The big D

The video is about 3 minutes long but it doesn't get good until the middle where AJ is laughing hysterically at the fact that I told her Robyn was bringing a boyfriend. Shortly after that, they realized what going to Florida meant and went all CRAZY CAKES on me!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Winter Showcase 2012

Our dance winter showcase was a week ago and again it was mass chaos but super cute once they hit the stage.

Addy and Sophia have been in dance together for three years since Mommy and Me and although they aren't in all the same classes this year some pre-performance good wishes hugs were in order!

Tap....
Ballet
Watching them take stage, this year it seemed like they had a better sense of what it was all about. Of course the teacher stands just off the stage so all the dancers are looking at her but they did great! It just melts my heart to see Miss A up there dancing like a big girl!

I had some uploading issues and had to use a free trial of a video converter so ignore the wording across the top....
Tap:

Ballet:

I whip my hair back and forth! I whip my hair back and forth!

January... And it snows!

Well its been a weird winter. Hardly any snow, only one real snowstorm and that was this past week!

So we got some new hats, spent a bunch of time playing outside, and now the snow is already melting!

Made our first snow angel!
Got new shovels to shovel the yard and deck with. JT picked them out and considered every shovel in the store before picking which one was best for him and which one he should get for AJ.
When it has been really cold out the kids have enjoyed playing inside. AJ is very into taking pictures. She's getting pretty good! Here was a shot from this evening!
And JT wanted to take a picture of his favorite thing.... Mr Vacuum! (Seriously, this kid LOVES vacuums! The highlight of any trip to Target is going down the vacuum isle!)

A Post This Weekend?

Maybe!

I'm hoping to have some time to get a real post with fun pics posted later this weekend! In the meantime...

Ji'Robert got a second try at real finger coils! They are SO cute! In another inch I think they will be perfect!

And before bed borrowing one of Sissys sleep caps... AKA Happy Dreams Hat!

OZ

Miss A is very into dress up at the moment and was thrilled when she figured out she could dress up like 3 of the Wizard of Oz characters!

Scratch That (the last post)

We've already scratched our new years resolutions and its only 4 days in! Not totally scratched them but decided to focus on fun, family, and happiness this next year. Focus on doing what is right for us, what we want to do and not what others think we should do or what we think others think we should do..Not that we really did that anyway but focus on us and our needs. So if we want to be lazy for a while and not do anything or if we want to be over scheduled for a while well then so be it! And if we want to skip class, do something crazy, or sleep in then that's what we will do... ok well the sleeping in thing is pretty stretching it!

Addy and I had been talking the past few days about things she would like to do this year and today on the way home JT got in on the conversation as well... so here is our newly revised things to do (or not do if we so choose:)...

• Fly a kite at the park (apparently doing it at the park is very important)
• Pet an animal at the zoo (hmmm)
• Swim at the beach
• Go to the cabin with FABULOUS Aunt Cathy ("and Great Uncle Bob but he doesn't really need to come with since he lives up there so he will already be there")
• Ride a bus (compliments of JT)
• Build a fairy garden in our garden outside
• Swim in the ocean
• Go to a waterpark hotel
• Go down a big water slide (we got on a swimming kick for a while!)
• Go ice skating outside
• Eat a new fruit and vegetable
• Go to "house-a-bouncea"
• Road trip
• Family pics with Meena, Papa, and Aunt Robyn
• Bake for someone
• Do something for charity with the kids
• Make new friends
• Cherish the friends we have
• Be happy
• Do a project (I'm sure we will do tons of these!)
• Find a rock (like when we were up north on the rock beach)

It was fun to hear their thoughts (this is the short list!)... And then at the end today Addy said, "ooh wait, I have one more thing, we need to see my birth mom!" (insert heartache and tears here)... So we had an amazing wonderful painful conversation about what we can do for her birthmom etc. and where we are at. That would be the most amazing thing to do in 2012 and who knows maybe we can make it happen. We do have plans in the works to see JT's mom again this year and anything is possible! This adoption stuff isn't easy but the fact that my daughter is freely sharing her feelings, hopes, and dreams with me is awesome and something I want to continue to foster.

So for the next year we will be living in the moment, taking advantage of special time, making the most of even crappy situations (like my second surgery coming up), and finding the positive wonderfulness in everything. We will be stopping to smell the roses as much as possible!

New Years Resolutions?

What happened to the last year, it went by so fast!

Last year we had 3 family goals...

1- do the compact for 2 non-consecutive months: SUCCESS... sort of! We did the compact for 2 months but they happened to be consecutive months instead of separate. It went great and taught me a ton about my spending habits. It still affects me today. Just the other day I went to Target (y biggest pitfall) and wandered through the dollar isle and got nothing, I carried around two items that were on sale that I thought I needed and then decided against them, and managed to get out of the store with only the items on my list and a birthday gift for an upcoming party.

2- decrease processed foods: This went great the first half of the year. Then after surgery I was down and out for so long and we had tons of meals made for us that once I was feeling better the health factor went out the window. We are hoping to get back on track this year. I've already cleaned out the crap food out of our cupboards and went grocery shopping. 75% of my cart was fresh fruits and vegetables. The check out lady even commented on how much produce I was buying... um ya, its healthy!

