A New Baby...

We finally got a placement call for a baby. They are not sure if he is 18 months old or 2 1/2. Yea, I know big difference. Either way he is developmentally delayed. He CRYS all the time. His teeth are rotted to the gum line! How on earth that happened I don't know. they must have stuck a bottle with kool aid or juice in his mouth 24 hours a day. I've never seen a baby so young with teeth that rotted. Good Grief, he just got them all in, how did they rot so fast?
Of course they know nothing about him. No shot record, no medical care, and evidently no date of birth. He doesn't want to get down to play, he just wants to sit in a highchair and stare off into space. And will not touch milk. He has been given juice his whole life. He does eat pretty good though. He only weighs about 20 lbs. I don't see anyway that he could be 2 1/2. Of course they want him taken to the Dr right away, but can't seem to get their act together to put him on M/D. No Dr will see without M/D. It's a catch 22. Do your job, or the kid doesn't get the care they need so badly.
We shall see what they do for this little guy. Should be interesting. I'll keep you posted. and maybe a few pictures of him ( no face shots of course) He looks alot like The Boy.

Christmas Traditions

**My girls do so love our Christmas Traditions. But not as much as I loved creating them for Them. We had none in my family. When poverty is your world, survival is your reward.
My girls would have better. And boy did I create some good stuff. Some by accident, like Santa coming while we were at Christmas eve services to leave P.J's on the girl's bed. When the oldest was 4 I accidently left her Christmas Pj's on the bed before we left for church. When we came back she went in her room and said,"Look mommy, Santa left me pajamas." So EVERY year for 23 years Santa has left a pair of Christmas Pj's on each girl's bed for them to find when we get home from church. To this very day, after Christmas eve service, a 26 yr old little girl, a 22 yr old little girl & a 19 yr old little girl, runs up the stairs as soon as we get home to see what Pj's Santa has left for them. (This year our son & 2 MeMe babies will do the same) They never knew how they got there til just a couple of years ago. You see, Mommy always forgot her Bible EVERY year and had to run back in the house to get it. That is when mommy put 3 pairs of Pj's on each bed. A simple thing, but HUGE in a child's heart. Tradition. We have a few. Stockings that mommy & daddy make sure is personalized to each girl's personality. And 3 Advent calenders with chocolate inside** But I read this story and thought what a wonderful tradition and thought you would like to read it, if you haven't heard it already.
#Come back and share your Christmas traditions. I'd love to hear them! #

The Story that Inspired The White Envelope Project.
This story was originally published in the December 14, 1982 issue of Woman’s Day magazine. It was the first place winner out of thousands of entries in the magazine’s “My Most Moving Holiday Tradition” contest in which readers were asked to share their favorite holiday tradition and the story behind it. Woman’s Day continues to support this tradition and The White Envelope Project today.
“For the Man Who Hated Christmas”by Nancy W. Gavin
It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas--oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it--overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears.
It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.” Mike loved kids - all kids - and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition--one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn’t end there.You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down the envelope.
Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.

The Birthday Boy

3 Years old! How did that happen?

It's hard to believe he's been with us for 2 1/2 years.

Time flies. Although some days it crawls.

Days crawl by.

Years fly by.

So says the mother of a toddler & the mother of a 26 year old.

I remember clearly the day his oldest sister turned 3. We lived in Japan.

She was deliriously happy with a knock off Cabbage Patch doll. Just as he was

deliriously happy with a "real" Pirate Ship. When he opened it he said,"I sooo happy".

The two events seem like they were a couple of years apart, not 23 YEARS apart!

Time Is Not Fair.

Review and a promise

Please go visit my Baby Einstein, review on my new site
http://causeyoucarewhatithink.blogspot.com/

and the promise; Pictures of the Boy's 3rd Birthday happenings!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We're talking Turkey here!

Surprise!

Got an emergency call on 2 kids tonight. 6 yr old boy & 2 1/2 yr old girl.
More details tomorrow, cause you know they didn't have ANY AT 7:00 tonight.

UPDATE:
wOW! Why do I forget why I say no school age kids? I did write it down in a post to remind myself. MySelf is not so bright sometimes.
I dodged a bullet on this one. Seems the FP home was shut down kind of suddenly. I told them up front when the worker brought them over that I do not do school age kids. She said she understood, but you're never sure if they REALLY understand and you have a child for a year before you can get them moved. But she called today to say they found a foster placement for both of them. I'll take them into the SW tomorrow morning. YEAAAAA.
And this time I mean it....NO more school age kids...I mean it!

