12 Year Anniversary

I so wish I could rewind and live this perfect day all over again.

Flashback Friday- Big Hair Edition

High School 1991
I'm the second from the left.
For the record... it was impossible for your hair to be "too big." The bigger the better.

Summer

This sure has been a different summer. It seems to be flying by but it also seems like we haven't done much. We have taken a couple of trip up north but day to day... we are kind of stuck. Having a baby at home sure changes things. Usually the boys and I have a jam packed schedule... swimming, nature trails, library, picnics, play dates, etc. This summer I find it difficult to do much at all. Our beloved trips to the library where we could spend hours reading and browsing have turned into mad grab and go dashes. Let's just say that Eden isn't exactly a quiet child. Swimming and spending time outside need to be scheduled around naps/lunch/and Eden's daily mood. Trips to the movies or shopping need to be scheduled prior with a babysitter. Soooo most days are spent at home. It is just so much work to prepare and take her places. She HATES her stroller and has only fell asleep in it once (our trip to the zoo.) Most of the time she spends shriek screaming to get out. She has figured out how to get out of her stroller even with the five point harness. She can also wiggle out of a shopping cart belt in two second flat (all the while screaming and people staring.) My sister and I have dubbed her the new David Blaine. She would rather be carried but once she gets tired of being in the Ergo she will scratch, pull my hair and bite me in order to get down... and once you do let her down she refuses to hold your hand or walk in whatever direction your would like her to. My independent shrieking contortionist. It is out of control. I am not saying that she does this EVERY time we go out... but it has happened enough to make me really evaluate if a particular trip is worth the risk. Keep in mind too that all the while I also have a very active/distractable/no-fear six year old that I can't take my eyes off of for a second. Ugh.

I am board. My boys are board.

At the same time we have made such strides in attachment this summer. I love not working and being able to spend so much time with Eden (and my boys.) I feel like she has bonded so much more with me. It isn't until she starts doing things that she hasn't done before that I really see how far we have come. She is so much more affectionate with me now. She now "melts" into me when I hold her and will lay her head on my shoulder. I am able to calm and soothe her much more quickly now as well. When I was working it seemed that the minute I would walk in the door she would start to fuss. My mom would say, "she has been good all day, so happy, she is such an easy baby." The total opposite of what she would be like for me. I HATED it. Now that I am home with her I can see that from about 5:00 - 8:00 she is just fussy. I hate that I am not home during her happy hours of the day while I am working. I am DREADING going back to work. I worry that all the progress she has made with me is going to disappear. I worry about yet another change for her.

We have about one month left of summer vacation. Today we have a trip to the library planned after Eden wakes from her nap. We have our books already requested and on hold (via the library website) so that we can just drop off the old and grab the new if we need to. :) We will just have to see.

Korean Market

Hey Everyone! Guess what Mommy found at the Korean market today...

Yes, she picked up more bulgogi marinade and Korean soda... and my favorite snacks. But she also found......

A Pororo table just for me! It's just my size!!!

It has a cute little drawer to put my treasures into.


I can pound on it and make some music!

I like to crawl under it too!

But... can you guess what my FAVORITE thing to do with my new table is????


Yup! crawl on top of it! I have only fallen a few times. I guess it is good that it is a really short table.


Okay, I have played with the table for about 5 minutes now... off to find something else to do. See ya!

Go South Korea!!!!!

The End

So tonight it's all over. No more LOST. I am so sad. For those of you who may also be mourning... check out this funny clip. May put a smile on your face. hehehehe

Germs Germs and more Germs

Our family doctor can thank us personally for making his car payment this month. Ugh.

Luca... 7 days of fevers, double ear infection, nasty case of impetigo on his FACE, missed 7 days of school

Adrian...strep throat, missed two days of school

Eden... now on day three of a fever, I stayed home from work today without pay

Luca finished the last dose of his antibiotic and sure enough Eden woke with a fever the next morning. Four trips to the doctor within three weeks... fun stuff!

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Mother's Day

Being a mom is the greatest blessing of my life.

LOST is back tomorrow!

Something felt a bit off last week without my beloved LOST. My favorite show of all time (behind Seinfeld) is quickly nearing it's end. I have mixed feelings. I am glad the writers have a plan for the show and won't just let it drag on and on... but I'm also sad that there are only a few more hours left to enjoy. The writers have said that this is a show about characters. The characters are the heart of this show. All of the myth and crazy storyline are secondary.

Interestingly, Matthew Fox originally auditioned for the part of Sawyer. Looking at the following audition... he would have done a good job... but I like him so much better as Jack. Jack has always been one of my favorites. His leadership, conviction, strength, his dedication.... what a great character. Even when he was at his all time low (raging alcoholic with a nasty drug habit and hideous beard) I kept cheering for him. I just knew he would find his way. To see him transform from a man of science to a full fledged man of faith has been so cool. Anywho, here is his audition tape....



