I never get tired of...

• hearing Mac's prayers
• chocolate
• my kids laughing
• smiles
• snuggles
• sleeping next to my husband
• eating good food
• buying baby clothes
• watching my kids sleep
• talking with my husband
• talking about adoption
• thinking about how our miracles came to us
• showing gratitude to my children's birth families.
• talking/hanging out with old friends
• Sunday naps
• taking pictures of my family
• taking hot showers
• wearing my Chacos
• having friends that understand
• the goofy faces Mac makes
• the cute way Oak says words as she is learning to talk
• my husbands scruffy face
• Oak trying to jump
• my life

What makes me happy...

Having moments like these...
(in between all the difficult moments!)

seventy

It was my mom's 70th birthday on Sunday. I made her come down to our house so that we could celebrate. I made her dinner of her choice and she wanted cupcakes. It was fun to get to celebrate with her. I felt bad because she woke up that morning with an ear ache and head ache. No one should have to wake up on their birthday sick. But then she stayed a few days with us, which we all enjoy.

(Oh and TODAY is my parenst 49th wedding anniversary!!)

Making a wish and blowing out her candle.

Loved that we were able to get this picture together. Especially since...

her birthday present was this picture (framed) of us with my Grandma a couple of weeks before she passed away in 2001.

Sunday Gratitude {My Mother}

April 2011

I am grateful...

01.  That I was able to capture this precious moment between my Mom and my son.

02.  That we were able to have my Mom and Dad for dinner today.

03.  That my Mom is celebrating her 70th birthday today.

04.  That my mom is one of my best friends.

05.  That I live close enough to my Mom that I get to spend a lot of time with her.

06.  That when ever she comes to my house she does my dishes (although it seems lately I already have them done when she come over).

07.  That she loves to play with my kids.

08.  That she is an active and very young 70 year old.

09.   That she is going to stay with us for a few days.

10.  That I get to have her as my Mother forever!!

Snow day!!!

So Sunday morning we woke up to snow. It was beautiful and both my kids were just completely enamored by it and just stood at the window watching it all morning. We didn't go out and play in it because we have church at 10am and Hubs was at his meeting. It is already hard to get us all ready by myself for church and knew adding playing in the snow to the morning would only complicate things. But thankfully Mac was ok with waiting until after church and never complained about that. When we were leaving for church ALL of the neighborhood kids were out playing in the snow across the street in the neighbors large side yard. I thought he would freak out and instead he just asked why they weren't going to church. It snowed alot while we were at church but by the time we got home most of it was melted. We did have a little in our backyard so Daddy and Mac went out and played in it for a little while.

But thankfully when we woke up Monday morning we had more snow! YAY!!! Mac was told that as soon as he got his room cleaned up he could go and play in the snow. (We have a new policy in our house called "Work then play!!") He was a very big slow poke and just wasnt' getting the job done until I talked to him about how it was going to make him feel that if he chose to not clean his room and he looked out the window and saw all of his friends playing and he couldn't go out. He finally realized how he would actually feel instead of us just threatening him. And he hopped right to it. Finally I texted all the neighborhood moms that we were heading outside and hoped they could come and play with us. Not long after that almost every one was out. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our neighborhood?!

Oh and I feel bad that I had layed Oak down for a nap and she didn't get to play in the snow at all. I had even bought her some little snow boot in anticipation of this snow.

Throwing a snowball at me...cute little stinker!

LOVE this action shot of the boys having a snowball fight!

Snow Angel!!

I thought that our little bush was so pretty.

Another of Mac's snow angels.

I think they were playing snow mummies or something like that.

Most of the little boys in our neighborhood. There were a couple more not there that I think were sick or just not out.

I really don't like snow all that much because I hate being cold and wet. But since Mac has been old enough to play in it and we live in a fun neighborhood I get super excited! Fun memories!

Mac funnies and a little sweetness too!!

**I am so enjoying how Mac tells us he is upset now a days! One night because Daddy turned something off he wanted to watch, "I am so NOT happy with you!!" and then, because he was upset about the consequences he was getting for not getting his teeth brushed, "Mommy, I don't like how daddy is acting, he's not acting like I want him to!" LOVE my boy!

**Begging for cheese crackers for a snack and me telling him for the hundredth time that he can have fruit and his choices were a banana, peaches or pears. He finally thought he was giving in and said, "FINE, I will have applesauce!" I said that he already had applesauce for breakfast and repeated his choices. He says, "Are you telling me that applesauce isn't good for our bodies!!!"