MEET MY NEW BEST FRIEND

I'm not sure about you. But I've always thought Clorox 2 was a bleach. So I never really thought much about it...until I got some.
(keep reading, there's free stuff at the end :) )
Clorox 2 now has a New ultra stain fighting formula that is even more concentrated. It's Clorox 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster
Living where the RED CLAY grows, is hard on kid's clothes and yours too if you garden or just walk outside. I've never found anything that would get the red clay completely out of the knees on a pair of pants and forget white socks. The clothes I tryed it on was from the summer so it was safe to say it was pretty ground in and had already been washed several times. But the tenacious red clay stayed, as it always does. Until I tryed the Corox 2. I pretreated the stains and threw them in with some more clothes, not really expecting too much. I didn't dare look until after they came out of the dryer. But when they did, WOW! I couldn't believe it really took the stains out and the rest of the load looked pretty good too.
I was sold. If all it did was take out red clay stains I'd be a happy camper, but it also took out some old coffee stains on a tshirt. So I was happy.
Go visit my new BFF at http://www.daretobecolorful.com/
Tell me what stain you would like to try it on and how it got there. Or are you more interested in the color booster part of it?
I've got coupons for a FREE 33 oz bottle for 2 of you with the best story and 1 will go to a random commenter. Comments close on 12/3/08.

Do You See What I See?

This is the Fall table the Boy and I set up in our entry hall.
He decided it wasn't really complete. So after I thought we were done, he went to his cow barn to add a little something. I guess he didn't think it looked just right. So he come and got me and said, Look Mommy, I get more". Everyone's a critic...I thought it looked fine.
Can you see the Boy's addition on the right?
you can click on the photo to make it larger.

GO VISITING...

My beautiful, lovely oldest daughter has started a blog of her very own.
She's witty and funny. Not to mention the "possessor" of my two beautiful "MeMe babies". I am not a grandmother. I am much too young for that.
But please, go visit her. Tell her, "your mama sent me"! She'll get a kick out of that.

http://blakeandcaitlynsmama.blogspot.com/

Things NOT to do...

NOTE TO SELF:
DO NOT, DO NOT get a "new" haircut on the same day you have Christmas pictures taken.
You will not be happy.
Please, Self, remember this. It's important!

Mommy, Can you take a Picture of ......

Take a Picture Me sleeping Mommy!

Take a picture of my knee!

See My Teeeefff mommy?

Can you see me, Mommy?

Take a picture of my hand!

Take a picture of my EYEEEEE!

Take a picture of my nose!

The Boy comes into the room with the camera and out of the blue starts telling me what to take pictures of. After I would take each picture he had to see them in the view finder! Where this boy comes up with this stuff is beyond me. He is FUNNY!

There's about a million more, but I'll spare you.

Still no foster care calls. I wonder what's going on.

What do you get when you put a girl, a paint brush & a pumpkin together?

NOTHING good can come of it! Except good blogging pictures. :)

WARNING: CUTEST PIRATE AHEAD!

SEE! I told you.

A good time was had by all...except maybe daddy. Who was carrying a baby or two by the end of the night. Good thing our night only lasted about an hour. He forgot to say "tree o' tweet" a few times but he always said, "thank you".

I am a bad mommy. I misjudged the size of the costume a little. I bought a 12-18 months. Because he's soooo little. It fit... except for the 2 or 3 inches a the bottom of his pants! Not too bad. He didn't notice.

He didn't want to wear the big Captain Hook hat that came with it. So we opted for the old pirate's of the Caribbean kerchief from mcD's, that was at the bottom of a toy box. It matched perfectly, it stayed on & most of all he liked it.

**Just back from *wallymart & the halloween candy is sitting nicely beside the Christmas candy. AND they were playing Christmas music! No wonder it feels like time flys like a rocket.

And YEs, Min, I wiped off the buggie handles before I used it. ***

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

I can't wait until January for the next Bloggy Giveaway Carnival! At last count I think I saw about 1300 giveaways! With some very cool things.
Our winner is.....blueviolet who said...
When I look at that photo I think, "Skweeeeeeeee".
Thanks everyone who played, we had fun seeing the caption/names you came up with.

