2012's Top 10

Here we go again...Every New Year's Eve Andrew and I ponder the previous year and come up with the Top 10 events for our family, the good the bad, the significant.  Here it is...2012!
1.  We moved!  It wasn't a very far move (down the street) but it was a big move from a rented condo into our own home.

2.  Not only did we move, we remodeled the house.  We stripped the ceilings, washed every surface, replaced all floors, completly gutted the kitchen even removing the sliding glass door and building a wall, painted all ceilings and walls, and there's still lots more to do but that was enough to move us in :)

3.  Andrew and I went through the certification process and became licensed foster parents. 
4.  We took our first placement in September, a 7 month old girl, and she's still with us.  Precious and wonderful, we're enjoying the time we have with her.

 

5.  One of those things you don't want to remember but it was a part of our year so here you go...Jill broke her arm falling off her shelf that she was trying to climb.  A broken arm did not slow this girl down, thankfully!

 

6.  And while we're listing negatives, Jocelyn had to call 911 after Jason fell out of a tree.  Fortunately, it was only a minor concussion but watching your child go pale and near faint is not something I ever want to repeat.

 

7.  Back to happy thoughts...We were given a kitten, the prettiest, most social kitten ever!

8.  Buying a house squashed any plans of traveling this year but we did manage to squeeze in a quick trip to northern California to visit our good friends and meet their newly adopted princess. It was a great weekend, we saw many sites, and had lots of fun!

9.  Our family had a membership to the Discovery Science Center for a second year.  This year had multiple extra special events perfect for our family - Dora the Explorer, Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, and Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology. 

Jill loves Dora,

we all love Star Wars and celebrated Andrew's birthday there,

and we're studying Ancient History this year and got so much out of the Archaeology exhibit!

 

10.  The Long family came to visit us!  We loved spending time with them and reconnecting after too long apart.

All that's missing from this pic is Lindsay...but there will be lots of Lindsay in 2013 :)

 

Northern Cal Vacation Part One

For New Year's weekend, we drove north to see the Golden Gate bridge.

It was a gorgeous clear day...and incredibly cold 

We also visited Chinatown.

It was a crazy busy place, yet somehow relaxing and fun!

They have a playground to allow the kids to run after being couped up in a car for way too long trying to find parking in a very crowded city!

We made a point to visit the Fortune Cookie Museum, yum!

Although the best site all day was Adam learning that if you pick up this black thing and put it to your ear you can talk to people miles away!  Yep, he actually kept asking, "is this for real?"

But really, the main reason we drove north was to meet this precious little girl...

Her mommy and daddy flew halfway around the world to get her out of an orphanage,

and we couldn't wait to meet her!

Love this family :)

There's more to share from this trip...coming soon!

 

 

 

 

While mom's away

Women's Christmas Dessert!

I got to hang out with a bunch of women from church including my bestie Stephanie.

It was a great night out of the house and relaxing with the girls and singing Christmas carols...

And back home Daddy was in charge... 

 

 

 

Indiana Jones!

We had the pleasure of visiting the Discovery Science Center's Indiana Jones Exhibit, and this is extra special for us as we've been studying ancient history and archeology this year.

We got the best parking spot there!

Inside, the exhibit came with individual headphones and touch screen players.  They were amazingly user friendly and have movie clips, historical information, and fun facts.

Here's Jason watching a clip about the Ark (you don't have to hold it up, he just is :)

The players were also used in a scavenger hunt.  There were clues and then puzzles to solve. 

Here Andrew is putting his player in the correct window to earn a piece of the puzzle.

Then at the end, you get your prize and name displayed on the wall :) 

There were movie artifacts...

costumes...

And movie clips and information for each of the four Indy films...

There was also a connection between the stories and the actual history of archeology.

We were excited to find one room had an entire wall of Cuneiform writing.

When studying the Sumerians we made cookies with this writing!  See Here :)

I strongly recommend this exhibit if you're in town before April.

With any luck you'll make it out alive...barely!

PS When we started this exhibit, the kids did not know Indiana Jones so we told them, he's Han Solo.  That got them interested in learning more, and then in the middle of the exhibit I learned that there are hints of Star Wars in the Indiana movies from their Lucasfilm connection (e.g. a restaurant named ObiWan).  Interesting, huh :)

Happy Trick-or-Treating!

We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

I read the Wizard of Oz to the kids last month, then we watched the movie, and then Jason and Beth chose to continue reading books in the series.  So it made perfect sense that they would choose this theme for our trick-or-treating adventures.  A busy week and last minute planning left me without much of a costume but I was Toto, really I was :)

We had a blonde Dorothy and our tall Scarecrow

There was Adam as the Tinman.

And then we have Glinda the Good Witch with the Wizard of Oz himself!

On Halloween we went trick-or-treating in a nearby neighborhood with friends. 

We were quite the bunch going door to door!

Before Halloween we attended our church's Harvest Festival where there was a bouncy house

and a proud rider down the big slide!

And there were pony rides!

Two days later we attended our realtor's neighborhood pumpkin patch where there were pony rides again!

And a petting zoo.  Beth says this goose was the softest thing in there.

There was also a pie eating contest.  Jason did very well coming in third place and loving every minute of it even though he doesn't like pie

(it wasn't pie, it was a pile of strawberry goo and whip cream).

And best of all, all of these activities had friends!

Happy Fall!!!

Remembering all the Costumes of years gone by...

Our first Halloween with kids was October 2003. 

Jason was 9 months old...

2004 -20 month old Jason and 4 month old Beth

2005 - We took a giraffe and Batman to Hullabaloo with our Home Group

2006 - Adam joins the family and it was another fun year at Hullabaloo with our Home Group

Pictured: Hannah, Beth, Ryan, Jason holding 5 month old Adam

 2007 - Adam's first year as Nemo (1st of 3!!!)

2008 - Jill was 20 days old and we had lived in Georgia for 3 months

 2009 - We spent it with the Elonens, who were now living in Georgia with us!

2010 - Back in California at The Village Church Harvest Festival

 2011 - At Village Church Harvest Festival Again

 Can't forget our lovely costumes...

2012 - Coming Tomorrow Night but until then...

how about one from 1990 something :)

I was a 7-Up Spot, the one in red in the middle...Happy Halloween!

One Month Fostering

It's been a month and it's been good and it's been hard and it's what we were meant to do!

Generally, things have been very smooth.  The bio family appreciates what we are doing for their child and works with us.  But they do get four visits a week and that takes a lot of time away from our week.  It is a sacrifice...somedays it's really hard, other days it feels normal, no big deal.

 Our kids are doing well with it all.  Jill and Adam absolutely love having her around.  Jill makes her laugh daily.  Adam has to get a hug from her everytime she wakes up from a nap or returns from a visit.  He loves to sit on the floor and play with her.  The older two have never been "baby" people, but they are willing to help and have done their fair share of holding, watching, and entertaining.  I was worried initially how they all would do with attaching to a temporary baby sister, and while I still wonder what will happen, they seem to understand.  Adam even commented, "Can we get a boy next time?"  They know it's our job to love her and to give her a family while her family figures out how to better take care of her, however long that takes!

Anyone up for a picnic on the floor? 

Wish I could share some of the really sweet pics I have of all these kids playing together but no internet photos of foster baby allowed.  So you'll just have to take my word that she is super easygoing, adorable, and sweet :)