Where We Are

Our beach vacation with friends,  their kids, toasting life and sitting by the pool. 

School is well under way, and the older two, Little Dude and JR, are now in First grade and Kindergarten! Isn't that crazy how much time has gone by? They are such sweet, BIG little men now. They amazing me daily.

Little Dude is reading up a storm and I'm so proud of him for enjoying it so much. He is loving soccer still and doing well in school and still OBSESSED with Legos. It is fun to watch him build things!

JR is loving that he is in school now too, and insisted on walking in all by himself the first day, just like Little Dude. Man, they grow up more quickly with each one, don't they? Sigh. He is all about learning the alphabet right now and insists on also "reading" a book at night, just like Little Dude. It is cute, since most of the books he reads he already has memorized or he just says what the picture is. Love it. I know soon enough he will be reading and getting yet more big. Sigh again.

Champ is a crazy and wonderful 2 year old. I adore this age so very very much. All the little sayings are just the best. Right now he is into saying "Why, mom, WHY?" for just about everything. And "Bugs eat me" whenever the mosquito get bad in the back yard. I shouldn't laugh at the poor guy getting itchy bites, but his little voice is too cute saying it. I must remember to try to catch him on video.

Our Princess is three now and I'm sad we missed her birthday. Foolishly, I thought we might just have a referral by her birthday and be able to send her something, but no. We are still STILL waiting to see if our agency can get her file. So many changes have occurred with her country's adoption rules, that honestly, I'm not expecting the file to come. We aren't even sure if her file made it through before the government strike that is going on over there right now (can I heave another huge sigh?) or if her file did indeed come through with the first batch back last April, and she has just already been chosen, or our agency just isn't getting the file sent to them. (Agencies can only get so many files at one time, and they cycle through agencies a different periods of time, from what I understand.) So, who knows. She may be out there, she may be adopted, we might still have a shot at getting matched to her, or her paper might still be awaiting a stamp on some government official's desk and it won't be glanced at until this strike is over, at the earliest. We just don't know.

We have considered looking at other kids, but I don't think I could look at another little girl until I know for sure we can't have our girl.

We did look very closely at an 8 year old little boy's file and very much were considering accepting it, but our social worker advised against it due to birth order affecting our older two, and the fact we would need to re-do our home tudy to update for a boy child. We also aren't eligible for a boy unless he is over the age of  7, has more stubstantial special needs, and has been waiting. And even then, it would be still up to the judge of whatever court we got assigned to say if they would over look the gender rule (I don't know what else to call it) that says with three sons already we can't adopt a son.

This little boy DID fit those things, and has been waiting quite awhile, and does need some pretty heavy duty surgery to his back and some other things, so we likely could have gotten matched to him, but, after talking it over, our social worker here at home felt his medical needs, along with needing to learn English and the birth order disruption would be unreasonably hard for our oldest two boys to adjust to all the many changes adding that boy to our family would bring, so we didn't pursue his file.

That was really hard and a bit of a heart tug, because now I can't help but go and check this little guys waiting profile to see if it changes to "adopted". I really hope it does. He had medical needs that would require surgeries and hospital stays from the get go, but all were easy to correct here in the US and none would affect his mental capabilities, and one would make his physical limitations go away AND our agency contact knows him and thought he was just THE SWEETEST KID, would be such a great big brother, and is always looking out for the little kids at his orphanage and wanting to help. Sigh. I hate that there are orphans.

So. We are still waiting, hoping her file comes through after this strike is over. Sometimes I wish I had not see her information so that we were just waiting for a referral and could take the next kid that came along, but then, at the same time, I know that we would have given up already if we hadn't had her, and all the information from so many people that have met her, to keep us going. It is very scary to read all the things that could be "wrong" with an adopted child, especially Reactive Attachment Disorder (Holy hell. That is scary shit) It is covered in a lot of adoption books, but that link seems to be the most informative for someone outside the adoption reading circle wanting to know why that terrifies me when considering "just any child" to bring into our home.

