Some Winter Crafting

My boss gave me this old cabinet when we first brought home the girls. Its a play-size hutch that the girls have outgrown. I want to sell it at an upcoming Consignment Sale so thought it needed a fresher look.

I love the new hardware that I bought for $2 ea. at the local hardware store.

Brushed nickel looks way better than scratched up brass. (Gosh I wished I had a better camera so you could see how good the new hardware looks.)

Super Bowl & Adoption Awareness

You all know we are big adoption advocates in this house and this year my favorite team is in the Super Bowl (GO GIANTS!)  So I'm thrilled to join the two together and share with you all an easy way to promote adoption at your super bowl party this year.  Tony Dungee (former coach of the Indianapolis Colts) has shared his heart for adoption and is offering you all the chance to download his video and share it with your church, friends, and family during halftime of the big game (when I'm sure my Giants will be up by at least a touchdown on those evil Patriots).   Watch the preview below and check out Adoption Journey for more information.

Is It Spring Yet?

My poor flowers have been completely confused what season it is.  Saturday, I slipped around Northern KY doing 5 home visits and yesterday it was 55 and sunny.  My daffodils are even up!  Poor things, I keep telling them its not time yet, but they don't seem to be listening. 

A House Divided!

Well, today is the big game. Giants vs. 49ers for a trip to the Super Bowl. We have our monthly 4th-Sunday potluck at church tonight, so we'll have to catch up on the DVR when we get home and get the kids in bed. (We go to one of those "Real Christians Record the Super Bowl and Watch It Later" churches.)

Korean Adoption Campaign

If you know someone who has adopted from South Korea, please pass this information on to them.

The Typing Stand

Caesar was helping me work on a home study tonight.  Such a good holder for my documents while I type...

until he rolled over on my documents

Good thing he's so cute because he just about found himself kicked out of the house a couple of nights ago when he puked 4 times on the living room carpet.

Don't Carpe Diem

I saw this article posted on a friend's facebook page and just had to say "Amen" to it.  I try to tell myself that I often don't enjoy the daily drudgery of parenting because we haven't parented our kids from Day 1 and therefore we face many different challenges, than my friends who started out the "traditional" way.  But I think parenting is just hard.  And if we hold on to the "Kairos" moments that happen each day, the joys of parenting will shine through some of those challenging moments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html

I need to remember that, especially now, as we are daily confronting the learning challenges of our children.  My meeting with AJ's teacher last week revealed he's no where near on track with his classmates and the girls are struggling with their course work also.  Retention is the main problem and many of my friends/clients with kids from 'hard places' are telling me the same thing about their kids. Reasoning, problem solving, retention: all things that come from proper brain development of the frontal lobe during a child's first 3 years of life.  If a child experiences any trauma (lack of prenatal care, traumatic birth, early hospitalization, abuse, neglect, malnourished) during the first 3 years of their lives, the development of that frontal lobe is going to be a bit off.  Not that it can't be restored and healing come, it just takes intentional parenting.  And let me tell you, intentional parenting is exhausting. And well meaning people keep encouraging us to try this teaching technique or spend more time reading with our kids, etc.  I have to tell you, my kids do more 'homework' than almost any other family I know of.  We have private tutors and spend time every night reading to and having our kids read to us. All of my kids are getting extra assistance at school (though that's another tangent I could go down but won't right now) and I have several 'school help' websites bookmarked and we use these often.  They don't watch TV or play video games during the weekly (usually) but there comes point where I shut the books and tell them, "go outside and play".  They are kids after all.  I just find it so hard to balance the pressures of academia with the necessity of just being kids.  And as parents, we put more pressure on ourselves than anyone to have our kids "succeed".  Well, I need to get to the grocery store to fret over how much money I'm spending to provide healthy foods to help my kids' brain development. =) At least it will get my mind of school woes, right?  I'll leave you with a picture of my cuties who woke me up at 6am (an hour before they need to get up) this morning because they wanted to wear their "tight pants & tutus" to school today. 

ps. Thanks for all the comments regarding the fort from my last post.  You helped rebuild my mommy self esteem. =)

Interview with Katie

I got zero comments on my last post so apparently you all didn't think the fort was as cool as my kids did. =)  No worries, they've loved jumping off it into the few inches of snow we've gotten the last few days.

