Funky McFunkster

I am in a funk peeps. A big old no energy, no get- up- n- go- my -gumption- got- up and left funk. And I don't know what caused it. Not knowing the root of the funk makes getting out of it a little tough. Be back when I claw my way out...

Solutions

Dreamsicle started preschool yesterday. As soon as she entered the doorway of the school she became a different little girl. Not the timid little sprite who wanted me to hold her hand as we walked in, but a confident, happy little girl. As she sprinted down the hall she was squealing with delight "my school, my school-I'm back at my school". All of that happiness washed away any doubt we had left over on whether or not we should have sent her to kindergarten this year.

It also solidified a decision that we had just made yesterday morning. With all of the should we send her/should we wait to send her drama we have been dealing with, McGyver and I sat down and talked about what the issues were/are. Turns out we both felt like she may have been ready this year but with the classes the size that they have become in public school our little sprite would have easily been lost in the crowd. Because of that, we started researching alternatives and toured a Christian school yesterday morning.

I can tell you that from the moment we entered the lobby I knew this is where Dreamsicle is meant to attend school. The total school size from kindergarten through 8th grade is 79 students this year. BUT! there is actually more diversity in this little slip of a school than in the public school she would have been attending. I was so afraid that she would be the token ethnic chic but that's not the case at all. The whole environment appears to be a place where Dreamsicle will be pushed but also won't slip through the cracks should she begin to struggle.

I am so relieved. We plan on completing the application and having it back into the school before the end of the year to make certain she has a slot in the fall (projections for next year's kindergarten class are at 14 students right now). The exact same size as her preschool.

I am so thankful that we found a solution that will make all of us feel good.

5 year old angst

Dreamsicle just turned 5 and what I firestorm I have started with our decision not to have her start kindergarten this year. From the cashier in the grocery store to a fellow adoptive mom it seems as if I am breaking a cardinal rule that I did not know existed. Thou MUST enroll your child in kindergarten when they turn 5. Ready or not.
Dreamsicle is the slightest of slighty little girls that you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. She has a memory that continually amazes me. But the thing is-she is still a little on the wobbly side when it comes to things like articulation, small motor skills, etc. And don't get me started on my sweet little long legged beauty that still needs to grow into her body and be able to get it to move the way she wants it to. Add to all of this the fact that she does not have a mean bone in her body (which means that she could very well have gotten chewed up and spit out by the batch of mean girls she would have been attending kindergarten with had she started this year) and it was the right decision for our family.
It was the only decision actually.
That being said, why am I left having to defend our decision? I have honestly never heard anyone that started their child when they were six say that they regretted that decision but I have certainly heard plenty of people say that they wished they would have waited to start their child until they were six.
The thing is-so many people make comments about it that now my little Dreamsicle has started questioning if "shomefing" (something) is wrong with her that kept her from being able to start school this year. That question breaks my heart. Add this to the list of conversations I never thought I would have to have with my little girl...

Happy Birthday to my McGyver

Ah my love, can it really be that today is your birthday? You still look young-ish for your age and that makes me so happy. This past two years has been filled with ick and uck and you have held us together. You are the glue that binds this family. You are the glue that holds me together. Especially on the days when I feel all shattered. Thank you for being what my vision of a husband should be. The leader of our household. The man that adores me. The father that offers sage advice and listens well to his sons. And the perfect Daddy to one five year old piece of delish-ishness. I love you. Happy Birthday.

