Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Big Girl

Ribbit is getting so big...heavier, taller, wider :). She is definitely out of most of her 18m clothes and is quickly outgrowing her size 5 shoes. She doesn't eat anything that is good for you besides oatmeal, milk, grapes and yogurt. She wakes up hungry and demands a cookie every 10 minutes. She sings herself to sleep with mostly "shake your sillies out", "abcds" or "la la la". She also lists every person before she goes night night and tell every possible thing night night...to the point of exhaustion...nigh nigh monkey, nigh nigh tigger book, nigh nigh dress...you get the picture.

She is starting to tell us No when we ask her to say "sorry, thank you, welcome or please". Most of the time its done in the cute mischievous way but sometimes its very defiant. She will wear a bow for a longer time period now and tells herself " don't touch it" if she reaches up for it. She sings " Happy Birthday to Elmo and Uncle Chris" constantly and reminds me to "shake your body mommy" when we are listening to music in the car. She loves loves loves her brother and is always making sure he gets the same thing she does.

She helps me with laundry by taking her and Goob's clothes to their room once I have folded them on the couch. Of course she then throws them in the floor but we are working on it. She has to be with mommy when I am doing my make up and she puts lotion and powder (barely any) on her face every morning. She gets completely dressed and then runs out of our room and finds daddy to tell him how pretty she is.

She plays very rough and her sheets have black stains on them from where her feet are.....I think that gives me license to buy her new bedding :). She is sleeping in a big girl bed without too much trouble...falls out maybe once a week but just cries and waits for us to come get her. She goes potty in the toilet at least once a day...more for daddy than she will for mommy. She makes sure that everyone knows about all of her boo boos and if you aren't paying her attention she puts on a face and says " mommy boo boo" with quivering bottom lips. She doesn't like to be chased too much (she is my daughter huh?) and if Goob chases her she run to Adam and or I and say " lijah scare me".

During prayer she bows her head and sometimes repeats certain words she hears...it becomes quite comical. She always says AMEN really loud and looks rather pleased with herself. The minute she gets home and we pull into the garage she will say " HOOOMMMEE " (3 syllables long) and then run in, hold her arms up and say "dress, shoes" meaning take off all of my clothes now!!! She likes to wear mine, adams and Goob's shoes around the house and is mesmerized by my purses....she will take things out and put them back in for an hour or so.

I know this is all random things but I just want to document all the fun things she says and does at this age.  Here are some fun recent videos......
btw....Goob got a sticker today....thank you Lord!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Artsy Fartsy

Here are some recent art projects from some of my students....and some crafty stuff at home. 

This is a project by my Intro to Art class...blind contour portraits with a patterned background of an opposing color scheme. We looked at cubism as well.
Two of my very favorites...one on left is very suggestive of this girls personality :) and the one on the right is from my most challenging student who becomes a very quiet focused young man when he begins to draw.


A still life by my Intro to Art class where I was encouraging them to use 4 different types of lines and to "push those dark"-thanks Mrs. Johnt!

This student has major talent and has a good eye for composition


Good use of scumbling in the background and I can tell she didnt guess what the objects looked like...she actually looked at them!


This student is quiet and shy but creates bold drawings....she also has no clue how talented she is :)


A mural by my Drawing class....I chose a painting, cut up a copy and gave them each 20 by 5 strips of blank black paper. They didn't know what they were composing but it had to match the part of the painting I gave them. They were allowed to use oil pastels only. It looks amazing...its a very abstract, painterly portrayal of Golgotha.



Now from some craftiness for a baby shower I hosted at our home.

My friends are naming their baby girl Stella...made this out of scrapbook paper.


Made a diaper cake...Bre helped me roll them and put rubber bands around them. We practiced counting while making this.