Soooo, Matthew Fox read for the part of Sawyer and let me just say that I am sooooo glad that he didn't get it. Otherwise we all may have missed out on this....
Here is Josh Holloway's audition


When it is all said and done though....Locke is still may favorite. Terry O'Quinn is the bomb. There are just so many great lines and great moments from this character.


Then there is Jin, Hurley, Richard, Sun, Claire, Charlie, Desmond, Penny... ohhhhh and Ben. They are all so great too! Looking forward to tomorrow night!

Wordless Wednesday- Sisters

Mia Teresa

My niece was born yesterday! Congratulations Em, Jay, Carson and Griffin!

She is a beautiful baby! She has wavy/curly hair and cute little dimples. What a miracle!

No time to write....

Ugh! With school starting, soccer starting, hockey starting, getting a cold, and just every day responsibilities I have not had time to write. Everything is going well. Lots of funny stories about Luca and his first day of Kindergarten and first soccer game. I will post when I can.

I have been LOVING following along with my friend Lynn's blog. They are in China now and she has some great pictures and posts of their trip. Go to Waiting For Hope on the right side of my blog to see!

Halloween 2008

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is the only holiday that we celebrate at my house. I love having everyone over! This year's Halloween party almost didn't happen though due to a horrible stomach bug. Christmas (twice), Easter... and now Halloween can be added to our list of holidays spent in the bathroom. Adrian came down with it first and then a few days later Ron did. This was just four days before Halloween. I was so afraid that Luca and I were going to get it that we spent the next two days and nights at my mom's house! Unfortunately Ron missed our whole pumpkin patch trip as well as carving, but at least he was healthy enough to trick or treat with us on Halloween night. And what a night it was! Luca and I were spared the horrible bug... a first! The weather couldn't have been nicer!!!! The kids were soooo cute and had such a great time. Carson told me that it was, "the best party ever!" Luca had us cracking up trick or treating. Seriously, he was so funny we could barely stand it. It only took him about three houses to figure out that the candy he was getting he couldn't eat due to his food allergies. Soooo, he started telling people "I gotta have gluten three!" Another house we heard him shout... "I can't have pretzels, I gotta have gluten three!" He wasn't saying it in a mean way, but in a self preservation type way. "I gotta have Skittles!" was another one he was telling people. I loved confused look people would get when he would tell them. It was so funny. We all came back to my house and hung our for a while... so nice it was on a Friday!!!! The boys got into their candy a little bit but haven't touched it much since. Adrian ended up giving most of it away at school as a donation to the soldiers overseas.

Ron was too sick to attend Luca's field trip... so it was Papa Tom to the rescue! Luca and Papa went to the farm with Luca's class. He loved the cows!!!!


We had a great time picking and carving our pumpkins with Nonna and Papa!

Luca wanted a "happy" pumpkin face. Adrian wanted something a bit more technical. He wanted a Jack Skellington face. Papa Tom got into it!!! He drilled little holes in and laced up the mouth.... it looked awesome!

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Trick or Treating!

My MAC is BACK!

Now that my MAC is back online I can post some pictures!!!! Some of these are kind of old.

These were taken on local nature trail. My dad and I took the kids a few times this summer. They loved looking for walking sticks and then counting all of the wildlife we would find along the way.






The next batch are from our last trip to Aunt Carol's pool and our last trip to the beach.

Is that not the cutest belly?????



Before we knew it, it was the first day of school.


Summer is over. The leaves are all changing and there is a chill in the air. We have attended quite a few fall activities that I can't wait to share! More to come!

Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been kinda crazy around here. Hockey season has started again, we joined a new church and are attending some small weekly group sessions, I started some new aerobic classes and we have been busy cleaning up a very flooded basement. Thanks Ike. One thing is for sure... it's never boring around here.

Adrian's team played their first game of the season last night. They won and Adrian scored. We have been having a great time socializing with the parents and the kids look like they are having a blast together. So far, we are off to a great season!

Luca is doing great. This is the toughest time of year for him as far as his allergies and asthma. We have been told and have read that we may see a big improvement this year now that we are aware of his food allergies. I already see an improvement. He is usually sick by the first week of school. So far, so good.

We had our fingerprint appointment with USCIS last Friday. We should be receiving our new I171H within the next couple of months. After we receive that we will be set for another 18 months of waiting before needing to redo our paperwork again... and yes, we will need to redo our paperwork again.

Have to run! Want to take advantage of this nice weather before it's gone!!!!!

Getting Into the Groove

It has been a while since I have posted. I've had some technical difficulties as we have changed our internet provider. I am still unable to get online with my Mac which has been very frustrating. I also have been busy busy busy with my new job, the boys starting school, hockey starting back up, etc. Still trying to find a groove with all of this. My house is a mess, I have laundry coming out of my ears, and I have NOT adjusted to getting up at 6:45am.

I am loving my new job, although I miss my old colleagues and the kids from my last school. I really love teaching computers. It is such a change to just focus on ONE thing. The new school has been so warm and have made me feel so welcome. I am very happy.

The boys love their teachers and have not given me too much trouble in the mornings... it's only been two weeks though. Adrian told me that he has the nicest teacher ever... which I agree! Luca has the same teacher as last year and adores her. I can't say enough positive things about his school and teacher. The Montessori program a perfect fit for his learning style and personality.

