the big 29

Yup, its official, I am the wife of a very old man....geesh, what a cradle robber :). At least that is what I have convinced Goober of.
Let me just stop and say that this is definitely a birthday that Adam will easily forget...we didn't do anything special because only 2 of the 4 of us were healthy.
Ribbit and I went to the doctor on Friday, after a week of hacking, snotting, wheezing, eye oozing (get the picture?). She has bronchitis. The doctor gave her antibiotics and gave us a new breathing treatment for her to do every 4 hours. Poor thing. She slept with us every night last week, I was afraid that if she didn't, she would choke on the stuff she was coughing up. Therefore, it was no surprise when mommy got sick as well. I have a sinus and ear infection...yay, more antiobiotics and claritin. JOY.
So, to give a quick overview of Adam's special day....6:30, Adam takes the kids to go buy his own doughnut filled birthday meal. From 7:30-11:00 Adam takes the kids to Goob's basketball game, from 11:00-12:30 Adam makes the kids oh so special tuna fish sandwiches, from 12:30-4 Adam takes Goober with him to play frisbee golf(i think the addiction has been passed on to our 7 year old now) and from 4-8 Adam takes care of the children and makes us leftover soup and biscuits for dinner. Real quick synopsis of my day...sleep on the couch, use the bathroom, eat, sleep on the couch, bathroom, eat..you get the picture. I feel like a lousy wife but he was very sweet.
We did end up giving him presents yesterday, carhart overalls from my parents (for Israel) that he loved, sesame street undies from Goober (that he picked out himself :) and socks, ties and more undies from the girls. We are trying to help him develop his professional wardrobe :).

Today after church however we did let Dad pick where to eat, Mexican--at Anejos. Then the girls went and got Dad a strawberry cheesecake and Carmel Pecan ice cream (his two favorites) and we surprised him after dinner with candles and singing. We ate fresh green beans, potatoes and salad for dinner so we could splurge on dessert afterwards. Adam did say that he feels much better at 29 then he did at 28 and that he attributes that to our diet...YAY!!!

Speaking of diet, here are some tricks we have learned.
 To make a healthier syrup for waffles/pancakes use imitation honey (not the real stuff, too much sugar) and mix in some liquid stevia, it taste great on cinnamon waffles...kids love it!
Substitute coconut milk in for regular milk into biscuits, give them a sweet taste but keeps flaky texture. Take a can of coconut milk, pour it in a tupperware and then put clean wrap over it and put in fridge overnight. The next day it should be thicker, put some unsweetened cocoa powder in it and whip and you have CHOCOLATE ICING!!!!!!! You can't use the light coconut milk, so you do get about 2 grams of sugar...but its dairy free and low sugar!!
Finally, here is an AWESOME hummus recipe. I took a tupperware full to work and everyone loved it!! Roast a red pepper (i put mine in oven for 10 minutes on broil and flipped it twice. Throw in food processor (thanks mom!), add juice from 1/2 lemon, can of garbanzo beans, one garlic clove, salt and pepper. Blend and slowly add in vegetable oil until its a good texture. ITS PRETTY AWESOME!

Kiddo news-Goob brought home a 94 on his spelling test and a 90 on his dictation for last week. Mom did a huge happy dance (think vanilla ice moves) and he got super embarrassed....I didn't know why he was acting weird but then figured out that he didn't think a 94 and a 90 were A's....poor guy, thought he was only a good speller if he made 100s.
Goober has started to tap his forehead if he wants a kiss from mom..he surprised me and did it at school the other day before I left from eating lunch....he better be glad I didnt tackle him after that :).
Goober got a spy watch with the money he has been saving up and it has little parts on it. The other day in church he dropped a small piece and was on the floor, under the pews and crawling up towards the front in no time, several people would look down and see a smiling, toothless caramel face waving at them from under the pew...he got it and came back quick...but his clothes looked like he had cleaned the floors:)
While giving Ribbit her breathing treatments she likes to listen to her Dora CD player...she can't move that much with the mask on her face so instead she puts her booty up in the air and shakes it :).
Today at the store as she and I were walking away from the yogurt section another couple walked up. She yelled at them to "stop buying all de yogurt" and then just smiled as big as she could.
I took her into the bathroom with me the other week at Goober's football game and while I used the bathroom I was scratching my nose and she yelled at me " Mommy, don't pick yur nose". The lady in the stall next to us cracked up. 