Sunday, September 25, 2011

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb

I think I jinxed Goober's good behavior with that post I wrote recently praising him.
Friday was no good. He was in a foul mood when he got to my classroom and was in tears most of the afternoon....he knew he disappointed me. However, it just got worse when his teacher and I spoke once we got home and I found out other things that have been repeatedly happening. Everything she said that has been happening is a product of his past...every little sterotypicial, warned us about it in class, product of coming from an abusive (in several ways) thing. I cried so hard for him that I gave myself a headache. I had to tell her that she can't be lenient with him but that she needs to understand why he acts out. We've gotta nip this behavior in the butt and fast, but we also have to show him grace and show him that the behavior he saw others partake in is not what the Lord wants from us. He knew that he was in deep trouble when his teacher called so he went straight to his room during the phone call.
I went in there and just took one look at his sweet little face and just sat on the bed and cried and held him for the longest. I want that pain and those memories he has to just somehow seep over onto me and to leave him for good. I told him that I was crying for him and because I couldn't save him from those bad situations sooner. He got it, he looked at me and said " my mom was bad, she hit me but you talk to me". I told him that I know everything about his past (something we haven't shared before) and that whether he ever told me evrerything or not that I knew. I told him that his past will not define his future and that Jesus died so that we have clean slate. I reminded him of Steven Curtis Chapman's testimony...we had listened to it on the way to school one day earlier this week. We talked about how his (chapman) family took a tragedy and are just now findings ways to see God's glory in it and find things to be joyous about. We applied that to his situation and how all those times that he was with his mom where he was scared, had to protect himself, had to see dispicable things....that God has a purpose for that and that God can redeem that and turn Goobs life into a joyful celebration of God's grace....how that is already happening.
I told him that I cry for him because I know that God has a hold of his heart but that sometimes he doens't let that show to others. He cried with me for a while...but most of it was rethinking memories. He also asked me if his mom was going to hell because of how she acted. His exact words were " if you don't marry one person, but you marry lots and if you hit lots of people and say mean words then you don't have eternal life". Adam took this one over at dinner devotion and told Goober that his mom has the same chance as we do to go to Heaven, but that God is the only one who knows her heart and that we should pray for her.

This was a huge night....Goob admitted to us lots of things and told me stories that make me want to track her down and repay wrong for wrong. His stories make him cry and make him curl up. He told me that he likes that Dad and I are married and that he doesn't have to worry about us hitting each other or him, especially in the face. He had tons of remorse for his behavior at school and prompty wrote 3 apology letters...those made my cry too...go figure. He did spend the night in his room after dinner, thinking about his clean slate and what he is going to do to change some behaviors.
He really does have the sweetest heart, he always tells me thank you for the smallest things and if I am mad or sad he is always comforting me. He is a great athlete and impresses Adam everyday as they toss the football and practice skateboarding. He knows the bible and he so desperately wants to know more and more about God. Please pray for him, I think his life is going to be a great testimony to the redeeming power of Christ but I know that there are some hurdles for him. As he gets older and begins to digest things he saw as a small child I know there will be more acting out. Pray for Adam and I to have the right words, to be godly in our guidance and in our discipline and that Goob will come to know Christ as his savior very soon.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Impressive

Goober blew us away at tonight's family devotion. He pretty much took over and told us the Creation story as if he was reading it straight from the bible, not forgetting one small detail. He even got to the part where God asks Adam and Eve to come out and they don't because they have realized they are naked without giggling or smiling. Then Adam asked him " What does it mean that we are made in God's image?" and without missing a beat he said " We don't look like him but we have love in our heart like him". Adam and I just kept looking at each other in disbelief, not because we don't think he is smart but because we aren't always sure that he is paying attention during devotional or church....but HOT DOG he is!!!!!
It got even better when he noticed something new on the dining room table. Goober ran over to it and immediately said " MY BIBLECASE". He has been asking for one for about two months now and we were waiting for a spurt of good behavior to reward. Adam got it for him yesterday and its perfect. It' black and white camo and Adam told him its because he is in the Lord's Army. It also has a compass on the zipper and that blew Goober's mind....he has been asking for one of those too! After dinner he put his bible in, his copy of his new testament, 4 pieces of paper and three pencils in it. Then he took it to bed with him!!!!
I am just thrilled to death that he loves getting those kinds of presents and that he is taking an interest in the bible.

