Summer is Coming!

Well, this past Friday after work, I took the kids down to Sears. I had really gone to look at vacuums. Well, I had heard on the radio that it was going to be really hot over the weekend. I knew the last time it had climbed to 100 it was miserable. I saw one of those plastic pools out front and decided it was going to come home with us. Gotta love having a Yukon XL. Boy can I pile a bunch of crappola in that thing. Anyhow, I also knew that Steve could not kill it by stabbing it to death. Plus it was also small enough that it could fit on the back patio. The kids are having a blast in it and it kept them cool over the weekend.

Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!

OK, so my rough and tumble little girl got a HUGE bruise on her forehead. I felt so bad. It happened while I was at work. I didn't even see it when I got home since her bangs were covering it up. Both kids were in the bathtub that night and I was doing what I always do and wash their hair under the faucet while the tub is filling up. Well, when I put my had across Brooke's forehead, she started to scream bloody murder. I had no idea what was going on.Obviously, once her hair was wet and I took a good look at her I almost fell over. I felt so bad that I hadn't seen it and was a little panicky since the nanny hadn't told me anything either. I picked up my cellphone and called her and my little gymnast was climbing up the slide and fell and hit her head. The reason I sort of panicked was because the bruise was squishy. I was trying to call everyone and NO ONE was home. I ended up talking to my girlfriend Heather and her husband Wes who pulled me off the ceiling. Let's chalk it up to first time mom syndrome. The picture I posted here was a few days old. I had a hard time getting the full effect of the bruise on her head with the flash of the camera. Brooke is going to be the one that takes us to the ER not once but probably numerous times. Guess I should just prepare myself now. It's hard. I just felt bad and a bit guilty.

Potty Time

Well, back in February I bought a potty at Target.It sings, it has stickers and it has lights and music. You never knew a potty could do so much. Too bad it can't wipe your hiney! Anyhow, Brooke had started to tell me, "Pee Pee". Well, we have had it in their bathroom and I haven't been real serious about potty training. The kids aren't even 2 yet. Trust me, I am not one of those moms ready to go out and tell the world that I have a super baby who can pee early. No way.

Anyhow, there have been some times where the kids have been naked and they have peed. One time I had Brooke on the potty and told her to go before we got into the motorhome shower. She must have sat there for 5 minutes. I put her in the shower and in the process of me getting undressed, I hear her say, "pee pee." Sure enough, urine on the shower floor. Better there than the carpet. A good story on Kyle is that he was standing in the bathroom while I was drying Brooke off afte a bath. I swear to God it scared him cuz the pee shot right out and hit the side of the tub. I just laughed. Not very nice but it was hysterical to see the look of bewilderment on his face.

So here sits the potty in the bathroom. Well, the other night, Kyle hits it out of the park. When i am here by myself with the kids and it's bath night, I leave Kyle on the potty with a book(I swear I am training him to be an old man on the pot with a newspaper!). Thank you very much Erin for the great idea. They can only read those books when they are on the potty. So, Kyle has his..of course...Elmo book about going potty. I take Brooke into the bedroom to get her a diaper and some PJ's. I come back to the bathroom to get Kyle and the floor around the potty is wet. I am a bit confused. I lift him up and there is the pee in the potty. I made such a big deal about it the kid probably thought I was nuts! Needless to say, I picked up the rugs and put them in the wash and got him dressed. Stupid mommy forgot to turn on the potty so the lights, bells and whistles would go off when he went. You'd think I would've learned from that time but I didn't. A few days later, I am again single mommy and I do the exact same thing. Come back and Kyle has done it again. Way to go BOO! Here I bought a $30 potty to not use the best part of it. Here are some pictures of the kids on their potties. I ended up buying another one since they started fighting over the one I had. They both wanted to sit on it at the same time. Go figure.

ELMO

I have decided that since the kids are a bit nutsy about Elmo, I am going to do their 2nd birthday party in an Elmo theme. I now understand why moms can have selective hearing. The kids and I are in the car the other day headed to wherever and all I can hear from the back seat is, "Elmo, airplane, Elmo, airplane, Elmo, airplane." No wonder I walk around singing kid songs.

Anyhow, I got to stay home with the kids due to childcare issues so I decided to do a trial run of these cupcakes. I got the idea online about making Elmo cupcakes. I thought that would be really cute for the kids to have their own separate cupcake sort of like their own 1st birthday cake. I just really also want to have a small get together and not something really over the top. We can save that until their 16! Anyhow, here is a picture of my cupcakes....the red could be a little redder and the stupid Necco candies only have ONE pair of white in the package. I have to find something else that will work for his eyes. Other than that, i think they turned out really cute. Kyle got up first from his nap so when I brought him downstairs, I showed him the cupcakes. I asked him who it was. He told me, "bucket." HUH? I asked him again and i got the same answer. I was a bit disappointed. I thought, well, they sort of look like Elmo. Brooke gets up awhile later and i do the same thing. I bring her to the cupcakes and ask, who is it baby girl? She says, "Elmo!" Thank God. I am no June Cleaver nor am I Betty Crocker but I thought it would be fun to make the kids these for their birthday. It was a fun day to be with the kids and not be at work.

I took some pictures with the kids and a cupcake. I told them to not touch it until after I took a picture. Brooke listened...Kyle just couldn't wait to dive into it. We did eventually eat it however Brooke didn't want to eat Elmo. She just kept saying, Elmo. I tried to explain that it was a cupcake and that we could eat him. No dice.

