dawn to go see the new movie, Fireproof. It was really good. It started out a little slow, but it got much better by the end. You could hear multiple women in the audience all sniffling. It was a tear jerker, but good. We drove Dawn home afterwards and then I called Daniel that night to say, "I'm in Aurora. If I tell you the address, can you google it and tell me how to get home?" It was a long drive home, but Miss Lady and I got a chance to talk and get to know each other. She says she was very worried that a foster home would be a terrible place. She says she's glad they got a good one.

Let's Walk!

Daniel always gives me a funny look when I suddenly emerge from my room and announce that we're going to take a family walk somewhere. He's always up for the challenge, but I can tell that he's wondering if I'll be able to make it. I tend to start out feeling energetic and sometimes get over ambitious.

Saturday morning we walked out to the shopping center closest to our home so that some of us girls could get hair cuts. I had a coupon for Great Clips. What I failed to check on was how much a kids' hair cut costs there. We got Gloria and Snow White's hair trimmed along with mine. For them to even out their bangs and trim the bottom edge it cost me TWELVE BUCKS per kid! I about went into labor on the spot. Not really, but it was shocking and I won't be taking the girls back again.

Costume Shopping

We took the kids out to Walmart and looked for Halloween costumes for the boys while we were there. Danya fell in love with this white bride outfit. She said, "Look! It's the Lady all in White!" That's the lady from the lull-a-bye I sing to the kids every night. The middle verse goes:

There is a lady all in white, holds me and sings a lull-a-bye. She's nice to see and she's soft to touch. She says, "(Insert kids' names) I love you very much."

The motocross outfit that Brother is wearing in this photo is not his actual costume. We bought this one and a knight costume just so that the boys would have some dress up clothes for when the girls play dress up. We were not happy seeing Kevin walk up the stairs in a leotard and tutu. We promised we'd get him some "boy dress up" things. Brother's actual costume is Spider Man and Kevin will be Indiana Jones.

Four in a Fire Truck

We reassembled Kevin's old fire truck bed outside for the kids to play on. They love it. They really need something extra to do out there. We had originally hoped last Spring that we'd be able to afford a big wooden play set with swings and a slide, but that didn't work out.

I made the mistake of giving them chalk outside a while ago. They colored all over the back steps. The roof covers the step just enough that rain never washes it clean. So every time one of the kids walks back into the house you can see a trail of little blue chalk footprints across the kitchen floor. I need to take the time to wash the step myself, but haven't gotten to it yet. I feel like I'm rushing around just playing catch up right now trying to keep the house clean with this many people in it.

Our First 12 year old!

We're on our way to go pick up two sisters ages 8 and 12! They're Cambodian! More info soon! Wish us luck!

A Father's Song

Tonight Daniel was having a great time reading to the kids. He was reading Kevin's new book A Father's Song that has lots of fun little things in it that the kids like to do with Daniel. When Daniel is reading the part about the Daddy flying his son through the air with his arms spread wide like an airplane all our kids act like airplanes, too, making "zoom!" sounds.

Speaking of bedtime books, it cracks me up when Kevin climbs into Daniel's lap, hands him a book, and says, "Talk at it, Daddy." I guess that is what reading would look like to a 2 year old.

Lapbooking at the Library

My friend Dawn invited us to join her and her three girls at the library to make lapbooks today. We haven't done this in a long time. Not since our brief foray into FIAR (Five in a Row) a couple of years ago. FIAR was a little too slow for us, but we did enjoy making lapbooks. It took me a whole day to find all the materials, templates, etc. that I wanted for the girls' books online and print them out. Then a couple of hours working with the girls to get everything prepared and cut out. We did the final assembly at the library.

Today Danya made a lapbook about the American Girl character "Kit Kittredge" who she has become very interested in lately. We researched what it was like to live in 1934 and came up with some fun elements for her book. We learned that Shirley Temple (who Danya adores) was in her first movie that year. Danya also made some comparisons between prices and technology in 1934 and today.

Gloria's lapbook is about the book we are currently reading out loud together for homeschool. The book is The Cabin Faced West and is based on the actual life story of the author's great grandmother. Since the main character is fascinated by George Washington, Gloria's lapbook has several elements about him including a mini book. Then there's some info about life as a pioneer girl and a hidden picture game where you look for tools used in that time period.