STay tuned tomorrow for one of the cutest pirates you've ever seen. A modeling agency really needs to see this boy (even if I do say so myself)
Don't over do it on the candy.!

Give this photo a Name & Win Books!

IT'S BLOGGY GIVEAWAY CARNIVAL TIME OVER AT

http://www.donttryit.com/bloggy_giveaways/

This is so much fun! Last time I think I won 3 great things and found TONS of great blogs.

This is The Boy's pumpkin for this year. He was painted by The Boy. A slip of the paint brush causes this little pig pumpkin to THINK/SAY OR ...YOU fill in the blank.

Up for grabs is a set of :

from the files of MADISON FINN. A SET of 6 books, volumes 1-6 for girls ages 8-12 years. These are wonderfully funny books. My girls loved them.

IF you really, really want to win, click on my etsy shop above. Tell me what you like or what you'd like to see in an etsy shop. Give the piggy a caption = 1 entry, do the etsy shop thing too =2 entries! If you do not have a blog, please leave your email address or I wont have a way to contact you if you win. Contest ends 10/31/08 @ 5:00pm

Go to the BLOGGY GIVEAWAY SITE and enter, enter, enter & find some really cool blogs!

****ANYTHING BOUGHT FROM MY ETSY SHOP WILL HAVE *FREE* SHIPPING TIL NOVEMBER 10th. At check out just put "BLOGGY GIVEAWAY" in the comments******

PUMPKIN PATCH DAYS ARE SO MUCH FUN

A Surprised Blond girl.

My big boy!

She does this on purpose! Her mommy says,"Look like your mad C, look like your mad!"She'll be sorry for this one day!

IMPOSSIBLE to get them to look at the camera all together!

My oldest daughter, mommy to Blondie Girl & Rough Boy! My babies sure are cute!

Here is my son-in-law with Rough boy. I wonder where he learned it from?

We had a wonderful time. The weather was great. The kids semi-behaved. And I got lunch at historic Sprayberry's! So it was a great day!!

Being an only child isn't so bad...

You can play with Daddy and no one butts in on the play time. No one bothers you while you watch you DVD player. The world is your oyster. We found out why we haven't gotten a call in over a year for any new placements....They have on record we have 4 KIDS in our home. I have never had 4 kids in my home. I have more sense then that! AHHHh, but we all know keeping the paper work straight is what they do best.

It's been a nice lull however. I'm sure they are mad at me for nosing around and finding out this bit of info. So it may be another year before they call, if at all.

They need to be very careful in our county. Good FP seem to flowing out the back door, quicker than anymore can be pushed thru the front door. Know what I mean?

What a great Idea! My Christmas shopping is done!

Have you ever visited Tip Junkie? I love her blog. She is full of great ideas. Plus she's funny.
Note my new little button on the left side. (I imagine she really looks like this, santa hat & all)
She has come up with a great idea for the holidays. I am soooo tired of having the same old choices from the same old department stores for Christmas. I love finding unique things for the holidays and even better if the are hand made and one of a kind. (That's one of the reasons I'm addicted to Etsy now. thanks to Anita)
This is what Tip Junkie has to say about her latest great idea:

**Welcome to our Mom-prenuer Holiday Shop-a-thon! I'd like to encourage each of you to support other women and mother's this season buy purchasing as many of your gifts from Mom-prenuers like these!I'm so inspired by their talents and drive to help support their families. My hope is that you will be too. Please blog about your favorite products and don't forget to place your orders directly from them.The holidays will be here before we know it, so start shopping!**

So click on the little button (I don't make any money from this, I just think it's a great idea)
and see what these very talented women are making. I was in awe! And I do believe all my Christmas shopping has been taken care of! Go, go look. You'll be in awe too.

Two of my Three Cutie Pies

Meet my cutie-cute girl. I don't think I've posted pictures of her since she was born. Mmmm, about 18 months ago. She's changed alot. :p
As you can see David thinks his niece is a cutie pie too! My grandson is as blond as his sister, but I can't get him to sit still for 3 seconds to take a picture of him. He is 6 months older than his Uncle David. :) Notice how one is as dark haired as the other is blond!

If I were a smarter person

I could link to this blog and in particular this story. But I'm not, and I can't.

SOO go here, http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ and read this "what I would like you to know" series that Rocks in My dryer is doing. I love her blog anyway, but this one of course speaks to what alot of us through everyday.

and just because I think you need a dose of cuteness out of this world: Here's my Boy!