Kyle...the wild sleeper

Who would have ever thought that KYLE would be the one to escape from the crib first. Brooke has been our climber from the get go. Although, she climbed out once in a sleep sack nonetheless and fell pretty hard. We're thinking that she learned pretty good on that one enough to keep her in bed until someone comes for her. Kyle on the other hand has VERY skillfully learned how to climb out of his crib. Fortunate for us, he has yet to get the door handle down. Soooo, this weekend I made a trip to Babies R Us and bought a crib tent. It's basically a tent that goes over his crib but this also has mesh sides to it. Our other problem is that he is like a tornado in his bed. He must do 200 flip flops in there, turn around 15 times and flail around like there's no tomorrow. He has been waking up in the middle of the night and I am pretty sure it was because he had an arm or a leg stuck through the rungs of the crib. Good God!

My main reason for making the trip this weekend was due to the fact that when I went into his room Friday night, as always to tuck him in, I was walking over to the crib and there was NO KYLE! My heart skipped a few beats and with the light on in the hall, there was Kyle in the corner of his room, asleep on the floor. WTF! I run into our room to get Steve who is brushing his teeth and I tell him he has to come NOW. I sort of freak him out a bit but I wanted him to see where HIS son was. He walked in and went straight to the crib as well. I then pointed to him on the floor. We both almost start cracking up. I pick Kyle up and place him in the crib and he stirs a bit but goes right back to sleep. No wonder parenthood gives you grey hair.

So on another night, I go into Kyle's room to tuck him in. Steve and I always do this before we go to bed and put their blankets back on them. Well, I go in there and Kyle has one arm out of his PJ's and the PJ's are up around his neck. He also has one leg sticking through the rungs of the crib. I almost started laughing so hard. Of course I ran to get the camera. I am so surprised the flash going off in the pitch dark didn't wake him up. I took the picture, put his PJ's back on and tucked him in. Here is what I am talking about:

Spring Break

For Spring Break this year, we decided to fly up to Washington state and visit my family. It has been since September since everyone else has seen the kids. We left on a Friday at the crack of dawn. Oh what fun it is to travel with 2 kids on your lap especially ones that have been up since 4:30 in the morning.

We had such a variety of weather. When we landed, it was a snow/rain mix. Steve and I went out later on that day with a realtor (yes, we are looking for a house up there to buy. Our plan is to move in 5 yrs when Steve retires.) and were out on the Sammamish Plateau and it was full on snowing. Hello! It doesn't snow that much in Seattle let alone in April. A few days later, it was sunny and then when we left it was raining. Go figure! Steve was able to catch a Mariner's game with my dad, sister and brother in law. Grammy and I stayed behind and took the kids to the park and froze our you know what's off. Thank God for the Starbucks before hand. The funny thing is I had just come from a swim meet at school the day before where I was pulling my capri pants up to get some sun since it was in the low 80's. What a drastic change.

On Saturday night, we celebrated my sister in laws 40th birthday. It started to snow again that night but this time it was actually sticking to the ground. We took the kids outside and my little cautious one Kyle did NOT like the snow. He didn't want a lot to do with it. Of course Brooke would have been out there forever. Here are some pictures of the kids in the snow:



We always new that Kyle loved music so we put him up at the piano and he had a blast. He would just be pounding away at the ole ivories.


We had a great week and as usual, it went by too fast. I miss being around my family and I hate the fact that the kids are growing up NOT being around them that much. Family was always so huge when I was growing up. I would move back this summer if it was possible but Steve has 5 more years. We'll be back up there this summer hopefully with some nicer weather.

Easter

I can't believe I am writing this but it is now our 2nd Easter together. WOW how the time flies. This year the Easter bunny photo wasn't as good. I believe I posted it before. Kyle is crying but oh well. I'm sure Santa is going to be the same way. I'd be surprised if they are both not crying. Anyhow, it was a really great Easter. Unfortunately, Daddy was working but Brooke, Kyle and I headed down to some friend's house in Yorba Linda for the day. It was a really warm day so we brought our bathing suits to go swimming. Of course Auntie Janet spoiled the kids with Easter baskets. I'd brought mine as well. The kids did really well with the eggs. Leslie had put out a bunch of eggs all over the place. Some were really easy for the kids. We hadn't quite started the egg hunt and Kyle was finding the eggs. Les was nice enough to give them these really small baskets and they were off and running with the eggs and putting them in their baskets. Every time Kyle got one, he would turn to me and say, "EGG!" They both looked so cute that day in their Easter outfits. Thanks Auntie J for the dress. Here are some pictures from the day:





The kids are growing up way too fast. I just can't believe how much they have grown. I don't have my little babies anymore. It was a great day with friends and my two little ones. They were spoiled with numerous baskets from mommy and daddy, Grammy Joyce, and Auntie J. They kids are well loved.

Here are my favorite pictures from the day. My small camera decided to break so I grabbed the big one. I always forget what great pictures it take!

MARCH 20TH - Happy 1 year "Gotcha Date"

Well, it has been one year since a Russian judge granted us the legal parents of Brooke and Kyle. I can not believe it has been a year. So much has happened and they have changed so much. Kyle has gone from a preemie boy who couldn't sit up on his own to walking, running, talking and loving his alphabet letters and airplanes. Brooke has gone from the Orenburg scowl to laughing and smiling all the time and climbing anything she can.

Here are some pictures of them:

Brooke-
referral photo









6 months home

1 Year Home

Kyle -
referral photo(poor guy looks like he has a black eye)

6 months home














1 year home













It has been an awesome ride so far. There are times that I catch myself just looking at them and thinking to myself and wondering how we got sooooo lucky. We have such great kids. I need to add another song to my blog by Rascall Flats. It's called, The Broken Road. It may be about a relationship by I really liken it to infertility and my path towards these beautiful children. Everytime I look at them, "God bless the broken road, that lead my straight to you!"

Brookie and Kyle...Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know. All the way to the moon and back.