Snow White did a "letter Aa" lapbook. It's got a mini book that she made called "My A Book" and a word search in which she just circled all the letter "a's". We also included samples of her handwriting with capital "A" across the top and lowercase "a" on the bottom. She was so proud of her book. She wouldn't let me put it back in the bag to go home. It had to be with her in the car so she could rush right into the house to show it to Daniel and Brother. She did a good job and got lots of practice with writing and cutting skills.

Honoring Our Stars

Last night there was a special awards ceremony at our county foster parent support group meeting. They went all out decorating the meeting room with stars. It was a night to honor the biological kids in foster families that do so much for foster kids. What a great idea! The kids got to sit up front and talk about ways that they help their foster siblings. Then they each were called up by name to receive a special plaque thanking them for the important job they do.

It's true that Danya, Gloria, and Kevin are expected to do a lot and share all that they have with total strangers who walk into their home needing so much. I started thinking about it and realized that it's actually more difficult for my kids than for me. I don't have to share my room with a stranger or let them play with my things.

Today Danya spent time helping Snow White work on writing her name and was very patient with her even when Snow White was being a little obstinate. Gloria shares in the loss of privileges when the room she shares with Snow White is messy even if most of it is not her fault. She's really experiencing what it's like to finally be the big sister, the good and bad parts. Kevin is dealing with frustration and jealousy issues since Brother often wants to play with the toy that Kevin wants and can't speak well enough to communicate with Kevin.

Danya, Gloria, and Kevin also received gifts and candy which made them much more excited than the certificates of appreciation. The Girl Scouts even donated boxes of cookies as gifts! Then they got pizza, a movie, and crafts in the childcare area while the adults discussed how to help the kids deal with grief when foster children leave our homes. It was a good night.

About the Bailout

I'm pretty unhappy about the whole bailout plan. I know I'm no economist, but I do know that you don't throw good money after bad. Here are two videos shared by a fellow Pea that I think are worth watching:

Obama received the 2nd highest amount of $$ from Fannie and Freddie

They Knew in 2004

25 Years Together!

My trombone buddy from church, Ron, and his wife, Sherry, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this weekend. Daniel and I went to their party along with about 35 other people. It was in their back yard, and was absolutely beautiful. Their arched patio roof had white linen drapes hanging down and tied back. There were white awning tents set up over the tables which were decorated with pale colored flowers and flickering white candles in gorgeous glass bowls. There was home made Italian food and finally a dinner show provided by Ron. He played "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole on his trombone and talked about how they met. He said that when he was in his high school marching, concert, jazz, and pep bands that there was always this pretty girl sitting in the audience which made him sit up straighter and play a little better. He took her to the prom and they've been together ever since.

Just for fun I've also included a photo of Ron with his twin brother. I finally got to meet him and must say that they don't look as much alike as I thought they would. Oh, and I told Daniel that after seeing Ron and Sherry's anniversary party, I expect on our 25th anniversary that Daniel will be prepared to sing to me. He just laughed. Oh well, a girl can hope.

Budding Artist

We recently discovered that Snow White cannot draw a person very well at all. She draws a couple of long lines sticking out of a skinny potato sort of like you'd expect a three year old to draw. We decided to remedy that this week. I've been having the girls line up and practice drawing people using basic shapes (circles, squares, rectangles). We also work on examining each other's faces to see how much space should be given for the forehead, where the nose actually begins, and how wide the mouth should be among other things. We've discussed proportion in body parts as well. She's already improving tremendously.

Danya and Gloria, of course, have heard all this from me before, but it helps for Snow White to see the girls doing it. Gloria has been improving by leaps and bounds in the last year. We've worked with a couple of different art books, studying line shading, shadows, and perspective. She drew this picture on the dry erase board last Thursday night. The work she's been doing with pencils is even better. I think, for a six year old, she's pretty good.

Banana Splits in the Dark

At AWANA last Wednesday it was banana split night. The kids all got to take their ice cream outside to the long row of playgrounds behind the church. They had so much fun eating ice cream and playing in the dark. Danya also completed her intro booklet for T&T (Truth & Training) which means she earned her uniform shirt and her book. She worked hard on that and was really proud. Now that she has her uniform she can officially be chosen to carry a flag during the opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, I've misplaced my new uniform shirt (which makes me look like a blimp, so no big loss) and found out today that the first night of Christmas Concert band practice will be held during AWANA Wednesday night so I won't be able to attend or hear the CD of the music.

