The Kirby

I was going to post about this a while ago but never got around to it. I guess since technically it was a birthday/Christmas present to me it's appropriate to still post. To understand how funny this story is, you have to have some background information. When Justin was a kid, the Kirby vacuum salesman was at their house giving a demonstration. If you haven't sat through a demo before, they make it a dramatic as a vacuum demonstration can possibly be. I'm sure with 7 kids in awe of the awsome power of Kirby watching, the pressure to buy wasn't just coming from the salesman. At the end of the demonstration, the kids were allowed to choose between buying a T.V. or a new vacuum. They picked the vacuum (it must have been some demonstration). Justin went without a T.V. for most of Justin's life (which I think is a good thing but Justin doesn't agree) So as long as I've known Justin, the above story always ended with "That dang Kirby salesman!!!"
Fast forward to a few months ago. The Kirby people came around setting up appointments to shampoo one room. I like clean carpets as much as the next person so we agreed to sit through the demo. The entire time (which was about 2 hours) I told the guy there is no way I was buying a vacuum. At the end, he stepped outside to let Justin and I discuss the vacuum. I figured there was nothing to discuss. Justin immediately says, "I think we should get one" It's true that our vacuum was on it's last leg but I wasn't going to spend that much on a vacuum. At that point he suggested that the $$ would come out of his pocket not the household account. The best part of this whole story is that Vanessa had recently put chips in the DVD player and in his attempts to fix it, Justin killed the TV. The TV we are currently using is a 9 inch portable that Justin has for the camp trailer (once again, I don't think it's a bad thing) I'll have to admit, the Kirby is a great vacuum. The only draw back is that it's on the heavy side (not fun for stairs) and you have to practically take it apart to use the attachments. So now everytime I need attachments it's me saying "Dang Kirby salesman".

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yesterday we had our first little snow storm. The kids were so excited. It didn't last very long and it melted away pretty quickly but it brought huge, wet flakes that were perfect for catching on your tongue (Ethan) or making snowmen(Caden). Vanessa spent most of the time just running with her arms stretched out. Alliya loved eating snow. Justin had risked life and limb to hang our Christmas lights (OK he never was in any danger). Having the house decorated and a little snow really brought the holiday excitement home. The kids ask about a million times a day when Christmas is coming.
I almost lost the magic of Christmas for Caden on accident. I have a little Santa Claus that sits on the table. One day Alliya was trying to feed her yogurt to the Santa. I casually told her to stop feeding the Santa, he's not real (meaning he couldn't eat). Caden (with a lot of emotion) said, "Yes he is, he's REAL". I think there's been some debate on the school bus between the older and younger kids as to the truth about Santa. Caden is not about to quit believing. He would really like a turtle for Christmas and he knows mom's against it. Santa is his only hope (even though I've explained to him that Santa asks the mommy first if a pet is requested). The other kids aren't really concerned (I don't think they realize there's any debate over Santa's exsistence). Driving down the road, Vanessa saw an inflatable Santa Claus that wasn't inflated at that time. She pointed and told Ethan, "Look, Santa's dead" then without missing a beat started pointing out the other sights.
I love this time of year, especially with young kids. It's such a magical time for them and I hope they believe for a long time to come.