I've talked about Katie Davis before and I always say, "I want to be Katie when I grow up."  I finished reading her book a few weeks ago and LOVED it!  Such a great story teller and she's so honest about her feelings.  I highly recommend Kisses from Katie.  I found this clip on her blog and wanted to share it with you all.


Catalyst Atlanta 2011 | Katie Davis from Catalyst on Vimeo.

The Fort

It's official! I'm the coolest mom ever. My kids said so. I found these shipping crates on the side of the road and AJ, his friend and I hauled each one of them home, one at a time. They had to weigh 50 pound each, but so worth it for the materials needed for a new fort. I've spent the last couple of days emptying them, pulling nails out and dismantling certain sides.

The result...one genuine fort, good enough for 3 kids & a slew of neighborhood kids

The green is the waterproof lining from the shipping crates

Matt helped reinforced the fort so no crates falls off and smash anyone so hopefully its ready to take all that the kids can give it. Hopefully come spring we'll be adding some improvements, its just your basic fort for now.

Adoption Tax Credit Petition

Here's something you can do to help adoptive families and you don't have to spend a dime!

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Ballerinas

The girls had their first ballet lesson today.  They loved it! (of course)  The teacher doesn't allow parents to sit in on the classes (I know, so NOT conducive to blogging mamas) so I had the girls reenact what they learned.  Apparently Chloe learned something different than was being taught (see video #2).

Off to our first ballet lesson

Where's Winter?

A 60 degree day in January equals an afternoon trip to the park.  Kids needed to burn off some energy and Mommy needed to soak up some sun.  My kids have become complete daredevils on playground equipment thanks to recess at WES so instead of yelling at them that they are going to fall and break an arm, I decided to grab the camera instead.  

Essie

Chloe

Chloe

Essie

The other big news in our house is I signed the girls up for ballet classes today.  Classes start Monday and the girls are beyond excited.  You know I'll be posting pics of my ET princesses in their tutus so stay tuned!

Luther Elliss on Adoption

Luther Elliss from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Deck Project-Final Day

Its done! Its done! Our beautiful deck is done! I'm so excited! (Can you tell?)  A big shout out to our contractor, Ken Proctor.  He did a great job and I really think the house will fall down before the deck does.  If you need any help with home improvement projects give Ken a call.  His company is called New Life Construction and Remodeling- 859-553-1210.  Tell him Amy sent you.  

I can't wait for spring to get here so I can start landscaping around this beautiful deck!

 Today's high is supposed to be 47 degrees so I will be grilling out!

I've already told Matt that for Mother's Day I want a swing to hang off the end of this deck. 

Deck Project-Day 7

We are almost there!  We almost have a completed deck.  I can barely stand it!  Here's today's progress.

Deck Project-Day 6

Our wonderful contractor, Ken, worked through the 30 degree day, even with the driving snow and 30 mph winds, and we now have a completed deck floor. 

May The Force Be With You

We took the kids to see "We Bought A Zoo" the other night (which we loved) and the theater had this promo in the lobby.  Luckily I had my camera so I obliged the kids for a picture. We also watched all 3 of the original Star Wars movies this weekend so this photo op made much more sense to the kids. Back to school tomorrow so no more movie marathons for us!

AJ

Essie

Chloe

Drivin' in my Jeep car

The weather yesterday was AWESOME!  I'll take 60 and sunny on any New Year's Eve. I caught the girls playing in their ship/jeep/car/boat, but they spotted me coming with the camera so then had to show off.  These kids crack me up!

Griddle Extraordinaire

Lovin' my new electric griddle.  Made French Toast this morning (which used up a stale loaf of bread) and quesadillas tonight.  Now if only I could find a good place to store the dang thing.