Friday, December 30, 2011
Yesterday we let the kids play and cleaned up a little bit while Melinda and I did some very important adoption-related paperwork (that took most of the day).
Today is all about recovering the house from Christmas time. I am about to get down all the boxes from the attic and the house will be reset to how it was before November 17th when Melinda started setting everything up for our favorite holiday. Tomorrow night (New Years Eve) will come and go - no big plans and then Sunday (New Years Day) we will go to a party with our good friend Susan Durr.
Over the last few days of his vacation, Jack will get ready to start his new four, one-semester classes that start January 4, 2012. That means revising the course syllabi, fixing his Edline page (daily calendar of assignments).
Loaded Back Up, We Head Home in a VAN!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
We thought this all out in advanced and knew there was no way we could get all the presents back -- especially including the two awesome, 6-foot-tall, tee-pees with matching lounge chairs (yes, you read that right) that Nanny got X and A for Christmas. Those four very cool, but bulky gifts, plus the bounty of other gifts from Kiki's Christmas visit and Papa and Grandma's Christmas visit just would not fit in our SUV for a trip back home. So here was the plan...
Jack drove Papa's mini-van (that is not so mini) to Nacogdoches and Nanny's house. He loaded it all up including the kids and then drove back to the farm (with Melinda following right behind in our SUV). We left the SUV at the farm and will return for it January 6th.
After getting some neat games from Tommy when we drove up (the kids did not even get out of their car seats) and after Melinda jumped into the van, our family drove back home.
We also intend to use the van on Thursday (while we have it) to pick up a chest of drawers for X (that we loaned Melinda's cousin Tiffany years ago) and to take a crib back to Nanny's (that we borrowed from Kiki for foster care). We will then return it and get our beloved SUV back,
We had a great time, but are ready to sleep in our own beds. The kids are also ready to actually get to play with the cool presents that they have been getting the last few days.
Yea, Christmas Time!
We thought this all out in advanced and knew there was no way we could get all the presents back -- especially including the two awesome, 6-foot-tall, tee-pees with matching lounge chairs (yes, you read that right) that Nanny got X and A for Christmas. Those four very cool, but bulky gifts, plus the bounty of other gifts from Kiki's Christmas visit and Papa and Grandma's Christmas visit just would not fit in our SUV for a trip back home. So here was the plan...
Jack drove Papa's mini-van (that is not so mini) to Nacogdoches and Nanny's house. He loaded it all up including the kids and then drove back to the farm (with Melinda following right behind in our SUV). We left the SUV at the farm and will return for it January 6th.
After getting some neat games from Tommy when we drove up (the kids did not even get out of their car seats) and after Melinda jumped into the van, our family drove back home.
We also intend to use the van on Thursday (while we have it) to pick up a chest of drawers for X (that we loaned Melinda's cousin Tiffany years ago) and to take a crib back to Nanny's (that we borrowed from Kiki for foster care). We will then return it and get our beloved SUV back,
We had a great time, but are ready to sleep in our own beds. The kids are also ready to actually get to play with the cool presents that they have been getting the last few days.
Yea, Christmas Time!
A Kiki Christmas / Shopping for Suits, CoinStar and Tommy
Monday, December 26, 2011
A Kiki Christmas
While the kids had Christmas at home and at Grandma and Papa's on December 25th, today they traveled down to Katy, TX to see Kiki at her home (last time X and A saw Kiki it was at her lake house on Lake Livingston, so it was a bit of confusion for them).
Nanny, Melinda, X and A all crammed themselves into a present-filled car and drove down for the annual celebration with Kiki and the Rickels. Chance, Courtney and Cory (along with Kiki) were all there to celebrate the holiday.
After the big present unwrapping, the group played the round-robin, present-swapping, "Twas the Night RIGHT Before Christmas" game mentioned in an earlier blog.
Melinda, Nanny, X and A re-packed the car and headed back late to Nacogodoches. They all were happy, but exhausted from a day of travel and frivolity.
Shopping for Suits / CoinStar / Tommy
Jack stayed at Papa's Farm to spend some much-needed time with Erich (who we saw for a short time recently) and Alex (who we have not seen since July). Papa, Alex and Jack spent the morning shopping at a variety of stores in Nacogodoches to get Alex some suits for law school. There were some great post-Christmas, early-bird sales and Alex got a gift card for just this occasion. By noon, Alex has everything he needed.
Erich was getting a little antsy (since he had been on the farm for awhile anyway) so Jack and Erich made a run back into town to dump a bunch of coins into a "CoinStar" machine in Walmart. It took 25 minutes to dump it all in and the lady at the Customer Service window (who took the receipt to give the cash) had to do a double-take when she saw the total. Way to go Grandma and Papa and the coin jar! It was just a meaningless task to give Erich something to do, but it got the two of us out together for a few hours to talk.
In the afternoon Jack's uncle (Grandma's brother), Tommy came to the farm and we got to spend some great time with him. Jack spent a second night at the Farm.
Another fun, but long Christmas-season day!
A Kiki Christmas
While the kids had Christmas at home and at Grandma and Papa's on December 25th, today they traveled down to Katy, TX to see Kiki at her home (last time X and A saw Kiki it was at her lake house on Lake Livingston, so it was a bit of confusion for them).
Nanny, Melinda, X and A all crammed themselves into a present-filled car and drove down for the annual celebration with Kiki and the Rickels. Chance, Courtney and Cory (along with Kiki) were all there to celebrate the holiday.
After the big present unwrapping, the group played the round-robin, present-swapping, "Twas the Night RIGHT Before Christmas" game mentioned in an earlier blog.
Melinda, Nanny, X and A re-packed the car and headed back late to Nacogodoches. They all were happy, but exhausted from a day of travel and frivolity.
Shopping for Suits / CoinStar / Tommy
Jack stayed at Papa's Farm to spend some much-needed time with Erich (who we saw for a short time recently) and Alex (who we have not seen since July). Papa, Alex and Jack spent the morning shopping at a variety of stores in Nacogodoches to get Alex some suits for law school. There were some great post-Christmas, early-bird sales and Alex got a gift card for just this occasion. By noon, Alex has everything he needed.
Erich was getting a little antsy (since he had been on the farm for awhile anyway) so Jack and Erich made a run back into town to dump a bunch of coins into a "CoinStar" machine in Walmart. It took 25 minutes to dump it all in and the lady at the Customer Service window (who took the receipt to give the cash) had to do a double-take when she saw the total. Way to go Grandma and Papa and the coin jar! It was just a meaningless task to give Erich something to do, but it got the two of us out together for a few hours to talk.
In the afternoon Jack's uncle (Grandma's brother), Tommy came to the farm and we got to spend some great time with him. Jack spent a second night at the Farm.
Another fun, but long Christmas-season day!
Christmas Day! Santa "Proof of Life" Photo?
Sunday, December 25, 2011
I swear this is a completely unedited photo that I (Jack) took last night. I thought I saw some big guy in red and took this shot. It was late last night when I heard some noise. I ran in with the camera only to find the room filled with gifts. I quickly photographed the fireplace. Sorry, this was the best shot I could get. This may be the "Big Foot" moment for Santa Claus.
From what I can tell. these are black boots with some fireplace ash on them.
This second shot shows the fireplace right after the boots left. Whoever was in the fireplace tracked a bit of ashes and soot into the house. Not a problem, though, whoever it was left lots and lots of gifts for two awesome kids (X and A).
The kids woke up about 6:15 to a room full of presents, a plate of eaten cookies and drunk milk and a note from Santa!
It took almost two hours to open all the gifts (and get them out of their super-tough packaging plus putting in all the batteries). The kids had fun playing with the rocking horse, bicycle, Legos, dinosaurs, whales, hot wheels and much, much more.
Around 9:00 we finally ate breakfast, cleaned up a bit and packed to go to Grandma and Papa's Farm.
By 10:30 we were on the road and arrived 2 1/2 hours later. Erich was there already and Alex arrived soon thereafter. We had an awesome Christmas meal (thank you Grandma and Papa) and then opened Christmas presents in the sun room (for another two hours).
Jack stayed at the farm to spend some time with Alex and Erich while Melinda, X and A left early in the evening to go to Nanny's.
I swear this is a completely unedited photo that I (Jack) took last night. I thought I saw some big guy in red and took this shot. It was late last night when I heard some noise. I ran in with the camera only to find the room filled with gifts. I quickly photographed the fireplace. Sorry, this was the best shot I could get. This may be the "Big Foot" moment for Santa Claus.From what I can tell. these are black boots with some fireplace ash on them.
This second shot shows the fireplace right after the boots left. Whoever was in the fireplace tracked a bit of ashes and soot into the house. Not a problem, though, whoever it was left lots and lots of gifts for two awesome kids (X and A).
The kids woke up about 6:15 to a room full of presents, a plate of eaten cookies and drunk milk and a note from Santa!
It took almost two hours to open all the gifts (and get them out of their super-tough packaging plus putting in all the batteries). The kids had fun playing with the rocking horse, bicycle, Legos, dinosaurs, whales, hot wheels and much, much more.
Around 9:00 we finally ate breakfast, cleaned up a bit and packed to go to Grandma and Papa's Farm.
By 10:30 we were on the road and arrived 2 1/2 hours later. Erich was there already and Alex arrived soon thereafter. We had an awesome Christmas meal (thank you Grandma and Papa) and then opened Christmas presents in the sun room (for another two hours).
Jack stayed at the farm to spend some time with Alex and Erich while Melinda, X and A left early in the evening to go to Nanny's.
Rudolph and Jingle Lead the 1st Annual "Nelson Toys Parade"
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Rudolph leads with Jingle right behind on the firetruck, lead the 1st Annual "Nelson Toy Parade" celebrating the fun they all had with Jingle this holiday season. Tonight he heads back to the North Pole to stay until next Thanksgiving Day. X and A hope that he is giving a good final report to Santa. In the meantime, Jingle enjoys this last day, as do all his toy friends.
The whole family (Jack, Melinda, X and A) try to enjoy a final day before the busy Christmas events.
After setting out cookies and milk for Santa, cheese for Santa Mouse and reindeer food on the porch (hay with special sparkles that help Santa's reindeer fly) we all head to bed for a nice winter's nap.
Ooh... tomorrow could be fun!
The whole family (Jack, Melinda, X and A) try to enjoy a final day before the busy Christmas events.
After setting out cookies and milk for Santa, cheese for Santa Mouse and reindeer food on the porch (hay with special sparkles that help Santa's reindeer fly) we all head to bed for a nice winter's nap.
Ooh... tomorrow could be fun!
Jingle Makes a Snow Angel as a Nutcracker Looks On
Friday, December 23, 2011
That silly Jingle. He decided to dump a bunch of flour on the coffee table and make a snow angel. The nutty nutcracker nearby just watched and laughed.
Melinda and Jack make final preparations for the "big day" in two days.
Melinda and Jack make final preparations for the "big day" in two days.
Jingle Gets Eaten by The Nutcracker! / We All Go to See TBT's "The Nutcracker"
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Jingle Gets Eaten by The Nutcracker
Jingle plays around with his buddy The "Drummer" Nutcracker (not to be confused with Drummer's brother, The "Soldier" Nutcracker).
He pretends that Drummer boy is eating him for breakfast. What an imagination!
The Whole Family Goes to See "The Nutcracker"
Tonight is the last night of The Nutcracker as performed by Texas Ballet Theater. Our friend Lucas performed as The Nutcracker, Troxler was Arabian and Grandfather, Sasha was Father and Gopak, Tom was a Chinese, Letecia was Sugar Plum Fairy, Carrie was Snow Queen.
We thought it started at 7:30 PM, so we left at 5:40 PM (plenty of time going from our house northwest of Dallas to downtown Fort Worth. We started thinking and Melinda realized (once we were on the road) that it actually started at 7:00 PM instead. We arrived at 6:56, so Melinda dropped of X and myself (Jack) at the door and went to park. We ran in, got our tickets from Will Call (Thanks, Ben Stevenson!), ran to the restroom and barely made it in before the doors closed. Melinda and A were too late for the first act.
Melinda and A had a very special hour at Starbucks across the street where he got to pick out a cookie and drink. In the meantime, X stayed glued to his chair watching every second of the ballet. Of course, he loved at the end of the first act when it "snows" on the audience.
Melinda and A joined us in the second act and little 3-year-old A made it all the way to the Prince does his final solo. 5-year-old X was getting antsy about then, but lasted to the end.
What a great performance! Go TBT!
Jingle plays around with his buddy The "Drummer" Nutcracker (not to be confused with Drummer's brother, The "Soldier" Nutcracker).
He pretends that Drummer boy is eating him for breakfast. What an imagination!
The Whole Family Goes to See "The Nutcracker"
Tonight is the last night of The Nutcracker as performed by Texas Ballet Theater. Our friend Lucas performed as The Nutcracker, Troxler was Arabian and Grandfather, Sasha was Father and Gopak, Tom was a Chinese, Letecia was Sugar Plum Fairy, Carrie was Snow Queen.
We thought it started at 7:30 PM, so we left at 5:40 PM (plenty of time going from our house northwest of Dallas to downtown Fort Worth. We started thinking and Melinda realized (once we were on the road) that it actually started at 7:00 PM instead. We arrived at 6:56, so Melinda dropped of X and myself (Jack) at the door and went to park. We ran in, got our tickets from Will Call (Thanks, Ben Stevenson!), ran to the restroom and barely made it in before the doors closed. Melinda and A were too late for the first act.
Melinda and A had a very special hour at Starbucks across the street where he got to pick out a cookie and drink. In the meantime, X stayed glued to his chair watching every second of the ballet. Of course, he loved at the end of the first act when it "snows" on the audience.
Melinda and A joined us in the second act and little 3-year-old A made it all the way to the Prince does his final solo. 5-year-old X was getting antsy about then, but lasted to the end.
What a great performance! Go TBT!
Jingle Building a Car
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Jingle starts on X and Jack's build-a-car project. He got one set of wheels and axle and was starting on the second set.
Later in the day, Jack and X finish it off and X paints it. What a great job he did.