Pictures:  On Monday nights Adam doesn't get home til 9:30. So its mommy-time. If Ribbit has to go #2 I normally just let her do her thing and she calls me when she is done. I was helping Goober with spelling in the dining room and heard " MOMMY, COME SEE" and ran in. I guess I overlooked her taking this hat in with her but she had it on and was just a grinning..

 I snuck back with the camera a couple minutes later and saw this....bwa haha ha ha haha hah...maybe she was cold? Sorry for the potty pictures but they are priceless :)

 Wake up my lovies!!! Happy Valentines Day breakfast, with heart shaped eggs and toast, cards and new summer flip flops!!!  Can you tell that we are morning people around here?

 Look at those sweet "just crawled out of bed" faces.

 Happy Birthday Dad!!!
(on a side note the kitchen is all white now, we are prepping walls for paint, re-painting cabinets and waiting for countertops to come in...that's why there is not a stitch of colors in these photos)

 They both were having a hard time posing for another picture with cake sitting right in front of them

 Helping dad blow out ALL OF THOSE candles

 Yup, count em, 29!!! First year that we had to buy 2 packs of candles ......  geesh

Mommy/Son Day

Today Goob and I had the day off together. We went to Barnes and Noble and spent time reading and working on spelling words--it makes homework better if you are surrounded by Star Wars book and drinking Hot Chocolate. Then we went to the movies and out to pick out Dad's birthday present :). I want to make sure that Goob gets lots of one on one time with us since Ribbit does take a lot of our attention when we are all together.
The rest of the day was crazy. We had 3 little girls over (their mom is one of my co-workers and spent the whole day helping our students rehearse for the upcoming musical) and we went to the park, to dinner and back home together. Ribbit was not feeling good at all and didn't eat, cried and just laid on my shoulder the whole time. She took a bath which made her feel better and ended up eating some yogurt before she went to bed. She didn't have a super high fever but I am going to watch her tonight. Tomorrow is my distract art competition so I am taking 19 students away for the day. Hopefully she will recover tonight and be back to chatty, bossy, sweet as pie child tomorrow :).

Oh--and as I already mentioned, Adam's birthday is the 25th, this Saturday---he took it off facebook for some odd reason so make sure you tell him HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY...geesh, he sure did rob the cradle :). Oh, I love that guy.

Here's one reason why I love Adam....he's busy beyond belief with school but if either one of those sweet caramel colored little faces says " please play with my daddy" he drops everything.

Ha Lay Who Yah

And if you were wondering how to pronounce that funny word we say at church all the time, well here is your answer.....I love this little thing!

Rainy Saturday

It has rained all day long...which would mean that its a good day for movies and napping...but not in this house :).
Goober had an early football game -in which he made 2 of the 3 touchdowns, rushing through all the boys from the other team! Then we went straight to his basketball game in which we think he won, we weren't paying enough attention. Plus, Ribbit decided to dart away from us as much as possible. Regardless he was pretty tired. We ate at a chinese restaurant....yup we gorged.
Then we went to Home Depot and came home to start work! The kids watched a movie and played in the playroom while dad and I took all the doors and drawers (52 in all) out of the kitchen and started painting.
Tomorrow we have church in the morning and then tomorrow night we have a dinner with the pastors to ask any questions and talk to them before we join the church...pretty neat huh?
Ribbit has started to say to us " what's next" after we are done with a certain activity or a lot in the time in the middle of one. She also has started saying "thanks" in a very sarcastic tone after we do something for her, good thing she is super cute!
Goober is such a sweet little thing. He came home from school on Friday with gifts. He traded in all of his tickets (that he earns by reading and from good behavior) and got a fairy wand for Ribbit and a football ring for dad. He apologized for not having enough to get me something....sweet boy, didn't get himself one single thing! He has also become my little sugar nazi, going up and down the aisle we are in at the grocery store reading sugar amounts and also asking how much sugar food has at the dinner table :).