So much happening

You know when you have been doing a million things but you can't remember what the million things you have been doing that have taken up all of your time are? That's me right now. We celebrated one awesome little Dreamsicle's 5th birthday. We have attended the birthday parties of a few other awesome little 5 year olds. We spent the weekend in a little town upper more north of us that had a steam engine show. We camped. In a field. In 80+ degree weather. With. NO. Shower. except on Saturday night friends of ours pulled in with their travel trailer (we had our truck camper) and took pity on me and offered their shower. I immediately jumped for joy, grapped my soap on a rope and jumped into their shower. Except they forgot to light the propane. So I jumped back out-f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. With wet drippy hair. It was still alot of fun and Dreamsicle made her very own jump rope just like they did way back in the day. It was educational and fun for all of us. We have been having Monday night friend dinners. Each Monday we take a turn at someone's house where we all gather, stuff ourselves silly and enjoy each other's company. It has been a great Monday night thing to look forward to each week. But now it ends next week. School starts, Dreamsicle and the fabulous A will have dance on Monday nights. It was a good run. Speaking of running-I haven't been. At. all. McGyver and I head out to Vegas at the end of September and I so am not looking forward to wearing my I have not been running at all body while I am out there. I should probably start doing something about that. Stat.

Family Reunion Fun

This weekend found us lounging near the lakeshore for our annual family reunion camp-a-thon. McGyver and I were not able to join the festivities until late Friday evening due to some work commitments but the G-ma made sure that Dreamsicle had a full fun filled day with her second cousins. This year was particularly special as we were able to see one of our cousin's and her family who we haven't seen in years. She is the daughter of my sweet Aunt S and newly departed Uncle H. It was great to be able to catch up with them. They are a bit more refined than the rest of us so I think we may have given them fuel for conversation for a very long time. LOL. Saturday we honored Uncle H in a casual manner which I think he would have appreciated. We also held a babyshower for one of my cousin's daughters. She is a pretty cool chick and I can't wait to meet her sweet little boy when he makes his appearance this fall. As usual the weekend was filled with waaaaayyyyy to much good food and a whole lot of laughter. One of the things that I appreciate about my extended family so much is that there is rarely any drama. We are able to spend 3 days together and no one fights-imagine that! There were 3 little puppies added to the family this year so it was fun to see our German Shephard hide like a school girl from my cousin's daughters husky puppy but think she was all bad when she was near my other cousin's Shitzhu puppy. It was a great weekend and we are already looking forward to next years' outing.

Vacay Pic's

Girls Week!

We were pretty bummed that we had to bail on the first leg of our vacation (the Myrtle Beach meet with the rest of our adoption travel group) but boy did we have fun in Florida!
We ended up on the same flight down to Florida as our friends. 3 mamas and 3 daughters together for 6 days.
It all started a year ago when Miss Twinkle Toes and her dance team made it to nationals. She had asked if Dreamsicle and I would go watch her. We weren't able to make that trip but promised her that if her team ever made it to Nationals again that we would be there. Well guess what happened-they qualified this year and the competition just happened to be held at one of our favorite places on earth-Disney!
Much preparation and planning went into places to stay, things to see and it all paid off in the end.
Dreamsicle and I shared a room with one my besties-T and her adorable 15 year old-the Mollster. By the end of the trip Dreamsicle and the Mollster were thick as thieves. We were truly blessed to have such a cool teenager to spend time with. Every single day since we have been back Dreamsicle talks about the Mollster, has named a baby-doll, two stuffed animals and a purse after the Mollster.
We watched Twinkle Toes compete-she was amazing. She really did just glide across that stage-big old smile plastered on her sweet face the whole time. Her mama L is another of my real life besties.
We conquered Magic Kingdom and could have stayed on Its A Small World continuously if they would have let us since it was so cool in there. The Florida heat was incredible.
Animal Kingdom was incredible. We went on the safari and I took some amazing pictures. The giraffe was literally close enough that I could have reached out and pet it!
Hollywood Studios was a fast paced visit-we arrived late in the afternoon due to Twinkle Toes competition and the park closed early so we literally raced from one thing to another to see everything.
Epcot was an all day event. Dreamsicle filled up an entire autograph book with character signatures and photos. We did the Princess breakfast here and all of the girls enjoyed themselves. While visiting the Chinese Pavillion, Dreamsicle and I were looking at Chinese dolls and lo and behold there was a doll that was named Dreamsicle's middle name! Of course that dolly had to come home with us.
Dreamsicle visited the Bippity Bobbity Boutique and had a partial "princess experience" she had her hair done (complete with crown!), makeup and nails. She could have cared less about the whole hair thing but was beside herself with joy about getting her nails done!
It took us three days after getting home to recover and rest.
We are so glad that we were able to take this vacay and can't wait to do it again