Here is a video of Goob and one of my students playing at school.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Best Behavior

Goober is on a roll!!
He has been saying "yes mam and yes sir" to almost everything for the last three days. He hasn't been fussing when we ask him to do something and he has willingly gone to bed without asking for 5 more minutes every night. His phone manners are improving and he is sooo eager to talk to his family. We are still working on skyping skills but most of the time he does okay. Sunday at church our pastor opened the altar for prayer and Adam went down....Goob without any hesitation went down with him. Adam's face was glowing when they walked back together. He has been including several other people in his prayers and asking that Ribbit can love Jesus when she gets bigger :). We have been talking almost every morning on the way to school about how Jesus can live in our heart and change our outside attitude too. He has a friend who is getting baptized soon and she invited him to come see...i think he is eager to see it and I hope we can go. One of the other teachers told me that during Grammar School Chapel Goob sits in the front row and sometimes answer questions...AWESOME!!!
Tonight he told us that the 8 months he has been with us have been the longest he was ever with a family and that he wanted to stay with us for 10 hundred million more years. He said when we get old he will sleep with us and take care of us and still live with us :). He keeps asking me if I would rather him be an army man or a football players. I keep saying " neither, I want you to live with me!!"

Now about Ribbit, well she is Ribbit and even though she is cute as anything she is a 2 year old. She is definitely doing her own thing and getting lots of redirection and love taps :). In Target the other day I asked her to sit down in the cart at least 50 times.....finally the last time she stood up really fast, slapped her hand and said " you gotta sit down" and then sat down all on her own ......and then burst out into hysterical laughter. I mean how do you discipline that kinda cuteness?
She is getting better at potty training....she poo pooed in the potty this morning and proudly wore the sticker Adam gave her all day!

Here are some pictures of my students with the kids from the social the other night!
Sophie and Benta-two of my girls from last year.

Chelsea and Brynlee-two of my sweet girls from this year...Brynlee is the one Goober was referring to when he said " Mom I like that dark girl!"...hehe

Chelsea loved on Ribbit all night! Chelsea's mom also teaches at our school!

Goober and his friend Braxton, one of my sweet boys this year and a fellow teacher's kid!

Goob and his 14th sucker and 114th piggy back ride..notice he is wearing his "muscle shirt"..I am no longer allowed to call them tank tops!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

9/17/2011

I couldn't think of a title for this one...we have kinda been all over the place this week.
Goober got 4 out of 5 behavior stickers this week which meant he got to go to one of his best friends birthday parties this morning. This sweet little girl was in his class last year too and he knew all week long that he just had to go. When we got there this morning, her mom pulled me to the side and asked very bluntly what happened to Goob's and Ribbit's mom. I told her. Then she said that her daughter had come home and just cried and cried for Goober because he told everyone that he reason he had to be adopted was because his birth mom (what he calls her now) was dead. The mom wanted to help me and offer some advice if that was the truth because she had lost both of her parents at age 3. I assured her that was not it but cried with her over how sweet this little girl and Goob's friendship is that she would cry for him. It also hurt my heart that Goob is telling people this. I talked to him about it on the way home from the party and he said he knows she isn't dead but he doesn't want people to know that she did bad things. I assured him that despite all those bad things she did love him but that we had to come up with a better answer for others that was not a lie about his mom. He was not into the conversation at all fell asleep (3 hours of swimming and partying will do that to you). Adam and I are going to handle this later on this weekend when we both have a better answer but I'm still shocked that Goob came to that lie on his own.

On a happier note, both Goob and Ribbit went with me to a 7/8th grade event that I was sponsoring last night. Let's just say I didn't see them for 2 solid hours as the girls all loved on and toted Ribbit around....including feeding her and one offering to change her for me. Goob was in his element and wrestled with the boys, did flips, played games and just soaked up all the attention. My students are so great with the both of them and it again reassured me that we are at the right school.