Did you know that abundawonderful is a word?  Well here is all the proof you need! Yup, that same pile of laundry has been sitting there for a solid week now....one more day won't hurt it.

Video and Picture Dump

Once again I apologize for the loudness of my voice. This was a great catch for Goober's team. They won this game by 1 point!!!! This weekend we have a football game at 8:20 (that would be a.m.) and a basketball game at 10...he is going to be wore out!!!!

 Goob was dressed for class picture day and I just had to get his picture..doesn't he look handsome? Little sister had to be in the picture too..can you tell that Daddy dressed her that morning? he he

 Camping out in the backyard with our best friend Armani.

Do you see that cute little foot popping out from underneath the covers? That is what we saw before church one morning.....please don't look at the amount of dust underneath our bed....i'm beyond grossed out...guess I will add dusting to my list for tomorrow!

We all get a 4 day weekend this week, except Goober he gets 3. Mom got the day off since our boys basketball, boys and girls soccer are all going to state and their games were today (friday) . So since several students and many teachers were already going to miss they cancelled today for upper school...YAY! I spent the whole day with Ribbit, we went and bought both kids a pair of jeans, worked on mom's art pieces for competition, went grocery shopping and went to eat lunch with Goober at school. I had to get them jeans, in the past two weeks they have both outgrown all of their pants...I mean its a little ridiculous for Goob, he had a free dress day at school and we went through a whole drawer of pants (that just fit last month) in order to find a pair that didn't hit at the calf. Ribbit, even though she is 30 months, she fits into 24 month pants like a glove, a little long. 2T's though swallow her up. Who came up with those sizes, don't I have enough parenting things to be confused about? :)

I have been feeling 100% better since getting a second opinion, in fact she told me on Tuesday that my old doctor was apparently making things out to be the worse case scenario and through blood tests she ruled that I dont' have anything that the old doctor said I have. Soooo, i stopped taking all prescribed meds and supplements and guess what? I feel GOOD!!! I won't say what she thinks is really going on, its a little too personal but its something that every women goes through, I just happen to be an overachiever :). I am so thankful to have my health back, I was feeling like a horrible mom and wife and thinking that I would never feel normal again. We are going to stick to a low-no sugar diet as best as we can. I will be sticking to low dairy (basically just eating yogurt and small amounts of cheese) because I just feel better when I don't hoard the milk (besides Ribbit goes through a gallon a week all by herself). My kids are getting used to having lots of veggies for dinner, homemade soups and kettle corn (no sugar!!) for dessert. We switched to organic (which I get for super cheap with coupons) snacks and oatmeal/granola bars for Goob's lunches and snacks.
Funny story though- I hadn't had coffee, milk, soda, cheese, candy, chocolate, hardly any sugar for a month right?....well my doctor called me Tuesday afternoon, VALENTINES day to tell me that the diet wasn't going to help my situation (basically because I didn't have a situation).....so about 10 minutes later one of my sweet sweet 7th grade boys ( who I think is sweet on me :) brought me a large heart shaped box of peanuts covered in caramel and chocolate....guess what happened next? And no, I didn't feel guilty at all!!!!

In my women's bible study group we memorize a verse a week and here is this weeks' verse....I LOVE IT, it speaks to God's power and his grip on us!!!

John 10:28-I give them eternal life and they will never perish, NO ONE SHALL SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND!!!!

