I am sorry...I am too lazy tonight

Here is a picture of Bug and her Easter basket that was sent to her by Grandma and Grandpa H. She loves her Horton, and especially her Horton book. Thanks Grandma Kris and Grandpa Mick!!

I am wiped out...not sure why, but I am. The three of us went to a small kids museum (locally) this morning. DH says it should be called "the real nice play area...". Whatever--all that matters is that Bug loved it, and we had a fun time just watching her. This afternoon, we went to a friend of Bugs' birthday party. We had dinner, cake and watched him open presents. Bug had a good time playing, and the sloppy joes were Oh, soooo good!!

Adoption update: Not much really. I am working on a online class in lieu of our last class I am missing in April, because Bug and I are going to "the land of corn" to visit some family. DH will be attending the class, and I will attend the same class in October (because our social worker says it is the best class out of any of them-I guess the majority of the class is a panel of adoptees, adoptive parents, and birthparents telling their stories and "bringing home" the importance of the "adoption triad"--birthparents, adoptive parents, and child.) But because we may have placement before October, we have to be 100% completed with our education requirements. We did get a quarterly report from our sw with numbers of "opportunities" for profile showing. It is interesting, and I can't say too much, as it in confidential, but there was only one "opportunity" in March (when our profile was shown). Because we weren't approved till the end of February, we know that we have only been shown once to the birthmother in March. Anyway...It was good to get the report, and I will definitly look forward to getting the next one, but DH says..."oh good...one more thing for you to obsess about!!" In a way, I agree with him....but for the most part I think I am being good, and just keep reminding myself that it is only in God's time.

On that note, becuase my feet are draggin', I am going to be lazy on the blog today, and just leave you with a boatload of pictures from the recent week--Enjoy!!

Easter Egg Hunt--I actually had to dress her up to get some pictures--Bug and Daddy stayed home from church because Bug was recovering from two days of the "back door trots". Lovely, huh??

Look what the Easter Bunny left me!!! The ribbon is more fun that the gifts!! A new dress Mommy got me at the "after Easter" sales--I was crabby--this is the best picture Mommy could get!
Being a goof-ball!!!
This is what your hair looks like after you have had it up in pigtails all day!! At the kids musuem this morning...she probably climbed up and slid down this slide about 20 times! I was surprised she didn't start putting wear marks on the slide!! She would say.."Wheeeeee" before she was even going down the slide! It was so cute... Again, with the slide...
Our little princess
I took this picture to show how high up this was that Bug was climbing all by herself--anything to get to the slide!! I was a little nervous at first, but after awhile she was a pro! This slide was a big pirate ship. Very cool...That is all for now...I must get going and finish my online class, and go to bed. More later...

2 out of 96...!

Here is our Bug in her new pigtails. She finally has enough hair in the back and on the sides, to put all of it up in pigtails, not just the front. Well, the 3-6 inches that was the forecast, has now turned to 9-16 inches. I am guessing right now, that we have about 5 inches already, and it is going to continue late into tonight, with blowing and drifting. This snow is so heavy and wet...we will probably have to do a couple of rounds on the driveway and sidewalks. DH will be coming home by lunch today--if he doesn't he may be sleeping overnight at the office.

So, this Easter season I thought I would make Jell-O Egg Jigglers, since Bug likes jello. I have 4 egg molds that I have had for approximately 9 years. I tried it a couple of years with no problem. This year, not so much. I ended up doing two batches of jigglers, 8 different boxes of jello, and this is what I ended up with: Two berry flavored eggs. I only got two flippin' eggs out of 96 that turned out!! I gave up. The first batch, I added cold water, when I shouldn't have (I thought I remembered the recipe correctly...), and the second batch I failed to grease the inside of the molds enough, which caused this: After getting the two eggs to turn out, I thought "well, I will let Bug have them.." I give her a bite, and what does she do?? You guessed it...she spit it out. All that work for a spit out bite of berry jello on the kitchen floor...