This whole adoption process is just soo sooo soooo long, time consuming, nerve wracking, and a complete lesson in patience. But I know, that I wouldn't have kept pushing through all the paperwork, spending all the money, and doing ALL. THIS. WORK. if we didn't have knowledge of her and have heard her sweet laugh, so even if things don't work out to get her now, she did get us to this point, which might just lead us to a different child that needs a home, and for that I'm very glad we are kinda "stuck" at this place in time. I've been pretty calm about it and actually not thinking about it too terribly much, since it really is all just in God's hands now.

What Bill and I have learned in this waiting? That we are so blessed to have our family, to be so supportive to each other, to watch our children grow, and to realize that our blessings must be paid forward. We live in America, where it is OK that I was a girl. I was never taken to a hill to die just for being the wrong gender. We have a hospital down the street (in fact, quite a few of the countries best are right down the street!) We have running water, air conditioning, tons of food, and our choice of churches.

We are so blessed.

Help From Adoptive Moms Please

I have a request for any moms/dads that have adopted, especially any from Ind*a.

Can you guys leave me comments with what kids books you suggest to have for our sons and our future daughter? Can you suggest any kids fairy tales or nursery rhyme books from Ind*a? Are there any really great adoption kid books to read to our future daughter and son to really help open up the discussions on a small kid level about how awesome adoption is? And most importantly, any book that you love that show characters of color, especially if there are any of Ind*an decent depicted.

I have this list so far for kid books:

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza
A Child is Born by Margaret Wise Brown
I Wished For You by Marianne Richmond
Over the Moon by Karen Katz
God Found Us You by Lisa Bergren


And a cookbook I'm looking at ordering:

Anjum's New Indian by Anjum Anand

Does anyone know if this might have good recipes to incorporate into our meal rotations? I've made a pumpkin curry chicken and couscous that the kids and Bill (and I) LOVED. I've made it a few times now, and then I've made a coconut curry chicken from a mix I got at the Ind*a market near our house, but I think it would be better if I found some ones to make from "scrtach" rather than mixes, so we can avoid all that salt (and the mixes are expensive when you have to buy double to feed everyone,ha!)

So, can you ladies help me out? What books do your children love? And are there any that are great illustrations about Ind*a? I would love to find some kind of illuinated book about Ind*a to read to all the kids.

And cooking...if there are ANY kid dishes that you think she will be most familiar with, or that might be comforting (like how I feel when I find some place with sweet iced tea in a northern state) I'd love to have something that I could cook that might give her that same comfort.


AND as a Christmas gift this coming year, we are going to give out "Family of Adoption" to everyone, is there any other books you found to be awesome to give family in preparation to your adoptions?

OK, send me your ideas and reccomendations!

THANK YOU ALL! I don't know what in the world I would do without you; I'm so grateful for blogging and the internet and even facebook. Though, don't say anything on facebook yet, we won't put anything offical on there until we have guardianship and our daughter is legally ours-just private message me if you know me on there. :)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Waiting for a Friend

I love the internet. Not only does it enable me to work from home and be around my kids while earning money, BUT it has introduced me to SO MANY amazing moms and friends (and made it easier to keep up with extended family). The very best though, is the current wonderful group of adoption moms I have met online.

They rock and are amazing and supportive, and are one of the few groups of friends, that while I haven't actually met any of them in real life, I feel safe to share every adoption worry, snag, and emotional ride.

It is so super awesome to have them, because I would probably be insane by now if I couldn't bounce ideas, learn tips, and just vent everything to them. Them and this blog keep me from just curling up in a ball with wads of half filled out forms, budget mark-ups and money flow charts scattered around me!

And RIGHT NOW one of my dear online friends is waiting to hear that the court paper work has been approved to grant her daughter's visa/passport so then sweet little M can COME HOME!

K is waiting to hear that all is well so she can buy tickets to go over to Ind*a and get M and BRING HER  HOME!

I'm so crazy excited and anxious and all butterflies in the tummy to hear when K gets to fly over and when they get to come back together as a FAMILY.