This week of switching into a big girl bed for Ribbit has gone rather smoothly. She has been a little snotty so that has kept her up some but not to much. So now instead of standing in her crib yelling " eat mommy, eat daddy"...she waits until we open her door and then runs out saying " EAT"!!

Gooberism: He told me one day while I was driving that I was driving like Uncle Chris, kinda crazy :). I said Uncle Chris doesn't drive crazy...and if he does then I will have to get him, what's wrong with that boy (laughing). Goober answered " What's wrong is two things. ...one he is my uncle, two he is a Chris....thats why he drives crazy :)"

Speaking of Uncle Chris....
Surprise...Tickets to a Rangers Game.

Neither one of them wanted anything to do with us.it was all about Uncle Chris

Good Guys

Sweetness

Front row seats!

Our view!

Love for Uncle Chris after church.


Hanging out at Daddy's party.

Bye Uncle Chris

My not so little brother...I miss you!

They have a weird relationship...and now everyone knows it.

She loves her Uncle Chris

Please don't go!!!

Leaving the airport with Daddy.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Shake your Body!!

I had to put that as the title..Ribbit sang it the whole time we were at Target tonight. She would stand up in the cart and wiggle as best as she could and sing " Shake your body, Shake yourself, Shake your mommy body"..it was hilarious and she got lots of smiles and conversations started. She also told me "no" several times when I asked her to sit down. That got her lots of comments from Mommy and even a love tap :) on the hiney.

Remember those parents who once upon a time said they wouldn't spank their kiddos? Well, they were STUPID....we have love tapped Ribbit several times since the adoption went through. Not that we were saving them up, but that's all that gets her attention now. Time Outs only work during meal times for some reason and when you are at Target shopping, they don't work at all. We believe in discipline, not punishment---so we always address what we are love tapping for. When it comes to Goober, he normally just needs a disappointed look.....even a loud voice from Dad brings him to tears...we constantly remind him that when he misbehaves he outside the realm of God's blessings and its our job to bring him back into that safe place. He also hates to have TV taken away from him so for right now that is doing the job.

We have had some milestones here in the Crazy Household :)....Ribbit is sleeping in a big girl bed. We took one side off of her crib and its lowered into a little daybed for her. She held her arms up for Adam to pick her up after her nap today but by bedtime she had that thing figured out...in fact she is still awake talking to her stuffed animals and naming everyone in the family. This is going to help out a lot when we travel for the holidays!

Goober also reached another milestone...one that we have been watching for. When they first came to live with us neither one of them knew how to play on their own. They literally stuck to us, where ever we went. Goob wasn't good at making friends and Ribbit wanted our attention 24/7 (I mean some of that is very normal). We would always try to get Goober to imagine fun places that he could race his cars, or set up a fort in his bedroom and create an imaginary scene. He never got it though and was always bored to tears in his room. BUT, this past weekend as Uncle Chris, Mom and Dad were watching the game and as Ribbit was napping we could hear Goober playing and talking to himself. He had built a small lego boat and was racing it all over the house, making crashing noises and acting as if the three adults weren't even in the room. He even went into his room, by himself and READ A BOOK OUTLOUD...I mean HOLY COW!!!! Adam and I both noticed that his imagination and his confidence to be by himself and with other friends has just grown by leaps and bounds.

This week is crazy and I may not get to blog much....we have 3 showers (two of which we are a part of hosting), one birthday party, one dinner theater, tae kwon do practice and Mom is hosting a Splash Night at school on Friday night for 7/8th graders.

Two funny Gooberisms---Today Goob and I had a great about slavery. Adam bought me the book " The Help" and Goob wanted to know what is was about. As we got into the discussion, we got onto the topic of the Civil War. He stopped me as serious as he could be and said " Don't you mean the silver war...come on mom".

