Some Things

This year is just starting out in the best way possible.

Except nothing special has really happened.

I think it's just because a huge weight has been lifted now that I do not have the rollercoaster of my babies returning to their bio fam, no wait they are not, oh just kidding they are, no they aren't, they will relinquish next month, never mind looks like three more months, etc.

And my schedule has opened up without all those caseworker visits and bio family visits and filling out forms and keeping records.

I love foster care (well, I don't love that kids and families get put in such situations to warrant foster care, but I'm glad it is there and that foster families can be touched and that hopefully families can get fresh starts or learn skills and make their lives better), but we are taking a little break to let our family settle in a bit.

Eric and I sat down with a calendar to plan out his vacation days. I'm already excited for all the fun 2014 will bring--camping, cabins, weekend trips, day trips, and Disneyland! We are too lucky.

Two people complimented my hair today--I guess I should throw my hair in a messy bun, run around cleaning the house and getting kids ready for the day while preparing for preschool and not even glance in the mirror until my preschool students start to arrive more often. Oh wait I do that every day, but I'm not usually so lucky as to get compliments on my unbrushed hair. Maybe it was a blessing because, even though Eric wasn't around, I actually gathered us together for a short family scripture study. Ok, reading scriptures probably doesn't yield blessings like compliments, but there's something about scripture study that brings you happiness and strength. You don't even know you are missing it in your day until you try it and then realize all that you could feel if you were to simply read from the scriptures.

My boys have their first day of school play tryouts today. They will be performing Alice in Wonderland. Kacin is excited about being part of the play, but was feeling nervous for these tryouts. Kyler, on the other hand, was persuaded into this experience. When I was explaining the process of auditions to them and I let them know that everyone will get a part no matter how the auditions go, Kyler said "Ah man, I was hoping to just get cut." No such luck for you, kiddo. I'm sure this will be a good experience for them both. They find out their parts in two days!

The pine wood derby is tomorrow. Guess who is ready? Not us by a long shot! Eric is supposed to come home early (we are shooting for 5 or 5:30) so these boys can get to work on their cars. Hopefully they will both finish tonight so we don't have to scramble tomorrow night.

Have I mentioned that Perry is potty trained during the day now? This kid rocks. I wish I had video recorded him during that first week he was here--all the yelling, screaming, head banging, didn't respond to his name, receptive language of a 6 month old, didn't use a spoon--to see the difference between then and now. He is a different kid. Well, he is the same sweet boy who loves to sing, but nowadays he uses more words, surprises me with what he understands, and then blew that potty training thing out of the water. Oh, and for the first time, this week we overheard him counting to 10--twice. We are meeting with a new therapist in a few days to start ABA therapy. We are very lucky we found a place that should be able to get him in starting next month or so, instead of the 6 months to a year wait that is most common for this therapy around here.

Perry went into the Sunbeams class at church. So far everything has gone fine. His teachers are so nice and they have quickly learned to hand over their keys to him. Ha! He wanders a bit during sharing time, but everyone says he is doing fine. I've been so worried about this transition. Like, so worried, but he is doing it, and I'm sure it will get better and better each week.

I certainly can not leave Layla out of this post. She has a love for all things art. This week it has been glue--bottles of white Elmer's glue to squeeze puddles all over paper. Then we rip construction paper to place into those puddles of glue, but her heart is into the squeezing and not so much the paper placing. L loves to Facetime grammy and papa and her aunts and cousins. She thinks my iphone is hers. She tells me that all the time. She has even deleted messages from my phone that I did not exactly want deleted. I tried a passcode on my phone, but having it drove me crazy so I turned it off. So I guess I share a phone with my 2 year old.

I haven't pulled out my camera since last year. I should get better at that again. Until then here are pictures during our reading of The Hobbit on a Sunday past.