A care package for me....the recipient of a random act of kindness

I know many of you are like me and LOVE shopping at Target.  I don't know if any of you avoid it like I do though too.  Everytime I step foot into that store I spend WAY more than I want/need to on random stuff that we just can't live without.  Today I went in with only one thing on my list:  boy socks from the $1 bins.  Of course they only had girly socks, but Jonner found a Captain Hook hand for a buck and I figured "why not."  We wandered into the boy section of clothes because Jman has been growing and I needed to find.....whatever I could find for cheap.  Because the child needs nothing, but c'mon it's Target!  So after a Superman tee on clearance and an outfit on sale I let him look at toys with the knowledge that he has $2 to spend on a toy or save and have more next week.  Again....c'mon it's Target!  Like a 4yr old with a 5yr old complex is going to leave Target without a toy!  After going up and down and down and up the aisles and not finding anything for $2.00 I told him it was time to leave.  I started leaving and as we're getting closer to the checkouts he pipes up "but I want a hot rod" code for MatchBox.  Me wearing the BIG SUCKER stamp across my forhead turns the cart around to get his hot rod.  I think I heard Angels sing when he finally picked his '67 Pontiac GTO.  We could leave before I spent anymore money!  Just as we're coming out of the hot rod aisle I see this cute little red headed girl (the daughter of one of my dearest and closest friends).  I wanted to be the creepy lady that went up and offered her candy!  lol!  But Jonner was so excited to see her and her sisters that he ruined my creepy moment!  Ahhhhh sweet bliss of having a conversation with another adult as we were "those parents" letting our children run around the toys without immediate supervision.  C'mon really, it's only THE Target that a child preditor was waiting inside the restroom for a child to go into alone.  But there were 4 of them and when we didn't see them, we heard the heard of elephants laughing & running.  I know, I know, I don't need a lecture about child safety and it only takes a second.  Anyhoo, as we're standing there and all 4 children are not only within view but within 15 feet two hoity-toity snobs walk by us with a comment about no one watching those kids.  Ugh....bitches, if you want to make a point just make it.  Don't make snide comments in hopes that someone hears you being a snob.  Own it lady, it's not like I know you or will remember you the next time my child is running around Target! 

Not that these ladies made that big of an impact.  The kids were having fun, I had a moment like Rex in Toy Story 3 "He held me, he actually held me!" with having an adult conversation "I'm talking to an adult, I'm actually talking to an adult!"  Little things make big impacts.  Like the lady who heard me talking to Jonner in the toiletries about what we should put in daddy's next care package. 

Jonner was crying because he didn't get to give his best girl a hug goodbye after we went opposite directions at the store and in a distraction I was asking him what he thought daddy would like.  I noticed a lady walk by and stop, look at what I was looking at and kept going.  We picked a few things up, J saw his best girl and gave her a hug and we walked to the checkouts.  While standing in the checkout this same lady came up to me and asked "where is your husband", when I told her he's deployed she handed me a $10 bill.  She said she knew it wasn't much but that she knew "families need to be taken care of too".  How awesome is that!?  A randon act of kindness from a complete stranger, there are no words.  Just my big grateful heart and the knowledge that even though there are some snide people out there, there are also wonderful caring people who will go out of their way to make your day!  Thank you.

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So speaking of care packages.  I decided to send a monthly themed package to Eric.  Now that he's received his first one I'll post the picture.  Its theme was "We're Blue Without You" everything was either blue or packaged in blue.  It was part Father's Day and part just because we miss him.  He didn't get the theme....a bit of a disappointment for me since I really worked at making it the color blue.  *eye's rolling* geesh, men! 

So now that he know's he's getting themed packages I hope he "gets" the ones I send in the coming months!  The softball is for my 2 guys to mail back and forth and play catch with.  They're going to each write/draw a message to the other and mail again.  This ball is going to travel a lot of miles!  The M&M's melted in the extreme desert heat, but surprisingly the Gatorade didn't explode!  Yay!  I'm sure custom's appreciates it more than me or Eric! 

Here Jonner is modeling the t-shirt he made for daddy for Father's Day.  It says World's Best Dad (Jonner's handprints) Hands Down.  J also finger painted his name and finger prints and made a fingerprint drawing of Kye for daddy.  My little love the artist, always remembering his brother!  This was a lot of fun to put together and I'm really looking forward to looking outside the box to make his next care package super special. 

