Desserts

Yuuum. Desserts are my absolute favorite! Here is my addition to Kelly's Korner. Head over there for more.

Apple Crisp

10 Granny Smith Apples
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Margarine-melted
9 Oz. Yellow Cake Mix
1 t. Cinnamon

Place peeled, cored and sliced apples in a greased 8x12 inch pan.
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples.
Top with dry cake mix, then drizzle the butter over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
-Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm caramel sauce.

I wish I had a picture but I don't. It is soooo YUM though! If you happen to try it, I hope you enjoy!

Here and Now

So on to the present...

Work is kicking my butt. I picked up another day in the district and now I only have Fridays off. I am conflicted about all of this but all in all, it's ok.

Football season is not going well at all, but we are enjoying it nonetheless. Seth and I went to Oregon to the Purdue Vs. Oregon game. The outcome was unpleasant, but the trip was lots of fun. The kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, so it was a vacay for them as well (and I don't mean for my mom and dad). haaa.

Vandy is playing but not winning. If you like football you know what I mean.

Zachary is talking up a storm now, but only on his terms. He has to be the cutest little boy in the world though. At least he is to his momma.

Lydia is all about getting her nails and toenails painted, but not by me. It has to be from the little girly salon Sweet and Sassy. It's a totally CUTE place and she has been talking about it forever. Well, we have had a couple weeks of her getting out of bed and coming in to our room over and over in the middle of the night. That makes for crabby parents so I came up with an idea.

She has a bedtime chart with VERY special princess stickers she can use IF she stays in bed all night. Haaaaa. It has worked like a charm. I told her if she gets 5 stickers in a row, (meaning staying in bed 5 nights in a row) I would take her to Sweet and Sassy to get her nails done. As you can see, she's 3 for 3. Yaaaaa Lydi!

I let her place her stickers herself so there is not much rhyme or reason, but it's working so HEY...

She was getting up so frequently that this became a learned behavior, almost like a habit. I am hoping this will break this habit and once the fingernails are painted, we can move on and get back to a normal night time routine without all the FLUFF!

Seth celebrated a BIRTHDAY on the 14th. It was low key, but the kids LOVE birthdays so we tried to make big deal about it. We had just gotten home from Oregon the night before and I had to work all day the next day. So, GiGi's Cupcakes it was... Oh, they are to DIE FOR! I can't believe I didn't get pics of the actual cupcakes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Here are a few pictures of our lives lately. Enjoy...Glad to be back!

Lydia hanging with the Vanderbilt Cheerleaders! Fun Times with my friend Annie

I love this Baby more than life itself!

He tried so hard to hang in there at the game...
And he's OUT!Lydia started back to dance!! Of course she LOVES IT!

LIFE IS GOOD!

On Second Thought...

Wow, I really thought I would be a lot better about blogging. I love to write. I love to read. I have kept a private blog for 3 years now and I was pretty good about blogging there. What's up?

I think I finally figured it out. After a lot of thought and soul searching, I have realized why I am not sitting down and blogging.

I changed my blog from a private, password restricted blog to this very public, "hello world here we are blog" because I wanted to help others. My nightmare was over and I now had all this information, and experience and knowledge and I knew I needed to do something with it. I knew that I wanted other potential adoptive and foster parents to know what we knew. I would have given my right arm to have this knowledge under my belt when we were battling the courts, and navigating through international and domestic adoption, not to mention infertility. A lot of heart ache and aggravation can be saved if you are educated on these areas. And I am here to tell you, it is not easy to come by, especially if you are in the thick of your own experiences.

So, I came here as a platform of information and experience, hoping to reach out and advocate. But, in this process I realized I am not ready to do this. It's not that I am not ready to share and help others. I am just not ready to sit down and relive it all yet. The stories and experience are still to raw. I still have nightmares of Lydia being taken away, and Zac being left in the hospital. It was too much to sit down and dig it all back up. I would leave the computer exhausted and therefore, I would just avoid it all together.

I was also completely conflicted with putting The Bug's story out there for the world to dissect. Sure, Seth and I went through hell and back and yes, I want to help others...BUT, this is Lydia's story too and I am not sure that it is fair of me to share HER story, at least not so publicly.

And then I feel bad because, how do I help others but not tell my story. Well, I have thought about that too. I am going to renew my former private blog. Our story was documented from day one. If you are a follower and I have gotten to know you...email me. I will send you the link and the password.

But as for THIS blog...I want to keep it in the HERE and NOW. I want to rejoice my kids and tell funny stories and also share my frustrations as a mom, wife and so on. This is our life now and I just want it to be light and fun.

I hope you all understand that I am STILL HERE if you have questions or know someone else who does. It is still very important to me to help. Foster and adoptive parents will always take a back seat to birth parents, but they still have rights, and everyone should know that.

Peace Out... You will be seeing me much more regularly now. Yaaaaa!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!

GO DORES GO!!!!

Ignorance is Bliss

On Saturday afternoon The Bug was playing so nicely in her playroom, I thought I would surprise her and get Annie out for her to play with for a while. Thank goodness I didn't make a big announcement about going to get her, because as I got close to her cage and said her name I realized she was dead. Well, poor Annie and poor Bug but honestly, we are just not guinea pig peeps (obvioulsy, although I don't think we did anything to kill her). We do dogs and that's about it. I may eat my words one day, but I think from now on we will stick to man's best friend.

So now I have to figure out how to tell Lydia the bad news.

DEEP BREATH...HERE GOES...

Mommy: "Lydia I have some sad news sweetie."
Lydia: "Oh you do mommy? Can I watch a movie?"
M: "Maybe, but I need to tell you something."
L: "You have a surprise for me mommy?"
M: -Trying not to laugh- "No honey, Annie died."
L: "Annie died mommy? I don't want her to die."
M: "Me either sweetie, I am so sorry."
L: "Well, let's go see her. Can we go see her mommy"

Hmmmm, how do I handle this... Well, ok...she can see her and say good-bye I guess.

-Now we are standing in front of Annie's cage...

L: "Oh mommy, Annie died."
M: "Yes, she did Bug. It's very sad and I am sorry your guinea pig died."
L: "I am so sorry you died Annie. I miss you. Mommy, can you wake her up now so I can play with her?"

Huh??? Oh yeah, she's 3!!!

I explained that she went to live in heaven with Lucky, our Maltese that was hit by a car last year. It seems that was all she needed b/c she rsponded with,"Oh yes, mommy, now Annie is living with Lucky and God in heaven in the fluffy white clouds." "Yes, she sure is Lydia."

Annie hasn't been brought up since. If only life stayed THIS innocent!

Rest in peace Annie.