The DeLucca Family

Catching up…Hannah’s Big Day

2011-09-08T23:36:00.001-04:00

I have decided to do some quick posts to catch this blog up because I have learned I tend to forget a lot of awesome family moments if I don’t document them somehow. Senior moments I guess, hey, they happen to the best of us, huh?

So here is the first in my catching up series… Hannah’s birthday! Never mind that it happened in March. Just look past that part and focus on the amazingness of Hannah Banana. I STILL can’t believe she is TEN! How did that happen?

I feel so incredibly blessed that God picked me to be her Big Sister. She was only four when we were matched so I feel privileged to have watched her grow up and change so much. She sure has come a LONG way and I am so very proud of her. It has been surreal to transition into this new stage where we have such serious conversations about life and boys, particularly one boy. That’s right, she has the fever- the Beiber fever and she has it bad. Justin Beiber is a pretty big deal in her world. Hannah has such a fun personality, she is so silly and wild and all over the place but yet soooo soo sweet and loving and resilient. I love her outlook and take on things. Sure it is often “out there” but just when I laugh off whatever she is saying she will bust out with some crazy words of wisdom and I am left speechless. She has really become a part of us, of our family, and we just love her to pieces. She spices things up around here and makes us laugh, really makes things fun. I am honored to be in her life and to be the one to make her feel so special. I cherish all the secrets she shares with me and all of our sweet giggly moments. We have made so many memories together (though there are a few I would like to forget, Kmart comes to mind, ha ha). We have laughed and cried together, gone through some major life changes together, been mad at each other, but most importantly we came through it all stronger and closer than ever. I could go on and on about her but its late so I will move on to the par-tay!

So, way back in March before she “moved in” she came up every few weekends to visit and this particular weekend her sister Samantha came with her. We lived it up! We had a beach day, a beach night, and did so many fun things. Then on the big day, my INCREDIBLY talented and AWESOME friend Audra and her family came over and helped to do this……..

Audra totally surprised her and Hannah’s expression when she saw “her princess party room” as she called it was priceless. We invited her little friends in our neighborhood over and had a fun party and then headed to the pool for a swim. It was just perfect! Thanks again Gu, you are the best!!!!

I made a homemade strawberry cake for her, it wasn’t very pretty but it sure was yummy!

Birthday girl got the first whack at the pin-nata as Sammy calls it, this year I was sure to put candy in it =)

Malia taking a swing

Birthday crew! We heart Hannah Banana!

Present time!

Make a wish baby girl……

Blowing out the candles

Love this pic of her, too pooped to party!

My lil’ cutie batooty, isn’t he precious???

The local bike gang heading home from the pool

My lil guy biking with a lollipop in his mouth and one in both hands, cuz that’s how he rolls

The end of a wonderful day!!! We love you Lil Miss Priss!!

Snapshots of our new life!

2011-07-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

Just a few snapshots of our new world here in Jax. We are finally feeling somewhat settled. A lot has happened in our world during my blogging hiatus that I hope to get on here one day but for now, I thought I would share a little of what life is like these days.

So, apart from adjusting to life up in Jacksonville and our new routines we have added another big change. We went from operating as a family of 3 to being a family of 4 temporarily!! I think most who read this know, but for those who don’t Hannah Banana moved in with us for a short term stay, hence the lack of blog posts! It has been so wonderful having her as a part of our every day. She and I have had so much fun doing girl stuff after Sammy goes to bed that I just haven’t taken the time to get any memories down on this blog which stinks since I STILL plan to print our fam memories out one day (anyone have tips on how to do this btw??)

I have thought a lot about the differences in adding a newborn to the family verses adding a 10 year old. Believe it or not there are some very similar issues to resolve! We have a unique situation that may not make sense but I will do my best to describe. In a way that only God could do, He has “eased” us into the transition of going from 1 to more kids over the years. No we don’t have a second child, and I realize that, but there were so many days/weekends during our time in Gainesville that we went from not only 1 to 2 kids but 1 to FIVE kids. There were some days when all five (Hannah and her siblings plus our Samuelito) were at the house and ALL five were cranky or mad & we wanted to pull out our hair but overall we loved having the house full of kids. Even so, I won’t lie and say we weren’t a little bit nervous about having Hannah with us every day. Me more than Sam. I was mostly worried about getting to work on time after getting two kids up and ready then off to prek and summer camp. Plus, Hannah is not a morning person so I had envisioned battle of the wills each day but wow, have we been pleasantly surprised. Don’t misread that, we HAVE had our moments and I have been close to tears on a few occasions (maybe the looney bin is a better description), BUT those have been few and far between thankfully!

So, I am happy to say that things have gone so much better than we expected. I would like to think we were being realists rather than pessimists when it came to her arrival date but lets be honest. When you’ve been matched with a kid for 5 years you know what to expect in terms of not only amazing fun times but also challenging behaviors and possible problems. Sam and I went on the offensive and developed a great plan of action. We had “DeLucca Family Orientation” the night she came and explained how this would be a little different than just staying over night or for the weekend as it has been all these years. We went over our expectations of her, her responsibilities, and even what we expect when she has a meltdown or disagrees with us. She has done so amazingly well I just have to brag on her. She is so helpful, kind,sweet, and funny. She loves to surprise us by cleaning something up or helping Sammy out and she sure loves to pick on Sam! It has been MORE than fabulous having our heart to hearts and so much extra time together. Now I am dreading the day she leaves, our house will be so lonely!

She and Sammy are truly best buds. They often fall asleep in the car holding hands and are always loving on each other. Hannah brags on her “little nephew” every chance she gets. Sammy has assumed the annoying younger child role rather well and does things to irk and provoke Hannah but again, she handles it so well! She has had lots of practice in dealing with siblings so she takes Sammy’s torment in stride and tries to model good behavior for him as best she can. We really have been impressed!

Here’s a few pics of what we have been up to, hope you enjoy!

Hannah Banana is a good sport and joins in playing with Sammy a lot, oh the adventures they have! So fun!

Making mud pies

We LOVE our new neighborhood park, we’ve spent many evenings here

Fun on the beach with my family

They LOVED getting their package of souvenirs and postcards in the mail from Mom and Richard. Thanks again!!!

Hannah has done a FABULOUS job keeping her room clean, usually without being asked! No that is not a misprint, blink and read it again. Yes the earth is still spinning.

Summer fun! Popsicles, sprinklers,and water fun. Dinner on the back porch. Good times!

Dumping muddy water on her.. oh he sure can dish it out..

but nope! Can’t handle the retaliation a bit. Can you tell he is an only child?? We may need to work on that one… hint hint.

Sweet sweet! Love them!

This was one of our exploration nights. We headed to downtown St. Augustine to explore the old fort and a few other sights AFTER DARK and discovered quite a few things. Laughed so much! A night to remember!

Fireman Sam is THREE!

2011-06-01T23:21:00.001-04:00

Ok so technically he turned three 7 months ago but in the spirit of catching up and attempting to record our family memories through this blog, I am posting up some pics. Sammy requested a “firetruck” birthday and so we invited our friends and family to his “fav-o-wit” park. He worked so very hard on his invitations and was just as proud as could be when he walked them down to the mailbox. I have to thank my Mom and Richard for ALL of their help with his party. My life was so insane at that time and they were such a huge help, he seriously wouldn’t have had a party if it wasn’t for them. I actually submitted my dissertation to my committee members at 1am the night before his party if that gives you any indication of how crazy things were. Another thanks to the amazing Molly who made his adorable firetruck cake. It was a huge hit with my little man. He STILL talks about it. Thanks Mollz!

I also want to thank Andrea for her valiant attempt to be at the party. We were so thrilled to learn that she and her boys were driving the 2 hour drive up from Lakeland to celebrate with us and sadly, our time together bombed in a major way. Poor Connor came down with a terrible stomach bug and Andrea was up all night with him. The morning before the party was comical, but even with all the insanity we still managed to have fun together. At one point I remember Sammy pulled his pants down and peed on our tile (we were obviously still potty training then!) at the same moment Connor got sick. Andrea and I just looked at each other, groaned, and then we had to laugh. It was sad to help her load up and get back on the road before the party but I was glad for the few hours we had together~ thanks for making the drive and I still hope for a redo soon Andrea. =)

It was such a fun party and Sammy had a blast. At one point he grinned and told me he was “so happy he felt tickles”. Thank you to all of you who came to celebrate our boy and for his birthday presents. He is still enjoying them and amazes me with how he remembers whom each toy is from. I have to note that looking back at these pictures was rather bittersweet. I know we’ve only been away from Gainesville for 6 months but I really miss all of our friends there. We were so so blessed to have found friends who were like family to us. We were surrounded by amazing & FUN friends there who truly loved our family and encouraged us in every way. I sure am missing me some Gville mommy group! I guess technically they were play dates but really I got just as much out of those get togethers as Sammy did. Ok, enough sappy and on to the pics!

Sammy’s 3rd Bday Party!

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YooHoo… anyone still out there?

2011-05-09T00:11:00.001-04:00

Betcha have been wondering where I’ve been and if I was ever going to blog again, huh?? Well I ‘m back and judging from the date on my last post I have a good SEVEN months to catch up on so go grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and get comfy. No worries, I promise I won’t try to catch you up on every detail from seven months in this post. I have missed blogging oh so much though, I didn’t realize just how much I loved it until my world got turned upside down and I just haven’t been able to.

So, what has our family been up to over the last seven months? Well what comes to mind is an image of a snow globe. A friend once referred to a difficult time in her life as being like a snow globe that was “all shook up” and that just about sums the last few months up for us so I am borrowing her example. I feel like our family was just like a snow globe sitting on a shelf with a perfect sprinkling of dust on top and someone (that would be God) gently picked us up off that shelf, asked if we were ready for a wild ride and, once we agreed, He shook us all up. Snow was whirling around us in all directions for a while there and I am just now starting to feel as if the flakes are starting to settle. Silly analogy but hopefully that gives you an image of where I have disappeared to. Sammy needed so much more of my time for a while there and on top of that the time I would usually spend blogging went into packing and then unpacking. When you combine that with the extra hours spent driving back and forth to Gville to see Sam and Hannah, there just haven’t been enough hours in our days!

I thought I would catch you up on us via the longest run on sentence ever, so here we go. Since my last post I did lots of dissertation writing, job searching, more dissertation writing, job interviews, the final push of dissertation writing, accepted an amazing job offer, back to dissertation writing, house hunting, preschool shopping, job searching for Sam, successfully defended my dissertation (WHOOT WHOOT!), Sammy turned THREE, started getting our Gville house ready to sell, finalized dissertation post defense and submitted it, celebrated the holidays, Sammy and I moved in with my amazing aunt and uncle so I could start working, Sam stayed in Gville for his job, Sammy started a new preschool, more house hunting, put offer on first house, lost first house.. repeated this process SEVEN times (yep, that’s right. Sadly it is not a typo. We went through all the paperwork for seven contracts on seven houses before we found “the one”), Sammy had a ROUGH transition to his new school, realized issues not just related to transition but rather was a terrible school, back to preschool shopping, found new school (praise GOD it was “the one” as well), I had health issues, health issues resolved and was nothing to worry about (thank you Jesus!), my office at work moved into new building across town, had a few weeks of chaos and packing at office AND home, moved out of aunt and uncle’s house and into new house, settled into new office, gave my first big presentation for my new job at a conference- it was my largest audience ever and I rocked it (that was God coming through again if your keeping count), more job searching for Sam, repairs on Gville house ongoing, Hannah turned TEN, I went to Canada for conference, we CLOSED on new house, decided to rent rather than sell Gainesville house, search for renters began, my car completely died- as in beyond repair dead, FOUND renters for Gville house so began contract work, my amazing hubby somehow traded broken beyond repair car straight up for new vehicle and we ONLY paid tax tag and title (God hooked us up yet AGAIN!), had successful garage sale in Gville and said final goodbye to our home there as we knew it, and that just about brings us to where we are at now, give or take a few minor catastrophes. Pshew!

Still no job for Sam but we know God will come through on that too when the time and job are right (if you doubt, please review previous paragraph). I am finally feeling like I can exhale. I finally have a good rhythm with this parenting on my own thing. Sammy has been extra challenging the last month or so. Our sporadic family time is getting to him and he cries at night for Sam, it is so pitiful. I thought I had a good appreciation for single parents before b/c such is the life of police families but now I really thank God every day that this is only temporary. I don’t know how real single parents do it. If you have a friend who is a single mom or dad, let me tell you. Run to them. Run now and ask them if you can watch their kids so they can sleep. Do it now! ha ha. Anyway, I digressed. The new house feels like home now and we are so very happy in it. We are so very very blessed. Sure our sink faucet doesn’t work and I just washed dishes in the bathroom sink. Our air was out for an entire month but let me tell you, that is nothing to complain about compared to what others in this world are facing, in fact it is a blessing compared to most! I am blown away every day as I sit at my desk doing EXACTLY what I have wanted to do but never thought I would find RIGHT in the city we wanted to be in, with our family. Not in DC or Atlanta where we expected but here, in this amazing house. God really takes care of us in every single way. I got my first paycheck on Christmas Eve and as Sam and I looked at our bank account he asked if I remembered what it was last Christmas Eve. I sure did, we had 13 cents and had gotten an Angel Food box. Times were so so tough and scary then. So much changed between that Christmas and this one. I thank God for unanswered prayers. I am SO thankful the job I so desperately pleaded with Him for earlier last year didn’t work out. I apparently had the position but then there were budget cuts and they decided not to hire anyone. That interview experience though really helped prepare me for the others that were to come. Just like the multiple house offers. We learned so much about what we wanted and didn’t want in a house and all that time that we thought we had “wasted” on the other houses made getting this dream house possible. It wasn’t available when we started looking and the more people in the neighborhood we talk to now we are convinced had the timing been off just slightly we would have never gotten this house. So, yes Sam still is waiting for a job here but we are confident it will happen in HIS timing.

I have so much more to share but this post has grown long enough, you deserve an award if you stuck through this long! Thank you to all who have prayed us through this transition! Just a few pics for you b/c what’s a Teri post without some pics? Gotta keep it real!

Isaac's surgery postponed

2010-10-05T11:50:00.003-04:00

For those of you who have been praying for Isaac.. see below:

Due to Isaac having a cold and fever this week, his surgery has been postponed. We will call the hospital on Monday to re-schedule, as long as the cold is gone at that time. We must trust that God knows the perfect timing for this surgery and choose to be obedient, even when we cannot make sense of the circumstances.

Please join us in prayer that the cold will be gone by Monday and that we can get him scheduled for the surgery as soon as possible. We are all ready to get this done and put it behind us.

Love,

Andrea

Only one week left…..

2010-09-29T09:47:00.001-04:00

until sweet little Isaac’s surgery. I wanted to share a post that Andrea did on her blog to again give you details on how you can pray and then the schedule of exactly what will occur at what time next Wednesday so we can all continue to pray them through this. Click HERE for the Shirey fam’s specific prayer requests and HERE for details and schedule of what the doctors will do during surgery next Wed. I can’t thank you all enough for praying for my friends. They mean the world to us and I feel so helpless as they go through this journey but I know the most important and helpful thing I can do honestly is to urge many many people to pray.

I also wanted to share some pics of Isaac’s adorable little self that I took during …..Isaac & Teri’s Day of Fun!

That’s right! We got to spend a whole day together several weeks ago and it was just bliss! I knew he was a good baby but honestly the word “good” doesn’t do him justice. The boy is just the happiest little thing, he never cried once and grinned and smiled almost the entire day. His cheeks have to hurt each night from all of his smiling. Andrea had warned me that as his feeding time approached he may get a little “fussy” so I was prepared for Sammy’s type of “fussy” from our old nursing schedule but I actually laughed out loud when I heard Isaac’s attempt at fussing. He went from cooing and happily playing with me to scrunching up his face and making the slightest little “uuhhh” sound and then puckered his cute little bottom lip into a pout. That was it folks!

I was just so impressed with him all day. We had a blast together. We sang songs, danced, played with a lot of toys, and read even more books. That baby sure does love to read, wow! He is already a little bookworm and I love it. He also is very sneaky as he somehow tricked me into falling asleep while I put him down for his first nap. It was such a fun day and I enjoyed watching Sammy with him. Sammy shared all of his toys with him to the point that Isaac literally had a mound of books, cars, and animals around him at all times. Sammy also read him several stories and then got so tickled when Isaac would make a noise while Sammy read to him. He would say “oh you like that part baby Isaac? I like it to, I’ll read it again for you, don’t worry”. It melted my heart! We are happy to report that Sammy now calls him Isaac, for the first few months of Isaac’s life Sammy called him “ice pack” and have finally got him to pronounce his name correctly.

