Quote for the Week

Attitude is the crayon that colors our world

Dora Live

Delaney use to be in love with Dora the Explorer. When I bought the tickets to Dora Live was during a time that she only liked Dora.

Things have changed, she is in love with Dragon Tales now. I told her we were going to see Dora Live and she said that she didn't want to go. AHHH!! The tickets were not cheap. So I told her we were going anyway. In my head I was thinking, "You are going and you are going to LOVE it!" :)

We went on Saturday. SHE LOVED IT!!! When she saw Swiper, she immediately yelled, "Swiper, no swiping". She did so much better than she did at Care Bears! What a difference 6 months makes at her age. It also helped that it was at 11:00am and not 7pm.

Here are our pictures. It was a great show, I enjoyed it myself!

Zoo Time

Delaney is always beggging to go to the zoo. I have been telling her that as soon as Joshua is out for the summer, we will go.
We went on Thursday. We met some friends and had a great time.
It was HOT!! We had fun though!

Delaney is called "Monkey" by her Daddy. She actually loves it! Here she is as a monkey. Joshua said that he was the King monkey though because he has the banana.

Photo for Friday

This is a picture of the morning after Delaney came home. Joshua is still wearing his "I'm the Big Brother" t-shirt.

Look at his smile! Is he excited about his baby sister or what!

Chores Galore

Since it is only the first week of summer and Joshua is already stir-crazy, I decided I would add a few chores to the day.

Believe it or not, the kids were excited to help me with the chores list! Joshua has probably taken on more than he has realized but we can modify it as we go.

They arouse yesterday morning, excited to find out what they needed to do for chores. Any bets on how long that enthusiasm will last??

I think it is a great way to show them that they are an important contributing member of our family, and for now they absolutely LOVE it.

Do you have a place for a child?

Eastern European Weekend

We had Eastern European weekend last weekend. It was so much fun!

We had a man from Russia play along with my friend Tanya on their instruments. Tanya played on her Domra, a traditional Ukrainian instrument.

We also had the kids make picture frames for their pictures with the Matroyshka dolls. We also had many other fun and informative activites. After camp on Saturday, we all went to the park and had a fun picnic.

Joshua just loves his "Ukraine" camp and looks forward to it every year.

Quote for the Week

Don't cry because it is over- Smile because it happened.

Working Out

Tote That Shrub, Lift That Kale
If you'd like to build strong bones without joining a gym, consider planting a garden.

In an analysis of several different physical activities, only yard work and weight lifting turned out to be good bone builders. In fact, raking mulch, planting bushes, and pulling weeds -- or doing whatever your green space takes -- were even better for bones than jogging. Researchers suspect that the digging, squatting, lifting, and pushing that yard work entails easily equals a weight workout.



I found this on Real Age tip for the day. I worked in my garden a lot yesterday. I can tell you from the soreness I feel today that it is a great workout!

Photo for Friday

I love this picture of Delaney. She is so beautiful in it. I thought a pool picture would be a great way to start off our summer break.

We went shopping today for more flower garden items---stay tuned.

Summer is Here!

Tuesday was Delaney's last day of school, today was Joshua's last day. Summer break is officially here.

I decided that since it has been in the high 80s around here, I would kick off the summer time fun by putting their pool up.

Delaney's little chin was shivering but she insisted that she was having a great time and wasn't cold.

The kids were so excited about summer that dinner was served outside as well.

We are in for a busy summer with swim lessons, soccer camp, Boy scout camp, Korea camp, Eastern Europe camp, VBS and visits to their grandparents.

We are also going to take a trip to Chicago to see the King Tut exhibit.

Sounds busy but definitely a fun time!

Quote for the Week

Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.
Danny Kaye

Motherhood, Sweet Motherhood!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Here is what I have received for Mother's Day. My rose bush out in my garden even had two presents for me today!!

Joshua made a card in school. What he wrote in it was all from him. Be still my heart! Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful and loving family.

Mother's Day use to be a VERY hard day for me due to infertility. I refused to go to church on Mother's Day because motherhood was a heavy desire for me. It wasn't that I didn't want others to be Moms and celebrated, it just hurt so much that I wasn't one.