Kevin's Loft

About a week ago Daniel, Ron (the trombone player), and I drove to Parker, CO to pick up a bed and dresser that we found for sale on Craig's List. He was unhappy being moved out of his big boy bed and back into the fire truck toddler bed when Brother came to live with us. We also needed more room for clothing, so a new dresser was a must.

The bed is a loft bed with storage on one side and a desk on the other. The ladder has bars just like the ones at the playground that Kevin is already a master at climbing, so he isn't afraid of it. The bed itself has a sturdy wooden side that keeps him from possibly falling out at night. The dresser which has blue drawers to match the ones in the bed fits perfectly underneath the loft bed so that it doesn't take up any extra space in the room. In this photo Danya and Brother are making a fort. You can also see the boys' blue toy box that fit neatly into the bottom shelf on the left. Having a loft bed has really cleared up a lot of floor space in their room thanks to all the storage.

Buses: A Love Hate Relationship

Okay, so maybe it's a like/hate relationship. There's no real love there. The other day I threw my back out somehow while running to the bus to give Snow White her permission slip to check out books from the school library. Then in the afternoon, we found out that my older girls can't walk her home from the bus stop. There must be an adult present or the bus driver can't drop off a Kindergartner. Despite the fact that it's literally just a few doors down from our house. That'll be fun this winter.

This week one of the people from the school district called to set up an appointment to evaluate Brother to see how bad his speech needs are and if he has developmental delays as well. They said there would be a spot for him at their main pre-K center where he could get the speech help he needs. Unfortunately, I'd have to drive him there and back four days a week because a bus doesn't come to our house for that school. His pre-K would only be 2 1/2 hours each day and they only have afternoons available.

So I'd be pausing Danya and Gloria's school day to feed Snow White lunch and get her on the bus by 11:00 am. Then feed the other kids and get Brother to school by 12:30. Then go home, put Kevin down for a nap, and try to get a little more homeschooling done before it's time to pick up Snow White from the bus stop at 2:40 pm. Then go pick up Brother from school by 3:00. That would mean that Brother would no longer be getting a nap time so he'd be extra fun all evening.

Finally, I've also been teaching Snow White after school since she doesn't seem to be learning much at school other than getting practice writing her name repeatedly with terrible handwriting that they don't attempt to correct. There's nothing like enforcing bad habits. This past week I've worked with her on colors, shapes, and neat handwriting. She's doing really well and actually begs to do more. She loves to learn. I'm using an old Rod & Staff curriculum with her that I purchased back in 2006 for Gloria but decided it was too simple for her. It's just the right speed for Snow White. One final note, we're also enrolling our home school under our church's umbrella school program. We got the paper work finally this week. Yea!

Livin' La Vida Loca

Everything is going well for us. I'm very sleepy and promise to update the blog tomorrow. We've still got Snow White and Brother and even got some surprising good news this week regarding their case.

Yes, we know the gender of the baby. No, we're not announcing it on the blog until after we've made sure our immediate family members all know. Since we haven't managed to reach all of them yet, you'll have to wait a tiny bit longer. Maybe tomorrow.

Good night!

The Person in Me

This is an ultrasound picture of an 18 week old baby in the womb. Mine is 19 weeks, so it looks approximately like this one. Daniel and I keep marveling over the idea that there is another human being inside of me right now. It's just such an amazing thought.

Today I researched info on Braxton Hicks contractions and pre-term labor because I was feeling nervous about having such strong uncomfortable contractions so early in my pregnancy. It turns out that the more kids you've had, the more likely it is that you'll have Braxton Hicks contractions earlier and stronger. Also, it can be brought on by dehydration, so I'm trying to drink more water. Although I have more energy than I did in my previous trimester, I still feel tired a lot and tend to compensate by drinking too much diet pop and tea. It's strange how one minute it feels like this pregnancy is dragging on interminably and the next it seems to be flying by. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl next week!

Fun Filled Crazy Days

We've been so busy the past week. I don't know how much of it is due to having 2 extra kids in the house, but it's been fun and exhausting. They've had trips to the park with Daniel, colored with chalk and had popsicles outside, played lots of board games, watched plenty of kids' videos, participated in kids' church activities, and helped me keep the house clean for all the caseworkers, attorneys, and friends we were expecting to see this week.