He truly is the sweetest most precious little guy around, I only wish we lived closer to the Shirey fam so we could get our little families together more. Thank you again for praying for Isaac’s surgery & healing, pain management, side effects, and all other factors and for the doctors & nurses and of course for Scott, Andrea, and Connor. I will post updates as soon as I get them and will hopefully be going down that Friday to be with Andrea. Thank you bloggy friends for all of your prayers!

Visit to see Chapman Family

2010-09-23T12:35:00.001-04:00

Haven’t had too much time to blog lately, I am in the final push of my dissertation. I will be defending it the second week in November folks! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter and I can’t thank those of you who are praying me through this enough. Just when I am ready to give up and throw in the towel I muster up some motivation to keep on going and I know that is only by the grace of God! So I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for praying for me.

Just popped on to post up a few pics from the summer. This is our visit up to see the Debbie & the kids and it was so wonderful catching up and spending time with them. Sammy adores all of his big cousins and asks to see them every day so he was on cloud 9! He still copies some of the things Bryan taught him to this very day. Thanks Debbie…my almost 3 year old now tries to make pit noises. Here are some pics of our time with them. We love you guys!

Making faces at Julie

Jennifer gave the boys excellent hair cuts!

This is my Uncle Tom, one of my favorite men in this whole wide world. I love you Uncle Tom!

Sammy loved the chocolate and it clearly made him very very wild

Look how much Bryan has grown! I couldn’t believe it!

Here is my TEENAGER lil’ Julz. She had her bday a few weeks ago and is now 13 years old! Isn’t she beautiful?!

Megan and Marc came over so we could see them too and Sammy had a blast with the “big boys” and tried to be just like them

His little friend JamieLynn came over and the two of them always have so much fun together. I really think he would follow her around all day if he could. She is a little mama and even though she is only a year older she takes great care of him. They play so well together!

So, does this count as his first kiss?

Very wild lunch they had.. this is where Bryan imparted all his wisdom on crazy faces, how to make silly sounds, you know typical things he wants to “pass down” to Sammy as he told me.

Sammy played his first ever game of hid n seek where he actually”got it” and fully understood. Too funny!

He counted to 23 and only skipped 17, we were impressed!

He would hold his ears and whisper, “ I hear dem!”

Caught ya Bryan!

Took the boys to Dairy Queen! Sadly Julz was too cool with us and was off with her girlfriends to see a movie. So hard when they grow up!

We headed over to the Wethington house for Meg’s bday and Sammy loved riding in Marc’s grandpa’s bike

Our boys! Megan and I always wondered what this pic would look like and here they are!

Such a fabulous time! We love you Chapman Family and hope to see you really really soon!

My Most Embarrassing Moment ever

2010-09-17T13:25:00.005-04:00

Recently there were some comments on a Facebook post of mine that referred to what I think of as one of the most embarrassing moments in my life, perhaps even THE most embarrassing moment of my life. It happens to also be a quite funny story so I thought I would share it with you in hopes of giving you a good laugh and to pay tribute to Sigourney Weaver, my "lunch buddy", as she is now termed. Many have asked for the whole story so my friends, here it is! It is true that things like this really are funny when you look back at them although at the moment I wanted to die a thousand slow deaths and climb into the whole. Now though, I promise you literally every time I am reminded of this story (which is on a quite regular occurrence thanks to my lovely family and friends) I can't help but laugh at myself. We can't ever take ourselves too seriously and I am a firm believer in the value of laughing at your own crazy mistakes and goofs so at long last.. here is my Sigourney Weaver story! I hope it brightens your day and makes you feel really smart and good about yourself!!!

About 8 years ago when I was in my senior year of my undergraduate degree I was selected as a final candidate for a fellowship I had applied for. This was a huge deal and as you will read it is literally by the GRACE OF GOD that I was awarded the fellowship that allowed me to spend a summer in DC working with a non profit organization. The NPO was the Heart of America foundation where I not only met some amazing people but through that experience God solidified in my heart not only the need for me to work in this area but he stirred a passion for helping to improve the life opportunities of children raised in poverty. He used this to urge me on to eventually complete my PhD. So with that background you can hopefully appreciate just how big of a deal this interview was to me.

It took place in the president of the university's quarters and was at a long conference table with fancy chairs. There were I would say maybe 8 to 10 very important people in the room. I can't remember honestly who all was at the table or how many people but I remember being VERY intimidated. There was a bank president, president of student affairs, you get the type. Basically Big Wigs in many different areas. The interview was going super well and I remember thinking to myself that I needed to relax b/c I thought I was maybe coming off as nervous. Shocking I know but get past it. Then at that exact moment I realized I had pit stains! That's right my friends. I really never sweat much bet yet on this very day I was so nervous that I had giant wet spots on my new cute professional shirt. It was that realization that spun me into a whirling downward spiral of unfortunate events.

I remember hearing this, "Teri, could you please tell me out of every person in the history of our great world, regardless of time period, who you would have lunch with if given the opportunity?"

Oh phsewy, I thought, finally an easy question! I've got this! Just as I was about to answer that it would be my sweet Jesus they followed with 4 words that changed everything "excluding any religious figures"... DA DA DUM! Gulp. More sweating. Heart beat pounding in my ears. Can they hear that? Is my heart really beating that fast and this loud? Oh no, say something. You must say something. They are all staring at you. Are my pit stains getting larger? Oh please God no. They need an answer and this inner dialogue is not helping things. Speak. Now Teri say something, anything. go with George Washington.....

I finally opened my mouth to say "hmm, that is a very interesting question. Let me think for just a moment" Ok good. Now I have bought myself all of 15 seconds. Thomas Eddison, go with him. Oh boy, that is so lame and so clearly obvious that I don't have a better person. Woman. I need a woman, Cleopatra maybe. Why Cleopatra, all I have on her is her sense of style. Mother Teressa! No, too cheesy. Sam always says I am too goody goody and that is a goody goody answer, everyone will say her. I need to be different and stand out. Hm... Who sewed our first flag, what was her name? Betty Ross? What else did she do? OH! I've got it what about the famous nurse lady! Eww nurses make me think of blood. don't pass out, think of something else. Ok stop freaking out they will not give me a shot today. Maybe Queen Elizabeth? Hmm... They are staring at you! Say something! Instantly flashes from the primary election candidates I had heard speak that morning floated into my mind. I blame my friend Cody for this. It was her idea! She thought we needed to go get more involved in the selection of our community leaders. Cody and her big schemes were always getting me into messes and thsi sure was a fine one at that. So really I guess this whole embarrassing story is her fault. Anyway, I remembered one of the candidates mentioning Sojourn Truth's plight and all of the change she had evoked and accomplished. YES! That's brilliant, she is my chica, that is who I will go with. Now what was her name again? Sojourn... Sogorn.. something like that. Oh I've got it!This is perfect, gonna wow their socks off. Here we go! Flash them that confident smile first. Eye contact.. ok go!

"The person in all of history that I would just love to have lunch with is Sigourney Weaver" I answer.

Wow their socks off I did, just not int the way I intended! Do you know how in movies when someone says something so off the wall dumb they actually insert insect and night sounds into the track to fill the air while they show blank stares on all faces? That was their reaction to my answer. They started whispering to each other and looking at me with confused faces until one lady leaned forward and said "wasn't she the woman who starred in the Planet of the Apes movie?" Someone else answers, "no I think she was in Ghostbusters". Uh-oh, this isn't good I think to myself. Please God tell me that is not what I just said. Hmm.. how to get out of this one. Honesty. Mom always said honesty is the best policy. Does that apply here though? Think fast.. what to say. Ok so this name I just said is apparently an actress and she is in old movies ok. Hmm.. Acresses.. Well here goes nothing. Smile and go! I then continued to lie and basically make up a life story for this poor actress that I knew nothing about. Oh I went on and on about how into women's rights she is and how she strives to inspire young women to reach their goals and really make a difference and leave an impact on this world, our world. I went into her advocacy for children's rights. I related it to my own hopes and dreams and all the while continued to sweat. They were all nodding and taking notes and I wanted to die inside. Now not only was I in this hot mess I created I was LYING! LYING! Oh boy.

Thankfully it ended rather quickly after that and I shook hands politely and thanked them for the opportunity then walked out of that fancy building and literally cried a river all the way to my car. I felt like an idiot, worse than an idiot a LYING idiot. Amazingly, and this is how we all know it was God's plan for me to end up in DC, I somehow got the fellowship. I thought it was a joke when I got the phone call. I actually laughed and asked who was really on the phone and told the lady it was a mean joke. Life went on and I had a life changing experience when we lived in DC for that short time period. Now it is funny and a good laugh and anytime my girl Sigourney is on TV I smile. Heck, we even lit a candle in her honor when my friends and I had a game night a few months ago. See picture below. To her credit, I have since learned a lot about her, she does seem like a great woman and who knows, maybe someday somewhere me and my lunch buddy just may have lunch together! Ha ha! I will pay of course, as a way of making up for all the lying I did about her on that day long ago.

Oh and just if you are wondering I am ready and armed with my new answer but sadly that question has never been asked again. My new lady is Abagail Adams. My cousin Sherry even sent me Mrs. Adam's biography so I can avoid the same mistake twice. She is a truly amazing woman and I will spare you the details of why I picked her but I can relate her life to my life as wife, mother, my plight AND my research and career goals so whomever asks me that question next better watch out and sit down prepared to take notes b/c I am ready and willing to answer! it now!

Molly, Katherine, Erin, & Kim got a kick out of making fun of me and lighting our candle in honor of my lunch buddy, her candle was shining brightly during our game of Apples to Apples right in the center of the table. Do you know what started the whole thing.. my card I drew. You got it! I drew SIGOURNEY WEAVER! Too funny!

Frustrated and in need of some advice please!

2010-09-14T09:44:00.003-04:00

Hello fellow Mommy bloggers, I need some tips and fast! I am beyond frustrated with 2 aspects of potty training and hoping someone has some tips & great solutions? Sammy is for the most part potty trained during the day (still in pull up at night) and tells us when he needs to go, takes himself into potty, etc. I say most part b/c he won't go #2 in the potty! He did for about 2 to 3 months but now for most of the summer he has stopped and I am beyond tired of cleaning his little underwear. I have actually even had him help to clean them some hoping that would inspire him to go in the potty, no such luck. Any advice on the #2 issue?

The biggest issue however is related to school. They boy has quit going at school! I don't know what is going on in his little mind but he was fine and doing great in his old class and once they moved up to the new class he started having this problem. He basically holds it until naptime when they put a pull up on him, then goes in the pullup, then once big boy pants are back on he either has an accident later in afternoon or hold it until we come. At home though he is fine, no probs. Out in public & other people's houses, no problems either. This morning his teacher said they just don't have the time and resources to continue cleaning it and dealing with it each day so he needs to go back into pullups while there. AHHH!!! So expensive!!! I can't believe this. I agree with the teachers, I feel bad that they are having to deal with it each day and appreciate all the effort they have put in to helping him. I am just so frustrated with the whole thing. The kicker is I am one of his Sunday School teachers on Sunday mornings in the EXACT same classroom and he goes with no problems! When I took him in to check out the potty and have him go during school hours he wouldn't do it, even with me. I mentioned it when we were in the doctor for his tummy issues and she asked him about it, he told her he didn't like the potty because it was messy. His sweet teachers even said they would wipe it where he can see them do it before he goes (so ridiculous to take it to that level but we are desperate) but that didn't work. One teacher even brought in special chocolate for him and still nothing!

We have talked some about it and he only says he doesn't like it and won't use that one. Last night while we were playing outside he was pretending he was a lion trainer and working with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy at a circus. He was running here and there with "Donald" and talking to him so I, being a psychologist, told him to take a break because Donald needed to go potty. I said "Tell Donald to go use your potty in your class it is right over there, see it?" and Sammy looked then found the imaginary potty and took Donald over to it but Donald couldn't use it. He said "oh no Mommy, Donald really doesn't like that potty, him hold it" and he kept on playing! Ugh! I don't get it.

So, anyone been through something like this?Any tips? I understand he will eventually learn and it needs time but I don't want to have to buy pullups again. He hates to wear them and thinks they are for babies so maybe forcing him to wear them at school will do the tick?

I welcome your input, thanks!

Lazy Days of Summer

2010-09-08T22:44:00.003-04:00

We truly could not have asked for a better summer. It is so hard to let it go as we get into our routines again and schedules fill up with busy hectic deadlines. I remember back in the spring as summer was approaching I was so unsure of what it would hold. Would I land that perfect job and our summer would be spent packing, moving, and getting settled into the next chapter of our lives? As much as I wanted that to happen, there was a part of me that was just a little sad. Yes I am ready to be done with grad school but you see, grad school does have its advantages. I for the most part, make my own schedule and go at my own pace. This is great for unexpected play dates, vacations, and fun in the sun with my little man. Since this was very likely my last summer with such freedom I vowed to squeeze in as many fun summer memories with my Sams that I could. I did my best to pick Sammy up early from school each day and we sure did make some memories!

Our summer became so jam packed with fun adventures that we could barely keep up! We spent a lot of time in the water. Although it was sad to see Joe & Gloria move and I can’t tell you how hard it is not having them right next door, we now have easy access to a great pool. Sammy loves to go visit them and “nadar en la pacina de Gworia” which is how he says swim in Gloria’s pool in espanol. In addition to lots of water fun we spent a lot of time on the beach, made some great memories with friends doing all kinds of things, and were even able to see spend time with some of my family who visited from TN. I hope to to post up some pics from some of our fun summer memories so that we won’t forget they happened!

So, I will start with perhaps my favorite summer memory of all. Our trip to KEY WEST!!!! These are a few of my favorite pics and a slideshow. Sammy and I headed down with Kim when she visited her family. We stayed with her mom and step dad who live on Big Pine Key and I loved seeing how locals do life down there. Her brother and his wife and baby live on the next Key over so we got to see them a lot too. I really fit in great down there, by the way. Everything is so slow and laid back, easy going. Totally stress free and everyone is a beach person. If I could find a job down there we would move in a heart beat. The water was so beautiful and there were so many things for Sammy to do. I saw more deer on Big Pine then I think I have ever seen in my life! They have a deer prob and the deer aren’t even scared of cars. They just walk around the streets, Sammy loved them. Sometimes we had to stop in the middle of the road for a giant crab to make his way across. It was such an amazing trip and we are so thankful for the invitation to go! I spent most of the trip laughing until I cried, Kim and her family are hilarious and we just truly had the best time.

I hope you enjoy our pics! (click on the circle purple button on the smilebox that says play and it will open as full screen)

Create a slideshow

We are local celebrities!

2010-08-31T10:09:00.001-04:00

That’s right my friends, Hannah and I were front page on in the Big Brothers Big Sisters newsletter and that is a BIG DEAL to one special little girl. We both signed a copy (you can see her signature at the top above the yellow part but mine was cut off when I scanned it in, couldn’t crack the code on that one, sorry) of the front page and have it in a frame in the room Hannah sleeps in at our house. She has told EVERYONE that we see. I’m talking the cashier at Publix, her new teacher, everyone. Its funny because she assumes they have all read it and recognize us and thankfully every single person has been such a great sport about it and make her feel even more special. Some have even asked her for her autograph on random pieces of paper.

Hannah and I also celebrated our anniversary a few months ago, right before she left for the summer. We made it extra special since we knew we would be apart for a while and drug the celebration out all weekend. The BBBS program encourages us to make a big deal of these and so we always have a cake with candles, something super fun to do, and try to make gifts for each other. My wonderfully talented and amazing friend Annie sewed us some gorgeous matching aprons and I honestly don’t think the hearing in my right ear has fully recovered still from the squeals that filled the house when Hannah opened the gift. She says that hers is the “little sister” one and mine is the “big sister” one and boy have we have put them to good use. She LOVES to bake, I mean LOVES LOVES LOVES to bake when she is here so I couldn’t think of a more appropriate gift. The aprons are so fancy that they are double sided, we can reverse them and decide which to wear so she loves making that big choice. She has also been known to declare it is time to switch them over, right in the middle of a massive cooking endeavor which is not always convenient but I am so glad the girl loves her apron.

