We are so proud of you, Daddy!

It is a normal thing around here to have Scott gone. Even though the trips have lessened, it still gets old. The kids don't have a clear concept of time so they ask daily "when will daddy be home?" Oh do they ever miss him! The trip is longer this week due to a National meeting in Atlanta. Long days, dinners and speeches. However, I got to share some EXCITING news with the kids this morning in the car. Their daddy won a very special award last night that is an incredible honor! He was recognized and awarded for having substantial market share increase here in Michigan despite the economic condition. His relationships in hospitals, employee diligence  and knowledge of the products were recognized. I am not up on all of the Pharmaceutical lingo, but I do know that times can be tough for certain people/companies and this is a big deal. Additionally, Scott normally down plays these types of things especially when it has to do with him. But in the midst of my sleep last night, listening to his recap of the speech that was given about him in front of hundreds of people, it was clear that his hard work has paid off. His pride and his excitement of his accomplishments makes it all worth it. Even the travel...

So, Daddy, the kids were gleaming this morning at the thought of you getting a "prize" AND of you coming home tonight!! Thank you for all you do for us. We are proud of you and your accomplishments! This is a picture of Eli holding a sign we made for you that says "We love you, Daddy."

National Adoption Month

November marks a very important time for us. November is National Adoption month. It is a time when we celebrate the children who have come into our lives through adoption and we remember and pray for those who wait for their forever homes. There are estimated to be about 143 million orphans in the world today. Many of these children are going to age out of the system before they ever get adopted. Due to many issues, including child trafficking, it gets harder and harder to adopt internationally. The process is long, difficult and expensive. A friend of mine who has adopted 3 children told me just recently that her son wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to make it easier for us to adopt kids. He is seven years old. How sweet is that? But they had waited 4.5 years and FINALLY brought their daughter home from China. Our family thanks God every day for choosing Elijah for us. There was a reason why we got a call from Catholic Human Services after we had decided to wait a couple years. There was a reason why Elijah's birthmom chose life when she initially had another plan. There is a reason for everything. Sometimes we fail to see that even the negative events in our life are many times occuring because something great is yet to come. I am a firm believer that there is a reason for everything and NEVER a perfect time.

When Elijah came home, the plan was that we were to wait 6 months for finalization to occur. This would mean that the adoption would be final in February. However, in our situation, it became evident to our case worker and Judge Stowe, that this was a unique situation. The relationship we formed with the birthfamily was the closest to the "open" adoption model that they had seen. It is in these special circumstances that they allow a select few families finalize on National Adoption Day. They chose us. I distinctly remember sitting in the courtroom when Tom, our case worker, asked Judge Stowe to grant us an exception. He did not even take a minute to think and approved it immediately. I remember him saying that he could tell by the way we (the birthfamily and myself) interacted that it was a sincere and unique relationship, despite the fact that the reason we were there was because Mimi had reliquished her parental rights just moments before. This made it a very bittersweet moment for all of us. Just two months later, we were back, in the midst of balloons, treats for the kids, a luncheon, etc. The courtroom was packed with standing room only. Our family, including all the kids, were called to the stand to appear in front of Judge Stowe and Supreme Court Justice Weaver. I will never forget the speech he gave and the words that he used to describe our adoption of Elijah. He made the moment unforgettable for us. The applause at the completion of the finalization was overwhelming. Something we will carry with us forever. It is all on video for Elijah to view as he gets older. He will always know how much he is loved, not only by us, but by his birthfamily. There will be no secrets, just a heck of a lot of love for this little guy!!!

That being said, I know this is a long post but adoption is a passion of ours now. It is something that has changed our life and the lives of our children. We have instilled in them that there are MANY children out there who do not have their forever home yet and we pray for them daily. Our kids know that there are millions of kids who do not get to do the things they do on a daily basis and who do not have a mommy or a daddy. Our kids have not only learned appreciation for what they have, but more importantly, that we give back to the less fortunate. There are MANY days where our kids will ask if they can use their money to donate to a cause or maybe pick out some clothing they would like to give to a child in need. These are the times when I know we have done something right. Through the daily challanges of raising kids, there are certain things that you want them to gain. This is a big one for us. I think we've had success!

We love you Elijah!! Thank you for the continuous smiles you put on our faces and for the joy you bring us everyday. You are our reason.

Oliver's Book...

