GREAT NEWS!!!!

WE GOT THE NEWS WE WERE WAITING FOR!!!

WE have an adoption date for our foster son.. soon to be our son. January 25th at 1:30 in Jefferson County! WE are sooo excited. I can't wait to post a picture of our cute little boy with HUGE eyes.

However on the other side of the coin, we are still waiting for the termination ruling for our foster daughter. So please keep those thoughts and prayers coming! That this will happen quickly and painlessly!

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was spent at home. We loved spending time with the family. Although we missed Ted's parents we had a lot of fun.

The week started out with me having surgey. UGH!!! I have had chronic sinusitis since serving my mission and finally saw an ENT doctor. He recommended surgery to fix the septum, the chronic sinusitis and allergy testing. Well with Ted's crazy work schedule we had to wait until the Monday before Christmas to do this. It went well, however he didn't tell me the pain involved. So I was grateful for pain killers, my mom who came in to help with the little ones, my great husband, and a substitute for nursery on Sunday. The allergy testing will have to come when we have the time again! Maybe I really don't want to know???

I spent Tuesday in a daze and Wednesday in a daze. Thursday, my mom brought Bratten's clam chowder for dinner!!! It was nice having Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve by ourselves!

Christmas day was spent having a great time. Our children slept in until 8:00. Which is a rare occurence in our house. It was so much fun to see the kids faces as they came in and saw what Santa brought them. Having 2 two year olds and a 3 year old smile and get sooo excited is what makes the season bright. (We didn't get cookies out for santa or carrots for the reindeer.. due to mommy feeling like garbage but hey there is always next year! Isaiah didn't even remember to ask.)

We then ventured to my mom's and dad's for Christmas day there. We opened gifts with all the cousins and my sisters and their spouses! Imagine one 6 year old, 3 -3 year olds, 2 2 year olds, and 1 1 year old all opening gifts and getting in the way of their cousins. WHAT A JOY!!!! We missed Jimmy, Nina, and Jesse! Dinner was ham and funeral potatoes! YUMMY.. then it was time to go home. Ted had to work!

Mom put the kids to bed early and then went to bed herself!

ISAIAH TURNED 3

I can't believe that our little boy turned three while on our fun trip ( see below to read about that). He is over 42 inches tall and has the best smile in the whole world. It seems that Isaiah once he turned 3 has become a little chatterbox. He will tell everyone and anyone about anything. The best thing is that he still loves his mommy and daddy.

I can't believe that 3 years ago Ted and I were chosen to adopt a baby boy in Michigan. It seemed like he had been waiting forever for this phone call. We left the next Monday and drove to MI in just a few days. We spent a 6 weeks in a hotel room waiting to be able to come home and we enjoyed every minute of this time. It was fun to learn our baby's little noises and get to know him better. Then Ted left and we became a split family for 4 more weeks.

Isaiah and I flew home a few days after Christmas 2006. It was a trip to remember. Isaiah was such a good baby!

It is amazing that this little petite baby has become this huge 3 year old with the cutest smile. Isaiah wears 4t and 5t clothing and is in a 11 shoe. So I can't wait to see what he will be wearing in high school.

LITTLE BOY WE LOVE YOU!!

What have we been up to???

Well, it seems like September has come and gone! We finally received notice that the Judge terminated the rights on one of our foster children... However, now we have to wait the 42 days to see if the parents will appeal the decision. We are pretty sure that they will. So we are praying hard that it will not be overturned and we can go on to the adoption like planned. For those that are following us... we also go to a hearing for TPR on our other foster child soon...

After receiving that fun news. We took off for 2 and 1/2 weeks for a long awaited trip to Florida. We had a great time the first week with my sister and her husband and son. We spent much time going to SeaWorld, Disney World, the beach, and mall. We had fun going to the various water parks and pools also.

Isaiah loved the beach and slashing around in the waves. He decided that he loves the water and will now purposely stick his head in the water and blow bubbles! He is now our little fishy.. Isaiah also decided that he doesn't like to watch fireworks and was very scared at Magic Kingdom's firework show. Believe it or not Isaiah was tall enough to go on Splash Mountain. He was able to go on the ride 4 TIMES!!!

It seemed like time went by way to fast and we were headed to the airport to come home! UGH!
I will have to update with pictures when I have a chance.

DO YOU SEE IT!!!!

We were driving home from Rigby and Isaiah has this thing about seeing things and asking mommy and daddy if we see it. So this day was no different....

Isaiah : Daddy do you see it?
Ted: What do I see?
Isaiah : Daddy do you see the airplane?
Ted: No I don't see it..
Isaiah: So put your glasses on daddy!

Isaiah seems to think that wearing glasses will help his daddy see everything! It was a fun day!

PEAS PEAS AND MORE PEAS

So upon our return from camping, Ted and I went out and inspected our garden. We looked at the corn, zuchinni, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, and then the peas. BOY OH BOY! they are loaded with pods! I then decided that it was time for me to pick them. I began to pick, pick, and pick our peas. We ended up with a 3 gallon bucket full of pea pods to shell. Needless to say my little shadows wanted some as we were shelling them.