After school I normally stay about 30 minutes to put in attendance and tie up loose ends. One of my students, Brynlee always comes by and plays with Goob....therefore he ADORES HER. He writes her "i like you" note one after the other. Well today he started to write her a whole book and so in the middle of me talking to a high schooler about an art project he said " Mom, how do you spell chother?". I had no clue what he meant, he said " you know, like they like chother". HAHAHAH. I said " do you mean each other?" and he said " yes, but look at how many teeth I am missing, I can't say it right".

Last of Auburn pictures!!

Goob wanted pics of Mom and Ribbit chasing him!

Her little booty says "Auburn"!

Mom Pile

Kisses....oh, sweet kisses

Always stealing mom's shades

Love that one

I love that his helmet is flopping down over his face...this could definitely be a marketing picture for Auburn..I mean he is just the cutest little thing.

More serious.

Good shot Daddy.

Still working on those kicks!

And now he is done...120 pictures later :)

WAR EAGLE

Monday, September 12, 2011

Uncle Chris

We had such a great weekend with Uncle Chris! The kids went Uncle Chris crazy and wanted nothing to do with mommy and daddy. Friday, we let Goober stay home from school and Chris took him to Main Event...they played arcade games and then bowled and also ate at McDonalds. To top it off Chris took him to Coldstone afterwards....Goob was in heaven. That night we surprised everyone, including Uncle Chris with front row tickets to the Rangers vs. Athletics game. We even got Uncle Chris a Ranger T Shirt. That was a lot of fun and Ribbit did quite well, considering she was up 3 hours past her bedtime. She found a granddad there that fell in love with her and fed her peanuts and hugs all night. The biggest struggle we had was over who got to sit in Uncle Chris's lap and who got the seat beside him :).
Saturday we watched the Auburn game...which again caused several health problems and then went to an Archaeology party at Adam's professors house. The kids had lots of fun there and Chris got a taste of seminary life. The funniest part was when everyone was quiet listening to one of the professors speak and Ribbit was spinning on the trampoline shouting " Thank you my Goober (insert real name)" over and over...I was in tears from laughing. When I finally told her to be quiet she switched to " Welcome my Goober"...it was priceless.
Today we went to church and then all crashed. We took Uncle Chris to the airport where I cried..I just love him soo much. I mean I don't know too many 19 year old boys who would ask for a trip to come see his nephew and niece as his only birthday present....and then put up with the both of them all weekend long with a smile on his face. He's just a great christian guy and is very in tune with what God wants for his life.
I asked Goober why he didn't cry at the airport (we normally suffer large meltdowns when leaving family) and he said " i get to see him for one whole week in two months, beat that:)".
Goober also gave Uncle Chris some pretty solid advice while he was here. He told him "Bake a chicken, glue eyes to it and then practice kissing it before you get married"...He also let him know that Elvis, our cat, is a vegetarian....and the best question of the weekend was " mom, if you are older why is Uncle Chris taller and doesn't have arm jiggle like you?"....what a sweetheart :).
I am praying my brother home right now as he is flying on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and I have to admit we were all a little paranoid.
LOVE YOU UNCLE CHRIS

I'll post pictures of our adventures from our adventures after I upload them ..here are some more of our Auburn shoot.
Ribbit and her "killy" from Mr. Ross

They weren't into sitting down and staying still :)

Ribbit figured out that shaking these were fun.

I like this face...its his "mom, really?" face.

I mean if that ain't good form, nothin is!

Can I stop taking pictures now?

Dad intervened and got the giggles going again.

Daddy love.

Ribbit thought she was big stuff carrying the ball around.

Always talking...ALWAYS :)

Going for the catch!

Tackled by Dad.

We tried really hard to get a family shot...this is as close as we got in this position...Goober thought that having the football show AU was more important than seeing his face.

We tried something different...as you can tell Goober is now completely set on getting that dagum football to point the right way :)

A new shot..yay they are both smiling...just not both looking at the camera.

Then action shots...I love it!!

Mommy and Ribbit snuck in on Goober's awesome moves!