Supermen

Here's my guys after the Harvest Party they attended. I forgot my camera at the actual event, but it worked out as the place was waaaay to hoppin' to fuss with a camera and try to keep 2 eyes on 4 boys. Highlights of the night:

Running into Benton & Nathaniel (www.thepaulandandeeshow.blogspot.com)

Me and another mom standing watching our kids in the bouncy hut:

Me: "Which one's yours?"

Other Mom: "The ladybug. Which is yours?"

Me: "Superman."

Other Mom: "Which one? There's, like, 4 Supermen."

Me: "All of them."

Other Mom: "Um. Even the black one?"

Me: "Hahaaha...yep!"

We also got to pet some really neat creatures that the reptile dude brought.

Sigh. And this: I turn around to find Levi talking to some lady during the party. I come to coral him and this conversation went down:

Me (talking to Levi): "Hey, you! You making friends over here? C'mon! It's almost our turn to pet the snake!"

Lady: "You babysitting this baby?"

Me: "Nope, he's mine! Huh, Levi?"

Lady: "Levi? This ain't (my son's birth name)?"

Me: "His name is Levi."

Lady: "But this is (birth mom)'s and (birth dad)'s baby, right?"

Me: "Well, he's my baby now. I'm assuming you're friends of his birth parents?"

Lady: "Yeah, I used to run with them."

Me: "Mmmmm."

Fan. Tastic. This is the third time I've run into people who "know" my baby.

It upsets me because he has this reputation that he didn't earn because his bio-parents didn't shelter him from their life style. At all.

It irks me that these folks with unhealthy lifestyles approach my son and presume to know him. I'm afraid that they'll trigger some negative feelings for Levi. He's doing so well! You stupid people need to leave him be!

Also, I want his first memories to be here, with his family. What if an earlier memory is triggered and that's his first memory instead? I know I just need to pray over him and let it go, but it's hard.

Well, to end on an up-note, here are some individual shots of my cuties. I e-mailed Zephan's caseworker this pic and asked if we could trim the "frow-hawk" a bit.

I hope she says yes.

Have a great Halloween!

It's Busy 'Round Here!

Whew! I can tell that the school year is in full swing! Blogging has had to take a back seat lately, although there are plenty of interesting tidbits to tell, including awesome visits from both Uncle Dono & Auntie Cyn, Micah's siblings (how did I not remember to take pics with Auntie Cyn!?!). Here's Micah, Donovan (do they not look so much alike?), Gramps and the boys minus the one who was sleeping. So, here's some more quick up-dates for y'all before we head to an early Harvest Party. I'll post some pics of that later....they're sure to be cute!

This is what I found after telling my boys, "You guys have entirely too many stuffed toys! I'm tired of them littering the floor! If you can't find an appropriate spot to store them - that isn't on the floor tripping your mother - we'll have to downsize." I gotta tell ya, it was a bit disturbing walking in to find this. It just seems slightly...I don't know...creepy. Creative, yes. But also creepy.

And this is where we found Solomon one morning recently. He woke up and informed us that he just wanted to sleep with Brier-Rabbit.

Notice the elbow in the feed dish.

My little ones keep getting bigger and bigger! Most folks assume that Levi and Zephan are biologically related when they first meet our family. They do look like brothers!

Here's Solomon vacuuming for me. It's sure nice that he can do this now!

And Sol with his critters...



So, as you probably know, Malachi had spikes in his hair for the majority of his pre-school life. I loved it. It elongated his round face and brought out his beautiful blue eyes. On holidays we'd color it; red on Valentine's Day, green on St. Paddy's, orange on Halloween, red and green on Christmas. We even managed red, white and silver one 4th of July.

Then one morning he said he was done with his spikeys. He wanted his hair to grow. That was probably close to a year ago and everyone has missed, "Spikey Kai-key". I told him as much yesterday and he replied that, if he could choose any color, he'd let me cut spikeys again.

So, we headed to the store and he chose 6 colors to have on hand. Luckily this is the perfect time to buy spray hair color. Sally's carries similar sprays for 5 - 6 bucks a can year round, but this is the only time we can get it for $1.88 at Sprawl-Mart. Anyway, a mound of hair later...
I had my Spikey-Kaikey back!

Animorphs

I just love these, compliments of the website, http://www.humandescent.com/, who has a bunch more for your viewing pleasure, if you'd like. Do watch the wee ones if you go to the site, however, as there are some creepier projects that may not be appropriate for those prone to nightmares.

