Marcus Tyrel: Our Christmas Miracle

Meet our sweet little baby boy, Marcus.  He made his much anticipated entrance into this world on December 19th weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches long.  Marcus has been welcomed by his {slightly obsessed albeit eternally doting} big sisters, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and even his dog Bear.  :O)  He has touched hundreds of hearts, brought endless joy, triggered thousands {probably more like millions} of tears and has caused a more than a few hours of lost sleep.  He so far has peed on doctors, nurses, Birth Mom and Grandma, Madison {on the hand and spit up on her nose}, Maelee {on the head} and yes, myself {the last of whom he has also pooped in the hand of... nice aim there buddy!!}.  He smiles often, loves to snuggle {which his big sisters enjoy} and adores the sound of his Daddy's voice.  He has crossed the first right of passage toward becoming a man - and I very literally nearly fainted during the barbaric ritual; complete with a hot flash, walls closing in and sounds starting to blur!  But I was there for him and while he may in all honesty never thank me for it, perhaps he will appreciate the gesture and know how much I already am in love with him.  The first two phrases out of EVERYONE's mouths are, "He's SO beautiful!" and "Look at all that HAIR!".  I love it!

The last month has been a blur, especially the last 2 weeks.  A LOT of emotion, a lot of tears, smiles, hugs, compassion, gratitude, grief, peace, joy and amazement.  We are SO thankful to have the unique opportunity to be a part of this miracle.  We have been given the most wonderful Christmas present in our sweet little Marcus.  One full of responsibility, but one that we have been anxiously waiting for for years and we are humbled by Rebecca's faith that lead him to our family.  Thank you Becca and thank you Alex for entrusting us with your perfect little boy.  We already love him with more tenderness and purity than I thought our hearts were capable of and we promise to never take your sacrifice for granted. 

Thank you.  Thank you eternally for Marcus Tyrel.

"Dear Santa..."

For Family Home Evening tonight, we read a poem about catching the "Spirit of Christmas" and talked about ways we can "catch the Spirit": being nice, helping others, trying to be like Jesus, being happy... then we went on the commercial side a little {ok, a lot} and wrote letters to Santa to help jump start our spirit catching.  :O)

Our little letters made me laugh so hard that I decided I had to share.  So please, sit back and enjoy our wishes this year!!

"Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want a Baby Brother and a Christmas tree.  Not a doll, just a Christmas tree.

Love,
Maelee"

{We were SO impressed that her first wish was "Bebe Brudder".  Too sweet!!!  I think she can sense that he's almost here!  :O)  And it's a little ironic that she doesn't want a doll, cuz that's what Santa is bringing her...

"Dear Santa,

This year I would like a brbee {barbie} car and a Kanani doll.

Would you plees come to my Crismis prtee {Christmas party}?

Love,
Madison"

She wants the REAL Santa at our ward party, not just a guy dressed up like him.  :O)  Later she said that if she had more paper she should have added that she also wants Maelee to stop bugging her because if she asks Santa, then he will make SURE it will happen!  LOL

"Dear Santa,

This year for Christmas I would like a few extra hours of sleep.  I know I could change my daily activities in order to get this myself, but I have found that asking you for things is much easier.  If you were to give me two extra hours of sleep I would enjoy them most around 6 to 8 in the morning.  I will still get up at 6, then just go back to bed.  :)  Thanks Santa, you really are a good guy!

Do you have a phone number?  If you did I could just text you through the year when I think of things I would like.  Make sure you get an unlimited plan.  If I sell your number to the world I would hate for you to have to pay for all those minutes and texts that would come in. 

Also this year I am told you plan to bring us a baby.  I'm not sure how you can do that and the 2 hours of extra sleep, but you're Santa!  You make reindeer fly!  You visit the whole world in 24 hours.  I'm sure you will figure it out.  Can I ask that the baby be happy all the time?  Is that too much?  I believe in you big guy!

I hope your Christmas goes well, feel free to grab a Dr. Pepper from the fridge, Tiff made some of her cookies so make sure you grab some of those too!

Love you Santa.  Thanks for all you do.

Love,
Clint"

I bet you $100 you thought that was MY letter!!!  Ha ha Clint is too funny!  After THOSE letters, mine sounded SO cheesy... mainly because I was trying to set up our Family Home Evening activity for NEXT week.  I asked Santa to help the families who need extra happiness to feel loved this Christmas so that next week he can write us a letter asking if we will help him out and deliver cookies to some of those families.  We can learn about service AND come home to eat fresh cookies!  I have my smart moments.  :O)  ANYhow, since mine was SO dripping with cheesy-ness, I'm not going to share it {my blog, my rules ha ha} but I will say that I asked for kitchen stuff {for me} and extra-special goodies for Kiki and Rebecca.  :O)

Ah, my family gives me the giggles sometimes...

What do you get...

...when Mom finally gets a chance in the morning to enjoy a nice hot mug of cocoa and is beckoned by two giggly girls hiding under a blanket on the couch with Dad?



A Hot-Cocoa-Head!

She probably would have had a slight melt down had Clint not cleaned her up kitty style... yes, he licked her face!!  Only once, don't let your imagination go too crazy now  :O)

Moments with Maelee

My sweet baby is growing up SO FAST. Everyday she talks a little clearer, looks a little taller, acts a little bigger and melts our hearts all over again. She is VERY much a 2-year old {throwing tantrums, pretending to get hurt in an attempt to get extra attention, being a turkey to her sister, realizing she is an independent person and actually has a CHOICE whether she wants to obey or not... ya know, all the joyful things that come with the terrible-two's!!}, and at the same time is such a sweetheart that it makes all the stinker-pot moments worth it.