AHHHHH! Can you tell I'm excited? And the BEST part is, it gives me a little taste of the excitement, anxiety,  and excitement times 10 that we will be having, hopefully within this year, as we wait to hear the same news for our Princess.

AHHHHH! I'm so ready to finish this dossier!

I Have Failed

I have wanted to adopt since I was a little girl. We have planned for years to someday achieve that goal, and I'm SO excited to have the ball rolling on it.

But, even with all the preparation, reading, classes and support groups we have attended about adoption and adoption issues, I still failed my daughter the other night.

See, I shared a photo of the Princess we are trying to adopt, her lovely, huge brown eyed photo.

And my friend laughed and said she would fit in with the Mexicans near us. My friend laughed that we had sent our college themed shirt for her-laughed that all the Mexicans wear college themed shirts just to fit in but they don't know what the shirts say either.

And I could feel myself blush, and stutter and I couldn't  make eye contact. I didn't know what to say. So I put away her photo and I made my excuses to leave.

So many times I had envisioned standing up for her, and giving people looks of death that would let them know thy had crossed the line of mama bear. I had snarky, witty and mean, come backs ready for any strangers that dared to be rude to my Princess.

But I never envisioned a dear, close friend saying that, or even that it would hurt so badly and leave me so tongue tied and worst, left me silent.

I completely failed our Princess, because I let someone get away with belittling her because of how she looks. And not just anyone, but a friend we have had for over 12 years. And I regret that so much, I wish I had known something to say, something to convey that those comments were unacceptable. That she is MINE and will have MY last name; she is OUR family and that our friendship will be done if those comments are ever made again.

I totally failed the test.

But I will be better prepared next time and it won't happen again.

I promise.

I See The Light

Summer has offically ended for me. Little Dude is in preschool, our little neighbors started REAL school, and now JR's preschool starts today. (JR is going one day a week, that is all I could handle, with Little Dude being gone 3 days already).

So now, for Wednesday mornings, it is just me and Champ.

And part of me wants to soak up every minute I get with JUST him, but then, another part of me starts a HUGE list of what I could maybe get cleaned, wiped, dusted, worked, DONE while my other two tornadoes are gone at school.

My compromise? Oh yes, my good friend saves me-my Mei Tai. I love it, and will be spending today working on the computer, doing laundry, mopping, and maybe even FOLDING laundry-while Champ snuggles close in my Baby Hawk.

And now, a random cute photo of Champ sleeping during our walk yesterday: 

I Lost My Domain

I've been gone for awhile, even though I had said I was going to keep everyone updated more often.

Why the absence? Well, any of you reading this now have come to realize my old url, the most awesome, alliteration happy Coordinated Chaos dot com is no longer functioning, and it is all to my own silly self to blame.

So now I am located here: www.coordiantedchaosblog.blogspot.com, which I feel is just way to long and not as fun, but I didn't want to use my last name (I feel weird sharing too much info about my family on the internet) and the default blogspot url was my last name at blogspot dot com. And coordinatedchaos.blogspot.com was already taken, much to my dismay.

I changed my defualt url quickly, and then set about trying to update all my ads, sponsors, family, and of course, you, my awesome friends and readers, so I wouldn't lose touch with anyone.

So how did this happen? I neglected to realize my domain renewal was up, until the domain had been sold. I last renewed my custom domain back in 2007, and it completely slipped my mind that it was coming up this fall to renew again. Then my blog went down last week, for which I posted many a pleas for help in the blogger forum, and could not figure out what in the world was going on.Then, my url started going to godaddy.com. So I called them to find out what was up, and found out my url had JUST been sold that same day to someone.

Oh sigh.

So, no more custom domain for me, and I tried to rationalize how this is good, since it means I now have $10 I can spend at Target instead, but I only got an eye roll from my husband...

Anyways, I'm annoyed at myself for not being more on top of everything, but in the long run, it isn't a huge deal.

After all, this blog was started to update friends and family while we lived far away after the birth of our first child. (Yea, we moved 4 days after giving birth)and then it continued when we moved, yet again, after the birth of our second son. In the last 3 years I felt pretty accomplished; meeting lots of moms, getting to do product reviews, having the chance to do MomTalk radio appearances, and participating in mom forums and being part of a mom test group for Wal-Mart, Avon, and more.