P is for....

The Pulling up of my big girl Panties, Putting the Pity Party behind me....and making Popsicles with my favorite little man. 

As I sit here typing I'm reflecting on what I wrote the other day.  I was at a low and I needed an avenue to vent.  Releasing the frustration that had built up in me felt so good.  That evening I let Jonner sleep in my bed and we both slept really well and started a new day with a smile, laughter, songs & tickles....a perfect way to start the day with a new perspective.  A moment ago I watched him eat his afternoon snack of applesauce.  He licked it out of the bowl and when he finished he ran back out to the patio to play in the bin of soapy water I'd given him.  All of his SuperHero's are going for a swim today and rescuing each other from a soapy storm of bubbles.  He's in his little boy element and I'm looking beyond the mess and clutter to see a little boy having fun making a mess.  Thank goodness his mess is on the patio!  I'm taking the time to forget what will be waiting for me tomorrow and having fun with right now. 

Yesterday Jonner and I made our 1st batch of homemade popsicles.  I have great memories of homemade popsicles when I was a kid and I want to share and create new memories with Jonner. 

We bought our plastic mold, I found some healthy recipe's (if I'm going to make them I want them to be good for us too!) and our adventure began!

Fresh squeezed lime juice, lime zest, banana's and strawberries mixed with Greek yogurt, frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed) and a touch of honey to sweeten the deal!  I blended/puree'd everything until I had a liquid, poured into the molds and froze for a few hours. 

I think I was more excited to have our frozen dessert than Jonner after our dinner last night.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed our tart, frozen pops before heading to church for VBS. 

I say tart, but not quite pucker up tart, the tang of the yogurt and the touch of honey really made for a great popsicle!  I see many more popsicle variations in our future!  And my two favorite things about them:  we made them together and they're healthy!  I even let him have one for breakfast this morning :)  And he didn't even know he was getting a "good for you" treat!

Ah...the life of a busy little boy who know's his mama is distracted.  I hear someone sneaking into the frog habitat! 

Does your home reflect who you are?

This question was asked of us when we were getting ready for a walk thru of our home during the homestudy process of our domestic adoption.  As I pondered this question and looked around our home I realized it represented very little of us as a family. 

From the moment of signing our names on the dotted line March 16, 2007 we became the owners of a work in progress.  We saw beyond the dirt, grime, nasty wall to wall country blue carpet and hideous wallpaper that graced at least one wall of each room.  We owned 1800 square feet of potential.  It's been a LONG almost 5 years now and this house has slowly become our home and in the last several months I've been able to transform our home into something that reflects us as a family. 

Today's Home Highlight feature will be the new mural in our hallway.  I admit I'm addicted to Pinterest, but in my defense I'm not just pinning, I'm doing too!  In my world THAT makes all the difference!  Self Disclaimer:  Notice to the right you can click and follow me on Pinterest or Pin something to one of your boards from my blog....if I did it right!  Anyhoo, back on track!  Here is a picture of my family tree mural.

Due to the placement of the tree in our hallway it's hard to get a good angle to photograph it, but you get the jist of it.  I started out by drawing a tree freehand on the wall and when I stepped back I was pretty pleased with my tree.  The nice thing about tree's is that no two are alike and there's not a straight line on any of them!  I filled in my sketch with paint and decided that it looked a little bare and I then added the curly-que's to give it a little more of a whimsical touch.  We decided this tree will not be a typical "family" tree with limbs/branches representing a single line but of our family as a whole.  It's the people before us who helped root us.  The center picture is of the three of us as a family and wedding pictures of our parents and grandparents surround us.  The frames are some we had and I spray painted them satin black and if a matting was used, I only used white to make the picture pop.  I'm still waiting on pictures of the great-grands to add to our tree.  Once the final photos are added I might add some silvery sage & misty blue leaves as fillers if needed. 

I love our new family tree mural.  It's one of the 1st things someone who enters thru the front door will see as they look across the room.  And as a true representation of who we are as a family there is always at least one picture hanging slightly crooked!  We're a little crazy like that....it has nothing to do with it being a narrow hallway! 

Here's another view coming out of Jonner's bedroom.

