Stinker

What possesses a grown man to throw a blanket over his head
run around a room with arms outstretched
while raspberries are being blown in his general direction?
Stinker: the game.
A game made up by my dad.
Basically, like Marco Polo,
only instead of shouting "Marco"
the person under the blanket yells, "Stinker".
Everyone must then put their own tongue and lips together
in such a way
as to blow a raspberry.
If you get caught,
you're the next crazy under the blanket.

Yes, that is Peter Pan who played with us.

A Kacin is a Kacin

It is becoming more and more apparant
to Eric and I
that there is not a "one size fit all" in anything when it comes to children.
We teach and encourage Kyler (well, as I've said before, he pretty much does this on his own) that after he's done playing Legos and Star Wars and reading and writing in his many notebooks he needs to clean up after himself and keep things tidy.
With Kacin,
I'm taking a different approach.
"Kacin, Please make a mess! And I'll clean it up."
The kid won't play.
His rationale?
Its the same reason he'll often opt to sleep on top of his bedspread instead of snuggled underneath.
He doesn't want to make the bed in the morning
and he doesn't want to clean up.
So I struck a deal.
If he uses his imagination and plays with his cars, animals, blocks, stuffed animals, legos, anything!
I will help clean it up.
We're making progress.

Yesterday, we took him to his new opthamologist.
The Dr.'s last words to us about how to help his eyes improve?
"He needs to spend less time outside and more time watching TV and reading books."
Things that force his eyes to work harder.
Some children, you drag them away from the television,
I guess now we'll be forcing our little guy to watch more.
But I say he still gets lots of time to play outside!

Art Day

It being a cold and rainy/hail day off of school today,
we declared ART DAY.

A day of expression, messiness, and creativity.
And a day to watch Bob Ross clips off of youtube.
Kyler and I are both enthralled by that man with the fro
who makes happy little clouds and trees and mountains appear.
Kacin whined about watching more clips.

But between good ol' Bob

and the books we read about color, shape, and artists

we were sufficiently inspired

to create a magnificent art gallery by the end of the day.

We worked with watercolor, stamps, acrylic on canvas, and wood. 

Kacin's canvas: "Waterfall of Colors"

Kyler's canvas: "The Planets"

Kyler's wood scuplture: "The Fairy House"

One of my project's is now hanging on the wall, too.

Mighty Fine Eyebrows

"Mommy, I put gel on my eyebrows so they look even better."

Coinage

Now this is a profile

that should be on coinage.

3 Brothers, 2 Families

And a happily ever after.

Two years ago this month we received a call about 2 cute, little boys who needed a safe, loving, forever home. We were also told about their older brother who, for the best interest of all 3 boys, 

would be moved to a different home.

We contempleted A LOT about whether or not we should just try it and take all three boys together and make it work no matter the challenges.

Of course, ideally, it is hoped to keep biological children together. 

But it never felt right.

Our adoption was finalized 8 months later, and older brothers was not.

We prayed for him and worried about him.

We visited and called.

His adoption journey was a little a bit of moving around

and a lot of waiting,

but I'm pretty sure he would say it was worth it.

As of this weekend,

He is now legally and officially adopted

 into a committed and loving family perfect for him.

We feel excitement, joy, relief for him and his family.

It was a beautiful day at the courthouse

for the judge, caseworkers, and all others involved these last 2 1/2 years

 to see all 3 boys doing so well.

Not a week goes by in our house without mention of older brother.

I'm soo glad that we're able to keep contact and continue to foster the relationship of

3 brothers, and 2 different families.

A Trip Back

Only 14 hours in a car and we were back in Utah.

Just for the weekend.

And we were blessed with no snow.

Yippee!

We got to see a few of our good friends and family

(but didn't get pictures with everyone).

We peeked through the upstairs window of our friends' house

to check out the changes to the backyard of our old blue house.

We visited the dinosaur museum and Farm Country.

 We almost ate at all of our favorite restuarants you can't find in WA.

We stayed at the best Bed and Breakfast I've ever been to.

And played Killer Bunnies and ate graffitied Baked Alaska.

We went to the old ward.

I walked around the old neighborhood with a good friend.

We witnessed the adoption of older brother.

We played with toe jam, ear wax, cat pee, and a black light.

It was a pleasant trip to AF.