I wanted to remember her RIGHT NOW, so we got Madi off to school last week and then headed outside to snap some pics of my baby girl.  For some reason she decided that her fingers tasted REALLY yummy and wouldn't remove them from her mouth.  *sigh*  I decided that the whole chair thing wasn't working, so I ran and grabbed her "Binky" {this cute purple blanket Grandma Jonnet gave her for Christmas last year and that Maelee has lovingly nibbled holes in... what is it with kids destroying their lovies?} and a book that ALWAYS makes me cry, "Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born" by Jamie Lee Curtis.  Such a SWEET story about adoption.  LOVE IT.  She perked right up and things got a little easier and definitely more adorable.  :O) 

She got pretty sick about a month ago, and since has been on one. Pushing the boundaries is saying it pretty lightly!! :O) So, I'm trying to be the good mom that my kids deserve and instead of giving attention to the fits, I've been paying extra attention to her when she's being good... I know, pretty basic parenting advice you hear everywhere but sometimes it takes a little more effort to do it than you think!! ANYway, after a good tickle and some "spin FAST, Mom!"'s, we crashed on the couch to catch our breath. I asked her, "Maelee, will you sing for me?" "Uuuuuummmmmmmm, No." "Oh! Ok, will you tell me a story?" "Uuuuuuummmmmmmm... Yesh!! One uh-on a pime... CAT!" "A cat? What did the cat do?" "Umm, walking!" "Cool! Then what happened?" "Um, a fam-ee." "A family? Did a cat belong to a family?" "Yeah! They hode it yike DIS!!" She holds her arms across her chest and starts swinging back and forth saying "oh, kitty!" and kissing her hand. "What happened next, Maelee?" "Ummmmmmm, crying." "Oh no! The cat is crying?" "Yeah." "Why?" "It's sad." "Why is it so sad?" "Dey do DIS!!", she puts her hands on her cheeks and pushes them forward, making the classic "Chubby Face" face. I'm trying not to giggle cuz she's SO sad that the cat is sad, "The cat is sad cuz they did this?" and I mimic her. "Yeah." "How did the cat get happy again?" "The fam-ee hode it." "Yeah? And that made the cat feel better?" "Yeah, dey hode it yike DIS!" and once again she squishes up her cheeks, this time with a happy face cuz the cat evidently is happy this time that it's face got all chunky looking. :O)

I have this lullaby that I have sung to her since she was a baby {the one from "My Turn On Earth"}. She used to scream and get TICKED when I'd start singing it cuz she knew that I wouldn't stop until she relaxed and went to sleep {and, since I'm the mom and make the rules, I always won!}, :O) but lately she actually asks for me to "shing" for her when I put her down. The other day I was "shinging" before her nap and she reached up to stroke my cheeks, poke my eyes, explore my nose, examine my braces... basically try to make me take as long as I can to sing her lullaby. I grabbed her little hands, kissed them and held them down while I continued, feeling victorious. She looked me in the eyes, got this impish look on her face and started "shinging" with me! Not only did she know most of the words, she knew the tune and had herself a jolly good time belting out this song about angels and sleeping. At the chorus, which goes "So sleep, sleep 'till the darkness ends. Guarded by your Angel Friends." she starts singing "Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep! Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep! Garkness ends! Guard you Angoo Fends!" I kept a straight face and so she continued her beautiful aria on into the next verse and I finally busted up and we giggled our way through the rest of the song. At the end, she hugged me so tight and then said, "Wait! One second, k?", pulled my head back and cupped my face in her hands. She looked me straight in the eye and whispered, "I love you too, Mom!"

I love you too, my precious baby girl.

Walking Zombie

I know it may sound graphic, but you know those Nazi Zombies on that Call of Duty game?  Yeeeeeah.  I know how they feel {except for the whole hatred toward humanity bit.  I may have the episode of road rage now and then but I don't think that qualifies!!}!

It's the busy season for photography and man ALIVE have I been busy!  I have been glued to my computer for an average of 2-3 hours a day.  And luckily Clint doesn't mind when I have to be on the comp at night, he's recently rekindled his love for HALO on XBOX Live with his friends {that was a genius invention I have to say!  I'm really lucky in that Clint plays in moderation and stops even live games to help with the girls if they wake up.  And it's nice because he gets that guy time while still being home.  I get to work without feeling like I'm ditching him and he gets to play without feeling like he's ditching me... works for us!  Don't worry, we're not loner-do-our-own-things kinda married folks all the time!  We still snuggle up and watch movies or our fave TV shows a few times a week... just less frequently during my busy season!  Ha ha}.  It's my own fault for being so overwhelmed with clients - I'm still learning to say "no".  It's just super hard when I have that moment of "but I could use the money for this and this!"  Really makes that "no" word foreign to my vocab.  LOL

I'm shooting a wedding this weekend which I'm kinda stressing over, and so I wanted all my previous shoots edited and CD's delivered beforehand so they wouldn't be hanging over my head.  Well, when you're a total doofus like I am and schedule FOUR SHOOTS in ONE WEEK and only allow 3 days to edit... let's just say that I got on my computer yesterday morning at 8 and wasn't finished until 10:30 last night.  Combine that with being up until 11ish for the previous week and a half working on OTHER shoots...

Enter the walking zombie.

Can I just say that I'm ready for my winter break?  LOL

On a MUCH happier note, Rebecca and her mom came to visit us this last Tuesday and it was a really great day!  They got here right around noon and we grilled some Mango Chicken with Mango and Black Bean Salsa {minus the black beans... I forgot to put them in LOL}, YUM!!  We chilled for a bit and then took them on a tour of our neck of the woods.  Our first stop was the local hamburger and ice cream shop for some much needed dessert {gotta say that having braces really slows down eating the cone}, then around the valley.  Madi had a science thing at the library and Maelee fell asleep so the last hour or so of our visit was relaxed grown-up talk.  I spent all last week painting baby brother's room and had ordered a crib bedding set which thankfully showed up about 30 minutes before they left.  I was SO excited to get to share that with Rebecca.  She helped me pull it all out of the box, set it all up on his crib and hang the curtains.  That was so special for me to get to have her here, by my side putting those boyish touches on our little boy's room.  I took a break from the computer and hung the fun wall hangings this morning that came with it and cleared off the top of his dresser {currently my craft dresser} and the top drawer.  I'm going to wait until next month before I bring in the clothes I have in the shed {no reason to wash them twice before he comes!} then after the showers we'll be having next month I'll know what I still need to be totally ready for his much anticipated arrival!  SO EXCITING!!