**When I checked on him in the middle of the night I found him with his shirt off (that is a first). When he walks in to our room this morning the first thing he said was, "Mom, do you know what I found in my bed?!" (Me: What buddy?") "A white shirt, I think it fell off of me when I was sleeping!" I couldn't help but laugh hard.

**I was singing songs in the car to keep Oak happy until we got home. Mac says to me, "Mom, you should just drive!" (Me: "Are you saying that I shouldn't sing and drive at the same time?") "Yeah, it's not safe!" Thanks for your wise words cute boy!!

** Mac got his new legos (current prized possession) taken away for many reasons, one of them being for the chaos he creates when put in timeout for not listening. After he has settled down and asked for his legos. He was told he had to earn them back by going a whole week without getting put in time out. A little while late he comes to me and says tomorrow I am going to make a "no timeout" sign with a circle and a line through it. I about died and had to hold my composure as I told him that was a GREAT idea!!

**Oak brought me a pirate eye patch and wanted it on. The string was missing and I asked Mac if he knew where it was at. He says, "It broke off so I threw it on the floor and called it junk!" (Hubs later told me that it is from "Hector the Collector" in Where The Sidewalk Ends.)

**He told me he had eaten most of his sisters grapes at lunch time. I told him that wasn't very nice and that it doesn't make me happy that he would do that. He says, "Oh I see how it is...(then breaks into the Tangled song) Mother knows best..."

**We have been listening to the Disney station on Pandora for most of the evening. Mac comes up to me, grabs my hand and says "My lady" and drags me to the family room to dance. So adorable! I have no clue where he got that from, but I LOVE it! It also pretty much started a dance party for the rest of the evening. Happy memories in the making!! ♥

**As difficult as Mac had been one day it ended on a very sweet note with us snuggling in his bed and him asking me to tell him the story about when he was adopted ♥

**We did "High/Low" at dinner time. Mac's "high" for the day was me playing trains with him in his bedroom. Totally melted me since I for sure thought he would say playing in the snow with his friends. Love my boy!! ♥

Legos...

So one day at the beginning of the month, Hubs and Mac went to town and ran some errands and to go to the "Train Store" (The Toy and Hobby Shop). They also took Mac's $50 that he got for his birthday from his Great Grandma. They came back with a BIG box with a Lego kit inside. And so Legos have now been introduced to our house and I don't think we can look back.

Mac still doesn't know how to put them together but he LOVES the little Lego people and carried them around constantly for a week...until he got them all taken away for very poor behavior and monstrous fits when put in time out. There was a lot of drama! He has had to earn them back by going seven days (not consecutive) without being put in time out. After today he has two days left and this started 9 days ago.

Anyway back to Legos! He loves them and to tell you the truth I love them too because they remind me of my childhood. I hope he grows to love them and love actually being able to build things with them. Daddy likes them too!!

Hubs turned 33!

Note: So I (we) are usually terrible at celebrating our own birthdays or really doing something for each other on their birthdays. I know, terrible right? But this year I have made it a goal to be better about birthdays, ours and extended family members birthdays.

Hubs turned 33 last week and when I asked Mac what we should do for Daddy's birthday, of course his first response was to make daddy a chocolate cake. So that for sure was on our list of things to do.

We first went to Target and got the stuff we needed to make a cake and Mac wanted to pick out a present for his Daddy. And of course he wanted to get him Legos, so I let him. We got birthday cards and we also got balloons and window markers and went to where he worked and put a whole bunch of balloons in his car and wrote on the window a little birthday note. (I knew Hubs would totally hate that because sometimes he can be a little party pooper :) ). Then we went to the mall to find the gift that I had planned on getting him. He had been saying how he wanted to get a new battery in his watch and I didn't know where his watch was and it is 10 years old and not very professional looking. So I wanted to get him a really nice watch. I found what I wanted on Macy's web site and printed the picture and took it into Macy's to try to find it. I found it and was just so excited I could hardly contain myself.

We went home and started making the cake, wrapped presents, cleaned the house, and got dinner started. We invited Hubs's parents for dinner. Hubs wouldn't give me a clear answer on what he wanted for his birthday dinner so I just made sure to make something that he could actually eat and that he likes alot. Mac could hardly contain himself waiting for the time when Daddy could open his presents. We talked over and over most of the day about how we have to keep the present a secret so that Daddy would be surprised when he opened it.

Dinner was yummy and Hubs loved all of his presents!

