She was soooo proud...

The picture just does not do this ensemble justice.

top: red, white, and blue paisley floral
shorts: pink and brown stripes
socks: periwinkle blue
shoes: pink beaded slippers
headband: black and white checked

A sight we haven't seen for a week...blue sky - Glory!

It has rained and rained, and rained some more. Today - the sun! I love it!

If only I looked this cute in a bikini...

Happy Birthday to our boy!

The cake, after the salsa incident
No need to cry over salsa jar in the cake, there's frosting to be eaten!

Seven years ago, S and I were trying to figure out how to change our itty bitty baby boy's diaper without getting sprayed on. He had such a knack for getting us, as we fumbled our way through diaper changes and parenting in general. We are so proud of the boy he has become and had so much fun celebrating his Bday with him. We'll always remember to cake mishap of '07 when E accidentally dropped a jar of salsa into the middle of the cake just as it was almost finished being decorated. Yes, it really was an accident, I was right there! As Hunter was saying "I'm sorry that happened mommy, I know how hard you worked on the cake", I look up and Ella, the salsa jar dropper, was licking the side of the jar to get the frosting off. In that moment I realized what cool kids I have. Hunter was not mad about the jar in his cake, and Ella just made the best out of the situation and her luck of having all that frosting to "clean up".
Hunter has grown so much since this time last year, starting school, losing teeth and becoming a big brother again, to Piper. It has been such a wonderful surprise to see how much Hunter loves Piper. He gets the biggest kick out of her, and has really loved watching her learn new things and grow. He truly loves her, and it has been so much fun to watch them together, and watch how happy he is with her.

Yesterday marked 4 months with sweet Piper Grace. I have a post about that just as soon as I can steal another 10 minutes on the computer.

ears, tears, and fears

After holding Piper for most of the day, we finally made it to her 4:00 doctor's appointment where it was confirmed that both of her sweet little ears are infected. The doctor wanted to give her a shot of antibiotics to jump start her healing, as her ears were pretty bad. She thinks they never completely healed from her 1st ear infection at the beginning of June. Piper was not happy at all with that decision, and with good cause...we quickly found out that she is allergic to the antibiotic given in the shot. She immediately developed hives and we had to wait and make sure she didn't have "trouble breathing" (fastest way to put fear in a mom's heart). H & E were there with us, and the doctor just kept saying what good kids they were. I offered to let her take them home for the night. The doctor came in to check PG every 5-10 minutes and gave her Benedryl, which slowly caused the hives to fade.
We went by Target on the way home to pick up Piper's medicines and check out the swimming pools. We ate at Target, Pizza Hut pizza in the little "restaurant" area. Not exactly the fresh vegetable dinner I was aiming for. But I have so found a way to trick my kids into getting their veggies. V-8 VFusion Vegetable and Fruit Strawberry Banana Juice...with a FULL serving of Vegetables and a FULL serving of Fruit in every serving! I get a shot of joy watching them drink down their sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets, yes beets! They have no idea. They drink it for breakfast, we make popcycles out of it, Ella begs for it and I say, "well, ok, one more glass, you've already had one today, but since I'm such a nice mommy, you can have one more." I sometimes add a little orange juice to make it go further. I am so cheap.
We have a swim/birthday party this morning at a real pool this morning, so we'll get our swimming in today-hurray! This summer feels like dejavu. Growing up, my friend Amie and I, used to spend our summer days trying to figure out a way to go swimming. Neither one of us had a pool, so we'd call a friend that did and "invite" them to play, hoping they'd invite us over to swim. It worked most of the time. We seriously considered digging our own pool in my backyard. I remember asking my dad if we could and him saying "go for it!" He knew we wouldn't get far, and it would be entertaining to watch us try. We thought we could dig a big hole, (how hard can it be?) line it with trash bags, and fill!
So here I am 20 something years later, trying to figure out a way to go swimming. Amie has recently moved to California and lives within minutes of the beach. Hmmm, maybe I should call Amie and invite her to "visit" me...