Winter Wonderland

Alliya's 1st Birthday home

It was so fun to celebrate Alliya's birthday for the first time as a family. This was the 1st time her birthday was more than just extra hugs and kisses and a cake for everyone that had a birthday that month. We went to the Treehouse museum again and this time we took Caden, Daddy and Erika. It was fun and really nice to have a 3 adult to 4 kid ratio. The kids got to split-up and see the areas they really wanted to see. I also was able to see areas we'd missed the first time. Because Alliya and I share the same birthday, I'm well aware of the problems a December birthday presents. Growing-up, I hated Christmas wrapping paper on my birthday present or when I was given a gift that was for my birthday AND Christmas. So when I ordered Alliya's birthday cake (just her's this year, for once she wasn't sharing a cake with anyone else), I made sure it wouldn't reflect the holiday season. Even though ladybugs are red, there is nothing about a ladybug that reminds people of Christmas. Imagine my dismay when I picked-up a Ladybug Birthday cake with green holly leaves on it. Who puts holly leaves on a ladybug????? I didn't have time to make them fix it and I knew the only one that would care would be me so I just left it at that. Next year I'm going to see if they'll put a Santa Hat on a butterfly.
It turned out to be a near perfect day (we did make Erika late for work) and it was nice to have Alliya home for our birthday.

Alliya's Birthday

Play group at the Treehouse

Our FSA (Families Supporting Adoption)group had a play group at the Treehouse Children's museum. It was so fun. We'd never been there before and the kids could have stayed forever. Ethan discovered the Medieval area and was hooked. He loved dressing up as a king or a knight (or knightmare as he called it). It's halloween everyday for Ethan. He wanted to wear his power ranger costume to the treehouse and I told him to put on regular clothes...so he wore a karate outfit. When he found out he got to dress-up at the museum he was in heaven. I haven't heard about dinosaur park for days. The girls had a really good time as well. In fact they decided that we needed to go again for Manoucheca's Birthday party.

The Treehouse

Disclaimer for extended (birth) families

OK, I've been worrying about how the blog will be received by all of our wonderful birthfamilies. Mostly, I'm concerned that if I don't have the exact same amount of pictures and stories for each child, it will be interpreted as favoritism. For the record, I love each and every one of my children with all of my heart. So, if you don't see one child as much as the others, let me give a couple possible reasons: 1) Caden is at school most of the day and exciting things like homework and dinner don't make the list of kodak moments very often. The kids that spend the most time with mom (and the camera) tend to have more pictures 2) Ethan is REALLY into posing for pictures right now and is always looking for reasons for me to grab the camera (he thinks homework and dinner ARE kodak moments) 3) Sworn to secrecy. Caden is old enough that it embarasses him if I tell cute stories about him. At times, it's hard to get permission to pass along stories. 4) technical difficulties. My computer and I are rarely friends. For example, currently there is a video clip of Ethan on the blog but none of the other children. I'm trying...but my computer just won't cooperate. I'm not giving up and eventually I will have video of all the kids.

So these are the kinds of things I lose sleep over. If I ever offend anyone, please let me know. It would be completely unintentional. I realize that I'm probably worrying too much and that until I pointed it out, none of you were counting pictures. I just hope that this blog is a source of joy and a great way for me to share the kids' lives with those that love them so much.

Ethan at soccer

Ethan kicking the ball in at soccer practice

I Bubba

Being "Daddy's Little Girl" is a priority around here. Vanessa caught on very quickly that daddy was wrapped tightly around her finger and she is not afraid to use this power. She has a shirt that says "Daddy's Little Girl" and she uses it to her advantage. The second Justin walks through the door, Vanessa will run up to him, give him a hug and point to her shirt and say "I'm Daddy's Little Girl", then she will ask for anything under the sun knowing full well that she will get it. Manoucheca has caught on to this now too. For no other reason than the simple fact that he's Justin, Justin decided to nickname Manoucheca, Bubba (as if she doesn't have enough names already). When ever Justin is around, she always tells him that she's his Bubba. She even points to pictures of herself and states "that's Bubba". It's always done with a smile and a sly look toward Justin. They even have the other kids calling her Bubba. How in the world did my little princess turn into Bubba (isn't that a redneck name?) As I rock her to sleep, I've always asked "Are you my baby?" to which she'd reply "I your baby". Now I get "No, I Bubba". Part of me says "Don't worry, this too shall pass" like when he wanted to call her Moo Moo. Then there's the part of me that's a little nervous because I've met a 40 year old woman named Scooter, a nickname she received before the age of one.