ALL OUR DUCKS IN A ROW

Wow! I can't believe our super crazy weekend! I never thought we would get everything done. Friday night I think I just went to bed early to veg out and read my Woman's Day magazine. I love that mag--I don't care what anyone else says. I read really intense books all the time, so I think it is my "sweet escape". I'm not into fashion or make-up and there isn't a fitness magazine that doesn't have anything new for me--being a personal trainer and all. I love our Adoption magazine--but that only comes like 4 times a year.

Saturday morning. . . Craig got up at 5 am and went for a bike ride after doing his computer stuff. He then went to rent an auger to dig the holes for our soon to be totally fenced in yard. The single one didn't work, but while Craig was trying to use it--it was pourning down rain. Jakob and I were inside laughing just a little bit. . . .Anyway--he returned it and brought back the two man. A very good reason to stay in good shape as we are saving about $1200 by installing the fence ourselves! We are both very sore still--but it got done. Although, if you are shorter than me. . . you probably wouldn't be able to use it. After returning the auger. . . we hit the Bloomington farmer's market for the first time--in between the rain showers--and got some fresh lettuce, cilantro, sour worms, dried fruit, some nut snack for Craig and we found the coolest duck family for our flower garden. We spent more than we were planning, but we both fell in love with the ducks and decided to buy them for our anniversary gift to each other--which, by the way is on July 18th--our 10 year!!

We left just in time as it started to pour--AND HAIL--again!! Ran home, got on clean clothes and went to Chuckie Cheese for a friend's birthday party. It was FREEZING in there! Jakob was scared of Chuckie and just wanted to drink the fruit punch. We came home and I left right away to go clean for 4 hours! (had to pay for the ducks somehow!) Came home, ate dinner and went for a bike ride. Went to bed--only to be woken up at 2:30 am by the retired neighbors returning from the bar. . . and deciding it was a good time to go swimming--go figure.

Then, up at 6:30am for a stretching client at the "J"--and off to clean again for 3 hours. Came home, ate lunch and went outside to check out all of our holes, water the garden and play a bit with Jakob. Then the boys took their naps and I laid on the couch. Off to a graduation at 4pm and home by 6pm. We were way too tired to go for a bike ride tonight. We hung out and watched TV and snuggled on the couch instead (and ate ice cream).

I feel so relieved that this weekend is over!! But, now, I have to get my own house ready for my parents this weekend, study for my First Responder test (which is on Wed.), plus all my other regular work. AND this 4th of July we will be finishing our fence!! It sounds exhausting. . . but I am so excited!! This summer is going by way too fast. I certainly don't want it to end. Our flower garden is absolutely stunning this year and has been bringing great joy to our family!! We are definitely taking advantage of every waking moment!! :0)

LSS ADOPTION NIGHT AT THE TWINS

Yeah! Woo! We survived the Twins game on Friday night! Containing a 2 1/2 year old in a very small space can be a challenging feat! We survived with only a few concerning looks during a few classic tantrum episodes of hitting, biting, screaming and throwing of whatever was in Jakob's hand at the time (Nunu, sippy cup, or popcorn). The best part was when we decided it was time to go and I spilled 1/2 of my very large Sprite that only cost $3-4 in the row below us. (There weren't any people sitting there, thank God, but it did splatter on the people in the next row.) Despite all the challenges, we had a good time and were able to experience Jakob's first baseball game at the Metrodome with Kaiti. He does look very innocent in the pictures. . . . doesn't he? :0) My little angel!

Childhood Summer

The last couple of mornings, I woke up, thinking I was 12 again. The smell of the air, the sounds of the birds, the breeze blowing in through the window, the perfect temperature--all there for the perfect summer days. I loved summer when I was a kid. We lived in the country and I loved sleeping out on our screened porch. The sounds of the bugs were soothing (only because I knew they couldn't get me on the porch.) It's been a really long time since I have been able to feel like I have been able appreciate these perfect days--partly because before Jakob, I was working full time, and partly because I started a new allergy medicine last year that has allowed me to actually be able to breath for once and not be completely miserable!