God led me through a very difficult trial with infertility. During the midst of it, I was very distraught and angry. Especially angry with God for making me struggle through it.

Now, on the other side of the trial, I can see that God had MUCH greater plans than me. Had I received the answers to my prayers at that time, I wouldn't be the mother of my two precious kids.

Going through infertility also eventually led me back to God and I am a much better person now. Not only do I have two ministries to witness to: Infertility and Adoption, but I am a much stronger and secure person for all that I went through.

For those of you that are still struggling and hate this day as I once did, your day IS coming! I know it is hard to believe but God has much greater plans and through the fire you will come out a refined and better person!

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Rooster Day Parade

We had our annual community parade in Broken Arrow. We have an adoption group at the church. We decided that a great way to spread the word about out group was to be in the annual parade. We had a blast!

Photo for Friday

Here is a favorite photo of the kids.
When Delaney was little, I would bring her into bed with me when she woke up each morning. When Joshua arose for the day, he would join us. I loved those moments!

This is how Delaney's hair looked for about the first year of her life. I would get it to lay down at the beginning of the day but as soon as it dried, it would stick back up. Too cute!

Highlight time

Delaney has been asking our hair dresser for red or purple color in her hair for about 1 1/2 years. She is serious about it. I guess she has seen me get color in my hair and she wants her favorite color in hers.

I had my hair colored on Wednesday and we decided to take the plunge.

Call me crazy! I have heard from others that if I give in to her at this age, what will happen when she is a teenager.

My thought is: This will not kill her or cause her harm. If she feels like she can ask me about things, all the better. Plus, she has been serious about this since she was 2 years old. What does it hurt? I say, pick your battles! Let your child express themselves.

The color is Boysenberry. It is very difficult to see in black hair unless the sun is hitting it just right. We put one streak on the right side of her head. I am not sure if the picture captures it or not. Can you see it?

Drawing

As the end of the school year draws near, many of Joshua's favorite activities are coming to an end. He had his last class of Young Rembrandts yesterday.

Here is his latest drawing. He must be very proud of it. He has shown it to me at least three times already. I think he did a Great job!

Quote of the week

MAKE YOUR MARK COUNT
A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.
Chinese Proverb

New Pet???

Joshua came running in after school today. He said that he wanted to keep the animal he found outside as his new pet. Well he had found an opposum. Not exactly the kind of animal you would want as a pet. Not much fun to play with unless you are wanting it to play dead all the time ;)

It is a little baby and is in my flower garden. It is kind of cute actually. I looked up the facts on it and it is considered great for gardens as it eats snails, slugs and other bugs. I assume it is probably attracted to the June bugs that are running rampant around here. Hey, if it will clean up my side walk, I just might let it.

I have advised the kids to not touch it or go near it. I told them it will bite and carries diseases. After reading more, I find that it is not true. Well it might scare them enough to stay away from it anyway.

It looks like I am not the only one enjoying my new flower garden

See you soon my dear friend!

Well the time has come for my friend to move back to New York. I have really enjoyed getting to know her. She is a great person!

I just regret that the busyness of life prevented us from getting together more often.

I will miss her and look foward to her return in a few years after her schooling is complete.

Thanks for being there for me, I have truly enjoyed our friendship.

Take care my friend-- see you soon.

Altered statues

I received two Willow Tree statutes for Christmas. It had always bothered me that the Mother/ Daughter statue never looked like me and my daughter. She does not have yellow or brown hair. All the Willow Tree statues have yellow or brown hair-- no black hair.

Well I took it upon myself to alter it a little. AHH-- much better!!

Clean Bill of Health

Joshua had his annual visit to the doctor today. He is completely healthy! He is 50 pounds and 49 3/4 feet tall. That makes him 50% in both height and weight. He has really caught up with his classmates on height since the beginning of school.

New Shoes

Delaney's feet are growing so quickly. She is now wearing a size 10 1/2 shoe at age 3 1/2 years. She received a brand new pair of Dora shoes last weekend.

The other day I asked her if she wanted to wear her new shoes so she could show them to her Papa and Nana.

