Lewis and Clark, Explorers Extarordinaire

Can I call Lewis?
When are we going to visit Poppa and Lewis?
...
The common name is Grandma. Nanna. Grams. Something along those lines. But this is different. She is perfectly different. And it is perfect.
Combine a long car ride, destination Seaside, a creative woman and a disobedient little boy. Result a brilliant scheme of fun and adventure. They entered the car as Grandma and M. They exited as Lewis and Clark, explorers extraordinaire.
That week marked the beginning of something special. Treasure hunts in the sand. Complete with X marks the spot. Feeding hundreds of seagulls. Visiting their statue. (The one of Lewis and Clark). Receiving orders from Thomas Jefferson himself.
I watched my son fall in love with Lewis in a new way. They are buddies - he has been known to say. Even threatening to move near them because he misses them more than he would us. They have a bond I am jealous of. But am oh so grateful for.
My mom is amazing in her own right. A woman of many talents. She is excellent in all that she does. I have always admired her. She is my closest friend. But more than anything else, my heart swells at the love that she has for M. It is boundless. And he revels in it. It is fun. And his little heart seeks for it.
Lewis and Clark was a brilliant way to get M to behave. But now it is the bond that defines their relationship. The element of fun in everything they do. It is a promise of forever from Lewis to Clark.

...
I would love to hear how you or your family/friends have found ways to connect with your children!

Linking up here

    

Family Traditions

"Who's turn is it this week?" A question that is often asked in our home. 

I don't remember if it was the 1st week we brought him home or sometime after that.

Some people may think that we are encouraging bad habits, and maybe we are. But hey if bad habits work then why not! (at least sometimes). 

Every Saturday night after dinner and before bed time our family pops a giant bowl of popcorn and cuddles up on the couch. We take turns choosing. This coming Saturday is M's turn. I am guessing that at some point he will mention Rapunzel (Disney's Tangled) or Ice Age. He doesn't always choose the same movie but enough times that we can quote them fairly well. 

It is one of those things that you do that just sticks. We all love it. M says often that he wishes every day were Saturday. I would like to think that it isn't just watching TV for 90 minutes that makes it such a family favorite. We laugh together, we snuggle and chat. We have fun. 

We have watched almost every decent movie on Netflix and I am not sure what we will do when we get through all of them, but I suppose M won't mind if we repeat a few. :) 

I am linking up here

A Happy Birthday

Hello,
It has been a while. Sorry. My intent is to be consistent with these posts (3x a week is the plan). I will do my best to maintain this schedule. Thank you for your patience...

And now on with the fun stuff...

M just had a birthday! I can't believe how big he is getting (something I think every mother has said at least once while looking at their child). For me though, I feel a little cheated. I have only been able to spend the last 2 birthdays with him, so in a weird sort of way to me he is just two (and actually he hasn't been with us for two years yet, figure that one out). Anyways, as you will soon find out about me I love to plan things. I am a firm believer in the birthdays-are-meant-to-be-memorable-and-fun rule.

M has been loving all things spys for quite some time (why yes, I have seen all 4 Spy Kids films thank you very much). We decided to throw him a spy party, and when I say we, I really mean me, because when I suggested the idea to the hubs he looked at me like I was crazy and double checked that I would be doing all planning and organizing of said event. (He really is wonderful, don't get the wrong idea, he was invaluable for the party, but the planning was hands off for him).

The party was soooooo much fun!

  The idea was that M's stuffed monkey, Darryl, was captured while on a super secret spy mission. The agents (kids at the party) were assigned to rescue him from the evil Bad Bart Bomber (aka the hubs).

The kids had clues for each step, beginning with a video message from the President of OSS and Darryl. They played my version of "I Spy", received a clue and a shovel from Agent Lewis, dug up a clue down by the river, went to the local market, diffused a bomb (a piñata painted black), put on disguises, climbed through a laser field (yarn stretched across a hallway) and finally rescued Darryl in Bad Bart Bomber's lair (a bouncy castle).

I had fun, the kids had fun. I have no idea how I am going to top it next year.

Have a wonderful day and happy party planning!