We have been so thankful for Mrs. Summers. She has made a definate impact on Oliver and Preston's lives both in an educational and emotional way. Oliver would rather be at her house than ours. She lets him catch frogs, takes him fishing, hikes with him in the woods, sings "The Lord is Good to Me" with him, let's him ride down her HUGE grass hill on a Big Wheel, does feather painting with him, makes Stone Soup, and best of all, facilitates book writing. We are addicted to books in our house. Borders is one of our favorite places to visit. We have hundreds of books in our house. Picture books, board books, chapter books, parenting books, cookbooks, and the list goes on. We read ALL the time. The kids are very good readers, even Preston. He was reading at age 4 when he left Mrs. Summers program. So Oliver now gets to participate in this wonderful program. He writes and illustrates his own books, in his own words. Here is an example of his first one. My favorite part is "Here is my foot for my piggy toes on." Yes, I am in love with baby feet. We call them piggy toes. :) I will continue to post the new books he completes to see the progress.

Brothers...

This was in October before a soccer game. Yes, they had to wear their winter hats to the game. That's Northern Michigan for you! But just look at them...

Goodbye, Buddy

We lost our best friend, Andre, today from cancer. He was ten years old and we have had him since we got married. We learned of his cancer about 2 months ago and we enjoyed him as long as we could until he was at a point where he was suffering. It was a very sad day for all of us. The vet sent him home to spend the afternoon with the kids and Scott went with him tonight as he went peacefully to Heaven to be with all of our furry friends. We took lots of pictures today so we could remember him at his last moments. He was happy and knew that we loved him. Annie and Daffodil definately know he is gone, as Annie is laying on his bed. It breaks my heart to write this but it is life and all living things must die.

We all sat at the dinner table tonight and we went around the table and told what we loved most about Andre. Ollie loves that he likes to wrestle him. Preston loves that Andre liked to cuddle him. Amelia loves that he was always there when someone got hurt. Isabelle loves that Andre was so cute and hopes he has a good new life in Heaven. She likes that he was a good dog. We all loved the fact that Andre would sit but always wanted one paw to be on us.

Oliver asked me before bed if daddy could bring him back to life...

Halloween

Halloween fell on a VERY busy weekend for us this year. We hosted our neighborhood Wine Walk on Friday night, went to the Glandhander auction (the largest annual fundraiser for our kids' school), followed by our neighbor's Halloween party on Saturday night and then Halloween on Sunday night. The kids each chose their costumes, with Oliver's being the most difficult. Who knew that "Geo" (or "Cheeto" as he calls him) from Team Umizoomi would be so hard to find? Deb was so kind as to assist me in making it. We spent 2 late nights prior to Halloween working on it. He was so excited! There was NO getting out of it. He was dead set on this. He even wanted to have hands like Geo, with just 4 fingers. So we made them.

I have decided that next year I would like to make all of the costumes. It was actually fun! I think if I start WaY ahead of time, it will be ok.

We spent Halloween at The Cueter's new home on Sixth Street. For those of you not from here, Sixth Street is a historical street here in TC. The homes compete with one another on who has the best decorations. I have never seen so many people come from all over just to trick or treat there. There were 4 of us handing out candy at one time, just to prevent a back up! We had a wonderful and fun evening. We decorated the porch and had dinner and drinks. Cueters were so kind to have included us!

Wednesday

I feel like the week just keeps on moving and I look at the day before and wonder what I actually accomplished. I know I am schooling my children (which is another topic for later) and that takes time. But it's always something. Our house is never without kids wanting to change life up a bit. Guess they need to keep me on my toes!

Scott decided that (and I agree) Ollie needs his own room. We have the space so why not. I guess I was trying to avoid PAINTING again, getting new bedding, decor, etc. Especially since the room he has moved into HAD a princess castle on the wall. It was becoming a very exhausting habit of Preston to come down in the middle of the night and tell us that he cannot sleep because Ollie is snoring. Now, mind you, I have baby monitors in all the boys rooms and I can hear every one of them. I AM a light sleeper and I NEVER hear Ollie snore. But, ok, whatever. Let's experiment. So we started putting Ollie in Amelia's old room on her bottom bunk. And VOILA!!! He slept through the night. And the next night. And so on. Hence the decision to move all 3 beds around the house. Not just small twin beds. One set of bunk beds, one trundle and one queen. NOT just all on one floor. TWO from basement to second floor and vise versa.

When Scott is gone I like to do projects. So I asked a friend to come over (Eli's birthmom) and help me. I wanted to surprise Scott so that he did not spend half a day on the weekend doing this. So we did it!! AND, I bought paint, Pottery Barn Kids Riviera Blue. I painted in one afternoon with all three boys riding their trains underneath my ladder and Eli trying to dunk his hands in the paint. This is the only way I get things done around here. Isabelle and I shed tears as we painted over the oh so sentimental "princess castle." We took pics and confirmed with Scott that we are beyond that thing and the boys really had no need. I procrastinated as I painted all the edges first and then had to progress over the real thing. I guess some things just need to change. That was one of them. It is a memory. A memory of me sitting with the artist in that room explaining how I wanted little 4 year old Isabelle's room to look. A memory of her face when she would see the day to day progression of this thing. But we are in a different phase now. This house will hold boat loads of memories by the time all is said and done.