My Sweet Valentines

I couldn't ask for three sweeter Valentines.  Goober made me lots of Lego valentine presents this weekend which let me know he loves me. Ribbit took out 3 kids in sunday school who tried to touch her mommy and daddy at church, so we know she loves us too :) 
I've got Valentine's breakfast ready to go in the morning, heart shaped eggs and toast on red plates with red cups. We got them each a pair of flip flops and a card. Not much, but just something to show them we love them and to start looking forward to warmer weather :).
Speaking of Love, God has really been loving on me lately. Adam and I have struggled since we left TN to make deep, family like relationships with others. Our family is so far away and for the last 2 years we felt very much on our own here in Texas. This past Sunday, a girl from our new sunday school class got together with me to catch me up on a bible study she leads so that I can start joining them this Wednesday night. She poured into me for about 2 hours and told me how she and her husband were prompted to invest in Adam and I for however long we are here. It's a very sacrificial move for them, they have two sons, the oldest is autistic and their life looks very different than ours. I also was asked to go to a cooking class tomorrow night with another girl from our sunday school class. Yes, its on Valentine's Day but she thought we would have fun together and learn how to make something special for our hubbies. I also went to a new doctor today and she was very quick to let me know that she was going to figure out what is going on and that I shouldn't worry about it. Adam tells me this a lot but something about hearing a doctor say it eased my nerves.
Adam and I celebrated Valentines Day early. I surprised him Friday by lining up a sitter for 4 hours. We went to eat at a Thai restaurant, went shopping (where we got the kids valentine presents, him a new bathing suit and myself a summer dress- can you tell we are ready for the river this summer?) and then we watched a movie, alone at home together. It was quite nice.
Goober is going on a field trip tomorrow to see Charlotte's Web, I can't go but I am meeting him for lunch....he was actually pretty bummed that neither I nor dad could go with him this time, but that made me feel good, you know that he still wants me around.
So besides all that, same ole same ole, horrible, awful spelling words and sentences-that he is doing quite well this week, a potty trained 2 year old who wakes us up every morning saying " i go poop, i get jellybeans" and who sticks her finger as far up my ear as possible and says " i get your boogers" (it was nighttime, she couldn't see my face), Adam reminding himself that he can get through this semester with hard work and with devoting his every waking moment to school--even though he drops everything to make paper airplanes with Goob, ahhhh, the good life :).

Here are some pictures and videos from our past week.

Here is some potty time...we like to sing and be silly....she knows she gets her mommy to herself then..none of this sharing stuff :)

Our "1 year" anniversary picture. I love this picture for many reasons but some of them are A) we hadn't had this kinda sweet in a while (milkshake) and so we were all not feeling to well that night :) B) We look tired, not put together, cold (with milkshakes) and HAPPY and C)I had to crop out the pile of laundry on the couch and the pile of junk on the coffee table...1 year later and we are a very real family :)

I'll have to upload other videos and photos on another post..this new wordpress setting will only one of each on each post...BUMMER!

Surrounded by Talent

I haven't been blogging much these days..if you didn't know it I am earning my PhD...NOT. I feel like it though, I spend lots of time online every night researching my current symptoms. I don't usually talk about my health but its become a constant issue lately, keeping me from work, putting a lot more of the home and kiddo responsibilities on Adam...so I am seeing a new doctor on Monday (yay) and I am researching my little heart out...since frankly, if I dont, who will?
So, blogging has become a not so important priority as of lately.
But, that doesn't mean that I can't take in the talent that is all around me and love it! Check out these moves by the one and only Goober----who improves in one area of basketball 100% at each game. At Saturday's game he got 3 baskets....we were so stinkin proud. Fortunately we got his first one on video, between a sick momma, whiny ribbit and always hungry friend ( who was spending the night) we feel quite lucky to have anything at all :).

I am also super impressed with my Mixed Media's class most recent project. Its competition season which means all of my students are trying to create their best work in hopes of going to District and then on to State. I have about 14 students as of right now that are entering pieces at District Level and 5 more who are entering on-site drawing competitions...YAY!!!
So this is my Auburn kid, and even if he weren't an Auburn fan I would still love him to death, look at that talent..I mean he used pictures of a pork chop to create his cheeks. He used pictures of wood flooring to capture the shadows under his face that fall on his neck. I am beyond excited to see how well this piece will do!