The inside of our home is a place I welcome people rather than meet them at the door out of shame because the house is a dump.  The once dump has been transformed into a place that I can proudly say gives us happy memory's to draw back on, brings us joy and laughter daily, warmth and comfort fills this home.  This is where we dwell, this IS our home and this is WHO we are.  Sticky floors and all!

 

November is National Adoption Month

When I mention to someone we're trying to adopt the first response I get is "where from?"  I know they're expecting an exotic, foreign destination in which we'll fly off to and return with our new bundle.  When I tell them we're adopting domestically I hear "oh, local".  As if a child from our own country will not be as cute, loved, and "exotic" as a child adopted from another country. 

I've always had a desire to adopt, Eric from the beginning said no.  I remained persistant and every so often I'd mention it in passing and "feel him out".  The summer of 2010 there was a situation that a distant family member had a baby and DCFS stepped in and removed the baby from her care before she was even able to leave the hospital with the baby.  Eric and I discussed this child and even though we realized we wouldn't be able to get that child it opened up a line of communication between us to really investigate adoption.  To my surprise Eric had a change of heart.  Initially I looked into foster care, there are so many children in the system that are in need of a good, loving home and it breaks my heart that so many are in need of a forever family.  Sadly the Illinois laws turned us away from becoming foster parents.  I understand and agree with the philosophy of keeping families together, but how many chances does a parent get?  How many times does a child need to be bounced back and forth from parents to foster care.  I couldn't allow Jonner to have someone in and out of our home, he wouldn't understand and it'd break my heart. 

January of this year I started looking into adoption and doing a little bit of research.  I had no idea where to start.  One day I wore my Hawkeye shirt to pick J up from school and one of his classmate's mom stated she was from Iowa and her son's birthmother was too.  Wearing that shirt was a blessing and gave me a starting point!  She hooked me up with an attorney in Iowa and I contacted them and we received their application form in the mail.  We filled it out but something just didn't feel right and I didn't send it off right away.  A week later a girl from church and I were talking and she mentioned a friend of her's had adopted from Lutheran Child and Family Services right here in the town we live in.  Instantly I knew that was the route I wanted to go.  Local for me to feel involved and having grown up in a Lutheran church it felt right for me.  Eric just went along for the ride and let me make most of the decissions.  I contacted LCFS and stopped at their office and picked up an application, made an appointment to meet with one of their workers and get started.  Since we'd already filled out an application for the attorney in Iowa it was easy to fill out the LCFS application and get it returned in no time.  On March 7, 2011 it was offical, we'd jumped into the adoption process with both feet.  Our application and application fee had been submitted with much of our additional background information.  In April we had our homestudy walk through of our home and by the end of May we had our approved homestudy in our hot little hands.  We were approved to adopt!

It's crazy how an individual can get pregnant, and be able to take their child home with them no questions asked and yet to adopt we indure fingerprinting, background checks, a home walk through, interviewing of friends, letters from family, financial reports...and this is just a peak of what is need to adopt.  It's not for the faint of heart and it weeds out those that are not serious about adoption.  We made it through the paperwork!  Now we continue to wait...

Waiting; this is the hard part.  We've sent facebook messages and emails out to everyone we know.  And with it being Adoption month we'll send one out again this month and in our Christmas letters in December.  You know what they say about the squeeky wheel!  Networking is the way to go.  Getting the word out.  YOU might be our link...YOU know someone who know's someone who know's someone who is expecting and looking into making an adoption plan or just doesn't know what to do about an unplanned pregnancy.  YOU can help!

A few weeks ago I was having some adoption anxiety with the wait and the financial draining of funds adoption brings.  I mentioned we were looking into fundraising options along with loans and applying for grants.  I think we've finally come to a conclusion on what feels right for us.  Scouts sell cookies and popcorn to help offset the cost of camps, so what can we sell to offset our adoption costs.  These are just a few of the things I've come up with.

Turkey shirts for cute little turkey's to celebrate Thanksgiving in.  Above I have the girl version with bright pretty colors and below is the boy handprint version on camo.  Right now I'm only making toddler sizes 18m - 5t for $8.00.  I'll be starting Christmas shirts soon too!   

All sales from my facebook site Tickled Pink Stitching will go towards our adoption fund.  I'm excited about being able to combine doing something I love and knowing that I can release some of the financial anxiety I have of wondering where the money will come from to finalize the adoption and make it all legal once we do get our wee one. 