Later in the day, Jack and X finish it off and X paints it. What a great job he did.
Jingle Animoto Video / Vote for Your Favorite Jingle Photo / Black Nails Mix / Twas the Night Before Christmas Wordle
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Check out my (Jack's) Animoto Video of all the Jingle photos to date - set to Carol of the Bells. All of the items on this page are projects I am doing for training (for Richardson ISD).
Next is Jack's Black Nails Mix.egg created on Aviary (a free online tool). It took about 20 min to figure out the program and create this. It lasts about 1 min, 18 sec. long.
Finally, this is my Wordle of Twas the Night Before Christmas (by Clement Clarke Moore). Click to go to it.
I hope you enjoyed these. I got 3 hours of credit for them. Just 15 more hours of online training before April 2012. Maybe I can get in another 3 to 6 hours over this holiday break :-).
Check out my (Jack's) Animoto Video of all the Jingle photos to date - set to Carol of the Bells. All of the items on this page are projects I am doing for training (for Richardson ISD).
If you like these Jingle, the Elf on the Shelf photos, Vote for Your Favorite. The poll is limited to the first 30 respondents, so vote early. Sorry, only one vote per visitor.
Next is Jack's Black Nails Mix.egg created on Aviary (a free online tool). It took about 20 min to figure out the program and create this. It lasts about 1 min, 18 sec. long.
Finally, this is my Wordle of Twas the Night Before Christmas (by Clement Clarke Moore). Click to go to it.I hope you enjoyed these. I got 3 hours of credit for them. Just 15 more hours of online training before April 2012. Maybe I can get in another 3 to 6 hours over this holiday break :-).
Jingle Build's Some Muscle and Climbs Rope / Last Minute Gifts and Crafts
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Jingle Rope Climbing
Jingle has been missing his work out at the North Pole Gym these last few weeks and so tries to get in some upper muscle building as he climbs a long jingle bell strand from floor to ceiling. Go, Jingle, Go!
Gifts and Crafts
Jack made a quick gift run for a few last-minute gifts used in the 12th Annual Burgess "Twas the Night Before Christmas" gift swapping game. We collect odd-ball, small, fun gifts all year long in anticipation of this ritual set to take place this year at Kiki's in Houston in several days. Everyone will sit in a circle with a starting gift. Melinda will then read a "special" version of story that has lots of the words "right" or "left" substituted in. When the participants hear one of those two words, they pass their gifts in the corresponding directions (e.g. "Twas the night RIGHT before Christmas"). As you can probably guess, whatever gift you end up with, you open and get to keep. As you can probably also imagine, a wine bottle stopper that a 4-year-old might end up with is exchanged for a cool electronic game that an adult might end up with. Everyone ends up with something fun that was probably picked out for them before the game even started :-).
The boys also made some MORE crafts (nope... there are still more to do) for presents.
Jingle Rope Climbing
Jingle has been missing his work out at the North Pole Gym these last few weeks and so tries to get in some upper muscle building as he climbs a long jingle bell strand from floor to ceiling. Go, Jingle, Go!
Gifts and Crafts
Jack made a quick gift run for a few last-minute gifts used in the 12th Annual Burgess "Twas the Night Before Christmas" gift swapping game. We collect odd-ball, small, fun gifts all year long in anticipation of this ritual set to take place this year at Kiki's in Houston in several days. Everyone will sit in a circle with a starting gift. Melinda will then read a "special" version of story that has lots of the words "right" or "left" substituted in. When the participants hear one of those two words, they pass their gifts in the corresponding directions (e.g. "Twas the night RIGHT before Christmas"). As you can probably guess, whatever gift you end up with, you open and get to keep. As you can probably also imagine, a wine bottle stopper that a 4-year-old might end up with is exchanged for a cool electronic game that an adult might end up with. Everyone ends up with something fun that was probably picked out for them before the game even started :-).
The boys also made some MORE crafts (nope... there are still more to do) for presents.
Jingle Plays Hockey / Grocery Shopping Most of the Day / Speech Evaluation for X
Monday, December 19, 2011
Jingle Plays Hockey
Perhaps in celebration of Chance's birthday, Jingle played hockey with a few friends. Notice the great splits that Woody does to stop the puck. Nice save!
Grocery Shopping Most of the Day
The whole family started at Walmart and loaded up on some much-needed refill of groceries (it has been very busy around here and we just have been avoiding going to Walmart during this season). After unloading everything, we cleaned up a little and met with Tyler (our Covenant Kids case manager). Later A and Jack head out to the Asian Market for some stir fry "fixins" and then went to Kroger for a few items that we knew were NOT at Walmart. At least we did not have to shop for presents and got to avoid any "kids" isles.
X's Speech Evaluation
While meeting with Tyler, X's speech therapist (Jennifer) and her supervisor from Therapy 2000 come by for X's 6-month evaluation. X did incredibly well and, in-fact, jumped up an entire standard deviation in one of the two areas evaluated (putting him just two point below "normal" range). The other area he increased almost as far, but he had a long way to go. Since Therapy 2000 averages the two areas before determining if he still qualifies for their services, he will still be doing twice-weekly speech therapy. With the combination of school, our diligent work at home and certainly Jennifer, he has made significant progress. The therapist evaluating even said, given the trajectory of his progress, X might not even qualify in six months (meaning he would be within normal range of other children his age). This does not mean that he won't still have a learning difficulty or that previous diagnosis were incorrect. He is just learning how to cope with the disability much better. This was a huge victory.
Jingle Plays Hockey
Perhaps in celebration of Chance's birthday, Jingle played hockey with a few friends. Notice the great splits that Woody does to stop the puck. Nice save!
Grocery Shopping Most of the Day
The whole family started at Walmart and loaded up on some much-needed refill of groceries (it has been very busy around here and we just have been avoiding going to Walmart during this season). After unloading everything, we cleaned up a little and met with Tyler (our Covenant Kids case manager). Later A and Jack head out to the Asian Market for some stir fry "fixins" and then went to Kroger for a few items that we knew were NOT at Walmart. At least we did not have to shop for presents and got to avoid any "kids" isles.
X's Speech Evaluation
While meeting with Tyler, X's speech therapist (Jennifer) and her supervisor from Therapy 2000 come by for X's 6-month evaluation. X did incredibly well and, in-fact, jumped up an entire standard deviation in one of the two areas evaluated (putting him just two point below "normal" range). The other area he increased almost as far, but he had a long way to go. Since Therapy 2000 averages the two areas before determining if he still qualifies for their services, he will still be doing twice-weekly speech therapy. With the combination of school, our diligent work at home and certainly Jennifer, he has made significant progress. The therapist evaluating even said, given the trajectory of his progress, X might not even qualify in six months (meaning he would be within normal range of other children his age). This does not mean that he won't still have a learning difficulty or that previous diagnosis were incorrect. He is just learning how to cope with the disability much better. This was a huge victory.
Jingle Counts Down the Last 7 Days / X and A Change Rooms / Trofast Storage System Built and Set Up
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Jingle Countdown
Jingle made a big sign and lots of snowflakes to remind us we are just one week away from a Santa visit!
X and A Change Rooms
Today M and J also cleaned out a few outdated toys to take to Covenant Kids (for other girls and boys who need some toys) and A and X switched rooms permanently. To do that, we took down the crib that Christi ("Kiki") has loaned us, moved around the beds and most of the decorations. When we return from Christmas visits, we will pick up a chest of drawers that we loaned Tiffany (to go in X's new room) and tweak some other decorations.
Trofast Storage System
While Melinda started the major wrapping of the presents, Jack took X and A with him to Ikea to get the Trofast storage bin system mentioned several days ago. Unfortunately, they ran out of the storage bins that we really needed (14 1/2" high) to store the big sets of toys (like X's dinosaur collection), but we were able to get the 9" and 4" ones we also needed (for Hot Wheel cars, etc.). X and A played in the Smaland again while Jack bought and loaded it in the car, then Jack and the kids ate hot dogs and frozen yogurt as a treat in the Ikea bistro.
Upon return, Melinda continued wrapping and Jack assembled the two units. This storage system is what Melinda and Jack bought with Christmas money from Papa and Grandma. Thank you very much!
Jingle Countdown
Jingle made a big sign and lots of snowflakes to remind us we are just one week away from a Santa visit!X and A Change Rooms
Today M and J also cleaned out a few outdated toys to take to Covenant Kids (for other girls and boys who need some toys) and A and X switched rooms permanently. To do that, we took down the crib that Christi ("Kiki") has loaned us, moved around the beds and most of the decorations. When we return from Christmas visits, we will pick up a chest of drawers that we loaned Tiffany (to go in X's new room) and tweak some other decorations.
Trofast Storage System
While Melinda started the major wrapping of the presents, Jack took X and A with him to Ikea to get the Trofast storage bin system mentioned several days ago. Unfortunately, they ran out of the storage bins that we really needed (14 1/2" high) to store the big sets of toys (like X's dinosaur collection), but we were able to get the 9" and 4" ones we also needed (for Hot Wheel cars, etc.). X and A played in the Smaland again while Jack bought and loaded it in the car, then Jack and the kids ate hot dogs and frozen yogurt as a treat in the Ikea bistro.
Upon return, Melinda continued wrapping and Jack assembled the two units. This storage system is what Melinda and Jack bought with Christmas money from Papa and Grandma. Thank you very much!
Jingle with Toothbrush and Mouthwash
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Jingle knows how important dental hygiene is and is there to remind X and A that they need to brush their teeth at least twice a day! The toothbrushes he is with play Christmas toons to brush by. Visiting Jingle is the rubber ducky.
Jingle Hangs Around with Rudolph / Holiday Parties for X and A
Friday, December 16, 2011
Jingle Hangs Around
Jingle, "The Elf on the Shelf," hangs around with Rudolph on the "Christmas Countdown" calendar. He hasn't seen his buddy Rudolf in a few days since he has been busy watching X and A to report back to Santa.
Holiday Parties for X and A
It is that time of the year - the public school "holiday" parties (or, in the case of A and his private Christian daycare, true "Christmas" parties). Both had lots of fun making crafts and eating plenty of cookies and other "cheer."
Since this was the last day of semester finals for Jack's school (and the students are let out at 12:30), Jack was able to attend X's 2:00 school party. Since Melinda is a room mom, A was in tow. Fun and yummy!
Jingle Hangs Around
Holiday Parties for X and A
It is that time of the year - the public school "holiday" parties (or, in the case of A and his private Christian daycare, true "Christmas" parties). Both had lots of fun making crafts and eating plenty of cookies and other "cheer."
Since this was the last day of semester finals for Jack's school (and the students are let out at 12:30), Jack was able to attend X's 2:00 school party. Since Melinda is a room mom, A was in tow. Fun and yummy!
Jingle Reads "Santa Mouse" to the Zhu Zhu Pets
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Zhu Zhu Pets, Charlie and Frank, listen carefully to the story about Santa Mouse (their distant cousin). It is a "bootstrap" story about how a little mouse impressed Santa with his thoughtfulness (he made a present for Santa) and was given an official title of Santa Mouse by the Big Guy in Red himself. We will be leaving cheese for Santa Mouse again this year!
Jingle Brings Back Christmas Milk from the North Pole
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The note from Santa's Desk (not shown) explained that Jingle had brought back Christmas Milk from the North Pole that was made by special "Polar Cows." It had a strawberry taste and X and A drank it up fast. This is the second note from Santa! Wow!
Jingle Rides Into Town with Christmas Pillows
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Jingle, driving through the den in Anthony's firetruck, brings some Christmas pillows for X and A. I guess we know what the kids will be sleeping on tonight!
Jingle Plays Scrabble and Racks Up Some Nice Points
Monday, December 12, 2011
Jingle, our Elf on the Shelf, certainly enjoys board games and last night was no different. Today, we see he is also pretty good at Scrabble.
Check out some of the Christmas words he, Mrs. Potatohead, Fire Rescue Transformer and Diego have come up with:
Check out some of the Christmas words he, Mrs. Potatohead, Fire Rescue Transformer and Diego have come up with:
- Snow
- Santa
- Wonder
- Gift
- Trips
- Polar
- Cares
- Christmas
- Alex
- Xavier
- Jingle
- Tree
- Anthony
- Bow
- Family
- Feliz
- Erich
- Mom
- Daddy
Not a bad Scrabble game!
Jingle Makes The Nelsons "The Red-Nosed Family"
Sunday, December 11, 2011
That mischievous Jingle tricked us this time. While we were sleeping, he painted a red dot on everyone's nose. We were certainly surprised when we looked in the mirror. He got Jack, Melinda, X, A, Erich and even his visiting friend Sarah! X and A laughed when they found out that they looked like Rudolph. No one even woke up.
While we would love to show you the picture with X and A with the paint on their noses, we legally can't at this time. Maybe we can come back in April after our adoption and put the picture up.
That mischievous Jingle tricked us this time. While we were sleeping, he painted a red dot on everyone's nose. We were certainly surprised when we looked in the mirror. He got Jack, Melinda, X, A, Erich and even his visiting friend Sarah! X and A laughed when they found out that they looked like Rudolph. No one even woke up.While we would love to show you the picture with X and A with the paint on their noses, we legally can't at this time. Maybe we can come back in April after our adoption and put the picture up.
Jingle Zip-Lines into Erich's Stocking / Erich and Sarah Attend the Ballet, "The Nutcracker"
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Jingle and His Zip-Line
Knowing that Erich has come to visit, Jingle decides to have fun and builds a garland zip-line from the den chandelier down to Erich's stocking that is hung by the chimney with care. What a silly Jingle!
Massage and The Nutcracker
Today, Erich treated Sarah to a long massage at Massage Envy and later took her to see The Nutcracker performed by professional ballet company, Texas Ballet Theatre. They reported thoroughly enjoying the performance in Bass Hall in Fort Worth.
Jingle and His Zip-Line
Massage and The Nutcracker
Today, Erich treated Sarah to a long massage at Massage Envy and later took her to see The Nutcracker performed by professional ballet company, Texas Ballet Theatre. They reported thoroughly enjoying the performance in Bass Hall in Fort Worth.
