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.

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

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!