Another Year Older For the Boys!

My baby boy turned 5. Wow. I can't believe it. But I think 5 is gonna be great! He's such a good kid. A little demanding at times, a little overwhelming at times, but mostly he's kind and loving and cares so much about other people. He had the best birthday week ever! My Mom flew in, which is always fun, and we had cake, ice cream, mini golf, rides at the kiddie fair, and tons of eating out (my favorite!). And we had his "friend party" at the National Academy of Gymnastics and it was SO AWESOME! We couldn't have picked a better place to have a party. Trampolines, a huge pirate ship to jump off of, an obstacle course for the kids to run through, rings, bars, everything 5 year olds want to do! My dad picked up all the kids and "flew" (they were pretending to be airplanes) them into the foam pit, and that was a huge hit! Thanks to my Dad and Robin for helping me so much that day! I felt so great that Dustin has such great friends in his preschool class and at church.

Oh yeah, and Tim turned 30! I feel bad for the guy because, let's face it, his birthday will always be overshadowed by Dustin's. But he got an amazing new alarm clock, an imac computer, and an r/c monster truck. He got Dustin one for his birthday (a monster truck, not an imac), and Dustin LOVES it. That was probably his favorite present. Apparently, Tim loved it too, because a week later, another one showed up on our door step. He reasoned that he needed one so they could drive "together". Who am I to argue with male bonding?

I have so many updates to give, I'll need another blog. But for now, I just want to say happy birthday to my boys. I love you both so much!

Since Our Life is Measured in Disney Vacations...

This is mine and Audrey's "mean face" on the bumper cars.

Just proof that my kids really do love each other. Awww

I finally have a reason to update my blog! I realize I've skipped Christmas and New Years, and even though I'm late, I wanted to say that they were both great. We had our first Christmas at home by ourselves, and it was really fun. We've started a tradition on Christmas Eve of opening PJ's, that we all put on, then we open a game, that we all play together, and then the kids open special Christmas books that we read before bedtime. We played a game called Break the Ice, and the kids loved How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Spirit of Christmas for our evening reading. Dustin was over the moon about his R/C helicopters Christmas morning, and Audrey was in love with her princess dress-up's and an Ariel doll. We went over to Flo for Christmas dinner and my sister was there with her husband which made it so great. New Years, Brian and Ann came over and Tim did his first 5K race with Brain at midnight. My kids love their kids, and it was a fun adventure to go and cheer the daddy's on. Good job Timmah!

Since we live to go on vacation (mostly to Disneyland), and my blog really only gets updated after we go somewhere, I think I'm going to rename my blog, "We Live For Disney!" It's really more accurate. But this trip was especially great. Here is why this trip was SO WONDERFUL! We got 4 plane tickets from Eugene to LAX round trip, for $353! Thank you Allegiant! The weather was 78 and sunny every day, the parks were totally empty, with hardly any wait, my mom was able to take the week off and spend every day with us, we went to the beach and watched the surfers at Dana Point, built a sand turtle, Tim and Dustin played in the waves, and Dustin tried boogie boarding (for about 5 seconds till he had his first wipe out and tumbled in the sand). He came running back to the blanket, threw a towel over his head, and said, "That..was horrible." Poor guy. We got to see World of Color again and we also saw Fantasmic for the first time. I love the shows, Disney has a way of making me feel emotional in a good way. I got to sunbathe and the kids went swimming outside, and best of all, I never had to cook! The kids were so great the whole time, not a single melt-down. Thanks mom for the great time!

Preschool Christmas Program

The kids had their Christmas program last week. I can't even say how much I absolutely loved watching them. It was so fun to have both of them on stage this year. And it's so sad to think this is Dustin's last preschool program. Dustin did so well, I was shocked. He sang every word, and did every hand motion perfectly. A big change from the primary program in which he cried for me the entire time. (Seriously, he sat there reaching his arms out for me, crying, and mouthing, "I WANT YOU MOM," for the whole program.) Audrey didn't really sing, but at least she didn't cry. She was a Bethlehem villager, and of course she had the most sparkly costume we could find. Dustin was a shepherd and I'm sorry, but I have to say that I have the most talented shepherd and villager in the world ;)