She ran into her room to go get them. As I approached her room I heard the familiar song of "He's got the whole world in His hands". Well at least that is what I thought she was singing. She was actually singing, "I've got my new shoes in my hand, I've got my new shoes in my hand". I couldn't help but laugh, it was so precious and very creative!!

My REAL age

I have been wanting to take the Real Age test for sometime and everytime I remember it is because it has been on Oprah and then the site is too busy and overloaded.

Well, I took it last night and I am actually 4 1/2 years younger than my chronological age. Okay, I am still 30- something but I will take 4 years when I can get them. How much older/ younger are you?? Leave answer in comments.

Take the test at Real Age Test.

You are also referred to the site of Years Ahead so you can evaluate how well you are instilling good healthy habits into your child. We scored 7/10 stars for Joshua and 6/10 stars for Delaney.

Great information!

Take my picture mommy!

What a princess!

My Flower Garden

We were tired of battling weeds so we allowed our flower garden to do dormant for a couple of years while we battled the enemies. So, we have had a lovely patch of dirt for our pleasure ;)

Paul decided that we had defeated the enemy and that the time had come to put flowers back in the area. He has worked very hard on it and surprised me with my favorite--- Yellow Roses! Ahh, what a sweetie.

I selected some purple daisies. Delaney and I have a love for the same color-- Purple.

Friday's Photo

Okay, I am going to copy Maryland Mommy's Random Thoughts and have a favorite photo on Fridays. I hope I can keep up with it. I have plenty of favorites so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the idea Amy!

Petty, Petty-- who needs it!

My friends and I were talking over lunch about how some people can be so petty. We were talking in particular about those that actually believe that money makes them better than others. How Shallow!!

I am sorry but I don't need a gigantic house and expensive clothes and vehicles to impress anyone. I love who I am and don't need to waste my time trying to prove myself to anyone. If someone doesn't like me for me then I don't have a desire to be friends with them since I prefer "real" and sincere relationships.

My friend was saying that a girl was real nice but has overheard her saying negative comments about her to others. I am sorry but that is lame! Do people really feel better about themselves by putting others down? To me that signifies that they are the ones that have the real problems and insecurities.

I have been told that one thing people like about me is that I speak my mind. There is no question about how I feel about something. If I have something that is bothering me about someone then we talk it out.

Life is way too short to not value people for who they are. It matters not what the bank account says, it is how a person is on the inside that really matters!

Life Support

My church has a Life Support ministry. They have a wide variety of classes to make you a more spiritual and emotionally healthy person. I have been through a lot of the classes and have even facilitated a couple. All I can say is what a life changing ministry.

My interpersonal skills have changed drastically over the years. Not only that but the fellowship and friendships that I have formed are awesome. These women and Occas. men are like a second family.

If you have never been involved in Life support ministries, I highly encourage it. Like I said, it has been truly life changing!

Work, Work, Busy, Busy

Well I am now officially a Dossier Coordinator for Dillon. I am processing dossiers from home and am still working in the office until school is out.

I was worried that there may not be enough Dossier work for my satisfaction but so far that has not been a problem. No wonder my co-worker was ready for me to get trained and up and running.

WOW!! What a busy office! There should be no excuse for boredom for me for awhile.

Are you a Nerd?

I actually thought I would score to be more of a nerd. It actually says that I am not a nerd and I am actually cool. There is my confirmation-- I am cool :) LOL

How Sweet MOST of the time

Delaney is so endearing most of the time. Many times throughout the day she will look at me and say,"Mommy I love you!" or "Mom, I love you THIS much"(demonstrating with her arms just how much she loves me. Her lastest one, "Mommy, you are the BEST"

What a sweetie pie!

Flashback two weeks ago. Delaney was telling me she didn't want to go to school anymore. She wants to stay home with me. She then asked "Mommy, why do we have to go to school?"

--"So you can learn things"
"I don't want to go to school"
--"Well you have to it is the law. If you don't go to school then mommy will be thrown in jail" (okay this is a stretch but adults do get in trouble for their kids truancy)
"okay!"
--"You want mommy to go to jail?"
"yes"
---"Oh, I would be sad that I would never get to see you ever again. You would be sad too"
"nope, I just need my dada"

Aww, wasn't that sweet??? ;) Good thing the sweet remarks mean SO much more than the not so sweet, huh!

