As Kindergarten wraps up...

I am finding myself emotional as the end of the year approaches.

I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with these 3 after school this year.  And they are still so innocent and sweet and young.  Time flies and this school year was no exception!  I feel like I JUST sent Tate to his first day of Kindergarten yesterday!  These 3 have grown up and matured SO MUCH this year.  And they have all learned sooo much!  It's been such a joy to hear their conversations and stories in the car each day after school.  They have made me laugh every single day!  Love them all so much!  I am going to miss this, but I am ready to have Tate and Wesley home for the summer!  I have a feeling this will be our BEST summer yet!

For fun after school today, I did a short interview with the 3 (almost) 1st graders.

Here it is...

1.  If you could do ANYTHING you wanted this summer, what would it be?

Tate - I would eat whatever I wanted!

Kiley - Go to my Nanas in Florida and swim!

Ava - Go to my Aunt Diana's and go swimming!

2.  What was your favorite part of being in Kindergarten?

Tate - Miss Jeannie teaching me.

Kiley - Going to gym and also watching a play.

Ava - Going to music and gym.

3.  What do you think the most important thing you learned in Kindergarten was?

Tate - Not to make bad choices.

Kiley - Not to bully!

Ava - To be nice to others.

4.  What do you hope to learn in 1st grade that you didn't learn in Kindergarten?

Tate - I don't know, I think I already learned everything in Kindergarten. (this made me laugh!)

Kiley - I want to learn what you can't touch. (no idea what this means...lol)

Ava - Science

5.  What do you want to be when you grow up and where do you want to work?

Tate - Kindergarten teacher and I want to work at Adams like Miss Jeannie.

Kiley - McDonalds worker!

Ava - I want to teach 1st grade at Blue Grass

6.  What is your favorite part of the day at school?

Tate - Reading

Kiley - Free Choice

Ava - Doing work at our tables

Yes...Tate is clearly attached to Miss Jeannie.  He has been extremely blessed to have her as his teacher.  He gets pretty attached to people he spends lots of time with! :)  Hope he loves his 1st grade teacher as much as he loves her!

A "super" new look...coming soon I hope!

Tomorrow we will travel to Des Moines to do our annual family photo swap with my great friend, Jamie who has photographed our family twice before.  Can't wait for our session this year as we are going to do a bit of a fun theme I think! :)

We are going to be representing the DC Comic book heroes.  Tate and Wesley will be in full costume...Tate as The Flash and Wesley as The Green Lantern.  Cason is wearing a Superman romper, Sean a Batman t-shirt and me a Wonder Woman t-shirt.  If it turns out as I am envisioning, it is going to be SO CUTE!  I can't wait!  And funny enough, the boys are SO excited too!  Kind of part of the point of the shoot was to make it fun for the boys and they are going to have fun...I know it!

So hopefully in a few weeks, this blog will have a SUPER new look with an updated picture as my header! :)  I will share the images as soon as I get them!  Wish us luck!

My thoughts this Mother's Day...

 

I have some thoughts this Mother's Day.
First, I am so grateful and blessed to have the most amazing mother in the world.  Truly, she is incredible and I am so thankful I get to call her "Mom".

This weekend, thoughts of my boys' birth mothers were on my mind a lot.  I know that there are 3 women out there that no matter the circumstances that brought their boys to me, they are struggling.  That is heart breaking.  You can't know that feeling unless you are living it.  It weighs heavily on my heart all the time...I honestly think about these boy's birth parents every single day.  Their children call me "Mommy".  I know that all of you adoptive mommies out there know what I mean.  It's not even something you expect to feel or think about or be sad about before you are an adoptive mom.  It's something you hear about and read about and talk with your friends who have adopted about, but until YOU are the one living it, you don't get that feeling.  So don't get me wrong, I am over the moon happy and feel so blessed to call these children mine and to celebrate being their mommy this weekend and always, but at the same time, my heart is aching for these 3 women.  We share something that I can share with no other woman...we have the same son.  I thank God every day for these 3 boys and pray every day for their birth mothers.

Jody Landers posted on Facebook this weekend something that I couldn't have worded more beautifully, but is EXACTLY how I feel...

Children born to another woman call me "Mom." The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me this weekend.


My heart also goes out to those who are waiting to be mommies.  I also completely understand how difficult this day can be for those who are struggling to start a family.  I have been there and vividly remember a time when I had lost hope, I didn't think I would ever be a Mommy.  Don't lose hope...it's not hopeless.  If you want to be a mommy, YOU CAN!  It will happen for you and there are so many people praying for you!

