Project completion

Remember back before summer I said the kids and I were going to dive into some projects around here,mainly the scary play house...no one ever wanted to go in there,

it was pretty creepy.

Plus I love putting the kiddos to work.

Something about seeing them vegged out in front of the TV makes me cringe. ( Maybe I'm just jealous?)

Well I put my pint sized crew to work and we are quite pleased with our results.

Oh and for the price of 2 gallons of paint we kept the kiddos busy for an entire week. I had been looking high and low for a steal of a deal on some pavers to make a little patio, then last week we stopped by Grandpa's house and while we were playing outside I spotted a huge pile of cast off cobblestone pavers..... SCORE! Hey Gramps,, whatcha gonna do with these old things?? We had them loaded up and dumped in our back yard within a few hours !!! We are working on the inside too.I may show that sometime in the future, we aren't done yet and Mama is itching to start some inside projects. My master bedroom and kitchen need some serious help :)

Happy 4th

All decked out for the 4th of July!!

Finn had a hard time showing off her festive manicure :) but oh those cheeks.

We love our hometown parade, where the kids decorate their bikes or wagon and get to be the main attraction.

Kobi and her bud, Neve. What a cute duo.

"Hey Papa, can I get an Icee?"

Ma & Pa

Finn hanging with Grandpa, he knows the key to her heart :)

I love having my boy home. He is always keeping us laughing or thinking or doing. If I had to describe him in one word it would be ; intense.

This boy does nothing half way, he is always intense. he plays intense, he thinks intense, he loves intense...heck, he walks down the stairs intense.... he just doesn't do mellow. it's not his thing.

oh here's a fun one. a no bake, super easy yummy treat.

Sara lee pound cake sliced and laid flat at the bottom of a cake pan. Prepare vanilla Jell* pudding and pour over top, then layer a small tub of cool whip and top with fresh berries.
Here's the kiddos attempt at an American flag, we will definitely be making this again this summer. super easy, refreshing and yummy. Try it and let the kids go it alone... bet they'll surprise you..

I got my baby back..baby back.. baby back (from the Chili's jingle :)in

He's back! It feels so great to finally have Collin home. All is right with my little world. Plus my computer is back up and running so I will be back to blogging here soon. Summer Kamp Kiddo is in full swing 'round here and we are keeping sufficiently messy and busy and lazy all at the same time. I love that a large bulk of our China adoption wait is wrapped up in the summer craze. Hopefully it will make the waiting for Hai Hai (his Chinese name, pronounced Hi Hi) seem shorter than usual, we shall see. I'll be back soon, I've missed the 'ol blog.

My poor computer bit the dust so I will be taking a short break from blogging. We will be trying to resuscitate my dear friend but I fear that she is mighty sick. My apologies to anyone who has an email waiting in my inbox, I will eventually get to responding, I promise. I am actually looking forward to not being "plugged in" over the next week or so... Hope you all are enjoying the long summer days. Today is our first full day of all the kiddos home from school... chaos I tell you,, but the good lazy kind... I'm looking forward to soaking them up for the next few months. I just love summer. Oh and Collin gets home in less than 2 weeks!!!! I am so stinkin excited! How cool is it that I typed up a letter to put in a care package for our new little man (who really needs a name) and asked him if he could find someone to translate it for me... and within 10 minutes he emailed me back...he had translated it himself .... So awesome! I am a combination of jealous and crazy proud. Can't wait until he gets home.. I'm missing him, he's my best bud.

A must read for adoptive parents...

When I was at the Orphan Conference last month, I had the honor to meet Dr. Karyn Purvis, and to sit in on a few of her lectures. What a truly amazing woman. I was glued to her every word. I have read my share of attachment and adoption parenting books but truly this one is a must read. I really wish I could have heard her speak or read her book before we brought Mina home. She explains so simply the attitudes and behaviors that our children use to cope. I spent a year struggling with some of Mina's behavior, feeling like she was being manipulative, controlling and just plain difficult. I can read this book and see every single one of Mina's behaviors spelled out as fear. Oh how I wish I would have handled so many things differently :( Good thing that she is doing a million times better than she was a year ago, but I am reading this book again this week and can still gain so much wisdom from it. It is such a wonderful book. Here is a link to read chapter 4 for free. http://empoweredtoconnect.org/pdf_files/Connected-Child-Chapter-4-Excerpt.pdf

AND Here's the link to purchase on Amazon

We had some tears at our house last night...

we have had big rain storms around us the last few days, and the kids very favorite tree bit the dust, and crashed into their playground. Grandpa ran outside with Kobi's pink Lil'pet shop umbrella to survey the damage...This was the best tree, it had a rope swing tied up about 75 feet high and the kids would run and jump on it and fly through the air.It was beautiful. I am shocked that a few rainstorms toppled our tree, but so thankful that no one was hurt. Any-whoo on the adoption front,,, I am knee deep in paperwork and have barely left my little mess of a spot. I have a love/hate relationship with the paperwork...It is the only certainty in the adoption process, like a major to-do list where you can cross off your accomplishments and see some progress. We are still hashing out names, and open to suggestions, if you have any...

