School Costume Parade

Alyssa and Allison had their costume parade at school today.

Alyssa is in love with all super heroes right now, especially Super Man.

Hehe, my little Super Girl!

First Day in TK

Madelynn was so excited before bed last night. The anticipation of TK was almost too much. :)

She is a doll.

Sisterly love.

I was so excited to pick her up from school and she greeted me with a huge smile!!

Tonight we had a mother/daughter date at Panera Bread.

I am in awe of these girls.

Silly Misc.

This gorgeous gal has been home with me with week.

It's been fun just having her and Jackson to focus on. 

These two are too much!

Fun with Allison.

 They were suppose to smile...

These ornery girls are making all the pictures silly. :)

Love her!

Just us.

Madelynn starts TK tomorrow.

I'm not ready!

First Day Jitters

Today was Alyssa and Allison first day of 2nd grade!!

Johnathon was able to join me in taking them to school. It was a very special morning. 

It was such a wonderful feeling to see them so confident and ready school. Their school is such a blessing and we are so lucky to be a part of such a great community.

Alyssa, my little diva!

Allison, my sweet little rock star!

 They have the sweetest teacher this year and I know there will be many memories made.

You say crazy, I say fun.

Hello!

Alyssa and Allison have been at their new school for 3 weeks now (they had a week off for Labor Day) and are loving it. They each love their teachers and so far, the uniforms are still a huge hit.

They started learning Mandarin yesterday and it just dawned on me that it won't be long before they are having private conversations behind my back and I won't have a clue as to what they are talking about.

*forehead smack*

Wish me luck as I attempt to piece together a completely unfamiliar language just off of their take-home papers. :)

Madelynn is doing well also. She will be four years old in October and I have noticed her maturing over the last few months. I'm not sure if it is just her age, or maybe the fact that she is now a big sister to the cutest baby EVER. Either way, I'm enjoying this change in her.

She has been my little partner-in-crime through this whole foster care process and has even taken a liking to D's bio dad. I think she looks forward to his visits because she gets to go with me to a new place with new toys and she has my undivided attention while D visits with is dad. She's not a huge fan of D's bio mom and unfortunately, she let her know last week.

AWKWARD!

Baby D is just as perfect as possible.

I started making his baby food two weeks ago and it has been a HUGE hit with D. He started with a little sweet potato mixed with brown rice cereal and loved it. Two days ago we introduced avocado mixed with brown rice cereal and he no longer entertains the idea of sweet potatoes. :)

I made the mistake of telling my social worker last week that things seemed boring with D's case. I felt like I had gotten used to the case and the visits were somewhat consistent. For the first time in 5 months I felt like we had found our groove and things were running smoothly.

That didn't last long.

The next day I received a call from someone who had been mostly MIA throughout the entire process, an email from bio-family and someone else missed a visit for the first time in WEEKS. It has just gotten more crazy since then. I've come to realize that I am on more then just an emotional roller coaster, I'm on someone else's "where are my priorities today?" roller coaster.

I wake up in the morning having no idea what my day will be like. One simple phone call could snowball into 15 phone calls (literally) and the lack of a simple phone call could change ALL of my plans for the following week. It's been difficult, but I am doing really well with this learning process. It's not always easy, but I try my hardest to take it one day at a time.

I'm pretty sure I know how this case will end, but we are just waiting out our time until we go to court in December.

Johnathon has been very busy with work lately.

It's funny, when Johnathon first told me about his orders to CNATT-U, I was excited at the thought of having him home at a decent hour everyday and getting to spend time as a family. I should have known my husband better.

When he sees early hours and an opportunity, he takes full advantage of it. I can't complain. He's usually home by 4PM and is able to have dinner with us, but that is followed by more work at home. To top it all off, he won Senior Sailor of the Quarter a few months ago and his Senior Sailor of the Year board is just days away. He also went up for President of the First Class Association and WON!!

"For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." -- Luke 12:48

Johnathon is still volunteering like the world depends on it and doing much more than what is expected. He has been given so many great opportunities during his career, but they were each earned with great dedication.

He was honored to have the opportunity to do an interview about his dedication to volunteering. You can read about that HERE.

As for me, I'm as busy as ever.

On top of being an active foster parent and attending visits (at least 3 a week), I am an active part in the EPO at my daughters' school, on the Fall Festival committee, a room parent for Alyssa's classroom and attending back rehab 3 times a week.

Some say I'm crazy.

I believe those people! :)

Happy Wednesday. xo

First Day of School 2013

Our alarms were set, clothes were laid out and backpacks were filled.

 

Today was Alyssa and Allison's first day of 1st grade!

 

Johnathon took the morning off to be there for their first day. Even though he wasn't at the school for very long, I think it still meant a lot to the girls to have him there. It's not often that he is able to attend these special occasions.

 

We even dropped Madelynn and baby D off at a babysitter to make sure that we didn't take away from their special day and it nice to really focus on them for a change.

 

Here are my little ladies with their backpacks. After MUCH effort on my part, I opted for iron-on patches instead of embroidering their names. First of all, I didn't like the idea of everyone (strangers!!) knowing their first names and it was also a huge struggle to get my machine to work with such an awkward small space. We were all happy with the end result.

I am so in love with them in these little uniforms.

 

They were happy too, but I have a feeling they don't quite understand that they will be wearing basically the same thing every single day.

 

Time will tell. (Wish me luck!)

 My girls love to learn, so they were beyond thrilled to get back into a classroom.

I was surprised at how well they went to bed last night and how easy it was to get them ready this morning. If only it remained that easy for the remainder of the year.

 

I can dream, can't I? :)

Such silly goofy girls!

If you could have been a fly on the wall for this next picture!!

 

Their poor backpacks were so heavy that this was the only good picture out of 10 because they kept falling backwards. Ladies and gentlemen, those smiles are legit!

Alyssa loved her classroom and settled in well...after 15 hugs and 10 kisses...every 5 minutes. :)

 I did have to explain to her teacher that she is a perfectionist and to give her time.

 

She was upset that her pencil wasn't sharpened and her art box wasn't organized. Mrs. L seemed to understand. Alyssa will get into a mood where it will take her 10 minutes to write her name because she wants it to look perfect

 

Allison did well also.

 

She gave me one hug and only because I asked for one. She was off to the rug and making friends before I could even walk out of the classroom.

 

She is so much like her Daddy!

 

Allison simply adores her teacher, Mrs. T.

 

They seem to be 2 peas in a pod and I know that her school year will be so exciting!

 

 

 

Madelynn is currently playing quietly and D is napping. Our day is off to a great start.

 

Happy Monday.

xoxo

1st Grade Orientation {2013}

 Alyssa and Allison had their 1st grade orientation last Thursday.

There was a lot of excited about meeting their teachers and getting to see the school finished for the first time.

 

I look at these pictures and cannot believe that these grown-up precious ladies are mine.

 

I know everyone will say that they grow up too fast, but you never really understand it until it is happening to you first hand.

 

I mean, look at them!!

Both girls were very lucky with their selection of teachers this year and I know that they will have a fantastic year..

 

Alyssa has Mrs. L 

 

Allison has Mrs. T

 

 

It was such a fun night for the girls and they are so excited for the first day of school tomorrow.

 

Tonight we are having a celebratory dinner of all their favorite foods and heading to bed early.

 

Happy Sunday!