This young lady is very driven and very talented...she chose purple (one of my rules for this project was that it had to be monochromatic) and purple is a very hard color to work with...she also chose a non-conventional pose...an upclose of her face from above..its beautiful though!

 She had to use lots of adds since there aren't too many purple items inside of magazines.

 Even though this one doesn't physically resemble him to a tee, I think it totally captures his essence. He is from South Africa and is very goal-oriented, loves fashion, has the greatest one-liners and stops by my room every morning to tell me good morning!

 I'm in love with this portrait. Its her to a tee, personality, resemblance, everything. No, she is not dull but reserved and very serious about her academics, athletics and artwork.

 I love this kid, she went with me to district and then on to state last year for another self portrait she did using only her fingerprints. She's real easy to get along with and super smart!

I had more pictures of my students work but I somehow deleted them between school and home...so more for another posting!

Homecoming Day

1 year ago today...well really tomorrow but since we will be out celebrating I decided to write the post tonight.
So, 1 year ago today I went to my job knowing that when I got home that afternoon 2 little people would be standing there needing me to be their mom. I remember fumbling through class, entertaining questions from all of my excited students and co-workers about them. I remember being super nervous that we wouldn't get them that day since 2 other drop offs had failed earlier that week. I remember thinking " what in the world does a 6 year old even look like, is he waist high? can he bathe himself? will he like me?" . I remember googling "what do 18 month olds eat?" "can an 18 month old eat a casserole?".
I got home in record speed, made sure that I looked like a fit mother, you know hair done, make-up done, spiky boots on (bwa hah ha). I looked over our home several times looking for possible danger zones or things that may break if a child threw them.
10 minutes before they were supposed to be there Adam and I stood in our kitchen and just held each other, knowing that this was our last true alone time, shaking from nerves and knowing that God had been preparing us for this for over a year.

Then a knock on the door and we rushed to it.
Outside stood a lady who said " they are very upset, they didn't know they were being taken away today".
She had tears in her eyes and we ran out to the car. I went to Goober knowing in my heart that he would need a nurturing mommy right away. I leaned into the car and grabbed his little hands, thinking " he is sooo little" and he is crying too hard. I told him it was okay to cry but that we were so happy he was here. I told him that we had a big room set up just for him, cats that would be his very own pets, that he would be going to school with me and that we were going to have lots of fun. He finally agreed to walk into the house with me to see his room. When we got in he just sat on his bed and all of us started to talk.
Adam got Ribbit out of the car and was holding her walking around, talking to the worker. Soon, our worker and adoption coordinator showed up and all of us were back in the living room talking. Adam put Ribbit down in her room at one point and when she stood up straight and walked , he said " woah, you are stable". This made all of the workers from both agencies laugh. I didn't laugh because I was just as shocked that she could stand. From that point on I think everyone was a little nervous about leaving the kids with us because, yup, we were just that ignorant.
Once everyone left and things calmed down we ate dinner, hamburgers. Goober told us all the food he liked and didn't like. Ribbit just ate and ate and was passed from lap to lap..of course we didn't have a high chair!
Then we headed to Wal-Mart, they needed some items and we let Goober pick out some favorite food...anything to make him feel comfortable. We also needed diapers and wipes....DUH!

That night it took Ribbit some convincing to sleep in her room, eventually Goober slept with her 1/2 of the night, us 1/2 the night and Ribbit slept with us the other 1/2 of the night and therefore no one got any good sleep. I can remember laying in bed crying with Adam about how good God had been to us that day. We were crying and smiling so hard. I can't imagine our life without them. Goober told us today that it feels like he has been here a lot longer than one year...we agree.