So to all of you Moms, step moms, foster moms, birth moms, grandmothers, etc...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Tate Funnies

I could write multiple funnies down that Tate says each day!

Here are a couple that were said in the 20 minute drive home tonight from Mike and Sarah's house...

Tate was singing some song that goes something like this...

"Can you add a new sound a new sound a new sound, Can you add a new sound, "B" into "us". "  And then I would say, "bus!"  So he was going through doing that with the body parts he has learned at school like lungs, heart, liver, etc.  Then he sang "B" into "astard" .  I was like, "WHAT?!?!  Where did you hear that word?!!!"  He said, "You know that part of your body that holds your pee until you pee it out."

OHHHH, BLADDER!  Um...that's a little different than bastard!  I was dying laughing!

Then, still on the body part subject, he asked me, "Do mommies and daddies have kidneys too?"   I said, "yes, they do...everyone does!"  He said, "Well that's just silly, theirs should be called parent-neys, not KIDneys!"   And he was totally not making a joke, he was dead serious!  He cracks me up!

Teacher Appreciation

Today was Teacher Appreciation Day. And boy do I ever appreciate teachers!

I have so many family and friends who are all incredible teachers and I see first hand just how hard they work, how much time they take away from their own kids to make sure our kids, MY kids are successful.  So today we gave Tate and Wesley's teachers some plants.

Tate chose to give Miss Jeannie herbs.  We went to 3 different stores before he found the perfect pot he wanted to get her.  I think he did a great job!

 

He was so excited to give Miss Jeannie her gift!  He adores her with all that he is.  And we think she's pretty great too!  He has THRIVED in her classroom when we were so worried about how he would do.  We love her.

So we planted basil, rosemary and thyme for her...

 

 

And I had Tate write on the heart,
"Some herbs for season and spice..."

"Because you are so nice." :)

And Wesley give his teacher a pot of pretty yellow flowers.
He wasn't as willing to let me photograph him, so you only get one picture of him.  Cute nonetheless. :)

 

 Love my boys!  LOVE their teachers!

Cason will be seeing his teacher on Thursday, so she will get her gift then.  My boys are so blessed to have the best teachers!

Riding Bikes

Tate has never been the best bike rider. Like I am unsure he will ever ride without training wheels...ever.  He might be using training wheels as a teenager.  He is just too nervous and scared and NOT coordinated.  Now Wesley...he may learn to ride without training wheels this summer.  I will say, however that Tate has suddenly this year become so much better at riding his bike.  It's nice to see him sort of catching on.  And he now ASKS if he can go out and ride where last year we had to make him!  I love these boys...

 

Wesley has completely grasped the concept of the balance bike.  He does SO WELL on it!

Tate was pretty proud of his balancing on his bike too.  Ha!  (he has a balance bike as well, but does not have the coordination to ride it at this time).

 

 

We are so happy that we can send the boys outside to play again!

Booner's birthday...take 1

Since Booner's actual birthday was on Sunday, we all gathered at mom and dad's to grill out and be together to celebrate him. It is so fun getting all the kids together and I love that it is possible so frequently now that we all live so close by each other. :) We will celebrate Boone's birthday again this Saturday night with his big super hero party. I can't hardly believe that he's 3! I will never forget going into that room a mere minutes after he was born and seeing his gorgeous face. Love that boy soooo much! Here are some pictures from Sunday...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I did last weekend...

I spent my weekend in Des Moines doing lots of photo sessions and spending time with dear friends. It was a BUSY and fun weekend!

 

Minutes after pulling into town, I was doing this photo session for my incredibly gorgeous and talented friend, Melissa's makeup area in her new spa, Serendipity Spa.  It was a session that is unlike anything I've ever done...so fun and has been a blast editing it too!

 

Then I got to see Cason's old physical therapist turned my friend.  I photographed her adorable family and got to just hang out at the park with all of them and snap some pictures while I was at it. :)  Love that I am able to remain in contact with she and her family after they moved.  So sad she's gone, but so happy that she became my friend!

Then, I got to go to the capital building and photograph Sean's cousin and her family.  They are pretty much the nicest, most laid back people I know.  Oh my, they are AWESOME to photograph!  This shot is at the top of my list of favorite family shots I've taken...ever.

