Twins?

I survived an 8 hour car trip with an almost 3 year old and a 5 year old. We arrived safely in MI about 6:30pm last night. Our original plans were to leave on Sunday morning. Yesterday morning I checked the weather around 8:00am and saw that is wasn't going to be good to travel through the Chicago area on Saturday or Sunday. By 10:15am we were on the road. I don't think I have ever packed so fast in my life.

The kids did great much to my surprise. We stopped at McDonalds for a quick lunch because I wanted to get back on the road to try to beat the Chicago rush hour traffic. While we were in the restroom in McDonalds a lady noticed my well behaved children. I actually thought I had left my kids behind and ended up with someone elses kids for the trip. She kindly asked if they were twins. *shock* I think I might have looked at her like she had a third eye. I stammered a bit hoping she would realize her mistake, and then I answered no. She quickly apologized and commented on how they look so close in age. I said, "He is 5 and she is almost 3." At this point I could tell the lady was embarrassed so I quickly explained that Andrew is adopted and yes, he is small for his age. I will admit, that is the first time someone has ever asked if my kids were twins. I would think that a dark haired, dark skinned boy and a fair skinned, blond girl could never pass as twins. But then again, what do I know? :)

Princess

I just wanted to share these pictures of Carole that I took yesterday. She spent some of her Christmas money from her great-grandparents on this beautiful princess dress. I think it makes her look so grown up. She says that this dress is her Sleeping Beauty dress. :)

Entertaining Children

First of all check out these pictures of Carole. When she came into the kitchen to show me, I just starting laughing and grabbed the camera. LOL! She is sporting big brothers Curious George hat, her new scarf from Nana, and some beautiful pink sandals.

I don't know about you, but I just love the sock and sandals look! :) Just kidding.


Okay, and now for the funny stories.

Story #1
Yesterday Andrew and I went out on a date. We went out to lunch and went shopping. He had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket. Anyway, while we were shopping I told him we needed to pick up some thank you cards for him to give to people who gave him birthday presents and money. He didn't say much at that time and just went right along with picking some out. On our way home I mentioned that after his nap he needed to help me write his thank you notes. He said, "I don't need to do that, Mom. I will just tell Jesus that I said thank you and then He can tell everyone else what I said." LOL! Out of the mouth of babes.

Story #2
Lately, Carole has been taking forever to eat her meals. I just leave her sit there and she knows she can't get down until her food is gone. Well, last night everyone had finished eating and had left the table. Phil and Andrew went to someone's house and I was in the kitchen cleaning up. Carole was still sitting there playing with her food. While I was rinsing the dishes and loading the dishwasher I heard her mumbling. I turned the water off and turned around to look at her. Her back was to me, so she could not see me. She was sitting there holding her spoon up to ear like a phone. This is what I heard...

Hello? Ando, are you there?
pause
This is Cawole. How are you?
pause
Are you at the mall?
pause
What are you doing?
pause
You need to come home.
pause
I said you need to come home and take a bath. You stink.
pause
Ando, you better hurry up and come home and take a bath cause you really stink, okay?
pause
Okay. Bye, Ando

I starting laughing so hard!! She turned around and realized that I was laughing at her and she quickly put her spoon down and started eating. I think she was embarrassed. :)

Birthday Boy

Here are a few pictures from Andrew's 5th birthday.

We all received Batman tattoos for the day. Andrew was very proud of his.

Here is Carole proudly sporting her Batman tattoo.

We had Andrew's party at the local bowling alley. He had so much fun!

Here he is proudly blowing out his candles with is new friends standing by.

Everyone was so eager to help small Andrew bowl.

Here is Carole wondering around the bowling alley. She came up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm boring." I think she meant to say that she was bored. And I am sure she was.

We really had to keep our eye on Carole. She was fascinated with the computer.

Carole took bowling very seriously. :)

Five Years Ago Today

In February 2003, God laid it on our hearts to adopt. We began the process and then waited on the Lord.

Five years ago today our lives were changed FOREVER!