Annie, we can’t tell you thank you enough! They are so perfect and made Hannah feel so special. This is the first thing she has ever had with her name embroidered and it totally makes her feel like a princess, which makes me oh so happy!

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

2010-08-26T14:06:00.001-04:00

Hello bloggy buddies, I am posting a major prayer request and ask you to all pray daily if you are not already for our friend Julie Locquiao (pronounced Low-key-ow) that we have been praying for. The above pic was one I took at Peirce’s bday party, she is the one in the pretty red flowered dress. Mrs. Julie is my friend Audra’s mom who has been battling lung cancer. I know most of you have already been praying but as I mentioned to many of you in an email last week she had some scans done to monitor the progress made with the new chemo treatment. The MRI results are not in yet but the CT scans were back yesterday. As much as it pains me to write this there are 14 new spots of cancer on her skull. She will need to get 15 radiation treatments starting today and will then begin the chemo again after the 15 days of radiation are done. Her labs are running low, and she needs a blood transfusion next week. This is obviously not the news everyone was hoping for.

On top of it all Audra’s dad was ill and in the hospital and thankfully is now home and doing better and her 1 year old son was also ill with a stomach bug. It is so hard to see a family we love so much go through this very difficult time. I know the best thing we can do for them is to pray so I ask you to please join us. I have copied a portion from Audra’s update to her mom’s Caring Bridge site for you. If you want to join to get email updates yourself regarding Ms. Julie’s progress you can do so here http://caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do or go to caringbridge.org and enter julielocquiao

From Audra:

Please pray for my sweet Mom as she begins radiation on her head tomorrow. Please pray that the side effects will not be harsh on her. Please pray that the treatment will be successful and get rid of the cancer activity. Please pray that the cancer won't grow anymore while Mom is on break from chemo. Please pray that it is going away. Please pray that the MRI results will give more encouraging results. Please pray that Mom's labs will get better. Please pray for complete healing. Please pray that Mom will be blessed with many more healthy and happy years to get kisses from her Grandbabies.

First Day of School

2010-08-24T15:16:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of school here and we had some very excited kiddos! Our little gang of kids is back from visiting their mom for the summer so the last week was spent going to orientation/open house with them at the “big” school as Sammy calls it and also at Sammy’s preschool. Mom and Richard came to Sammy’s orientation and got to see his new big boy class and meet his teachers and Sammy was very excited to show them his “gool” (school).

This transition to his new class was totally harder on me then him.There is no trace of baby left at all and that is so hard. They don’t use sippy cups, they use the potty, have the stop light with clothes pins that move up from green to yellow then red if poor choices are made during the day, and they have a job chart. He is so excited about being a “helper” to his teachers and is hoping his little heart out to get to sweep and to push in chairs. He was also happy that his spot on the circle time rug is to sit on the red teddy bear, which he loved from the moment he spotted it. He will go to music class, library, gym, and chapel each week, which we love.

I had expected a little difficulty when I dropped him off, I doubted tears but expected at least a hesitant glance back in my direction but nope. Apparently he is all grown up and has no need for his momma anymore. Sigh. He walked right in and put his stuff in his cubby, washed his hands, then joined the class for circle time, never even looking back. I wanted to steal a hug & kiss but they had already started singing the new friend song and were on his name. As I left I heard little voices singing “Welcome to Sammy, Sammy, Sammy…..” while they clapped their hands and patted their legs to the rhythm. I took one last peek through the window in the door and saw him beaming. I walked away with tears in my throat feeling very silly. It is GOOD he adjusted so well and was so excited, drop off went better than expected so my reaction surprised me!

I am happy to report he had a great first day, they said he was kind and made good choices. He asked if he could “go ride a big cow” as his reward. Silly boy! Although cow riding was not on the agenda we did pick up the Flores gang and headed off for our First Day of School Ice Cream celebration. This is something I started with Hannah when she started kindergarten and we have since incorporated Sammy and the whole crew into it. They look forward to it and I love hearing their stories from the first day. Krista and Samantha are both in eighth grade now and have one of my friends (Mrs. Hardy!) for a teacher. Mark and Hannah are both in third grade and their teachers seemed great as well. Mark’s teacher was pretty young and I pray that Mark doesn’t walk all over her. We suggested he sit in the front row so hopefully she will move him quickly as his seat is in the rear right now. Yikes. They all had good days and funny stories to tell and we had a fun time hanging out. Please keep them in prayer as they adjust to being home again.

My big two year old heading to his first day in the big boy class

Aww, he got a little scared walking in the door but the big gator welcoming him made it all better instantly.

Go Gators!!!

Some of his buddies in the class

Here he said “take picture show Gwammy my cubby”, so this one is for you Grammy!

In true Sammy fashion he asked for a picture with the blue police truck he has become so fond of

He found his friend Holly’s name on the door

Ice Cream Celebration!! Everyone had a great first day of school!!! This is our kick off to a GOOD school year!!!

How you can help little Isaac and his family..

2010-08-14T08:00:00.004-04:00

As most of you reading this know, Sam and I have been asking for a lot of prayer for the Shirey family as they face their new baby boy's upcoming surgery on Oct 6th. I have posted the following from Andrea's blog below where she mentions a list of prayer requests. Will you please pray for this family we love so very much? Isaac is the sweet baby that I actually got to SEE delivered, that's right, I went down to be with Andrea during the birth and it was so amazing. You can read about his grand entrance here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copied from The Shirey Family blog at : http://shirey-family.blogspot.com

Below is a list of specific prayer requests for Isaac (and us) as we make this journey through his surgery to correct his metopic craniosynostosis. We would be so grateful if you would commit to lift these before our God as often as they come to mind. I will update the list as we move forward with new requests and with answered prayers!

You can bookmark this post for future reference so you can check back to see updates and praises. Also, I've created the blog button to the right which will take you directly to this post. You can also copy and paste that button and place it on your own blog! If you need help figuring out how to do that, please let me know!

Thank you so much!

Please pray for...

• Isaac to be in good health from now up until the surgery. Pray that there would be no intracranial pressure and no developmental delays due to the craniosynostosis
• The surgeons - Dr. Ramon Ruiz and Dr. Greg Olavarria - that they would perform to their highest abilities and make the best decisions possible during the surgery
• The hospital staff and all involved in the surgery and post-op stay - for nice nurses, for sound medical decisions, for precision in medication dosing, and every part of his hospital stay
• The recovery - that it would be quick and as painless as possible. For minimal swelling and no complications with fevers, nausea, or other side effects
• Isaac to be completely healed from this one surgery and have no lasting effects of the condition and no need for any follow-up procedures
• Traveling mercies for our families and friends who will travel to be with us and Isaac during the surgery and recovery
• Financial provision as we bear the cost of the surgery, for quick payments from the insurance companies and for no problems with negotiating insurance coverages
• Andrea's work schedule to be worked out so she can have the week of surgery off (and get paid) and work from home during Isaac's recovery
• Emotional strength for Scott & I as we prepare to see Isaac through this time
• Understanding and comfort for Connor as he sees his brother in pain and as he deals in his own 4-year old way with this journey and to protect his little heart from any sadness or fear
• Faith in God that NO MATTER WHAT we trust him in ALL things regardless of the surgery outcome
• The opportunity to witness to others between now and the surgery and in the hospital. That God will place people in our path that need the hope of Christ and give us the boldness to share with them
• God to be glorified in every single step of this process

Never put a rock in your nose

2010-08-12T11:20:00.001-04:00

This is Sammy’s best life advice he has at the moment, he seems to tell almost everyone we hang out with these days. It is like his own little public service announcement for his fellow preschoolers.

We had a scary night in the ER a couple months ago with Sammy. I’ve been so busy I hadn’t had a chance to blog about it but wanted to be sure we never forget that night and the lessons learned. Gloria was keeping him at her house while I got some work done and she called to say I should come get him. He had put a rock in his nose and she was worried. When I got there however, he was sound asleep and looked as peaceful as could be. I used a flashlight to look up his nostril while he slept and I honestly didn’t believe Gloria, I couldn’t see a rock at all. I am beyond thankful my friend Jill and her girls happened to be visiting Gloria while I was there as she played such huge role in me staying calm and not freaking out. I let him sleep for a while until Jill’s husband who is a pediatrician advised we wake him and get it out since the nostril would swell. Yikes. I tried several times to blow it out by putting my mouth over his as advised but it wouldn’t budge and I am pretty sure my child thought I was actually trying to eat him. He was terrified every time my mouth came towards him! The afterhours clinic told us to bring him in a soon as we could and that is when the roller coaster ride began.

We saw 4 doctors, all of who laughed with us about it and found the humor in the situation. As each one held my scared little boy down (with the help of several nurses) and tried repeatedly to get the rock out we all realized it was not going to budge and was not quite the humorous situation we all thought it was. They decided to call a pediatric ear nose and throat specialist to meet us at the ER and if he couldn’t get it out they would surgically remove it at 8 am the next morning. WOW. I could not believe how serious things had gotten so quickly!

The ER doctors were so wonderful with Sammy. They found out he is a huge Lightening McQueen fan and put him in the room with all of his favorite cars on the wall. There was also a little girl a few months older than Sammy who had stuck 2 beads in her ear, so she was called “Bead in Ear” and Sammy was labeled “Rock in Nose”, which I found hillarious. I will spare the gory details but we basically had one of the worst nights of our lives. In hindsight we would have been much better off with the surgery. At least then he would have not felt the pain and fear. They were able to remove the rock but it took a nurse holding Sammy’s head, one to hold his arms, one his legs, and one that held him on her lap in a bear hug type position. The ENT and an ER pediatrician worked for a good 25 min on the rock. There are no words to describe how horrible it was to see my baby screaming like I have never heard before with so much blood. He had past the crying point and was screaming and shaking, it was so bad I had to leave for a few min since it made me sick. I felt so helpless. Gloria and I prayed the whole time, while Sam stood next to our baby and tried his best to comfort and encourage Sammy. It was so scary but thankfully the rock came out and the entire kid area of the ER cheered and were giving high fives.

I don’t know if I was more happy the day he was born or the moment that ginormous rock came out, it was such a feeling of relief. He had a pretty bloody nose for a few days after and he had nightmares for a solid two weeks after, poor baby. In fact, the incident still works its way into his play times, he reenacts it when he is pretending with his cars which is a normal way of processing it all in his little mind. It was quite the ordeal but it made me so thankful that we were only there for a rock and nothing more serious. I am so thankful that I have a healthy child and we do not have to frequent hospitals. This experience has made me thankful on a daily basis that he has no serious health conditions.

Thank you to all of you who prayed us through that awful night and for all of the encouraging text messages while we were there!

Here is a picture with him, his rock, and his stickers. It was taken the next morning so hopefully the bloody nose is not too yucky for you. He was so proud and I wanted to capture the moment.

The rock is in the container, I was hoping to show how big it was but it didn’t come out.

He got two cool stickers about being a tough guy and a brave boy!That he was!

Uncles times Two!

2010-08-10T12:01:00.001-04:00

Sammy was in uncle heaven when Caleb came into Jax for the weekend and we all headed over to his parents house to visit him. He go to hang out with both his Uncle Brennan AND his Uncle Crumb (what he calls Caleb) at the same time. Caleb was Sam’s best man in our wedding, they have been best buddies since they were boys and have gone through so much together. Caleb moved to Japan about 7 years ago to teach English and while there he fell madly in love with his now wife, Sayuri. We have loved getting to know her and are thrilled that the two of them found each other. I love watching them interact as they speak a mix of Japanese and English with each other. Caleb has told us many of Sayuri’s “firsts” in America which always make us smile, like the first time she ate corn pops for breakfast. They moved last year to Hawaii where Caleb is now working. Although they were legally married in Japan before moving here they never had their wedding ceremony so it will be this coming March, in HAWAII!!! YEA! We are so excited for them.

Sayuri was visiting her family in Japan so we didn’t get to see her this time but we were still excited to catch up with Caleb and his parents. Caleb’s dad, Robert, was actually one of our groomsmen when we were married and Sammy adores him. He loves to show off for Mr. Robert in a big way. Sammy and I let Sam have some alone time with Caleb during the day so they could catch up without us around. They went up flying in Robert’s plane and I did my best not to focus on them being up in the sky. All in all it was a super fun night and made us wish even more that we could live closer to Caleb & Sayuri.

Look what I made......

2010-08-04T01:03:00.003-04:00

an ABC book to help Sammy recognize his letters!! I am just a teensy bit proud of myself if you can't tell. I never get to do this kind of thing, I had a blast making it. I wanted to share it on here to brag on just how EASY and FAST it was to create. I don't really have much free time to do this kind of thing so I was blown away at how quick it went. The part that took the longest was deciding what picture to use for each letter! Once I did that I just dragged and dropped the pics right into place and literally made it while I watched a tv show, something else I rarely get to do. All in all it was a super fun night and I can't wait for this to arrive in the mail. If you are interested in making one for your little one, Shutterfly is having a special on photo books/ digital scrap books right now that includes free shipping. I originally started it thinking it would be $19.99 but then I got carried away and added some extra pages, of course!

Check it out if you have a moment:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Fourth of July

2010-08-02T14:21:00.001-04:00

So I am playing around with the auto posting feature in windows live writer to get the hang of it. Who knows when this will actually post but I won’t learn until I try, right? =) Look at me getting all fancy with my blogging skillz.

We had a great 4th of July up in OP with friends and fam. The McCarver fam invited us for a good ol’ fashioned cookout during the day and we met up with Linda, Patrick and sweet Caitlin for fireworks that night. So much fun!

Fireworks under the bridge with Sarah & Brennan

Sweet hugs for Grammy who kept him safe

I lost track of Sammy for a few min at the cookout. Look who I found just about to put his finger into the icing on a cupcake…

What.. you don’t eat your cupcakes with a bucket-o-berries too?

He would have been so excited if only he had been awake to see it….

Me and Linda Kaye doing our mommy thang…

The kiddos all ready for the big night, can’t you tell?

Love the amount of confusion on Sammy’s face right after he woke up to find himself surrounded by bounce houses, farm animals, and hundreds of people.. his words were “what happened me? Where I go mommy?

Gilfriend was ready to PART-AY! Look at her! She loved all of the excitement

We took Sammy back up to see the fire trucks after he woke up and one of Mr. Swartz’s guys let him “drive” it aka sit on the seat

Watching the display!

Yep, I totally LOVED the fact that even with fireworks going on my Caitlin bug only had eyes for… you guessed it ME! She wanted me to hold her the whole time and with every sniff of her sweet baby head my uterus skipped a beat. Too much info? Yea I kinda thought so. Sorry. Isn’t she just a doll?? Big beautiful eyes like her Mamma and as sweet as pie!

Its the little things…

2010-07-26T19:29:00.001-04:00

Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing~ Mother Teresa

I have been having some very super cool “God” moments lately. He and I have been on quite the journey with one another. Can’t wait to share more about that but for now just wanted to post one little tidbit while I have a moment. Do you go to God with everything? I mean everything, even the little stuff? Do you think He even cares about the little things that are important to you? Well He does, more than you know. He craves and yearns for you to talk with Him and share those desires of your heart. Yes He is God and He knows everything about you right down to the number of hairs on your head so he technically already knows them but what He wants most of all is for us to be in a relationship with Him. To simply spend time with Him and share our hearts and thoughts with Him. Just as we want our own children to come to us for wisdom and counsel, God wants the same with us. He wants to fill us with unspeakable joy so that when those terrible times come, and they surely will, we will be found in Him. He wants our joy that comes from His love to spill over and touch the lives of others around us.

I love when God answers the smallest most insignificant prayer of mine, almost as if to say.. “See my beloved, I really do care about the little things in your life”. Psalm 40:16 says He wants for all who search for Him be filled with joy and gladness. I will share an example that sure some may explain away as a coincidence but I know it was not.