Fall Fun

On a typical weekend we all curl up on the couch and eventually we all fall asleep and when we wake up we tease each other about falling asleep during our family movie/cuddle time.  Today I'm letting my guys curl up with some Scooby-Doo and I'm playing catch up.  My two favorite guys are holding to tradition and snoozing away! 

My poor little guy is sporting a rash on his face & neck.  I took him to the Dr. yesterday and I was told that a child with frequent respitory issues it's common to have a "hystamine" attack and have irratation from things they come in contact with.  The only thing out of our norm is we went to the pumpkin patch and he was lovin' on and feeding the cows. 

It's a little on the itchy side, but for the most part it's not giving him to much grief and he's leaving it alone.  Hopefully another day or two of Zyrtec & 1% Cortizone will clear him up.  Thankfully he's not contagious!  And while we were at the Dr. I went ahead and started getting him caught up on some of his vaccines while we were there AND healthy.  Poor guy got 3 shots in the thigh and we go back next month for his 4yr old well check up and he'll get 3 more. 

The temps really dropped this week and I broke down and turned the heat on for a few days.  I love the cooler temps fall brings but I'm not a big fan of the damp, drizzle that we had for a few days this week.  Monday Jonner and I joined our MOPS group for a trip to the pumpkin patch.  As always we had a great time seeing the animals, playing with friends in the farm play center and riding the tractor to pick out the perfect pumpkin.  After trompsing through the pumpkin patch and passing on several pumkins, Jonner found a winner to bring home!

The best part of going to the pumpkin patch is being with friends.  Jonner and his best girl Ellie have been the best of friends (it's a love/hate, brother/sister relationship) since they were little bitty's.  And Jonas on the right is a new friend Jonner met at the pumpkin patch and they became fast friends. 

These two are the best of the patch!

Jonner and I made another fun craft this week.  We raided the plastic recycle bin and found two milk jugs that we could transform into spooky ghosts.  We started out putting a layer of glow in the dark paint over the jug and then added our facial features with black paint.  We should have put several coats of glow in the dark on the jug because one just didn't do much!  But we had fun and our ghosts turned out fabulous!

These were made to put a light in to illuminate from the inside, but Jonner and one of his little playmates made a game of Boo Chase out of them.  They each held a jug by it's handle and chased each other around the yard yelling "boooooo" and going up on the neighbors "haunted" porch.  I love seeing how little imaginative minds work and I'm so happy they were able to make something recycled into something fun! 

This morning was a Mommy Morning.  Every year my good friend and I make a point to get out on a weekend, kid-free.  We've been to the Belleville Historical Christmas Tour and we oh'd and ah'd over the wonderful Christmas decor the beautiful, historical homes of Belleville area.  The last couple of years we've gone to the local Craft Fair at the Fairgrounds.  Last year the building was packed with vendors and so many crafts to choose from and inspire to recreate.  This cute owl was my big find last year.  I just love him and can keep him up the entire fall season. 

This year was a little bit of a disappointment.  There were not near as many vendors as last year, but we still had a good time and saw and bought some cute crafts. 

HoHoHo my Santa Snowman will be a great addition to my Christmas Kitchen.

Sara & Saul Pilgrim are a cute little couple that I scored an awesome deal on for the pair (they were mis-marked) and since I have very little Thanksgiving decor I thought it'd be fun to get something.  Especially since I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year!

These days out are few and far between and very much enjoyed by both of us.  Thanks to some hubby's that help with schedules to make it happen.  I couldn't ask for more! 

Life in the fast lane

I say life in the fast lane as if we're going somewhere, but in actuallity we're still here just going a million miles an hour.  Life is finally getting back to normal after the many trips we made up north and this is going to be our first weekend here at home (without company) since July! 

Here's a recap of our fun the last few weeks here at home.  The 1st weekend of October Grandpa Smith came to visit.  He was here on his birthday week so we decided to celebrate it up for him.  Eric and Jonner took him golfing, we had a big steak dinner and I made him an angel food cake with fluffy frosting - just like Jeanette used to make!  Here's Jonner licking the frosting from the beater!

He thought it was pretty good!  Licking the beaters was always my favorite part of my mom's baking! 