One of the most challenging parts for me has been figuring out how to homeschool four different grade levels. I'm doing pre-K with the boys, Kindergarten with Snow White, and a mixed 3rd/4th grade with Gloria and Danya. The first day we tried it was a bit crazy. I've discovered that I cannot have them all working on different subjects at the exact same time. However, I can handle the three older girls working on three different things while the boys are napping in the afternoon. In the mornings I divide and conquer. Danya and Gloria take turns leading the younger ones in an activity that I've set up while I work with the two of them individually. It takes longer, but we're getting everything accomplished.

Yesterday I worked on doing an evaluation to see where exactly Snow White is at academically. She can count to 13 and recognize numbers up to 9, knows some of her shapes, and can write a few letters in her name. She has a Kindergarten workbook that her previous foster mom gave her to just color in so that she could feel like she was doing homework like the older kids. I'm actually showing her how to do the activities. Sadly, I read through Brother's IEP and checked both him and Kevin on the different skills like naming three items in a category (for example Animals: cat, dog, pig) and only Kevin was able to do them. We've got a lot of work to do!

Midnight Hospital Visit

Kevin is quite the little trooper. Monday night at bedtime he started crying uncontrollably when I laid him down. Daniel had just left for work and I was trying to do the "beauty night" I'd promised the girls. So I ran back and forth between giving Kevin Tylenol, sippy cups, and hugs and at the same time trying to paint the girls' nails hot pink.

Kevin fell asleep around 8:30 or so but only for an hour. I ended up calling Daniel at work when I realized that Kevin definitely had a horrible ear infection. He just kept clutching his right ear and crying. So he and I sat on the couch watching Blue's Clues until Daniel could get back from work around 10pm. Daniel scooped Kevin up and took him to the hospital since we didn't think any after hours clinics would be open that late. Upon arrival Kevin promptly threw up all over himself. That's why he's wearing a hospital gown in this photo. He wouldn't take it off until nap time later in the day. He's currently on antibiotics and doing well. Hopefully this clears it up.

No Apple Necessary

Snow White lost a tooth a couple of days ago. She just noticed it was loose and yanked it out. This is one tough little girl. She never complains when her hair is being brushed no matter how bad the tangle. She was very happy that the Tooth Fairy would be visiting even in this new home of hers.

She's doing so well with all the changes she's experiencing lately. Last night was her first night at AWANA. We were able to get her into the Sparks blue group so that during flag/announcement/music time she'd be sitting in the row directly behind Gloria and Daniel. Her leader, Ms. Dawn, said that Snow White did really well and even said the verses they were working on. She came out grinning from ear to ear and couldn't wait to show me her Sparky Gate paper.

We found out which school she'll be attending. The bus should stop right across the street at the park. (No more climbing the hill in the snow like we did with Penny!) Today we finish enrolling her and find out whether she'll be in morning or afternoon Kindergarten. I think she'll do fine. She's very social and a good kid. I hope her speech therapy will be more than once a week. We'll see!

Inside the Slide at Mickey D's

Here's a great photo that Shannon took of Danya from inside the tunnel slide Sunday after church at McDonald's. We found out Sunday that our pastor and a few others are boycotting McDonald's (not a church wide thing, just personal individual decisions) because of their enormous financial push for homosexual issues. I can understand their decision, but with five small kids McDonald's is a must. Cheap food and a playland on every corner can't be beat.

Not Quite Ready

Sunday went fairly well for Snow White and Brother's first day in Sunday school classes. We managed to get everyone up, groomed, and out the door in time to arrive just a little late for band practice before service started. Daniel had to manually wrestle Brother into his Sunday clothes, but other than that it worked out alright.

We attempted to let Brother join the four year olds group that goes to TruthQuest with the older kids and then on to a Sunday school lesson. His group, however, was short handed because three backup people called in sick. So there was only one leader for 16 (PreK/K) kids. Daniel volunteered to stay and help. Brother just can't sit still and listen for that long. When I finished playing in the band I went up to the classroom to check on them and ended up having to take Brother down to join the 3 year olds' class. He did really well there, so I think we'll just keep him in with the younger kids. They get to attend TruthQuest for the beginning and end so that they get to enjoy singing and puppets, but then they move on to play time and snacks back in the Threes' classroom.