The girls are still SO giddy over their "baby brudder" and talk about him ALL the time.  Madi for a while there wanted to name him "James" because she had a crush on a kid named that in her class.  :O)  I nixed that one cuz I knew the poor kid would NEVER live it down if he were named after Madi's temporary Kindergarten crush.  LOL  {She actually has a new "boyfriend" now... his name is Harley and evidently they hold hands while they read books in class during free time.  She came home all grins the other day and told me that on the seesaw she and Harley had decided that they were going to get married when they grow up.  "In the Temple, right Madi?"  "Well of COURSE Mom!"  "So you think he's your prince, huh?"  "No Mom.  I'm not a princess, I'm Madison!  Just Madison!"  Oh, sorry!  My bad!  Kinda surprised she hasn't declared that we name her baby brother "Harley" yet!  Ha ha LOVE IT!}.  No, we don't have a name yet.  Clint hasn't heard one he's crazy about yet.  :O(  Oh well, cest la vie!!  I told him that if he doesn't start liking the names I suggest then I will follow the Little Red Hen's example and "do it myself!"  LOL

Well, life is pretty great - exhausting - but great!

A Big Sister's Prayer

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day.  Please bless that Maelee will never be mean to me again.  Thank you for telling Rebecca that we're the right family for our Baby Brother.  We love you. 

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen."

Just one of those moments that makes you cry and hug your kids a little tighter than normal.  Hope everyone else is as blissful as I am right now.  :O)

30 is NOT that old... right? :O)

Ha ha, just kidding babe!!  That's right, my darling husband turned the big three-0 over Labor Day Weekend.  He hasn't milked "being old" too much, but it's been fun to tease him {lovingly of course!} LOL!

While I REALLY want to just blog on and on about our upcoming adoption and how excited we are and how I'm already driving Clint crazy with all my plans for Baby Brother's room and this, that and the other...  I guess I need to play catch up and post about our SUPER FUN Labor Day Weekend.  I will quickly say though that things are going WONDERFULLY and we are SO excited to get to know both his birth mom and her family AND his birth father and his family!!  SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now, on to camping!  :O)

That weekend was SO NICE!!  It has been SO RIDICULOUSLY HOT here this summer, and with all the fires and the lack of rainfall, our mountain has been closed.  You can imagine how ready we were to ditch the heat and go camping!!

We drove up Friday morning and met our friends at their family cabin.  It was crazy to watch the thermometer in our Sequoia drop over 40 degrees as we climbed the mountain!  I'm tellin' ya, it was heavenly to spend 3 days in pants and jackets!  :O)  We spent the day playing, and ended up loading up all the kids and taking a drive to this HUGE rock that we first climbed up {kids in tow... yeah, we're pretty insane!}, then spent the next 20 minutes trying to keep all the curious ones from the edges...  Not the brightest idea, but hey!  At least we got some fun pictures of the chaos, right?!?  LOL

Saturday morning we went for a hike to a tree.

Before you say we're nuts for hiking to a TREE {for crying out loud, we're not THAT starved for ideas of fun things to do!}, let me point out something about this certain tree: look at what's carved into it's trunk...



When President Spencer W. Kimball was a boy, he went for a hike.  Along the way he took a break and while he was resting, put his pocket knife to good use and carved his name into a tree trunk.  I'm sure it took him a long time and I'm also sure he was quite proud of himself {cuz even all these years later it's still legible which speaks for what a good job he did!}.  At that point, he had no idea that he would someday become a prophet, he was simply a little boy leaving his mark on the mountain he loved.  Make sense now why we hiked to a tree?  :O)



The rest of Saturday was filled with picking raspberries, naps and the traditional potluck dinner {we live in a small valley that's home to 3 even smaller towns.  Twice a year, people from our valley {and everywhere else!} camp on the mountain and enjoy a huge potluck Saturday night and an LDS church service on Sunday.  SO cool to take the sacrament and enjoy testimony meeting in a meadow... in your jeans and a camp chair!  Ha ha}.

I love Maelee's face in this next pic, SO BEAUTIFUL!







Sunday after church, we picked more raspberries {which my friend Courtney made into yummy jam} and had Clint's birthday hoopla.  The girls and I got him Braveheart {one of his faves}, Halo ODST {his first copy is MIA} and a new XBOX 360 controller.  Michele baked him a cake and we stayed up playing cards after all the kids were asleep.





This last pic is Maelee "sneaking" a drink of Clint's soda.  Little stinker!!!

Monday we were home by noon and after cleaning up spent the rest of the day in our jammies watching movies.  Usually when we come off the mountain we're greeted with 100*+ weather, but were pleasantly surprised to an 89 on the Sequoia's temperature thinggy - and it's been rainy and cool ever since!  LOVIN' IT!!!



 Life is good, actually pretty great!!  We're happy, excited for the next few months and REALLY excited for Christmas!!  ;O)

Baby Brother!!

You know, I'm learning that a phone call really can change your life.  2 years ago a phone call changed our lives and a week later we had a chunky, beautiful baby sister to lavish our affections on.  We watched Madison transform flawlessly from a stinker-pot into an amazingly sensitive and loving big sister.  We witnessed miracle after miracle over the next year as we finalized our first adoption, had Maelee sealed to our family for eternity in the Temple and felt the peace that only the Spirit can bring.