I have wanted since early LAST summer for me and my Sams to spend some time on the beach together, a day of pure family fun. Sam hadn’t been able to join us on the beach since Sammy was a baby and I just longed for to share that time together. In my head we would frolic around, laughing and giggling.. well not exactly but you get my drift. We had tried since Feb to orchestrate this day and every time we had a day picked, something with one of our families would come up or some random event would cause a change in plans. I finally got sick of it and declared July 3rd would be our beach day. If anyone wanted to spend time with us they were welcome to join us on the beach because that is where the 3 of us would be. Wouldn’t you know Sam was given MANDATORY overtime that day? We changed our plans, no big deal, Sammy would be off schedule but we would just drive straight to the beach after he got off that morning but then…. his car broke down. Yep. We worked through it and found a way to still be on our way but by that point I was a tad bit cranky (ok.. cranky is an understatement). Then as we were driving up, the rain clouds rolled in and it started to pour. Sammy became very grouchy as he refused to take a nap in the car. Two hours into our trip with a whiney toddler and rain so loud Sam and I could barely hear each other it seemed very clear our beach day would not happen.

Sam asked me one little question and I lost it. My pitiful tear rolled down my cheek while I asked him “Why does this have to happen? Why is it virtually impossible for the three of us to spend a day on the beach together?” I whined. My wonderful husband put it all in perspective thankfully and reminded me that in the grand scheme of the world and all the problems going on, we are doing pretty good if this is what I have to be upset about. Yes, I agreed but Ouch, the reality check hurt and I felt like whiney princess. I closed my eyes and silently prayed for God to forgive my poor attitude and to give me a change of heart so we could enjoy what was left of the day together. At this point we were minutes from the beach and were looking for a place to turn around and head to his parents’ house. All of a sudden Sam jerked the car and our wheels literally squealed as he pulled us into a CVS parking lot. “You wanted a family fun day on the beach, well we will have one. Rain or not, tired toddler or not, we will make the best of it. It’s not lightening, we’ll be fine. It will be great, you’ll see”. With that he left the car fighting the wind and rain and ran into CVS to get us some giant bottles of water. “What happened mommy? What Daddy doin in dat wain?” Sammy asked. “Well baby, looks like we are going to the beach in the rain” I replied. I thought Sam had lost his mind and so did the man in the booth we paid $7 (YES SEVEN BUCKS NOW, TALK ABOUT INFLATION! I was floored!) to so that we could drive our car onto the beach during the monsoon.

It was simply amazing, as we drove to find our perfect spot the rain slowed and sure enough, by the time we got out of the car the rain had stopped. The sun peaked out from the clouds and we had a BLAST together. It wasn’t too hot, we even had a breeze! It was everything I had hoped for and more. We had a great talk about God and all the beautiful things He has created with Sammy. It really was a time of true joy as we laughed & played together. We did not frolic but Sammy and Sam chased birds down the beach so that sorta counts, right? It was the perfect day and wouldn’t you know just as we got all packed up and closed the last car door out of nowhere the bottom fell out and the torrential down pour continued? It may sound weird but I got a tingly sensation all down my spine and as egocentric as it is to think that God stopped the rains just for us, I do. I am sure there was a bigger purpose and plan to it all BUT I do know that His timing was perfect and allowed us to enjoy the window of perfect weather while it was there. I thanked Him for showing me that He understood just how important that family time was to my heart and He worked out all the details so we could still enjoy it. I am so grateful that he cares for the little insignificant desires of my heart just as much as the big ones! I love my Savior!

He LOVED putting his feet in the sand and ran squealing as soon as he got out of the car

Our little all American boy spread his patriotism to those driving by us as he yelled “God Bwess Amew-ca” and waved his flag to each car. The honks and laughs/waves he got in return encouraged him to then up it from one flag to TWO flags.

Should’ve switched to Geico…

Sam is an expert on beach life having lived on the beach and surfed for so long, so yep.. that is what you’re thinking. He showed our TWO YEAR OLD how to TOUCH A JELLY FISH without getting stung. I have no further comment on this.

Sammy likes some sushi so when he found seaweed he said “oh yummy, I eat it please?”

Oopsy!

Thank you for his sharky swim suit Grammy! He loves it and calls them his “sharps”

This is called progress! My child who once hated the sand and was so upset if a spec got on him now buries his face in it for fun!

They have my heart, just look at them!

A little update on us

2010-07-26T17:20:00.001-04:00

I sure do miss blogging! We have been very busy making so many sweet memories this summer and I have been spending the time I would typically use to blog to catch up on some summer reading. This is the first summer since I started grad school that I have not been slammed with work so I have enjoyed doing some pleasure reading for a change. I have had so many ideas of things to write and share on the blog but haven’t taken the time to do any of it. We have been having quite the summer and I can’t believe all of the amazing memories we have made and it isn’t even over yet!

To bring you up to speed, Sam is loving his job but of course the night shift does play quite the toll on our time with him and is exhausting in many ways for him and for Sammy and me. We decided to really maximize the days we do have with Sam and have headed off most of those days in search of some adventures. We have also been able to spend time with precious family and friends we haven’t seen in a while. On top of all of this, Sammy and I took a spontaneous trip to the Keys (amazing time!!) and I am making good progress on my dissertation. I am finishing analyses now and then have the final two sections to write up then I am DONE! That light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter and brighter, thank you JESUS! Hannah and the kids are still gone and our house feels overwhelmingly empty at times as I miss them with all of my being but I am learning to cope. I treasure the sweet phone calls from them and am so thankful their mom is super cool about letting us stay in touch with them.

Sammy is doing great & loving summer but asks about “his” Hannah every day, sometimes more than once. I have been able to pick him up earlier from school now that things have slowed down some for me and I am eating up all of this quality time with him. He has been having super great reports at school. His teachers say he is really coming out of his shell (finally! Its only been a year.. I’m just sayin) and is being a big helper in the classroom. The potty training is progressing, don’t know if others have found this or not but he seems to be trained (except over night) when it comes to pee but not even close when it comes to #2s, it is rather frustrating but I am trying not to push him. Just when I think we are out of the woods with one behavior issue (biting, spitting, etc) another one creeps in. He has began to pinch now.. UGH! It isn’t very frequent yet but I want to catch it before it becomes so. If any of you mommies out there have dealt with pinching your advice is appreciated!

This was his response when I told him we were going on a vacation to the ocean!!! He was more excited than I thought he would be!!!! He threw his hands up and yelled “Yay! My turn for Bay-Cay-shun!” because all his buddies in his class had been coming back from their vacations and telling about all they did.

Here are a few pics from our trip to the splash park with his friend Jane.

My coordinated matching kiddo.. can you tell there was a sale so we stocked up on beach gear??

Little Miss Janey LOVED the splash park, she was a adorable!

Big Day for a Little Bookworm

2010-07-19T11:50:00.001-04:00

Sammy got his very first ever library card! I know this may not sound like a big deal to many but for me and my son this is huge. He is such a bookworm! I have to say, he gets it honestly. Sam and I both are bookworms ourselves. I have always loved to read, in fact one of my favorite things to do is to get lost in a great book. I always feel like such a nerd when I literally can’t put a book down and I stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading only to then find myself dragging the next day. I mean, seriously, I am 30 years old. Shouldn’t I have outgrown this? I have no self control when a truly good book is involved, I tell myself just one more chapter.. and then I am lost in it. I remember getting in trouble as a little girl for sneaking away to read when I should have been doing chores or my homework and even one time as an adult! Yep that’s right. Once when I worked at Citibank my book was so good that when I came back from my break I just couldn’t put it down so I hid it in a folder and tried to finish the chapter while taking my customer service calls. My boss failed to see the humor in the situation, much to my dismay.

So, for this lifelong nerd, it makes my heart sing to see the love of books that Sammy has. He truly has always loved reading. Sam and I would read to him while I was pregnant and I remember he always kicked and moved much more compared to other stories during Wynken, Blynken, and Nod and it still is one of his favorite bed time stories to this day. We learned early on that one of the best discipline tactics with him is to take away one of his favorite books. Boy will he snap into action then, he becomes sweet as pie when a book is on the line. I hope that Sam and I can continue to foster his love of reading and learning as he grows and I see this special day truly as a milestone for him.

Well I decided it was way past time he checked out his first every library book so off to the library we headed. He was like a kid in a candy store when we arrived in the children’s section and boy did he put on quite the show for the librarians. He could barely contain his excitement! They said he was hands down the most excited they have ever seen about getting a library card and I have to agree, even I didn’t expect his reaction. We ended up checking out 12 books rather than one (I have already warned you.. books are my weakness. We discussed this in the first paragraph, remember?). We have enjoyed reading them and Sammy has taken extra special care of them and done a great job putting them back in the new designated “library book spot” after he reads them.

They had some great preschool computer games that I totally wish I could get a copy of. He played these for a solid 40 min!

check out his giant stack of books! She let him scan each one in himself, which he loved.

Here he is proudly holding up his library card with his name on it and his giant sack of books. I am so thankful for the sweet librarians who made the trip extra special for him.

The big performance

2010-07-07T13:32:00.001-04:00

Samantha and Krista had their big end of year performance at school shortly before they left town. It was a super big deal to them as they had practiced a lot for both the “drum line” and the step team (reminded me of STOMP) portion of it. This was put on by the afterschool program they are a part of and the dance portion was meant as a tribute to Michael Jackson so the kids danced to Thriller. Samantha had a solo part during the step team performance and she beamed the entire time, I was so proud of her. Krista did great with both parts and I loved watching her interact with all of her peers, she giggled the entire time she was on stage. I learned a lot about interaction among tweens from having lunches at their school with them and their friends. With Krista emerging into these teen years I feel I have a lot to learn and I was even a little intimidated when I first went to eat with them at the big middle school rather than their little elementary school we were all used to. Isn’t that weird? I even found myself worried if my hair looked ok as I was walking in to the lunch room that first time. The interactions between them and their fiends are so interesting and so very funny to me and make me MORE than glad I never have to be in middle school again.

Samantha was very nervous about her drum solo and was scared she would forget her part but she did a wonderful time and didn’t miss a beat, literally! She has always been a natural performer and she really shines when she is on stage performing in front of large groups. She may be a tiny little thing but boy when she opens her mouth to sing, you better watch out! So powerful! I have seen her do this in several environments, dances for Big Brothers Big Sisters events, Cheerleading at our church, school performances, etc. She gets a little nervous before hand but once the performance begins she steals the show, every time. Krista did a great job conquering her feels and seemed to enjoy herself while performing too. I was very proud of both of them! They each got personalized awards. Krista received the “I sing twice as much as I drum” award and Samantha received the “I smile all the way through my drum solo award”.

Check out this pic of Krista, do you think she was just a little nervous??

Samantha is in the front to the left side of Michael Jackson’s casket.. uh yes. I did just type that. I know, I thought the same thing

Krista with her sweet Grandma who does so much for all of them!!

Samantha with her teacher, he is a great guy and seems to really care about ensuring each kid has the right goals in mind for their future, my kind of guy!

Our big group at the table, we sat with one of Hannah’s friends and his family and we all had a great time. The cooking club made our dinners and I am thinking they may have needed to attend summer school, it was difficult to get down to say the least but we still applauded their effort

Krista paraded Sammy around to all of the tables thankfully he was a good sport about it

Class clown all the way!

Krista getting her award, giggling of course

and Sammy with hers

Of course I had to put just one pic of my cute little Banana up!!

Here is a link to Samantha’s drum solo.. she was so brave!!!

We heart VBS

2010-07-01T21:17:00.001-04:00

Yep that’s right, we are VBS junkies all the way. The DeLucca family sure enjoyed it this year. It took us almost the whole weekend to recover from it but boy did we have fun! I had the privilege of teaching Sammy’s class of “two”s but really most of them were three. Sammy actually has declared he is three ever since then. Anytime I tell him he is 2 he says “no I free now”. Our little class was so sweet and one night we had a total of 11 kids! It got chaotic a few times but for the most part the kids were very well behaved and soaked up our little Bible stories and lessons like sponges. We related each craft to their Bible story and I was amazed at the end of the night when we would chat about what we learned just how much they had retained. It can be hard with this age to really see the big picture of how us spending a few hours a night for only one week of their lives may actually impact them. I trust that we helped to build a biblical foundation for each of them from which they can continue to learn more about Jesus and how he created them perfectly and loves them so unconditionally.

Super Sam (that is what Sam makes all kids we work with call him, that’s right, he forgoes the Mr. Sam and goes straight to Super Sam) never ceases to amaze me every time we teach children or teens together. He is really gifted in this area and the kids just eat up all of his antics. He makes every single aspect fun and extra silly while still remaining firm when needed. They naturally flock to him and he keeps them giggling. Heck, he taught himself how to make balloon animals by watching free videos online and then practiced all year just to be able to make them for the kids in Guatemala last year. I think we make a perfect team and really compliment each other well when we teach kids.

I have to share one funny story. I absolutely LOVED our prayer time with the kids. It was so sweet and every single night it was so hard to lead them in a prayer without cracking up. Their little prayer requests were too funny. Sure we always prayed for families and the typical stuff but we also prayed for Mickey Mouse, Dora and Nintendo DS and for the dolphins in the ocean. One cutie little boy prayed very faithfully every single night for “Don-gee-as” pronounced just how I spelled it. I repeated it each night about 3 times and he would correct me sounding frustrated and I never knew exactly what it was I was praying for or saying. Finally, the last night while putting together a puzzle I heard him exclaim “DONGEAS!” and I realized it was a tractor. I asked his mom for clarification and she confirmed. He is a touch obsessed with tractors so we had been praying for John Deere each night without even realizing it! Gotta love him!

Sammy has asked every single morning since VBS ended if we can go to VBS that night. He says he misses his “new VBS pecial buddies”. The theme this year was Saddleback Ranch so our church was transformed into a ranch for the week with hay bales and horses, saddles, and all kind of decorations everywhere. The first time he saw the freshly decorated stage he exclaimed “Oh that’s Jesus’s tractor up dere?” and said he wanted to pray that he could ride on it.

He also loves dressing up in his “VBS clothes” . He made a cowboy vest (from a paper bag) that he was very proud of and binoculars (from toilet paper rolls) and they all got cowboy hats and bandanas too. Now if only I had jumped in the pics below with my VBS tshirt and matching tote bag (thanks again April!) we would have been quite the pair!

Sammy went on a cart ride with my friend Jill and her daughters Claire and Kate, he talked about it all night

…..and they’re off! actually a more appropriate caption would be “blast off”.. that cart went super fast, I was so glad Jill was on there holding on to them!

Jill’s other daughter Gracie chose to do the actual pony ride. She loved every moment of it and grinned from ear to ear the whole ride!

We LOVE summertime!

2010-06-30T15:38:00.001-04:00

We have been loving the summer and have spent so much time outdoors and in the water that my little white boy is now rather brown. I am so glad we got to enjoy some summer fun with Hannah and the kids before they left. We packed in a lot of swimming time and outdoor fun and made some sweet memories. I thought I would share a few pictures and a funny video of Hannah and Sammy eating ginormous slices of watermelon.

Also..Krista’s surgery went extremely well, they removed the entire tumor and we are now waiting on results from the biopsy. She was so very brave and calm through it all and was already up and walking around and back to her bubbly self when we visited that night. Thank you for all of your prayers for her!

The two best flavors in the world.. Check it out. “SAMMY STRAWBERRY” and “HANNA BANANA” Hannah was over the moon excited when she saw this while we were grocery shopping in Publix and even with the high price tag, I was suckered into buying it for them. As you can see below, they loved them

we all planted some pentas in the front bed and they really had a great time working on them

When our friends with pools were unavailable we busted out Sammy’s old baby pool and our good ol’ Elmo sprinkler and fun was had by all!

Mark was a great sport about Sammy spraying him

Check out little man with his bubbles on his face and his silly way of holding the water hose with his belt buckles- ignore Sammy and Hannah fighting in the background.

I miss you little Marky!!!!

Mark taught Sammy how to spray our hose .. thanks a lot.

He was too sweet to actually follow through with spraying me, thankfully!

Silly supper moments…. I love the one below

Memorial Day

2010-06-27T00:06:00.001-04:00

I have so much more time on my hands these days that I just don’t know what to do with myself so I am cranking out the blog posts! My down time is usually filled with Hannah and her siblings so this has been a rough adjustment. It is still so difficult to get used to them being gone. There have been so many times where we would have had them here or brought them with us somewhere and it just seems lonely without them now. Our house is so quiet with only Sammy here! There is a sanctus real song playing right now and the words to it are just perfect. They sing “it feels like chaos but somehow there is peace. Whatever you are doing inside of me it feels like chaos but I believe you’re up to something bigger than me, larger than life, something heavenly”. I am trusting this is all part of God’s plan for them and for us too, I know He is doing something bigger than we can even imagine.