The GFCF diet continues to go well and I really believe that the diet has had a positive impact on both Luca's overall health and behavior. In addition to the diet we will also be giving Luca some medication to kill off an overgrowth of yeast that were tested for and found in his system. He rarely complains about not being able to eat certain foods. I have found a lot of good substitutes by the brand "Enjoy Life". Just about everything I have purchased from this brand Luca has loved. I found some GF/CF bagels by the "Enjoy Life" brand. One morning I toasted one up for him and put some dairy free butter on it. He went nuts for it. He savored every bite. In fact, he was taking so long eating it that I told him that I would put the rest in a Ziploc bag for him to eat in the car on the way to school. He was fine with that but insisted on carrying the bagel around the house with him while he continued getting ready for school. He wouldn't let it out of his sight! Sad, but so cute at the same time.

That's all for now! Lot's more to post... but it will have to wait.

Getting Nerdier By The Minute

After teaching first grade for eleven years, I accepted another teaching position at another school. I will be teaching computers this fall to kindergarten through eighth grade. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. Getting into the computer/technology end of education has been something I have worked toward for a long time. I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing people. I was part of a group who spoke at a large Education/Technology conference (MACUL) in Detroit a few years ago. Twice I have the honor of having my students present classroom technology projects at the Student Technology Showcase in Lansing. I landed a dream job six years ago at a school which pioneered much of the educational technology that is now used throughout our whole district. Soooo... this has been a long time coming. This job won't be without it's challenges. I am working at a school that is basically starting from scratch. They are looking to me for what to purchase... which is a HUGE SCARY responsibility but very exciting at the same time.

I went into my previous school yesterday. They were having their open house. It was really funny to hear the stories of why I wasn't at the school anymore. Some I heard were....

* I was fired

* I got married.... one husband is enough, thank you very much :)

* I was moved into a portable classroom outside the building

and my personal favorite...

* I died. No, I am not kidding. One of the teachers told another teacher that I was "gone" and she thought that I had died.



In other news....

We completed all of the paperwork for our homestudy update and I171 extension for our adoption. We are just waiting for our social worker to approve the final draft of the update so we can mail it out. Things continue to move slowly with the adoption referrals each month. Our adoption continues to become less and less of a focus for me. Self preservation I assume. I am really glad that I have this new job to keep my mind really busy for a while... less time to think and feel. There are times when I am overwhelmed with feelings of frustration and sadness. The other night Ron and Adrian were talking about how they were going to take some fishing trips together this fall and all the fun they would be having. Instead of feeling happy, I felt so sad and jealous. Things have to pick up, right???

Diet Update

Luca's gluten, casein, and egg free diet has been going very well... much better than I had anticipated. He has been great about trying new versions of his old favorites. He really likes tofu cheese, rice and soy pizza, and rice milk. He is great about asking if he can eat something before just grabbing it and taking a bite. He announced to my mom that he is "allergic to food" which I thought was so funny and sad at the same time. Sometimes it really must feel like he is allergic to food. A couple of other funnies...

"Am I allergic of this?" This is what he asks me before eating.

"Is it gluten three?" Meaning gluten FREE.

We went to Cold Stone Creamery. I brought along some Rice Dream ice cream for Luca and allergy free chocolate chips. I talked to one of the girls behind the counter and told her that my son has food allergies. I asked if she would mind scooping and mixing the ice cream and chips I brought. They couldn't have been nicer! He got to go in and order his ice cream and eat it just like he always does.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage

A big congratulations to my brother Tommy and his beautiful WIFE Niki! They were married August 9th. It was one of the most beautiful and FUN weddings I have ever been to. Here is a recap of last week's events....


We had a great time at the bachelorette party. We had a limo bus take us to some hot spots downtown. Lots of laughs!


My sister and I trying to look serious while sipping from a "special" straw.


I have not figured out why exactly my brother doesn't have a shirt on in this photo. Very strange.

After we all recovered from our nights out on the town (man I am getting OLD). It was on to the rehearsal dinner. We had perfect weather and the golf course was gorgeous. We had dinner at my brother and Niki's favorite restaurant after the ceremony rehearsal. Everything went off without a hitch... except for the fact that Luca refused to go down the isle.


Tommy and his two best men.

The Bridesmaids

I can't believe they are making me do this!

Grrrrrr!

After some coaxing and bribing from mom.




Saturday was the wedding and all of the girls met to get their hair done. We then went to Niki's for pictures and off to the golf course for the ceremony and reception. There were some tense moments with the weather but the rain held off long enough for the ceremony. It sure was pretty! Luca surprised us all walking down the isle... with a smile no less! Check out the photo of Tommy and Niki with the rainbow. That wasn't photo shopped! We had a great time!!!!!














Mother Son Dance

As the bridal party was announced we carried Adrian in on our sholders.

Jay giving one of his signature dance moves.
A video and more pictures can be seen at the band's web site:
www.56daze.com