And then my dear friend Amanda and her stud of a 3 year old son, Bentlee.  We laughed pretty much the entire session and seriously, isn't she gorgeous and isn't he handsome?!?!  Oh my...love this girl and her son so much!

Last but not least, I got to photograph the Curran Family.  I have photographed them 4 times now.  Love watching families through the years...and again, SUCH an incredibly wonderful family.  Love my sessions with them!  And little Andrew is getting so old!  I photographed him for the first time as a tiny infant and now he's 3!!!

 

What an awesome weekend!  I kinda dig this going to another city for a weekend of photo sessions.  It's nice to have a change of scenery and has inspired me to try and find some new local locations to shoot at this year!

I huge thank you to Melissa and Amanda for letting me crash at their homes while I was in town!  Love you guys!  And yet again I am reminded that I have the best clients ever! 

National Foster Care Month - Why did we become a foster family?

May is National Foster Care Month.
I ask you to consider your current situation and explore whether fostering a child (or 2 or 3 :)) could become part of your life's path.  It sure changed our world in ways we never expected or dreamed.  It created our family as it is today.  There is such a need.  I understand that it is not for everyone, nor is it the right time for everyone, but don't count it out.  There was a time that I thought we could never be a foster family.  God again showed us that his plan for our lives and for our family was much different than what ours was...and as we know, HIS plan is always better. :)  Not always easier, but the right one.

Local foster families were asked to submit their foster stories if they wished to be published on the Iowa Kidsnet blog throughout this month.  The story was to be a "Why did we become a foster family?" story.  I thought I would share my submission here...

Why did we become a foster family?  Honestly?  We started the process for selfish reasons at first.  We wanted to grow our family, we wanted more children.  We had adopted once before and knew we were called to be adoptive parents; we have a heart for adoption.  We wanted to foster a healthy child, preferably a baby who needed a home, who we could eventually adopt.  Then we were slapped in the face with reality.  And the reality is that our hearts were changed…they were broken.  We were presented in training with the need that exists, and with more than just statistics, with real life stories…heartbreaking stories and also stories of hope and redemption.  These stories, these realities, they made us different people; they made us not only want to become a foster family, but made us realize that we needed to.  We couldn’t turn back because the situation was likely not going to be the easy process where we would save a little baby like many hope it will be.  It is far from that.  It is so much more.  And the rewards…well, they have been beyond words.  I couldn’t write the appropriate words that would do justice to what wonderful blessings taking this path has provided us with.

Becoming a foster family and eventually adopting 2 more sons through the process has blessed us in ways we could have never dreamed.  No, we didn’t get the perfectly healthy babies we had originally dreamed about in our minds.  Rather, we fostered and adopted a perfectly incredible 1 and 3 year old who we now are beyond honored to call our sons…forever.  They ARE perfect, they ARE “our babies”, and they ARE our sons…forever.  Cason came to us with needs beyond anything we could have ever dreamed we were capable of dealing with and yet he has shown us that we actually NEEDED him.  And Wesley came to us only a few weeks after that with a whole different set of needs that we again never knew we would be able to handle and yet, we realized just as quickly that we were capable and that we wanted to take care of every need these boys had.  We needed them just as much as they needed us.  We needed our hearts to feel, we needed to know first-hand what was out there so that we could do our part.  It’s an honor to do our part and in the end…WE were the ones who have been blessed by these 2 perfect children for our family.

It was hard; it was overwhelming, emotional, scary and stressful.  Isn’t that just what parenting is?  Fostering these boys was the hardest thing our family has endured together.  It was hard on our oldest son, Tate, it was a roller coaster, I cried many nights as I worried about our boys and cried many days when I had to turn away accepting more children into our home because our plate was just too full.  I begged so many family and friends to join with us, become a foster family.  All we wanted was to see each of these children in loving wonderful homes for this trying time in their lives or even forever.  It is not an easy path to take.  It is worth it…beyond worth it.  While it was the hardest thing we have endured as a family, it was also the most rewarding thing we have endured.  It has made us stronger, it has opened our eyes and hearts to a whole new world that we are so grateful we get to be a part of.  If it was easy to feel so incredibly rewarded and blessed by something…everyone would do it.  It’s not easy, but it has provided us with a fulfillment and joy and a family that we wouldn’t have ever been able to have without it.  Becoming a foster family CREATED our family and we could never put into words how unbelievable grateful we are for that!