This morning we went out to "enjoy" one last (hopefully) snowday. Bug didn't exactly enjoy the sledding like she did in previous outings....I think she is sick of the snow too. Here is a picture of her--it doesn't look like she is enjoying herself too much, does it?? Looks like she is praying for the snow to stop!! After she was done in the snow, she went into the garage (because she was sick of being pelted by snow..) while I (stupidly) started to shovel (for exercise, err because I am crazy). I shoveled for about two minutes, then checked on her and this is what I saw: I think she is officially ready for spring/summer. She was trying to climb into her bicycle seat (that normally is on the back of DH's bicycle). I think she thought she was going for a ride. Not for quite awhile now, sweetcheeks! She has the same unhappy look as she did when she was in her sled! I know what you are feeling like Bug...summer can't come fast enough!

Happy Easter to everyone, drive safely if you are travelling, and Love to all!

The True Meaning of Easter

I am posting this picture (I may have posted in previous blog entries) because it is cute, and well....it reminds me of warm weather. The forecast is calling for 3-6 inches of snow beginning tonight after midnight, and continuing till tomorrow night. We may be hiding eggs in the snow on Sunday....CRAZINESS!!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Uncle Matt!! We are sorry that Chloe (er Mommy) is late getting your birthday card out in the mail. Wait! My calendar says your birthday isn't till the 29th of March!! Whew!! (wiping the sweat from my brow..) We still have a few days then!

Bug has learned some new things recently:

1) She can successfully use doorknobs. We found this out over the weekend, when Grammy and Grandpa were here. We thought she was in bed, and I was on my way to check up on her, and she was standing at the top of the stairs, beaming a huge smile at me. Success! Before she was back asleep, there was a "safety" doorknob cover put on the inside of her door...

2) She has learned to "Hop" (like the Easter Bunny). The only problem--she likes to do it off the bottom step. She has only cracked her lip once...

3) Just today, she learned how to unscrew her sipee cup (and I tighten them pretty well--in the past, even DH has commented.."is it really necessary to tighten the lids so tight??" I guess so.) Yes, she choose to learn to do this on a day that I was showering, as she had her Eureka! moment. I think this would be the time to transition to a regular cup....what do you think?! There were some puddles of milk, along with some yellow, blue and green gunk. It took me a bit to figure out, but that would be a few Lucky Charms marshmallows, mixed with milk. Almost made me gag...

4) She has learned to shake a Easter egg before bothering to open it to check for a treat. If the egg makes no sound, she drops it and looks for more eggs...Smart girl.

Do you know it has been a month of waiting already?? It doesn't feel like it...which I guess is a good thing. While my personality tends to obsess about stuff, weirdly, I don't obsess about when we will get "The Call". We just pray about it daily, and I just have this peace about it--I can't explain.

We will be heading to church tonight, tomorrow night, and of course on Sunday. This is my favorite holiday...it humbles me to be reminded of what Easter really means...He gave His life for us, and because He rose again, we have the hope of eternal life.Very simple. What more can we ask for?

Stroller with Steroids....

Here is our Bug working on her egg hunt that Grammy and Grandpa did for her while they were visiting this weekend. This is the best picture I could get of her--she refused to keep the ears on! Thanks a huge bunch Grammy and Grandpa for coming and helping us this weekend. They watched Bug for six hours on Saturday, so we could attend another mandatory adoption class. We really appreciated it!

Well, Bug had been in a "phase" recently. This "phase" included fighting naps and bedtime by screaming for two hours. It also included waking up multiple times during the night crying. Lovely. Luckily, this so-called "phase" has officially ended. I think the "phase" was really her last two teeth cutting through. You'd think I would have figured that out by now, seein' as though all her teeth are in now!! (duh, mommy!) O-well, we all made it through. Although, tonight she has started with a (almost) 102 degree fever and bad diarrhea. Again, I am hoping it is the teeth, but am skeptical. We are just hoping it isn't another influenza strain.

We went out today and purchased our double stroller (hopefully to be in use very soon!). Bug helped me assemble it--Hey, whatever can keep her busy for 30 minutes!! She proceeded to crawl all over it, like it was a jungle gym. Again, whatever can keep her busy, is fine by me! Daddy came home from work, and called it the "Stroller with Steroids". Nice.

Tonight we dyed eggs in preparation for Easter. Bug had a fun time.She loved dropping the eggs in the colored cups, and then fishing them out with the spoon. It was so cute. Here are some pictures of our weekend, and our Easter preparations:

Bug with Grammy

Daddy with the bunny ears on

Bug found another egg!!