I was proud of myself for making it a special day and loved that we got to spoil Daddy. He so deserves it. He works so hard to provide for us and then comes home most of the time to a very grumpy family. I love this man more than words could ever say!

A little walk with Grandma...

Last week Hubs was on a business trip that took him out of town for less than 48 hours. So we decided to head to my parents house while he was gone. The weather was so nice while we were there that we had to take a walk to the convenient store for treats.

She got really excited to see dogs walking towards her.

She was really intrigued and oddly excited by the moss in the cracks of the sidewalk.

So cute!!

Checking out the tractors that live in the field.

And of course couldn't stand to hear a dog barking behind the fence and not get to see it and pet it. This girl is crazy over animals.

And just so cute!

Sunday Gratitude...

I am grateful...

01.  That Mac is showing Oak more attention and love lately. (He pretty much wants to smother her with love all day which she isn't totally ok with, so she has now learned the word "stop!")

02.   That Mac actually was really great for church today. It helped that he fell asleep halfway through Sacrament Meeting :)

03.  To see my children's eyes light up from watching the snow fall. So magical!!

04.  We got to spend some time at my parents house this week. Short trip but always fun!

05.  To be a mother, although it is totally kicking my butt right now. Hopefully some recommended parenting books will help save my sanity :)

06.  That we got to celebrate Hubs's 33rd birthday this week. I had fun making it special for him. And I got him a stellar watch which he loves.

07.  That it is the kids' bedtime in 17 minutes.

08.  That I was able to go grocery shopping all by myself last night.

09.  For wonderful friends!

10.  That Hubs SURPRISED me by getting a new battery in my watch. I have been wearing it without one because I hadn't gotten around to finding a place to get it fixed.

Oak at 17 months...

*Boy is this girl spicey!! Yowzers!!

*She pretty much makes us laugh constantly with her silly and naughty antics.

*She "snaps" her fingers when she is dancing.

*says two and sometimes three word sentences.

*she is saying too many words to document all of them.

*she communicates really well and doesn't do much babbling anymore.

*will NOT leave her piggies in or any other hair pretty for that matter.

*she has a love/hate or a scared to death but extremely intrigued relationship with the garbage truck. She wants/needs to go outside to see it, yet she has a look of total terror on her face and you can tell she is trying to hold it together and be brave so that she can wave hi to the garbage man. It is reallly cute!!

*She says "I sit THERE!!" about a million times a day. She usually will slap her hand down where ever it is she wants to sit, or wants you to sit or wants you to set down what ever it is she wants. It makes me laugh everytime.

*She also has been quite clingy lately and she is constantly coming up to me and saying, "Hold me."  in the cutest little sweet voice, I pretty much can't refuse.

*Still calls all dogs "Bobo". Which is the name of our neighbors dog and really the first dog she ever was exposed to.

*She LOVES her big brother "Coy" and is constantly asking for him, calling for him or if he is on the floor, tackling him. She wants to play in his room and be doing what ever it is he is doing. But as soon as he wants to love on her and smother her with playfulness she is yelling "STOP!" at him over and over.

*She has become a bit more of a picky eater since she was sick last week.

*She can eat with a fork pretty well and we are still working on using a spoon without dumping everything before it gets to her mouth.

*She is a climber and very busy, which means she gets hurt alot.

*She loves taking baths.

*She is still quite attached to her bear and she has a favorite blankie now.

*She goes down for naps and bed time so well.

*Most days I can get two naps out of her depending on the timing.

*She is ready for bed everynight at 8pm sharp. It doesn't matter if she woke up from a nap an hour earlier or not.

Sunday Gratitude {my forever family}

I am grateful...

01.   that ONE YEAR AGO TODAY we were able to take our baby girl to the Temple and have her sealed to us FOREVER!!

02.    that the capstone of our adoption experiences gets to be kneeling across the alter from my true love just as it was the day we started our family together almost eleven years ago.

03.   that so many family and friends were able to be there to show their love and support at all three of our sealings.

04.  to be able to start the process to find our third miracle baby and remember that the ultimate goal is to have him/her forever.

05.   that after the news of so much heart ache and loss for family and friends this week, that they all have the knowledge that families CAN be forever and not just for this life.

06.   for my beautiful, smart, amazing children and that I am lucky enough to be their Mother.

07.  for the sacrifice that their amazing birth parents made for them...adoption truly is all about LOVE.

08.   to have our children's birth families as our extended family.

09.   that my parents and my husband's parents made the choice to be sealed in the Temple. What a great example they were and are.

10.  that we live close enough to the Temple that we can go often.