I still have my sad moments and am still adjusting but for the most part I am learning to give the moments where I am overcome with the awful feelings and longing for them to God. I just call His name and run to Him with it and He is comforting me. I have actually talked to them all every few days so that has helped a great deal too. The last time I talked to Hannah as soon as she got on the phone she said, “Teri, I just love your voice. I miss you and wish you could hold me”. I of course responded with how much I love and miss her too and so we said we would hug ourselves at that moment and she said “do you feel it? Do you feel my hug? I feel yours, Jesus is making it work for us, I feel your hug I really do!!!”. It was just precious. Oh how I miss my girl.

Ok, enough sadness for now. I wanted to share some pictures from our fabulous Memorial Day! We had the best time and owe a big thank you to the Conrad family for having our Sunday School class out to their lake house. It is right on Hart Springs and it is just gorgeous there. We had so much yummy food and just a great time together. They had a giant water slide for the kids in their yard and then we took their boat to “the beach” which is a perfect little spot down the river with a sandy river bank and some shallow water for the kids to play in. I was happy to have arrived alive after the wiled tube ride Bryan gave me and Juile! I am not even exaggerating when I say that our tube came 5 feet out of the water at one point. I jokingly told them I saw the lights of heaven in that moment. I haven’t screamed that lout in a long time!! I remember as soon as it plopped us back down I saw Hannah’s little head from the back of the boat and she was clapping and waving and gave me a big thumbs up. She had wanted to go on the tube but then chickened out when she heard mention of alligators so I am glad I went to show her how much fun it is. She was a great cheerleader! I am so glad I went on that wild tube ride and even more thankful I had Julie as my partner who called out what way I should lean each time and I really think it is thanks to her that we didn’t land in the water!!!

We had an amazing day, ate lots of watermelon & laughed a ton. Thank you so much for having us all out there and showing us a fabulous time Mr. & Mrs. Conrad!!!

Sammy & Daniel testing the lake water

Lil Miss Gracie

Gracie and David playing in the waves

Even little Reagan played in the river!

Yummy cookout for lunch, I loved listening to the kids’ conversations. They were so serious, it was so cute!

My Hannah Banana had a fantastic day, she loved it and said she wanted to go to their house every single day of her life.

Kid table #2

I caught Sammy doing some joke with his ear of corn and once Addy started laughing at him it just egged him on more, he loves making them laugh!

Annie and Chad

The first boatload was on their way~

We played while we waited. Sammy was very scared of the slide part but loved splashing in the little pool area

Thanks to Mrs. Martha, after a very LONG time she was able to coax him to try the stairs….

He did it! I was so proud of him! I love watching him conquer his fears like this. It is hard to see but he had the most proud look on his face right here, he LOVED the slide. That is Hannah on the right cheering him on, so sweet

Love!

Brian, Julie, and David on the boat almost time for our tube ride!

Oh wow….

So much FUN!!!!! I can’t wait to get back in that tube!

We found these little princess-mermaids when we arrived. Sammy looked at them and said “no you not, you are gwirls!!”, ha ha!

My little fishy loved swimming in the river

Hannah and Claire were good buddies

Snuggling up for boat ride home

Some of our group eating watermelon!

Hannah doing some trick with a grape

Happy Birthday Jane!!!

Hannah, Sammy, and I left a little early so we could make it to little Miss Jane’s 2nd birthday party! She was just adorable in her little blue flower dress and gold sandals. Simply lovely!

Funny thing that happened was I was so careful to get Sammy & Hannah all changed and cleaned up from the river but when I went to get MY bag of clothes from the car they were no where to be found. Yep, you guessed it. I had left them at the Conrad’s house. So.. there I was at their sweet little birthday party in my soaking wet bathing suit (with cover dress thank goodness) and dried dirt on my legs. Sam was meeting us there so I asked him to grab me something and everyone got a great laugh at what he picked for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was more than grateful that be brought me clothes but I will never live down that outfit. He brought me one of Hannah’s mikey mouse t shirts that was way too small with no bra and some very old and dingy too tight olive green cargo pants. He he! We still had a great time celebrating Molly’s sweet girl.

Fun day in Lakeland!

2010-06-26T00:47:00.001-04:00

My friend Julie and I decided to take a day trip down to Lakeland and visit Andrea and her sweet boys for the day. This was no small feat! We packed all of our boys into Julie’s minivan and were on our way. The boys were pretty wound up so Julie suggested she put a movie on for them, I doubt she remembers this moment as fondly as I do but I thought it was hilarious. She got the dvd started and her boys settled down but mine was shouting and laughing and squealing with glee! His words were “A T.B. (TV) Just dropped down mommy! Wook(look!)”, he was in disbelief that there was a TV in her VAN and his excitement was contagious, he even got the others all wound up again. Oopsy!

We had such a fun time with Andrea, we spent the entire time in her pool. We had 6 boys total and they really enjoyed each other and played together so well. It was so great to see them all together again. I of course was beyond ecstatic to see my sweet little baby Isaac. He was just as precious as could be. He slept most of the time sleeping but I got to have a short little conversation with him before we left. I just love her boys to pieces. Connor had grown so much and was so mature. Sammy followed him around like a puppy and tried to do everything like Connor.

It was such a fun day. We had many laughs (for example, Daniel came very close to peeing on my head) and shared mommy stories, advice, and encouraged each other.

all 4 boys all loaded and ready to go….

Here he is! I didn’t get near enough pictures of Isaac but check out how much he has grown already!!! Couldn’t wait to give him kisses!

The big boys loved playing on Connor’s top bunk bed and after swimming they were all up there in just their little underoos, it was too cute!

Julie and 2 of her 3 cutie pies!

I had so much fun playing with Connor in the pool~

Love this pic of Julie and Reagan, such a sweet moment

and here begins our attempts at a pic of the 4 big boys together in one shot…..

Poor Andrea tried so hard. As soon as she would get them all ready one would jump in, it was quite comical

getting closer…

almost had it but Daniel was covered..

here’s the winner…. the secret was to bribe them with a fruit strip

we instantly lost David the moment I snapped it!

Connor and his little shaddow.. I mean Sammy

I love this pic of Daniel!

Sammy sure loves him some baby Reagan, he just can’t get enough of him every time we see the Borges. He always asks if Regan can just be his brudder too.

Best attempt of a picture of Connor and Sammy!

Thanks for a great day ladies, I love you both so very much!

My Two and a half year old

2010-06-25T00:39:00.001-04:00

Check out his fire truck I created! I tied the two together with a publix bag and viola.. his favorite fire truck was created! Now he pulls his stuffed animals with him down the street and everywhere he goes!

I am pretty sure that I have said that every stage Sammy has been at has been my “favorite” age. The twos have been surprisingly great so far although I have to admit I am totally more fearful of the threes than the twos after hearing so many stories about the independent streak that comes at three.

Sammy has changed and grown so much in these last six months. I honestly hadn’t realized how much he had changed until mom played some videos of him at 26 months and it is shocking at how much more mature he is just four months later. This will prob be a pretty boring post for most of you so you may want to stop reading here. I just wanted to be sure to document what Sammy is like at two and half.

Sammy,

At two and half you are such a joy and are so very silly. We have loved watching you grow so much in these last few months. You love to read more than anything else I do believe, so much so that your teachers even gave you the “best reader” award in your class. You love to read to yourself but often will bring a book to me and say “I wead then you wead mommy” and we both take turns. You usually wake up singing and then read a few books before coming into our room. You also read while on the potty and while I am fixing your breakfast. You read on the way to school and your teachers say you read off and on throughout the day at school. Then as soon as we pick you up from school you can’t wait to read your books on the way home and even read a few books before dinner. I had to cut you off and set a limit at bedtime because your books are so much longer now. You are not very happy that you only get 3 books before our Bible story and prayers at bedtime, but your sleep is so important.

You love to sing and dance and still make me smile when you mix up songs together. I think I will cry when you stop singing “humpty dumpty had a farm, e-i-e-i-o”. It is one of the last things you did as a baby that has hung around. You love to make music with your daddy and have jam sessions every few days with him. You like to play the drums more than the guitar but you have grown quite talented at both.

You are a very silly boy and love to make people laugh when you are around family and friends. Everyone who knows your Papi comments on how you are two peas in a pod because you are just like him. You can also be very shy in new groups and take a long time to warm up to people you don’t know. Sometimes you are even quiet with family and friends at first but if we give you the time you need to adjust and feel comfortable you come out of your shell in a very big way. We are so glad that you have been opening up more at school and your teachers say that you have begun talking more regularly and saying a few sentences at a time to them now. I only wish they could hear you at home, you chatter away and hold full conversations with us. In fact, it is rare for you to NOT talk when we are at home. You have begun asking me questions to keep the conversation going, which I find quite funny. Just tonight you told me “I lub (love) bugs and piders (spiders) mommy, do you lub dem to?” and you then asked me what my favorite color of bug is and if I like them in or out of the ground best. One of my favorite things you have started to talk about is how much you want a brudder (brother). I think this is because most of your friends have brothers now and you are I think the LAST only child of all of my friends who had babies with me (sorry honey!). You have even prayed for God to take good care of your brudder. When we tell you don’t actually have a brother you get so mad at us and argue that “yes I have him!”

You have learned to differentiate languages depending on the environment you are in. You now consistently speak only in English when we are in English environments and only Spanish in Spanish environments. You get very quiet and take it all in at Hannah’s house where there is both English and Spanish at the same time and usually will respond in Spanish to her Grandma and Auntie but in English to Hannah and the other kids. I am so proud of this progress you have made! You still introduce yourself as “Sammy in engwish and Samuelito bebe en espan-ol” but sometimes you tell me your name is not Sammy but rather it is Samuel and you ask me to call you that. You have also began to correct my poor Spanish which has been a strange thing to get used to for me.

You still love to “pway caws (play cars)” and have the best time with some cars and a couch. You line them up and roll them back and forth enacting various scenarios. I love to listen to the conversations you make your cars have with each other. Your imagination amazes me, you are very creative and come up with so many fun things to play. You love to pretend you are going to the grocery store to buy food and to the garden to pick vegetables and fruit. You often “pick” pumpkins, squash, “strawbears”, “fannanas” watermelons, and cookies from your imaginary garden. More often than not you encounter some pretty wild animals on these trips and always manage to carry them home with you and hug and kiss them then “put” them in your bed. A few days ago you had an imaginary rhino, giraffe, and cow in your bed but you said the tiger was trying to bite so you had to leave it by Publix. You tried your best to convince me that sadly there was just room left in your little bed for you so you wouldn’t be able to take your nap that day. Your imaginary turtle is still with us too and has become a pretty normal part of our lives. The little guy still changes colors regularly and will often be in the pockets or laps of others which makes you giggle out of nowhere (thank you to our family and friends for being a good sport with Turtle). Also, when you get out of the bath each night you tell us you are a little tiny caterpillar wrapping yourself in your cocoon and you LOVE to surprise us by popping out of your towel and turning into a butterfly. My favorite thing of all though, is Fireman Sammy. Quite often you pretend to be a fireman riding your fire truck to go help daddy and the “odder powice” (other police) to keep people safe. It melts my heart.

You are almost potty trained and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me! You still wear a pull up at night and on long car rides just to be safe but you are usually able to keep your big boy underwear dry all day. This is HUGE in our world right now. You are also improving leaps and bounds socially. You are much less aggressive and it is finally rare for us to get a poor report from your teachers. The biggest thing we deal with now is you spitting at a friend who has pinched you or bit you. You have even begun to initiate conversations with new friends you meet by saying “hi, my name Sammy! I’m free (three)!” even though you KNOW you are only two years old. I think you think you are being very slick when you do this.

You love to swim and go on wagon rides and you really love to learn about animals. You love to visit our elderly neighbors, mostly I think because they spoil you and give you cookies. You are quite the helper and love to clean and cook. You love to cook on your little stove while I am at mine and make yours “match” mine. I am convinced that you are the best corn shucker and pea sheller in all of Gainesville. I called you my sous-chef the other day while we were making biscuits together and you quickly responded with “oh I not a shoe mommy, I a big boy”.

You have a very sweet tender heart and love to take care of me and Hannah. You like to protect us from bugs and ants and love to open the doors for us and turn on the lights for us. You usually rub our arms or hand while we watch a show together. Your daddy is teaching you to be quite the little gentleman. Several times I have seen you take a toy to another child at church when they were crying or upset and I love to see you help your friends in your class. You must hug each friend before you leave to go home from school and you help them clean up their messes. You like to hold “wittle babies” and help them in every way.

You have a great attention to detail and can usually spot a plane or bird in the sky before I ever have an inkling that one is there. You know just about every vehicle/construction/work truck on the road and often take a gander at what the mechanic or fireman etc is on their way to do. You love to learn big words and often ask “what dat mean mommy?” or “what you say mommy? Say it gin (again)” when you hear me say a big word. I am surprised at how many you retain. For instance, after you make a poor choice you often ask “what my cons-quence mommy?” in a sad tone. You want to know how everything works and really are a sponge for these details. The one thing that has stumped you and I can’t for the life of me get you to grasp though is the concept of night and day and that the earth is spinning on its axis. You ask about 10 times a day if it is night or almost night time and if we are spinning now and will be spinning later.

My most favorite thing of all is to listen to you pray. You seem to crave stories about Jesus and ask many many questions, sometimes difficult ones. You ask me to pray with you several times a day and if we ever do happen to forget to pray before we eat you are quick to remind us. You actually started praying on your own just a few weeks ago. It is a moment that will be forever etched in my heart. I was in the hall doing laundry and I heard you in your room. You thanked Jesus for me and your daddy and for your “familia” then you prayed for your Papi to be safe, your Grammy to feel better, for Minima’s shoulder to heal up, Grandaddy’s toe to feel better and his Lightening McQueen bandaid to stay on real good. You thanked Him for Aunt Sarah, Aunt Cindy, Cristina, and Uncle Brennan and then prayed for Tinky and Roxy (Grammy’s pets) and Pixie (minima’s dog) to be healthy and have fun and know you’re “missin dem” and for Hannah to come back soon and for Krista to feel all better. Then you said really sweetly, I weally wub you Jesus. Amen”

I remember just sitting there in mid fold of one of your tiny t-shirts while a tear rolled down my cheek. I was of course happy and glad I was able to hear you share that moment with your Savior. Hearing you pray so sincerely while I held your tiny shirt made me realize that you already at such a young age are forming and beginning your own thoughts about Jesus and faith. I knew this at some level already but it really hit me in that moment just how crucial the way we live our lives really is for your development. We have such a daunting and HUGE responsibility to not only teach you about our Jesus but more importantly to SHOW you His love and to live out faith for you on a daily basis. The passage in Deuteronomy 4: 6-10 became very very real to me in that moment. I know that God expects us to show you how to live by faith and I know that I have not always and will not always respond to situations in Godly ways. I am so thankful that God will be faithful to fill in the gaps with His grace where I mess up and will always guide me in how to raise and teach you.

Mi Samuelito, you are such a blessing to us and we cherish each day we have with you. I am still baffled at why God picked us to be your parents, we do not deserve you. You are so very special and I know you will make a big impact on our world in your own unique way. I am certain of it. You are already such a beautiful combination of characteristics and I love learning more about how God created you to be with each passing day. It honestly is a privilege to be your mommy and promise to be the best mommy I can be for you. I love you to the moon and back!

Empty Nest Syndrome

2010-06-18T13:22:00.001-04:00

I have been so emotionally weary these last few days as I try to wrap my brain around what our summer will be like without Hannah Banana, Mark, and Samantha here in our home. Their mom came to pick them up a few days ago and they are now in a state far far away where they will spend the summer with her. I really feel like I am suffering from empty nest syndrome and every where I look and every thing I do seems to remind me that they won’t be back for a long time. Sammy has already been asking when Hannah is coming to our house again as he says “I want her mommy”, awww! I do too baby! This is going to be especially hard on him as they are so very close.

To make a long story short, Hannah and her 3 siblings came to Gainesville to live with their grandma and grandpa after living in a few foster homes. Hannah was I think 2 when they all arrived here. Their grandma said it was hard at first because they had been split up so they had to learn to all live together again. They have lived here with their grandma ever since. Sadly their grandpa passed away this winter so it has been especially hard on their grandma to care for them since then. The kids’ mom wants full custody of all 4 children again and so they have gone to spend the summer with her as a first step.

