Answering Questions about Adoption and Every day Life....

I have been asked many different questions over the past year or so. This week I have decided that it is time to just answer them all over the next week or so. If you have any questions about adoption, or just every day life as it is please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
On Wednesday I will talk about this:
"The Age gap"

At the end of each post I will tell you what the next post will be so you can look forward to it.

ask ask ask away!!

Cabin Fun..

Good times at the family Cabin!! We have been here only twice this summer, but for how relaxing it is...we definetly need to make this a monthly get away for our family. Very peaceful here and you can leave your worries/responsibilities at home. Good for the soul for sure...:-)

Can you see my text??

I am just checking to see if you all can see my text on my blog. I got a message from one of my bloggy friends saying she could not see any text that my back ground is black and so is the text. When I see it , it looks good with cream back ground and black text. Flowers ect..on the page.. Anyone please give me some feed back. Thank you so much!

Spell Checking/blog etiquette?

Today I find a messge someone left me telling me how to spell a word correctly. Really? Someone is spell checking me! Is this really proper blog etiquette? I guess I have never left a message like that for someone. Maybe from my own mother I would expect something like that , but someone who can't even give there name and just happens to hop on my blog? humm.  I guess I can know that while I was pouring my heart out on the pages of my blog that someone at least was wanting me to know how to spell the word tomorrow correctly! LOL.
By the way..I appreciate you all who leave me great messages of encouragement and support! That is what I love about the blogging world and community! Support!

The juggling begins

Well now that school has begun and we have those first days behind us. Reality of everything els sets in. Now it is soon going to be time for me to be back at work and running my dance business. This year I will basically be teaching 19 classes a week. Every year it gets extremely hard on me to juggle my family life, taking care of Gracie during the day here at home, and fitting in all the things that need to be done to run a business ..not to mention teaching the classes. Those are two very different jobs. This will be my 11 season this year. I never imagined we would have even stayed in this same town that long or that I would have my business this long. My business stuff always gets done late at night when kids are in bed. Which is another reason I am up so late this time of year and tired all day. I do not put down anyone who uses day care providers.  I just never wanted to put my kids into day care, just my personal preference. Most day cares I have seen have sick kids no matter what at them, and I just do not want to deal with that. I do not want to miss out on the new things she says or does. I did not do it with the other two and won't do it with her either. My time with her is important.  It would be ideal  if I just had someone to watch Gracie two afternoons a week.  That would be an enormous help to me to just get the things done that need to be done for my business. That kind of help is hard to find. Does it exist even?  She naps in the afternoon, so for now my work will get brought home and I will try to do that during the little nap time window. Do you ever feel like you need a life assistant sometimes? That is me today......

We survived the first day..

This morning came very fast, and the kids were up and totally ready. Cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven made them smile :-) Off we went to the school. They were both very quiet, and then as we got closer Amanda said "wow, lots of kids mom". I had to agree there really were alot of kids. Big change for them. I had to hold back my tears to be strong. I prayed with them before school and wished them a great day. they smiled and went on their way. Ugh...a lump in my throat and tears go down my cheeks as I drive away. My kids are growing up and God please be near them. Please give them favor!  My mom called at just the right moment. Amazing how comforting it is to just hear your mom's voice no matter what aga you are. I came home with Gracie and had to get busy busy...I cleaned out closets and got the entire house cleaned and rearranged furniture and house decorations, spent time playing with Gracie and doing her nails. As you see below :-) Before I knew it, it was noon and they were home again and with Smiles.  They had a great day. Lots of different things to get use to , but all went well. They made a comment about how the house was rearranged and totally cleaned. "wow mom you just went crazy getting things done".  Later there was a opportunity to go meet all the teachers so we went back over in the afternoon to do that. Now tomarrow real school starts and I am sure they will both come home with home work. YUK!! All in all we all survived...!!

Gracie wanted her nails done and "with tickers mama". She was so proud and showed them off all day.

Sooooooo Sweet!!!

Last weekend before school begins....mommy tears..

The family cabin is a great get away from all the business of life.  We are fortunate that it is not too far from us. So it is easy to get in the car and go for the weekend.  We had a great relaxing time together and spent this afternoon at the cabin pool just hangin out. The kids talked to us off and on today about going to school tomarrow. I know it is a huge adjustment for them, but I sure pray that is is going to be a good year and they can have a positive experince. Tonight as we are home now, we were making sure they both had everything ready. Amanda has all her cloths picked out for two weeks. :-) I'd say she has alot of cloths. Bailey ..well he is a boy and will just decide in the morning. Tonight Im making cinnamon rolls for them. It is their favorite thing in the world for breakfast. Tomarrow I will drive them to the new middle school of around 400 kids. (this puts a pit in my stomach tonight). And tomarrow I will drive away a sad mommy. I am certainly a mommy that LOVES having her kids at HOME!!!  I think every year I go away with tears rolling down my cheeks, but this year is even different with them starting this new public school adventure. No there is really no doubt that we have made the right decision, but it is still a hard one to digest as well....It is change...and this mom does not like change at all!!  Gracie and I will be hangin out at home and I know she will be missing them both like crazy. She adores them and loves to play with them. I hope I do not bore her. :-)  Tonight as the kids went to bed we prayed with them about several different things. I hope this gives them and me comfort to sleep well tonight. Here are a few pics from this weekend. Enjoy!

