Wordless Wednesday

Busy, busy, busy...

For years I've been watching my friends and neighbors with older kids run around like crazy after school and on weekends to get their kiddos from one activity to the next. When your own kids are so little, it's hard to envision doing it. But guess what, we're one of those families now. I literally walked out the door at 5:15 am (for a run) and have been going until now. Callie had her first soccer game this morning. Unfortuantely I missed it because Jack was in a parade and parents had to accompany their child. So Brian took Callie, I took Jack and the little ones and we headed to the parade. I thought I was prepared with water bottles, ring pops and apples, but...2 and a half hours later of bring in a stroller, that was certainly not enough. Carter and Anna were miserable by the end, crying, fighting, DONE! We rushed from the parade, which by the way was fun despite the length, and exciting for Jack, and headed to Jack's soccer game. From the game to pick Callie up from a birthday party. And home finally. I'm exhausted. This is it. We have entered the world of going, going and going. With 2 school aged kids there is no turning back and I still have 2 more that will eventually have activites too. This is going to give me a whole new appreciation for the time we have at home to just play and be together. And while it feels overwhelming and crazy, it's fun to see my kids excel in new areas and try new things. So were just going with the flow, just a faster one than usual!

Jack's school float.
Carter and Anna sat with Jack for a quick minute but were not allowed to ride on the float.

By some stroke of good luck, our float was parked behind the bubble bus. So while we waited the first hour to get moving, we had plenty of bubble entertainment.

Callie did great in her game and Brian got a couple of pics for me.

If nothing else, we will become one organized family keeping track of everything. No activites tomorrow outside of church, how blissful.

Anna adoption video!

I finally finished it. Anna's adoption video is done. I learned a lot making this, namely our video camera is older than our oldest child and not compatible with anything, and we need a Mac. But after much effort, I am pleased with the video. I let Anna watch it several times and got no reaction about any of the time in China. She was more concerned about naming all the people. I was worried she would feel some emotion about seeing her nanny and those first few minutes with us but either she doesn't remember or she is truly integrated into our lives and would need more actual video of her life in China to trigger memories. So enjoy the movie. I apologize for the length. It's 25 minutes long, primarily because I included about 10 minutes of footage of when she was first brought to us. I wanted my children to get to see as much of this as possible. For my RQ friends watching, I did take a lot of ideas and music choices from watching your videos so thank you for the inspiration.
Enjoy!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

First Day of Preschool

The big kids have been in school for a couple of weeks but today was the first day of school for Carter and Anna. Both are starting preschool. We have been talking about school a lot and both were very excited to go.
I really do believe that Anna is just as ready as any other preschooler. Her English is fantastic and going to school with Carter helps with any separation issues.
This was before we left the house.

Walking to the front door of the school.

One last pose kiddos.

And while they weren't paying attention (or so I thought) I snapped one last picture.

So what did I do ALL BY MYSELF for 2 hours??? I could have come home, done laundry, gone to the grocery, run errands.....but my friend mentioned I should do something just for myself this morning. The truth is, if I didn't do it now, I would never take the time to just relax. So I went and got a pedicure, read a magazine, and enjoyed a brief moment of silence. The kids were are smiles when I picked them up and school was a success. Looks like we all had a great morning.

Happy Labor Day