The kids had their first swim meet of the season this weekend. A very time consuming, but fun activity.
Here's my goosebumped heat winner, swimming is the one sport so far that doesn't come naturally to our boy... he was waay excited about this...they pass out tattoos to the "heat winner" as soon as they finish their race.
Mama 2.o watching the heat sheets to make sure her and her baby bro don't miss their events.
My little girl, her coach dubbed her "Ko-beast" , it so doesn't fit her persona, girl is in a hurry for nothing. but oh so cute.

The next 4 pictures were taken in about 2 seconds,,, they tell a story that cracks me up.

If looks could kill

Hey, get your own apple chica!

Mina, just a little pleased with herself for sneakin' a bite and annoying her baby sis.

I love paint, and regrets about last night

I love paint, it gives me hope. When in doubt paint it!

(after)

When we first looked at our new house a few months ago, it was quite evident that it was built in the 80's.

(before)

We have a mirrored glass shelved wet bar in our living room for goodness sakes... I knew it was nothing several gallons of primer and paint couldn't conquer.

(after)

At first we called a few professional painters out to take care of the overwhelming amount of wood trim, which needed to be sanded down then primed, then painted...3 coats of paint to cover that trim no less...

(before)

Needless to say we were in sticker shock over the estimates, and we know we are pretty good at menial labor, so we decided to jump right in ourselves. I am stumped by the brick fireplace and mantel, I'm sure the mantel will get replaced, I'm just debating wether or not to paint the brick????

(after)

(before)

We are also not above letting our small and capable child stay up past her bedtime to help us paint, that's good parenting, right?

But look at the difference some white paint can make. So onto my regrets about last night. First off, last night was FANTASTIC! We had a get together at my house for our Bloom team, over 20 beautiful and passionate women showed up to join our forces.

We ate, talked, laughed and inspired each other and I felt so overwhelmingly blessed to be a part of what we are going to do. BUT,,, I left my camera sitting on the table, I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't capture it, I am bummed this morning that I don't have much photographic evidence of our first Team meeting. I did pick my camera up for about 2 seconds and snapped these two photos as the night was beginning,

with full intentions of taking more photos... then I got caught up in the moment and all intentions were lost. I am so grateful to everyone who showed up and everyone that wants to help out. We are going to do great things together.

I am so excited!

vent, rant, scream, spit

**** just a disclaimer...this post is only meant to make sense to other adoptive Mama's, If you have no idea what I am talking about you most likely haven't adopted......yet (whatcha waiting for :) )

I dislike this new H@gue Plague paperwork process very much, it is not my very favorite thing, not at all. I narrowly escaped it the last two times around and now I feel like paperwork karma is biting me in the rear. It makes me sweat, it makes my skin crawl, it makes my brain hurt, it makes me not the nicest person to be around. In all this waiting we do it is hard to believe that it is our government that makes the red-tape adoption process so unbearable. Seriously if you happen to have any family situation out of the norm (like a 17 yr old son living abroad, soon to be an adult male living in our home) all of the sudden no one knows how to handle your paperwork. I have asked 3 government officers the same question and received 3 different answers about how to proceed. I have a feeling I am going to have to settle into this confusion real early on... it aint gonna be purdy :) I am vowing now not to stress the waiting this time around, I've got a few things going on to keep me busy... Anyone want to sign up to remind me of this in a few months?

$20

It's no secret I love a good deal, even better a good deal and a project :). I bought this junky chair the other day for $20, I probably overpaid the guy, I need to learn to haggle, but I'm real excited how we spruced it up

My assistant and I painted it a gray blue and recovered it in white cotton.

This is my assistant, don't let her size fool you this girl can work...her favorite show is Color Splash on HGTV, she's seen every episode a dozen times. She is going to have her own design business by the time she's 12, I can feel it. It's a great way for her and I to spend $20, we have so much fun. She's my bud...

I never post this stuff, but this is so stinkin' funny. Love it....

Party at my house!

Hey all, this coming Wednesday, May 26th @ 7:00 we are having a party at my place. We are so excited to talk about our vision for our non-profit The Bloom Project , and to start planning this years golf tournament which will be in October, it is sure to be a fun time and we would love for you to get involved with us! If you live in my area, we would love to have you. Plan on eating dinner here, we are going to cook it up! Leave a comment with your email address if you need directions to my place! And you all are more than welcome, even you lurkers that live close by, (but not you freaky internet weirdos that just may have happened across my little ol' blog,,,not you, you can't come)