Skills and Schools

Snow White and Brother have a strange mix of skills and gaps in their abilities that keep surprising us. This weekend Daniel taught Snow White how to make peanut butter cookies without crushing them. He says he has to remind himself to slow down with her and not expect that she knows the same things as our girls knew at almost six years old. For instance, we are trying to teach her to tie her shoes right now.

Today I took them to start the enrollment process for school. Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be more complicated than I thought. We have to wait for a phone call to find out which school Snow White will be going to, and then call the bus barn to find out which bus she'll ride. Not a big deal, but she probably won't be starting tomorrow.

For Brother, however, there is a problem. The caseworker insisted that he needs to be in a Pre-K program, but in our area there are only so many free public Pre-K spots open at the schools. After that they are filled by those who can pay tuition. Currently, all the spots (even tuition ones) are filled and the best they can do is put his name on a lottery list. If spots open up and if his name is picked in the lottery, then I can call the director and ask if there is some way I can get him in despite not being able to pay tuition. I'm not sure what to do about this. I thought that since he has "special needs" due to severe speech delays they were required to help him. I'm going to ask the caseworker if there isn't some way that a speech therapist can be paid to just come to our home via Medicaid or the (limited) foster child discretionary fund that the county has.

Sunday Best

I love "church clothes". It's so much fun having everyone get dressed up special for the Lord's day. Don't get me wrong, it's nice going to a church that doesn't require anyone to wear dresses or ties, but it's also nice to have one day of the week that's special. Like most stay at home mom's I don't get that many opportunities to dress up. It used to be that we only bought one especially nice dress a year for the girls that had to be neutral enough to wear for their Christmas choir performance, Mother and Father's Days, and maybe as Easter dresses, too.

In the past couple of years, though, I've been acquiring some nicer things from yard sales, store clearances, and a few hand-me-downs from friends with older kids. The shirt that Kevin is wearing in this picture we took on Sunday was part of two large sacks of clothing passed down to us this past week from another homeschooling family at church. Kevin's nicer clothes that he has outgrown have been passed along to several foster sons we've had this past year who arrived with nothing. It's been great, too, that Danya and Gloria have been able to share so many of their clothes with the older girls we've had as well. "Brother" also fit into some of the things we've gotten for Kevin that are a bit too big for him.

19 Weeks - Halfway there

This little one is getting frisky. The baby surprises me by moving at moments that catch me off guard and make me laugh with the strange sensation that it's trying to cheer me up. At moments when I'm especially tired or frustrated this tiny person chooses to roll, kick, or push and it's such a happy little feeling that I can't help but smile. Sometimes it happens when I'm leaning over tying my shoes (awkwardly) and I wonder if I'm squishing him or her in there. We should be able to find out the gender at my next appointment here pretty soon.

In the "not so fun" category, I was sitting on stage this weekend at church during announcements before the next set of songs when the pastor's wife walked off stage and smiled at me quietly saying, "You're getting quite a little paunch there!" as she passed by. It was so unexpected that I turned, speechless, to my trombonist friend, Ron, who sits on my left. He said, "Don't worry. I'm sure she meant me."

Snow White and her Brother

This morning we met our new little ones. The big sister will be turning 6 in less than two months. I'm going to call her Snow White as her blog nickname because when the girls were playing dress up downstairs Daniel came up to tell me that in the Snow White costume she looked exactly like the real Snow White from the movie (just with longer hair). Her little brother looks exactly like my little brother, Ricky. I'm going to call him Brother on this blog because that's what his sister calls him. She doesn't use his name at all. He is four, exactly two years older than Kevin.

The two things that immediately surprised me about Brother is that he has stud earings and he barely speaks. He uses a few words, but mostly points and makes sounds. Both of them will be in speech therapy soon. I'm supposed to enroll them both in school next week. The caseworker told us that Brother will have to be in a half day pre-K program so that he can get the speech help he needs. Personally I think he'd do better here with less kids and Daniel and I to help him. Daniel says we should do it their way until Christmas break and then we'll be able to say whether the pre-K class is helping any. In his last foster home he was the only child there and I don't think he was required to speak much. He seems to be bright and able to understand us, so it may just be that he needs lots of encouragement to use words.