So Isabelle's room is now Ollie's. So his light is still pink and blue and the shelf is still hot pink. His bathroom is still pink and has girls clothes in the closet. But it will get there. I have red paint to paint the shelf and the finials for his curtains. I am going to make a valance because I cannot find anything I love. Plus, I love projects. I will post pics of the finished product later.

So I guess I am getting things accomplished. One by one. The dishes might not be put away and all the laundry done. The sinks might have toothpaste stuck at the bottom and the toilets not flushed (yes, an everyday occurance) but the kids are happy and we are all sleeping now that "snoring" Ollie is in his own room. God love him.

First Day of School

I have made it through the first week of school, officially. It was not without obstacles, but I (or WE) did it. School officially started Tuesday but for us it really began Thursday. Here's why: *Ollie complained of a headache all night Monday. He seemed eager to get to school Tuesday morning despite the fact that his head supposedly still hurt. He no more than walked into Mrs. Summers' room and threw up. So we went home. *Amelia had her first day at Holy Angels and I got a call (just after getting Ollie home and settled) from Mrs. DeVol saying that Amelia had been crying for 2 hrs. She wanted to talk to me. I lovingly told Amelia that she was ok and I loved her. I would be there to get her before lunch since it was a half day. *Isabelle enjoyed her first day of homeschool even though I am apparently not un tune with where she is at acedemically. So, as she stared at me as if wondering how I actually had a teaching degree trying not to insult her mother. Needless to say, we did placement tests today. *Preston had fun. He is a good little reader at a mere FIVE and we are off to a great start! Their little minds are so innocent and like sponges. You can mold them so easily at this point. So far so good, so I thought. Ollie ate a huge breakfast and played for hours. But have been nauseous due to headache. Kids came home and wanted to play. Then it hit: three out of five collapsed on the couch together with raging fevers. Within minutes, they dropped. Crazy. Headaches and fever. They slept for hours, waking for dinner, a little Disney channel, and back to bed. All stayed home on Wednesday just to be safe. And Thursday it was off to school again. Gotta love it. Our day went from that to this:

Homeschool

I am taking on a new adventure this year. Isabelle has been asking me to homeschool for the last 2 years. As a teacher, it is one thing to teach kids. It is another to teach your OWN. I often considered it but felt a lack of confidence doing it with MY kids. Something changed this summer. Being at the rink with many families who homeschool and learning about over 200 curricula and the over 200 families in Traverse City who belong to a homeschool co-op here, as taught me many things. Maybe I had the wrong impression of homeschooling? Or that the kids missed something? I will tell you that the children I have met certainly to do fit the "mold" I had thought. After talking with many teachers, administrators and other professionals in the area, I have learned the oh-so-many positives of homeschooling. The attitudes, intelligence, motivation, ethics, and more of these kids blows me away. Even talking to a local dentist the other day, he commented "good for you. that is amazing. the kids that I see who are homeschooled are sooooo smart. i can tell a difference." I have researched dozens upon dozens of curricula, read reviews and gotten opinions. I have decided to mix traditional with christian with environmental based. Here are my choices: Saxon math, Catholic Heritage, and Charlotte Mason. For those of you interested, you can google these and look at them. My initial plan was to homeschool all but Oliver just for 2 days. He needs to be in a structured environment for a bit with other children. And, maybe I need a bit of time too? Haha. Amelia, on the other hand, has fought me tooth and nail. She will by no means stay home. She wants the continuous playdate. So, we went back to the drawing board and really mulled it over. I had visited Holy Angels (our Catholic school here) last year per friend request. This particular person has 6 children and had been to our school prior. Her words to me were "once you see it, you will never look back." I kind of took it with a "grain of salt" and figured I would see for myself. You have to understand, I went to Holy Angels. I had nuns for teachers. I had my own preconceived ideas. Scott, on the other hand, was not sure he wanted the kids at the public school for middle and high school. Mainly due to size. We really want the sense of "community." I had some reservations about the school we were at. So, I was IMPRESSED. The values, faith, academics, tracking system, uniform, organic homemade lunches, small classes, etc. The list goes on. I went home and told Scott: we need to talk. Amelia had friends there from skating and she WANTED to go. We felt like if we were going to change, we do it now. With the changes going on at our current school and wanting the kids to change anyway in middle school, it made sense. And man oh man school shopping has NEVER been easier. I LOVE it!!! Sorry for the long post, but I know many of you who read this have had many questions for me. Yes, you think I am crazy. Maybe I am. But life is too short. If my kids want to stay home, all the better. I am a teacher. I can do this. What do I have to lose? They are going to get more from me one on one than they will get in the mix of 30 kids. NOT saying that kids that go to traditional school are not intelligent, well rounded, etc. I am just saying that there is much more that can be done one on one. If at any point it is not working, they will all go to Holy Angels. If they like it and do this for a while, they will eventually join Amelia when the time is right. Now, I had an abundance of calls and texts yesterday either from friends who knew what we were doing or from friends at school who did not. For those of you who called asking how the first day of school went: that will be a later text. Stay tuned...