Once a Cub, now a wolf.

Joshua had his Cub Scout graduation yesterday. He was a Tiger Cub now he is a Wolf.
We have a great Boy Scouts camp in our town. It has a large pond, Archery, Shooting, Zip Lines and lots of room to run and just be a boy.

Joshua saw his first beaver dam yesterday. He was pretty excited.

For the festivities, we had a fishing derby (one of our dads works for Zebco so we get lots of goodie :). We also had a cook out and then the graduation ceremony.

Delaney had a treat by staying home with one of her favorite sitters. She has been begging us to leave so her sitter could come over. Seriously, she loves it!

What a difference!

I was told that Joshua would change alot during 1st grade. He really has. He doesn't seem like a little boy anymore.

He can read well. He still loves Egypt but now he reads the books to himself for the most part.

He really cares about his appearance now. He is choosy about what he wears. He puts gel in his hair and styles it just so.

He has a big boy room. He doesn't want any "baby" toys in his room.

He will always be my little boy but it is cool to see him develop into his own unique person.

6 Weird things about me.

1. When I clean the house, it has to be all or nothing. If I don't have time to dust, clean, vaccuum, etc, the entire house then I won't just clean one room. So basically my house is all dusty or all clean.

2. I am a germ phobic. I think this comes from being a nurse. I have to take a shower once I come home from the hospital. My shoes are left outside. Depending on the type of illness, I may even immediately wash my clothes. I have to clean my stethoscope with alcohol before I put it in my bag after work. I can not eat directly off any surface in the hospital, even the break room table. There may have been a chart there that had been in a patients room. I wash my hands until they bleed at work. Hey, at least it is "clean" blood ;)

3. I have to call home several times a day to see if there are any messages. Even if I am on my way home, I call and check. I guess I think that if someone is wanting me to do something then it is better to hear it while driving than to get home and have to load the kids back in the van.

4. I check my favorite web sites and blogs several times a day to see if they have been updated. If you have a counter and can see who has visited your page, you can bet I am the weird one that has checked it a couple of times a day.

5. If I have to change the setting on my alarm clock, I will check it several times and once more prior to sleep to make sure that I actually changed it and that it is still correct.

6. If I wake during the night and am unable to go back to sleep immediately, I start to feel real hungry and must get up and eat a snack in order to get back to sleep. If I don't, I will lay there for hours knowing that I am too hungry to sleep


Okay, I stop at 6. That is some of my weirdness. Let me know in the comments if you add a weird list to your blog. Actually I will probably know anyway since I check it multiple times daily.

Hiring a parent??

I was watching the news this morning and once again saw a report on parents hiring others to do their "parenting" duties. I had seen this before and it disturbed me then as well.

These parents are hiring others to train their kids to ride a bike, potty train, etc. Maybe I am old fashioned but I think that it is a priviledge of a parent to teach and celebrate these milestones with their children. How exciting when your child takes off on their bike for the first time without training wheels. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I can just see these children being asked by their future children, "Dad, did your Dad teach you to ride a bike?" "No, son. My Dad hired some stranger to teach me since he didn't have any time to spend with me. Other things were more important to him" How sad!

I say that if you don't have time to share experiences with your child then maybe you should have made the decision to not have children at all!

Happy Easter!!

Today was a beautiful day here for Easter. We went to church and then went to my Dad's house for lunch and egg hunting. My mom had to work :(.

The kids had a great time!! We were a little rushed since I had to go to work this evening. We managed to get everything in though

On the down side, my van's AC quit this morning. AHHH, I think the temperature reached over 90 today!

I hope everyone enjoyed a fun filled day.

Summer Time Fun!

The only thing predictable about Oklahoma weather is it is unpredictable. We had a beautiful day with the temperature climbing in the low 90s.

Joshua had received a water sprinkler for his birthday and has been asking to play with it. I told him that as soon as it was in the 90s that he could. I didn't realize it would be so soon.

They had a blast even if the water was a little cold.

Puzzle Fun

Joshua received an Egyptian puzzle for Christmas. We finally got around to working on it. Paul did the majority of the work. I helped some. Today, I worked on it until there were about 8 pieces left and let Joshua complete it. It is a pretty cool puzzle. Joshua wanted every one to know that it had 1000 pieces.