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

It is still a bit too early to say too much but trust me when I say that I am thanking the Lord for the many blessings he is bestowing upon us. We have been patient, we have trusted and we have believed that the silence we were experiencing was a not yet and not a no.
The not yet is just about over and I will be so happy when I can say more. If you have been one of our prayer warriors, thank you for lifting us up.

In news that I can speak about-U*Haul has been in the Navy a bit over 2 years and was just promoted to an E-5! Go U*Haul

Dreamsicle and I leave for the Mouse House tomorrow. We are both desperately in need of some mommy daughter time and can't wait to jump on that plane!

I Should Have Worn Waterproof Mascara

Yesterday upon leaving a prospective client's office my cell phone rang. It was my sister calling to tell me that our Uncle H had passed away. There have been alot of deaths in our family over the course of this last year but this one was unexpected. If you follow my blog you know that I have been fortunate enough to have been able to have spent time with Uncle H and Aunt S whenever I travel south. The last time we were all together was this winter. I am so thankful for that visit. I got to spend an entire evening with them as well as U*Haul, Pixie and Lil' Pea. U*Haul, Pixie and Lil' Pea then spent the entire next day with them. I can remember U*Haul telling me that evening when they came back to the hotel about how glad he was that they had spent the day with them because he really enjoyed himself.

Growing up we would travel across the Mitten State to their house and always looked forward to our visits. Aunt S was great about making sure that we had age appropriate things to do and because of that, we were able to experience many types of things that we otherwise would not have had the opportunity to experience. When Uncle H retired, they made their home in Georgia. They have a beautiful home on an island which boasts some crazy number of golf courses. This was perfect because Uncle H was a golfer. Not a casual kind of golfer but one serious retired guy kind of golfer. McGyver and I played golf with him one time. That was enough for me-he was waaaaaay to good and I was waaaaaay not so good. But he lived his retirement years being just steps away from a golf course. How many people can say that they get to follow their passion? He could and he did.

He kept up on current events and knew so many fun facts that he could know and yell that it sometimes surprised me. When something interested him, he studied it-you could tell by the depth of knowledge he had of so many diverse subjects. He was a man with an opinion -and not afraid to share that opinion-which was one of things I loved. He could get impatient which would make me smile because it reminded me of my Grandfather (his father). But he was also tolerant. Even if he couldn't understand why people would make the choices they made, if he loved you, he would accept you-flaws and all.

We will miss Uncle H so very much. I'm going to wipe away the mascara trail that trickled down my face as tears fell from my eyes yesterday. And I am going to remember the way he lived his passion and try to do the same thing.

Is It Really June Already?

Holy smokes-this month has flown by. Lots going on around here so going to do bullets to break it down

* Have a new addition to the family in the form of the sweetest little german shepherd puppy you have ever seen.

* Have another new addition to the family in the form of a sweet motorcycle for me. As my family knows, I have ridden a motorcycle since I was about 8 years old. Gave it up when I got married but have always had the itch to ride again. With the passing of Aunt Genious' husband came the opportunity to purchase his bike. So yep-I'm gonna be a riding mama again. It is a much bigger bike than I am used to and since so much time has passed since I've actually ridden a motorcycle I am enrolling in a rider refresher course. Got to get my skilz back.

* Lil Pea and Pixie are staying with us right now while U*Haul is under the sea. I cannot get enough of our Lil Pea. He is absolutely yummy.

* We are celebrating the end of my two year non compete. Pulling out all of the stops to get us back into the market we all know and love at the office!