All the kids have been getting along well. I told Kevin it was almost his nap time and he patted Brother and said, "I play cars with him. Let's go! Run, run!" They've been playing together all afternoon. Brother and Snow White are so happy to be back together again. They hadn't seen each other in almost a month since they were in separate foster homes. They hold hands, hug, and kiss each other a lot. I'm glad we were able to help them be together.

Music and Games

Danya, in the pink dress in this photo, and Gloria had their King's Kids choir concert at AWANA Wednesday night. I hadn't found my camera yet, so all I have is this picture taken later in the evening. Danya and the other "Chums" girls were playing one of the games the youth group kids play. The idea is to get the fifth and sixth grade girls prepared to join the youth group soon.

The game was fun. Everyone had a milk jug with the bottom cut off and taped up for safety. There were four balls in play and each team tried to get them down to the other side to hit the goal. The difficulty is that you can only take three steps after catching the ball in your milk jug. It was interesting to say the least. I even scored a goal when we played kids against leaders.

They're Coming Tomorrow!!!

Yippee! I've got lots of good news. Our two new kids are coming tomorrow! It's a 4 year old boy and his 5 1/2 year old sister. I just got off the phone with the caseworker who has let me know that they are placing these kids with us with the strong opinion that this will end up as a case of foster-to-adopt. They've been in and out of the system for two years now and it looks like we may end up being their final home.

In other good news, I found my camera last night. I'd accidentally left it at church. They also officially declared me the leader of the Blue Group for Chums at AWANA last night. Chums is the name for 3rd and 4th grade girls. My group has 6 girls in it, including Danya, and we had a couple of guests, too, that may come back.

Well, tonight is also my first night back with the Thornton Community Band. I'm thinking about only playing with them for the first concert which will be at the very end of October. That way I won't be almost 8 months pregnant in December trying to handle Sunday worship music plus music for both the church and TCB Christmas concerts. I've realized that I'm already having trouble maintaining air flow due to my expanding midsection. We'll learn the baby's gender in two more weeks! Meanwhile, Kevin had his 2 year old check up today and impressed the doctor who said he seemed to be more like a 3 year old.

Photos to come soon!

Regarding Foster Care

We've had an interesting week regarding foster care. The two sisters we got on Monday went to a new home in a different county on Wednesday. They were such a joy to have. It was like one long sleepover party with all four girls having such a good time together. I wish they could have stayed longer. I've misplaced my camera again, so I can't upload all the great photos we took yet. I'm attributing it to "pregnancy brain".

Thursday night was the day of the big foster parenting information meeting that we put together at our church. We hoped for a larger turn out, but were happy to have a few families that seemed very interested and took home application packets. Our county is in dire need of more foster families, especially those that are willing to take in babies.

Friday we went shopping at the Broomfield mall to get some maternity clothes. I accidentally left my cell phone at home. While we were out we got a call from the county placement person saying they had a sibling group, currently living in separate foster homes, who they are hoping to place together in our home. Unfortunately, I didn't get the message until business hours were over. They are supposed to call us again on Monday and set up a transition to our home, which will be a nice change from all the middle of the night emergency placements that give you an hour's notice if you're lucky. The kids are a 4 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. The boy shares a name with a couple of my close family members, which is fun (and if you know me well, that gives it away). This would be a longer term placement theoretically. We're also waiting to hear if the sibling group we were hoping to be chosen as an adoptive family for ends up with us or not. The decision will be made by the end of this month.

Finally, in non-foster related news, the first night of AWANA went well. I got a promotion. I'm going to be the leader in charge of Danya's group because they were short one. That will end at the Christmas break as they'll have another leader available to take over in the Spring. Good thing, since I plan to be busy having a baby in February. I've got about 3 more weeks until I find out the gender. I'm still open to name suggestions!

Early Morning Delivery!

This morning I was woken up to a 4 am phone call from our county asking if we'd take two sisters ages 8 and 9! Of course I agreed and then rushed around to get clean sheets on the beds and everything straightened up. Then I suddenly remembered it might be a good idea to call Daniel at work and let him know that there'd be extra girls in the house when he got off work at six.

They'll only be here a short time since they're from a different county, but we're happy to have them. So far they've been excellent little guests and all four girls feel like it's a big sleepover party with friends. They may even get to be here for the first night of AWANA at our church this Wednesday. I'll try to get a photo taken soon!