So, losing my domain, after putting all the time in, was quite upsetting, but you know, I'm pretty used to moves coming with each kid, so perhaps, this will be the only move we have to do with baby number 3? And if that is the case, then I say piece of cake.

And on that note, I am going to get something to eat, because I'm pregnant, and typing the word cake, made me really want the cheesecake yogurt I have in the fridge. Pregnancy is awesome that way.

Nemo Party

My little JR is obsessed with Nemo. He is still insistent on wearing some Nemo pj's that he has really outgrown. The pants are starting to look like shorts, but honestly I'm scared of the meltdown we will have if the Nemo pj's "disappear".

So, when it came birthday time, I KNEW I had to do a Nemo theme. And I thought it would be easy-just a trip to Party City, right?

No. Because apparently with all the Toy Story 3 promotion, Nemo was discontinued. So surely the Disney Store? No, but we did scoop up fun swimsuits (Nemo for JR, of course), since we were going to have water play. Wal-Mart? No, but I did find stickers, so I scooped those up there.

In my freak out over not having Nemo themed items, Bill mentioned the novel idea of just ordering it on-line. I married a genius.

So, after three clicks and a couple of days I had all Nemo themed fun you could think of. Without further ado, the party:

Our best attempt at a family photo. Really, this was the best.
All the kids eating.
JR, just up from his nap before the party and seeing the many Nemo balloons and decorations for the first time. That face was worth all the run around for the supplies.
Opening presents with is Birthday Boy shirt on (this was after all the water play was over)
Me and my cupcake Nemo. Dude, that was so hard and I was so worried it was going to turn out horribly, but I have to say I think it looks pretty awesome.

Marbles

Alexis, Little Dude, Emily, and JR enjoying lunch together. Alexis is my wonderful friend Melissa's little girl.
I love the Raleigh kid's museum, Marbles; however, I DON'T like school groups that don't watch their kids.

Their rather old, massively large and sometimes hairy, 12 year old kids.

That throw all the food that is in the UNDER 5 YEARS play area. And then start throwing the toys from the BABY area out into the main area.

I might have yelled at some of them.

OK, I did yell. And then they stopped. And then I raised a fuss at the front desk about the behavior of a particular school group and the lack of supervision and WHY ARE THEY IN THE BABY AREA THEY ARE 12!!!!!!

But once the school group left, it was a BLAST. So, in my opinion, the best time to take your kids to Marbles? Right at noon.

Take a lunch, set the kids up to eat, then after they are done, let them play for a few hours. School groups are generally gone by 12:30-and so is everyone else. So by then, your little kids get to play with EVERYTHING they want, without waiting or the risk of losing a head to flying fruit or jumping 12 year olds.

After playing hard, we head home at 2. The kids fall asleep in the car, I take them one by one to their beds for nap, and then everyone gets up again by 3. Super nice, it is easy to keep up with them because Marbles is EMPTY, and I don't have to worry they will get hurt.

We all enjoy it better, even if naps get started a little later. For me, it is tons more fun to make naps late, rather than deal with big kids in the little kid area-or trying to follow three pre-schoolers through the crowds of schools.

Anyways, my thoughts on it. Does anyone else have thoughts on good ways/times to enjoy Marbles? We are planning on going again tomorrow.

Three Kids

So today is a practice run of my upcoming new job, nanny. Hmmm, actually, not sure nanny is right, it makes me feel like I should be British. Kid watcher? Kid observer? Kid jungle gym/food source? That is probably more applicable.

Anyways, my friends, Mike and Beth, have the most adorable little girl, Emily, and starting in Feb I am going to start watching her (Emily) full time! I'm super excited because one, I get to justify getting a few girly things around here for her and PLAY WITH HER LOOOONG HAIR!! Two, I make some extra money on the side and three, Mike and Beth save a ton on daycare while Emily gets to be one of three instead of one of 12. And did I mention Emily has the longest hair? I am dreaming about playing with it.