Last week, another phone call changed our lives again.  Our adoption caseworker called last Tuesday to let us know that a 17 year-old birth mom was interested in us and wanted to meet.  Her baby boy is due in December, and she kept coming back to our profile.  Hannah {our caseworker} told us to bring the girls to the face to face visit so that the birth mom could see us as a family {at first I kept thinking "Oh, heavens!" but the girls were AMAZING!}.  That night we explained to the girls that they might be getting a baby brother for Christmas and Madi started screaming in excitement, running around the room and shouting, "A baby brother!  A baby brother!  I FINALLY get a baby brother, just like ALL my friends have a baby brother!  YAY!!  I'm just so excited!  Maelee, I'm getting a baby brother, and YOU'RE getting a baby brother too!" here, she gasped in shocked realization, "We'll BOTH have the SAME baby brother!  You'll finally get to be a big sister like ME!!  Aren't you so excited?!?"  Maelee was beyond startled at Madi's random burst of giddiness, and it took us about 4 more times of explaining it to her before it finally 'clicked' for her...  "Maelee, do you like babies?"  "Uh-huh!"  "Do you want a baby to live here with you?"  "Uh-huh!"  "Do you want the baby to be YOUR baby?  YOUR baby brother?"  {BING!  That's where the light went on!}  "Beebee brudder?"  "Yeah!  A baby brother!"  Aaaaand cue random burst of giddiness, take 2: "Beebee brudder!  Beebee brudder!  Beebee brudder!  Manny! {Madi}  A beebee brudder!  Yay!!!" as she runs around clapping her hands and dancing with glee.  :O)  Gotta love my drama queens!

That night, as I was tucking the girls in bed, Maelee starts whimpering.  "No, Mom!"  "Baby, it's bed time - what's wrong?"  "Beebee brudder, hug?"  {BING!  Light on!}  "Sweetheart!  Your baby brother isn't here yet!  He won't be here for a few months, ok?"  She's straining to see around me, positive that her baby brother is just outside the door and that she, indeed, needed to give him loves before going to bed.  At this point she starts crying, "Beebee brudder!  Hug!  Kiss beebee brudder, Mom!"  I held back my giggles as I comforted my young daughter and explained gently that he's not here yet.  I tucked her in and left the room with a smile on my face.  For the next 20-30 minutes, those giggly girls talked and sang all about their new baby brother they were hopefully getting for Christmas.  :O)

We agreed to meet them Friday for lunch and decided to head down Thursday night to crash at my sister's to make the trip easier on the girls {in the hopes that they would then be more pleasant at the restaurant!  LOL}.  We drove out to the shopping center where the Olive Garden was {YUM!}, and thank heavens there was a Ross there because Maelee somehow ended up in the car without her shoes on!  {Clever way to get new shoes, why didn't I think of that?!?  :O)  Haha}  They had ONE pair in her size in the color we needed to match her outfit, whew!  {I SWEAR I saw her put her shoes on at Yvette's... oh well!}

With that crisis averted, we headed over to Olive Garden to wait with Hannah.  Every time someone walked in my nerves went crazy!  We were SO nervous to meet her!  When she and her mom and step-dad came inside, I could swear that I knew them from somewhere.  They looked SO familiar - Clint said the same thing later.  And let me just say that she is beautiful!  You can BARELY tell she's prego!  They were all {this will sound SO cheesy} really lovely {told ya, total cheese but it's really the best word to describe them!}.  We sat down and immediately started exchanging questions.  Clint and I didn't want to ask TOO personal of questions, because we didn't know how sure they were about us and we didn't feel that it would be appropriate to bombard them with questions that if they didn't choose us, we didn't need to know... ya know?  Clear as mud?  :O)  The girls were awesome and provided some entertainment at {most of} the right times, and were sweet and adorable the rest.  The more we talked with them, the more we really liked them and the more we hoped beyond hoping that we were the right family and would have more opportunities to get to know them better.

We found out that the baby is due just after Christmas, but her doctor is going to induce her a week early if all is going well.  It was fun seeing how much we have in common with them.  There were a few lulls in conversation, but Hannah came prepared with a few questions for us - which, if I'm being honest {always!  LOL}, caught us off guard a little.  I wish we had had a heads up so we could have better prepared our answers - put a little more thought into how we would say what's in our hearts instead of feeling so tongue-tangled.  Although, we came away feeling good about what we DID ask and how we answered their questions.  There were a few things we wish we had thought to ask, but all in good time, eh?

Two hours later, we took a few pictures and said goodbye.  As we drove away, we had a million feelings and thoughts racing in our minds.  Re-playing conversations, 2nd guessing ourselves, feeling calm, worrying, feeling peaceful, happy with the visit, wishing we could have visited longer and suddenly... exhausted!  We had planned on driving straight home {a 3+ hour drive from lunch} to try and make it home for Madi's soccer practice, but decided to spend the afternoon at Yvette's house instead.  The girls were ready to run wild for a little bit and going for a swim sounded pretty nice {one of the perks of visiting family! LOL}.  About an hour and a half later, we were watching LINGO... when Clint's phone rang.  He didn't recognize the number and it stopped before he could answer it.  Then my phone rang with the same number.  Clint's eyes got wide and he told me to "answer it quick!" 

I am so thankful we found ourselves SO tired after the face to face.  If we had decided to drive straight through, we would have been in a no-service area and would have missed another call that changed our lives, forever.  My nervous "hello?" was greeted with absolutely wonderful news; when they got home, her mom encouraged her to pray about us.  Heavenly Father answered her prayer with the assurance that we are the family for her son.  Holy waterworks!  I burst into tears and wanted to reach through my phone and give her the biggest hug I could manage!  Clint could tell what was going on and got the biggest grin on his face and started dancing with excitement!!  {Super cute, let me tell ya!}  We are beyond thankful to our Father in Heaven for this amazing opportunity.  We have waited so long for a baby brother, and to have this miraculous gift only 3 months away is... indescribable.  We are on a major happiness high right about now and just hope that we can be the best adoptive family for this awesome birth mom and her family.  We haven't had any contact with the birth father or his family yet, but we also hope to be able to meet their needs as well.  We are SO excited to welcome this precious boy into our family.

