A Messy House

I was thinking about how much fun I had babysitting that little girl over the weekend.  It really was so much fun.  At one point she told me that she was tired so we sat down to read a story.  While she was crawling up on the couch I looked around my living room and it was completely covered in toys.  Floor, furniture, and anything in between.  Anyone who has played with a child knows what I mean.  I thought to myself, "Finally ... someone messed up my house!"  And I was SO happy to see it that way.  Allan and I are both really clean and orderly people.  We always put things away when we use them, everything has a place.  So, with just us around our house is pretty much always perfect.  Sometimes it annoys me and I'll leave my shoes out, or not do the dishes, or something just so it doesn't seem so perfect.  I can't wait until my house has toys scattered all over, there's remnants of breakfast throughout the kitchen and sticky hand and footprints all over the floors and walls.  One day it will happen and I hope that when I've cleaned up forty times in one day and the house is messy again I'll still be able to think "Finally ... someone messed up my house!"  All you moms and dads out there, the next time you do this take a moment and smile for me before you clean it up again.

Girl Time

We are moving forward with our hopes to adopt.  On Thursday we went around our area and delivered cards and flyers to places like Crisis Pregnancy centers and Baby Safe Havens.  Everyone we talked to was so supportive and gave us more ideas of where to place our information.  We are so touched by the helpfulness of our friends and family, and the complete strangers who so willingly let others know about us.  Thank you so much everyone!


This weekend I got to babysit a little girl in our ward while her parents moved.  I watched her for about 7  hours on Friday and another 5 hours on Saturday.  It was so much fun!  She is 2 years old and looks like a red headed Shirley Temple - with the cute pout and everything.  We put puzzles together, played games, danced, rolled around on my exercise ball, played hide and seek,and drew with sidewalk chalk.  The sidewalk chalk was a big hit, but she didn't really draw.  She just sat and talked to me while I drew.  Whenever I asked her if she wanted to do something else she would say "No, this is fun".  Apparently she had a lot she wanted to tell me.  Near the end of the sidewalk chalk she looked at me, stopped right in the middle of what she was saying, and said in complete shock and disapproval "You're dirty!"  She was right.  I had managed to completely cover my pants in chalk. 

When Allan came home from work on Friday she got really shy and just stared at him with wide eyes.  But, Allan knows how to win over little girls.  He offered her a doughnut that he had brought home from work.  She lit up and was soon talking to him very comfortably.  On Saturday she wanted a cookie and we happened to have some girl scout cookies.  She decided on the lemon cookies.  I was a little worried because they are pretty strong but I let her try it anyway.  She dabbed her tongue on the cookie and promptly made the cutest sour face I've ever seen.  Then she gave it a look of confusion and dabbed her tongue again - with the same results.  I asked her if she liked it and she nodded her head vigorously and said "yes".  I knew it was true because up until this point whenever I asked her a yes or no question she would say "sure"either happily or resignedly. 

We also had a lot of fun playing with our neighbors who have three little boys, 4, 2, and infant.  Friday night they saw us taking a walk and invited us over to play.  She had a ball playing with their things.  The play time turned into an impromptu dinner at their house.  Allan and I really enjoyed getting to know them better, and their food was really good too! ;)  She told me at 8:30 the next morning that she wanted to go and play with them again and was devastated to learn that we would have to wait until after lunch. 

On Sunday I subbed for Senior Primary.  I brought bubble wrap for both Sr. and Jr.  It was a big hit again.  I think I could bring bubble wrap every week and they would be thrilled.  One of the ways I had them sing the song was by doing their best superhero moves.  It was hilarious!  There was one particular little sunbeam who really got into it.  He punched and kicked and spun and jumped his little heart out.  The Senior primary's favorite was "Boys sing like girls and girls sing like boys".  They continued doing it the rest of the class.  Next week is the return of Captain CTR.  They are going to show the captain how well they can sing his theme song.  Now the captain has to learn it so he can sing with them....