Mommy relaxing...kids playing...

Sister Love...night night!!

Summer is over and back to blogging..

Some of you have probebly wondered where I have been, and others have probebly also been so busy you have not noticed. This summer has been full of fun things for our family and busy schedules. ..but not as busy as the fall is. Which is what makes saying goodbye to summer so very sad. Next week school begins again, and soon (3wks) I will be back to teaching dance for the season. Next week we will all be adjusting to getting to bed on time and dragging our feet in the early morning. Our kids are now attending public school here in our town. We took a tour this week and they are happily excited!  Summer has been so great and it sure seems so short. I am so happy we took our trip to Florida Cocoa beach..this made our summer extra extra special for us all and it was something our whole family needed desperatly. Next time all I can say is that we need to stay for two weeks not just one. Im saving right now for the next trip. :-)

Is is just me or does time go fast?  My mom always says to me "the older you get the faster time goes". Well I want to get old, but I sure would like for it not to go so fast. At the same time isn't it interesting that when life gets hard, time seems to move slow and can't move fast enough, and when things in life are good time seems to move too fast and we want to slow it down. I look at my kids and wonder where on earth time has gone. It keeps moving...thank God~!  Sometimes I feel like I don't age, and sometimes I feel like I look very old...(guess it depends on the day)...I want to grow old, and yet I certainly am trying to capture my youth at the same time......Yes I'm up down and all around on this one these days!  Does anyone els feel this too, or is it just me?

Just my thoughts...as I am happy to be back to blogging again!

Wordless Wednesday!!

I really should have taken a photo of myself too on this day because I too was vacuming with my sunglasses on my head. ....She copies EVERYTHING she sees..it is sooo funny!

Just for a Season...

This year we are making the big jump from our kids attending Christian Schooling to now going into public school. One 8th gr and one 6gr. My heart is filled with mixed emotions..especially when one of them..my son is not to fond of the idea at all. But then again he is alot like his mom, and I like what I know and what is comfortable. Amanda is pretty ok with the idea.  At the private school they atteneded there were only about 5 kids in there class room. I knew they were getting the one on one attention you only dream about, and not to mention the great spiritual guidance and teaching.  Now they will be put into a class of about 25-30 kids. No praying in the morning, or during the day, no bible class! I will greatly miss this for them, and they even have mentioned it to us and how different that will be. We have needed to make this change for many different reasons...I just pray that this year will go great for them, and I pray that they have a heart close to Jesus and will continue to seek him on their own as well..and not just because their parents do.  I pray for their strength and all the knowledge that they know to give them strength during the hard times. Yes I know they are not going off to college, but this is a big deal when your child has had prayer and spiritual guidance from teachers since the 1st grade. This next week will be the last full week of summer vacation. It feels to me like the summer just began. Soon my house will be quiet again...too quiet for me. It will just be Gracie and I , and I will also be back to work at my dance studio. My season begins on the 30th of this month. So right now I am doing much of my planning, organizing and registrations. Yep summer is coming to a close and I am not too happy about it. It kind of makes me sad.......But I guess it was just another season, and seasons only last or a while.

Happy Birthday Gracie!!

Happy Birthday to my precious baby girl. Wow, I can't believe my sweetie is 2 years old today. We are so blessed to have her in our lives! Gracie's personality is one in a million, she seriously steels the hearts of everyone around her. When people see her they are always drawn to her and want to know her more. She has such a loving and sweet sense about her. She talks like a 5 year old and soooo thinks she is one of the big kids. She always says "no Gacie do it mama". Oh yes that is her famous line right now. She loves and adores her older brother and sister and vs versa! She loves to play outside. I think she could seriously live outdoors. She preferes spicey foods. Loves rice...go figure right! She loves to be read to , and has to cuddle with us in the rocking chair before going to bed at night. She is smart, wity, and very independent. Yes , we are blessed!

We had one birthday party earlier in the week with family...and another tonight with little friends!

Here is Video of Gracie blowing out her candles!! Pictures below are from a second party with a few little friends!

I am a blessed mama!!