Bet you never did this on your 2nd grade fieldtrip!

You would think that the day after Easter I would blog about it.  But I have something far more interesting to blog about.  Today I went with Ellie on her fieldtrip.  First we went to Celebration Park in Melba, right on the Snake River.  They learned how to hunt mammoths with atlatl spears. This was really fun.  A follow up family trip will definitely be in the future.  Then we learned how to make tools with rocks. To finish the experience up, we learned about the lithographs on the rocks.

The next stop was Cleo's Nature Trail.  This was a unusual place to say the least.  The kids were given a list of random things to find while we were here.  Here is just a sample of what the trail contained.

 It's not fair that the male peacocks are so beautiful!

 This spot had statues of Albert Einstein, Abe Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin.

I had to make the next pic bigger so you could see the faces.

Devin was getting very tired and was trying to sit anywhere he could.  When he saw this bench, he immediately went and sat down.  I had to take a picture because of what the sign behind him said!

Ellie found this along side the path and said, "Mom, look. You can see its 'booty'tocks!"  I think she meant buttocks.



Some of the things I didn't take a picture of were a rainbow, a tomb, a graveyard, a troll bridge, unique license plates, hundreds of garden statues grouped by type, and safari animal statues.  We even saw a heard of live deer run through.  This is one fieldtrip I will never forget!

Score: The Door 1 .......... Ellie 0

None of you should be surprised that something happened to Ellie yet again.  After a broken arm, stitches, and hundreds of bumps and bruises, who else would it be!  In fact, just this winter she busted her lip apart and she went to the doctor (no stitches that time).  So when the school called this time, all I could do was laugh.

I wish I had some great story about how Ellie was pulling of a double back flip off the monkey bars or that she went down the big slide standing on one foot and blind folded, but that's not the case.  A teacher went to open a door at the same time Ellie did on the other side.  I the gash above her eye is where the part of the door handle that you push down with your thumb hit her.  And the mark below her eye is where the handle part hit her.  We are considering ourselves very fortunate that it missed her eye.  The teacher felt horrible.  Ellie made sure to go see her after she was stitched up to let her know she was alright.

Ellie was not happy about having to get stitches again.  The doctor also said we should expect some throbbing headaches over the next 24 hours and a generous sized black eye.

The before shot.

After 4 stitches!

Initiation Over

Wow!  What a day.  Let me catch my breath . . .

I didn't know so much could happen in one day.  We headed off to the store to buy our necessities.  While there.  We received some phone calls.  One was from the assigned social worker.  She indicated that a family member had come forward saying they would take the kids.  They were doing the required background check and would know more later today.  A few minutes later, I got a call from the placement worker saying she had made an appointment for the boys for in a couple of hours.  I then got a third phone call saying that the family members would be meeting us at the department to take placement of the boys.

We quickly finished our shopping, went back home, had 20 minutes to feed them & grab their belongings, then headed back into Boise for the appointment.  I met the family, exchanged the boys' stuff, and drove home.

All I could do after that was take a deep breath.  Wayne and I debriefed and talked about what we learned, which is definitely a lot!

So now it's the waiting game again.  We have been asked to provide respite care in May.  We are excited about that and look forward to that experience.

"The Call" Came

"The Call" came yesterday.  We accepted placement of a 2 & 3 year old boys.

The entire process took longer than I expected.  We first got a call just before 5:00 and they asked us if we could place them.  A worker had not been assigned yet or gone to get them.  So they new very little.  I was told they would call back when it was time for me to meet them at the department to pick up the boys.  Since I was in the middle of making dinner, I told them that would work out perfect.  I finished making dinner and headed up stairs to rearrange the room (it was setup for younger crib aged kids).  All I can say is thank you Julie!  I am prepared for boys.  The next call came about 6:45.  I was told I need to buy carseats on the way in for them because they would not be coming with some.  I arrived at the department around 7:30 to find to very energetic boys waiting for me to arrive.  It's a good thing they have lots of toys there to keep kids entertained.

The boys are very sweet.  Busy and curious, but sweet. Their first night was as good as could be expected for kids sleeping at a strangers house.  They are still sleeping this morning, that's how I'm able to find a minute to blog.  The department gave us vouchers, so we are off to the store soon to buy them clothes and diapers.

Waiting for the Stork to come!