Please pray for all involved as they are getting to know their mommy. Hannah didn’t have much recollection of her other than when she came to visit for a few days last year and phone calls. Please pray that this will be a summer of wonderful memories for the kids and that a firm foundation will be laid in their relationship with their mom and her boyfriend. Pray for those two specifically that they will have wisdom and patience and take great care of the kids as they adjust to going from their one child to 4 kids over night. Pray that Mark, Samantha, and Hannah will have a great time and develop a strong attachment and trusting relationships with them as well and that some pieces of their hearts will heal. Pray that they will also have a great time with their new baby sister and get to love on her and make up for lost time. I think this summer is a critical building block for them to develop a strong foundation if they are to ever live full time with their mom in the future.

Please also pray that they will have some special quality time with their dad. He lives a few hours away from where the kids are staying with their mom. Sam and I have been in contact with him a lot of the years and think he is a great stand up guy and Hannah and all the kids love him to pieces. He has made many changes in his life, the biggest being that he became a Christian while in prison. He truly wants to be in their lives each day and I have no doubt that he will as soon as he possibly can. Hannah wants to spend time with him this summer more than anything. It was all she was talking about on that last day with her. In fact, we gave her $$ so that she can treat him to a special trip to McDonalds, just the two of them. Please pray that this trip can happen, it would literally mean the world to her.

Those of you who know the family may have noticed that I didn’t include Krista. Unfortunately Krista had to stay here since she is sick and the doctors said she can not travel. Krista is the oldest of the 4 has had no energy for a while. After a recent visit to the ER they found a lump and she was sent to the Shands radiology unit where they ran some more tests and confirmed that she has a suspicious mass. We are waiting now for her to have a biopsy (will be in two weeks) so please pray for this to not be anything serious and for her to be restored to perfect health. She is only 12 years old so naturally it is scary for her to go through all of the testing.

Lastly, please pray for us. It was heart breaking to say our goodbyes and it has just torn me up. I feel just sick inside and it has only been a few days. Hannah thankfully has called us a few times so talking to her helps but I honestly can’t imagine what life around here will be like without a house full of 5 kids each weekend! Especially without our Hannah Banana. She is a huge part of us and it honestly feels like my heart is in that truck way across the states at this very moment.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that God knows what He is doing in their lives. His timing is best. He knows what is best for these kids AND what is best for their parents. We have prayed for so many years that He would direct their futures and hold each of them in the palm of His hands so I am trusting him completely with the entire situation.

I Peter 1:6-7 says this :

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Ultimately, God is in control of it all and all I can do is have faith that He is working it all out so that they can have the brightest futures. I have to trust Him with them, it is all I can do. I know he is capable of doing exceedingly more than I ever could dream up for these kids and He loves them more than Sam and I ever could. He will come through for them and I don’t have to figure it all out, thankfully. Thank you for praying with our family on this! We love these kiddos more than I can say.

Watermelon Festival

2010-06-14T16:08:00.001-04:00

We headed over to the annual Watermelon Festival out in Newberry with my friend and resident supermom, Julie. Julie is supermom all the way because she braved the hot sticky chaotic festival with her 3 small boys. She has a 4 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and a baby! We all had a fun time, there was endless free slices of watermelon and Sammy all but mastered the art of spitting out the seeds (a must for all southerners). The kids had a great time riding the rides and if it hadn’t been for the unbearable heat & humidity I think it would have been a perfect day.

We met up with some of Hannah’s family and Sammy loved riding the rollercoaster with Krista (who was so protective of him) and playing with “the cousins” as he calls the twins because he still can’t tell them apart.

The boys LOVED running and throwing their rinds in the truck, check out the air on David’s

Waiting in line with tickets in hand, I LOVE this pic of David, standing just like his daddy

Supermom Julie on the scary scary ferris wheel!

Sammy and I are somewhere up on top, I was praying b/c it felt a little too rickety for my likes and I just wanted us to make it down safely

See the little orange hat beside Krista, that is my big boy going on the rollercoaster!

Anna & Alejandra were too cute!

Krista went on the crazy cage ride and screamed the ENTIRE time

Our gang stopping for watermelon break

This is about where Sammy started melting down in a BIG way….

Oh wow.. it was past time to head home and I paid for those extra few min we stayed !

I LOVE this pic of Daniel chomping down on his melon!

Rubbing Sammy’s aching foot… so tired of those

Here is where I almost lost all my watermelon! That merry go ride made me so sick, I swear they make them faster these days b/c I simply refuse to be that old

Technorati Tags: Borges,Sammy,Watermelon Festival

Hannah Banana goes to the Farm!

2010-06-10T10:41:00.001-04:00

Just a few pics from the day before mothers day when we visited Sam’s family. Sammy always loves playing around the farm and talks about “his” monkey, Rocky all the time. He really thinks in his little head that Rocky is his own personal monkey. Hannah has begged for the longest time to go to the farm and she finally got her wish. She loved all the animals, especially Rocky and she even helped to feed Rocky a cookie with “pwinkles, his favwit wike me” as Sammy said. Grammy always lets Sammy “sneak” a cookie with sprinkles in to Rocky, it has become a tradition. Although Sammy usually eats about half the sprinkles off before Rocky can even get the fist bite.

Hannah even got to go in the petting zoo area and help to feed the alpaca and others. She did a great job! I was so happy that she got to be there the day the Wallabies (little kangagroos) were delivered. The boy was named Peter Pan and the girl was Tinkerbell, and Hannah just ate that up!She has always loved animals and ever since this trip she has declared she wants to be a veterinarian. I know she will make a great one some day. She is so caring and attentive and very compassionate with all animals she meets. She seems to understand them in her own special way, she reminds me of Sam’s mom in that way. It is really sweet.

Hannah’s most favorite thing about the farm, however, was the itty bitty baby kitty. There was a new litter of kitties born and she was just beside herself. She picked out the one she wanted and loved loved loved on that little thing. She is STILL asking for it and this was over a month ago! She even prays for that little kitty to be healthy and strong and for its mommy to never leave it. They told her she could name it and her response was “Sarah if it is a girl and Brennan if it is a boy”, after Sam’s sister and her hubby, of course ha ha. She loves you so much Sar!

Hannah with Sarah or Brennan (We couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl)

Playing with Rocky

Rocky and his cookie

She was so gentle with the baby goat, it was so sweet

Feeding the animals!

Hannah was convinced this was a Lemur from the Madagascar movie, ha ha

My man being silly with my sunglasses

Sam and Cody

Hannah and her Bff Sarah

Super Aunt to the rescue!

Check out who is driving Sammy’s limo, its Hannah Banana at your service!

She was hanging in the limo with Brennan talking about how she will ride in it when she is all fancy one day

Sam’s mom was doing her thing, helping the new wallaby get adjusted to the new place, so sweet!

I love this picture, I think this one’s name is Eyore but he looks like he is smiling at me

Aunt Sarah helped protect the kitty from Sammy

Sammy loves feeding the animals and they always come running. He fed peanuts to all of them except the turtle who got lots of lettuce

I was a tad nervous about Eyore’s big chompers so had to step in and help, if there was audio you would here “no MY do it mommy! My do it my self”

Technorati Tags: Hannah,farm,animals,Sammy

Very Special Mothers Day!

2010-06-07T22:29:00.001-04:00

We spent Mothers Day weekend in Orange Park with our families and it was just wonderful because our Hannah Banana was with us! We spent Saturday with Sam’s parents at the farm and the kids loved spending time with them, Sarah & Brennan and Cody! That’s right… we even got to see Cody for a little while. Hannah was Sarah’s little shadow all day and she thinks Sarah and Brennan are the coolest ever. She told all her siblings when she got back about them and recited several funny things Brennan said and even called them her “best friends”, it was really sweet.

Cindy also flew down from TN to surprise Aunt Sandra and although I could have done without the stress of coordinating the big surprise it all worked out in the end and we had a great time. We ate a fancy lunch that Hannah STILL talks about and I absolutely LOVED spending the afternoon catching up with Cindy! Sammy was over the moon happy to have his Aunt “Nendy” back to tickle and love on him.

We had a very sweet family moment before church. It meant so much to have Hannah with us on that day and to have her run in the room with Sammy and “attack” me with hugs and tickle me as they brought me their cards. Sam wrote the sweetest thing in my card from him. He always writes the most romantic stuff and of course I eat it all up. He’s a big softie. Along with the typical mushy stuff, he wrote ….thank you for being such a great mommy to our son and “stand in” mommy for so many children.

(my amazing husband even captured the moment! Here we are in all our pj glory but I sure love this picture, I will NEVER forget that moment)

I thought about that a lot throughout out the day and I just kept thanking God for choosing ME to work in their lives. Little me. I am so far from perfect and have so much to work on in my own life and have made lots of mistakes a long the way yet He still wanted to use me and I am so glad He has. I am so honored to have such a role in not only Hannah & Cristina’s lives but the others too. God could have used so many other more qualified people to love on these kids who need some extra special mommy type loving. I mean seriously, when I was first matched with Hannah she was 5 years and 1 week old, these are critical years for her. My whole hope for even joining this program was to show God’s love to a little girl who really needed it in hopes that He may be able to offset some of the junk in her life by showing her that she is so very special. I hope she will always remember that she makes all the difference in the life of our little family.

It really is all about God. I couldn’t do it without Him. He gives me patience when I feel like I could lose my mind, He puts words in my mouth at just the right times when we have certain conversations or she “tries” me, He gives me nudges of when to do things and when to hold back, and most importantly, it really is His arms that hold her and wipe her tears away through me, if that even makes sense. I don’t mean to sound like the movie Ghost or anything but I really believe he loves on His little princess through me or rather us. We try our very best to show her unconditional love, agape love. At first it was so hard. She tried to push us away and test us and do terrible things to see if we would still want her. Every once in a while we still have those moments but we are all in such a good spot right now. I know that she knows deep in her heart that we love her regardless of what she does (yes even when she rips my favorite curtains out of the wall leaving a giant hole for Sam to repair). Oh my Banana. I love you girl. She and her siblings bring me so much joy (and headaches at times, but for the most part joy) and I have been changed in so many ways just from welcoming them into our family.

I have told Sam I feel like we are in the “in between” some when it comes to Hannah and Cristina. I am only a mommy to one amazing little boy. Thank you Jesus for your gift of him! These two girls though, they stole our hearts and are so much more to us than a “sponsor child” and a “little sister”. They are part of us yet not in actuality. I know that makes probably zero sense but it is hard to describe because they are rather unusual relationships. I get the honor of pouring out mommy love on them as best I can yet I don’t get to spend the every day with them. It can be a hard spot to be in at times and I often felt the urge to guard my heart early on in these relationships but then, if I had, look at what we would have missed out on. All of us! The “in between” is a great place to be and a painful place to be at times but I know it is RIGHT SMACK in the middle of where GOD wants us to be and so we will keep on loving them with all we have within us!

I will leave you with this verse, this is a verse I have found comfort in and been encouraged by, especially in regards to parenting so it seems most appropriate to include here. "I [God]will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I [God] will counsel you with My [God's] eye upon you..." Psalms 32:8.

A few pics from our special day….

At church:

I miss my Gram so much each day and often think of how I wish I could call her up or tell her something so we had to stop by and take a pic with her stone. One of the stones at the church I grew up in is Gram’s. Hannah has heard many stories about Grandma and always says she can’t wait to meet her in heaven one day so she was (as you can see) VERY excited to take a picture with the stone. She just knew “with all my heart Teri, really” that Gram would love the little doggies she placed on the stone. Love.

Here is the big surprise moment in the hotel lobby! It was great but boy were those 20 min leading up to it drama filled and stress-ful! I barely got Aunt Sandra there and I basically had to BEG her and Uncle Tom to turn their car around on the way home from church to meet us there, oh good times in deed.

Going in for the hug….

This was after we told her of all the drama that ensued to get her there

Uncle Tom, Cindy, and Aunt Sandra

Hannah LOVED being a fancy lady for the day.. check out the desert she picked out, oooh la la!

Of course Sammy had to try one just like Hannah and begged for “green one” even though I knew he wouldn’t like it but thankfully we just got him another one that was banana pudding and he was one happy camper!

Cheese faces all the way, they are two peas in a pod!

RP and PeeWee together again, good times.. watch out OP!

Cindy was supposed to be in this pic but she had wandered off and Hannah decided to eat her bracelet

So I made them take a redo! =)

Fun times at Mom’s after lunch

Richard got mad bonus points for lifting Hannah up to put bird seed in the feeder, she is not the lightest thing to lift

Pool Time! We had so much fun in Aunt Sandra’s pool

Sam, Sammy, and Hannah all did a suprise attack game, so cute!

Here is a quick video of their game, I just love it. It is only 8 seconds…but so worth all 8 seconds of your time. Aren’t they simply the best??

Technorati Tags: mothers day,Sammy,Hannah,in between

The Doctor is in…Kim is Phinally Done!

2010-06-03T00:20:00.001-04:00

This is rather old news by now but I still had to post up some pics of Kim’s graduation. That’s right.. Kim is now officially Doctor Kimberly Case! We call each other academic soul mates and as cheesy as it is I know that one reason God brought Sam and me here to Gainesville was because SHE was in this program. I can honestly say that I really don’t think I could have made it through this without her and our friendship.

Kim and I met the day I came down to meet Keith and the faculty in my program during the time where I was trying to narrow down which school to attend. The other schools I had visited were ok and I liked the professors fine but for most programs the graduate students that would have been my peers seemed entirely too competitive. This program at UF just felt like home, right from the get go. All the graduate students were so welcoming and the faculty was so encouraging and it really felt like a family atmosphere. Kim was at that lunch and we were seated right by each other and once I learned she worked for Keith (my advisor/professor I now work under) I had so many questions for her. We clicked instantly. It was as if I had known her all my life. After I accepted here and was welcomed into my lab family, Kim helped to show me the ropes and teach me the ins and outs. We had classes together and were in the lab each and every day together and grew very close very fast. We eventually even managed to persuade Keith to let us share an office together and to decorate it in pink and black. There is something so amazing in having a friend who not only shares my personal life but also my lab life too. We have gone through so many things together both professionally and personally. Huge life events. I couldn’t even begin to describe it all. We’ve been through not only marriage issues and the birth of Sammy but the deaths of our dads, we became Big Sisters together, we’ve been lost in another country together, scary doctors appointments, made it through huge presentations, and I could go on and on. This is why when I found out one of my roles as her maid of honor was to give a toast at her wedding I fought it tooth and nail (I lost and somehow came up with something to say), but I felt there was no way to sum it all up one one single toast!

So, to sit there and watch her walk across the stage to get her PhD I seriously could almost see a slideshow in my head of all the trials, struggles, good and bad times that we had been through all of these years to get to that point. Sure there have been times along the way when one of us wanted to give up and drop out but we have kept each other strong and in the game and I could not be more proud of her and all she has and will accomplish. In fact, I almost passed out after screaming for her when they announced “Dr. Kimberly Case, escorted by Dr. Keith Berg”. No joke, I seriously got light headed and had to rest my head on her sister in law’s shoulder after that scream! I was just and still am so beyond proud of her.

Congratulations Dr. Case! I love you!

We had a party the night Kim defended her dissertation and someone had the brilliant plan of spelling out PhD with our bodies…WOW. Let me introduce 2 of our new graduates..Dr. Case and Dr. Clemmans at their finest. Ha ha.

The Developmental Psych Ladies that are left now.. every one is leaving us and moving on to their new lives

Keith came to our party and was one proud advisor!

Waiting for Kim to be called…..eeeks!

Look who I got to sit with at the ceremony..Let me introduce Kim’s nephew Lil Sandy, he is basically Tom Cruise in baby form. Isn’t he the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen?? Sadly I frightened him into a fit of terror with my screams when they called Kim’s name. Sorry little guy.

With Keith after, I love this pic of the two of them!

What is left of the Berg Lab.. that’s right now with Kim gone it is just me and Keith! He says he has empty nest syndrome now since they all finished and it is just little ol’ me left.

I FINALLY got her some notebooks to replace all the many I stole from her over the years, they were so cute though they were worth the long wait, right Kim?

Cheesing it up

Thanks for the cake idea Suzzane! She loved it!