On Saturday, February 14th, 2004 late in the afternoon we received a phone call from our social worker. She said that a baby boy had just been born and his parents fell in love with our profile. They really wanted their son to go to us. We were so excited! We also learned we would have to stay in the state of his birth until all the paper work went through, but we were close enough to home so that Phil could still preach on the weekends. We were told that the baby boy was born a few weeks early and weighed only 4 lbs.15oz. He would have to stay in the hospital for awhile until he was able to eat on his own. Our social worker then asked us to come as soon as we could to meet the birth parents and our new son. She made arrangements for us to stay in the Ronald McDonald house which only charged $5 a night. We had nothing for a baby, so before we could go meet our son, we had to do some major shopping. We were so excited as we shopped. We bought a car seat, blankets, clothes, etc. We had so much fun picturing our new son. We could hardly wait to meet him!

February 15th, our social worker called us back and said that there was a chance we may not get him because some legal mess came up. So we waited an excruciating 2 days until our social worker got the legal stuff all figured out.

On Wednesday, February 18th, we met our son for the very first time. The nurses were so kind to us and provided a room for us to stay in with Andrew during the day. Because he still wasn’t eating very well he had to stay in the hospital hooked up to an IV. Believe it or not, but Andrew began to eat a lot better when we became a part of his little world. Before we came, the only attention he got was from the nurses.




A few days after meeting him, Andrew was released from the hospital. Since we couldn’t leave the state, we took him home to the Ronald McDonald house. A few weeks later, after all the paper work was approved, we got to take Andrew home. I finally had a baby! The Lord had answered our prayers! We can't imagine are lives without hims! What a precious bundle straight from the Lord!

Having some fun with Daddy.

Reading with Mommy.

In loving memory of Buster. He was such a good cat for Andrew. He tolerated a lot.

This was a rare moment with young Tigger. He did not like Andrew, but was fascinated with his bath time.

When Andrew was 8 months old we finally got to finalize his adoption in court. The judge didn't stay behind his podium, he came at sat at the table with us. What a special day that was!

Here is our handsome boy today. HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY!!! We love you so much, Andrew!!!!

Checking In

Hi friends! It's been awhile. Yes, we are still alive. Once Carole got better, Andrew got sick. He didn't get it near as bad as Carole, but he was still pretty sick. Of course I had to get it too, but I cannot complain. It didn't affect me like it did them. So we are pretty much back to normal.

Here is a picture of Andrew when he was sick. He reacts completely different than Carole does. He acts like he is dying and the whole world just might cave in, while his sister keeps on living life to its fullest.
One day while Carole was sick she came into the kitchen looking like this. She wanted to go play outside. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? :) Crazy girl! I guess she was feeling a bit stir crazy.

I did create a few cards over the past week. My Dad's birthday was yesterday. He is Mr. Fix-It type of guy. I found these stickers at Wal-Mart.
Phil came up with some witty sayings for the inside. I thought it turned out cute.

A couple in our church lost their elderly father in a tool shed fire this past week. I had to come up with quick sympathy card when I didn't feel the greatest.

As most of you know, Phil is on our town's Volunteer Fire Department. As a result he has been taking Firefighter classes two nights a week. This past week he had to go in his gear for some hands on training. I can't resist my man in uniform! And in the kitchen, no less! ;) I love you, Phil!

Our Dear Girl

Our sweet little dolly is still not doing so good. Yesterday she had a few more breathing attacks. When she would have an attack I would run her outside to clear her lungs. The cold air always seemed to do the trick. It got to the point that she would come running to me and say with her hoarse little voice, "Help, mommy, my froat. I need to go outside. Quick!" Bless her heart.

I was about to take to the ER because she just couldn't breathe. As a last resort, I had her take a hot shower. She thought that was pretty fun and ended playing in there for about 15 minutes. Even after that, she still was struggling to get a breath. So then I boiled a pot of water and had her breathe the steam. That seemed to do the trick. Although she is still wheezing, she has not had anymore scary attacks. Now we have moved on to the fun part of the sickness. A terrible head cold. That poor girl has so much fluid coming out of her pretty little face! (Sorry if that is too much information.)

She tries to remain cheerful in spite of it all.