Bubble Wrap

Last Monday I brought some bubble wrap to pop with M and L.  They were so excited.  They had a lot of fun trying to pop it with as many body parts as they could think of.  L didn't really pop any though - he isn't quite heavy enough, but he still had a lot of fun dancing on it.  It was a lot of fun to play with them.

This Monday I brought the My Little Pony Game and M just about exploded with excitement.  She is so funny.  She loves boys, especially talking about them.  However, when it comes time to actually converse with a boy she clams right up.  She really wanted to call Allan today.  She was so excited to call and talk to him at work.  As the phone rang the excitement on her face slowly turned into a look of utter terror!  When he didn't answer and it went to the voice mail she was completely relieved.  He called back a few minutes later and she ran to the phone as fast as she could and then when she got there she got that same look of utter terror on her face, but she answered and talked to him anyway.  It made Allan's day!

I brought a flyer about Allan and I adopting to post at the institute on my way home from babysitting them.  M saw it and I explained it to her.  Later that day she showed me something of hers and she said "When you have a baby you can take this home with you.  When are you going to have a baby in your belly?"  I told her "I can't have a baby in my belly so another lady is going to have a baby in her belly for me."  She looked very confused and asked "How is the baby going to be in your belly?"  I told her "It's not.  The other lady will have the baby in her belly and when it comes out of her belly she'll give the baby to me and then I'll have a baby."  She gave me the "that's weird and I don't understand" look and then said "Well ... when you get a baby you can take this home."  Gotta love trying to explain adoption to kids.  What a cute girl she is.

The singing time lesson last week really had a big impression on some of the kids.  Allan is now the hero of several little boys in our ward.  There is one particular boy that was especially impressed.  Every time he sees Allan his whole face lights up and he shouts "I'm choosing the right!"

I brought bubble wrap to pop for singing time this week.  The kids were absolutely thrilled and they cheered on the lucky kids who actually got to pop it.  We ran out of time this week so I'll be bringing the rest of the bubble wrap back next Sunday.  One of the activities that I taped to the back of the bubble wrap was to sing while marching around the room.  I had planned on standing at the front holding the flip chart while they marched but when the music came on they all started marching in place.  So, I started walking around the room.  When M saw what I was doing she ran to catch up and soon the whole room was following waving their little CTR shields in the air.  I felt like the Pied Piper.  They are really learning the songs well.  I have been really impressed with how much they remember each week.  They have the song they learned last month down perfectly and they all know when to sing "right" and the chorus to Choose the Right. 

That's about it for this last week.  It was slow and relaxing.  Gotta love those weeks. 

My Favorite Superhero

We just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who is sending on our flyer, passing out our adoption cards, posting our info on Facebook, and spreading the word in every other way.  We are so grateful for everyone's support, prayers, and work in our behalf.  We really couldn't do it with out you!  It will be because of all of you that we will be blessed with children.  Thank you SO much!

I had a lot of fun with M and L on Monday.  They are such wonderful kids.  M was enthralled with her mom's I-Pod that day so we danced the day away.  I love watching children dance.  They have the best, most creative dance moves.  M loved my new coat and wore it all around the house, and L decided he liked my pink polk-a-dot scarf and danced with it for quite a while.  We also built forts and read stories.  It was a really fun day.

On Wednesday I substituted for a sister in our ward in taking one of the boys, who is autistic,  to scouts.  Since I grew up in a family of all girls I know pretty much nothing about scouts.  I have worked with autistic children before but always in a place that they can't escape from.  Knowing that he could run away from me at any time was really nerve racking.  He definitely noticed my nervousness, and it thoroughly annoyed him.  Other than that we had a great time.  He jumped on the trampoline for most of the night while I played with some other children.  He is a really sweet boy, and I hope that I get to work with him again.

The majority of the week I worked on preparations for Jr. Primary Singing Time.  I made a shield, sword, cape and script for Allan.  (I couldn't have done it without the script)  He came in as Captain Choose the Right.  The kids loved it.  I thought a couple of the girls were going to implode they were so excited.  Allan did a great job and had a lot of fun.  Here he is in his costume.