Camping . . . All with three children all under the age of 3.

Whoever said the camping is fun, obviously didn't take 3 children under three with them. We spent most of the time counting heads, fixing booboos, and chasing kids around the camp ground. Although it was great fun to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins.. most of all it was wonderful to see my grandfather and grandmother/Aunt.

I was also able to get some white water rafting in. I haven't did this for years. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I only wish my husband would have been able to come on the trips with me. Isaiah spent most of his time playing in a blow up pool, riding his trike around, and running into things or falling. He would be more than happy to show you his owies...
It was fun to get away from the telephone, cell phones, TV's, and chores around the house.

Although coming home was a wonderful thing also due to the fact that we have flushing toilets, warm water for showers, and a dishwasher.

What has Isaiah been up to???

Well we had a few days of nice weather... well if you don't count the rain storms. Isaiah true to his nature has decided to play in the sprinklers ( he had to show daddy how to set it up just right) ... and well, he learned how to drive... kinda! Isaiah and his cousin Eli decided to take the jeep out for a spin.

What have we been up to...

Well, we have been really busy here in little Rigby, Idaho. We have planted our garden and decided to add a few new things this year. We planted grouds, oninos, and radishes. Now don't ask me why we just did. We have 3 inch peas above ground, beans are above ground also. Needles to say with planting a garden comes the weeds and boy do we have our share. I have decided that planting a garden is easy compared to the keeping up with the weeds and harvesting and canning.... But boy is it sure worth it.

We have been busy with our children. We are still waiting for a ruling on the termination of one of our foster children and the hearing has been postponed :( on the other child. It is so sad to see the children just waiting in the system to see if their parents will ever get their acts together... UGH!!!! But needless to say life is still moving on between the visits, doctors appts, visits, soon to add twice monthly speech appointments, OT, court dates, meetings, etc. All this for the 2 foster children that we have.... now lets add Isaiah's stuff to the mix and the fun summer activities that we love to do ... WE ARE BUSY.

This last month we went to the zoo a few more times... saw the baby camel being feed by one HUGE bottle, saw the baby lemur playing around, and played at the park.

Ted and I took the kids to Ross Park and saw the zoo there. I wasn't a impressed as the one in Idaho Falls... although it had bears!! Then we took the kids to the water park across the street. What a blast... Ted and I watched the kids play and boy did Isaiah LOVE THE WATER!!!! He did not want to get out of the water for anything... lucky they had hourly checks and made the kids get out of the water or he wouldn't have eaten... Our two foster kids had fun although the learned that you are supposed to keep your head above the water... they gulped a few mouthfuls of water down.

We have also attacked the potty with a vengance. Yes, Isaiah is learning to go peepee and poopie on the toilet. Of course this is being done with lots of bribes and singing. He is starting to be able to hold it really well except for at night... UGH.... Isaiah was up last night every 10-15 minutes needing to go potty until at 11:00 I finally told him this is the last time he was going to be able to go. Boy,was church fun today!!! Now we are trying to master the whole pooping on the potty thing... wish us luck!!!!

Fun Monday!

Ted didn't have to work so we decided to take the kids to the temple. While there Isaiah was singing... I love to see the temple I am going there someday.... He loved walking around the temple and seeing the flowers in bloom, there was also a duck that the kids just loved looking at. After that we went over to the local zoo. Isaiah was afraid of the monkeys at the beginning! It was so funny. We were able to see a brand new baby camel and lions and tigers. It was a FUN time. We decided since the weather was sooo nice to then get a pizza and eat lunch at the park. Talk about HARD... It was crazy to keep the kids eating lunch and not wanting to play on the swings and slides.

Snow, Snow and More Snow... oh and by the way COURT!!!!

Today we woke up to a few inches of snow. I couldn't believe it! It is the beginning of April and Spring is suppose to be here... Oh well I guess we will have to wait to plant our garden. It was a few minutes after getting ready that my mom showed up at my house to watch our kids...THANKS MOM!!!!

Then Ted and I had to go off to the court house... Why you ask? Well we went to testify at one of our foster children's Termination of Parental Rights hearings. This to me is bitter sweet. I really wanted the mom to do well. I had hoped that she would do all the things that she was suppose to do and be able to keep him.

But due to her inability to keep her act together we are having the hearing. The hearing is going to be going for 4 days. We testified at the beginning of the 3rd day. I guess I shouldn't say we I should say me because Ted didn't have to testify... WHAT A LUCKY DUCK!!! When I went into the court room my hands were clamey and my heart started to beat quickly. Then I looked over to were the defendants sit and the foster child's mom wasn't there. That was a big relief because I felt that I could say things about her that I wouldn't normally because ... like I said before like her... as a person not necessarily a mom. The attorney felt that I did a great job telling things as they are. There was one attorney that tried to take my words and twist them around and make me sound like I didn't know what I was talking about. I waited until he stopped talking and stated, "No, that isn't what I said." After I stated that he closed pretty quickly and stated no more questions. I was on the stand for just over 1 hour. Then they were going to dismiss me and one of the attorneys stated I don't want her to leave yet... just leave the court room. I was shocked! I had no idea why they would want me to stay. After waiting about 20 minutes longer, the social worker came out and stated that we have a court order to cut the little child's long hair and to get him evaluated for speech services!!!!! This was the best news of all.... So we still don't know if the termination will be granted but at least our portion of the trial is over... Now all we can do is hope and pray that the judge will find what is in the best interest of this little guy...