We know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is a God of miracles.

Madison was our first miracle. 

Maelee was our second miracle.

Baby Brother is our third.

Where were you 10 years ago...?

I was 16 and a Junior in High School.  I turned on the radio expecting music, and all I could get was AP Network News on EVERY station.  At first I was a little annoyed, but then I paid attention to what was being said...

It all seemed surreal, at first I didn't realize how awful things actually were because I didn't have access to a TV and the radio reports were so jumbled in the chaos of the events.  I remember walking into school and seeing the fear on everyone's faces and realizing for the first time that it was more than a plane crashing into a building in New York City.  I started catching more pieces of the puzzle and by afternoon every class had the TVs tuned into CNN and the entire school had an eerie silence as we watched the devastation and wondered how many of our friends and family would be called to fight.  Some were mad and ready to jump into action, others were sick at the thought of what they would be losing in their lives by answering THAT call instead of the call they had always anticipated.

Our imaginations ran wild and we were sure that life as we knew it was over.  How could we possibly pick up the pieces and move on after that kind of destruction?  One of my brothers worked in Newark at the time and could see the smoke across the water.  My uncle worked at the Pentagon and that day had forgotten his security clearance and didn't remember until he was halfway to work.  By the time he had returned home to retrieve it and was on his way again, he turned on the radio to hear that the plane had just crashed into the building he would have been in had he not forgotten.

We had gotten our yearbooks from the previous school year a few days before and I was still trying to hunt down the last few people I wanted signatures from.  One was my friend Jackson who, on September 11th, 2001 wrote, "Life is good."  At the time I appreciated his effort to cheer me up, but later I realized that in those 3 words he had given me hope.  That night I went home and penned the lyrics to a song and the next morning had the opportunity to sit down with my guitar and put it to music.  I titled it "We Won't Forget You", and was amazed to see that become the nation's promise to those who died that day.  I'm not taking credit, I just think it's cool that others were inspired with the same words.

I had the opportunity to travel to NYC and DC the following summer, 9 months after the attacks.  Ground Zero was still a nightmare.  That area of Manhattan was a ghost town.  I cried in silence when I saw the doors to the firehouse covered in memoirs to it's fallen members.  I peeked through a tiny hole in the tarps blocking Ground Zero from the public eye and saw the steel beam cross.

It's been 10 years since then, and my one regret is that our nation seems to have forgotten the unity we felt in the months following 9/11.  My one hope is that my children never have a day when they worry about the future of their country, and whether the call to arms will tear their family and friends from their sides.  I am SO thankful for those who have answered that call and have fought for our freedom and the freedom of others.  I hope we all take a moment this Sunday to remember where we were 10 years ago and to say a prayer for those who lived.

- Tiffany

*****
I can't believe it's been ten years! The morning of the attacks I was serving my mission in Chicago. We had just finished a meeting with our district when I we got a call telling us to stay home until the mission president contacted us. We were told we could watch the coverage at a members home as long as we stayed put. We lived above a member who allowed us to watch with them. I can't explain to you the feelings I had as I watched the 2nd plane crash into the tower over and over. I did not see it when it hit for the first time, I saw the replays of it as they continued to cover the story. My heart ached for those with loved ones inside. I can still see the people who were forced to jump from so high, there was no chance of survival. As the towers fell I was watching it live. The room was quiet. We had tears running down our cheeks. I did not personally know anyone that died that day. I feel for those families who did not know if their loved ones were alive. The fire fighters and police who rushed in to help left families of their own behind. So many American lives were lost! Yet out of the ashes and tragedy, numerous heroic stories also emerged. This attack is my only taste of the emotion that comes from war. I have read plenty of books that tell stories from World War 2. Books do not keep you up at night aching for the strangers you read about, or lead you to your knees for hours at a time. After the dust settled from 911. We saw a different America! One that was united and strong! People caring for others, and caring more for their loved ones. I felt an outpouring of pride to be an American over the next few months. Doors were opened and people allowed us to enter their homes and share with them the peace that the gospel brings. I love America! I love the blessings I enjoy! I want everyone to know how grateful I am for those who fight to protect me and my family. Thank you to the families who have loved ones serving.  I only enjoy the blessing I do because of you! I wish I said thank you more but I'm not always sure how too. So thanks again!
-Clint

School Days

I got to go help with Art Time in Madi's class on Friday and I tell you what, those kids are too stinkin' cute!  I was in charge of painting their hands blue {complete with sound effects as the paint went on}, and then pressing their blue hands onto a paper with a poem on it {they all liked it when I "squish, squish, squish"ed their fingers down to the paper}.

I was pretty impressed at how well behaved most of the kids were, and how sweet too.  They all thought I was pretty funny and I got LOTS of hugs that afternoon!

Madison was the last one to do the craft with me, and as you can see... the water didn't REALLY do a lot to get her clean!! LOL

Madi has made a new friend at school, Carly.  I always hear all these stories about Carly this and Carly that, so I was excited to finally have the chance to meet her.  Cutie-petuties, eh?

As I was leaving, Madi hugged me so hard and asked in such a sad voice why I had to go - made me so thankful that she's not "too cool" to love her Mom in public.  She genuinely wanted me to stay and watch her play with her friends, instead of being like "see ya, Mom!  I'm playing now!"  It's a small thing, but to this Momma it meant the world.

Memoirs of a Kindergartener

As we close in on week 2 of this new shindig called "public schooling", I feel the need to pass along some funny-ha-ha's from Madi's career as a Kindergartener.  Maybe they're only funny to me and Clint, but I bet you'll get a few giggles out of them!!

