Welcome to our World

Another pandemic birthday and this boy came up with the perfect way for him to celebrate -- a way I probably wouldn't have allowed had we actually been able to have a party in person -- a Fortnite online party from 6:30-9:30pm on his big day.  We sent out Evites and delivered cupcakes the day of.  He wore his Fortnite pajamas all day long in preparation.  It was a dream come true to this guy and all I could do was shake my head in disbelief.  Oh, how I love this boy that is so different from me and yet so very lovable.  I am excited to see what the next year brings to him and hope with all my heart we can make some more dreams come true for him in 2020.  Happy 11th birthday, my favorite boy.  May this year be as magical as you are. The same week Danny had his birthday, Michelle finished 4th grade and three years at her Waldorf school.  It wasn't the way we wanted to say good-bye to a place she has loved but it is what it is.   I have been so ...

I don’t usually have my entire family sit down to watch a war film but this Memorial Day it was very important to me that they know this isn’t just a day off work to bbq with friends anyway.  I loved this movie!   I liked this quote from USA Today because my parents had showed me the old movie mentioned here: “Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command and the Navy's liaison for the film, says the movie is more accurate than 1976's "Midway" starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda. Cox ultimately gave the current telling a strong thumbs up.”  Making history come alive is one of my favorite things! To make Memorial Day a little more special Michelle and I made (and Hubby pulled out of the oven for us) a giant cookie/cake to later place vanilla ice cream, Hershey’s syrup and red white and blue M&Ms on top. Delicious!  Next time we are going to half the mini M&Ms inside but we liked the recipe ide...

Remember how I mentioned the neighborhood kids were playing together every day and summer plans kept being canceled?  When I asked my children what they would really miss one of the things I thought I could make happen and social isolate at the same time: swimming. Using the money from our canceled 3 day Bahamas cruise, we rented an Airbnb in Arizona for two weeks. Even though the children are still distance learning we decided to go now before the weather was hot enough to melt us the minute we stepped outside. We drove straight through — I’m pretty sure the longest my children have ever gone in a car in one day — complete with our dog Piper. Having a pool in your backyard with a huge fence is pretty amazing!  Our family used that swimming pool every single day and loved the different flora and fauna and NEWS flash! Piper is a really good dog when she’s not around Maisie (who is staying with my parents while we are away)!  It would be a shocker if the dog trainer hadn...

Many of you know my middle daughter’s name and would like to acknowledge there are many wonderful women who share her name. One of them is someone I hired to change my life and she did.   I was listening to a life coach podcast and the thought occurred to me to look for a life coach that specialized in adoption and I am so glad I did. I found someone absolutely perfect for our family.   Michelle  knows both what it is like to be adopted and what it is like to raise both biological and adopted children. She is full of warmth, light and wisdom. One thing I really appreciated about her was the lovely emails she sent to me after each session.  They were another wonderful way to remind me of what I wanted to focus on in the coming week.   Of many things, she helped me find that I treated my adopted children as though they had been handed the short end of the stick for the way their life story began. Not only was that untrue, but it had affected the way I treated the...

One of the cookbooks I ordered as a Mother's Day present arrived early and we have been trying out all sorts of recipes (especially the desserts) and have been loving it.  I've liked baking for years but as it turns out, I don't mind cooking when I'm not rushed and don't have a to-do list a mile long!  Who knew?  Even though we are having a lot of disappointments about activities being canceled I really enjoy not having places to be on a daily basis.  Our most recent cancelation sadness: no in person school for the rest of the year (I feel sorriest for my middle children since they will be switching schools in the fall), no CU sports camps for my two oldest (and no BYU volleyball camp for Kate), no Girl Scout in person day camp or our troop camp out scheduled for a return to Twisted Pine or touring Backpacker's Pantry, and no Project Launch for my youngest (which she actually cheered about).  Natalie likes having us all together and no where to be! One of the...