Hilton Head

We recently went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with Sabrina's parents, sister (Christina), and her two kids. We had a blast! Hilton Head has bike paths everywhere, and we rode for miles every day. The ocean was warm, the weather was great, and the fresh seafood was tasty! We can't wait to visit Hilton Head again!!

Grandma & Wes eating a snack at the pool

This alligator was right by our pool.

Cousins & Best Friends

Fishing for sharks

Our tiny, tiny plane from Charlotte to Hilton Head Island

We rode tandem adult/kid bikes. There was lots of racing.

My boys are 5!!

I cannot believe how quickly time flies. It seems like yesterday the boys were little toddlers, and now they are 5 years old!! While they are excited about the new age, mommy is not! This means that full-day kindergarten is right around the corner (1 month away), and I just don't know what I will do with myself. I love being able to stay home part-time and play with them. Sure, I can always clean the house, work more hours, spend time on hobbies -- but I honestly feel like I am losing part of my identity. I just don't know what I will do with myself between the time I drop them off for school, and the time I pick them up.

Each age has been better than the last, so I just have to trust that I will enjoy this new phase in our lives just as much. The boys make me laugh so hard everyday!

As for Calvin, his is still a very independent child. He gives the best hugs and loves to cuddle. He loves to play by himself, and his independence allows him to always dress himself, fix broken toys, etc. He is very patient. For the past 9 months, he has enjoyed dressing up in Halloween costumes every day. For his birthday, he received Batman, Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear, and Knight in Shining Armor costumes. He wears these everyday, and he gets into character while he is in them. He still doesn't eat meat, but loves fruit and most vegetables. He weighs 45 pounds.

As for Wes, he is a very passionate kid, and he loves to "be first" at everything. He is a very good rule follower (and enforcer). He loves to play with his toys, but his passion is everything Mario Brothers. He is very quick witted, and he loves to learn about anything and everything. He counts to 100 at least once a day. Wes loves to play games. One of the funniest things he does is say "Holy Spirit!" when he is surprised about something. He weighs 53 pounds.

I asked the boys a few questions, and I've posted their responses below:

1. What is your favorite food?

Cal: Big Roni (shells & cheese)

Wes: Cheeseburger

2. What is your favorite color?

Cal: Red

Wes: "Purple, cause I like my momma" (my favorite color is purple)

3. What is your favorite character?

Cal: Luigi & Toad

Wes: Scooby Doo & Mario

4. Where do you want to work?

Cal: At my daddy's work

Wes: At the McDonald's close by my house

5. What is your favorite toy?

Cal: My new Toy Story toys

Wes: Scooby guys

6. What makes you happy?

Cal: When mommy makes me big roni

Wes: Cuddling with my momma

7. What is your favorite animal?

Cal: Giraffe

Wes: Zebra and my big Elmo

How Far Am I . . .

Every once in a while, the boys have a day where they just pick at each other nonstop. Monday was one of those days. For example, Cal wanted to talk to Wes and Wes was listening to Cal, but he didn't say the specific word "What". He was looking at Cal and willing to listen, but Cal wanted to hear that special word. So instead of saying what he needed to say, Cal just kept whining "Wes! Wes! Wes! Wes! Wes!" I finally stopped him and explained that you don't always have to say "what" and that Wes is still listening. All that did was let the boys know that they could now ignore the other person altogether. And they did. Hmm, bad plan.

A few hours later, Wes got mad at Cal because Cal passed him in the hallway. I explained that it doesn't matter who is first and who gets passed. (Wes likes to walk slow and then tell on Cal for passing.) The boys rounded the corner, and Cal got to the stairs first -- and Wes ran by, cut him off, and passed on the stairs. Ugh -- I have just now taught the boys that they can cut each other off.

It was just one of those days. I told them that if they didn't start treating each other nicely that they weren't going to be able to play Mario (a dreadful punishment for them). I'm not a strict disciplinarian, and so I gave them a few warnings. By the end, I was pinching my fingers close together and showing them that they were "this close" to not playing Mario. After a while, their attitudes changes and they became happy boys again.

Two days later, we were in the car, and the boys were in great moods. Out of the blue Wes asked "Hey mom, how far am I from not being able to play Mario?" I told him that he was very far away because he was being such a good boy. He wanted to know exactly how far. I just told him far. He opened his arms up real wide and asked if he was "that far". I realized that he just wanted to know how much wiggle room he had. I made it clear that while he was super far away, that gap can close very quickly -- all the while trying not to laugh at his very smart observation.

Sneaky Wes

I have been so lucky that my boys are just shy of 5, and they haven't gotten to that "lying" stage that most young kids do around 3 and 4. However, we caught Wes telling a big lie the other day.

I was cleaning the playroom, and I noticed that there were a pair of shoes under their table. If you haven't seen our playroom, it is really large. In addition to toys, we have a table, full size couch, and a big tv in there. So once or twice a week (and most lunches), we let the boys eat upstairs in their playroom and watch a movie. If they eat all of their dinner, they can play Mario Brothers on the Wii.

Wes is such a passionate little guy. Right now, his passion is anything and everything Mario Brothers. He can't wait to play in the evening. The rule has been in place for about 4 months, but he'll still ask me several times a day if he can play Mario (during the day). My answer is always no, but he just gets so excited to play. If we have a guest come over (even the social worker), Wes wants to teach him/her how to play Mario.