"So Madi, did you have fun at school today?"  "Yeah!  It was pretty great, I got to teeter-totter with a lot of kids!"  "Oh yeah?  What were their names?"  "Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...  I dunno!"  "Oh, that's ok, you can ask them tomorrow.  I'm sure they were really nice girls, huh?"  "Uh, Mom?  They weren't GIRLS!"  "Oh, no?  You were teeter-tottering with boys, eh?"  "Ye-AH!  I teetered with 3... well, actually with 2 boys.  I didn't teeter with the 3rd boy."  I was totally entertained up to this point, now I'm kinda worried that she had intentionally not played with the 3rd boy or that something happened that maybe would have hurt his feelings...  "Why didn't you take a turn with the 3rd boy, Madi?"  "Be-CAUSE Mom, my teacher blew her whistle and made us come in!  That poor boy just didn't have a chance!"

Oh brother.  That poor boy just didn't have a chance?!?  What on earth?!?  What 5 year old talks like that?!?!?  Sheez-Louise!

*****

Thursday evening she was kinda crusty and she told me {with this totally sad puppy face}, "Mom, I just wish I were in school right now!" and then burst into tears.  Hey, at least she likes it eh?  :O)

*****

The first Friday that she was in school, she went to play at Grandma's house after school for a few hours.  By about 4:30, I found Clint sitting with his chin resting on the window sill of our large front window, staring out with puppy eyes.  "I miss my Madison!" he pouted.  "Oh, it's ok Maelee!"  I teased.  After recovering from his glare that followed and my giggles in return, I suggested he walk over with a snack and go get her.  He perked right up and was almost giddy!  Too cute!  Love that boy!!!

*****

She found a whistle she got from the library summer reading program and has been using it to enforce "rules".  She's extra careful to blow it softly in the house, but Maelee still gets wide eyes every time and says, "Wow.  Loud!"  Madi came up to me on Saturday {after being SO bummed out about not getting to go to school that day} with this HUGE grin on her face and told me she had a great idea - she would save that whistle and use it when she got big and was a teacher.  Then she could blow it to let all the kids know it was time to come in from recess.  :O)  She "practiced" on us all evening, and told us that she hoped "they" picked her to be a teacher when she grew up {we had to explain to her that no one picks you to be something, you get to choose and then go to school for it}.  Madi LOVES her teacher and wants to be "the best teacher just like my teacher!" when she grows up.

*****

Maelee dropped a flashlight on Madi's toe Saturday night and it sliced the skin open, but then folded back onto itself and bruised up really good {really bad?  What is the better word to use there...?}.  A few hours and minor hysterics later, I overheard Madi say, "Huh!  My toe feels like it's beeping!"  A child's logic is so simple, I love it!  Of course it felt like it was beeping, it was pulsing!

*****

I have a proud Mommy moment here, Madi came home today and told me that she was the first kid in her class to earn 5 "Caught Being Good" certificates in one day and get a prize!  She said that 2 of her friends in the class earned them today too.  SO PROUD OF HER!!  I love that she tries her hardest to be the big helper and to listen and be a good girl at school.  It gives me hope that maybe we haven't made TOO many mistakes in the last 5 years!  LOL

*****

So, while Madi is in school, Maelee and I have been having fun doing our own "schooling".  We've been working on colors and shapes so far, and when we went for a walk the other morning I thought it would be a great time to practice...  "What color is the ditch water, Maelee?"  "Bown!"  "Yay!  It IS brown!  Good girl!"  Oh, she's so smart I'm thinking...  "Ok, Maelee what color is the sky?"  "Ummm, this."  "This?"  "Yeah.  This."  I tell her it's blue and we move on.  "What color is the ditch water, babe?"  "Bown!"  Ok, she's still a genius as far as I'm concerned.  "What color is the grass?"  "Bown!"  Oh dear.  Don't let Clint hear that!!!  :O)

*****

So, the latest game the girls have come up with was taken from their latest fave movie, Bolt.  One will be Penny and lay on the ground and start coughing, calling for Bolt.  Then Bolt, the other curly sue, will come bounding over barking and "save" Penny.  They go around for a minute, then Penny falls down.  Bolt runs to her side and whimpers to which Penny responds, "It's ok, Bolt.  Go out, it's ok.  You're my good boy.  I love you." and coughs a few more times.  Then they switch places after Bolt super barks and falls at Penny's side.  It's quite comical to see them act it out so close to the movie and to hear Maelee's cough and heroic speech.  Ha ha, cute girls!

This is Maelee's "Penny"  :O)

It's so strange to have the house so quiet during the day, and if I let myself think about the fact that Madi's gone for MOST of the day... I get totally bummed out and misty-eyed. Maelee can't WAIT for the day when SHE gets to be big like Madison and go to school too, boy I know I sure can! :O)

Madi, why are you growing up?

Today was the first day of the rest of my young daughter's life.

Today she barely remembered to kiss me goodbye before running off to play with her friends.

Today she was dressed head to toe in new clothes that make her feel like a pretty princess, including a special bracelet that her boohoo Mom made for her {yes, I'm a boohoo Mom!!!}

Today everything changes.

Today... was Madison's first day of Kindergarten.

We did all the prep work, you know... got new clothes,

new shoes,

goodies to take in her new lunch box and some other random accessories,

and washed up her backpack from pre-school. I also sewed some flowers on it to "make it new" which she loves!

We did the meet and greet the Teacher last night and Madi was too funny.  She had been looking forward to finally meeting her and seeing her classroom for weeks now, but as soon as we got to the school and she saw the playground... it was all over.  Forget why we were there, she was CERTAIN she needed to test out that playground!  We went into her classroom and you could totally tell she was humoring us until she could make a break for those fun toys.  She feigned interest for my benefit for a few minutes and then sweetly asked a few times if she could go outside to play, cute kid.  Clint took her out while I stayed to ask her teacher a few questions and get our info packet.

This morning she was so... chill.  We had purple heart pancakes and juice for breakfast, got ready, did our chores and by 7 only needed to do hair and brush teeth!  I was pretty impressed, honestly!  I had all these great ideas about fun up-dos for her and she would have none of it today.  She wanted it DOWN, but I HAVE to do something with the front so it's not in her eyes...  Hence the braid, it's cute - maybe not as fancy as I had in mind for her first day of school {tomorrow I will triumph!!!  LOL}.  She started to color and I reminded her that she still needed to brush her teeth...  Well, coloring is much more fun than brushing those teeth monsters away, so...  We still had plenty of time so I really didn't push her, but after I was ready to go I reminded her that the sooner we got to school, the longer she would have to play on the playground with the other kids.