Jingle Plays Poker / Erich & Sarah Come for a Visit
Friday, December 9, 2011
Jingle Plays Poker
Jingle, the Elf on the Shelf, wins a nice hand in No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em against Rex, Thomas and Santa Bear on the Nelson's poker table. Jingle is thinking of following Jack's 2006 footsteps and play in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.(Melinda may suggest a less competitive approach!)
Erich & Sarah Come to Visit
Erich and his good friend Sarah, have come to visit. X and A for the weekend (and do some vacationing).
They also enjoyed ice skating at The Galleria in Dallas.
Jingle Plays Poker
Jingle, the Elf on the Shelf, wins a nice hand in No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em against Rex, Thomas and Santa Bear on the Nelson's poker table. Jingle is thinking of following Jack's 2006 footsteps and play in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.(Melinda may suggest a less competitive approach!)
Erich & Sarah Come to Visit
Erich and his good friend Sarah, have come to visit. X and A for the weekend (and do some vacationing).
They also enjoyed ice skating at The Galleria in Dallas.
Jingle Enjoys His Ride on the "Little People" Train
Back from his nightly visit with Santa, Jingle decides to relax and enjoy a ride on the train at the Little People town in the playroom. Friends are there to welcome him back and find out what plans the Big Man in Red has for X and A!
Jingle Plays with the Abominable Snowman and Rudolf
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Jingle and his buddies Abominable the Snowman and Rudolf go sledding in the house.
Jingle and his buddies Abominable the Snowman and Rudolf go sledding in the house.
Jingle Brings Back Santa Legos and Plays with Friends
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Jingle plays with some friends at our house and brings back some special Santa Legos as well. What a nice Elf on the Shelf!
Jingle Hangs Around
Jingle Hangs Around
Saturday, we went to IKEA. We came back with almost nothing for now, but we did get this cool clothesline that Melinda was dying to try out for hanging the kids art work on the wall in the playroom. It works perfectly and even supports Jingle (who decided to play on it last night).
Cold and Wet Weather, but Jingle Stays Dry / Texas (Chex Mix) Trash
Sunday, December 4, 2011
A Dry Jingle Survives the Weather
It was very cold and wet last night (and today), but Jingle was prepared. Using A's fireman boot and X's dinosaur umbrella, Jingle made the trip to the North Pole and back just in time
Texas (Chex Mix) Trash
On Sunday, the oven, not the stove, was used all day! Once a year I make three huge aluminum roasting tins (that would each hold a large turkey) full of Texas Trash. We missed last year and there was mutiny from friends and family. I thought I even saw a small tear in one child's eye (just kidding). It takes about 7 hours to make and takes pulling out a tin and rotating the mix every 15 minutes for the entire duration to do it right. Of course that means almost nothing else can happen during that 7 hours. That means it was Harry Potter Day at our house. The kids watched 95% of both the first and second HP movies (excluding the extra scary scenes) and even got to see most of the second one a second time. HP 3 and later are too "dark" for 3 and 5-year-olds.
A Dry Jingle Survives the WeatherIt was very cold and wet last night (and today), but Jingle was prepared. Using A's fireman boot and X's dinosaur umbrella, Jingle made the trip to the North Pole and back just in time
Texas (Chex Mix) Trash
On Sunday, the oven, not the stove, was used all day! Once a year I make three huge aluminum roasting tins (that would each hold a large turkey) full of Texas Trash. We missed last year and there was mutiny from friends and family. I thought I even saw a small tear in one child's eye (just kidding). It takes about 7 hours to make and takes pulling out a tin and rotating the mix every 15 minutes for the entire duration to do it right. Of course that means almost nothing else can happen during that 7 hours. That means it was Harry Potter Day at our house. The kids watched 95% of both the first and second HP movies (excluding the extra scary scenes) and even got to see most of the second one a second time. HP 3 and later are too "dark" for 3 and 5-year-olds.
Jingle's note from Santa (X's Redemption) / Ikea Adventure / Healthy Soup
Saturday, December 3, 2011
X did much better on Friday (he got a Green day). Santa told Jingle he had taken X off the naughty list, but he has his eye on him.
Jingle brought back a note from Santa! A and X were excited that this came from the "Desk of Santa" himself..
IKEA Adventure
Today we took the kids to the IKEA in Frisco (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/frisco). This is a unique experience in and of itself.
When we entered, we noticed they have a free, monitored playland area (Smaland). We signed them in and got one of those flat, lighted buzzers that they give you when waiting in a restaurants. We then have one hour to shop while the kids entertain themselves. At the end of the hour we got buzzed. Sadly, we had only made it 300 feet from the station. Fortunately, that area was the Trofast children's storage systems (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/20474/) that we came to see up close. It is exactly what we need and we will return in the next few weeks to get it when we can actually put it in the car (with no kids in car seats).
We had to put the kids back in Smaland (pronounced "Small Land," but presumably spelled the Sweedish way) for another hour. We had finished our planning and were walking through the rest of this HUGE store when we got paged (becuase our battery buzzer died). We picked up X and A who thought they were about to starve to death at 1:30 PM and went upstairs to the IKEA restaurant (as opposed to the IKEA Bistro on the first floor). We had some very tasty chicken strips, fries, apple "cake" and drinks for all four of us for less than $20. Nice bargin. We went back down stairs and X and A had frozen yogurt cones.
Healthy Soup
Also on Saturday, I spent my usual 3 to 4 hours slaving over a stove making my healthy bean and veggie spicy soup. It turned out very well and made sixteen 2-cup servings (that I store and freeze in individual ziploc bowls with lids). It takes two huge pots plus multiple pans to make it all and takes over an hour to clean up the mess. I only do it once every 4 or 5 weeks and love to eat it for lunch at school.
Campbells Soup, Ha! My soup is mmm, mmm, better!
X did much better on Friday (he got a Green day). Santa told Jingle he had taken X off the naughty list, but he has his eye on him.Jingle brought back a note from Santa! A and X were excited that this came from the "Desk of Santa" himself..
IKEA Adventure
Today we took the kids to the IKEA in Frisco (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/frisco). This is a unique experience in and of itself.
When we entered, we noticed they have a free, monitored playland area (Smaland). We signed them in and got one of those flat, lighted buzzers that they give you when waiting in a restaurants. We then have one hour to shop while the kids entertain themselves. At the end of the hour we got buzzed. Sadly, we had only made it 300 feet from the station. Fortunately, that area was the Trofast children's storage systems (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/20474/) that we came to see up close. It is exactly what we need and we will return in the next few weeks to get it when we can actually put it in the car (with no kids in car seats).
We had to put the kids back in Smaland (pronounced "Small Land," but presumably spelled the Sweedish way) for another hour. We had finished our planning and were walking through the rest of this HUGE store when we got paged (becuase our battery buzzer died). We picked up X and A who thought they were about to starve to death at 1:30 PM and went upstairs to the IKEA restaurant (as opposed to the IKEA Bistro on the first floor). We had some very tasty chicken strips, fries, apple "cake" and drinks for all four of us for less than $20. Nice bargin. We went back down stairs and X and A had frozen yogurt cones.
Healthy Soup
Also on Saturday, I spent my usual 3 to 4 hours slaving over a stove making my healthy bean and veggie spicy soup. It turned out very well and made sixteen 2-cup servings (that I store and freeze in individual ziploc bowls with lids). It takes two huge pots plus multiple pans to make it all and takes over an hour to clean up the mess. I only do it once every 4 or 5 weeks and love to eat it for lunch at school.
Campbells Soup, Ha! My soup is mmm, mmm, better!
Jingle "All the Way" - Our Elf on the Shelf
Friday, December 2, 2011
Last year we set out our "Elf on the Shelf" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elf_on_the_Shelf for details), but we really did not do much with him. This year we named him "Jingle," Jingle is a mischeivious elf that reports back to Santa each night. I will post a new picture each day.
Today, Jingle sits in a fancy Christmas cup, he reads X's apology note to his teacher (for misbehaving in class yesterday) and contemplates how this might affect the naughty or nice list. Not a good start to December for X.
Today, Jingle sits in a fancy Christmas cup, he reads X's apology note to his teacher (for misbehaving in class yesterday) and contemplates how this might affect the naughty or nice list. Not a good start to December for X.
Another Wacky Court Date
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
5 of the 6 lawyers were absent, including the CPS lawyer, the mother's lawyer, A's father lawyer, the Ad Litem lawyer that is supposed to represent the children, and even the assigned Assistant District Attorney.
A substitute Assistant District Attorney (D.A.) stepped in to "prove up" the case before Judge Cherry in the 301st Court in downtown Dallas. The assigned attorney that represents X's father was there as was the CPS case worker (Go, Jackie!), the birth mother, A's birth father, the maternal grandmother and Melinda and myself.
All of us chatted before the event and a bit afterwards (although the A's birth father remains quiet most of the time). We all got called before the judge (except the grandmother) and got sworn in. The D.A. read through what this court date was for (the termination of the parental rights plus the mediated settlement from November 2, 2011) and then asked us all yes and no questions confirming that we understood the parts of the agreement (all correct answers were "yes.") Judge Cherry asked a few similar questions, rendered her opinion (she agreed with everything) and then asked if the court petition was written up and available for her to sign. It was not since this was a substitute D.A., so she asked if it could be sent to her for execution (signing) by December 28th. The D.A. said he would pass that along so it could be done by then.
It is important to note that until the agreement is executed by the judge, CPS only has Temporary Managing Conservatorship. In order for the clock to start on the 90-days we have to wait, CPS must have Permanent Managing Conservatorship and that can't happen until this order is signed sometime in December. Of course that now means it will probably be late March or even early April before we can adopt.
Nothing changes day-to-day, so there is no huge rush, it just seems par for the course that this case has NEVER had a court date or hearing where everything went smoothly or even resembled what was expected!
We live day-to-day loving A and X and nothing will change that - certainly not the delay today.
5 of the 6 lawyers were absent, including the CPS lawyer, the mother's lawyer, A's father lawyer, the Ad Litem lawyer that is supposed to represent the children, and even the assigned Assistant District Attorney.
A substitute Assistant District Attorney (D.A.) stepped in to "prove up" the case before Judge Cherry in the 301st Court in downtown Dallas. The assigned attorney that represents X's father was there as was the CPS case worker (Go, Jackie!), the birth mother, A's birth father, the maternal grandmother and Melinda and myself.
All of us chatted before the event and a bit afterwards (although the A's birth father remains quiet most of the time). We all got called before the judge (except the grandmother) and got sworn in. The D.A. read through what this court date was for (the termination of the parental rights plus the mediated settlement from November 2, 2011) and then asked us all yes and no questions confirming that we understood the parts of the agreement (all correct answers were "yes.") Judge Cherry asked a few similar questions, rendered her opinion (she agreed with everything) and then asked if the court petition was written up and available for her to sign. It was not since this was a substitute D.A., so she asked if it could be sent to her for execution (signing) by December 28th. The D.A. said he would pass that along so it could be done by then.
It is important to note that until the agreement is executed by the judge, CPS only has Temporary Managing Conservatorship. In order for the clock to start on the 90-days we have to wait, CPS must have Permanent Managing Conservatorship and that can't happen until this order is signed sometime in December. Of course that now means it will probably be late March or even early April before we can adopt.
Nothing changes day-to-day, so there is no huge rush, it just seems par for the course that this case has NEVER had a court date or hearing where everything went smoothly or even resembled what was expected!
We live day-to-day loving A and X and nothing will change that - certainly not the delay today.
Post-Thanksgiving at The Farm (Alex and Erich Included) / Christmas Shopping
Friday, November 25 - Sunday, November 27, 2011
It took a little while to pack our luggage, plus over an hour to get the valet and bellhop to leave the Gaylord Texan. After making it back to our house in Nanny's car, Nanny headed back to Nacogdoches. Melinda and I then transferred the kids to our car and turned on a video. They were content.
We then spent 10 minutes repacking (taking time out for a bathroom break and to feed the turtle, Speedy). We had planned the transition out pretty well several days before and had most of the stuff packed ahead of time (except what we needed to transfer from the bags from the hotel).
We just ate snacks in the car because we knew we would arrive at the Lilbert farm of Grandma and Papa's about 2:30 PM. Once arriving, we ate some tasty ham sandwiches to stay us until the Thanksgiving feast later that night. Alex and Erich arrived at the farm soon after and got to play with A and X for awhile. While we talk with Alex and Erich pretty regularly on the phone, I finally got some face-to-face time with them.
For dinner, we had the traditional roasted turkey, stuffing, dressing, fresh mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, peas, fruit salad,rolls, etc... It was all delicious and we fell asleep soon afterwards while watching either football or basketball games.
Saturday was a lot of lounging in one room or the other while everyone spent some fun time with A and X. Alex and Erich really seem to really enjoy the time with their future little brothers and I know A and X have a blast!
This day, the weather was not what we would have liked. It was cold and rainy and our one big objective (besides getting to visit with and relax on The Farm with family) was to get a special picture made with Alex, Erich. X, A, Melinda and myself. We will use this picture in March when we adopt.
It is sometimes very hard for Alex and Erich to meet with us and the only time we knew we could have all six of us was either now or for three hours on Christmas day (we have a hectic Christmas holiday travel schedule this year). It was putting a lot of eggs in one basket if the photo on December 25th did not turn out, so this was "Plan A" and Christmas day was "Plan B."
Dad took a couple dozen photos in a row using our camera. Despite the cold wet ground, freezing cold wind and all the while dodging the cow patties (did I mention we are barefooted in the shot), Dad got the shot. Literally, I was shooing cows away from the photo site seconds before the shot and the area where we ideally would have stood (several feet further back) would have been ankle deep in soft mud and cow "droppings" - no one agreed to that!
We will post the picture on this blog right after we adopt A and X in early March and it will be the first ever Internet photo of them (since we still cannot legally publish their names or images until then). This will be our "Forever Family" picture with all six of us!
