Breakfast views!

For the birds

Mischief

Sandy, wind-blown but zen

San Diego day 1

We had our favorite kind-of day. We just hung at the beach and played in the sand. We also found Grammy and Grampys house from the late 1950's and sent them pictures. This is our ideal vacation. Our friends Whitney and Saul are with us and took Borja to Seaworld. He was excited to see the orcas. We are hanging at our hotel waiting for the sunset.

Excited to be in California!

We arrived. The weather is perfect and we are looking forward to a great vacation with our friends.

Cali-bound!

Last minute packing for a trip to San Diego! Plane leaves in the morning so the house is abuzz with dreams of Disney.

Don't stop believing...

So last time he barricaded himself in his room after his tooth came out to block a parent from posing as the tooth fairy. Tonight he came in, and with a whisper, asked me to do him a favor. He asked me to pull his tooth and not tell anyone. Then he made me promise to not come into his room. He said he knows Santa is not real, but he's not sure about the tooth fairy. So the plan was to hide the fact that he lost a tooth because only a real tooth fairy would know.

The only problem is that I am a squeamish tooth puller. I tried and it went sideways, but wouldn't come out. Pulling teeth is not my gift--once he starts to wince, I back off. After a few failed attempts he gave up on me. Lauren called and promised to come over tomorrow night.

Update...sister to the rescue...she pulled another one.

Update from the Tooth Fairy....He was hugging the tooth pillow very tight, laying on top of it! As she was inching her delicate little fingers into the pillow, he moved! Poor tooth fairy, but the show goes on.

Meanwhile

While the girls were all dolled up for their first dance, we had the boys. Every time I ask them to squeeze in for a picture they end up touching each other, and this results.

First dance

The community center puts on a Father-Daughter dance for 1st through 5th graders and their dads. Gabi loaned her dad to Kenzie, so they all went. The girls went shopping today and they got matching Calvin Klein purple dresses.

Kenzie came home without a voice. Many of her friends were there. Next dance a boy takes her...oh no...moms aren't ready.

Step one - adoption - Feb 2013

Ever since Mason came into our lives 8-1/2 years ago we have wrestled with the question of adoption. I knew that this body was done having babies, but we weren't sure if our family was complete. As the kids got older, we got busier, but still had that lingering question. We have been so blessed in this life and there are so many needy kids in this world. But, the thought of adopting had so many questions, not the least of which was, can our family adjust. We decided to take in exchange students in part to help answer it. What would it feel like to have three kids? How would it impact Kenzie and Mason? Can they accept another person as a sibling or are we already at our max?

Last month Mason started thinking about Borja going home. He asked me "Mom, can I have a brother I can keep?" At the same time we discovered an avenue for us to adopt internationally--something we previously thought was impossible. 

So we decided to start the process of adoption! We don't know where this path will end--maybe we will have another child, maybe we won't. But yesterday we turned in the first round of paperwork, and are excited to see where we are led on this journey. We won't be able to share all the details here, but hope to track the milestones. I can share that we are looking internationally for a 5-8 year old boy. From this point forward it appears about a 18-month to 2-year process.

Kenzie and Mason are both excited. They know what it's like to bring someone into our house, change the structure of our family, and love a new brother. Because of David and Daniel, they have some idea of what it means to bring someone from a very different walk of life into our world.

That gives us enough time to think of a new, more inclusive, blog name. Suggestions?

"Just practice" = not so serious

She shoots and scores!

So I feel guilty because I have videos posted of Masons basketball but not Kenzie. I just went through all of it from her game today...it's more of a marathon than a race...not one instance quite captures an exciting moment. EXCEPT THE ONE I MISSED!! Kenzie caught a rebound and put it right back up to score! The look on her face, while not captured digitally, will forever be in my mind. Her hands went to her face and she looked at Cindy and me in utter disbelief and joy. Everyone cheered and she was on cloud 9 for the rest of the game.