My guys got a big kick out of these, though, and the little ones enjoyed guessing which animals were combined. So we have:

Penger

Taprus
Moof
Squeep
Rabbog...
...and his cousin, Doggit
Dogen
Squicken (my fave)
Mouzard
Dogird

My husband Riding a Unicorn

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

......Just because it makes me laugh. He didn't seem to find it as amusing as the children and I did, though. Go fig.

(and, no, I don't know why Obama's picture is in there before it plays.)

The Annual Foster Care Picnic

So, we went to The Annual Foster Care Picnic (no pics of us the actual event to protect children in the background who may have an open case). So, we got there pretty much on time. We meandered over to the welcome booth to get wrist bands for the promised activities and lunch. There were several families in front of us who had been waiting for a while, "What's the hold up?" I asked the lady in front of me who replied that they had run out of wrist bands. The line began moving again shortly and we assumed that they found extras for the second half of the families.
So, we get to the front of the line and a man walks up to my babies and proceeds to wrap their bitty little wrists in.....wait for it......crime scene tape.
I looked at the man, aghast. Was this some sort of tasteless joke?
"We ran out of bracelets." he explained.
"So you're wrapping the foster children in crime scene tape?"
He gave me an apologetic glance, and we moved on to the lunch line, my littlest one attempting to gnaw the plastic off his tiny wrist.
At the lunch booth we were told that all the condiments, drinks, chips and napkins had run out. Only half of the families had been served.
We took our dry hot dogs to the lot of crowded picnic tables, the boys anxious to eat quickly and head over to the snow cone booth.
Except that by the time we got there the syrups were gone. The kids were taking their plain cup of ice with disappointed looks.
But, that's OK, because at least there's still the free booth where every little one gets a new toy and the older ones get a backpack with some school supplies inside!
Yeah.
They, too were out.
I was mad, not for my boys who weren't terribly disappointed, but for the older ones who had really been looking forward to this party after they received the invitation for "a day of free lunch, dessert, toys, school supplies, games and FUN!!"
These kids have already suffered so much disappointment and loss, it seemed like a burn. Especially from the agency who is charged with protecting and rehabilitating their damaged little selves.
Just the crime scene tape issue alone seemed really insensitive. I mean, these are children who have possibly been victims of/witnesses to a crime! Anyone who has helped a child through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder knows that this visual stimulus could really throw them.
C'mon folks!!
I'm thinking of writing a letter. I mean, it was a nice thought and I appreciate what they were attempting to do, it's just that a lot of the kids left really disappointed and I didn't really see any caseworkers there. I wonder if they know that it went down like that?
Do you think I should write an anonymous letter to a manager?

Bauman Farms Pumpkin Patch

Ahhhh. We're home from the annual Salem Home Educators field trip to Bauman Farms Pumpkin Patch. I'm wet and dirty and cold, but oh, such a good time was had!

I packed warm PJs for each of the boys so before we left they could ditch their muddy clothes and boots and snuggle into their car seats, all warm and dry. Unfortunately, it's less likely that I would get away with stripping down in the parking lot, so it's muddy clothes for me until we get home and settled.

Here are the highlights:

We got to watch how apple cider is made. The best part was drinking the sample with our friend, Cayman!

After that, we moved on to the farm animals. They have goats, chickens, llamas, ponies, cows, geese, bunnies and piglets. We spent quite a bit of time with the animals, as usual. This was Levi's first time up close and personal with such friendly animals and he was a bit apprehensive. The goats liked to chew his hair, so I had to keep a good eye on the lot of them. Notice that his hood is up.

Solomon loved this kid - she was so snugly!

When it was Levi's turn to feed the goats he finally softened to them and let them lick the pellets off his hands. He wasn't really impressed by the slimy residue left on his palms, however.

Then we got on a tractor pulled wagon and were ferried out to the pumpkin patch to choose our pumpkins.

"Which one should I pick?" he says. "One that you can carry by yourself!" I say. Because Mommy has learned. Picture me tracking down a wheelbarrow to get "Any pumpkin you want, Sweetie!" back to the van.

Then it was time to play and goof off with friends. They have all sorts of hay mazes, including one that's a huge pirate ship and one that's pitch black inside. Zip lines, play equipment, and anything you could think of that could be made out of hay bales. It's a really neat place.

Cayman & Malachi = BFF!

Solomon & Zion = BFF

....and the fruits of our day! The cat thinks he's part of the display :)

PS - In case you noticed a little missing somebody, Zephan had a fun day hanging out with Goga in the dry, warm house. We're planning on visiting another pumpkin patch with him, but this one is closer to home, more compact, has less mud and we'll be going when it's not raining! Much more enjoyable for toting a small one!