I am linking up with The Life of Faith at ...
http://the-life-of-faith.blogspot.com/2014/01/mommy-moments-77.html

Little Moments

I don't claim to have it all together. I am certainly not perfect. But sometimes you hit on something that works that makes you and your child deliciously happy. In those little moments you find the depth of love and joy in not just being a mom but in knowing your child.
M and I found our little moment almost by accident. Actually, it came from purely selfish motives on my part. I had no idea what we were stumbling upon. Tuesdays were my grocery shopping day and M's day off from school. So I would pack him in the car and off we would go, stopping at our local Safeway first before heading into town. As all worthwhile Safeway's do, ours had a Starbucks in it. I am a sucker for a blended coffee drink and rarely passed up an opportunity to treat myself to one (after all I was going to all the work of buying groceries for my family). Ok, so my justification is lame at best, but it worked for me. For any mothers of small children out there you know that when shopping with said children every second counts. You have to move quickly before the dear sweet darling of a child poops out on you. Stopping for coffee, does not usually aid in this endeavor. But I had a moment of genius one day when my 4 year old son was waiting impatiently (read here touching everything and talking to everyone and moments away from wandering off to something more interesting) for me to get my well earned reward. I bribed him! Yes, you read that right. Mom of the year award goes to me. I don't usually condone bribing and it is actually one of my pet peeves, when parents try and buy off their children with some sort of reward. But I succumbed and it has turned out to be one of the best things for M and I.
What did I do exactly? Well let me just tell you. I said 'Hey, M! (in my sweetest most enticing mom voice) Would you like some hot chocolate?" Of course he jumped at the chance to get something and so I ordered my coffee, he ordered his hot chocolate and then we sat and drank it at one of the little tables. We chatted and enjoyed our drinks. It was fun. And from that moment on "coffee" dates became our thing. We have so much fun drinking our drinks and chatting about everything. I truly get to enjoy being with M. And when we moved away from our Safeway with the Starbucks it didn't matter, because we do coffee dates at home. He sips his hot chocolate and I my coffee and we get to know each other, relishing the little moments that tie us together.
Coffee and hot chocolate may not be your thing. Don't dismay! Pay attention to the rhythm of your life and your child's. What things do you everyday? or every week? The mundane boring stuff (like grocery shopping) is where the memories will be made because it happens all the time. Take a look and see what you can turn from just another shopping trip into coffee dates with your child.
M is 5, I don't know how much he will remember but I will always remember and cherish these sweet precious moments with my son.

 

I am linking up with Graced Simplicity

 

An Ending of Sorts

It felt good to have a plan. After so much disappointment it was wonderful to finally know what we were going to do about our childless family.
So we took the plunge. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but who really does when it comes to parenting? We dove head first into the foster care adoption world. I will spend some time later discussing each of the hoops that must be successfully jumped through, but we will skip it for now.
We were so excited. We were sure that everything was going to go swimmingly. Even as we sat in the mandatory classes and listened to them say that it could take 2-4 years to get a child and that our precious child might not be so precious after all (like they might do things like poop smear and not love you!), we listened with rose colored ears (you know what I mean). We were going to have a kid by Christmas because we were full of faith and sooooo ready to be parents. Besides we were going to love the socks off of our child and there is no way our love wouldn't get through.
Oh what blissful ignorance! :)
We were clueless. But that wouldn't last for long. We would learn and we would learn quick that nothing was going to go as planned and things would get worse before they got better. To make a long story bearable (I am happy to answer any specific questions people may have), it took us 6 months from our first required hoop to get to what is called the matching phase. The matching phase is when you can actually start looking for kids. And from matching until placement it took another 6 months. It felt like the longest year of my life. It may have been one of the most difficult years of my life. It definitely felt like that while we were living it.
On April 24, 2012 we met our beautiful boy. Our life has changed irrevocably. I have found that being a parent is one the most wonderful and difficult things that can happen to a person. Being a parent of a child who has experienced the foster care system is like nothing that you can imagine. It is tragic. But it is such a gift. I have had conversations I never imagined I would. I have learned so much. Everyday I look at my son and see God's love and faithfulness.
No, I didn't give birth to him. I didn't know him when he was born. He lived a little over 4 years of his life without me. He doesn't look like me and he never will. But the only thing that matters is that he is ours. Our own precious boy. 
Our quest for parenthood was complete.  I am a mom. :) I can't even begin to tell you how full my heart is as I type that. After 8 long years it finally happened for us.

Can't you just feel the happiness?

To read The Beginning and The Middle of our story follow the links. :)