My parents always come to visit the 2nd weekend of October for the annual Share Walk.  It's a walk to remember all babies gone to soon.  It's a nice time to remember and honor Kye and all of his angel friends during a ceremony with speakers, song, each baby's name is read aloud, balloon release and a memorial walk.  The walk is lead by a banner that all the families sign a message on. 

This las one is my favorite.  Jonner saw everyone writing on the banner so he picked up an ink pen and said he was going to write a letter to his brever (aka brother) Kye.  Look closely and Jonner wrote his name all by himself!  Yay Jonner!  All caps and backwards and when he ran out of room he put his upside down/backwards R under the rest of his name.  I'm glad I have a picture of it and that he was able to share this new "mastery" with his brever! 

Our balloons sent with love to heaven!

                        
Last week I started a Monday craft shared on Tuesday.  Well this week was a wee bit Cra-ZEE, but we did complete several crafts and just stuff in general.  All of it kept me away from the computer!  Our Monday craft as promised.

Felt Jack-O-Lanterns:  I cut a "pumpkin" from a sheet of orange felt and a bunch of facial shapes from black felt.  When 2 pieces of felt are pressed together they naturally bond and hold onto one another.  So we were able to make several different jack-o-lantern faces during our craft playtime.  Ton's of fun and Jonner's made several funny faces and really enjoys playing with the felt.  I'm thinking this will be a fun activity to make seasonally.  I see snowmen with different hats, scarves, mittens, Easter Bunnies with baskents, eggs, flowers and just fun things like cupcakes, cookies, felt dolls to "dress" for the weather....so many possibilities! 

Jonner Jack-o-Lantern

Mommy Jack-o-Lantern with the "lipstick" and eyelashes!

Daddy Jack-o-Lantern with eyebrows and a moo-stach under the nose! 

You can see Jovie is really impressed with Jonner's creations.  In reality she's probably just happy to be able to sit and rest without Jonner chasing her or tattling on her "Mommy, Jovie is in the same room as me" what will I do when we have another one!  The tattling has already started and it's with a dog! 

I finally completed Jonner's Halloween costume and have begun working on Eric's and mine.  We're going to be a family of Pirates and will host a Halloween party for a few of Jonner's friends here on Smith Island - Arrrr! 

Jonner and I also completed his thank you notes to send everyone who loved on him for his birthday.  I cheated this year and bought some Halloween stickers and pre-made witch hat cards on clearance last winter.  It worked out fabulously.  He get's to help with stickers, and we're done in an afternoon.  But since he can write his name now I'm having him sign each card....it's going to take forever! 

Lastly, I've recently started stalking my friend Erica's photos.  She "introduced" me to Bento lunches.  When school started she posted some uber cute pictures of lunches she created for her boys.  I've always tried to make a fun lunch for Jonner using cookie cutters to cut his sandwich but little did I know the extent of what can be done to fun up a lunch.  Bento is basically a Japanese term for cute, fun and HEALTHY lunches.  I'm addicted and FAR from making anything remotely close to the art of what I've seen some mom's make for their kiddo's.  But I have improved and have a few pictures of two of his lunches this week.  

The picture is horrible - after the fact I now realize I had the camera on the wrong setting.  This one went to school with him and was a big hit.  One of the little boys in Jonner's class didn't get two hand stamps at the end of the day because he kept trying to take Jonner's lunch away from him!  Anyway it's a ghost in a cheesy pumpkin patch (cheese sandwich on wheat) with witch fingers (carrot sticks) in a silicone spider cup and goblin guts & eyes (mini oreo's & yogurt raisins) in a silicone pumpkin cup with a juice box and an apple. 

This was a lunch I made for him here at home on his Boo plate.  A jack-o-lantern sandwich (nutella on wheat), witch fingers (carrot sticks) in a spider cup, sliced banana, pumpkin marshmallow's & bat gummies with a Frankenstein pick in a pumpkin cup.  I'm finding that anythink with a pick tastes better and I can limit a few yummies with more fruit/veggies if it's on a pick!  Jonner has always been a good carrot & apple eater.  Giving him a banana or grape was unheard of, but now he asks for them if he can pick a pick to eat them with. 

Dork alert!