Adam and I have been praying about what comes next...he does finish in May. We aren't sure if he will pursue a job in the field of his degree or how any of that will work out. We knew without a doubt that God wanted us to come to TX, so much so that we left our new home in TN (that we still own) to come here. We have decided that God brought us here for one purpose, to get our kids. Adam's degree is just a bonus. We couldn't have been matched with more perfect kids, who seem to look, act and respond like us more every day.....and so if being obedient to come to TX meant getting some great kids, then we wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm not sure if its blasphemous to film your kid praying but I had to. Ribbit has started saying that she "wants to talk to God" before dinner. She just prays and prays her little heart out, most of the time mommy or daddy have to end it with "amen". She already knows that talking to God is super important!!!!

 

Week in pictures

 Homemade Apple Sauce....YUMMO

 Oatmeal/Blueberry/Pecan/Dark Chocolate Breakfast Casserole

 2 of the sweetest thangs.

 They both insist on having their backpacks on in the morning...whether we are leaving soon or in 30 minutes.

Roses from my Hot Date last Friday night.

for the techies

Tonight Adam totally surprised me, whipped out a kindle touch and it was all mine!!!! I'm definitely not a techie (i'm quite okay with my ancient phone that allows me to talk on it without surfing the internet) but I have been longing for a kindle after seeing how many great "no sugar" "no dairy" "no gluten" cookbooks there are. It will also be nice for me to download all the freebies from the couponing blogs I follow...WATCH OUT WORLD, I am dangerous with a kindle in my hands...bwa ha ha.

On to other fun things (and the reason for being surprised by my awesome husband) is that one year ago today we spent all day snowed in and making phone calls to announce that we would be parents!!! It was super fun and super annoying all at the same time. Everyone wanted to know lots of info, but we didn't have a lot to go off of ourselves so we just shared what we could, got excited and started making lists of things that had to be done before we would get the kiddos on that Friday..little did we know that Friday would be a super rough day, followed by a super rough Saturday and Sunday.

Our kiddos have had an awesome week. Goober's spelling list got twice as long....no joke....but, no one has lost their cool (yet) and so far he is doing okay with the words. They are hard and most of them are rule breakers with silent e's on the end and adding the "ough" in the middle to completely throw him for a loop.

Last night at family devotions will go down as one of my top ten favorite family moments from this year. Goob was sitting in my lap, while Ribbit held my hand screaming " my mommy". Adam was bushed from work and was worn out on reading from staring at Hebrew all day. So as he read about Joshua and Jericho he kept saying " Jod" instead of "God" and everytime Goob and I would fall out into hysteria. I was shaking from laughing so I would have to hold onto Goober, thus letting go of Ribbit's hand, thus causing her to scream and hyperventilate at the thought that I could be "only Goober's mommy". It was sooo stinkin hilarious. We had to regain composure several times and then Adam would fumble again and it would start over. We ended the time by singing the song "Joshua won the battle of Jericho" as loud as we could while Adam pretended to be upset by our mockery :).

Today on the way to the grocery store Goober all of sudden announced that the happiest day in his life was when he came to live with us and the saddest day was when he was taken away from his mom. I agreed with him and then he went into a lengthy speech about how she didn't take care of him and little kids need to be taken care of because that don't have their own money and need things. He said that she wouldn't get a job and that she did not love Jesus. This opened the door to let me remind him of all of the things that Jesus gives us and how he is taking those bad things and slowly replacing them with good things which is called "redemption". We also talked about how bad choices and not living according to God's plan comes with a cost....sometimes a high cost. He recognized that his mom made bad choices in the men she liked but that I made a very good choice because in Goobers words " dad loves Jesus and only says mean things to you when you guys fight, but they aren't mean, they are loud and then you kiss and dad says "yyyyeeeahhh""  :)

And since this post wasn't long enough here are some pictures and videos!
Goob's last bball game....he did 100% better!

And here are the two sweet little guys that accompanied us to the Harlem Globetrotters game!

 Right when we got there..

 Laughing at the players pulling down each others shorts to reveal sesame street boxers.

 Half time show....we went down closer.

Surprised by official Harlem Globetrotters basketballs!