* McGyver, Dreamsicle and I are heading to Myrtle Beach next weekend to meet up with our adoption travel group. Dreamsicle cannot stop talking about it she is so excited to see her "girls". Immediately from there Dreamsicle and I are hopping a plane to Orlando so that we can hang out with the Mouse for a week. Two of my real life bff's are going to be down there and we are all hanging together. I cannot wait!

Rest In Peace

Dreamsicle's favorite Uncle passed away last night. One of the unintended consequences of older parenting is the sad fact that our girl has to watch people that she loves leave. Not forever, she will be reunited with them all again in Heaven one day but right now it hurts like heck. Please keep Aunt Genious in your prayers. She and her husband have been together some crazy number of years since they started dating when Aunt Genious was just a toddler. Just kidding-I know they have been together a long time though and to lose your life partner at such an early age must be devastating. His passing wasn't a surprise but one of the things that I am taking comfort in right now is that Dreamsicle and I had stopped by their house earlier in the week. He was lucid and was able to spend a few minutes with her. She was able to tell him that she loved him and when she left his room he had a big smile on his face. I'm glad that she has the picture of him in her mind, heck-I'm glad that Aunt Genious and I have that picture in our minds as well. Dreamsicle keeps telling me that she has to see Aunt Genious so that she can hug her and kiss her and make her feel all better. I wish it was that easy baby girl.

Mother's Day

Dreamsicle attends preschool three afternoons a week. She has been all hush-hush, whisper-whisper, giggle-giggle with McGyver telling me that she has a BBBBIIIIGGGG surprise for me. Yesterday I walked in the door of our house and she started yelling/instructing me to "close my eeeeyyyyyeeeess". I dutifully obeyed and I heard her tearing through paper with McGyver whispering to her that Mommy's present was supposed to be opened by Mommy. I was allowed to open my eyes and was given a beautiful four year old hand made stepping stone. I love it. She made one last year in preschool as well so now I have a pair of them. They are simply priceless. Her preschool teacher also had a series of questions that she asked the children to answer. She wrote the answers down and laminated the paper. This is how Dreamsicle answered her questions...

What do you like your mom to do? Cook

What is your mom best at? Showers

Your mom is so smart, she even knows: Me!

Love that kid, absolutely adore her. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mother's out there.

Today I Am Thankful

For a husband who loves me without question

Boys who are strong, confident and making their own way

A daughter in love who loves my son unconditionally

A grandson who is healthy and by all reports, smart as a whip

A daughter that still thinks I hung the moon and the stars just for her pleasure

The terrific group of people that I get to surround myself with each day that I step foot into my office

Hope for the future

Did She Say That?

Can't keep my hands off of the keyboard today apparently. I can't let the whole Ji**ian M*chaels comments go without addressing them.
I have watched the Bigg*st Los*er season after season. I always felt that Ji**ian was tough but seemed to be able to motivate people in situations that others couldn't. To say that I am completely disenchanted with her now would be an understatement. For someone in her position to throw it out there that she has decided to not give birth to a child because she couldn't do that to her body is bad enough but when add on top of that her statement regarding adoption and my eyeballs are about ready to pop out of my head.

Ms. Michaels, we don't adopt to "rescue" babies. We don't adopt because nothing gives us a better feeling than the feeling of having "rescued" someone. Each family has their own personal reasons for choosing to grow their families through adoption but I can assure you that no one that I know made that choice just to get that high feeling from rescuing someone. I beg you, if you are serious that you want to start a family some day, that you research what it means to bring a child into your home through adoption. You owe it to the prospective child to be educated, prepared, and emotionally capable of loving that child before you even think of having your first home study visit.

Stepping off my soapbox now.