At her graduation cookout, congrats again!

Technorati Tags: Kim,PhD,Graduation,psychology

Fun pics!

2010-05-28T16:26:00.001-04:00

We have been staying so busy I haven’t had much time for blogging. I am happy to say that I have the first two sections of my dissertation now completed and will be starting on the data analysis portion in a couple weeks. Things are moving right along and I am ecstatic! We have done so many fun things over the last few weeks and I can’t wait to get some pics up on the blog. For now though, here are a few that I found as I was uploading pics.

Sammy and I stopped by to visit Sam one night while he was working, Sammy loves to help his daddy turn on the lights and sirens to “keep dem peoples safe”

He loves when I make him smoothies and every single time he ends up with this same “happy” mustache, he looks like one of the 3 stooges

Hannah & Sammy enjoying popsicles on our steps!

Sammy and his buddy Nicolae are too cute together

Here they are talking to David & Daniel’s baby brother Reagan. Sammy looked at me here and said “I want have him mommy, at my house”. Someone may be ready for a sibling….. I’m just saying…

We bought some flowers for the flower beds in front and Sammy was a great helper for all of 10 min and then he was into everything. So, I busted out his old baby pool and he had a blast splashing around and was contained AND entertained, it was perfect!

Technorati Tags: Sammy,Hannah,pool,summer

A little step of faith…

2010-05-24T21:43:00.001-04:00

Sam and I were talking about some of the funny conversations we have had with our little gang of kids recently and it got me to thinking of all that we would be missing out on if we hadn’t taken that first little step of faith in trusting God with our relationship with Hannah. We have all come a long way throughout the last several years and it is amazing to look back and see what God has done and is doing through it all. I wanted to share a little bit about how God had to really work on me and hold my hand if you will to get us to the point of hosting 4 kiddos in our house each week. I strongly encourage you to step out in and trust Him in whatever way God is challenging you in your own life. I read something today that resonated with me in a big way and is so very true “ a lot of things the Lord asks us to do will not make sense to others..,even those who love you will shake their head and say “She is nuts!” when this happens it is almost confirmation that you’ve heard from God”.

A lot of baby steps were involved to get to the point where we are when the above picture was taken. I would have thought you were nuts if you would have told me a few years ago that I would be taking this particular group of 4 PLUS my wild toddler to church each weekend. You see, just the thought of taking Hannah out of my house in to a store, restaurant, the movies, or really anywhere was honestly a little frightening. The girl had many issues and to say she that she was difficult to control at times is an understatement. Some of you probably remember hearing me tell of the day long ago when she and I were actually kicked out of Kmart. That’s right.. we were asked to “kindly not return- EVER”. Thankfully I learned what works and doesn’t work with her and her behavior is much improved, to the point that there are hardly any traces left of those early behaviors. Then came Sammy. I was pretty scared to take Hannah and my newborn out in public, alone. Yes, with just me and them. I was still getting the hang of caring for a newborn and then to throw Hannah in the mix, well, it was daunting. What if he cries and I have to nurse him and she runs away while I’m nursing?? What if she causes a scene and he starts crying?? I decided we couldn’t stay cooped up my house forever though and thankfully we ventured out and I became confident when having them both out. Sure there were times when I wanted to pull out my hair but there were many more of the amazing,tender moments.

I often would let Hannah pick a sibling to come along with her on a visit usually as a reward for something she accomplished. Very rarely would I bring all 4 kids along and on the few occasions when I did, I felt the most appropriate thing to do after their visit was over was to drive myself straight to the looney bin because I thought I was going to lose my mind. The kids would all fight with each other and they were loud and out of control. I became so burdened for them though. Sam and I began to pray for God to use our family in their each of their lives too, in whatever way possible. As we prayed together I began to see each one of them in a new light. My patience grew and I felt like God gave me some great ideas of how I could handle having all for of them at once. The next time I picked all 4 of them up I sat them down and had a serious talk. I explained that we loved being with them but the way they behaved was unacceptable and I simply refused to expose my own child to that sort of thing. I would not be a good mommy and would not be taking good care of Sammy if I allowed him to be around such chaos. They responded very well to our talk and even helped to come up with some rules for when we are all together. I changed my way of dealing with their disputes and set some firm rules/consequences for the breaking of those rules. Most importantly I always prayed while driving to pick them up and once we were all together and I started praying with them. Praying with them and having a time where they all all take turns talking about real things and praying for each other has made all the difference. I try to help them realize that the four of them need to stick together rather than tear each other down but of course they are only kids so who knows how much actually sinks in. I want to strengthen them as a little family unit because regardless of what life deals them in the future most likely they will all be together somewhere. Sure they still fight and some visits are better than others but for the most part we all have a great time now and I miss them when they aren’t here with us.

I don’t really think anything of picking up the whole gang anymore (unless we are going somewhere with admission, tickets for 5 kids= ouch!) and that my friends is a “God thing” all the way. He has stretched us and grown us and just like we found with our experiences in Guatemala, WE end up feeling just as blessed or more than these we set out to help. We get so much more back than we invest in them. It reminds me of the verse 1 Corinthians 2: 9, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard… all that God has prepared for those who love him”. You never know all that is waiting for you when you take that first little step of faith.

Here are some pics of the kiddos on our car wash day!

Mark wasn’t too interested so that is him on the scooter in the background..

They had a water hose fight with our neighbors Joe & Gloria who were washing their truck, so fun!

These are pics of the little man who started the car wash.. That’s right, Sammy sprayed us all down, he giggled and squealed as he drenched each one of us, thus since we were all wet, why not wash my car?

Technorati Tags: faith,trusting God,car wash

Big Brothers Big Sisters Match

2010-05-17T11:26:00.001-04:00

Check out this article that was posted about a match down in the Central Florida program. I love reading stories about other matches and hearing about the true LASTING difference this program makes in at risk/ troubled kids’ lives. The little boy in this story has a much brighter future because of the time his “Big Brother” has invested in his life. He has a great role model and some one he can trust and confide everything in. He knows his life matters on this earth and he can DREAM big goals and REACH them!

The article is not long at all, check it out if you have a few couple min. If anyone reading this is interested at all in becoming a Big or wants to hear more about what it is like, please free free to contact me/ leave a note in the comments below.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100516/LIFE/5160311/The%20bond%20between%20brothers

Technorati Tags: Big Brothers Big Sisters,Volunteer

Wanna pway Cousins pweas!

2010-05-14T09:53:00.001-04:00

This my friends is a phrase that I am growing quite weary of hearing these days. I typed this in Sammy language but it translates to “I want to play with my cousins please”. We were so excited that my cousin Karen and her kids Cole & Shelby came down from TN to celebrate Shelby’s birthday and as an added bonus they brought Julie down with them too! Sammy hadn’t seen them since last summer but he looks at their pictures a lot and was a very eager beaver on our way up to Aunt Sandra’s house.

I was so very impressed with how well behaved both Cole and Shelby were, they were so sweet with Sammy and really doted on him. Both had grown and matured so much since I last saw them. Cole showed Sammy many magic tricks that wowed Sammy each and every time and Shelby was a little mama helping with every aspect of Sammy’s day. They read to him, encouraged him to eat all his food, played cars (a must if you are to be buddies with this kid), swam, and even taught him how to run races with them. Unfortunately our visit with them came to an end much too quickly and ever since, literally EVERY day, he asks about his cousins. He really grabbed hold of that word and loves to use it.

Julie or Julz as I call her also came down and I just can’t believe how grown up she is! It is so weird to see my little baby cousin as a little lady. We used to live a few streets away from them so I would pick her up all the time and hang out with her. She was just the sweetest little girl and even when she was just toddling around I would have a blast with her each time we had our girl time. She is just too cool for me these days that I can’t keep up but I sure wish we had more time together. She is such a stand up girl, strong in her faith with a kind sweet heart for others, and she can sure crack me up!! She has always been like that, so it is cool to see her evolve into this beautiful young lady. I know she will leave a big mark on this world in one way or another. You keep on shining Julz, I love you so much!

Their trip down here totally sealed the deal on us taking a trip up to TN at some point this summer. I miss my family too much and it isn’t right for Sammy to barely see his cousins. So.. all you TN folks, get ready, the planning of a trip is in the works!!!

Oh and as a side note.. the other phrase we are hearing often and a little too much of is Sammy’s replacement of the tried and true phrase “thank you”. Our child has chosen to say “gracias, porfavor, AMEN!” each and every time he would typically say thank you. It was cute at first but now, not so much. We’re working on it though and hope to have it phased out soon.

Here they were teaching Sammy how to do a “cool” pose, he clearly embraced it

He “wuvs” his “Shwewlby”

She lost a tooth while we were there which blew Sammy’s mind, he couldn’t believe it and still retells the story to anyone who will listen to him

Happy birthday Shelby! We love you!

I love this pic b/c I have several pictures of me sitting in that very chair with a cake all lit up with candles and a toothless grin. Warms my heart!

Here Cole was teaching Sammy how “men” pose… Sammy was instructed to stand with his arms crossed and look tough, ha ha

He would literally do everything they said which was a little worrisome. Here Cole was teaching him to do a trick and on Cole’s cue Sammy was to fall over which he did about 7 times in a row until I cut Cole off b/c I was scared Sammy would have a bruise, silly boys!

Blown away by the good ol’ penny out of your ear magic trick

Shelby with my mom, so sweet!

Nicole and Julz the coolest teens in the whole world!

Sammy followed Jamie Lynn and Shelby around like a little puppy it was so funny

She not only changed his diapers but also brushed his teeth and helped bathe him!

Technorati Tags: cousins,Sammy,Cole,Shelby,Julie

The Bonfire

2010-05-11T22:18:00.001-04:00

Our awesome friends Micah and Amy invited us out to their place for a super fun bonfire a few weekends ago. Let me just brag on this amazing family. Sam and I have LOVED getting to know them. We are just so thankful for them and their family. Not only do Sam and I love hanging with them but they happen to have two little boys, Nicolae and Gabriel who are Sammy’s good buddies. He and Nicolae are only a few months apart and it is so great to meet up with Amy at the park and let the boys run wild while we chat it up. Now let me tell you why I think they are extra super cool… they love our Flores kiddos!!! Most reading the blog prob know by now that Sam and I have a 4 kids that we have fallen in love with and have in our home every few weekends. They are great bunch of kids but they have had some rough spots along the way and although they are quite resillient they can be challenging at times. Needless to say, we don’t get many offers to hang out when inviting us includes 5 children that in rowdiness and decibel level seem more like 9 or 10 kids. Micah and Amy have really taken the time to get to know them and they kids ask almost every time they are here if we are going to see Micah and Amy.

Sam was working so he had to miss out but the kids and I piled in the car and headed over to their house and what a fun night we had! Many have asked me how I get them all plus Sammy & his car seat in my little car. The answer is VERY CAREFULLY. To be honest they aren’t able to wear seatbelts and one and half of them always end up on the floor board but we just say a prayer together before we head off to our many destinations and so far so good. Once at Micah & Amy’s the kids played and we roasted hotdogs and made smores. Mark especially had a great time helping Micah throw things in the fire and he had never made smores before! They all got along wonderfully the entire time (no small feat with this bunch!) and we all had a blast and really enjoyed ourselves. The little boys, Sammy, Nicolae, and Gabriel ran around pant-less in an attempt to speed up the potty training and I really think it helped! He has had a complete turn around and has kicked his potty training in high gear since that night but please excuse his nakedness below. We were in the country in my defense, so nobody saw (Mom, I put that just for you).

The car ride home was really sweet. One thing that always surprised me with this bunch is how much they want the baby experiences for themselves. When I first had Sammy and they watched me interact with him they wanted me to rock and sing to them, read them stories in my lap rather than all piled on the couch or bed, tickle their feet and talk in baby voices, even wanted to drink of out bottles and sippy cups! Given that they are so old and so big and there are so many of them, and some of these things would just be weird most of these haven’t been possible. One thing I do indulge them in is listening to Sammy’s baby praise and lullaby cd. They begged for it on the way home and so we cranked it up. They asked me to pray with them some more and we just had a very sweet car ride home. My poor Sammy passed out before we got on the main road so he missed it all but I really enjoyed those sweet moments with them. I try to always remember I never know just how much time I will have with them so I am very thankful when we can have extra special fun memories like this night as opposed to the not so great visits where they are fighting and misbehaving.

Thank you Johnson family for showing us a great evening!

Samantha had fun entertaining Sammy in the baby pool, they sang several silly songs together

My Banana is so big now, check her out! This picture just makes me really see just how LONG she is, and she is getting so skinny, I need to fatten her up!

Krista was a great little mamma that night, she really tried to help a lot with the 3 little guys. I got her reading the babysitter club series for a reason, but shhhh.. don’t tell her that

Here is the gang minus Amy and me

gathering sticks with Micah

They loved picking Mulberries off the tree and eating them, I did NOT love working for several washes on getting the stains out of their clothes, Amy.. maybe try an apple tree next.. just a thought

Its smores time!

Me and my girl

Can’t see it but right at this moment Krista’s marshmellow burst into flames, so funny

The little boys had a blast running around the yard all night but they sure were filthy and sticky so we piled them in the tub. I had envisioned a cute pic of all three smiling with spiky soaped up hair covered in bubbles.. yea, not so much. This was my best attempt when will I learn?

Technorati Tags: Hannah,Sammy,BBBS,bonfire

A little humor to brighten your day

2010-05-10T14:03:00.001-04:00

Had to post this! Sam and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last month, that’s right, we’ve been together for a total of 13 years now and are thankfully more in love than ever (say awwww here). More on that to come soon. The funny part occurred when Sammy and I were in Target shopping for the perfect card to give Sam. I was engrossed in reading my umpteenth card in search of just the right wording and my little one had decided to “help” me by reaching out of the cart and picking out cards himself. The first was of an obnoxious dog with bug eyes, the second was of a strange frog with a long tongue. He loves frogs and dogs so it made sense that he chose these. I explained why we had to put them back and asked him to please not touch the cards again. I had returned to the card I was reading when I suddenly heard his shriek of excitement…. “OOOOHHH MOMMY!!!” I turned and saw his big “o” mouth and raised eyebrows and he held the below card up and exclaimed “I want DIS ONE fo daddy, pweas mommy. Dis my favor-wit one! I weally wike it!!” I burst out laughing.. check it out !

I explained that this wasn’t the right kind of card, it wasn’t the card to give for a wedding anniversary and poor thing started to cry. He pleaded again on how his daddy would “be sad if not got card”. So, I couldn’t resist, yes I reinforced his behavior and totally bought it. It was just too funny that this of all cards this is what my sweet innocent little boy picked out for his daddy and declared was his favorite. To top it off, inside it read “we’ve reached the age where we just can’t function without our glasses, especially if they are empty, Happy Birthday!”.

He colored a picture of a cow and an elephant on the inside for Sam and he even asked if he could buy daddy some flowers. We headed up to the nursery and Sammy picked out marigolds, that were so stinky! He was just so proud of himself as we got the gifts arranged nicely on the table. He looked at me and said “daddy weally gone wike beauful card mommy” and he grinned. Sam was a little shocked when he opened it and then couldn’t stop laughing.

Sammy just beamed when Sam opened it and he told him all about the elephant and cow he drew inside. They were apparently eating a popsicle together, can’t you tell? Sam on the other hand cracked up and did a great job telling Sammy how he picked out a perfect card.

Technorati Tags: Sammy,anniversary,card

Catching up with the Ashburns

2010-05-06T22:33:00.001-04:00

Let me first say it is so nice to blog again! I am happy to report my horrible semester is over and I made it through. I even took a few days to just relax and hang out with my Sams and it has been fabulous. We kept Sammy home from school and I didn’t even glance at the computer and it was just fabulous! We had a blast! I have really missed having time to blog. I would think of things I wanted to blog about almost each day but never had the time to get my thoughts down and now I can’t even remember what they are. Sigh.

I wanted to share some pics from our time with the Ashburn family! They were down from TN on a Florida vacation and Sammy and I headed over to spend the day with them. Laurie is Leslie’s younger sister and I hadn’t seen her in YEARS and had never met her kids, so this reunion of sorts was great. Lexi was a such a sweetheart and so mature for her age! I was so impressed with this girl and Sammy adored her. Sammy & Zander were instant buds and played so well together. Sammy wanted to do everything that Zander did and was sure to remind me throughout the day that Zander “is big kid”. It was so surreal to back on the beach with Laurie since we spent all of our childhood vacations together on that same beach and this time we were with our own children.