Breakfast with Grandpa

Bug dying Easter eggs
Our Easter eggs...(notice the "Happy St. Pat's Day" egg)
I am off to bed now...must hit the sack early, as I have a feeling I may be up with Bug tonight. Will write more later this week...

Our profile was shown...

Here is a picture I took of my two beach bums on our last day in Florida last week. DH is videotaping me taking the picture...I love the waves in the background.

Adoption Update: I just got an email from our social worker, that our profile was shown recently, and the birthparents chose a family, and was meeting with that family today. I have no idea if we were in the "running" or not. Am I disappointed?? Of course, only because we want another child so badly. It does feel weird though, that we have come so far in such a short amount of time. I was sort of shocked to hear that we have been presented to a birthmom/parents already. I am reminded of the sermon on Sunday...The pastor was talking about how our timing isn't always God's timing. I learned to have patience while waiting to be blessed with our Bug, but this waiting is a little different. Needless to say, I felt as though the sermon was meant for me. What I know for sure--There is a baby out there especially for us. It may be next week, or next year, but that baby is out there, in God's plan and His own timing...

Today Bug and I went swimming at the indoor water park. I am amazed at how much energy our Bug has!! She was going strong after two and a half hours. I actually had to remove her from the pool, because "Mommy and Me" time was over! She wasn't too happy with me, but I guess that is life. I was wiped out, and could barely move. I literally could not keep my eyes open...

Baby news--My best friend is expecting a baby in October. We are so excited for her. This is #2 for her and her husband, and we couldn't be more happy for them. Please pray for Shel and the baby...

Home again...

Well, we are back home. Unfortunately, we came home to single digit temperatures, down from 75-82 degree, mostly sunny weather. What a shock to the system! This is a picture of Bug on the plane before we took off to Florida. She slept over half of the way to Florida--we weren't so lucky on the way home. Has anyone ever seen "Bill Cosby Himself"?? Remember the skit about "Jeffrey"? Yes, Bug cried/fussed alot of the way home--because she was so overtired. Luckily, there was no one sitting in the seats right in front of us.

We had a wonderful time--plenty of fun family time. First we visited with DH's grandparents for three days. From there we went to Tampa, and stayed with our friends, Amanda and Randy. We stayed with them for four days--thanks for putting up with us guys! You were great hosts! While there, we went to the Florida Aquarium, Fort DeSoto Beach (best kept secret in FL!!), Magic Kingdom, and just hung out and relaxed. We then went to a hotel for a day just have some time to ourselves, and mostly because Mommy wanted to sit on the beach. We had planned on going to a pre-season Twins vs Tampa Bay baseball game, but the weather was bad, and later we found out it was rained out. We learned our lesson this year, and we will be staying on the beach much longer than one day, next year. I missed getting to see sunsets/sunrises...that is my idea of vacationing. How awesome is a beautiful sunset? Life can't get much better than that...

A couple of funny vacation stories: 1) Bug absolutely loved the rides at Magic Kingdom. After we were done with each ride (that she could go on), we would tell her "all done". Her bottom lip would come out, and she would proceed to cry...it was so cute. 2) While waiting in line for the carousel, Mommy feels a warm "puddle" growing on her shirt...somehow (I still can't figure it out...) Bug managed to pee out of the side of her diaper onto my shirt. Can you believe her clothes were completely dry?!?! Luckily, the mom part of my brain decided to bring a spare shirt that day (although the peed on shirt was yellow, so once dried, probably unnoticable!) 3)On the way home on the plane we were on a flight where they give you two warm chocolate chip cookies. (Midwest Airlines Rocks!!) We told Bug she would get a cookie. (her word for cookie is "doe-gee") As soon as the flight attendant appeared with two cookies in a napkin for her, she yelled..."Ohhhhhh, doe-gee"!! I have never seen so much excitement from her before. From that point forward, every male passenger that walked by, she would yell "doe-gee"(the flight attendant that brought her cookies was a man)!!

There are so many more stories, but I am too tired to write more. I will leave you with some pictures:

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Cuddling up with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma

Taking a morning walk--and getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders!

Taking a walk at Fort DeSoto Beach

We love Florida

Doesn't this remind you of "Bruce" from Finding Nemo? (Florida Aquarium in Tampa)

Celebrating Daddy's 35th Birthday

Our last night in Florida-At John's Pass--here we saw dolphins very close to the shore