Easter pictures

Family picture

Ethan

Logan

Christian

Dani, Brain , & Palmer

My sister in her comfy clothes.

Happy Easter!

He knows....

The conversation that I have been dreading for the past couple of years happened today. I had hoped that it would wait until after Easter but that didn't happen. I knew that this question has been coming for a while now because he would start to question me about it but would end the conversation when he was close to an answer as if he wasn't ready to know for sure. Today he must have been ready to hear the answer because he asked me in a serious voice with a "I really want to know the truth" tone.

Ethan:"Mom, is the Easter Bunny real?"

Me: "Are you ready to hear the answer no matter what it may be?"

Ethan: "Yes"

Me: "No. He is not real but since you are old enough to know the truth you are also old enough to keep it to yourself and allow others to believe."

Ethan: "I know it is you and Dad."

Ethan: "Does this mean the Tooth Fairy isn't real either?"

Me: "No."

I felt good about the conversation even though I am somewhat sad that he knows the truth. It was time and he handled it well. We have always taught our children that the Easter Bunny and Santa are not what we are to focus on but instead on the birth and resurrection of Jesus. Still we allow them to believe in this bit of magic that is part of childhood. Hopefully I have a few more years before I need to have this conversation again.

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When....

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth. (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

-Author unknown

Tidbits from the past week or so

The blog police(you know who you are!) pointed out to me yesterday that it has been a couple weeks since I updated my blog. So here is a quick recap of what we have been up to the past couple of weeks.

~Two Saturdays ago we had one of the worst snowstorms I can remember! I think we ended up with 15inches of snow! We usually do not shovel the driveway unless it is difficult to get up and down (hey I am a patient person in that respect!) but the snow definitely required shoveling. Dan had to work over the weekend so yours truly ended up shoveling. I also ended up on the couch most of Sunday suffering from a backache. I heard on the news the average weight of a shovel full of snow is 10lbs and I can't tell you how many 10lbs I shoveled! I pray this is the last major snowstorm of the winter. After all spring starts tommorow! Of course that means absolutely zip, zero, nada here!

~The boys are all signed up for spring soccer! Just the word "spring" gets me excited! Who cares if for the first few games I will probably be huddled underneath a blanket! I can't wait to see the boys play again!

~Dan has a staph infection in his foot, I had to pick Ethan up from school today because of a bad headache, and oh yeah the dog has thrown up three times today!

~Last night we went to mother and son bingo night at the school. We had dinner and the boys played bingo. They had a drawing for 5 nice gift baskets for the moms. No I didn't win but the boys won bingo a couple times a piece. It was fun night!

~My sister and Brain are coming in this weekend for Easter! They are bringing their new little puppy Palmer with them. We are going to go to Powerflex on Saturday morning. Then we will color eggs with the boys on Saturday night.

~In one month we will be having my sister's bridal shower at a local Italian restaurant. This is our first big event leading up to the big day! Some of our out of town family is coming in for the shower so I am really looking forward to it!

There you have it in a nutshell. Nothing too exciting but I needed to post. Now I need to go stir my chicken tortilla soup for dinner!

Powerflex class

I tried a new class today at the gym called Powerflex. I am the type of girl who has never really been interested in the classes that the gym offers. I prefer to workout on my own schedule and do my own thing. My friend Bev recently tried this class and really liked it so I thought I would give it a try. I am use to weight training so I hoped I would be up to the challenge! Powerflex is a weight training class that you use a different variety of weights. We used dumbbells, the barbell(I have never used this before so it was somewhat awkward), and a ball. Most of the work required the barbell and I felt a little unsteady today being new to it. I only used 10 lbs weights on it today until I can get a good feel for it. However I am always up for a good challenge when it comes to working out! I feel I got a decent workout in but next time I need to adjust the weights a little more. We did lunges, squats, ab work, triceps, biceps, shoulder presses, push ups, you name it we did it! This class is taught on different days of the week by three different instrustors and I think we got the easiest one. I might try to go on Saturday where rumor has it that this particular instrustor kicks your butt!

Kalahari weekend!

This past weekend we went to Kalahari with my parents. Kalahari is the largest indoor waterpark in the country! The waterpark is amazing with so much to do! There is a wave pool, a large water play area for kids, several smaller water play areas for toddlers (something to look forward to with Mia), and many different and fun water slides. There are also several restaurants, an ice cream station, and a candy station. There is a huge arcade with a play area for kids. The fun goes on and on all weekend!

I did experience one of the most frightening moments of my parenting ever this weekend. Dan and the boys were going down a slide that you go down on your stomach on a mat. Basically four people race each other down the slide so they all went together. My parents and I stood at the end of the slide waiting for them. First comes Christian, then Ethan, and then Dan. I asked Dan as he got off the slide "where is Logan?" He said, "he went down before me because I gave him a push down and then got on my mat and went." All of the sudden I see Logan's mat come down without him on it. I immediately went into a panic and ran to the lifeguard at the end of the ride and told her "my son was suppose to be on that mat that just came down and he isn't!" She got on her walkie talkie and was asking the person at the top of the ride "where is the little boy that was suppose to be on this slide? His mat just came down but he didn't." While all this is going on my mom and Dan are running up the stairs to the top of the ride to find out what happened. I cannot explain the shear panic I felt thinking that somehow he was stuck up in the tube and scared to death. I felt so helpless knowing that there was no way for me to get to him. Finally the lifeguard said "They are bringing him down. He never made it down the ride because he lost his mat." The entire incident probably lasted 2-3 minutes but it felt like more like 15! As soon as I saw him coming down the stairs I ran over to him and hugged him both of us crying. Dan said he must have pushed him and then got on his mat and went down and the lifeguard saw he lost his mat and pulled him off the ride. Logan said when he lost his mat the lifeguard grabbed him by his ankles so he wouldn't go down. There must be some reason they wouldn't let him go down without a mat. All I know is I am so thankful that the worse didn't happen and that he was okay. I don't recall another moment in my parenting when I was more panicked. I think it took 10 years off my life!

Despite that incident we had fun weekend and I look forward to Kalahari every year (even though we have only been twice!) It is the perfect winter getaway!