This is our dear little "Snots."

For those of you who are praying, THANK YOU SO MUCH! We've had a scary past few days, but God has been gracious!

Carole is Sick

My poor little girl woke up sick this morning. She has croup and she sounds awful. At first she was doing okay. When Andrew got home from school, he took a toy from her and she started crying. The crying made the croup worse and then she struggled to breath. She was gasping for air! It scared the daylights out of me. Since she had croup last winter as well, I knew what I had to do. I quickly ran her outside in the 15 degree air. Within 30 seconds her breathing returned back to normal. So now we just need to keep the siblings away from each other so that Carole doesn't cry again. Good luck with that, right?? ;o) LOL!

Here is a video clip of Carole singing "Jesus Loves Me" with her poor, little raspy voice. She remains cheerful in spite of it all.

Pictures

Lately, it has been next to impossible to get good pictures of our kids. They will not stand still for a second to let me get a good shot. Last night as they were playing in the bath tub, I had an idea. If they are in the tub and not supposed to get out, then maybe, just maybe I could get some good shots.

Wrong.

Carole refused to look at the camera keeping her head as low as possible. Andrew was being a cheese and trying weird poses. Finally after yelling at the top of my lungs, "Just look at the camera and smile nice!!!" they finally cooperated. Well, mostly. I did promise to let them watch a movie before bedtime. Usually bribes work. ;-)




Carole was getting silly towards the end and she stuck her face in the bubbles. She said, "Mommy! Look at my stash. Just like daddy's."

Wild Rose

Here is today's card. Stampin' Up's Definitely Decorative Wild Rose set is one of my all time favorites!

Stamps: SU Definitely Decorative Wild Rose, My Sentiments Exactly "Birthday Sentiments"
Paper: SU Wild Wasabi, SU Blue Bayou, SU Designers Series Porcelain Prints, and Off White
Accessories: Pop dots, SU Hodge Podge Hardware, SU Scallop Punch, Nestabilities Die Template, Green Ribbon

Andrew's Loud Mouth and Snakes

Loud Mouth
Last night I was in the kitchen fixing supper and I had a question for Phil. Thinking he was just in the next room, I raised my voice some and asked the question. No answer. I didn't know it, but he was actually in his study. Not wanting to look up from what I was doing I said, "Umm... hello?" No answer. Andrew, who was sitting at the dining room table watching me, shouted at the top of his lungs, "DADDY! MOMMY IS TALKING TO YOU!" I then turned around and realized Phil wasn't even in the room. After hearing Andrew yelling, Phil came to see what I needed. I asked the question, Phil answered, incident over, right?

Wrong.

When Phil left the room again, Andrew spoke up. He said, "Mom, you have a quiet voice and I have a loud one. My mouth is really, REALLY loud. So if you ever need anything you tell me. Everyone can hear my loud mouth. It's really, REALLY loud."

Snakes
A few days ago Andrew was having spaghetti for lunch. Suddenly he thoughtfully looked up and said, "Snakes, when they die, they go to the factory and are turned into noodles."

You Rock My World

I was very productive today. I wanted to get my husbands Valentine's Day card made and I needed to make a card for a little boy in our church who is turning 7 this weekend. I was able to get both done before the kids woke up! Miracle, huh?

My husband totally rocks my world! He is so special to me! It is so hard to believe we have been married 8.5 years. Where has the time gone? Phil is a huge Elvis fan. One day last fall when I was catching up with my friend's blogs I noticed my friend Sarah (SCS Sairabee) had an awesome Elvis card. I emailed her to see if she could send me some images. She did! She is so awesome! (Check out her blog sometime. She makes really incredible cards!) Well, then we moved and the images were lost in my stamping mess. I was able to locate them and come up with this card today.



Paper: SU Real Red, Black, White
Stamps: Elvis (no clue where it is from), Textured Eighth Note from Hobby Lobby, SU Merry Minis little music notes, Hero Arts Playful Alphabet
Accessories: Music Notes Ribbon from Hobby Lobby


This next card really isn't anything special. I just needed to whip up a quickie.