Mama's been going just a little bit crazy...

My usual blogging spot...under seige.

We have a decent size house, big enough for everyone to have their own space. However, most of our time is spent like this, pretty much on top of each other.
I still haven't found a rythmn to our summer days and it's making me a bit o crazy. I have visions of what I want our summer to look like, but the reality is not panning out. My vision includes:
-waking up about 2 hours before anyone under 4ft tall for coffee and a quiet time
-snuggling with sleepy heads as they wake from a peaceful night of slumber
-discussing our bible verse for the day over breakfast
-enjoying family chore time, as we all work together on a task
-putting Piper down for a nap and jumping in the pool with H and E
-bringing Piper in the pool after her nap and enjoy being outside together
-having popcycles on the back porch
-having friends over
-serving others in some way together
-having all 3 kids and myself bathed by dinner time
-cooking up some fresh veggies and healthy food for dinner
-reading good books together
-working on some creative project that I am actually able to complete in week or so

Yesterday I realized there are some major flaws in my vision. First of all, we don't have a pool. I either am going to have to put up a redneck version or change my expectations. Looking over my list here, I realize the other things require planning and effort...things that have been in short supply around here. Again, I will have to come up with those, or change my expectations. I took the first step and spent some time at the cross this morning. I unloaded it all: my feelings of failure, my laziness, my lack of focus, my fears, my dreams and desires. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
Today, between naps and laundry, we'll go check out those redneck pools, count the cost, and make a decision. We'll have macaroni and cheese for lunch. I will love Jesus by loving these little people in front of me, even when it's hard and messy.
Mama's a little less crazy than yesterday.
Progress.

Daddy Day

"We never know the love of our parents for us till we have become parents."-- Henry Ward Beecher
I love you dad!
and I love you, my baby's daddy! (got that from Oprah)

Clean water for Xiushan

We are members of a yahoo group for people who have adopted babies from Xiushan SWI(pronounced Shu-shan) in China. Someone posted some great pictures today from the website of a charity that just installed a new water system for the orphanage that was Piper's home for her first 10 months of life. As I look through the pictures and the closeups of the beautiful babies, it's almost too much for me, but I must look. I must look into the eyes of each of those gorgeous children, knowing full well that Piper's face could have very well been in one of those pictures instead of the ones that cover our family's website. I feel such a connection to those babies that now sleep in the beds that she slept in, and play with the toys that she played with. The nanny in picture #71 is the one who handed Piper Grace Zhu to us on that February day. I pray with all of my heart that somehow, each one them finds a family to love and care for them. I know I will carry a burden in my heart for the rest of my life for these children. That burden causes me to pray, and look for a way to give back.
I am so glad that Xiushan will have clean water now, so glad. Piper came to us with a digestive illness, from the water. A round of antibiotics took care of it, but I am just glad that those babies will have the clean water they deserve and will have one less problem to deal with. I encourage you to look at the pictures and imagine if it were your child that you see. If you are so inclined, pray for them, let yourself see them, and pray for them. I think of the utter joy I will feel someday when all wrongs are made right, and we are able to see justice for these little ones.
http://www.a-childs-right.org/projects.html Piper's orphanage, Xiushan, is in pictures 54-74.
Click on China 2007 then you can click the arrow to get to the higher numbers. Click on a number to see that photograph.

Whilst we were still trapped inside...

Out of sheer boredom the other day, E (who is currently going by Megan), spent about an hour playing with Piper's hair and taking pictures. These were some of the better ones. I'll spare you the ones E took of the refrigerator, the floor, the oven, the door....you get the picture.

Patience People

"Good things to those who wait."
Hallelujah!!!
The kids are currently making a huge mess of themselves playing in the sandbox in our BEE-FREE BACKYARD!
I didn't want to post this too soon b/c I was afraid the bees had a wireless Internet connection to the laptop that I'm sure was in the middle of that monster mound on our house. I just knew they were checking my blog to see how much publicity they were getting. So I decided to IGNORE them, not give them any press coverage whatsoever. The plan worked beautifully, and they moved on to torture someone else.
Now, I walk out my back door, just because I can.