"WHAT?!?  How long do I have?"

"About 20 minutes."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!?  I NEED TO BRUSH MY TEETH!!  AAAAAAGH!"

Clean, shiny teeth and a few minutes later, we were out in the front yard to take her first day of school pictures.

"MOM!!!  Hurry!  You're wasting my play time!"  Oh, the irony!  Ha ha

We pulled up and I kid you not, she hopped out and made a dash for the playground - looked back once to make sure I was coming and then took off again.  Once she made it to the playground, she was good.  No tears, no tender goodbyes, no hug, no... nothing.  Just, off to play.  She found a friend from church, Lilly, and they ran around giggling.  At one point, they decided to try the teeter-totter.  They waited their turn and then climbed on, with grins spread from ear to ear.  Well, these girls weigh about the same and so the seesaw stayed level.  Evidently neither of them know how it's supposed to work because you could literally see their delighted smiles fade as they wondered why they weren't moving like the other kids.  "This isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be!" "Yeah, let's go play somewhere else!!"  I laughed so hard and made a mental note to teach Madi how to teeter totter proper-like.  :O)

When it was time to come inside, they lined up like ducks behind their teachers and waddled to their classrooms.  I gave Madi one last "Yay!  Good luck!  Love you!!!" and she looked at me like "Oh, yeah!  Hey Mom!!  Forgot you were here!  See ya!"  She walked off, arms folded, determined to be the best behaved kid in her class and never looked back.  Um... ok...?  What just happened?!?  :O)  All jokes aside, I'm so proud of her and so excited that she felt so confident and comfortable that she didn't NEED me to hold her hand and walk her through the morning.  I teared up, but managed to keep my emotions in check; however, I DID have a knot in the pit of my stomach for most of the morning.  LOL

Maelee and I had a great morning together.  We went over her colors and shapes.  She did GREAT and then we played kitchen for a while.  It was a lot of fun and her excitement to have me all to herself was SO cute to see, she was just about glowing!  She kept telling me "I love you, Mom!", DEFINITE silver lining!!!!!

I'll be honest, it drove me crazy to not know what was going on with Madi.  I wanted to call and check on her, but was a good girl and refrained.  She rode the bus home and got off bursting with stories about her day.  They made a pirate eye patch and hat, found a lizard at recess that climbed all over her shirt and then found it's way under her shirt {pervy lizard!!} which made her scream and freak out - her teacher came over and told all the kids that lizards bite {so they won't keep catching them} and held it by the tail as she took it away.  I can totally see the whole scene in my head and it makes me giggle.  Her only 2 complaints of the day were that she had to WAIT to get the string for her pirate eye patch {ha ha}, and that that was the only craft they did today.  I guess if THAT's her list of "not-so-fun", Kindergarten Day 1 can be counted as a success!  She came home with a "caught being good" certificate and said it was because she was such a good listener and obeyed her teacher.

I'm SUPER excited for this new phase.  I'm sad to say goodbye to where we HAVE been, and as much as I don't necessarily WANT Madi to be gone ALL DAY, I know school will be good for her.  I'm looking forward to her having a structured learning schedule Monday-Friday, and for her to have the fun experiences that I can remember enjoying in elementary school.  I'm nervous for her to be exposed to all the crap that's in school, and hope that she knows enough about listening to the Spirit and choosing the right to keep herself safe when I'm not there.

I have my worries and fears, but I also have comfort, confidence and excitement.  Take a deep breath, take it a day at a time and be happy that Madi wants to go back tomorrow!!

Christmas

Clint says I'm crazy.  But last month I had a fun moment that made me realize something I didn't really know before.

You know all the hoopla about "Christmas in July"?  I honestly thought it was all a commercial thing to get you to start spending money NOW on Holiday Cheer.  Lo and behold, I have discovered that Christmas in July is, in point of fact, a natural desire.  How else can you explain my 5 year-old singing Christmas songs, begging to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Year Without A Santa Claus", and bugging over and over to make snowflakes to hang in our bay window?  There's no way that she could read my inbox and know that Better Homes and Gardens has been sending me Christmas Craft ideas, nor could she really understand the random advertisements on the sidebars of websites...  ESPECIALLY since she only is allowed to get on starfall.com and fancynancyworld.com. 

SO... I decided to follow her lead and actually opened one of those pesky emails from BHG, and you know what?  I'm suddenly SO excited for Christmas!  I've started my list, and am hoping to have the bulk of my projects and crafts finished by the end of September.  I SO want to be finished with Christmas prep by December 1st, so that we can ENJOY the Holidays without all the stress.  I've done it in the past {once, in 2008} so I know it IS possible!  I'm doing a 1/2 homemade Christmas, and I'm SUPER stoked for what I have up my sleeve for this year. 

Am I totally nuts?  Yeah, probably.  Am I totally excited?  You BET!!!!!  Anyone care to join me??

Holy Crap. She's TWO!!

What to do?!?  What to do?!?  My little tiny baby's 2!!!!

Ok, that was cheesy, I know.  But  I reserve the right to be a cornball every so often because I'm the Mom and these girls growing up on me makes me cry.  :O)

I know this is late in coming, and I do apologize.  We have had a BUSY summer!  Lots of fun, but busy busy!

We spent the weekend with my fam, so it was a little harder to make it big, but I did my best.  Miss Maelee woke up bright and early {5:20}, not because she was excited for her birthday, but because she was sleeping in the same room as Mommy, Daddy and Madi and WHO can sleep when there are THREE sleeping bodies to jump and climb on?!?  Clint and Mads were beat from swimming for hours on end at my brother's the day before, so the birthday girl and I ventured downstairs {don't assume, dear reader, that Maelee wasn't beat tired herself... she was pretty cranky but VERY determined to stay awake!!}.