One quick note.. Sammy LOVED the beach this time! For those who don’t know, Sam and I used to live on the beach so we were devastated when our little one showed us on many occasions just how displeased he was to be at the beach. He has a real sensitivity to things being on his feet so all the sand at the beach was a big turn off for him. We worked to prepare him for this trip, talking a lot about sand and what it would be like and thankfully when he saw Zander run onto the beach laughing and having the time of his life viola…. Sammy decided to give it a go and he loved it!

Check it out… they had a jellyfish they caught and were taking it back to TN with them, ewwwwww….

Zander taught Sammy how to make silly faces, yay.

I was so happy to see him take these first few hesitant steps out on the sand!!! The whole time he kept repeating..”mira mommy. I in sand! I wike it! You see me?”

He even got it on his hands and just wiped it right off, we are FINALLLY there, yay!

Above he is digging in the sand and ENJOYING it and below running free on the beach squealing and chasing birds, it made my heart happy to see him that happy on the beach

The best I could get of all three of them =)

This was going to be a super cute pic,I asked them both to put their hands up, Zander did great but we lost Sammy with the wrist band

His new cheese face, I’m hoping this isn’t here to stay

Marineland!

Technorati Tags: Sammy,beach,Ashburn

Sweet little bundle of joy.. Isaac Scott!(and……No I DID NOT FAINT!)

2010-04-29T09:52:00.001-04:00

Technorati Tags: Birth,Andrea,Isaac,Jesus

Most of you reading this probably know that my friend Andrea had her baby, Isaac Scott and I just had to share a few pics of him and a little about the experience. I was in the delivery room with her!!! Yep, that’s right.. you are on the correct blog and this is not a typo.. I helped her through the birth process! I am still so honored that she asked me to be there and help and that I was able to be a part of it all. Isaac’s birth was just one of the most amazing things I have ever been a part of, seriously. There is no way I could write the details better than Andrea did herself on her blog, so please click and read here (click on the red word here) for a “he said she said” account where she and her husband Scott told the birth experience from their sides of the story. Scott is hilarious by the way, too funny.

Andrea, God bless her, had both of her boys naturally with no meds and she was so strong through the entire process and I don’t just mean physically. Yes I was amazed by her physical and mental strength to overcome the pain and exhaustion but what amazed me most was her dependence on her Savior to see her through. When she asked me to come & and help her she said she wanted me to be there to encourage her and keep her focused on God during the delivery, to pray with her and read her scriptures. Well I wasn’t too sure if I could keep from fainting through it all but I KNEW I could pray with her and keep her focused on God, that would be a job I could handle! Let me just say, what an experience it was! We could without a doubt feel His presence in the room with us, it was amazing. We began with a prayer and boy did my Jesus answer our prayers! He outdid himself. I remember one thing I asked for when the prayer was that she would not have to push for very long and later I told Andrea I bet Jesus laughed when I prayed and said.. “let me just show you what I can do”. Andrea never pushed once! Isaac basically jumped out of her! He answered every single one of our prayers that day. Andrea was so very strong and brave. She was just shining like a star that day for all the world to see her faith. We had a flip book of scriptures that she and I collected before hand and we would recite them together through each contraction and when she got past the point of being able to say them I would read them to her. I know the nurses were either encouraged in their faith as they saw her totally dependent on God through it all OR they thought we were nut jobs and in a cult, but I strongly believe it was the former rather than the latter. It was so amazing to see that in her time of greatest pain and distress she turned to her Savior. There is no doubt for any of us that were in that room, the nurses included that HE was her strength. The entire process was indescribable. I feel like I am doing a terrible job even trying to put it into words because I feel there are not really words that are adequate to describe it. Cheezy you say? Yes, I know, but its the truth.

Our Jesus was also there for me that day, He was also my strength. For those who know me and my fear of needles/blood.. hospital anxiety… know that the word hesitant does not even begin to describe how I felt the day Andrea asked me to be with her during her delivery. Please don’t misinterpret that, I wanted to be there to support my dear friend more than anything in the world and I felt so honored & humbled that she would ask me but I also had equally strong feelings of not wanting to ruin their special day! I do not have a good track record with blood & needles. The usual pattern is as follows.. I am exposed to OR JUST HEAR A STORY OF blood or needles and BAM! I am on the floor. Yep, that’s right. I am a bonna fide wimp. Heck I am president of the wimp club. I fainted my first time when I was two years old and I have many many stories of fainting ever since. A few highlights were when I fainted in the mall parking lot after getting my ears pierced, fainting as a little girl while my mom was putting my hair in pig tails (she was telling me about her surgery she was going to have and thankfully she held tightly to my right pig tail as I went down), I fainted in the ophthalmologist office during my routine eye exam (I started thinking about what he was really seeing when looking in my eye), oh I could go on and on.

Lots of stories there. Some I don’t care to relive. How did I deliver my own baby you ask? Well, the IV was the worst part! ha ha! No joke, I was more scared of my IV and I freaked out more with the IV than the actual delivery. My nurses got a good laugh out of that one. They actually had to cut one of the newborn baby hats and cover my IV on my arm so I couldn’t see it anymore and viola! My strength came back and I was a ok. My queezy feelings subsided. Smooth sailing from there! I did have drugs though, so didn’t feel the pain of child birth which probably had something to do with it.

So.. you can see why I was a little hesitant. All I could envision before hand was my sweet friend struggling and pushing and needing some encouragement and me lying on the floor, out cold, maybe even drooling. I thought about it before I gave her an answer and prayed long and hard and Philippians 4:13 kept coming to mind and I decided, its not about me, its about HIM so lets do this! I did give her a disclaimer that I am NOT responsible for what happens and advised she couldn’t say I didn’t warn her if I did. Her response was.. “you’ll be fine. I am not even worried.” This let me say, is VERY TYPICAL of my friend Andrea. She has always believed I can do anything I put my mind to and has total faith in me and is one of my “Hur & Aaron”s in life, lifting me up and encouraging me through EVERY trial. We have prayed each other through just about everything and have shared tears of joy, sorrow, and laughed so hard until we almost pee together (was that TMI? probably huh? oh well, sorry). How could I NOT go and help her??

So, I am proud to say I made it through. I did leave the room when they gave her the IV, just in case and I think it was good b/c I avoided any queezy feelings and honestly I was fine through it all. Never even felt a hint of uneasiness and when I saw Isaac’s little head it was just amazing. The blood didn’t matter, the doctors in all their doctor garb, didn’t matter. The medical equipment and fact I was in a hospital room, didn’t matter. What DID matter was that I was meeting face to face this little one whom I had prayed for since the moment he was a thought in his mommy’s head. Months of praying and begging, pleading with God to give him to her, to them, to his amazing family. I remembered getting the call she was in fact pregnant and then my prayers changed to prayers of thankfulness and gratitude and then, more pleading and begging for this to be a healthy & strong pregnancy and then my prayers for Isaac’s life began. Prayers that he would grow up healthy and happy and know he is loved more than words can say. Prayers for his relationship with is mommy & daddy, and his amazing big brother Connor. Prayers that God would put dreams in his heart and give him a kind, soft heart and selfless spirit. Prayers that he will one day accept Jesus Christ as his own savior and grow to be a strong man of God, one who will reach many and touch lives of others. Yes, seeing him and then holding him for that first time, I was just speechless. What a miracle!

Thank you Scott and Andrea for letting me be a part of this amazing day!

Andrea saying goodbye to Connor right before we left to head to the hospital. They had a sweet conversation about how Isaac was going to be born that day.

My amazingly strong friend!

Scott and I were keeping the FB world updated on her progress. I was using his fancy Iphone and he was using my el cheapo phone and needed to wash the cheapness off afterwards, he was not happy I have a picture to document him holding it, ha ha!

So sweet! Meeting their new little one, everyone say… awwwwwwww!!!!

He was NOT happy about being taken out of his warm comfy home to this cold bright room!

We did it!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Isaac!!!

The new family of FOUR! Look how proud the big bro is.. isn’t he adorable?? I could just eat him up! I love you Connor man!

Ok, so totally not related to Isaac’s birth at all BUT I had to post this one. Connor turned 4 about a week after Isaac was born and check out his new big boy bike!!! He is so big now!

Easter Pictures!

2010-04-27T15:14:00.001-04:00

Sammy really enjoyed his Easter Egg hunt, only it wasn’t much of a hunt as they were just scattered on the ground which he loved. He opened each egg to double check that it had candy before he put it in his basket. He also loved hugging and tickling the Easter bunny!

Here he is sharing candy with Minima…

we found this huge digger on our way out!

Later that afternoon he colored his first ever Easter eggs! I had big plans of trying to come up with creative natural foods to use as dyes but that never came to fruition and thankfully Mom had bought an Elmo egg coloring kit, the old fashion kind like I used when I was little. Even had the little wire egg dipper thing. He did such a great job and the two of them had a blast together!

Those silly eggs would occasionally drop on the floor so.. what happened to the 3 broken eggs? They ended up in Sammy’s belly!

This is Easter morning, he found a snake in his Easter basket from Minima!

We let him go ahead and eat the ears off his little chocolate bunny……

didn’t take long for the sugar rush to set in!

Look who we found at Mom’s church… little Miss Caitlyn all dolled up. She was just precious!!!

I had to take a sentimental pic of him on this bench, I remember “painting” it when I was a little girl in VBS one year. I can still hear Mr. Rick saying, “Good job Sunshine! Now here is spot right over here you missed, … atta girl!”. It is so cool to walk around the church grounds and see my own son in those same places. Very surreal!

Look at our handsome boy… all grown up!

He was so very sweet while we were taking these pictures!

I leaned in and kissed him….

Then he had to kiss me right back!

No words to describe how much I love this boy!

Sammy and my Mom….

She got some extra lovin’ too, awww

We found Grandaddy on our way back inside!

We had a very different egg hunt at mom’s house after church this year…. there were NO other kids! This is our first Easter with everyone being gone (if you remember Sherry convinced everyone to move up to TN and then Paul & Kristen moved to GA… I’m not bitter in the least about this). Poor Sammy had nobody to hunt eggs with except for Aunt Sandra well… and the creepy snake that ran by his feet… eeeks!

He shook every egg to see if there was candy and once he realized mom FORGOT to put candy in them he tossed them back… whoops!

Here he is racing Aunt Sandra for an egg!

overjoyed that he found ONE piece of candy in an egg! ha ha!

Silly silly boy!

Technorati Tags: Easter,Sammy,Mom

Sammy sure loves his uncle Tom!

I had to include these at the end.. this is how he spent most of the weekend, pulling his little wooden truck behind him, even all through Walmart!

We’ve been busy!

2010-04-18T23:40:00.001-04:00

Technorati Tags: Sammy,Hannah,Sunday School lunch,2 year old,park

This month has been just crazy busy! I am finally feeling like I can take a breath and come up for air. What have we been up to you ask??.. hmmm lets see. Well, on top of me being swamped with school work we celebrated Kim’s completion of her PhD, went up to OP for Easter, I went to Lakeland to help my amazing friend have her precious baby (and I DID NOT pass out to all you wondering family members, you know who you are. I had my big girl pants on that day), I have been out of town on couple interviews and now waiting to hear on a job, had some fam from TN visit, I cut my hair short and got side bangs (ok so this was not that stressful but I just love it so I had to include it), Sam switched to the night shift which has been huge adjustment for us, and Sammy has grown increasingly more “challenging” as we get deeper into this two year old stuff. Pshew! I have much to say about all of these things but basically, in sum, lets just say God has been growing me in my faith through it all and I’ve been drawing close to Him.

I have lots of pictures I would like to post up too but sadly they sit waiting patiently on my camera so… I thought I would post some from our Sunday School lunch-get together and a fun day we had with Sammy at the park. I just love seeing the world though his eyes. I absolutely love our conversations with him now, he is finally at the age where we can just chat. His language development and actually cognitive development in general are occurring so rapidly I can barely keep up. It seems like everyday he will say something or do something that I had no idea he knew. His imagination is HUGE and he is always surprising us with what is on his mind. As a developmentalist I obviously have studied this rapid phase of development but it is so amazing to actually witness it each day first hand.

In fact, I want to take a min and just for the record (since one day I hope to print our blog) I want to document a particular conversation between Hannah and Sammy that is so very classic “them”. I had to laugh out loud as I heard. We call Hannah during the week when she is not at our house and Sammy will talk for at least 5 min with her, it is very sweet. She typically is ever so doting and loves to talk with him about his day and teach him things she has learned but at times, she can get jealous.

Hannah: “Hi Sammy, I really miss you and can’t wait to see you Saturday. Give me a big hug through the phone”

Sammy: “I huggin Hannah. (he kisses the phone and hugs it then hangs up on her so we call back)

Hannah: now giggling, “Sammy you’re so silly. What did you do today. Did you miss Hannah Banana?”

Sammy: “Sammy missin Hannah. Sammy walkin on wagon ride. My (I) had an adventure!Adventure in big jungle!” (We can not get the boy to learn to say “I” instead of “My”")

Hannah: “Oh really? What did you see on your adventure? Did you see leaves and animals?”

Sammy: “Sammy not see leaves. Sammy saw sheep. Sheep said baaa baaa. Sammy saw lion, lion said roar! NO KITTY! Sammy said no kitty, kitty twied tickle Sammy. Sammy saw bumble bee, bumble bee was crying (he makes crying sound in phone)”

Hannah: “Nah-ah. That’s not for real. Where did you walk? You’re lying Sammy”

Sammy: “it real Hannah Bana. Sammy saw it ears!” (we’re also working on the eyes see/ears hear thing. He swaps them in and out right now)

Hannah: “No, I don’t believe you. Are you telling the truth?”

Sammy: “Yes, I’m twelling twuth!”

Hannah: “Teri, get back on the phone now.”

So, I get on the phone and she proceeds to question me about this walk. I explain that Sam and Sammy were just walking in our neighborhood by the woods and Sammy is using his imagination. She then says that she KNOWS we went to a jungle by our house and that I was only telling her that it was our street so her feelings aren’t hurt since she couldn’t come. She then gets all sassy wondering why I have never taken HER to our jungle that has lions and sheep. OH VEY!

Anyhoo… here are some pics from a great Saturday we had a while ago.

This was his first time doing the tire swing alone & with no help. He kept saying “I makin sand spin under me!” oh, my poor baby. Tire swings are confusing, in his defense. Wait. No they’re not. Ok, I’ve got nothing.

and this is why we got his hair cut when we visited mom for Easter….. wow.

He was FASCINATED by this caterpillar. He loves the Eric Carle caterpillar book so he said he wanted to “wait 2 min mommy, him gonna turn butterfly in 2 min” . After a good 20 min of watching this little creature we finally bribed him away (gulp, yes guilty as charged) with letting him watch a t-ball game

No we weren’t paying customers but he sure enjoyed learning about it. He loves to play with his t-ball set at home so he had a lot of questions about what the kids were doing

Check out my big boy!!! He always tries to climb up this thing at the park but gets half way and asks for help. This particular day he did it all by himself and boy was he proud. I am tickled pink that I got the shot below (in all honestly it would have been hard to miss it since the climb up took about 4 or 5 min and he said to himself the whole way “Sammy doin self..big boy… Sammy doin self..big boy) I figured he wouldn’t fail to give a big finale when he made it up and boy did he! This is right when he got to the top he stood up high and threw his arms up and shouted “I BIG BOY!!” and thankfully most of those around cheered him on adding to his excitement.

Sadly for our washing machine he has began to collect rocks and other treasures that will fit in his pockets. He spins around like a dog chasing his tail, literally full circle trying to get them in and it just cracks me up.

His little tongue spends more time out of his mouth than in! Anytime he is concentrating that tongue is sticking out helping him along.

Lunch after church with some good friends!

We all headed over after church to Joel, Katie, & Luke’s house for some good eatin’ and good times! Joel grilled some delicious burgers and it was great to sit around and chat while all the kids played.

Sam provided the after dinner entertainment for the kids, he had them all giggling. I love this pic of Josiah and Sammy, something about the angle but Josiah looks even smaller than he is and Sammy looks like even more of a giant than he is!

Thanks Abby for showing me how to do cool stuff with pictures on the blog!!! =)