Alex and Erich left very soon afterwards since Erich was scheduled to work most of the day Sunday in The Woodlands (three hours away). The rest of us spent the night, but, after getting to "drive" the tractor with Papa on Sunday morning, we also had to leave. We still needed to get a few Christmas presents (while the big post-Thanksgiving day sales were still on) and we have to recover and clean up from the last 5 days of travel.
Tomorrow (Monday) the CPS case work comes by for her monthly check-in and to discuss what we can expect Tuesday afternoon when we go to court (related to the mediated agreement we signed several weeks ago). Additionally, we have the City Health Inspector coming on Tuesday morning so that we can keep licensed for foster care (which is obviously very important).
Fortunately, we were very productive when we got home and now Melinda has minimal to do on Monday to get ready (which is good since she also has a very busy schedule even without the CPS visit).
Overall, an excellent 2 1/2 days with Nanny and Melinda's family, followed by another 2 1/2 days with my family. There was a lot of Thanks Giving this year!
It took a little while to pack our luggage, plus over an hour to get the valet and bellhop to leave the Gaylord Texan. After making it back to our house in Nanny's car, Nanny headed back to Nacogdoches. Melinda and I then transferred the kids to our car and turned on a video. They were content.
We then spent 10 minutes repacking (taking time out for a bathroom break and to feed the turtle, Speedy). We had planned the transition out pretty well several days before and had most of the stuff packed ahead of time (except what we needed to transfer from the bags from the hotel).
We just ate snacks in the car because we knew we would arrive at the Lilbert farm of Grandma and Papa's about 2:30 PM. Once arriving, we ate some tasty ham sandwiches to stay us until the Thanksgiving feast later that night. Alex and Erich arrived at the farm soon after and got to play with A and X for awhile. While we talk with Alex and Erich pretty regularly on the phone, I finally got some face-to-face time with them.
For dinner, we had the traditional roasted turkey, stuffing, dressing, fresh mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, peas, fruit salad,rolls, etc... It was all delicious and we fell asleep soon afterwards while watching either football or basketball games.
Saturday was a lot of lounging in one room or the other while everyone spent some fun time with A and X. Alex and Erich really seem to really enjoy the time with their future little brothers and I know A and X have a blast!
This day, the weather was not what we would have liked. It was cold and rainy and our one big objective (besides getting to visit with and relax on The Farm with family) was to get a special picture made with Alex, Erich. X, A, Melinda and myself. We will use this picture in March when we adopt.
It is sometimes very hard for Alex and Erich to meet with us and the only time we knew we could have all six of us was either now or for three hours on Christmas day (we have a hectic Christmas holiday travel schedule this year). It was putting a lot of eggs in one basket if the photo on December 25th did not turn out, so this was "Plan A" and Christmas day was "Plan B."
Dad took a couple dozen photos in a row using our camera. Despite the cold wet ground, freezing cold wind and all the while dodging the cow patties (did I mention we are barefooted in the shot), Dad got the shot. Literally, I was shooing cows away from the photo site seconds before the shot and the area where we ideally would have stood (several feet further back) would have been ankle deep in soft mud and cow "droppings" - no one agreed to that!
We will post the picture on this blog right after we adopt A and X in early March and it will be the first ever Internet photo of them (since we still cannot legally publish their names or images until then). This will be our "Forever Family" picture with all six of us!
Alex and Erich left very soon afterwards since Erich was scheduled to work most of the day Sunday in The Woodlands (three hours away). The rest of us spent the night, but, after getting to "drive" the tractor with Papa on Sunday morning, we also had to leave. We still needed to get a few Christmas presents (while the big post-Thanksgiving day sales were still on) and we have to recover and clean up from the last 5 days of travel.
Tomorrow (Monday) the CPS case work comes by for her monthly check-in and to discuss what we can expect Tuesday afternoon when we go to court (related to the mediated agreement we signed several weeks ago). Additionally, we have the City Health Inspector coming on Tuesday morning so that we can keep licensed for foster care (which is obviously very important).
Fortunately, we were very productive when we got home and now Melinda has minimal to do on Monday to get ready (which is good since she also has a very busy schedule even without the CPS visit).
Overall, an excellent 2 1/2 days with Nanny and Melinda's family, followed by another 2 1/2 days with my family. There was a lot of Thanks Giving this year!
Patty and Gary's Birthday Patry / Pictures with Santa Claus! / Shrek Ice / Kung Fu Panda Awesome Snow Tubing
Thursday, November 24, 2011 (The Afternoon and Evening)
Patti and Gary's Birthday
The whole reason we came to the Gaylord Texan was for Patti and Gary's birthday party. There were lots of relatives - most of whom we had seen or met the night before - plus a few others we had yet to meet or see this visit. There were nicely-decorated, large, round tables with turkey placeholders showing us where we were to sit. The buffet dinner that Gary and Patti provided was incredible. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, steam vegetables, rolls and much more. As a joke, we had canned cranberries (complete with can rings still showing). We also had desserts and party favors. All the food (other than the cranberries that Tiffany brought) was, of course, catered by the Gaylord Texan and cooked perfectly. Way to go Patti and Gary!
As the party itself was wrapping up, each family or group went down the hall to have their pictures professionally made, Patti and Gary had hired a professional photographer to come in, set up and take our photos in whatever groupings we wanted. At 1:45 we all got together for one big photo that we are looking forward to seeing. This was a very nice and unique touch to a birthday party that really served as a reunion for most of these families.
When all the pictures were taken and the impromptu "Duck, Duck, Goose" was over (which included 2-years-olds to 70-year-olds and was hilarious), the five of us slowly returned to our room through the grand atrium.
Pictures with Santa Claus
We had seen that Santa had come to the Gaylord Texan and was taking pictures with children on his lap and decided to take the opportunity to get a shot with him. Noticing that the line to visit him was short, we rushed up and changed into our special Christmas pajamas that we wore on the Polar Express just a few days before. Let's just say that Santa looked MUCH better tonight than on the Polar Express (where he must have had a "bad hair and beard day"). In fact, Melinda and I agreed that Santa looked his best EVER (including when he has visited other high-end malls and events). Unbelievably, there was only ONE other person in line ahead of us and we waited less than a minute before X and A were able to sit on Santa's lap. Try waiting only one minute at the local mall! The photographers were all very professional and coaxed out some great photos with the two boys on his lap. We were exceptionally happy with the results. Of course, the kids were very excited!
After the Santa visit, we got balloon figures made by a roving clown and toured the atrium once more, going a little deeper this time to explore new decorated areas including a huge, real gingerbread house and plenty more trains. We meandered back to the room and decided to take a short nap (less than an hour) to get ready for what we called, "Shrek Ice."
ICE! featuring DreamWorks’ Shrek the Halls
I believe that everyone from the entire party made reservations to see this unique event, with most of us going to the 5:00 PM start time. It starts with 10-minute video explaining how this annual ice-carving tradition came to the Gaylord Texan http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-texan/lone-star-christmas/ice-experience/making-of-ice.html?intcmp-gt-pl=cnav-cid=LSC and then we enter a room where we were fitted with long, warm coats. We had already gotten all bundled up with our own gear, but when standing in a 9 degree room (yes, you read that right) for any length of time, you want multiple layers. It was an incredible experience. ALMOST everyone had a blast. Poor little A was already bundled up and then adding this extra layer just made it near impossible for him to move. On top of that, he had a very short nap (and needed another hour or more), so he was less-than-happy. As a result, we traveled through a bit quicker than we would have liked, but we got to see everything and have some very interesting pictures.
One of the fun but odd things we got to do was to go down ice slides. X could go down the big slides (and did a couple of times), but A could only go down the small slide and just was not in the mood.
Right before entering the exhibit we took a group photo of X, A, Melinda, Jack and Nanny. We had basically written off the photos because A was not very happy even about taking the photos. When we exited, we decided to check them out. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good, so we bought two 6" x 8" ones. We returned the huge Gaylord Texan coats and took off the ones we brought and immediately A started to feel better.
After leaving Shrek Ice, we walked to the next convention hall room and saw the indoor snow tubing!
Kung Fu Panda Awesome Snow Tubing
While we had planned all along to go on this, we were not sure how appropriate it would be for a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old until we actually saw it. Immediately, we knew it was what we wanted (and what A needed after such a miserable visit at the Shrek Ice).
While Melinda and Nanny watched our big pile of coats, out a bit before eating out at the Texan Station with all the family for one last time.
Final Dinner with Most of the Families
We went back to our rooms and changed clothes yet again (1. from bedtime clothes into swim suits, 2. into nice clothes for the party, 3. into pajamas for the Santa picture, 4. into our very cold-weather gear, 5. into our nice, casual clothes for the dinner). We felt like Cher in a live concert!
While some of the families had to get back sooner, we elected to spend the night and that meant we needed to eat. Of course, we wanted to be with everyone who was still there. We had cake in Patti's room and then we went back down to the Texas Station.
X loved all the attention he got when he joined the "cousins" where all the kids were under 14 and several of the girls kept him entertained. A, or course, ate with Melinda, Nanny and myself (and Patti, Gary, Marilyn and Mike at out table).
With this HUGE day behind us, we all wore out pretty quickly, so as soon as we actually ate, we headed back to the room, It did not take long for everyone to fall asleep.
The next morning we ate some snacks we brought and all drove to our home. Nanny left from our house back to hers and we left for The Farm to see Grandma and Papa!
Patti and Gary's Birthday
The whole reason we came to the Gaylord Texan was for Patti and Gary's birthday party. There were lots of relatives - most of whom we had seen or met the night before - plus a few others we had yet to meet or see this visit. There were nicely-decorated, large, round tables with turkey placeholders showing us where we were to sit. The buffet dinner that Gary and Patti provided was incredible. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, steam vegetables, rolls and much more. As a joke, we had canned cranberries (complete with can rings still showing). We also had desserts and party favors. All the food (other than the cranberries that Tiffany brought) was, of course, catered by the Gaylord Texan and cooked perfectly. Way to go Patti and Gary!
As the party itself was wrapping up, each family or group went down the hall to have their pictures professionally made, Patti and Gary had hired a professional photographer to come in, set up and take our photos in whatever groupings we wanted. At 1:45 we all got together for one big photo that we are looking forward to seeing. This was a very nice and unique touch to a birthday party that really served as a reunion for most of these families.
When all the pictures were taken and the impromptu "Duck, Duck, Goose" was over (which included 2-years-olds to 70-year-olds and was hilarious), the five of us slowly returned to our room through the grand atrium.
Pictures with Santa Claus
We had seen that Santa had come to the Gaylord Texan and was taking pictures with children on his lap and decided to take the opportunity to get a shot with him. Noticing that the line to visit him was short, we rushed up and changed into our special Christmas pajamas that we wore on the Polar Express just a few days before. Let's just say that Santa looked MUCH better tonight than on the Polar Express (where he must have had a "bad hair and beard day"). In fact, Melinda and I agreed that Santa looked his best EVER (including when he has visited other high-end malls and events). Unbelievably, there was only ONE other person in line ahead of us and we waited less than a minute before X and A were able to sit on Santa's lap. Try waiting only one minute at the local mall! The photographers were all very professional and coaxed out some great photos with the two boys on his lap. We were exceptionally happy with the results. Of course, the kids were very excited!
After the Santa visit, we got balloon figures made by a roving clown and toured the atrium once more, going a little deeper this time to explore new decorated areas including a huge, real gingerbread house and plenty more trains. We meandered back to the room and decided to take a short nap (less than an hour) to get ready for what we called, "Shrek Ice."
ICE! featuring DreamWorks’ Shrek the Halls
I believe that everyone from the entire party made reservations to see this unique event, with most of us going to the 5:00 PM start time. It starts with 10-minute video explaining how this annual ice-carving tradition came to the Gaylord Texan http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-texan/lone-star-christmas/ice-experience/making-of-ice.html?intcmp-gt-pl=cnav-cid=LSC and then we enter a room where we were fitted with long, warm coats. We had already gotten all bundled up with our own gear, but when standing in a 9 degree room (yes, you read that right) for any length of time, you want multiple layers. It was an incredible experience. ALMOST everyone had a blast. Poor little A was already bundled up and then adding this extra layer just made it near impossible for him to move. On top of that, he had a very short nap (and needed another hour or more), so he was less-than-happy. As a result, we traveled through a bit quicker than we would have liked, but we got to see everything and have some very interesting pictures.
One of the fun but odd things we got to do was to go down ice slides. X could go down the big slides (and did a couple of times), but A could only go down the small slide and just was not in the mood.
Right before entering the exhibit we took a group photo of X, A, Melinda, Jack and Nanny. We had basically written off the photos because A was not very happy even about taking the photos. When we exited, we decided to check them out. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good, so we bought two 6" x 8" ones. We returned the huge Gaylord Texan coats and took off the ones we brought and immediately A started to feel better.
After leaving Shrek Ice, we walked to the next convention hall room and saw the indoor snow tubing!
Kung Fu Panda Awesome Snow Tubing
While we had planned all along to go on this, we were not sure how appropriate it would be for a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old until we actually saw it. Immediately, we knew it was what we wanted (and what A needed after such a miserable visit at the Shrek Ice).
While Melinda and Nanny watched our big pile of coats, out a bit before eating out at the Texan Station with all the family for one last time.
Final Dinner with Most of the Families
We went back to our rooms and changed clothes yet again (1. from bedtime clothes into swim suits, 2. into nice clothes for the party, 3. into pajamas for the Santa picture, 4. into our very cold-weather gear, 5. into our nice, casual clothes for the dinner). We felt like Cher in a live concert!
While some of the families had to get back sooner, we elected to spend the night and that meant we needed to eat. Of course, we wanted to be with everyone who was still there. We had cake in Patti's room and then we went back down to the Texas Station.
X loved all the attention he got when he joined the "cousins" where all the kids were under 14 and several of the girls kept him entertained. A, or course, ate with Melinda, Nanny and myself (and Patti, Gary, Marilyn and Mike at out table).
With this HUGE day behind us, we all wore out pretty quickly, so as soon as we actually ate, we headed back to the room, It did not take long for everyone to fall asleep.
