The Road Less Traveled

We took of Sunday for our trip to the Oregon coast.  We drove to Bend, OR the first night.  On Monday, we decided to take a scenic way to the coast.  We started out on Highway 242.

 The view from my seat was a beautiful tree lined road.

 Jake thought this pointy mountain was pretty cool.

 At the summit of this mountain range was a lava field with an observation area where you could see all the surrounding mountains.  You could even see Mount Hood on a clear day.  Our day was rainy and we were unable to see it.

 The observation point.

 The Two Sisters mountains behind our family.

 As we headed down from the summit, the road got very curvy.  Ellie immediately started to get car sick.  We gave her a motion sickness pill and it knocked her out.  She ended up sleeping until we got to Eugene.  She missed the covered bridges we stopped at altogether.  Maybe we should only give her a half of pill next time!

 This is the Belknap Bridge along Highway 126.

 This is another bridge that was along the 126.  It's call the Goodpasture Bridge.

The kids were very excited to finally reach the coast after spending two days in the car.  This is the Heceta Head Lighthouse just north of Florence.  We reached the beach house safely and the kids are enjoying the beach.  I will post more pics in the next couple of days.

Love Notes

Apparently it's been awhile since I dusted. As I was doing some cleaning up, I noticed Ellie had been leaving notes in the dust on the entertainment center!!

It says "I love daddy because I'm a dad's girl."  What a sweet girl.  Yes, she is a daddy's girl.  She always has been and always will be.

Sometimes the inner redneck comes out to play

Last Saturday, we decided to dig into our redneck roots and have a race day.  It started with a trip down to FedEx where the station had Denny Hamlin's show car for the day.  The kids got some stickers and a poster for free.  We bought me a new Denny shirt and the family got a 3'x5' Denny flag.  We plan to use the flag when we go camping to hook to our camper.  I told you we were a little redneck!

The next part of the race day was to head to Meridian Speedway for some good ol' short track racing.  We invited Amanda, Loy, and Dayton to join us.

 Let me just make a note.  Jake has hit the age where he no longer likes to be in front of the camera.  I tried to get him to look, but he wouldn't.

 This is a 12 year old girl that races in the junior (12-14 year olds) class.  Ellie thought that she was awesome and we had to get a picture with her!  She was very petite like Ellie and so we wondered how she could reach the pedals in the car.  A quick look inside would give us the answer.  She had wood blocks taped to the pedals and two pillows on the seat, one to raise her up and the other to push her forward!!!

 This is the second of the three women drivers.  Ellie wanted her autograph.  Most of the drivers had photos that they signed and handed out to people but this girl was all out.  So Ellie asked me if she could sign her shirt.  At first I said no.  Ellie turned to me and with some attitude said, "You know how old I am mom."  After all, she is 8 1/2 and capable of making her own decisions.  Then I though okay, the shirt she is wearing is almost 6 years old, who cares if it has a few names on it.  So I changed my answer to yes.  There was another little girls behind us in line that also wanted this girl's autograph.  She had listened to Ellie's plea and thought she'd make her own case to her mother.  Except this girl asked her mother if the driver could sign her pants!  It was followed by a very quick answer, no.

Ellie had a blast going around getting the driver's to sign her shirt.  There was one driver who even let her sign his car!  I had forgotten how much fun going to the races was.  We will definitely have to let the rednecks out again soon.

4th of July Fun

See I told you I was getting caught up on blogging! I should have another post in the next couple of days too.

This year for our 4th of July, we didn't go camping.  I know that's a shocker.  We have only camped once this year so far.  I can't believe it either.  This year, we spent it with Lisa & the girls, Phil and Donna & baby, and Dad & Mom.  On the Saturday, we went to the lake.  But we didn't have good luck.  Dad's boat was overheating when we put it in and had to pull it out after a 2 minute ride.  We let the girls play in the water for a little bit, then headed back to town.  Sunday would turn out better.  We had a BBQ after church and played some hand and foot (and the girls won big!)  Then in the evening we let the kids do some fireworks.  They had fun.