Green Canyon Hot Springs

We have been wanting to take our three kids ( Isaiah, Foster Baby Girl, Foster Baby Boy) but didn't want to do this with out an extra set of hands. We recruited Ted's mom and dad to help us. So we made the drive to Green Canyon. For those that don't know Green Canyon it is a heated indoor swimming pool. We get there at 1:00 and there is hardly any room in the parking lot. So needless to say it was BUSY!!! So I took the two liitle babies to change and Ted took Isaiah. I got ready to swim and then got the babies in their swimsuits also. As we got into the water, Isaiah started to cry. Ted and I shared a look of what did we get ourselves into. It took about 20 minutes and all the children were splashing and laughing. Isaiah was putting his head into the water and blowing bubbles. The babies loved is so much they didn't want to get out. We spent about 2 hours in the pool and then it was time to go home for dinner. Getting out of the pool and changed is ANOTHER STORY... I am amazed how rude some people are. But needless to say it was a great time.

Did someone say cards????

Well my inlaws where over visiting from Payette, Idaho this last weekend to see their grandkids. We had a great time with them here. On night we were playing cards and Isaiah wanted in on the action. So we put him in his high chair with Thomas the train and he was playing really nicely by himself. All of the sudden we heard an OH O! and we all turned around to see what was wrong. We couldn't tell so we kept playing cards. A few minutes later we heard OH O! again this time we looked up and saw Isaiah looking over his grandmothers shoulder at her hand of cards. This was so funny. It was almost as funny as Isaiah yelling out the numbers of the cards in his mommy's hand.

An Early Morning

Well I sit here at 1:30 in the afternoon and ponder the following question... WHAT CAUSES CHILDREN TO GET UP BEFORE 7:00 in the Morning???

That was my life this morning. I woke up to Isaiah yelling, "MOMMY DONE! MOMMY GET ME! MOMMY I AM DONE!" Needless to say I was startled out of a great sleeping moment. So I quickly get up out of bed and run to his room. He was kneeling on his bed laughing at me. I begin to change his bum.. and I heard a bang .... followed by silence.... followed by a cry. I left Isaiah on the changing table and ran in the other bedroom and there was my 19 month old foster son on the floor looking up crying. He had fallen out of his port-a-crib. I quickly picked him up and looked him all over trying to make sure he was okay. There is not even a bruise on his little body.

Why do things like this happen when Ted is working nights I do not know.

So now on to seeing if we can get another permant crib in that bedroom...(have to ask for voucers and then we have to get approved). Oh life is so fun!

Valentine Cookies

So I found this new amazing recipe for sugar cookies and decided that we needed to make Valentine cookies. So Isaiah and I cut out the cookies and then let them cool (That was the hard part for Isaiah!!)

Then later in the day we frosted the cookies and then Isaiah put the sprinkles on and candy hearts. He loved helping mommy. However when Daddy came home he ate a few and took all the candy hearts off the cookies before he ate them. He finally admitted to me that he only liked sprinkles on his cookies. Oh well, at least Isaiah had a good time and he loved getting frosting on his fingers!

So we did it....

After months of hearing all about Twlight the movie, all the girls in our family went and saw it last night. Needless to say, I like the book ALOT better. Bella was a good actress and so was the seeker.

I love my husband for staying home with the three kiddos. He is such a good daddy!

Busy Life

Well I haven't been able to update our blog lately. It is not because I don't want to... its due to a computer being in the shop and not being able to get downstairs to work on our other one. We are still hanging out here in Rigby. Life today was especially busy! I took all three kiddo's to the WIC appt. that I had scheduled a month ago. Talk about being busy! I didn't sit for a minute. The poor lady helping me with the WIC didn't get my undivided attention for one minute and then she told me by the way next month both foster children have to come back again!! I wanted to say ARE YOU CRAZY!!! but this is what I get to do for being a foster parent!

We are currently the owners of 1 foot of new snow that has fallen these last few days and Ted and my father have been busy plowing the road and driveway in front of our house! I have been kept busy shoveling the sidewalk and next to the house... Note to self... Look to see if the road you buy your next house on is county approved or is it considered a private road!!! UGH!

End of the year

Christmas day was wonderful. We were able to have our own present opening experience with Grandma and Grandpa coming over. Isaiah was so excited to be able to open more gifts. We finished opening gifts and then it was nap time!!! Later that day Gena, Owen, Eli, Grandpa, and Grandma came over for a (3 course )fondue party. It was fun to sit around and eat and talk. Isaiah had fun with Eli.

New Year's Day was fun as we all went to my parents house and had another fondue party. We were able to visit and have fun. The boys all played WII bowling and the girls cleaned up!