The next morning we ate some snacks we brought and all drove to our home. Nanny left from our house back to hers and we left for The Farm to see Grandma and Papa!
Thanksgiving at the Gaylord Texan
Thursday, November 24, 2011 (Thanksgiving)
Patti Brooks (Nanny's sister) wanted to celebrate her 60th birthday with all her family and asked that everyone join her at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX for Thanksgiving. We have had this plan for months and are excited to get to join her and her husband Gary (whose Birthday is also around this time of year).
Nanny arrived at our house early Tuesday to enjoy Thanksgiving Feast with X at his school and spend the night with us before going to the hotel.
We arrived around 5:30, checked in, put up our clothes and, at the insistence of X and A rushed downstairs to see all the Christmas decorations and trains. We have a great view from our room into the enclosed atrium of the Gaylord Texan.
We found more of Nanny's family and subsequently at dinner with them at the Texan Station. There was lots of barbecue and burgers - in fact, way too much to eat. After coming back to the rooms at 9:30 PM, Melinda and Nanny joined the family (as Jack and the boys slept).
This morning X, A and Jack went swimming in the indoor pool and now are about to head down for a big Thanksgiving dinner with Patti, Gary and about 25 other people. More on that in the next blog!
Patti Brooks (Nanny's sister) wanted to celebrate her 60th birthday with all her family and asked that everyone join her at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX for Thanksgiving. We have had this plan for months and are excited to get to join her and her husband Gary (whose Birthday is also around this time of year).
Nanny arrived at our house early Tuesday to enjoy Thanksgiving Feast with X at his school and spend the night with us before going to the hotel.
We arrived around 5:30, checked in, put up our clothes and, at the insistence of X and A rushed downstairs to see all the Christmas decorations and trains. We have a great view from our room into the enclosed atrium of the Gaylord Texan.
We found more of Nanny's family and subsequently at dinner with them at the Texan Station. There was lots of barbecue and burgers - in fact, way too much to eat. After coming back to the rooms at 9:30 PM, Melinda and Nanny joined the family (as Jack and the boys slept).
This morning X, A and Jack went swimming in the indoor pool and now are about to head down for a big Thanksgiving dinner with Patti, Gary and about 25 other people. More on that in the next blog!
Visit to the North Pole vi the Polar Express (and got to see Santa)!
Friday, November 18, 2011
The long-anticipated night had arrive. We had prepared by watching the movie and reading the books several times. Now, thanks to Nanny, we all wore matching flannel pajamas and were boarding the train to ride from Palestime, TX to Rusk, TX (The North Pole) and back on the Texas State Railroad A.K.A The Polar Express!
Our best friends, Jennifer and James and their two children Owen and Warren also boarded with us and sat at the table next to us.
Our Lone Star Class dinning car was set with white table clothes, cookies and snacks when we entered. Music from the movie was already playing and dancing chefs quickly served us "hot, hot, hot, hot chocolate" in cute ceramic, souvenir mugs(though only comfortably warm since there were mostly small children on the train). The conductor boarded the train and punched our special, personalized golden tickets (that I made well in advance). The tickets were a big hit and there were even families around us asking about how to get them for their kids.
The Polar Express music continued for the 25 minutes to the North Poles as nearly all the kids on the train danced in the aisles with the dancing chefs. X, quickly jumped up and later, A got up and both had a blast as we slowly made our way to see, "The Big Guy."
When we arrived at Santa's Villiage, he and his elves were there to wave to everyone. He then boarded the train and went car to car to wish everyone a Merry cHristmas and hand out the "first presents of Christmas," silver bells from his reindeer, to every child who BELIEVED!
It was a long train and took Santa the whole trip back to make it to each car, hand out the presents and sign Polar Express Books (which we all had handy). Meanwhile, the cars blared Christmas carols and everyone sang along while the children continued to dance in the aisles all the way back "home."
Afterwards, we picked up a commemorative photo (that we took in our pajamas right before boarding)and headed back to Nanny's house. Jennifer, James and their boys joined us for the night and next morning and we all had fun playing until they left.
What an awesome weekend. We are already talking about making this an annual tradition - at least as longs everyone BELIEVES!
The long-anticipated night had arrive. We had prepared by watching the movie and reading the books several times. Now, thanks to Nanny, we all wore matching flannel pajamas and were boarding the train to ride from Palestime, TX to Rusk, TX (The North Pole) and back on the Texas State Railroad A.K.A The Polar Express!
Our best friends, Jennifer and James and their two children Owen and Warren also boarded with us and sat at the table next to us.
Our Lone Star Class dinning car was set with white table clothes, cookies and snacks when we entered. Music from the movie was already playing and dancing chefs quickly served us "hot, hot, hot, hot chocolate" in cute ceramic, souvenir mugs(though only comfortably warm since there were mostly small children on the train). The conductor boarded the train and punched our special, personalized golden tickets (that I made well in advance). The tickets were a big hit and there were even families around us asking about how to get them for their kids.
The Polar Express music continued for the 25 minutes to the North Poles as nearly all the kids on the train danced in the aisles with the dancing chefs. X, quickly jumped up and later, A got up and both had a blast as we slowly made our way to see, "The Big Guy."
When we arrived at Santa's Villiage, he and his elves were there to wave to everyone. He then boarded the train and went car to car to wish everyone a Merry cHristmas and hand out the "first presents of Christmas," silver bells from his reindeer, to every child who BELIEVED!
It was a long train and took Santa the whole trip back to make it to each car, hand out the presents and sign Polar Express Books (which we all had handy). Meanwhile, the cars blared Christmas carols and everyone sang along while the children continued to dance in the aisles all the way back "home."
Afterwards, we picked up a commemorative photo (that we took in our pajamas right before boarding)and headed back to Nanny's house. Jennifer, James and their boys joined us for the night and next morning and we all had fun playing until they left.
What an awesome weekend. We are already talking about making this an annual tradition - at least as longs everyone BELIEVES!
Pumpkin Pie for Parents / Delicious Plastic Blue Dots...Tasty!
Friday, November 18th
A's school had a little pre-Thanksgiving party (since the week of Thanksgiving the private preschool is closed) called Pumpkin Pie for Parents.
His class served pumpkin pie and put on a little show consisting of songs. A, deciding he did NOT want to do the program, proceeded to pout and then grabbed the plastic blue dot he was standing on, and started CHEWING IT! It did not fit in his mouth very well, so he folded it like a taco and continued his chewing.
All we could think of was, "we are in that scene in the movie "Parenthood" where the little kid destroys the school program." Fortunately, we have adopted the viewpoint of the mother character (and chose to laugh at the situation rather than get freaked out by it).
Melinda got some tell-all pictures that we would love to post, but still can't until we have finalized the adoption (some time in March).
Friday night we all leave for Nanny's house!
A's school had a little pre-Thanksgiving party (since the week of Thanksgiving the private preschool is closed) called Pumpkin Pie for Parents.
His class served pumpkin pie and put on a little show consisting of songs. A, deciding he did NOT want to do the program, proceeded to pout and then grabbed the plastic blue dot he was standing on, and started CHEWING IT! It did not fit in his mouth very well, so he folded it like a taco and continued his chewing.
All we could think of was, "we are in that scene in the movie "Parenthood" where the little kid destroys the school program." Fortunately, we have adopted the viewpoint of the mother character (and chose to laugh at the situation rather than get freaked out by it).
Melinda got some tell-all pictures that we would love to post, but still can't until we have finalized the adoption (some time in March).
Friday night we all leave for Nanny's house!
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (at the Nelson's)
Thursday, November 17th
Yeah, I KNEW Melinda could not wait to put up all the Christmas decorations. The goal was to do it over the next few weeks. That lasted only a few days.
Tomorrow night we leave for a short, but fun trip!
Yeah, I KNEW Melinda could not wait to put up all the Christmas decorations. The goal was to do it over the next few weeks. That lasted only a few days.
- The tree and all the lights, ornaments and bows are up
- All the Santas are in place all over the house
- "Jingle," our Shelf Elf (who keeps an eye out for Santa and reports back to him whether the kids have been naughty or nice) is watching over the different rooms (he moves each night)
- The dozens of Christmas-related books and videos are out
- Yes, the stockings are also hung by the chimney with care!
Tomorrow night we leave for a short, but fun trip!
Fostering Hope Meeting and Dinner
Sunday, November 13th
We attended the Irving Bible Church's (IBC) (http://irvingbible.org/) Tapestry (http://tapestryministry.org/) meeting of Fostering Hope (Foster Care Support) Group.
The primary purpose is to get and give support to other foster and adoptive parents. We all go through similar things and have lots of the same issues. They started the meeting off with a 4-minute timer. Each person (or couple) flips the timer and talks for about 4 minutes on what is going on with our cases and what we have learned or need help with. The other people in the room chime in. When we started getting involved about 19 months ago, we were (of course) the newbies. We reflected after the meeting how much we now know (which is one of the purposes for this blog). Of course, there is plenty to learn and we will likely be going for many years to come.
While we go to this hour and 15 minute long meeting, X and A go to their age group rooms for Sunday school type lessons (this is coincidentally also a regular service time for Irving Bible Church, so they have full daycare).
After the meeting, we get the kids out and they get to play on The Tubes. Imagine the world's largest McDonalds (or Chick-Fil-A or whatever) indoor playground with tubes and slides and related accompaniment. Now double that in size and you probably have something close to the size of The Tubes play area in the center of IBC. It is at least four stories high! We have seen this every time we have come, but have never let the kids play on it. For one, we are a bit afraid that if A gets stuck at the top somewhere that WE will have to mouse our way up to get them and that will NOT be a pretty sight or east to do! Secondly, we often are rushed for time.
We also ate dinner at IBC. For a per-plate price or single per-family price to cover however many kids you might have, you can get whatever meal they provide. This time it was Fajitas, salad, tea and nachos. Given the extremely low cost of the meal, this has to be a break-even venture at best. I am sure it is one of their recruiting tools / ministries as well. Great idea!
We had not eaten dinner yet and were starving anyway (it was 6:30 and we ate a light lunch), so we sat next to a longtime foster parent acquaintance, Lenora and her child and continued some of our conversation from the earlier meeting.
Once the kids finished eating, we let them run The Tubes again.
Group therapy and fun in one location. We have been very impressed with the IBC foster and adoption ministry.
We attended the Irving Bible Church's (IBC) (http://irvingbible.org/) Tapestry (http://tapestryministry.org/) meeting of Fostering Hope (Foster Care Support) Group.
The primary purpose is to get and give support to other foster and adoptive parents. We all go through similar things and have lots of the same issues. They started the meeting off with a 4-minute timer. Each person (or couple) flips the timer and talks for about 4 minutes on what is going on with our cases and what we have learned or need help with. The other people in the room chime in. When we started getting involved about 19 months ago, we were (of course) the newbies. We reflected after the meeting how much we now know (which is one of the purposes for this blog). Of course, there is plenty to learn and we will likely be going for many years to come.
While we go to this hour and 15 minute long meeting, X and A go to their age group rooms for Sunday school type lessons (this is coincidentally also a regular service time for Irving Bible Church, so they have full daycare).
After the meeting, we get the kids out and they get to play on The Tubes. Imagine the world's largest McDonalds (or Chick-Fil-A or whatever) indoor playground with tubes and slides and related accompaniment. Now double that in size and you probably have something close to the size of The Tubes play area in the center of IBC. It is at least four stories high! We have seen this every time we have come, but have never let the kids play on it. For one, we are a bit afraid that if A gets stuck at the top somewhere that WE will have to mouse our way up to get them and that will NOT be a pretty sight or east to do! Secondly, we often are rushed for time.
We also ate dinner at IBC. For a per-plate price or single per-family price to cover however many kids you might have, you can get whatever meal they provide. This time it was Fajitas, salad, tea and nachos. Given the extremely low cost of the meal, this has to be a break-even venture at best. I am sure it is one of their recruiting tools / ministries as well. Great idea!
We had not eaten dinner yet and were starving anyway (it was 6:30 and we ate a light lunch), so we sat next to a longtime foster parent acquaintance, Lenora and her child and continued some of our conversation from the earlier meeting.
Once the kids finished eating, we let them run The Tubes again.
Group therapy and fun in one location. We have been very impressed with the IBC foster and adoption ministry.
Christmas Starts Today
Saturday, November 12th
Yes, we know that it is not even Thanksgiving, but we are very booked with events both locally and several out-of-town ones from now through January 1st and we need time to get everything set up. It takes about two full weekends plus daily tweaking for about a week or so and this was a rare weekend (December 18th being the only other one) where our schedule is mostly open.
Jack and Melinda get all zillion boxes down from the attic and Melinda spends a huge chunk of the days Saturday and Sunday just opening up everything and pulling it all out. The kids are very excited about Christmas and all the decorations and have "helped" us take everything down.
We have been blessed with some very nice Radko and Lynn Haney Santa Clauses as well as plenty other Christmas decorations. These are pieces that are delicate and some are heavy, so we have to get A and X distracted playing elsewhere while she pulls these out and sets them up. Later there will be plenty of time for the kids to decorate the Christmas tree (which we just put up) and lots of other crafts that Melinda has planned! In fact, they spend sometime working on a special Thanksgiving craft that I can't describe right now (its a secret).
There is still plenty to do over the next few weeks and I am sure that Melinda won't wait until December 18th to finish it up.
Christmas time will be big in the Nelson house this year!
Yes, we know that it is not even Thanksgiving, but we are very booked with events both locally and several out-of-town ones from now through January 1st and we need time to get everything set up. It takes about two full weekends plus daily tweaking for about a week or so and this was a rare weekend (December 18th being the only other one) where our schedule is mostly open.
Jack and Melinda get all zillion boxes down from the attic and Melinda spends a huge chunk of the days Saturday and Sunday just opening up everything and pulling it all out. The kids are very excited about Christmas and all the decorations and have "helped" us take everything down.