As I was walking out to the garage to get myself a Dt. Mt. Dew (I figure if I keep it out there I won't drink as much) I saw a Monarch butterfly and it totally reminded me of the time my sister and I spent the whole day catching butterflies--millions of them--and we put them all in the screened porch. It was kind of like the butterfly garden at the zoo! We were so excited to show my mom and when she came out on the porch she flipped out. Too this day I don't quite know why. If she was worried about the butterflies dying--or if it creeped her out because they are bugs. But, I just don't remember her being as excited about it as we were. (She was probably having flashbacks to the time we took all the baby Barn Swallows out of their nests because we wanted them for pets and found them in the garage.) Yes, we did very unusual things out in the country!

So for this summer, I have been doing my adult duties--which in my opinion--is to make summer time a wonderful memory for Jakob. So I will continue to go for bike rides, visit the parks, listen to music, sing and dance, play with bubbles, work on the garden, get out the little pool, try camping in the back yard, picnic on the deck, play baseball, hang out outside doing nothing, hang laundry on the line, search for bugs--and even catch butterflies--all while the rest of you are at work--and I will cherish every single moment of it--and relive a bit of my childhood too! Come on over and play!!

Jakob is terrified of the the thunder--really terrified. He thinks it is a monster outside--and lately, we have had quite a bit of loud thunder!! The other night, the storms were rolling in just as bedtime was approaching. I thought I would be ahead of the game and just blow up the air mattress and sleep with him downstairs. That way, if the weather radio went off, we wouldn't need to get him out of bed and scare him more. Craig gets up at some ungodly hour for work, so he was going to stay in bed. (In case you are wondering, our bed just isn't big enough for all of us--if you've ever slept in bed with a toddler, you know what I mean!). Well, Jakob fell asleep right away. . . pretty much dominating the entire queen sized air mattress and eventually I fell asleep too--waking up in the middle of the night with enough air missing from the mattress for me to be on the concrete floor. (Our basement is carpeted, but not with any padding--I would love to redo it right now, but it wil just have to wait.) So, I got up and moved to the couch, watching Jakob sink to the floor once I got off of the mattress. I picked him up and moved him to the couch as I was way too tired to carry him back upstairs. The "dominator" knows how to make himself comfortable and in no time was sound asleep! The cat even got up and left. Finally at around 4 am, I decided that I didn't want to suffer all weekend from a couple of poor sleeping nights so I took him back up to his bed. In the morning I got up thinking that it really wouldn't be that difficult to try camping as Jakob slept really well on the air mattress (until the air came out). We just need to patch our air mattress. We have three and they all have slow leaks. I am much too cheap to buy a new one as it is really not a dire necessity. The cat also left his mark. . . with a big hairball at the edge of the mattress. Why do they always have to do that on the clean sheets?

We have been thinking about getting our yard fenced in the rest of the way. Sitting on a quote from midwest fence wondering if we want to spend the money or not. It is something that we don't want to invest our own labor into. After doing our own roof last summer, we figure we saved enough money to pay somebody else to do the fence--but it still is quite a hunk of money--but we really need to fence in the yard. We will probably sit on this one for the whole weekend.

In the adoption world. . . .

There has been a lot of action at LSS lately. There are currently 9 prospective birthparents in family selection. We are in a pool of profiles for one and we know that our profile has been seen and NOT been rejected--yet. "Rejected" sounds kind of a harsh. I suppose it's not really rejection, but a possibility of a match. So, if you have a few spare moments, please pray for the person having to go through the daunting task of looking at profiles and thinking about placing their child--in fact, pray for anyone enduring a crisis right now--it may just help them feel good about one more day in their life. So that's where we are at with that. Waiting, wondering, hoping, praying, empathizing, and waiting.

Don't worry, I would keep you updated if anything happened.

STOP THE TABS PLEASE!

Argh! We've been having a few computer issues. . . It is extremely annoying especially when you have things you need to get done requiring the computer. Internet explorer opens hundreds of millions of tabs--everytime I try to go to a new page. STOP THE MADNESS!! IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!! If anyone knows how to resolve this. . . please feel free to let me know. I've tried changing the settings in my tools section/internet options. . . but nothing seems to help. For now--I think I won't be around "online" as much--I fear destroying my computer!! :0)