Singin' In the Rain

My good pal Kristen Moss did a photo shoot for us and I wanted to show you guys how stinkin' cute my kids are! (But you have to look surprised when the Christmas cards come ;)

Did you guys catch that glee episode with Gwyneth Paltrow? I LOVED it. I've decided that the mash up of Singing in the Rain and Umbrella is going to be my theme song for living in Eugene. Cause I've spoken numbers with our mortgage company several times this month and it turns out we are unable to refinance, so renting our house is out, and it's not likely we can afford to sell...in short...we're stuck. I'm still hopeful the right family will come along and give us a great offer, but I am choosing to make the best of what we've got for now :) I'm taking lots of vitamin D, got my gym pass, and I am going to find a tanning bed so I can stay sane through the winter. We are planning some remodeling and touch ups to our house that will (hopefully) add a little room. Yes, it may be raining, but I am singing gosh darn it!

In other news, I ran the EWEB half marathon with my dear pal Sara last week, and it was SO MUCH better than running a full marathon. I had a great friend to train with, and it was only half as far! It took me 2 hours and 16 minutes. Not great, but I just wanted to jog the whole time and finish. And I did.

We had the first snow of the year and there was maybe a half inch on the ground and all the schools closed! It's so funny to me, being from Canada an' all! But the kids were SO EXCITED! I've never seen Dustin so happy! They caught snowflakes on their tongues, had a snowball fight, and had some great times.

Andrew turned one. They are still looking for family to place him with, but we're hopeful we can keep him.. He just kinda fits in. Having 3 kids is hard, but I can't really remember what it was like without him now.

We had Thanksgiving with our friends the Bergesens and that was a great meal! I later had the worst Black Friday experience at Toys R Us ever, but I won't get into that now. Let's just leave it at; 5 hours of waiting in lines. Nuff said.

Anyway, Christmas time is here! We don't have anyone coming to stay with us at this point, so if you want to...we LOVE company!!!! I really mean that. I love having people to share holidays with. And we can all sing in the rain together! Woot woot!

I am so Grateful For YOU!!!

Yes, I mean YOU! I was struggling so badly last week, and I can't even tell you how many wonderful people came into my life to help. I'm so sorry if I forgot you, but please know I love and appreciate you.

Thank you Kristin for telling me I'm ok and you feel the same way too, AND for the amazing photo shoot, AND for making me cupcakes. I can't even tell you how much that meant to me. Like I said, you're my new best friend. Sorry, you're stuck with me!

Thank you LeaAnne and Rune for making everything possible so I could go to Time Out for Women. Thanks for arranging everything, thanks for my ticket, thanks for watching my kids, thanks for driving, and thanks for being my friend. What a blessing you guys are in our lives. I owe you. Big Time. Thanks to all the wonderful gals I met and got to see again and to all the people who put up with me. Really.

Thanks to my Dad and Robin for taking care of our kids for the night. I cannot say how badly Tim and I needed a night away. And I know it probably wasn't easy. And you're probably pretty tired. But I appreciate it.

Thanks to Jaime and Sara for being there for me when I was at the end of my rope. You guys are great friends. Sara, you are the best running partner, EVER. Thanks so much for checking on me when Tim was gone...on your birthday...you're the best. Jaime, thank you for being so willing to help me every time I need you.

Thanks Paige for being the best visiting teacher on the planet. I honestly mean it. The times you have brought me meals, or watched my kids have been SO NEEDED.

And to Tim, thank you for EVERYTHING! I can't possibly write it all down. Happy Anniversary! I love you.

I know there's others I'm not writing about and please know that I'm grateful. My hands have felt SO FULL lately and I've been feeling so inadequate. It's been especially hard because I like to be the one to help other people. And it's really hard to admit that I sometimes need help. Holy snikies, do I need help. And there you all have been. THANK GOODNESS FOR YOU!!!