We have been blessed with some very nice Radko and Lynn Haney Santa Clauses as well as plenty other Christmas decorations. These are pieces that are delicate and some are heavy, so we have to get A and X distracted playing elsewhere while she pulls these out and sets them up. Later there will be plenty of time for the kids to decorate the Christmas tree (which we just put up) and lots of other crafts that Melinda has planned! In fact, they spend sometime working on a special Thanksgiving craft that I can't describe right now (its a secret).
There is still plenty to do over the next few weeks and I am sure that Melinda won't wait until December 18th to finish it up.
Christmas time will be big in the Nelson house this year!
Museum of Nature and Science
Sunday, November 6th
Melinda and I (Jack) just recently renewed our family membership for the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Between this and our Fort Worth Zoo membership, we can spend plenty of weekends of family fun.
The roving exhibit that the museum had was particularly interesting for us - SHARKS! Recently, X has been talking more about sharks and whales (but never forgetting his true love of dinosaurs - which also happens to be at this museum).
We got to see plenty of real sharks up close (albeit, no live ones) and touch a variety of shark teeth and sit and watch very large, close-up videos of sharks swimming (which made you feel like you were in the water with them).
X and A also loved getting inside the shark-proof cages and pretending they were deep water divers.
Another great thing about this museum is the Children's Museum section with lots and lots of interactive exhibits and play areas that are the perfect age for these active boys. Our biggest obstacle in coming is trying to keep the low-attention span boys on one task for even 20 or 30 seconds. They get overstimulated by the wide variety of activities all over the small area (very much like the situation at Chuck Cheese) and their brains tell their body that they need to do it all right now or they will miss it. You can actually see almost a rabid look in A's eyes as he is about to go wacko. We let them run for a few minutes and then pull them out of all the stimuli (as best we can) and make them sit down and breath for a minute (to regulate their body) and then try to get them to focus on one thing for at least a minute or two. Everyone knows that little kids run around in circles, but this is way beyond that and is actually something they will be dealing with for the next few decades - especially A, but also X. Their teachers already see it and it can make learning very difficult! Although some therapist are ready to label it ADHD even now, other want to wait a little longer to make sure that is the proper diagnosis. Regardless, one of the coping mechanisms will be to get the kids to calm themselves down with deep breathing and sitting still for even as short as 60 seconds to regulate themselves.
After the Science Museum and before going into the Nature Museum we break for a picnic on the grounds and across from the ponds. We got to see plenty of walkers since it was the end of the 3-Day Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and they walk / run in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park (the museum is also at Fair Park as well). While it looked a bit like rain, it was still a very beautiful day. As a special treat, a 16 inch tortoise was walking the grounds outside. It seems this was part of a live exhibit in the Nature Museum and this guy did not play well with others so they brought him outside to walk around (with his handler nearby). He seemed very fast for a tortoise and walked at full speed wherever he wanted to go. He had 3 - 10 kids following him around and petting his shell (including X and A) and we got some great photos and video of him and the kids. Every now and then his handler would have to turn him around so he would not get too far off where she wanted him to walk (which was mainly on the sidewalk between the two buildings), but other than that, he never stopped moving. This might have been the most exciting part of the whole visit.
The Nature museum had the traditional dinosaurs and another roving exhibit we specifically came to see - Bob the Builder (and animated handyman series I think on PBS). The exhibit was for very young children and had plenty of things to climb in, sit on and do. We spent probably an hour or more in the one big room. There are also a lot more dinosaurs in the Nature museum, but that will have to wait for another days because the kids were wearing out and we wanted to leave while everyone was still happy (instead of getting cranky tired). We got in the car and, like our visit to the State Fair, we did not even make it out of the parking lot before they were asleep in their car seats.
Wackoness aside, we still would not trade these days! They get so excited about seeing and trying new things (or even things that they haven't done or seen in a long time) and THIS is what being a kid is all about. We will work on the coping mechanisms, but we never want them to stop being excited about knowledge or crush their sense of wonder.
Check off anther great day for X and A!
Melinda and I (Jack) just recently renewed our family membership for the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Between this and our Fort Worth Zoo membership, we can spend plenty of weekends of family fun.
The roving exhibit that the museum had was particularly interesting for us - SHARKS! Recently, X has been talking more about sharks and whales (but never forgetting his true love of dinosaurs - which also happens to be at this museum).
We got to see plenty of real sharks up close (albeit, no live ones) and touch a variety of shark teeth and sit and watch very large, close-up videos of sharks swimming (which made you feel like you were in the water with them).
X and A also loved getting inside the shark-proof cages and pretending they were deep water divers.
Another great thing about this museum is the Children's Museum section with lots and lots of interactive exhibits and play areas that are the perfect age for these active boys. Our biggest obstacle in coming is trying to keep the low-attention span boys on one task for even 20 or 30 seconds. They get overstimulated by the wide variety of activities all over the small area (very much like the situation at Chuck Cheese) and their brains tell their body that they need to do it all right now or they will miss it. You can actually see almost a rabid look in A's eyes as he is about to go wacko. We let them run for a few minutes and then pull them out of all the stimuli (as best we can) and make them sit down and breath for a minute (to regulate their body) and then try to get them to focus on one thing for at least a minute or two. Everyone knows that little kids run around in circles, but this is way beyond that and is actually something they will be dealing with for the next few decades - especially A, but also X. Their teachers already see it and it can make learning very difficult! Although some therapist are ready to label it ADHD even now, other want to wait a little longer to make sure that is the proper diagnosis. Regardless, one of the coping mechanisms will be to get the kids to calm themselves down with deep breathing and sitting still for even as short as 60 seconds to regulate themselves.
After the Science Museum and before going into the Nature Museum we break for a picnic on the grounds and across from the ponds. We got to see plenty of walkers since it was the end of the 3-Day Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and they walk / run in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park (the museum is also at Fair Park as well). While it looked a bit like rain, it was still a very beautiful day. As a special treat, a 16 inch tortoise was walking the grounds outside. It seems this was part of a live exhibit in the Nature Museum and this guy did not play well with others so they brought him outside to walk around (with his handler nearby). He seemed very fast for a tortoise and walked at full speed wherever he wanted to go. He had 3 - 10 kids following him around and petting his shell (including X and A) and we got some great photos and video of him and the kids. Every now and then his handler would have to turn him around so he would not get too far off where she wanted him to walk (which was mainly on the sidewalk between the two buildings), but other than that, he never stopped moving. This might have been the most exciting part of the whole visit.
The Nature museum had the traditional dinosaurs and another roving exhibit we specifically came to see - Bob the Builder (and animated handyman series I think on PBS). The exhibit was for very young children and had plenty of things to climb in, sit on and do. We spent probably an hour or more in the one big room. There are also a lot more dinosaurs in the Nature museum, but that will have to wait for another days because the kids were wearing out and we wanted to leave while everyone was still happy (instead of getting cranky tired). We got in the car and, like our visit to the State Fair, we did not even make it out of the parking lot before they were asleep in their car seats.
Wackoness aside, we still would not trade these days! They get so excited about seeing and trying new things (or even things that they haven't done or seen in a long time) and THIS is what being a kid is all about. We will work on the coping mechanisms, but we never want them to stop being excited about knowledge or crush their sense of wonder.
Check off anther great day for X and A!
Robotics Event & Cadon's Birthday Party
Saturday, November 5th (by Jack)
This time last year, I would have been deep in the middle of a huge robotics tournament. I have put on 10 big tournaments in the last three years. Things changed last December and I have re-prioritized my life to spend more time with X and A. When it comes to these big tournaments, I now only consult (and often provide some of the hardware to make them happen).
X and I went to check up on the VEX Robotics Tournament at Lake Highlands Freshman Center. We were there about an hour and X got to see several rounds of battling robots. He thought they were pretty cool, but was also antsy to go his best friend's (Cadon) birthday party at Chucky Cheese. Hmmmm.... a 5-year-old choosing pizza, cake and lots of games over robotics? I can see that.
We arrived a Chucky Cheeses in Garland a bit late, but there was still plenty of time for fun. Melinda also brought A (who was generously invited) and the kids ran in circles for 45 minutes before the pizza and cake arrived. Right at 3:00 Chucky made his appearance to wish Cadon and the other four sets of birthday kids at Chucky Cheeses that day a "Happy Birthday!"
A wore out (and got very grumpy, very quickly) shortly before we were going to leave anyway. Fun was had by all!
Mediation: Shocks and Suprises
Wednesday, November 2nd
Melinda and I went to the 301st Court in downtown Dallas like we have so many times over the last 21 months. The last time we showed up for mediation was in July 2011 and it was made very clear by the birth mother's attorney that we were not participating in the mediation and she even told us we needed to stay in the main lobby. For the last two weeks we have talked with Jacki (the CPS case manager in charge of X and A) about the mediation and what would likely happen. She also made it clear that we were just going to be in the lobby, but needed to be available for consultation. If we thought we would be in actual negotiations, we would have brought our adoption attorney Dave Cole (https://www.adoptlegal.com/) or at least been more prepared to answer some of the questions.
Well... we were dead in the middle of negotiations! We had to state how many times a year we were willing to meet with the birth parents, how we would keep them informed between visits (letters, e-mail, photos, this blog), had to give an e-mail address (that we set up prior) for use when contacting us about the boys (we did not want to give out our cell phone numbers - we keep that VERY private). Mediation theoretically was supposed to start at 1:30, but really did not start until a little after 2:00 since a key individual showed up 22 minutes late. It did not end until 5:05.
Those that were present and represented: birth mother, her mother (X and A's grandmother), Kim Cooks - the mother's attorney, the birth father of one of the children and his attorney, an attorney representing the father of the other child (unknown whereabouts), the ad-litem (the attorney supposedly assigned to represent strictly the interest of the children), the CPS attorney, CPS case worker Jacki, the Attorney General, the mediator and Melinda and myself. Yes, that is a lot of people to get to agree to anything.
The end result of all this that Melinda and I agreed to an open adoption where we would let X and A meet with the birth parents multiple times each year for a few hours each time. We are to meet in a "neutral" place that is "appropriate" for children (so no "men's" clubs or bars I guess). We also are to provide regular communication via photos, e-mail, etc. While this is the minimum that we agreed to, of course we can and will do much more. In exchange for us agreeing to all of this, both birth parents had to sign agreements to the voluntary termination of their parental rights. Once the judge orders a rendition of judgement (basically, just orally states before the court and then signs the execution order) on November 29th, then this agreement will be official. We have been told that the termination of the parental rights is already done and is irrevocable. If the judge did NOT agree to the mediation terms, there would be grounds for appeal to the termination based on the good faith agreement of the mediation, however, that would be the only way the termination could be reversed at this point. Our attorney says he has NEVER seen a judge not agree to these type of mediated settlements and, since he is strictly an adoption attorney, he would know.
After we signed the agreement (we were the last to do so), we got a copy of it and then rushed out to get back to X's school before 6:00 (he is in an after school program and it closes at 6:00). While we did not make it until 6:07, they completely understood and were very kind about being late. We then rushed over to pick up A from a licensed pay-by-the-hour "playcare" place that was CPS-approved.
Melinda and I went to the 301st Court in downtown Dallas like we have so many times over the last 21 months. The last time we showed up for mediation was in July 2011 and it was made very clear by the birth mother's attorney that we were not participating in the mediation and she even told us we needed to stay in the main lobby. For the last two weeks we have talked with Jacki (the CPS case manager in charge of X and A) about the mediation and what would likely happen. She also made it clear that we were just going to be in the lobby, but needed to be available for consultation. If we thought we would be in actual negotiations, we would have brought our adoption attorney Dave Cole (https://www.adoptlegal.com/) or at least been more prepared to answer some of the questions.
Well... we were dead in the middle of negotiations! We had to state how many times a year we were willing to meet with the birth parents, how we would keep them informed between visits (letters, e-mail, photos, this blog), had to give an e-mail address (that we set up prior) for use when contacting us about the boys (we did not want to give out our cell phone numbers - we keep that VERY private). Mediation theoretically was supposed to start at 1:30, but really did not start until a little after 2:00 since a key individual showed up 22 minutes late. It did not end until 5:05.
Those that were present and represented: birth mother, her mother (X and A's grandmother), Kim Cooks - the mother's attorney, the birth father of one of the children and his attorney, an attorney representing the father of the other child (unknown whereabouts), the ad-litem (the attorney supposedly assigned to represent strictly the interest of the children), the CPS attorney, CPS case worker Jacki, the Attorney General, the mediator and Melinda and myself. Yes, that is a lot of people to get to agree to anything.
The end result of all this that Melinda and I agreed to an open adoption where we would let X and A meet with the birth parents multiple times each year for a few hours each time. We are to meet in a "neutral" place that is "appropriate" for children (so no "men's" clubs or bars I guess). We also are to provide regular communication via photos, e-mail, etc. While this is the minimum that we agreed to, of course we can and will do much more. In exchange for us agreeing to all of this, both birth parents had to sign agreements to the voluntary termination of their parental rights. Once the judge orders a rendition of judgement (basically, just orally states before the court and then signs the execution order) on November 29th, then this agreement will be official. We have been told that the termination of the parental rights is already done and is irrevocable. If the judge did NOT agree to the mediation terms, there would be grounds for appeal to the termination based on the good faith agreement of the mediation, however, that would be the only way the termination could be reversed at this point. Our attorney says he has NEVER seen a judge not agree to these type of mediated settlements and, since he is strictly an adoption attorney, he would know.
After we signed the agreement (we were the last to do so), we got a copy of it and then rushed out to get back to X's school before 6:00 (he is in an after school program and it closes at 6:00). While we did not make it until 6:07, they completely understood and were very kind about being late. We then rushed over to pick up A from a licensed pay-by-the-hour "playcare" place that was CPS-approved.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Something happened that we did not expect after mediation - a lack of overflowing joy. We had this vision in our heads of jumping up and down when we found out that the parental rights were terminated. I mean, hey, this is exactly what we wanted and MUST happen before we can move forward with adoption (which can now happen early March, 2012). We should be happy and thrilled, right? But we can't truly celebrate when the mother and grandmother are literally crying on our shoulders.