Anyway, back to cleaning the playroom. . . . I crawled under the table to pull out the pair of shoes, and a water bottle sipper cup full of milk caught my eye. It was just sitting behind the couch. My initial thought was "well this is going to be gross". I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was milk from the previous night's dinner, and it hadn't rotted yet. Whew . . . dodged a stinky, nasty bullet. Until a portion of a dried old corndog caught my eye. I pulled the couch away from the wall, and sure enough there were about 10 different type of food items hidden behind the couch. Just a piece or two of each item. They were all dried and hard . . . and just plain gross.

Adam and the boys happened to walk in the playroom at this time. My mind was racing about how disgusting it was, and why would the boys be throwing food? And then it clicked -- they aren't throwing food, Wes is hiding food. It is easy to pinpoint Wes because Calvin doesn't eat meat, and Wes is just adamant that he sits in the seat closest to the couch. Wes was being sneaky -- for quite some time.

I asked the boys how the food got behind the couch. Wes just kept saying "I don't know how it got there." Cal just said, "I didn't do it, he did." I told Wes it was gross and that bugs would get into our house (he hates bugs). I also told him that he had been lying to me, and so he was going to be grounded from playing Mario. Upon hearing this, he immediately perked up and said "Wait! I know how the food got there! . . . it got legs and walked over there." Uh no, still grounded.

Later that day, he asked Sherree what kind of bugs eat human food. She made it clear that all bugs eat human food. The next morning, I was putting his tennis shoes on (the ones that were under the table), and Wes complained that something was in one of his shoes. I took it back off, and looked inside to find about 5 ritz crackers inside his shoe.

What worries me is that after I found the ritz crackers in his shoe, Wes asked if I had seen any pasta behind the couch. I told him no, and he just said "Okay." I don't know if that means he never hid the pasta, or if I'm going to come across the pasta on another unexpecting day.

House Full of Injuries

We have had a house full of injuries this weekend! On Thursday, I slipped and fell down the stairs. Other than some bruising, bumps, and jammed toes -- no serious injuries. Whew!

On Saturday, the boys were playing freeze tag with my mom (visiting for the weekend), and Cal got poked in the eye. He wouldn't open his eyes for 5 hours! Finally, he opened them only to show a bright red eye! My mom felt horrible, but we kept reassuring her that they were little boys and it was all part of the package.

That "package" continued onto Sunday. The boys were playing at our neighborhood park, and Wes fell off the curly slide (towards the bottom). He complained of his arm hurting most of the day, and he favored it. It wasn't until he was getting ready for bed that we realized something was wrong. He could bend or straighten it without crying hard. So we went to the doctor at 10 p.m. They don't think there is a fracture, but they are having a radiologist look at the films. The tech thought she saw something, but the doctor said he didn't. So until we hear back from the radiologist, Wes is in a soft cast and a sling. He was pretty excited about having a big, green arm, and even more excited about seeing his skeleton bones on the x-ray. While most of the time, he doesn't act like he is in pain, last night was pretty rough. He kept waking up and crying from the pain.

When Wes wasn't waking up and crying, Cal was. We had let Cal sleep on the floor in our room since Wes was in our bed. Sometime during the night, Cal was bit or stung by something. He started waking up and crying about his foot. He now has a swollen foot that is hot to touch, and we can see a very large bite mark on part of his foot. So, in 20 more minutes, we will head to the doctor again because the triage nurse thinks he has an infection!

Hopefully, we are done with injuries for a while. I am also hoping that Wes' arm isn't fractured because swimming season has begun!

School's Out

The boys have graduated from pre-school! Here are some pictures . . .

Foster Care Update

It has been a while since we have updated this site about our foster care licensing, so we thought we would give you an update. Right now, we are attending weekly foster care/parenting classes that will end on June 10th. These classes help prepare us for all sorts of situations we may encounter.

In addition to the classes, we have completed our paperwork, physicals, finger printing, background checks, CPR training, etc. We have met with our agency social worker on two occasions, and she wants to meet with us again (individually) before she finishes our home study.

Besides finishing classes, the next big step is our home inspection. Our agency is now ready to schedule this with DES, but we need a pool fence before this takes place. We can't even go on the waiting list until the fence is already installed. Thanks to us owning Derby (our English Bulldog), we got a great quote for the fence (by Bulldog Fencing) that is pretty much the same cost of us installing it ourselves! We were pleasantly surprised as we thought it would be some grueling weekends of digging holes, mitering, and all the other hassles of putting an iron fence around an oval pool. We are hoping to have the fence up in June, and so we can schedule the inspection after that.

Once the inspection takes place, and the home study is written, we are off to court. If our inspection happens in June, then I'm hoping to have our license in August or September.

And to answer the biggest question -- when will we get the children? Sorry, but we have no clue. Some people get placements the day that their license is issued. Other people (way out of the city) have to wait a year. We are opening our home to one or two children under the age of 3. These ages will not hinder us, but our zip code will. They like to place children in the same zip code of where they live, or at least one very close. We don't live right in Phoenix, and so that will be our only hinderance -- and we just don't know how big of a hinderance it will be.

Here is the process: When a child is put into the state's custody, an e-mail notification goes out to all of the agencies. If the child is in the west valley, and meets our criteria, our agency will call us and ask if we would accept this child into our home. After we say yes, our name is provided to DES/CPS. The state's caseworker then looks at all of the available families and places the child in the most appropriate home. The first criteria is the zip code. We will get calls often, but that doesn't mean our name will be picked. The good news is that we have plenty of space; I am practically a stay at home mom; and we are willing to provide transportation for these children (most foster families ask the state to do this). So we have a lot of good things working for us.

I am not a patient person, nor do I like uncertainty. However, ever since we have started the adoption and now foster care plans, I have felt at peace. I know that the right child(ren) will be placed in our home at the right time. Until then, we keep living our lives and we aren't worried about when, who, how, etc.