winter has arrived

I think its finally winter.  The last few days have either been completely soggy (like good old Oregon winter days) or frozen and white.  Kaden informed me that he did not like all of the rain, however, it wasn't all bad because he got to break in the new umbrella he got for Christmas.

Aren't they the cutest little monkeys?

this and that...10 random happenings

Nothing really exciting has been going on around here.  You probably don't need to know this or even care if you're not Grandma, but here goes nothing:

1.  We've all been sick.  

Everyone has gotten it.  Fevers, cough, and colds.  No fun at all.

2.  Bosten is sleeping in his big boy bed!

I don't know what I said, but he has been really good about not getting out of bed.  

He knows I meant business when I said he was busted if he got out.

3.  The last 2 Thursdays we've gone swimming after school at the rec. center with some kids from Kaden's class.  Its been really fun, and really good for Kaden.

4.  We got snow this week.  The boys were thrilled.  Kaden has been dying to make a fort, and we just haven't had enough snow yet.  We got one started the other day, but ran out of snow.  Now its melted, so we're waiting (with fingers crossed) for the next storm.

5.  I like eating ice cream when watching The Biggest Loser.  I know, its totally ridiculous. 

But actually, a little funny too.

6.  I've been working on Valentine's projects for some of my favorite Valentines.

7.  Kyle had 6 overtime calls the last 2 weeks.  It stinks that he has to go out, but its sure nice when his check comes.

8.  Bosten likes to lock his bedroom door ALL. THE. TIME.  The funny part, though, is the lock is on the outside of his door.  He locks it, goes in his room, plays or reads books, and pounds on the door when he wants someone to come get him.   (You also have to watch him that he doesn't run, lock the door and close it when you're in there.)

9.  We haven't had a good nights sleep for weeks.  One, or both, of the boys have been waking up from being sick or bad dreams or whatever else.  Poor kids.  Poor Mom and Dad.

10.  We have gotten some answers that we've been desperately searching for.  Its already made a huge difference in our family (just the knowing) and we are grateful.

hot off the press...sort of

Its been awhile since I've talked about anything adoption related.  Let's change that, shall we?!

There are things you can do to help spread the word that we're hoping to adopt:

-Blog about adoption (in general) or about how you know some families who are hoping to adopt.  Add their links to your blog post.

-Send an email to your friends/family telling them that you know someone that's hoping to adopt.  Then, have them forward the email to all of their contacts.

-Mention you have friends hoping to adopt on Facebook or Twitter.

-Pray for them.  Pray for their birth mothers.

-Add our adoption blog button to your blog...Its super easy.  See the white box on my side bar that has our family picture with "We're Hoping To Adopt Again!" right above it?  On your design page, add a gadget.  Choose "HTML/Java Script".  Paste the contents of the little white box.  Save.  See, super easy!

-Hear of someone facing an unplanned pregnancy?  You can tell them you know someone that's hoping to adopt if that's one of the options they're considering.

-Pass out some of our Pass Along Cards.

A few months ago, I won an online contest and won 500 new ones!  Help us pass them out!

You never know when you'll have the opportunity to hand one out, so please consider keeping a couple in your purse or wallet.

Medical offices, doctors/nurses, salons, hairstylists, church leaders, restaurants, waitresses, and community bulletin boards are all great places to leave them.  In fact, our new caseworker recently told us that she saw one of our cards on a bulletin board at Taco Time.  Awesome.  

We also have started slipping them in when we send our bills, and we always leave one with the check at a restaurant.

Questions?  Comments?  Want some cards?  Leave me a comment with your email address (if I don't already have it) and I will hook you up.  You can also email me:

hope2adoptbaby@yahoo.com

We are so appreciative of your efforts to help build our family.  And, how amazing would it be if you are the connection between us and a birth mother?!

new beds

I have been really reluctant to switch Bosten from the crib to a "big boy" bed.  Yes, I know he's 3, but its been really nice to have a place that I know he can't get out of (nope, he's never climbed out).  We've had a rough stretch of sleeping through the night lately, and its good to know that he's not downstairs playing or going in to bother Kaden when we think he's in his bed asleep.  Its also been quite handy to have a "jail" spot when he get's busted...which is, unfortunately, quite often.

Anyway, the time has come to make the transition.  We've been watching KSL for a few weeks to find something, and Saturday night we hit the jackpot.   Kyle and Kaden went to pick them up and it turns out the people who were selling them were friends of ours from Molalla....as in Molalla, Oregon (where I grew up and Kyle and I lived the first 8 years we were married).  Small world!  They realized the connection when Kyle and Kaden saw my parents Christmas card on the wall.  Of course, I knew they lived here, but what are the chances that they'd be selling the exact beds we were looking for?!

Here is Kaden's:

I'm sure you noticed, but just in case you didn't:

Army....without having to be completely Army.  He's thrilled.

Bosten was so excited about his big boy bed, he didn't wait for sheets before climbing on it:

We set it all up, and its now in his room along with the crib.  The deal is he can take a nap in his bed if he stays in it and goes to sleep (otherwise the deal is off).  We're still in the crib at night, but I know those days are numbered.

He did great, and this is how I found him yesterday when I went to get him up:

finally

Its been a pretty quiet winter.  Temperatures have been in the low 50s with sunshine.  I've been really good with it, however, the boys have been dying for some snow.  We knew there was a chance yesterday for some flurries, but were surprised to wake up to this:

They had a great time shoveling, throwing snowballs, making snow angels, filling up their dump trucks, and sledding.  I think winter arrived...well, at least for one day.

so funny

The boys have been especially funny lately with some of the cute things they say.

We were looking at some pictures of Kaden as a baby, and he leaned over to Kyle and said:  "I can't believe Mom dressed me like that!"

We laughed and laughed.

Bosten has been really liking Hershey's Kisses, and he calls them "chocolate mountain candies".

If he really likes something, he calls it his "lucky favorite".

Never a dull moment around here!

sunbeam

Yesterday was Bosten's first day as a Sunbeam.

We've been talking about it, and he was pretty excited to go to Primary with Kaden....

...that is, until he got there.  He kept saying, "I want to go to class."  When we told him this was his class, he wasn't very thrilled.  Sharing time/singing time can be long for a 3 year old, so he was much happier when they got to his little class and had snacks and got to color.

What a cute little sunbeam.