She didn't really "get" that the decorations were for her, and since we weren't in our own home, I couldn't really set the table and do a big breakfast.  Not that Yvette would have minded, but I had NO CLUE if they had plans for breakfast or when anyone else was going to get up and if they would be joining us...  So I decided to play it safe and play it by ear.  We ended up sharing a few bowls of cereal {which she loved} and watching whatever cartoons we could find on TV.

Around 8, life started to stir 'round their house and we were soon joined by Madi and Clint.  When they came down I let Maelee open her present from Clint and I.  Now, I have to interject a story here:  I wanted to get her a Baby All Gone doll, but all the little "brown" babies SPOKE SPANISH!!!  Every SINGLE ONE!!  I was SO shocked that Hasbro would limit their "brown skinned" customer base to Hispanic, Spanish speaking girls.  I ended up buying the Caucasian doll, but was really bummed out that I was giving my Hawaiian daughter a blond hair, blue eye, pasty skinned baby.  Not that SHE cares at this point in her life, but I know that it's important for her to have babies that look like her and that she WILL care someday.  So I emailed Hasbro, asking if there was any way to change the language the doll was programmed in to English.  I found out that all you have to do is press and hold down the doll's bracelet for 3-4 seconds until she says, "Hi, Mommy!".  Yay for that, eh?  Madi was mooning over the Caucasian doll, so I let her buy it from me with her chore/birthday money {now they each have their own doll and don't fight over it!  Genius!!!}.  Back to Wal-Mart to test out the bracelet idea.  Thankfully, it worked.  I then noticed that all the pasty dolls had been sold, and NOT ONE of the others had...  Then, I had an idea...  I nonchalantly pressed the bracelet on every "brown" baby {well, except one}, re-programming the dolls to speak English.  After all, as I said in my email to Hasbro, "not everyone with darker skin speaks Spanish!"  Now, you may think that was a little on the evil side of things to do.  You might be right!  But I can guarantee that those dolls will sell a LOT easier now!!!  {Honest opinion: they should have had the bracelet thing ON THE BOX.  Or at least have mentioned that it can switch between languages.}  ANYway, I thought I was pretty funny!  :O)

So, back to Miss Maelee K's big birthday!!  She was SO excited when she saw that doll!  She picked it up, box and all, and started rocking it, making little "Mommy" noises at it.  When she realized it could talk... boy howdy!  I SO wish I had a movie of that!  It said, "Hi, Mommy!" and her eyes about popped out of her head.  Then it told her that it was hungry and she started FREAKING out!  "MOOOOOOOOOM!!  Beebee's hungry!  Beebee want food!  Need food, Mom!!  Help!!"  I explained to her through my giggles that she doesn't eat real food, and showed her the play food it came with.  She got all excited and started "feeding" her baby some bananas.  Then the baby told her it was thirsty and wanted some juice.  "MOOOOOOOOM!!  Beebee's firshty!!  Want joooce, Mom!"  After she figured out the routine and got a few burps out of her new beebee {Maelee busted up laughing when the baby burped}, she was all grins and felt like the best Mommy ever.

We had lunch at my sister Tawnya's house, and then back to Yvette's for naps, cake-baking and game time while the boys took a trek to about 50 different camping/hiking/backpacking stores {and Clint didn't spend a dime!  SO impressed here!!}.  We jumped back in the pool that afternoon and had dinner around 6.  Maelee's Birth Mom Kiki, Birth Grandma Mitch and cousin Kapuahi {Madi's age} came for the party too.  It was SO fun!  Very laid back, and very relaxing.  After dinner, cake and ice cream, we washed up and opened presents.

Maelee was such a HOOT to watch!  Every new present was, "Oh!  Coooool!" and "WOOOOOW!" and "Yay!"  LOVED IT!  Madi and Kapuahi were VERY good sports and let Maelee do... MOST of the un-wrapping! LOL

She got some GREAT gifts: a book that has a hand puppet attached that you use to basically kiss the reader all over throughout the story {thank you Aaryn, Manon and Vespa!!}, Baby Tiana from Princess and the Frog {from Madi}, Dora books {aunt Yvette}, clothes from Aunt Tawnya and the coolest scrapbook from Kiki and her family.  They took the time to make Maelee a scrapbook full of pictures of their family, explaining who each person is and how they are related.  SO AWESOME!!  We will SO treasure it!  It's absolutely priceless and I'm SO grateful they did that for her.  They also gave her some money and a lei made of flower-shaped pool noodles.  So creative!!

She had SUCH a good birthday!  We got home and Russell and Jonnet gave her a family pool pass for the summer!  WOOHOO!!!  Gotta love the presents she can share, eh?  LOL

I canNOT believe she is two years old.  TWO YEARS ALREADY!!  I'm in one of those paradox mindsets where part of me feels like we JUST found out we had been chosen by Kiki to adopt her, and that everything has been this whirlwind of amazing events.  But then there's the other part that feels that it's been forever since it all happened.  That part of me is shocked that it's only been 2 years because I feel like... scratch that... I KNOW Kiki and her family have been connected to us for MUCH longer than a mere 2 years.  It seems too short a time for all we've experienced and for everything we've learned.

So, Happy Birthday Baby...

I can't believe you changed our lives by making us a family of 4 TWO YEARS AGO!  You were a blessing then and your sweet spirit continues to touch our hearts every single day.  I am SO proud of the amazing, beautiful little girl you've become, the spunky and sensitive little sister, the clever problem solver, tag-along, willing-to-do-anything-we're-doing sweetie and world's greatest heart-melter.  Maelee, I LOVE being your Mom.  Thank you for being my daughter and teaching me what it means to love unconditionally.  I'm excited for the next 2 years, because it means we get to fall more in love with you!!!  Bring 'em on!!