E's idea of nature watching..

Using the camouflage binoculars to watch "Animal Planet" on TV

Let me out!

Scene of the crime

The Buzz....

Bee update: Despite seeing thousands of their friends and family members hit the pavement, never to fly again, the bees remain...lots of them. Apparently this bee situation has completely given my friend Christie the heeby jeebies. She posted about it on her blog. I feel I must clarify a few things in order to save my reputation as the world's biggest insect wimp. I DID NOT venture outside to take those pictures. I know I'm half crazy, but insane??? No way! The pictures were taken through the window, from the comfort of my bee-free kitchen. Chrisite brought up the subject of the environmentalist type people who would frown upon someone getting an exterminator out to kill the bees. Ok, I'm going public with the fact that there are thousands of dead bees piled on my back porch right now. In a moment a desperation yesterday morning, when the bees were piled up 4 inches thick on my flower pot, sleeping I suppose, I stuck my hand out the door and sprayed all that I could. They dropped off in clumps, oooo, ick, yuck! I thought I'd gotten most of them, but the survivors must have rounded up their posse, b/c by the afternoon, the swarm returned, much to my dismay. My dad's friend is an expert on such things, and he suggested we give them one more day to pack up their stuff and leave. If they've hung around for more than 4 days it means they've decided to set up home for good. My son, who loves animals and insects, even approved of my exterminating as many as possible. We decided it would be a friendly little warning that this is not a good place to settle. But once I got started, there was no stopping me.
My neighbor suggested calling a animal control and see if they would help us out. The remaining bees (several thousand) are now making a huge mound up under the eaves of our house. By huge, I mean HUGE.
Scott just told me that unless the bees offer to pay a large portion of our house payment in the next ten minutes, we are calling animal control or an exterminator.
Be warned you busy bees!

Friday Photos

The good ol days of summer...

stickers on toliet paper,
playing house with the resurection eggs,
naps in the car,
tatooing your sister's face,
and Hunter, so bored he's watching the local PBS pledge drive featuring country oldies, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash..."I walk the line, I walk the line..." Somehow connecting the headphones to the TV made it tolerable.

This is for real, ya'll

Our back porch has been taken over by bees, tens of thousands of them. Now, this puts a whole new spin on "Ya'll are driving me crazy, go out and play".

I contacted a beekeeper yesterday who will remove the bees for me, for oh, $100-$400. So for now, this is their home. She did tell me that they may pack up and leave at any moment.

I keep hearing that supposedly there is a bee shortage and that somehow this is going to cause the world as we know it to end. So, world, here you are. You can have my bees, every last buzzing one of them! Just make sure you have them out of my yard by 5:00 today.

What is with these people???

Meaning, these people here. Vacation Bible School, swim lessons, "summer fun"...I mean, how am I supposed to have time to blog?
Right now my blog looks a little like my house. Messy, in need of repair, care and attention. I do realize some of my links aren't working and the comments don't work 80% of the time. But it's those little people's fault, the ones shown above, the ones who don't go to school anymore...at all.

UGH!

exhausted
little miss precious
crying
crying
crying
10pm
11pm
in the car
in a thunderstorm
kids er care place
love them
ear infection
eye infection
out by midnight

little miss precious
so fun to be up in the dark time
sleep at 2am
crazy dreams
up too early
little miss precious sleeps
finally

will return
to the land of sentences
soon I hope
for now
lots of grunting and pointing,
me not PG

little miss precious
still precious

Friday Photos

Month of May Flashback...because I haven't a clue where my camera is at the moment and haven't taken any new pictures in a week
Ella fufills a lifelong dream and gets a trophy!
If only I could muster up this much joy over running water
Goodbye Kindergarten, sniff sniff
Mama and her chickadees