Easter 2013

I love Easter.  It is such a wonderful time of year.  I love teaching the kids about the sacrifice that Christ made to allow us to live this amazing life... I love the fresh spring flowers... the babies and the beautiful sunshine.  I love dying eggs and watching the kids run as fast as they can to find all the Easter eggs. 

This year was especially fun bc we were able to spend it with our closest friends.  I am so blessed by these amazing women that I am lucky enough to have in my life.  When I was younger it seemed like girls were always full of so much drama.  Friendships were difficult and full of self doubt and manipulation.  But, these girls are none of that.  They are honest, kind, caring, truly beautiful amazing and talented women.  They support me no matter what and they are honest with me and confront me when they know I am doing something wrong.  They are wonderful!!!

Not only are my girlfriends amazing but we are made up of mostly adoptive and transracial families so our adopted children have all of these friends who have the same story (or at least similar) as they do.  Not to mention they are around families that look like ours.  I think this normalizes the whole adoption experience and makes it easier for our kids to be "different" around other families.  I think it gives them confidence in knowing there are other families just like ours and maybe we are not so "different" after all!

Spring Time Fun!!!

For spring break we headed to Scottsdale AZ for some spring training fun.  We had a blast meeting up with more family and just kicking back in the sun.  The kids are at such a great age.  They played in the pool like little fish and enjoyed night time s'mores provided by the hotel staff. 

This time not only did the kids get to visit the Angels at their spring training game... but they also got to go to their first hockey game (well pro that is).  We took them to Jobing arena to see the Pheonix Coyotes.  Poor Belle ate so many treats she got sick on our way out and I dropped my phone on the long car drive home and it cracked into a ridiculous amount of pieces.  But, other than those minor set backs the trip was a blast!!!

iPhone Photo Dump

 I have been cooking up a storm lately.  I think it was helping me through my stressful decision of whether or not I could actually stay home.  Turns out I'm pretty decent in the kitchen now.  I have really come a long way coming from a family that did not do much home cooking.  What I have been most excited about is I am cooking clean, whole, healthy meals.  The kids are digging it.  They especially loved the pineapple fried rice with shrimp that I served in these pineapple boats!!!

 We were lucky enough to get to go to an early viewing of Oz before it came out to the public which the kids thought was pretty cool!  The movie was much better than I had anticipated too so it turned out to be a fun event.

 That same weekend we went to the pirates dinner adventure which the kids thought was a total blast.  We were joined by even more close family so the night was pretty fun.

 Belle got picked to be in the show (well... by picked you should read her uncle lied and said it was her birthday) and she LOVED it!  She did almost fall in the water while attempting to throw her gold coin in the water.  But, thankfully she made it out safely ;)

 Belle brought her Merida with her to the hotel and asked me to take her picture.  She is getting so big.

 Cuddlebear is getting so old and he has impressed me so much.  He is the perfect older brother.  He is on student council, made honor roll and loves helping out with the littles.  I cannot wait to see what he does in life.

Sweet M* has had a fascination with being an actor from watching Disney channel so when an opportunity presented himself I jumped.  I let him audition for a part in a tv show.  He didn't get it but I was so proud of him for wanting something, talking to me about it and then being brave enough to try it.  He was so excited.  What was really cool about the experience is he realized I did it just for him and he was very appreciative.  He has come SO FAR I can hardly believe it.  Such an amazing boy!!!

March... How did that happen???

Well life around here moves at lightening speed.  I have no idea how all of the sudden we find ourselves in March meaning spring break and Easter are just around the corner.  It is interesting actually because Hubby and I got married young, started our family young and started our businesses young and we have had our head down just trying to get through it all.  But, lately my eyes have become wide open and I realized that because of all of our hard work and dedication we have built something truly amazing!!!

We have a wonderful marriage that has endured so much, a remarkable friendship, four amazing children that bring us so much joy and a few successful businesses.  I guess it is true that if you put your mind to something and work hard enough you can actually make it come true.

But, now that I am aware of our accomplishments I am also aware of our sacrifices.  As a little girl I dreamed of being a mom.  Coming from a mom who stayed home while I was young it was always my assumption that I would stay home with my babies.  However, as circumstances were I could not (or chose not to) stay home when I actually had my children.  In fact I never even took a maternity leave until Sweet M* came home and I had to take off work for a few months because his transition was so intense and difficult.

This realization that I missed out on some of my precious babies time along with the fact that my youngest... little Belle is already losing teeth and moving on to kindergarten next year has got me caught up in some kind of mid life crisis- YIKES!

So, I have spent that last 3 months or so trying to figure out what to do about it.  I am not one to sit back and watch life pass me by.  I have always chosen to live life to its fullest so whenever I have felt the need to do something I have always JUMPED!  So, after three months of careful consideration and changing my mind back and forth several times a day (driving my amazing supportive husband absolutely batty) I finally feel like I am ready for my next leap and boy is it a big one!!!