So wish me luck, today I'm just planning a little park trip and pretty much keeping around here. I am looking at getting a family pass to Marbles and I have been told the Durham Museum is super awesome-though I am super lame and haven't taken the time to drive out there yet, even though I keep saying I'm going to.

Ohhhh, and I am going to need some dress up clothes for her, don't you think? I mean, come on, she NEEDS some here, right? I might have to hop on ebay now....

What Are Twins Like

I might start watching a friend's little girl weekdays to help cut their day care costs in half. And a little extra money is always nice, right? So, all in all it is a great solution for them and a nice little bit of extra money for us. But I do have to admit I am a little bit nervous.

Emily is only 2 months older than my JR, so, in a way, I'll find out what it is like to have twin toddlers. Emily is talking more than JR, so that is nice, and hopefully soon they will both have enough vocabulary that tantrums can be worked out or avoided quickly. And even though I did work at a daycare and take care of three little guys that were all the same age; somehow knowing that I still need to get things done around the house-and get grocery trips done, or get everyone loaded up to go to the park-has me running plays in my head on how to best organize everything, so when the big day comes, and I take ALL THREE out with me, I will be relaxed.

I do think though, that I might sign up to use the Lowe's Foods online grocery shopping and I will definitely be utilizing the bag boys to help me carry groceries to the car. Do you tip them for that?

Does anyone have advice for how to best get out and about with three kids three and under? Our area parks are great, with a lot of open space between play areas, so there will be no risk of one getting way from the play without me noticing.

It is going to be so fun to have a little girl to play with-and I think it will be good for the boys to have to share with a guest on a daily basis. I think also, for the first few weeks Emily comes to play with us, at least, that all three will be pretty entertained with each other and rediscovering the toys.

Now if only it would quick raining and storming so I can make sure all three of them get to run wild in our backyard. Can you imagine three of them cooped up in the house
for a few days? The horror.I think I'll be looking into that family membership for Marbles, too.

Gone

One of the best things about this world of blogging-and what keeps me blogging-is all the friendships I have made with amazing women/moms out there. I have "friends" all over the world, and we share our ideas, our failures, our days, our tantrums, our joys and when things get bad, we sweep in quickly to lift each other up.

But sometimes, worlds crash.

And there aren't words, thoughts, or deeds to do. What does one do, when the world collapses beneath a dear friend?

You can read what happened, at To Think Is To Create, simply because I can't bring myself to write it and I don't know that I should.

My dear friend, Arianne and I have never met in real life. But we read each other's blogs, help each other out with occasional comments, and work together with the One 2 One network. She hooked me up with the Blu-ray Snow White, even though I was officially too late to sign up myself. She knew what a Disney fan/freak I was and slipped me in for the review. We may have never actually talked, though hopefully someday we will, but I certainly consider her a friend. A friend who I've turned to for parenting advice, and who I've turned to for simple chit chat when the kids were driving me crazy. We've been corresponding since back in the day when I only had one kid. Back when I needed help adjusting to a baby and a move, Arianne was there to share stories and cheer me up.

But now, I don't know what to say, or do, and I have never wished so badly to be a real life friend. I wish I could hold her and hug her.

I'm thinking of you, Arianne.

Baptism Photos

Bill, Me, JR, Godmother Caroline, and Godfather Sean. JR really did not want to take any photos; he wanted to go play with the other children.

The lovely and SUPER YUMMY cake JR's Godmother made for his "after party". That's how we do baptisms.

Reading a prayer before the oils were put on. The Catholic church used the most wonderful smelling oils and incense during baptism, (other churches might, too, I just don't know) and I wish I could have that smell around my house all the time.

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a suit?
We finally changed his clothes; the food mess was getting out of control. JR knows how to throw down cake!

Happy Baptism Day, JR!

JR was Baptized

This past Saturday, JR was Baptized, and even though I KNOW I'm biased, I think it was a beautiful event. Deacon Leo gave an amazing homily, most of our friends and family were able to attend, and JR was an angel for most of the event.

