Adoption!!

TWO exclamation marks on that title because we have TWO adoptions to discuss!! Let me tell you about the first one first.

Little S, who has just been a part of our family for a long time, has had quite the roller coaster. So many stories in this little one's life, and she is only 3. One important milestone of this drama include the termination of her bio parents' rights. The trial only lasted a few hours, and it ended dramatically with an outburst (though not from the bio parents! They were a tad childish during the hearing, but who wouldn't be with so much at stake? And in the end, after the judge had made her ruling, they were pulled together. Not happy, obviously, but mature. I am sure they fell apart later, but in the moment, they really really surpassed my expectations. This wasn't the first time I could site a moment of composure either. There were glimmers throughout the last almost 2 years that S has been

April? What's April?

So... April was crazy. Like, out of this world crazy. The last day of April Jason and I looked at each other and literally said things like, "Wait... what? How did it get to be the last day of April?!?" Let me explain (with some cute pictures thrown in for good measure!)

COURT
We had the permanency hearing for S's case through foster care. It was scheduled for a Wednesday. There was family from our side and from S's side who had driven in from out of state to be here for the court hearing because it is the biggest hearing in the foster care process (at least in this case for us).

Grandma and S talking about what's important: jewelry!
I am so glad she and grandpa came into town to support all of us.

A must-read

I have two seconds to post this while I sit here watching Kai splash in the bath, but this blog post is so well written that I had to share. Please read it. It just might help explain how crazy we are. :)

http://thefosterlife.com/2015/03/06/you-should-just-stop-fostering/

Now I'm going to go splash in a bathtub with a darling 4 year old.

I'm back!

Two months. So this will be a picture update of the minor events between Christmas and now. And then I will update on the bigger events. :) These are totally out of order. Lol!

We went to the dinosaur museum! The kids love this place, and it's super educational. (As a sidenote, I've started saying the word "super" way too much. It's a habit I'm trying to drop. I've come up with "uber" and "very" as good replacements.)

Foster Care Day at Cowabunga Bay!

I LOVED being there for Foster Care Day at Cowabunga Bay. Only families who have a placement through foster care or who have adopted a child through foster care within the last year could go. We had such a wonderful time, and all the families there were so wonderful. The kids were so great, and everyone was really patient. It definitely felt different than a normal trip to a water park. (All the faces have been blurred out so everyone can stay safe since I don't know anyone's situation in these pictures.)

S had a birthday! Shout hurray!

I've waited to post this so that you couldn't really know when her birthday was. It was so great. I got to give a pink and purple princess party! (That's a lot of 'P's.) I've given a lot of blue and red birthdays. (Thomas the Train, Spiderman, etc. etc.) And it's been so very fun, but this was really different, which is always wonderful. The challenge was getting pictures of S's birthday without posting pictures of S on here. It's a little difficult to not post pictures of the sweet birthday girl, but I'll give it a try.

Our neighbor saw all the presents wrapped up and ready for her birthday, and he said it looked like a unicorn had thrown up on our entertainment center. My response was, "Good!"

 My parents gave S one of those presents, which I thought was very sweet and thoughtful of them. They're amazing like that; they always remember birthdays and holidays.

EBLT!

Where do I even start? This trip was awesome! My brothers nicknamed it the EBLT, the Epic Bear Lake Trip! We went to celebrate my father's 60th birthday. It's been a great 60 years, so we had to do something awesome to commemorate.

On Wednesday, we got permission from a judge to take S into Idaho with us! Hurrah! We would have taken her to the cabin either way because the cabin is on the Utah side of the boarder. The good beaches are in Idaho though, so S and I would have missed out on a lot of family fun by staying in Utah. Luckily, the judge was kind and we got some fun, action-packed days as a family. :)

We stopped on the way up just to give the kids a break, and they loved the view! (This picture is like a "Where's Waldo?" but I would call it a "Where's Seth?" Lol!)

 The cousins were a blast! And the cabin was amazingly beautiful inside and out. This picture is of a very serious discussion, by the way.

No more siblings in high school!

Ach! I feel so old! I was 12 when my sister was born. She's my only sister amidst a handful of brothers, and she's quite a bit younger than my youngest brother. She was a complete surprise to the family, and she was an answer to my prayers. We've always been incredibly close. And she graduated from high school!

Look at all those ropes and ribbons around her neck! That is one smart blond right there! ;)

The whole family showed up. We took up two complete benches front and center in the bleachers. It was awesome to be part of a large support group for her and to add my voice to all the others that were and still are cheering her on.

Happy Mother's Day!

 (I wish S could be in this picture with us!)

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mother's out there, but especially these two wonderful women!

I met S's parents!

The last few days have been better between Kai and S. Kai has figured out that he gets special privileges by not being the baby, and I think that's curbed some of the sting of change for him. I think it's also sunk in that my love for him hasn't changed just because S is here. I'm glad things are getting back to normal. I even got some really cute pictures of Kai and S together.

We went to a parent meeting and I got to meet S's parents. I've been so curious to see them, to see who S looks like more, mom or dad. I've wanted to see how they interact with S also so that I may get an idea of how to make this transition easier for S. If they sing a certain song or hold her a certain way, it might help if I do the same. It went pretty well, though S was worn out by the end. S didn't seem upset at all after we left, which was better than I thought it would be. Yay!

Jason has been trying to do it all lately. He helps out SOOOOO much with the kids, which I couldn't be more grateful for. Just as an example of how wonderful he is, Jason helped me put the kids to bed and then wandered outside to build more garden boxes since we are expanding our garden a LOT right now. This was after a long, long day. I had to snap this picture.

Foster Care Placement

I have slacked on the blog writing front. I know. I apologize. But I have a good excuse! We got a placement through foster care! :D :D :D The child (heretofore known as S) is younger than Kai, which has moved him into the middle child position. He's not happy about it. Between taking S everywhere S needs to go, filling out paperwork, and showing extra attention to S and Kai to squash any sibling rivalry, I've been terribly busy. It's a good type of busy, and I've enjoyed most of it. I just wish Kai were enjoying it also.

Seth, on the other hand, is SO EXCITED. He loves having S around, and he loves having a sibling to sit on either side of him at all times. He steps in between Kai and S when needed, and I'm so grateful for his kind spirit. He wants more than anything for everyone to get along. If it were up to him, he'd have a dozen younger siblings to take care of. I think Kai wouldn't have a problem with another sibling if that sibling came to our family as a baby, because he would have time to adjust to the idea before having to share his brother or his toys. I'm sure things will even out as time goes by.

This is not to say that Kai hasn't had his good moments. He often is found sharing his toys and helping out with S. He just asks me to do things I can't, like last night when he wanted me to sleep on the floor next to his bed. I told him I would put S to sleep and then come sleep next to him. He was disappointed and tried to talk me out of putting S to bed. I went anyway, and when I returned, he no longer wanted me there. I was a little heart broken. Tonight, he asked if I was going to kiss S to sleep. I simply said, "Maybe." I couldn't say yes and break his heart, and I couldn't say no and lie to him. I'll soon take him on a mommy-son date. We both need one.