Yes, we are waiting for the stock to come to our house.  Let's just clear the air up right away.  I do not have a uterus.  It is impossible for me to have babies.  And just in case your mind is really wandering to it's limit, let me put a stop to that.  No, Wayne did not get anyone else pregnant!  We are happily married.

So remember I mentioned I had been cleaning like a mad woman over spring break, it's because we were having our foster care home study done that week.  That's right foster care.  We have signed up to be foster parents with the Department of Health and Welfare.  We took our 27 hours of training classes in March (Wayne too!) and are currently awaiting our first placement.  We have signed up to take 1-2 children at a time, ages 0-3.  We picked this age range hoping that we could ease into it a little bit.  And we picked 1-2 children because Wayne so kindly pointed out to me that's all we can fit into our car! (Note: They could have licensed us for up to 6 if we wanted to broaden our age range! But I'm not that crazy!)

Since we have known this was going to be happening, over the last few weeks I have been buying some essentials.  I bought a crib, a toddler bed, and a stroller.  We are also asked by the department to have on hand or access to things like diapers, formula, and clothes since placements often don't happen during store hours.  And children often only come with what is currently in the diaper bag, if they have one.  So I thought it would be important to grab a couple of outfits in each size to keep on hand.  I grabbed a few thing at a DI swap at church and stumbled upon a 25 cent sale at a thrift store.  I thought I was doing good.  Julie mentioned she still had clothes from her boys and was willing to pass them on to me.  Of course I said yes.

My pile of clothes before Julie:

My pile of clothes after Julie:

I have been knee deep in plaid button ups and striped polos for the last 3 days!!!  I've decided Julie has a weird obsession for those things!  I finally got them all put away into boxes yesterday afternoon.  We are completely prepared for boys.  I'm guessing that means our first placement will be a girl!

Now it's just the waiting for "the call".  I think this will be are hardest part for me. I'll admit, patience is not my finest attribute. But I'll deal with it.  Every time the phone rings my heart skips a beat.

Ellie is super excited!  When the worker came to do our home study, Ellie was very quick to tell her that she wanted a baby.  When the worker asked about a 3 year old, Ellie told her "That won't work!"  The worker then asked, "What about a 3 year old and a baby?"  Ellie replied, "That will do."  I wouldn't describe Jake as excited, but maybe interested is a better word.  He is more concerned with the changes in general.  Like the other day, he mentioned something about us having to cancel some of our camping trips this summer since we will have extra kids, which he was perfectly fine with.  When I explained that we could just take them with us, he was delighted.  We have tried to prepare our children with the changes that might take place but we simply can't.  Every situation is so different.

Wayne is very quite about the whole thing.  He's not much of a talker in general.  He is definitely supportive and on board with it.  We wouldn't be this far into if he wasn't.  Remember, he's already invested 27 hours of classes.  I think he will love the children that come into our home just as much as I will. 

So with that said, YES the stork is coming!  Hopefully with many children!  Our first placement will definitely be blog worthy. But I need to mention, I will not be able use the foster children's names or give out any info about them.  I'm not legally able to. You will probably just get a letter (like J for Jake) instead of a name.

Hemingway Butte & Babies

After a week of doing nothing, I couldn't take it anymore.  We took the kids and Weldon out to Hemingway Butte to go ride for the afternoon.  Wayne, Jake, and Weldon rode a short 18 miles, then came back to the parking lot where Ellie and I were playing.







Ellie





Wayne couldn't resist!





Jake



Weldon

Then Ellie and I headed to my mom's house to do some crafting with mom, Ann, and Donna.  I didn't get much done because I got sidetracked by CUTE BABIES! Thanks Donna.



Spring Break!

Spring break was pretty boring this year.  I cleaned the house like a mad woman (I'll discuss this more in a later post).  Ellie did tennis camp for 3 days. And Jake and Wayne...well they did nothing!

I just have 2 words... Angry Birds!

Why Blogging? Why Bokeh?

So your probably wondering why I started a blog.  I was reading a couple of blogs this week (Thanks Mitzi!) and I started thinking it might be a good idea for us to have one for our family and friends.  Simple as that.  The naming was a little bit harder. I think the definition says it all.  Life is a bunch of silly mistakes!  And at times, fuzzy and blurry. Plus, ever since I learned the word bokeh in regards to photography, I have wanted to use it.