Though I think my favorite was when Deacon Leo put the baptism robe on JR, and started to say "This represents your Christian dignity", JR decided at that moment he was done having oils, water AND robes put on him, so he promptly tore the robe off and threw it down. Everyone got a really good chuckle out of that and I see myself filing that away as a story to tell his future wife.

After the Baptism, all our family and friends came back to our house for a fun cookout bash. The kids had SO much fun playing, and I was on cloud nine holding Alexis, Melissa and Criag's baby daughter. (SO ADORABLE!)

I got to hang out with my soul sister, Caitlin. We don't see each other often, but somehow we always end up having SO much in common. Like, currently, we have the same front door rug, (which we discovered this weekend when they came over-we have fabulous taste, eh? )and both are coveting the same Shabby Apple dress. She and I need to live closer; I've decided.

And there was THE MOST AMAZING CAKE EVER, made by JR's Godmother and my best girlfriend/neighbor, Caroline. I just melted in your mouth, and I am actually going to eat more once I finish here.

There is nothing like time with family and friends to remind you your worries are not worthy of worry at all.

Halloween Photos

Thomas the Tank Engine and a Lovely Rainbow helped pass out candy.
Mickey Mouse was armed and ready to get candy.
Snow White and her Hockey Player
A lovely fairy and Mr Gilly, the trash man, checked each other out.

We Were Here

We went to the science museum in Raleigh with some really great friends and had a BLAST. Little Dude, AJ, Kip and Sada had the greatest time meeting some animals at the Science classroom (they got to pet a bunny!). The biggest hit though, was the dinosaurs:
JR is so big, yet so small at the same time.
JR and Sada fit in a dinosaur footprint.
His footprints may not inspire as much awe, but they sure are cute.

Henry

My wonderful friends and neighbors, Alan and Andrea, had their little boy yesterday; 6lbs 10 oz of cuteness:




Oh, I am just dying to hold him, and just think of the fun playdates we can have now!

Welcome to the world, Henry, we are all so glad you are here!!

Just Checking In

Everyone around here has been sick (mostly me) with a lovely, horrid cough, which has also aggravated my asthma real nicely. For the past week I've been letting the kids watch way more TV than I'd like, just so I can lay on the couch with the cough medicine. So far, the boys just have runny noses, but plenty of energy, so I am crossing my fingers they don't get my cough.

I'm finally starting to feel better, though my asthma is still going crazy on me, which has been putting all my de-cluttering-for-a-yard-sale efforts on hold. And my job is full of deadlines at the first of each month, so I am a little stressed making sure I meet all of them.


Bill is still gone, and won't be back until the 10th, which makes me so sad. It is so hard to sleep at night when he is gone; the bed is just too big without him. Thus I am blogging at 1am.

AND one of my super awesome friends is in labor RIGHT NOW with Baby Henry, so I am super crazy excited to be feeling better so I can go cook them dinner and hold a newborn. I just know Baby Henry, JR and Little Dude are going to be the best of friends.

Meeting in Real Life

Yesterday was so fun, because I got to meet Abby and Linus from My Sweet Babboo! We met up at the Marbles Kid's Museum, here in Raleigh and had a blast. Abby is one super sweet, awesome lady with the most adorable curly haired two year old I have ever met. I am super glad we were able to coordinate a playdate and I am looking forward to getting together again in the future!

Another plus? JR didn't lose it at the museum. He was fantastic and at some points even walked away from me (though he would look back, slyly smiling, just to check on me). I think we was in love with Abby, too, because he kept wanting to share the trains at the train tables with her. And he was making his little google-y eyes that he usually reserves for getting his way.

So, not only did the kids have a great time playing and running all around, but us moms got to chat and get to know each other outside of the blog world! Super fun! I was also super relieved JR was peachy good the whole time; I really was worried about him having some meltdowns, but apparently a trip to Marbles was all he needed. If you have never been to Marbles, you simply MUST take your kid. It is $5.00/person and so long as you are out of the crawling stage, it is fantastic. We could spend a whole day there.