Questions, Lots and Lots of Questions

Mama, I have questions. Lots and lots of questions. That is how Dreamsicle starts most of her conversations with me these days. She is completely drawn to her adoption story right now. I tell her the story surrounding how she came to be a part of our family at least 3 times a day. She is starting to struggle with the whole "first mom, first dad" thing and why they couldn't keep her portion due to our inability to tell her why. We don't believe in making up a scenario so we just keep it real and tell her we don't know why. That is a huge concept for an almost five year old to try to grasp. Any other why question she has we can give her an answer to thanks to Mr Internet but that one has no magic answer waiting behind the screen to suddenly appear. We went out to dinner two nights ago and there was a sweet little baby sitting at the next table with blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was excitedly waving at the baby and this is what came out of her mouth "Hi baby, oh look-you are so cute. Hey-wait a minute. Why do you have white hair. Did you just come home from China? Is that why?"
Hmmmm-me thinks we still have a ways to go...

In other news-to the little girls parents that are obviously talking about my daughter in front of their daughter who happens to be in the same preschool class as Dreamsicle. The next time you want to say something to the effect that my daughter just needs to go back to China where she belongs-be adult enough to say those words to me-her mama. The person that will tear you to shreds with words. You've done enough damage to my girl through yours.

PSA To My Family

Dear loving boys whom I birthed and help shape into the wonderful men that you are today and your itty bitty sister whom I am still in the process of shaping...

Mother's Day is fast approaching and your mamma is hankering for some new gizmo's. Due to the unfortunate "wine incident of 2007" your mamma's cool as heck camera no longer works, nor does the throw in your purse replacement camera that your daddy thought would be an equal substitute for said cool as heck camera (which we all know-not so much). One mamma with no camera does not for a happy house make. Your mamma is also itching for an I*P*d. Think of all of the things it can do/replace to make your mamma happy and more streamlined while traveling with aforementioned itty bitty sister.

So there you go-two options in case you were thinking that flowers were just too much work. :)

Love from your mamma

Weekend Update

I spent yesterday cleaning the house-including Dreamsicle's play room and bedroom. We sorted everything into separate bins/boxes so that they would be easier to find. She helped me out quite a bit so today she has been "rediscovering" all of her toys. This rediscovery led to about 20 minutes of panic this afternoon when she decided that she should "wear" one of her large wooden beads on her finger. Half of a bottle of dish soap later we finally got her "ring" off of her poor swollen finger.

I would like to ask for prayers for McGyver's sister as she wrestles with some hard decisions regarding her husband.

I spent the majority of the day today at a CCW class. When I got home McGyver had done all of our laundry! It sure made for a much more relaxing evening than I was anticipating.

Now I'm just chilling, getting myself geared up for a busy week this week as we build the files for our new clients.

Good Day Sunshine

After two years of business he** I am finally seeing the light. We have been blessed with some new business that promises to help give us the leg up financially that we have so desperately needed and there is more in the pipeline. Happy, happy day!

Add to that the phone call I just received letting me know that our medical billing and coding certification courses are going to be offered summer semester at the local college and I am really looking forward to this spring/summer season!

Spring!

The weather has been beautiful here all week. I stopped by the drugstore to pick up some vitamins and they had a TON of Easter goodies on sale. Suffice it to say that our girl will be having a "hopping" good time opening up her Easter Basket this weekend.

I love this time of year. Everything is new, baby animals are everywhere-such a time of renewed hope that comes along with Easter.

But I do have to share a couple of little funnies that have happened lately. The snow has finally melted at Casa de la Dreamsicle which means that our chickens are running free. Everywhere. Including onto our deck (yes McGyver is fully aware that as much as I love my chickens they must be contained in some manner so that I am not forced to dodge chicken droppings on my way into the house this summer). Anyway-this past weekend Dreamsicle and I were sitting at the kitchen table when heard a peck-peck-pecking sound on the french doors. Imagine our surprise when we turned around to be greeted by 15 pair of chicken eyes staring into the house watching us!

In other fowl news-our office is in the city. I was completely taken by surprise this morning when I pulled into our parking lot to be greeted by a HUGE swan that looked at me like it couldn't figure out if it wanted to peck me or run for its life.