3- increase family time: This was something that was much easier than expected. Having surgery forced us all to be together more and it was great! Even now this winter we are spending more time home as a family or doing activities as a family for parts of each day. This has become a way of life. We eat dinner together, play games, go for walks, do projects, etc.

Other things that happened this year, JT is talking a ton and has met all of his speech goals (YAY), he is very active and doing great. He is still on his seizure meds and hasn't had any more seizures minus the initial 10 prior to starting the meds. That is a GREAT sign!

AJ is doing well. She is writing her letters and numbers but still needs to work on the sounds they all make. She's taken a bunch of random classes this year (camp school, dance, gymnastics, swimming, preschool classes, etc) and has a passion for learning!

So next year? Just a couple small goals again. Things that are attainable with a little work!

JT's goals: learn to count to 20, learn his ABC's, hold a crayon/pen correctly, take a sporty class!

AJ's goals: learn the sounds of her letters, try a new hairstyle, go on an adventure!

Family goals:

• Eat healthy (a continuation from last year, decrease processed foods, find more healthy recipes etc.)
• Develop a database of meals (this sounds like way too much work but we meal plan which saves us a ton of money but its kind of a lot of work each time, if I would just type up each menu plan with ingrediants a few times then I could just print out a list and be done, so goal is 7 meal lists {number 1 almost done})
• Take a family vacation (plans already in the works)
• Go to church more regularly (hopefully every other week)
• Utilize our new zoo and childrens museum memberships!

Other goals:

• Get my new boobs! (and move on with life!)
• Take all my drugs as prescribed... including calcium and vitamin D (ugh this may be the hardest of all of them!)
• Declutter- clean out, get rid of

Nothing too exciting this year. Knowing that I have another surgery coming up and other things already planned for 2012, I don't want to do to much!

Year in Review

Well 2011 didn't go quite as planned but it was a blessed year none the less. Here is our year in review (I really don't like this type of post and would rather just summarize but felt it was a good time to reread some old blog posts and refresh what milestones we his this past year)

January:

• Addy ice skated for the first time and had her winter showcase for dance
• JT took swimming lessons with Jared

February:

• JT's first haircut
• AJ's big trip to Arizona to visit Amanda, Delaney, & Stacy
• Living room got painted

March:

• JT finally starts talking a little more
• Compact Month 1

April:

• Easter egg hunts, Bunny sightings
• Built a raised garden bed
• Compact Month 2

May:

• Family weekend at a hotel in the cities
• JT climbs out of his bed and transitions into a big boy bed
• A visit from a faraway friend
• AJ has her dance recital

June:

• Ji'Robert starts a new daycare and AJ starts camp school
• Life takes a detour and Jenn has surgery (www.choosingafuture.blogspot.com)
• Was reminded how wonderful my family and friends are, a big thank you to all of you who made meals, helped with kids, and said prayers!

July:

• Recovery was a bit rough.
• AJ & Mama head north for a relaxing retreat for the fourth
• Ji'Robert turns two and celebrates at chuck e cheese with the boys

August:

• State fair, photoshoots, back to the real world
• JT has his birthday party with Miss Nora
• Pintrest hits out household and the craftiness takes off to another level!
• Addy starts a new daycare
• JT diagnosed with seizure disorder

September:

• Family trip to Duluth
• Addy starts ballet and tap and has passed all of her swimming classes thus far
• Lots of trips to the orchard
• JT starts his anti-seizure meds

October:

• More trips to the orchard
• Went to heritage camp
• JT speaking WAY more
• Visit from Aunt Robyn

November:

• JT's hair gets a new do with the Nudred
• Thanksgiving spent with my parents

December:

• JT switches to quarterly speech and has met all of his milestones!
• AJ turns 4 and has many parties!
• Christmas is celebrated with all of our families

Overall we had a good year. Even with our challenges, we feel very blessed.

The grand event!

Miss AJ had her birthday on New Years Eve this year! Seemed like a good way to end the year and give our friends a child friendly event to go to on NYE! We had picked out a bunch of fairy and butterfly decorations but then when we went to go look at cakes, she REALLY wanted monster cakes (which were super cute!). So we scrapped the decorations and made our own monster decorations to go with the cakes. Due to doing everything right by the holidays, we ordered the cakes instead of doing them ourselves this year and boy was it easier!

She was very excited that the pink monster had the candles in it as she was very clear that she like that monster the best! Note the boards by each monster say Happy Birthday AJ. When the guy asked what it should say, I asked her if she wanted Addison or Addy and she picked AJ! We've been talking a lot about names lately and the significance of "AJ" and she really likes it.

Took her a few tries to blow out the candles!

What color cake did Ji'Robert eat???

Addy was adamant that her party needed a pinata! So she picked one out. It was pretty much indestructible!

I had to pry the thing open! The kids loved gathering the candy though!

A picture of the whole gang (minus baby Zara!).

And the dress up crew!The kids had a great time (and so did the adults!). Its nice at this point that the kids can run around and they are old enough that there really isn't anything for them to get into! The party went great and she's already asking when everyone can come over again!