After Marbles, JR continued to be golden and played quite well while I tried to catch up on cleaning and laundry, not minding the least bit that I would leave the room from time to time...thank heavens!

So apparently all you need to cure separation anxiety is a trip to Marbles and a fun visit with Linus!

All The Single Ladies

I'm giving all the single moms out there a huge high five.

Bill left for the airport today around 2:30pm, and I am JUST NOW getting the kids in bed (and staying in bed!) and have FINALLY found some time to get in some work.

I am so worn out; it is amazing how two little guys can run circles around me all night! I am really missing the help Bill always gives in the evenings, and our bedtime routine was not quite as fun without him there to help read stories. Even though I am very happy to be home, it is a little sad, and already a little lonely, to be here alone with the kids. But Bill will be able to be back for a weekend in two weeks and then hopefully after that it will only be a few more weeks that he has to be in AL anymore at all.

We have some fun stuff planned this week. I'm going to be meeting another mom blogger for the first time later this week for a playdate, and I am super exited about it!

One of my close friends is due to have her baby, Henry, any day now, and I am so excited to get "the call".

I am also excited to get caught up on a lot of work for my job and the house. I have high hopes of holding a yard sale in the next month. I have about a gazillion baby toys we need to weed out and pass on to other people.

Little Dude had the BEST birthday ever; it was so great seeing our friends, and watching him play with all of his friends. All the neighborhood kids have gotten so big! I'll work on getting pictures up for everyone as soon as possible. I still can't believe my little guy is 3 years old.

Blue Angel's Show

As I was going through my photos, desperately searching for an updated family photo, I realized I had not shared photos from our great boat trip to see the Blue Angels Air Show!

You will notice though, that I still don't have an updated family photo on here. The old one from LAST 4th of July is still there-yea, the kids are a year older now, I have finally lost all the baby weight and gotten a little more sleep, and Bill, well, my Bill is just amazing and perfect, so really I just need to update me and the kids. You now know that I have NO photos of the 4 of us together, much to my dismay, since it seems like I have thousands of us not all together on my computer. Mental note for me to jump on that.

But, I digress.

As I browsed through photos, I came across these great ones and realized that I had talked up going to see the airshow with tons of friends and family, but had never shared pictures! So, without further ado, here are some photos:


Here is my man, Bill, and I know it sounds gush-y, but after knowing him for 8 years and being married for over 5 now, I just feel luckier and luckier that everyday I get to wake up next to him. I know, I warned you, gush-y! And he is holding our awesome little toddler, Little Dude, who is growing too quickly for my liking. He will be 3 in September. I'm sad and happy at the same time. In his hands? His shark friend, dutifully named "Shark". He was originally a cheap toy at Target, that I bought with the sole intention that IF he got lost at the beach ("Shark", not Little Dude) then it would be no big deal to replace him. Wouldn't you know that "Shark" must now go everywhere with us? Apparently the best $1 I have ever spent...
Here are the fabulous friends we went with-l to r: Scott, (with son Cole), Bill (with Little Dude), Tim, Melissa (Scott's wife and Cole's mom), Gigi (on the boat), and Tim and Gigi's daughter, Amanda (also on the boat). I know, I got everyone's backs, but there was no way I was taking my camera into the water with me to get their faces. The noise from the air show was so loud I don't even think they would have heard me had I yelled for them to look at me.

So what is an air show? Well, from what I understand, the Blue Angels are an elite team of fighter pilots who can do AMAZING tricks in their planes.

And though they are far away in the sky, those pilots are flying just feet away from each other. It was really breathtaking and scary to watch. My heart stopped a million times (well, maybe just 12).
Here is JR, mad because I made him leave the boat buttons alone. We were so excited to go out on Scott's boat, and even though they all said he couldn't break anything, you just never know.

And I can't swim that well. So I was paranoid about the boat sinking, though if you look at the group photo up above, everyone is standing.

I know, I'm irrational, but as a short, red headed, country-mountain raised, non swimming, woman, I'm allowed a little irrational thinking.