I am going to train someone to replace me at work and I am going to try my hand at being a stay at home mom.  WOOT!  WOOT!  I am so excited to be present with the kids.  To have the patience to have deep conversations with them and to listen to their nonsense jibber jabber with enthusiasm.  I cannot wait to have the time to take them to the park, make a mess with playdough and paint all without having to worry about all the work that will be sitting waiting for me.  I also believe this will slow life down a bit more so I don't lose anymore precious time with my babies. 

It is not only about the munchkins.  I truly believe this will also allow me to be a better wife.  I love taking care of my husband and I miss being truly engaged in conversation with him.  It has been way too long that I have been trying to juggle so many roles and I realize now that when you do that you can't give your all to each of them.  In that scenario everyone loses out because no one gets enough of the slice leaving me feeling inadequate at the things most important to me.  So, no more!  I am putting my foot down, making a big change and I know it is going to be the best decision I have ever made.  Life is too short not to be there with the ones you love. 

Watch out Martha Stewart because a new homemaker is coming to town!!! 

Snow much Fun!!!

 

 

This past weekend we drove up a completely dry mountain on a 72 degree sunny day and sat on a ski lift for 15 minutes to the top of a mountain and we found a small bit of snow to play in.  Gotta love California.  We missed going to the snow last year and knew we had to make it out this year bc the kids absolutely love the snow.  But, there are only a few weekends that you can actually enjoy the snow if you live in sunny So Cal so we just went ahead even though it was not the most snowy of days ;)

The kids didn't mind one bit though.  There was enough snow to have a snow ball fight and go tubing and that is all that mattered.  They had a blast.  I will keep it at "they" bc let's be honest this momma is a sunshine, flip flop wearing kind of girl and being in the snow is just NOT my cup of tea.  I do enjoy looking at the pictures now of my cute kids while I am in my warm house sipping on hot tea ;)

a fresh start...

So, good news!!!  The little girl I mentioned that we were not able to move forward with is now living with her grandmother and is no longer in the orphanage. 

Good news you ask?   Let me explain... I hoped and prayed that God would bless this precious little girl and that if she was meant to be in our family that the adoption would still move forward.  I literally prayed no less than 10 times a day.  I read my bible more than ever just to feel closer to our Father.  No, my wishes did not exactly come true but God was definitely working in the background.  I love how he intertwines our lives and brings out some amazing miracles out of some of our most sorrow filled moments.  His ways are so much better than ours and I am feeling so blessed to be able to witness such a miracle.

I was hoping to hear more good news after the long break.  But, instead I received an email and had to make a decision on another referral very quickly.  It broke my heart but we had to turn the second referral down bc we didn't feel right leaving this sweet girl to grow up in the orphanage.  I was a mess.  I wasn't sure if we should have moved forward with the second little girl and I didn't know how we would make the first referral work.  But, we felt like we needed to fight harder for her.  I put her pictures back on my phone and just prayed.  Hubby and I finally felt like this was the right move regardless of where it lead. 

Literally, the next day I received another email letting me know that people went out to try and find this little girls birth mom once again.  Although, they were unable to locate her they did come across the little girl's grandmother AND she accepted custody of the little girl.  This was like music to my ears... hard and sad to come to the realization that this road was over and our sweet girl was not going to come home to us.  But, adoption always needs to be the last resort and I am finally at peace with the situation knowing that my persistence may have helped reunite this sweet one to her biological family.  And, although I will never hold her in my arms... she will remain in my heart forever!

Here are some fun shots from this weekend of my other blessings!

 My big guy looking so cool!

 My middle monsters... so fun having them on the same team this year!

How can you not smile when you see this crazy girl's face :)

Happy 2013!!!

New Year's is one of those holidays in my book that typically passes by without much fuss.  Maybe its because I had kids so young and don't really remember one prior to them being part of it?  Or maybe its because staying up until midnight with toddlers or trying to find a sitter on New Year's isn't easy.

But, something about this year has me excited.  I feel like it is going to be a GREAT year for us.  I also feel like there is so much that could happen within this year and I am just waiting for His Plan to unfold.  

So, what did we do to celebrate?  We dressed up (again in our Christmas clothes bc this momma didn't get a family picture last time), went out to all you can eat sushi (YUM) and partied at home watching the Back to the Future trilogy.  May not sound like a fun filled night but honestly it was!  We were also joined by my parents, sister and one friend whose like family to us.  We are so blessed to be surrounded always by so much love & laughter!!!

Here are some photos from the night:

 Looking good in their Christmas outfits!!!

 The whole gang

 Me with the BEST husband in the world

 Can't get closer to family with this girl... We LOVE her!!!

 My mom and sister amusing me by wearing funny tiara's ;)

 A handsome little guy

 Mr. Cool

Watching the Countdown

 My New Year's Kiss

What's a New Year's without banging on some pots and pans.

I hope you had a fun filled & safe New Year's as well!!