See this movie!

For those of us who question everything, and for those of us who silently go along with the majority. Please, click the photo to go to the movie site and then click trailer. Whether you agree or not, I think you will find it interesting!

Pat my own back

I have always wanted a photo in the title of our blog but I couldn't figure it out. What do you think?? I tried to find a photo w/either none of us in it or all of us in it. This was the best I could do...

So much to write about...

Today, I don't even know where to start! I've got some good pics, so maybe I'll start w/them. Last week Mo had his first swimming class! Lots of fun...in the second one you can't even see him - he's underwater. He's doing pretty good with it!

The other pic is from last Friday morning. A bunch of us parents and kids usually get together for some fun at various places. Mo and Samuelito were both in a good mood! Buddies!!Finally, here's a picture of Moses helping me cook. Now that's he's getting older, he wants to do everything we do. Dave and I are like, "Yeah, here kid, here's your job list!!" Actually he really can be helpful unloading the dishwasher and stuff. Anyway - Dave and I both agreed Mo needs a little more structure during the day, so we've created a little schedule. He still has plenty of free play, but now we work on numbers and letters a little, we get music and gym time and he helps me with cooking and cleaning. I'll probably post a copy of that schedule next time, so you can all keep me honest! Obviously, he's two and I'm not really a restrictive parent, so I'm not following it to the minute or anything. But we've been having fun cooking together and Sweatin' to the Oldies for gym time! He loves that tape - I brought it out as a joke, of course, but they have a live band and he really digs Richard's enthusiasm!
FOSTER CARE NEWS - paper work is 90% complete. We need to type our personal info, make a fire escape plan and install smoke detectors. There's some discrepancy about whether or not the basement stairs need a hand rail. At any rate, we hope to be setting up an interview this week. YAY!!!

Diaper challenge Days 1-3

We've learned a lot in 3 days.
1) Mo's not interested in sitting on the potty anymore. No, he won't even accept bribes.
2) The pull-ups are too big.
3) "I have to go potty" actually translates to "I just went potty".
4) Maybe we're not ready for this?
So for now, we're still in diapers. We think we've solved the night time wetting with the overnight diapers, which at first appeared too big, but seem to actually be okay. We'll still ask and make a big deal if he goes, but...I don't know. I don't want to push him. That's partly a lie, I do - b/c I'm sick of paying for paper diapers and washing cloth ones! The washing wouldn't be so bad if the sun came out once in a while. I just washed a load of them yesterday. I was sitting in the LR and I thought, "What is this bright light coming in my window??" The sun! Quick - wash something and hang it outside!! It was the best. I'm not sure why I love hanging wash so much. I guess it makes me think of my mom and how I loved to see her do that. I was going to say I loved to do it with her, but I don't think I helped much. I remember talking to her while she hung stuff up, but...it's still a good memory, I guess =) Do you have any weird things like that? Stuff you like to do and you don't know why...? Or is it just me? Ha! Don't answer that!

Monday = No diapers

We are out of the 'good' diapers and down to a few of the cheap ones. So Monday is the official kick off to potty training! Do I sound excited? Should I take that exclamation mark away? I would be excited if there was, say, a guarantee that it would happen in 48 hours. But there's not. So I'm going to try the underwear and plastic pants thing. And I'll try to put him on the toilet often. But lately he's been refusing. So that's not good. He has been asking us to change him if he just has potty though, so if it's bothering him, that's good, right? I'll keep you posted!

FINALLY FRIDAY

It's been a tough week for me...I haven't been getting much sleep and just stressing about stuff. I still haven't gotten back into the groove after Christmas. With that said, I thought today was going to be awful...but it wasn't! Moses and I met up with the parents group at the art museum and did some projects in the kids' area. It was so much fun and the kids were really good! Mo's buddy (recently adopted from Russia) was there, and we had a couple of good laughs working on the bubble machine. Then a bunch of the kids were in the play house and I sang them a lullaby - they started fake snoring - too cute! I felt so blessed and uplifted by my friends and they probably didn't even know it. The fact that we have people here who are family to my son is beyond what I could have asked for. Then we went out to lunch w/another family and both kids were well behaved. It wasn't too messy, they weren't too loud and they ATE what was served! Ok, it was pizza, but hey we're counting that. I got home, got Mo to bed really easy! I guess he was wiped. I was able to clean a little and the begin preparing dinner. I made chicken dinner for us, our adopted daughter Beatrice and another family. It seemed people liked the chicken =) and the boys played relatively well together. We enjoyed the conversation and laughed at the boys as they played toy guitars and sang. All throughout the day, I kept having moments where I felt I was happy. Not even tired, just happy! I am so grateful for my friends...so to all of you, even those that I am not in regular contact w/, please know how much I appreciate you being in my life! Love, Mel

Polar Bear Plunge

It's a BEAR!!!!

Not just any bear, a polar bear! Just wanted to brag that Dave's famous! This is the 2nd time he's been photographed by the Sheboygan Press during the Plunge! His brother Carl took the dip too...you can see them both in the Press video (Dave appears around 50 seconds and Carl, blue swim trunks, is there around 2 minutes.). Happy New Year to everyone and we hope you had a good time over the holidays!