Pediatricians Are the Devil

Ok, to be fair, it is not only the pediatrician that I am likening to the devil. It is the whole doctors office experience. Yes, I am grateful for healthcare, yada, yada, yada. Hear me out, and you'll understand why I'm complaining. I called to get an appointment for the baby who hurt his arm, (Because Audrey tried to drag him across the floor. The Mother of the Year Award is not in my future) anyway, they said, "Yes, we have an opening at 2:00, (It was 1:40) can you come in right away?" I said I would do my best. We were at Toys R Us trying to exchange an r/c helicopter that broke the very first time Dustin tried it. So I had to drag my kids away from the toys and get in line and when we get to the front, Audrey announces that she has to go potty, "Really, realllllyyy baaaad." I leave the toy at the front, take 3 kids to the potty, come back and get in line AGAIN to exchange our toy. Finally it's our turn, but the nice 18-year-old isn't competent enough to do an exchange. I don't have time to wait because it's now 5 min to 2:00, so I bag the whole thing, and drag Dustin out screaming that he wants his helicopter.

We get to the doctors office just a couple of minutes late. We wait for about 20 minutes before being called back to wait in our room. Then we wait for an HOUR AND 30 MINUTES inside a tiny room with no toys, no snacks, no ANYTHING, to see the doctor. Couldn't they have let me know I didn't have to rush over because they were an HOUR behind schedule? The kids were going nuts. Climbing all over everything, yelling, fighting, the baby is screaming because it's way past nap time, it feels like it's 200 degrees in this room and I am seriously hoping the Apocalypse will start happening so my suffering might end.

Mercifully, the assistant came in and gave us crayons and pedialite popsicles. Thank goodness for her, because she was the only reason I didn't start threatening people's lives. She also tried to discipline my kids by telling them to stop talking while she's trying to talk, or telling them they can't climb on this or that. I was so far out of my right mind that I didn't have the ability to keep my kids from jumping off things, but I was kinda bothered she felt like I was so incapable that she needed to step in. I was a tiny bit grateful, because I knew she was trying to help, but still. Anyway, she took pity on me, and kept on telling me how full my hands are. I've never quite understood the, "Wow, you sure have got your hands full," expression. Is it just pity? Are they saying it to be nice? Or is it more like, "Wow, maybe you should have found a more reliable form of birth control.." Because that's exactly how I felt. When the doctor finally came in, he was completely overwhelmed. The kids attacked him, the baby was crying, he couldn't finish his sentences. He kept mentioning things like, "injuries are common in large families" or "you don't work, right?" and the infamous "you've got your hands full." I was sure at any moment he was going to ask me to speak to a group of teenagers about abstinence and the consequences of sex. I just wanted to stand up on the chair and scream, "We've been in this room for an hour and a half waiting for YOU, the pediatrician (who specializes in kids), and you can't function in here for 5 minutes!!!! I only have ONE biological child in this room, the other I rescued from the foster care system, and the other I am caring for out of the goodness of my heart because his mom is a meth addict!!! If you can do better, wait here, and I'll be back in an HOUR AND A HALF."

Sigh, I thought about playing the foster parent card, but I hate the stigma that goes with the "Foster Parent" title. Plus I love that no one ever guesses we have foster kids or adopted kids. Anyway, the baby was fine. Nothing broken. Except my pride. So today, I've had Lucky Charms and McDonalds because I'm depressed and feeling like a completely inadequate mother and can't think of any reason to try and look decent. If you're going to the doctors office, beware, you may find the devil instead, and he most certainly will be wearing a stethoscope.

Anyone Out There Blogging or Commenting? Anyone?

I haven't blogged for a while because it seems like NO ONE is into blogging these days. Facebook has taken over the world, and the competition to see how many "friends" one can possibly have has thrown poor ol' blogspot to the curb. (It's so funny to me when people you hardly even know want to "friend" you. As in, "Hmmmm, I think I met that girl at the thing over at what's-her-names house like 3 years ago.") However, I hope to be old and grey one day and read my blog from way back in the stone age of computers and remember what it was REALLY like in my day to day life in Eugene, married, and raising small children. So here it is.

EXHAUSTING! No, haha, well, it is sometimes. Tim was just out of town for work training for two weeks and I was by myself with the three kids. It went pretty well, but I was tired a lot and lonely a lot and I REALLY missed Tim. He's home now, and it's made me realize that there isn't any way I could possibly do it on my own. Nor would I never, ever, ever, want to. Heavenly Father can't take Tim because he knows it would be more than I could handle. Anyway, things are back to normal. We still have Andrew. We're not sure what's going to happen, and I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but we've all gotten attached to him, and it's going to be hard if he leaves. He's a meth affected baby, and he's a little behind socially, but he's picking up really fast.