There is a little girl that is VERY shy.  She never participates in any way, instead she just looks around at everyone while they participate.  This week she was so excited that she took one of the instruments and played it through the class.  SUCCESS! 

Allan did some cooking this week.  He made a couple of our breakfasts and some really yummy dessert - Egg Pie.  It doesn't sound that good, but it was wonderful.  It is a lot like Flan.  We ate it too fast to take a picture though.  We ordered a BBQ yesterday, so Allan is going to be doing a lot more cooking.  I am really looking forward to it!

A Crib Full of Emotion

We set up our crib last night.  It was a lot of fun.  It's something we have been looking forward to doing for years but never had a reason to do it.  It's nice to finally have a reason.

 But, I do have to admit that I have mixed feelings.  It's really hard to go down the hall and see an empty crib knowing that in reality it could be years before there is a child in it.  At the same time it could be just a day away.  When I look at the crib I get a depressed feeling and a very happy feeling of anticipation and then I just don't really know whether to smile or shut the door before I start to cry.  Who knew a crib could cause so much confusion.

On the bright side we have both felt the Lord telling us we won't have to wait too long.  Here's hoping that the Lord's idea of long fits my own, and that if not Allan and I can have the patience to endure it.

Adoption here we come!

We are officially certified to adopt!

Go check out our adoption profile at www.itsaboutlove.org and search for our first names: Allan and Kami!

Well, I forgot about the blog again last week, so I have a couple of weeks to write about.  I am sure you are all sooo excited. :)  For FHE last week Allan and I pulled out the model I bought him when we got married.  Allan really enjoys building models and we planned on building this model together, but since we were married we haven't had any time to do so.  We were thrilled to finally get to start on it.

 
Models come in different levels of difficulty.  When I bought this I didn't know that, nor did I know what level Allan was on.  He has never built a model this difficult before, and I have simply never built one, so it will be a fun challenge for both of us.

We had Allan's boss, Z, over for dinner on last Wednesday.  I have heard a lot about him and was very excited to finally put a face to the man.  We had a really nice evening.  Z loves to look at his genealogy so we showed him new.familysearch.org and PAF.

Last Saturday we went to the mountain in search of snow.  We thought we found some at one point and prepared to have a snowball fight, make snow angels, and all of the other fun snow things to do.  But when we got to the snow we found it had melted enough that it was mostly ice.  We were able to get a couple of really hard snowballs to throw at each other and then decided to hike in search of more snow, but didn't find any.  We drove back down the mountain and stopped at another trail head that looked like it had some snow.  After hiking for a while we found it!  Woohoo!  Most of it had turned to ice as well but there was a small area close to the trees that was just right.  So, we proceeded to nail each other with snow balls as fast as we could.  I'm pretty sure Allan won, but I did nail him right in the bottom a few times!  (HeeHee)

On Saturday night there was a huge wind storm here.  We listened to the wind howl all night long.  When we went to church the next morning there were tumble weeds covering the entire fence line!  It was so funny looking!  It looked as if the tumble weeds had tried to attack the football field and then all got stuck on the fence instead.  It took the clean up crew half of the day on Monday to get them all off.  Here is a view from our house.

I started babysitting for a family in our ward.  I had their little girl in Sunbeams and now I am watching her and her younger brother on Mondays.  I had a blast on Monday with them.  The little boy, L, usually takes a 2-3 hour nap around the time that I babysit but he was way too excited on Monday to sleep.  He only got about 45 min. and by the time I left his eyes were all red and glassy he was so tired.  Hopefully he took a late nap.  I always feel successful when the kids are sad that their parents came back so soon!  I am looking forward to tomorrow - it should be a fun day.

We watched some of Allan's families home videos for FHE.  It was so much fun to see Allan as a little boy.  Thanks to our awesome brother and sister-in-law for getting the home videos to everyone!