We have met and interacted with them for 14 of the last 15 months that we have had X and A. Melinda brings the kids to see them each week at visitation and I get to join her in the Summer. We give them photos each week, learn about their lives and they certainly know about our lives. In recent months the mother and grandmother have opened up more to us about what happened and who they are and have even given us photos of the kids when they were younger. They are not just "the other people in the case," these are X's and A's family. We have grown to care about them and this is the worse day of their entire lives. Their whole world has been shattered. To be joyous now would be heartless. It would be like celebrating after just witnessing someone being shot at point blank range. No matter what problems brought the kids to us or what mistakes have been made, it still does not take away the fact that one is their birth mother and the other is their birth grandmother. While we admit that we do not know the birth father very well (he has remained a bit distant with us), we still know that this is hard for him, too.
Our goal is to surpass the "minimum" in our agreement and to allow the birth family to experience X and A growing up. As we have said before, there is no such thing as too much love for these kids and as long as we believe it is benefiting the kids, we intend to have the birth family around for the children's significant life events.
While this is certainly not "shared parenting" with the birth family (Melinda and I will make all the decisions regarding X and A), it is open adoption and the most important thing we can give X and A is their sense of self - they have to be comfortable with their past to move forward with their future. The open adoption is not for the birth mother, grandmother or father. It is not for Melinda and I. It is for X and A.
As it was said in our very first foster care / adoption certification class over two years ago (and something that we never forget): Adoption starts with a loss. Through the tears and heartaches of these people we have come to care about, we felt that loss. We pray that they understand how much we absolutely cherish X and A and we hope that they know that we will take care of their X and A forever.
Getting Caught Up: October 2011 Happenings
Touch a Truck / Big Court Date / A's Birthday Party at Nanny's House / Texas State Fair Day / X's Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch / Do-Nuts with Dad / A's School Fall Party / Tapestry Foster Care & Adoption Clinic / Fall Festival at A's School / Mediation!
Saturday, October 1st - October starts the month off right with "Touch a Truck." This is a chance for kids to go to one place and interact with all sorts of vehicles. X and A got to sit in two different fire trucks, a police car, a sports car, antique cars, tractors (which, of course, they have "driven" at Papa and Grandma's farm before) and much more. X even got to work a garbage truck (including pulling all the levers to crush the trash). While we are not pushing him to the area of waste management (we will let him decide what he wants to be later in life), we actually have two very close friends who do very well for themselves as part of management at the trash and recycle company, "Waste Management." Of course, we would be perfectly happy with either of them as paleontologists or brain surgeons or university professors or political activists or anything else respectable and legal (no mobsters or gang members, please).
Monday, October 3rd - We go into court hoping that the birth parents may sign over rights to X and A. Instead, we again, get thrown a legal curve ball that NO ONE saw coming - not the lawyers, the birth parents, CPS, the Attorney General or the judge. While I can't discuss the details here, some scribbled note in the margin of one page results in a rescheduled pretrial date of November 15th plus mediation for the termination of parents rights set for October 31st. Everyone went home unsatisfied and a bit frustrated. However, as we left, we reminded ourselves - at least we still have X and A.
Court is always a nerve-wrecking date with sleepless nights preceding it. We lost our other two foster children on days like this. While they went on to loving, safe homes, the days were very emotional for us.
Realistically, there are no signs that we will lose the children at this point (although anything can happen). CPS is exceptionally confident that their decision to place the children with us permanently is the correct decision and is prepared for a court case if needed. The birth mother (with the strong support of the kids maternal grandmother) has repeatedly agreed to termination of the mother's rights and, in fact, told us after court that she was prepared to do it that very day. This act was put off until mediation at the end of the month. The mother, grandmother, all our therapists and doctors and CPS agree that, after 15 months, it is time to give closure to this chapter in X and A's life and move toward a more permanent place. We can tell that X knows something is about to happen. He is asking lots of questions and is sometimes regressing to a place of insecurity. By his actions and words, he tells us he is afraid he is going to get uprooted and have to leave us. While we reassure him regularly, we need to get to a place of "Forever Family" and we can't do that right now. We all march forward a little longer while waiting for some results to come back and the next chance for all parties to discuss the matter again.
Saturday, October 8th - While Sunday the 9th is A's actual birthdate, we celebrate at Nanny's with a party and all the hoopla that goes with it on Saturday. Our best friends, Jennifer and James, come up to Nacogdoches with their children Owen and Warren to celebrate with us as well as Grandma and Papa and very close family friend "Auntie Norma" (who is always there for us and the kids). A got lots of neat gifts and everyone had fun playing with the cool new presents including an awesome throwback-style metal firetruck that Nanny bought and Papa and Jack cheerfully put together for two hours in Nanny's guest house. This thing will be around for decades. It is very solid and made exclusively with metal and chrome (plus hard rubber wheels and real wooden ladders). Of course there were lots of DUPLOS blocks and books (that will get years of mileage out of) and a cool transformer rescue robot that Owen and Warren gave A.
In A's typical fashion, he chose the absolute hardest piece of cake (in the middle) to have as his first piece of birthday cake and Jennifer performed minor surgery to extract it without cutting any of the rest of the cake. Way to go "J.J.!"
Nanny had great decorations and we got to stay for a few days with her. A great weekend overall.
Monday, October 10th - Texas State Fair Day. In the Dallas area, the Texas State Fair is so big (like "Big Tex" himself) that the schools give a full day off to go to it. All school-ages kids and teachers get one free ticket to the fair - so Jack and X were covered already. We got Melinda and A a ticket and headed down to this all-day event.
We did MUCH better this year and got a close, easily accessible and safe parking space. We also packed 9 liters of water (yes, you read that right) in our Radio Flyer wagon and Jack's backpack, plus plenty of food and snacks (which are all allowed in the fair). Of course, we had to eat SOME fair food or it just would not be a fair. We just didn't want to come back with tummy aches.
We saw the African Acrobats, Frisbee Catching Dogs, Pig Races, Doberman Dog Show and went on a long (but fun and engaging) livestock tour.We also did the food pavilion, saw lots of arts and crafts and, of course, did their favorite thing, the livestock petting zoo where the kids get to feed all sorts of hooved and feathered animals.We didn't make it to the big light show at the end of the evening. The kids were starting to get a bit tired and both fell asleep before we even left the parking lot!
Melinda and I remarked that the day really could not have gone much better. We even had perfect weather all day.
Tuesday, October 18th - X goes on another field trip. We know Fall is around the corner when he goes to the Owen's Family Pumpkin Patch (yes, like Owens Country Sausage - same people). Melinda chaperoned and Anthony was in-tow. They came home with three pumpkins and lots of smiles all around!
Wednesday, October 19th - X has been looking forward to this day since a year ago when he and Jack did "Dunking and Do-Nuts with Dad." It is a chance for some nice bonding. X and Jack were the first two at the school and ready to have lots of fun on the basketball court. Unfortunately, after we ate our one do-nut and had juice, we discovered that this school does not do the "dunking" part - meaning the do-nuts and a book fair were all that they had. A bit disappointed, X and Jack headed back home about 7:20, but then Jack got to take him back to school a little before 8:00. Next year, the X and Jack team will be a little less eager and arrive a bit later. Still a source of great pride and bonding as X got to show off part of his school to Jack.
Saturday, October 29th - While X and A had fun all day in classes, Melinda and I got to attend an all-day Tapestry Foster Care & Adoption Clinic. There were panels of families that have adopted with advice of what to do and not do. There were stories about foster kids and how they coped growing up. There was a great lunchtime presentation about the best foster and adoption books (primarily for kids). We ended up with "Rosie's Family, An Adoption Story," " A Mother for Choco" and a book just for us. Since we have been reading them each night, we have gotten a lot of great comments from X and even some from A. They read about a family of dogs where one dog (Rosie) is adopted and then X says, "Hey, he is like me. You and Mommy are like the Mommy and Daddy dogs." We think he understands a lot more than we even realize. A is still a bit oblivious, but can also tell something is happening.
Sunday, October 30th - A's School "Fall" Party was fun. There were bounce houses, lots of activities for the kids to win treats (candy) and it even had a bumpy hay ride that took us around the acre or so of land adjacent to the church. Both boys were their costumes. X was "Don Pteranodon" and A was "Buddy T-Rex" from the PBS show "Dinosaur Train". We love this show! Not only does it focus on dinosaurs and trains (favorites in our home) it also features Buddy, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and his adoptive Pteranodon family. The boys talk about how you can all be different yet still be part of the same family.
Monday, October 31st - A School Fall Party. A had two different Fall Parties because he has two different teachers. He had his Friday party on the 28th. He brought "ghost" cookies (Nutterbutter brand cookies dipped in white chocolate with mini dark chocolate drops for eyes) and apple slices as his "special" snack. They made ghost bookmarks and they read some Fall books. On Monday he wore his costume to the party. Melinda serves as the room mom and brought foam pumpkin frames for the kids to make as their craft activity. They read pumpkin stories on the story rug and ate a special snack. All the kids looked adorable in their Halloween finest!
Mediation was scheduled for the 31st. On Friday the 28th Melinda received a call from our CPS caseworker. The caseworker started the conversation with "I have some bad news". Melinda froze - her mind immediately began packing clothes and toys. The caseworker then explained that due to a scheduling conflict mediation was postponed to November 2nd. Melinda quickly regained composure and indicated that she would move around appointments for the boys and secure sitters so we could attend.
A busy month comes to fun (and sometimes scary) end!
Saturday, October 1st - October starts the month off right with "Touch a Truck." This is a chance for kids to go to one place and interact with all sorts of vehicles. X and A got to sit in two different fire trucks, a police car, a sports car, antique cars, tractors (which, of course, they have "driven" at Papa and Grandma's farm before) and much more. X even got to work a garbage truck (including pulling all the levers to crush the trash). While we are not pushing him to the area of waste management (we will let him decide what he wants to be later in life), we actually have two very close friends who do very well for themselves as part of management at the trash and recycle company, "Waste Management." Of course, we would be perfectly happy with either of them as paleontologists or brain surgeons or university professors or political activists or anything else respectable and legal (no mobsters or gang members, please).
Monday, October 3rd - We go into court hoping that the birth parents may sign over rights to X and A. Instead, we again, get thrown a legal curve ball that NO ONE saw coming - not the lawyers, the birth parents, CPS, the Attorney General or the judge. While I can't discuss the details here, some scribbled note in the margin of one page results in a rescheduled pretrial date of November 15th plus mediation for the termination of parents rights set for October 31st. Everyone went home unsatisfied and a bit frustrated. However, as we left, we reminded ourselves - at least we still have X and A.
Court is always a nerve-wrecking date with sleepless nights preceding it. We lost our other two foster children on days like this. While they went on to loving, safe homes, the days were very emotional for us.
Realistically, there are no signs that we will lose the children at this point (although anything can happen). CPS is exceptionally confident that their decision to place the children with us permanently is the correct decision and is prepared for a court case if needed. The birth mother (with the strong support of the kids maternal grandmother) has repeatedly agreed to termination of the mother's rights and, in fact, told us after court that she was prepared to do it that very day. This act was put off until mediation at the end of the month. The mother, grandmother, all our therapists and doctors and CPS agree that, after 15 months, it is time to give closure to this chapter in X and A's life and move toward a more permanent place. We can tell that X knows something is about to happen. He is asking lots of questions and is sometimes regressing to a place of insecurity. By his actions and words, he tells us he is afraid he is going to get uprooted and have to leave us. While we reassure him regularly, we need to get to a place of "Forever Family" and we can't do that right now. We all march forward a little longer while waiting for some results to come back and the next chance for all parties to discuss the matter again.
Saturday, October 8th - While Sunday the 9th is A's actual birthdate, we celebrate at Nanny's with a party and all the hoopla that goes with it on Saturday. Our best friends, Jennifer and James, come up to Nacogdoches with their children Owen and Warren to celebrate with us as well as Grandma and Papa and very close family friend "Auntie Norma" (who is always there for us and the kids). A got lots of neat gifts and everyone had fun playing with the cool new presents including an awesome throwback-style metal firetruck that Nanny bought and Papa and Jack cheerfully put together for two hours in Nanny's guest house. This thing will be around for decades. It is very solid and made exclusively with metal and chrome (plus hard rubber wheels and real wooden ladders). Of course there were lots of DUPLOS blocks and books (that will get years of mileage out of) and a cool transformer rescue robot that Owen and Warren gave A.
In A's typical fashion, he chose the absolute hardest piece of cake (in the middle) to have as his first piece of birthday cake and Jennifer performed minor surgery to extract it without cutting any of the rest of the cake. Way to go "J.J.!"
Nanny had great decorations and we got to stay for a few days with her. A great weekend overall.
Monday, October 10th - Texas State Fair Day. In the Dallas area, the Texas State Fair is so big (like "Big Tex" himself) that the schools give a full day off to go to it. All school-ages kids and teachers get one free ticket to the fair - so Jack and X were covered already. We got Melinda and A a ticket and headed down to this all-day event.
We did MUCH better this year and got a close, easily accessible and safe parking space. We also packed 9 liters of water (yes, you read that right) in our Radio Flyer wagon and Jack's backpack, plus plenty of food and snacks (which are all allowed in the fair). Of course, we had to eat SOME fair food or it just would not be a fair. We just didn't want to come back with tummy aches.
We saw the African Acrobats, Frisbee Catching Dogs, Pig Races, Doberman Dog Show and went on a long (but fun and engaging) livestock tour.We also did the food pavilion, saw lots of arts and crafts and, of course, did their favorite thing, the livestock petting zoo where the kids get to feed all sorts of hooved and feathered animals.We didn't make it to the big light show at the end of the evening. The kids were starting to get a bit tired and both fell asleep before we even left the parking lot!
Melinda and I remarked that the day really could not have gone much better. We even had perfect weather all day.
Tuesday, October 18th - X goes on another field trip. We know Fall is around the corner when he goes to the Owen's Family Pumpkin Patch (yes, like Owens Country Sausage - same people). Melinda chaperoned and Anthony was in-tow. They came home with three pumpkins and lots of smiles all around!