Dustin is so so big. He can't describe anything without using his hands and making sound effects and I love it. Audrey is loving preschool, and is just loving in general. She tells me 50 times a day that she loves me and I hope I tell her enough that I love her back. I think she has some kind of understanding of adoption and it's so cute to hear her tell the story anytime someone talks about babies inside bellies. She says, "When I was a baby, I live-ed inside another mommy's tummy--her name is Rosie. And den when I come-ed out, I came-ed to my family!" She says it so cute and excited, I hope she always feels that way.

We've had Halloween the entire month of October. The kids had their preschool parties and we went to Disneyland at the first of the month and did the Halloween party there too. I know I say this every time, but this trip was really our best Disney trip so far. We finally got annual passes, we stayed at my Mom's, we flew, we swam, we sunbathed, we saw World of Color, we went to a kiddie park called Adventure City and the kids loved it, everyone was healthy, we had a great day at the beach building sand castles, and we got to see Tim's family.

Life is pretty good! We had the ward trunk or treat tonight, and we only have one more day to go before Halloween is finally over.

If you're still out there reading blogs, just know I don't hate comments ;)

This is what Dustin's suitcase looked like after we asked him to start packing for Disneyland. He unloaded every single one of his drawers. He's such a character!

Preschool!

Audrey and Dustin had their first day of preschool today! Audrey is in a 3-year-old class, and Dustin is in a 4-5 year-old class. They both go on the same days at the same time, which is going to be SO GREAT this year. I really love Norkenzie, it's a Christian preschool and it has such a great group of teacher's and Mom's. Dustin has already made some new friends, and I have made some new mommy friends, which is super exciting for me (I can't live without my friends!) We debated about whether or not we should put Audrey in this year because it is so expensive to have 2 kids in preschool, but she has been so excited, and was so happy to walk into her classroom with her backpack, I was instantly grateful we decided to put her in. And she LOVES her teacher. I checked on them both a couple of times before I left (mostly because I was feeling emotional, they were just fine) and Audrey was sitting at her table doing a craft, a big smile on her face, and she said, "Umm, mine teacher? Could I pwees have dat red fing over der?" It made me happy to know she remembered her manners and was completely in her element. Dustin just bounced around with his guy friends and knew the drill. I hope this year is fun for him because he hates the craft part of school, and pretty much anything that involves sitting still. But he's getting better, and he has some good buddies to get him through.

I was so happy and looking forward to having a short break, I thought for sure I'd drop them off and say, "Well, see ya!! They're all yours now!" But I surprised myself and got a little emotional at leaving them. I was thinking and worrying that these cute moments will all be over soon, and they're getting so big, yada, yada, yada. But, I got over it once I got home and was able to clean my house in total peace. Well, somewhat total peace. We just got a 9-month-old foster baby to add to the mix, but he is so great (so far). He's super cute and I've almost instantly fallen in love with him. Once again, we don't know how long we'll have him, but I would definitely consider keeping this guy long term. This is Andrew.

(Please ignore the gigantor thighs, and partial cleavage, I don't know what Tim was thinking!)

Camping on the Umpqua

We went camping over Labor Day with my Dad and Robin and it was great! We finally are self-sufficient campers! We got a new tent at the beginning of summer, a camping grill, and enough sleeping bags and mattresses for everyone. I didn't camp much growing up, other than a brief stint when we owned a motor home, so it's been fun to take our little family. Dustin and Audrey ran around all day long, took rides on the pontoon boats, and did plenty of fishing. I think it is so great for all of us to get away from TV and the internet and spend some time in the outdoors. Tim and I got to take the pontoon boats down the river together and it was really fun and so nice to spend some time together. We've both been really busy lately and haven't been on a date in quite a while. The only problem was that I hooked my dad's boat and put a hole in it! Oh man, I felt so bad. Tim and I are terrible at fishing. That's my only excuse. Although, Tim did catch a fish this time. Using my technique. I just bobbed my lure in the rocks where the fish were hanging out. Tim made fun of me and told me it would never work...and then he caught the fish. Where's the justice in that?? Thanks to Robin for inviting us and feeding us the best steak ever!