On Friday we went to dinner and bowling with some friends.  It was a ton of fun.  I had my very first steak.  It's definitely not my favorite, but it wasn't too bad.  Allan and I haven't been bowling for a long time.  We usually bowl like we mini golf - in as many different ways as we can.  However, we tried to play correctly this time.  The friends we were with are really good.  The first game they both went up there and bowled a strike.  Allan followed suit and got a strike as well.  Then, I went up and promptly sent my ball into the gutter.  Naturally, I had to take a bow.  Allan did pretty well the first game and I basically never got out of the gutter.  But, the second game we switched places and Allan spent some time in the gutter.  That's how we do things.  Whether it's illness, awards, or bowling we just have to share everything.

Saturday we went shopping to celebrate our adoption certification.  I always love to go and get new clothes.  I got a new coat (I've needed one for a while, the buttons fell off of the old one and they aren't the kind you can sew back on), a skirt, and a shirt, and we got Allan some work gloves that he needed.  We're hoping to get him a small BBQ as well. That will be a lot of fun.

This last week I made a bunch of paper bag animal puppets for primary (got the idea from www.thecrazychorister.blogspot.com).  Each puppet had a way to sing a song or a "favorite" song to sing and would also lead the music.  The kids LOVED it.  I was so glad because I was a little worried that they would think paper bag puppets were lame.

They sang their little hearts out and really enjoyed playing pretend.  I asked the kids when I was done if my "friends" could come back again and one little boy in the 7 year old class said very adamantly ... "No."  Naturally he was the one that was the most involved during the class time.  Next week ... my favorite superhero "Captain Right" - but I usually call him Mr. Right. :)  (This idea is also from the crazy chorister.)

We're back!

Last week I completely forgot that I had a blog.  I don't know where my mind went.  But, to catch up a little, last week went really well.  I survived my 2nd Sunday as Jr. Primary Chorister - with all of the kids there this time!  I introduced using instruments to learn the rhythm of the song, and they absolutely loved it.   This week was a bust though.  They weren't really in the mood to sing, so the teachers and I sung our hearts out while they listened.  Hopefully next week will go better.  I substituted for the Sr. Primary Chorister today, and that was a lot of fun.  I let them use the instruments, and they were big fans.  I do have to say though that I am glad I have the little kids.  They don't worry about being "cool" so they are usually easier to teach and entertain.

Our wheat grinder arrived!  I ground wheat and made bread this week, and it was so good that Allan and I ate almost an entire loaf in one afternoon.  My Mother-in-law makes bread too, and hers always tasted so good, I could never figure out how she made it taste that way.  I was so excited when I tried it and it tasted just like hers.  I guess that the fresh ground wheat must be the key ingredient.  Allan is really enjoying it and has told me at least three times every day how good he thinks it is.  I'm glad the wheat bread has gone over so well.  (Allan: Me too. It tastes wonderful!)

Allan has been busy this week helping a friend.  The friend and his wife recently moved to another state and he was trying to get their rental properties ready to rent so that he could go and join his wife who is expecting their first child.  We thought it was a good cause so Allan went over there almost every night this week to help.  He dug some trenches and put in some cement forms for some concrete the friend poured on Friday.  He was pretty sore from the work, but he really enjoyed it.

We have been buying things here and there to prepare for a baby.  A few months ago we bought a crib and changing table, and this month we bought the mattress, changing table pad, and sheets.  We're slowly accumulating baby things in the hopes that when we do finally receive a baby we won't be caught too off guard.  We've had a lot of fun getting baby stuff, and the Walmart free site-to-store shipping has come in really handy.  It's too bad we can't just get a baby there too...although you never know...

I've also been preparing for a baby by researching adoptive breastfeeding.  I didn't think it was possible but apparently it is.  It's amazing what the human body and the medical profession can do.  Maybe I won't have to miss out on as many baby things as I thought.

One of our brothers got us some really good movies for Christmas that we have been enjoying.  I don't know how he knew that A Little Princess is one of my favorite movies ever; I think he was inspired. 

That's about it for us though.  It's been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks which has been nice after the holiday frenzy.  Thanks for everyone's prayers and support.  We love you!