Have you ever noticed...

• that kids become their most adorable selves right when it's time to go to bed?
• that brothers & sisters who've fought all day long, suddenly play cooperatively together when you have finally separated them to clean their individual bedrooms?
• that children who are much too full for carrots, green beans and peas are starving if ice cream is mentioned?
• that little ones who never seem to hear the rules as applied to them become family deputies, on the vigilant look-out to catch anyone else breaking them?
• that everyone ignores Mom...until she sits down to blog?

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things...

I can't resist:

1. Little Golden Books by Eloise Wilkins

2. Red shoes & boots

3. Black licorice or red licorice or Milk Duds

4. Black-painted furniture with red&white checked cushions

5. Souvenir Christmas ornaments from meaningful places

6. Blue & white dishes

7. Pretty stationery

8. Big, fat novels set in war-torn Europe

9. Striped grosgrain ribbon

10. Old family photos in big silver frames.

What are your favorites?

Birthday Haiku

She always has the best fashion sense...except for my bonnet!

It's my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday to my greatest friend and role model. If you haven't met her yet, please click here...you are in for a treat. I always get sappy writing about Mom. Today I tried to keep it short and sweet.


Yes...birthday haiku! I have not written in this form since fifth grade...but if anyone will love me for trying, it's my mother. Here are three:

Mother's gentle hands.

Wiping tears, catching dreams, and

harvesting life's work.

Your light. Warm. Mellow.

Pure, not harsh. Inspires others

To shine brighter, too.

Fifty-eight is not

Too old to blog and laugh and

Drink an ice cold Coke!

Anyone who wants to post their own 5-7-5 syllable tribute to Oma...please do. Happy birthday, Mom! I love you!!

Soda or Pop?

Raising my family faraway from my own roots can be challenging. For one, I have found many "language differences" here on the East Coast. The first time I went to the grocery store, I asked the lady for a "sack" and she looked at me like I was from another planet. After living here almost ten years, I am learning to speak the local lingo. Still, I thought this little quiz was fun! What do you call your carbonation?

Back to School

For all his complaining, he was thrilled to hop on the bus and head off to

third-grade!
I couldn't even get a good shot of her climbing into the bus...she was boarded in the blink of an eye. Loved her first full day! I hosted the third annual "Back to School Brunch" for all the happy moms!

Back-to-School Bacon Wraps

Wrap "Li'l Smokies" sausages with 1/2 slices of bacon. Secure with toothpick. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. (Watch that they don't get too brown!)

Serve hot out of the oven.

**I got this recipe from Christie...I only make them once a year, but they are SOOO good and always first to go!

There She Goes...

If ever a girl was ready for first-grade it would be this one. Smart, social and super-independent, my 6 1/2 year old would sleep at school if she could. I'm not sure I'll be able to make it through the day without her tomorrow.

She is my miracle girl. When I knew adoption was the way we were going to build our family, I prayed and prayed that the Lord would send me the right kids. The ones meant for our family and meant for one another. I also prayed for help in recognizing them as mine.

Sure enough, child #1 was born on my husband's birthday. He also turned out to be a lefty like his dad and a book-lover like his mom. The kid was definitely ours.

While we were waiting for this baby, however, I wondered if it was too much to hope for another miracle. I prayed and prayed again. And, was it greedy to ask for a sweet little girl, who would be the perfect match for her big brother?

Looking at these two side-by-side is a daily reminder of God's love. The truth is, I would have taken (and loved) just about any children. But the fact that two siblings who share no DNA can look more alike than their little twin brothers is a little miracle that I will never take for granted.

Not only is she the perfect physical match to her big brother, my princess is the perfect complement to him socially, emotionally and scholastically. His weaknesses are her strengths and vice versa. I have no doubt that when our Father in Heaven chose to send us such a challenging #1, He knew the answer to many of our future prayers would be this precious girl.

Of course, living in this family learning lab, surrounded by three crazy brothers is not easy. But my gal is definitely up for the job. Like the song, she gets knocked down and then back up again. Over and over and over. She is quick to forgive and, if not always forget, at least find something else to keep her busy.

I am so proud of her growth this summer. She has taught herself to read, swims like a fish and has to be pulled away from piano practice! Her first grade teacher will be delighted to have this helpful, happy little girl in the classroom. But her mom is going to miss her terribly.

Jump in with both feet, sis! I love you!

Eight and Great

Here's my third-grader. Wow, I can't believe my little guy is SOO old. I mean, I remember being in third grade and I considered myself quite wise and worldly. He probably considers himself wise and worldly, too. Which is a scary thought.

This year will be his third in a self-contained special ed. class for kids with Asperger's Syndrome. There are eight kids and two teachers. They do regular third-grade work, but keep things very structured and work a lot on social skills. He joins in with the rest of the third-graders for art, gym, music, computers, lunch, recess, and all the fun stuff.

Parenting a child with Asperger's can be exhausting. We're living in an FM world and he's only wired for AM. He is smart, charming, funny, and very talented...but truly doesn't naturally understand all those little social graces that keep the wheels of life greased smoothly.

Taking turns, letting little problems go, being flexible about unexpected change, being ok with new people and things are all a big challenge. I am so grateful to live in this day and age where so much is being discovered and educational programs are in place for kids with special needs.

Also, this guy is hyper with a capital ADHD!!! His energy knows no bounds and he is very distractible. Good at the pool, bad in the school. Thank goodness for medication. I don't care what Tom Cruise thinks...sometimes you've gotta use a little chemistry to even the playing field a bit for these kids. I found a great book that I read to my little buddy about the whole thing. We laughed the whole way through and I think it helped him feel better about who he is.

This boy is the apple of my eye. He is the cutest thing to ever wear a Cub Scout uniform! He makes me laugh several times a day...usually when I'm supposed to be disciplining. I'm excited for his year to start. Scouts, riding lessons, piano, and all his "extracurricular" specialists keep our schedule quite busy. One thing is for sure...things are never boring when he's around!

Here's to a great 3rd grade year, buddy! I love you!

Happy Children's Weekend!

You've heard of Mother's Day, Father's Day, Veteran's Day, Secretary's Day, President's Day. This weekend we celebrated "Children's Day" at our house!

I heard this idea from another mom and thought it sounded fun.

Here's how we celebrated...

Yesterday, the big kids enjoyed breakfast in bed. The twins ate in the kitchen but had a "Children's Day" candle in their pancakes.

Mom and Dad did all the chores and then the kids got to choose a special activity to celebrate the end of summer. Our gang chose a trip to the peach orchard for a tractor ride and peach-picking. Then we headed to the playground and had a picnic.

When we got home, each child had a special (small) Children's Day present to open.

For Children's Day dinner, we headed to the annual church Corn Roast and pigged out on corn, hamburgers and watermelon.
Today we enjoyed a little peace and quiet. We went to church, napped, had a special Sunday dinner and then Brad gave all the kids a father's blessing to start the school year off right!

I think Children's Day will be an annual event around here...