 Ava just loves her Uncle Wayne!

 Fireworks are so fun to take pictures of.

I can't wait 'til Kuna Days next month when our little town puts on a big show.

 Monday we just let the kids play in the water.  Jeff's family showed up after lunch and hung out for a while.

Later that afternoon we headed back to Kuna since Wayne had to work bright and early Tuesday.  Instead of going to a fireworks show, the kids and I watched the neighbors light off plenty of good fireworks in the street.

"Monita"

I know it's been a while since I posted, but Monita, as we call her, had her days and nights mixed up.  I was getting very little sleep and fell way behind on more than just my blog.  Monita (I hope I spelled that correctly) means "little monkey" in Spanish.  She got this name because she is covered with hair, and lots of it!  She is a sweet baby.  She loves to cuddle.

Last week, Monita got placed with a family member.  Ellie was very sad to see her go, but she understood it since she went to family.  To help Ellie's transition out, we had our little respite baby boy come back for a few nights, Little D.  He can make us smile like no other can.

Little D is making good progress.  We have kept in touch with him and his foster mom since we did respite the first time.  He has grown tons.  He can make good eye contact now and lots of cooing noises.  He is gaining better control over his movements too. His physical therapist says this is big news for him since his doctor said he would never be able to walk or feed himself.  The pt says her past experiences indicate he will!!  It looks like he will be coming up for adoption eventually.  I hope that he gets an amazing family that will help him succeed.  We love him very much and want the best for him.

So, I'm baby free this week and getting lots done around my house.  Not to mention, I got caught back up on sleep!!  We have a busy month, so I've asked the department not to give us another placement until after we are back from our Oregon coast trip in a couple of weeks.  When I talked with them, they indicated that there are few stay at home moms with a schedule like mine that want to take infants.  They said they could keep me plenty busy if I was willing.  I said yes!

The stork came again!

The stork came again yesterday bringing me a brand new baby girl!  She was born on Monday and weighed in at 7lbs 1oz.  I picked her up straight from the hospital.  She is adorable.  She has a head full of dark hair.  I think she has more than Wayne!

Our first night together went okay.  Just about how I remember it with my kids.  I had forgotten all the little grunts and growns newborn babys make.  I will admit, since I did not physically give birth, it is much easy to handle.

We are headed to town today to finish buying all the things we need for her.  I had actually got the call about her on Wednesday and was able to get diapers and formula before I brought her home.  That first 24 hours really reminds you of what you are lacking!

I will try to get some pictures of her hair up soon.  I won't be able to show her face, so if you want to see all of her, you'll have to come see in person!

20 Things I Love About Babies!

My all time favorite thing about babies are their fingers and toes!  They are sooooo cute to me.  I love all the little creases, the tiny little nails, and the cute way they curl and tuck.  I love it when they hold their own hands or clasp them together.  The way they hold your fingers when they eat or accidentally fold their arms.  And I obviously can't stop myself from taking pictures of them! 

For the last week, we have gotten to enjoy a wonderful little boy.  We were doing respite care for another foster parent.  This little guy was adorable.  His smiles and cuddling are just what I needed. The most memorable moment was when the little guy discovered that his fist could reach his mouth!  His tongue would barely touch his fist and his head would jerk back and he would throw his fist forward like it was the most bitter tasting thing he had ever had.  He did this several times.  Wayne and I couldn't help but laugh.  What a sweet moment to share with this special boy.

This experience just reaffirms my thoughts and reasons behind doing foster care.  It was easy for me not to become too attached in this situation.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely bonded with him, but because I knew he would only be in our home a week, I was able to hold my heart back.  Ellie on the other hand, couldn't distinguish between bonding and attaching.  She did both.  I was very hard for her to say goodbye, even knowing she could see him again soon.  She kept asking if he could just stay with us permanently.  I hope this gets easier for her.

So now we wait for the next call!