Dixie Chicks Return

I always enjoyed the Dixie Chicks music. I have several of their CDs. As many know, Natalie Maines made a derogatory remark about President Bush during a concert in London. This remark not only caused boycotts, loss of money but also death threats to their families.

I was one that really wanted to buy their album "Home" at that time but could not bring myself to do so after that slanderous incident.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Yes, America is the land of the FREE and the home of the brave.

Do individuals have rights to use the public forum to express their opinions? I know I don't like it. I don't like the fact that Kanye "gag me" West uses it, and the Sarandon/ Robbins duo abuse it. Ms. Barbra Streisand and Mr. Alec Baldwin have still not moved out of country as they had promised if Bush was re-elected. What is up with that?

I really am torn. There is a very fine line sometimes between Freedom of Speech and slander. Where should the line be drawn if any line is to be drawn?

Am I not doing the same thing by writing this entry? No, I don't have stardom to increase the spread of my opinions (and believe me I have many and share them often), but I am still stating them on a public forum.

So, I sit here torn. How far does the Freedom of speech carry us?

As far as the Dixie Chicks, I may or may not buy their new album. I dislike their views because they are not the same as mine. I know it is not right to do so but I am merely human. The video .Dixie Chicks Video is their reply song to the incident. Not a bad song and it definitely got me thinking.

Guilt Trips!

Since I have been working while Delaney is in pre-school and on weekends, I have found it difficult to find time for housework.

The last several times that I have tried to clean the house, Delaney has been home.

She follows me around and incessantly asks me to play with her. Not only that, I hear,"Mommy you don't like playing with me?" Oh my, break my heart.

If only the house would clean itself!!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had our annual potluck / Easter egg hunt at church yesterday. The kids always enjoy it. The food is great and they love to hunt for those eggs.

Joshua had a friend spend the night so he was able to enjoy sharing the experience with him as well.

Birthday Party

Joshua had his birthday party with his friends last night. We had it at Playhouse for Kidz. It is a place that has a lot of fun tube systems to climb through.

Our party was interrupted for a short period by the Tornado sirens. Oh yes, the joys of living in Tornado alley in the spring time.

We gathered the kids up and were thinking about taking them to the storm shelter at the hospital a mile away. Once they all had their shoes on, the siren quit sounding.

They all had a great time once the scare of tornado was over.

Joshua was very pleased with all his friends that showed up and he said he had a great time!

Party Paradise

We went to Party Paradise to play last night with some of our friends. The kids hadn't seen each other for quite awhile. They had an absolute blast!

Sadly, our friends are moving back to New York next month. We will be so sad to see them leave. We enjoy visiting with them. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get together as often as we would have liked. Our busy schedules seemed to interfere.

Maybe people are just TOO busy nowadays. I know we need to try and cut back on some of our activities. We have very little family time, let alone time to just visit with friends.

We will hate to see them move but wish them the very best!

Happy Birthday Son!

Today was Joshua's 7th birthday. It is so hard to believe that my baby boy is already seven. He has changed so much this year and also grown so much this year.

My Dad and Mom bought him glasses for his birthday. They also gave him my mother's old guitar. He has been asking for one. He received it last night after a special night out with them. This morning I woke up to him on his karoake saying, "Joshua Gottes! and then he played his guitar into the microphone. He has really been studying the sounds that he can make with the guitar. It would not surprise me one bit if he comes up with a song by himself. He has been very intense with playing it.

We took him to El Chico after church today. He enjoyed that. When we got home he opened his gift from us, the King Tut clock. He has been wanting for a couple of years now.

We had also agreed to paint his room for him. He was wanting murals of Egyptian scenes. Paul came up with a better plan. Offer Joshua the choice of a sarcophagus he has been wanting or get his room painted. As you can see, Joshua chose the sarcophagus. I guess we got out of the chore of painting :).

I know, not typical presents for a 7 year old, but then again Joshua doesn't seem to be the typical kid.

He gets to take cupcakes to school tomorrow for a mini party.

He gets his "kid" party with friends on Thursday. Lots of celebrating!