Paper: SU Wild Wasabi, White, Blue from Hobby Lobby
Stamps: Jeep foam stamp I found on clearance at Ben Franklins a very long time ago, SU Wonderful Words
Accessories: Blue and Green Gingham ribbon from Wal-Mart, Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder

My Hobby

I hope my readers won't mind, but I think I may begin to make this blog not only my family blog, but my stamping blog too. I love creating cards and I just want to share my creativeness!

I do most of my stamping while the kids are taking their naps. So I only have a few hours to complete a project. Here was today's card.

My fellow stampers, if you don't already have the 3 step Hearts & Roses by Kitchen Sink Stamps, I highly encourage you to get it. It is one of my favorite sets to play with! Here is a link to their gallery for this set. Lots of fun ideas!

In this card...
Stamps: Kitchen Sink 3 Step Hearts & Roses, SU So Many Sayings
Paper: The Paper Studio Rose Garden, SU Garden Green Cardstock, SU Certain Celery Cardstock, White Cardstock
Ink: SU Certain Celery (stamped off), SU Garden Green, SU Mauve Mist, SU Pixie Pink
Accessories: SU Hodge Podge Hardware, Finishing Accents Rhinestones, 3/8" Pink Ribbon

Thanks for looking!

Time Flies When You Have Busy Children

Can you believe it has been three weeks since my last post?! We are still alive, I promise. The kids are constantly keeping us on our toes.

Andrew is amazing us. As of late he has matured greatly. He is always thinking. Last week he asked if anyone had moved into our old house in SD. I told him no, they were still waiting for God to send a pastor to do what daddy used to do. You could just see his mind working as he tried to process that answer. Later that night at supper he asked if he could pray. His prayer was so precious! He asked God to hurry up and send someone to do daddy's job at his old house and church because they need somebody.

Carole is still Carole. She is FINALLY completely potty trained and for that we are thankful! She is our high maintenance child. If the house all of a sudden gets really quiet, we know Carole is doing something she shouldn't be doing. Just last night I caught her with another crayon! As for where in the world that thing came from, I have no clue. ;) Carole may be our trouble child, but she sure makes my day when she wraps her chubby little arms around my neck and whispers in my ear, "I yuv you so much, Mommy." Then she looks up at me with those big blue eyes and I know I would not EVER trade my trouble child for anything!! She is a gift from God. God is using her life to make me into a better person. Apparently He thinks I still have a long way to go in the area of patience. LOL!

Phil has been busy here. He joined our local volunteer fire department and has begun taking Firefighter 1 classes. He is gone two nights a week for nearly 3.5 hours. So between balancing his church responsibilities, fire training, and his family, he is a very busy man!

As for me, I have finally gotten back into my hobby. I spend most of naptime creating greeting cards with my rubber stamps. Here are some of my latest. (If you click on the picture, you can see them bigger.)
Andrew is into Batman so much lately. He has never seen the movies (except the old 1960 something version). He bought a "Batcave" with his Christmas money. He thinks he is Batman! He says, "I'm Batman!" Carole replies, "I'm kitty princess!" When I was shopping last week I found this mask at Claires in the mall. I had to get it. Now she is a true Kitty Princess!
















Cute story... Phil had the kids yesterday as I had a doctor's appointment and a whole day to myself to go shopping! It was a much needed break for me!! Phil took Carole with him to visit a couple in our church. Apparently they had some good toys! Phil then picked up Andrew from school and the 3 of them went to McDonalds. What a fun day for the kids!

Last night we sat down for supper and both kids wanted to pray. Phil ended up going first and then he whispered for Carole to go next. This was her prayer... "Dear Jesus, tank you for today. Tanks for wetting me go to McDonalds today. And fanks for going to the missus house to pay toys. I yuv you. Amen!"

At this point, Andrew was crying because he had to go last. He cried during his whole prayer. So this was his prayer... "Dear Jesus. Thank you for the food. Pease help me to stop crying. Amen."

Here is an extremely rare happening at our house. The kids usually are constantly fighting with each other over EVERYTHING! One day they played nicely together with Andrew's Batcave for almost an hour. I almost fainted! *wink* My babies are growing up.