Wednesday, October 19th - X has been looking forward to this day since a year ago when he and Jack did "Dunking and Do-Nuts with Dad." It is a chance for some nice bonding. X and Jack were the first two at the school and ready to have lots of fun on the basketball court. Unfortunately, after we ate our one do-nut and had juice, we discovered that this school does not do the "dunking" part - meaning the do-nuts and a book fair were all that they had. A bit disappointed, X and Jack headed back home about 7:20, but then Jack got to take him back to school a little before 8:00. Next year, the X and Jack team will be a little less eager and arrive a bit later. Still a source of great pride and bonding as X got to show off part of his school to Jack.
Saturday, October 29th - While X and A had fun all day in classes, Melinda and I got to attend an all-day Tapestry Foster Care & Adoption Clinic. There were panels of families that have adopted with advice of what to do and not do. There were stories about foster kids and how they coped growing up. There was a great lunchtime presentation about the best foster and adoption books (primarily for kids). We ended up with "Rosie's Family, An Adoption Story," " A Mother for Choco" and a book just for us. Since we have been reading them each night, we have gotten a lot of great comments from X and even some from A. They read about a family of dogs where one dog (Rosie) is adopted and then X says, "Hey, he is like me. You and Mommy are like the Mommy and Daddy dogs." We think he understands a lot more than we even realize. A is still a bit oblivious, but can also tell something is happening.
Sunday, October 30th - A's School "Fall" Party was fun. There were bounce houses, lots of activities for the kids to win treats (candy) and it even had a bumpy hay ride that took us around the acre or so of land adjacent to the church. Both boys were their costumes. X was "Don Pteranodon" and A was "Buddy T-Rex" from the PBS show "Dinosaur Train". We love this show! Not only does it focus on dinosaurs and trains (favorites in our home) it also features Buddy, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and his adoptive Pteranodon family. The boys talk about how you can all be different yet still be part of the same family.
Monday, October 31st - A School Fall Party. A had two different Fall Parties because he has two different teachers. He had his Friday party on the 28th. He brought "ghost" cookies (Nutterbutter brand cookies dipped in white chocolate with mini dark chocolate drops for eyes) and apple slices as his "special" snack. They made ghost bookmarks and they read some Fall books. On Monday he wore his costume to the party. Melinda serves as the room mom and brought foam pumpkin frames for the kids to make as their craft activity. They read pumpkin stories on the story rug and ate a special snack. All the kids looked adorable in their Halloween finest!
Mediation was scheduled for the 31st. On Friday the 28th Melinda received a call from our CPS caseworker. The caseworker started the conversation with "I have some bad news". Melinda froze - her mind immediately began packing clothes and toys. The caseworker then explained that due to a scheduling conflict mediation was postponed to November 2nd. Melinda quickly regained composure and indicated that she would move around appointments for the boys and secure sitters so we could attend.
A busy month comes to fun (and sometimes scary) end!
Getting Caught Up: September 2011 Happenings
X's Curriculum Night / Occupational Therapy Goodbye / Tiffany's Baby Shower vs. Chick-Fil-A /
Lion King 3-D / X and A have school picnics
Friday, September 2nd - X gets a six-month re-evaluation for Occupational Therapy (OT). A few weeks ago we were told he will likely "place out" of the program that he has been doing twice a week for the last half-year. He has made HUGE strides in this area. Within a few days of this test, the results confirm that he is indeed "on-track" with his age group, so a final wrap up meeting was scheduled for September 7th and a he will have a graduation party on the 16th.
Saturday, September 10th - Tiffany's Baby Shower vs. Chick-Fil-A and the Pet Store.
Melinda's cousin Tiffany (who lives in Fort Worth) is finally pregnant after a very long wait. Melinda is hosting a baby shower and the kids are looking forward to seeing Tiffany's parents Patti and Gary (see July 2011 for the summer fun with them) along with Tiffany's sister Brittany and of course, Tiffany herself. HOWEVER I (Jack) was informed "boys are not allowed to be at the baby shower" so we had to leave. I decided that X, A and myself would go get some food at Chick-Fil-A's down the street and let them play an extra long time on the inside playground there.
It is ridiculously hot outside (something like the 63rd day in a row over 100 degrees) and we have no desire to go to the park in 104 degree weather at 2:00 PM (when this starts). Normally, we would just jump in the swimming pool, but did I mention that we were kicked out of the house for 90 minutes. After Chick-Fil-A, we went down the street to the pet store just to kill a little more time. The kids like checking out all the pets there and we are able to burn another 20 minutes indoors.
Finally we get to come home and see all the family. That night we had some great food and conversation and got caught up with the Brooks, Deckers and Buetschs.
Friday, September 16th - X has his Occupational Therapy "graduation" in our home including a neat certificate, a few toys that his therapist Ms. Ledbetter brought and a super cool helium-filled balloon dinosaur that "stands" on the floor but has just enough helium to float above the ground so you can "walk" the dinosaur around and his body stays at the right place. While the helium left within a week, the dinosaur stays on a cork board in X's room and Ms. Ledbetter stays in X's heart. She has certainly made a gigantic impact in X's life and is on the top of our "homecoming party" list (when we get to celebrate the adoption of X and A).
Immediately after the graduation party with Ms. Ledbetter, we jump in the already-packed car and head to the theatrical re-release of Melinda's all-time favorite animated movie, Disney's "Lion King" except this time it is "Lion King 3-D." We were correct to leave a little extra early. Galaxy Drive-In was packed, but we got a fine parking place anyway. Of course, this is one movie the kids DO get to watch and they have fun all night in their 3-D glasses.
Thursday, September 22nd - X has a school picnic at 6:00 PM and we all get to come. We grab some food and head to his school. There is not much structured activity going on other than the high school band made entirely of former students from this elementary playing a few songs (good recruiting tool for future band members). X gets to run all over the playground and show us what he can do. There are seemingly hundreds of kids screaming and running at full speed including X and A. They are having a blast!
We finally get to meet Caden, one of X's best friends plus his mother and father (who we quickly realize are almost half our age). Of course, we always knew this would be the case with many of his friends' parents and have accepted it. Jack and his ex-wife had Alex and Erich when they were only 19 and then 21-years-old. Alex and Erich are now 21 and 24, so, year, we are technically are "grandparents" age. However, there are actually a lot more "older" parents like us than there used to be. So while we might be mistaken occasionally as the grandparents, there are enough of us 40 - 45-year-olds with kids that we don't feel awkward. X's last best friend, Oliver, who moved to Corpus Christi in April had parents that were even older than us. We have said it before on this blog, we are in the Melinda and Jack 2.0 Phase (and loving every minute of it). Hopefully, you have read in this blog: there is NOTHING that slows us down from having fun with X and A - certainly not our age!
Thursday, September 29th - A has a family picnic after school that we all get to go to. While similar to X's, it is MUCH smaller.The kids get to play on the playground and bounce houses and they get their faces painted. Everyone eats plenty of food including Melinda's tasty cupcakes (which were a bit "fudgy," but oh, so awesome) - go Homemaker Melinda!
While a huge departure from making big corporate-level decisions as an Arts Marketing Director for THE biggest arts organizations in Texas, Melinda is using no less of her creative talent - she is just redirecting it toward what she can do with and for the boys. In the words of X, "She is Supermommy!" We all believe that and see it every day.
Yeah, we may be twice the age as some of these parents. but that also means we have WAY more life experiences and (hopefully) are a bit wiser than ourselves of 20 years ago. We fully embrace this new phase of life and, learning from our past mistakes, are determined to make this next 20 years the best years - with our whole world wrapped around what is best for the kids. While we love Alex and Erich, and, of course, are here when they want or need us, they are now grown and making their own decisions. We now get a chance to shape another set of lives - those of X and A.
Getting Caught Up: August 2011 Happenings
Vacation at Nanny's / Lunch Rehearsal / X Starts Kindergarten / A Starts a Three-Days-a-Week "Pre-School" Program
August is a relatively slow month for us (other than the record number of kids appointments), but mainly because we are preparing for going back to school!
Friday, August 12th - Sunday, August 14th - We take a three-day trip to Nanny's house in Nacogodoches for the last of the summer swimming at her house plus lots of other fun with Nanny! This is the last visit of the summer. Jack starts back to work on Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 16th - Friday, August 19th - Jack does his annual "inservice" training and prepares for teaching the new school year. He will teach engineering, robotics, technology and reading dyslexia this year and is very excited about the classes!
Wednesday, August 10th - Lunch rehearsal for X and A. Last year X was in a half-day, afternoon pre-kindergarten program. That meant that he always ate lunch right before he went to school. This year he will be on his own for lunch for the first time at his all-day kindergarten. Melinda came up with the brilliant idea to have lunch rehearsal. Jack would make X and A's lunch every day and put it into their respective lunchboxes. When the alarm goes off at Noon, Melinda simulates a school bell (which is great fun to watch) and then the kids come in, sit at their Little Tykes Picnic Table and eat their lunch. This proved to be very, very valuable. Quickly we figured out that X had no idea how to work a thermos (since he had never needed to do it before), and needed to learn how to open the string cheese packages. Melinda also taught them how and WHAT to throw away in the trash and we tested out the brand new dinosaur cookie cutters. Jack makes both X and A peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each day and uses the cookie cutter (that has two opposing long-necked dinosaurs) to perfectly cut the boring square sandwich into two fun shapes. X and A both thought they were rock stars with such cool food. We did this all the way up until the first day of school. Of course, Jack HAS to make the lunch box for A as well as X so A does not feel left out. A carries the lunch box in the car just like his older brother and then brings it home. Guess what happens each day for A, Melinda "rings the bell" and A pulls out his lunch box and eats it at the table.
Thursday, August 18th - We get to meet X's teacher for the first time. Ms. Utterback's room looks like loads of fun and learning. She has X's name on a placard and placed on a table where he will sit in class each day. He was very excited, as was A (who just wanted to play with all the toys while we visited with her).
Monday, August 22nd - Melinda drops off X at school for his first day in Kindergarten (and his first full day away from her). When Melinda picks him up in the afternoon he is excited to tell her all about his adventures and new "friends." We were worried about this being an all-day adventure (and he is pretty tired when he gets home), but it looks like this might be O.K.
Wednesday, August 24th - We get to meet A's new teachers. A is only two years old (just about to turn three), but he has been by X's side since he was born except for the week-long stay in the hospital several months ago. We know he also needs regular socialization with OTHER children - especially his own age - so we enrolled him in a three-day-a-week "pre-school" program at a very nearby church that meets from 8:45 to 11:45, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We think this should provide the right balance. This is a true educational curriculum that is faith-based. It is NOT a daycare or play center. We wanted him to start developing a bit of structured routine. All the therapists / doctors that we see think this should help.
Monday, August 29th - A's first day of "school." After a bit of apprehension about going to his class, A jumped right in and had lots to talk about when he got home when eating from his lunch box - yes - at the kitchen table.
The end of a month, but the start of a school year!
August is a relatively slow month for us (other than the record number of kids appointments), but mainly because we are preparing for going back to school!
Friday, August 12th - Sunday, August 14th - We take a three-day trip to Nanny's house in Nacogodoches for the last of the summer swimming at her house plus lots of other fun with Nanny! This is the last visit of the summer. Jack starts back to work on Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 16th - Friday, August 19th - Jack does his annual "inservice" training and prepares for teaching the new school year. He will teach engineering, robotics, technology and reading dyslexia this year and is very excited about the classes!
Wednesday, August 10th - Lunch rehearsal for X and A. Last year X was in a half-day, afternoon pre-kindergarten program. That meant that he always ate lunch right before he went to school. This year he will be on his own for lunch for the first time at his all-day kindergarten. Melinda came up with the brilliant idea to have lunch rehearsal. Jack would make X and A's lunch every day and put it into their respective lunchboxes. When the alarm goes off at Noon, Melinda simulates a school bell (which is great fun to watch) and then the kids come in, sit at their Little Tykes Picnic Table and eat their lunch. This proved to be very, very valuable. Quickly we figured out that X had no idea how to work a thermos (since he had never needed to do it before), and needed to learn how to open the string cheese packages. Melinda also taught them how and WHAT to throw away in the trash and we tested out the brand new dinosaur cookie cutters. Jack makes both X and A peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each day and uses the cookie cutter (that has two opposing long-necked dinosaurs) to perfectly cut the boring square sandwich into two fun shapes. X and A both thought they were rock stars with such cool food. We did this all the way up until the first day of school. Of course, Jack HAS to make the lunch box for A as well as X so A does not feel left out. A carries the lunch box in the car just like his older brother and then brings it home. Guess what happens each day for A, Melinda "rings the bell" and A pulls out his lunch box and eats it at the table.
Thursday, August 18th - We get to meet X's teacher for the first time. Ms. Utterback's room looks like loads of fun and learning. She has X's name on a placard and placed on a table where he will sit in class each day. He was very excited, as was A (who just wanted to play with all the toys while we visited with her).
Monday, August 22nd - Melinda drops off X at school for his first day in Kindergarten (and his first full day away from her). When Melinda picks him up in the afternoon he is excited to tell her all about his adventures and new "friends." We were worried about this being an all-day adventure (and he is pretty tired when he gets home), but it looks like this might be O.K.
Wednesday, August 24th - We get to meet A's new teachers. A is only two years old (just about to turn three), but he has been by X's side since he was born except for the week-long stay in the hospital several months ago. We know he also needs regular socialization with OTHER children - especially his own age - so we enrolled him in a three-day-a-week "pre-school" program at a very nearby church that meets from 8:45 to 11:45, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We think this should provide the right balance. This is a true educational curriculum that is faith-based. It is NOT a daycare or play center. We wanted him to start developing a bit of structured routine. All the therapists / doctors that we see think this should help.
Monday, August 29th - A's first day of "school." After a bit of apprehension about going to his class, A jumped right in and had lots to talk about when he got home when eating from his lunch box - yes - at the kitchen table.
The end of a month, but the start of a school year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)