Homeschool

I am taking on a new adventure this year. Isabelle has been asking me to homeschool for the last 2 years. As a teacher, it is one thing to teach kids. It is another to teach your OWN. I often considered it but felt a lack of confidence doing it with MY kids. Something changed this summer. Being at the rink with many families who homeschool and learning about over 200 curricula and the over 200 families in Traverse City who belong to a homeschool co-op here, as taught me many things. Maybe I had the wrong impression of homeschooling? Or that the kids missed something? I will tell you that the children I have met certainly to do fit the "mold" I had thought. After talking with many teachers, administrators and other professionals in the area, I have learned the oh-so-many positives of homeschooling. The attitudes, intelligence, motivation, ethics, and more of these kids blows me away. Even talking to a local dentist the other day, he commented "good for you. that is amazing. the kids that I see who are homeschooled are sooooo smart. i can tell a difference." I have researched dozens upon dozens of curricula, read reviews and gotten opinions. I have decided to mix traditional with christian with environmental based. Here are my choices: Saxon math, Catholic Heritage, and Charlotte Mason. For those of you interested, you can google these and look at them. My initial plan was to homeschool all but Oliver just for 2 days. He needs to be in a structured environment for a bit with other children. And, maybe I need a bit of time too? Haha. Amelia, on the other hand, has fought me tooth and nail. She will by no means stay home. She wants the continuous playdate. So, we went back to the drawing board and really mulled it over. I had visited Holy Angels (our Catholic school here) last year per friend request. This particular person has 6 children and had been to our school prior. Her words to me were "once you see it, you will never look back." I kind of took it with a "grain of salt" and figured I would see for myself. You have to understand, I went to Holy Angels. I had nuns for teachers. I had my own preconceived ideas. Scott, on the other hand, was not sure he wanted the kids at the public school for middle and high school. Mainly due to size. We really want the sense of "community." I had some reservations about the school we were at. So, I was IMPRESSED. The values, faith, academics, tracking system, uniform, organic homemade lunches, small classes, etc. The list goes on. I went home and told Scott: we need to talk. Amelia had friends there from skating and she WANTED to go. We felt like if we were going to change, we do it now. With the changes going on at our current school and wanting the kids to change anyway in middle school, it made sense. And man oh man school shopping has NEVER been easier. I LOVE it!!! Sorry for the long post, but I know many of you who read this have had many questions for me. Yes, you think I am crazy. Maybe I am. But life is too short. If my kids want to stay home, all the better. I am a teacher. I can do this. What do I have to lose? They are going to get more from me one on one than they will get in the mix of 30 kids. NOT saying that kids that go to traditional school are not intelligent, well rounded, etc. I am just saying that there is much more that can be done one on one. If at any point it is not working, they will all go to Holy Angels. If they like it and do this for a while, they will eventually join Amelia when the time is right. Now, I had an abundance of calls and texts yesterday either from friends who knew what we were doing or from friends at school who did not. For those of you who called asking how the first day of school went: that will be a later text. Stay tuned...

Elijah is 1!!!

I think the last post pretty much sums up my thoughts on Eli. We had the never ending birthday celebration for him. The older boys decided that they want to go to a MSU football game instead of having a birthday party. Yes, I was happy about this. It has been a nice break from the chaos of a party: invites, favors, party entertainment, kids all over the house, clean up, etc. Scott and I still wanted Eli's first birthday to be memorable so we did the cake tradition (Ann the cake lady)and the typical first birthday party. We did limit it to family, God parents and Eli's friend. :) You will see a pic below of he and Johnny. He was blessed with an adorable Pottery Barn Kids red lounger (a first birthday tradition from Mimi and Papu), a wooden rocking chair (a tradition from Nona and Gigi and great grandpa Walton), one gold dollar (Grandma and Grandpa J always give the kids gold dollars for each year they are old), money in his college fund and other very generous gifts. He got a ride on airplane from us and we could not get him off it! I am glad it was a hit. So Eli loved the attention AND his cake. I am going to blog the kids Favorite Things so we can remember what they are and how they change from year to year. I am trying to think of ELi's favorite food and there really isn't one. THERE ARE MANY. There is not one food I can think of that he will not eat. Take a look below at him demolishing the cake. We had to take it away from him. He had blue frosting up his nose. I also have to mention that our favorite cake lady replicated one of Elijah's bed shams for his cake. I usually coordinate first birthday themes with what the nursery theme is. She did an amazing job! But we did not expect anything less! Thanks, ANN!