Lastly, my big accomplishment this week.  I baked my 1st potato(es).  I know what you're thinking....she's never baked a potato before....the answer is "no".  Until now, and I have to share.  I knocked it out of the ballpark.  Not only did I bake the taters I made them into twice baked taters and froze them.  Slowly but surely my freezer is getting re-stocked for the winter with easy, pre-made meals.  We had our twice baked tater's with oven baked bbq ribs the other night and they were delish. 

Again...camera on the wrong setting.  I think it's time to just hand this camera over to Jman and get myself a new one! 

So that's just a peek of our week in a nutshell. 

Vroom, Vroom!

Crafts with my favorite 4yr old!

I recently started making a weekly Monday craft with Jonner.  And decided we'd share on Tuesday when I have the time to sit down and type to my hearts desire while he's in school.  That didn't happen this morning because I was off getting beautiful, bodacious big hair!  But I am going to take advantage of NAP TIME!!  Yes, my big boy who just turned 4 on September 25th still needs and takes a nap.  I love nap time! 

So we started a Busy Binder/Bag.  Items that can fit in a binder or bag and come in handy while at the Dr.'s office, restaurants, travelling that type of thing. 

I'll start off with what I haven't finished....BUSY BINGO for travelling.  I made a bingo sheet and instead of using numbers I used clip art of things like a semi truck, train, stop sign.  Stuff we see while travelling.  I also made seasonal bingo pages to use as the season's change and we see different "looks" on the horizon.  Once I get a cartridge for my printer I plan on printing and laminating the sheets and putting them in a 3 ring binder.  When Jonner spots one of the items he can put an X over the picture with his dry erase crayon and get a little prize once all items on a sheet have been crossed off.  As he get's a little older I'll have him try to just get a straight line, 4 corners that sort of thing.  My goal with this activity is to have him tune into his surroundings rather than the dvd player. 

Now on to the fun stuff we've already completed!  BUSY LACE-UPS.  I took different colored foam board that we had in our craft bin and cut it into different shapes.  Taking a hole punch I punched holes around the entire shape and added a shoe string to lace in and out of the holes.  This activity works on hand/eye cordination, fine motor skills and helps teach colors and shapes.  In all honesty, Jonner has not shown any interest in this activity....it might be a bust.  Then again who knows with this kid of mine!

Next is BUSY BEADS.  This is a favorite of mommy and son!  Jonner and I have spent hours playing with this simple activity and it goes just about everywhere with us and it's SO simple!  I've taken a handful of plastic pony beads and put them in a bowl with lid (I tried loose in a ziploc bag and the beads went everywhere, I've found the bowl works like a charm) and a bunch of pipe cleaners.  We string beads and make braclets, form the pipe cleaners into animals and people....the ideas and possibilities are endless!  This activity can be used for making patterns, fine motor skills, color recognition and hand/eye cordination.

Here Jonner is making patterns.  This was fun to see how his little mind worked and making a game out of what color comes next.  Plus it's no easy task to thread a pipe cleaner through a bead with cute chubby fingers!

Jonner showing off his giraffe!

Our co-creation of the BUSY BEAD BODY. 
All this was done the 1st day we played with this activity.  We've since made a flamingo, and bracelets, a butterfly & flower. 

This last activity is COLOR MATCHING.  I haven't gotten it out yet to let Jonner play with to give feed-back.  It is another simple concept with basic items we had around the house and in our craft bin.  Clothes pins, glue & paint chip samples (these I picked up from the local paint store).  I got 2 of each paint sample, one to cut and glue a sample to the clothes pin and one to use as a guide to match the pin to.  Easy peasy!  This activity is great for fine motor skills, matching & color recognition. 

I wish I could claim genius for this activities, but have to give credit to someone on Pinterest for planting the seed in my brain.  But it was all me getting up and actually making these!  I really have enjoyed making these activities for Jonner and look forward to him getting them out and actually putting them to use.  Plus I have so many more ideas to keep him busy and still challenge and strengthen his abilities at completing different tasks.  But I'll still keep my lone hotwheel and 3 crayons in the bottom of my purse as emergency back-ups.  Those white table liners on the beds in Dr's offices make great coloring sheets! 

Oh and I didn't have to purchase anything to make these activities!  WooHoo and they all fit nicely into a quart sized ziploc bag! 
 
I think our first week of craft make & share was a success!  Let me know if you try any of these activities and how they go over with your wee ones!