Time for Love

Aren't we cute? Hanging out together, chillin' on the blankie.

Ty has decided it is time for Sister-Adoration...

...Oh Yes, You will be hugged, Sissy...


LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!

Story time with Daddy. Ty loves books. He can quietly look at a book for a few minutes which is about an eternity in Ty-time. This lasted just long enough for me to do the dishes and this post.

Santa Claus Came to Town

It's a little shaky but a rather nice glimpse of Front Street after the Christmas Tree lighting. We took the kids downtown to see Santa kick-off the Christmas season here. There was a caroling and then the Big Guy arrived on a fire truck. It was a great way to start the season.

Marie and Momma

Ty in the backpack on Daddy

However, we may have opened a can of worms with Little Miss Observant. Marie was very quiet during the caroling and Santa Tree Lighting but that doesn't mean she wasn't thinking, we learned. After Santa arrived by firetruck, he went into his special little house where he entertained visits from children. Well, Marie had some questions about all this.

"How did Santa get here?" By firetruck

"How does Santa get here from the North Pole?" maybe he took an airplane

"How does Santa get all over the world with presents in so short of time?"

He has a very fast sleigh.

"How will Santa get all his work done if he is sitting in that little house all the time?"

He will go back to the North Pole on his fast sleigh.

"But Santa doesn't have his sleigh; he got here on a firetruck!!!" uhhh, yeah...good point

You see the problem here.

What we ended up telling her is that it is a beautiful story, isn't it, but it's just part of what Christmas is about. "What is Christmas really about Marie, what happpens on Christmas that Santa helps celebrate?"

"Jesus's birthday."

That's right, sweetie. So ask any question you want cause you have it figured out!

SNOW!

Silly Friday Morning Shots


Black Friday?!?! Not here! It's White Friday! We woke up this morning to our first real dusting of snow. All the flat, cool surfaces were covered and large wet flakes were falling throughout the early morning.

Turkey Day Boy

We ran out to the porch in our PJ's to check it out...

As the day has gone by, we have had some more but it is almost all melted now and is just wet wet wet out. Snow tease.

Before it melted, I did manage to get the kiddos outside for a bit. There was some effort involved: 1) get them dressed in clothes while undergoing formal negotiations with the 3yr old on why she can't wear her cheetah print dress for playing in the snow 2) getting the one yr old in his snowsuit for the first time, under extreme protest 3) getting the 3 yr old's stuff out for her to put on 4) undergoing formal negotiations on the need for gloves/hats/boots 5) watching the 3 yr old take off her snowsuit, hat and boots because she decided she wasn't going to go out if she had to wear gloves then 6) watching the 3yr old put it all back on when she realized Momma and Ty were going out without her and lastly 7) getting them both outside only to have them rip off their gloves that didn't really fit all that well anyways. MY hands were warm, at least.

We played, walked, slided and tossed the frisbee to the dog. Came inside and the kids destroyed a box of WheatThins and sugar pea crisps while I went to campmor.com and ordered more toddler gloves.

The After Party

Those balloons we got from Family Court have been really really fun...

It's now on public record...

Have you ever had to appear in court? Both Jim and I have. He for a traffic violation as a teen and I had to evict a tenant of my Dad's. It is intimidating and we felt out of sorts because you know there are "court rules" of etiquette and also big decisions that impact your life are going to happen in that room.

Today we went to court and the mood was a bit more cheerful. When we walked in, we were stunned to see the judge's desk lined with balloons, beanie babies, plants and a little stepstool right in the middle of the desk. Today was a celebration indeed! We had to go sit upfront and our social worker sat across the aisle. The judges opened the proceedings by talking a little bit about National Adoption Day and one of the Michigan Supreme Court justices was there as well. Our social worker had to recommend Ty for adoption and said, in court, on public record (we have a video of it too) that we are good parents. Then they asked us if we had anything to say. We said how thankful we are and blessed to have both our children. And, as Ty didn't protest, they made him our legal son. Ta da!!! It was official when Marie climbed the step stool and smacked the judge's gavel hard on the little stand. The judge made Marie explain to him that she and Momma had on matching dresses for the day. Then it was present time for the kids and we had a nice luncheon there at the courthouse.

The kids were given balloons, cake, stuffed animals...thankfully, they are now both napping.

Photos of the day...

Formalize

In the State of Michigan, it can take up to 6 months to finalize an adoption. If the birth parents are physically present in the state, they can sign away parental rights and an adoption can proceed quickly. That is obviously not the situation our family faced so we have been waiting for six months to pass from the time Jim and I brought Ty Ji-tae home. It has.


February 11th is the day we took Ty in a taxi cab across the city of Seoul from the Holt offices to our room at the Holiday Inn. It was a 25 minute taxi ride and all I remember was tears of joy, a little fear and a lot of anguish at taking him from his loving foster mother. We spent an anxious and excited last night together in Seoul and left the next morning for the long journey home as a family.

That journey makes another milestone tomorrow as we go to Family Court to finalize Ty's adoption on National Adoption Day. Marie graciously decided to forgo her class's "Harvest Feast" so we can go to court together as a family. She understands that this is the last step to make Ty and her forever siblings; Momma and Daddy have to get some papers signed. While she was going to join us anyways, the decision came first from her and we are thrilled beyond belief that at age 3-almost-4, she chooses a family day over a fun-event-at-school day.

Ty, of course, doesn't understand what is going on. He will be thrilled tomorrow morning that Momma isn't out the door at 7am and he isn't bundled up in the car by 8:15 for daycare. He will be even more thrilled that his adored Sissy won't be gone to school. But, of course, he doesn't understand that at 11:25 am his parents are to appear in court to say, "Yes, he is OUR SON and always will be." But he will delight in the extra attention, hugs and loving he will experience all day tomorrow.

Here are our first moments together, the beginning of this journey...



We love you, Ty Ji-tae! Just as much as we did in those first few moments. In fact, much much more. We are so blessed to be your family!

Way Overdue Glimpse of Our World

Cake??? But her birthday isn't till the 3rd, right? Yes, correct. BUT, the YMCA could only host her "gymnastics party" this Saturday so the b-day got bumped forward. I said to Jim, "It's a little expensive but they hang balloons, decorate the table and give 12 kids a guided gymnastics playtime for 65 minutes." "Book it!" We show up with kids and cake and goody bags. The cake decorating scheme I totally ripped off my friend, Holly Marie ( Holly, the cake you made for Ben's birthday where you lined it with kit-kats; I saw that and realized I could just candy-up the cake and it would look much more impressive). Voila! Anyways, Marie is bursting with excitement. The great thing is the variety of activities that the YMCA will make available. Bounce House, Bounce Slide, Tumble Track, trampoline, pit of foam and lots of little things Ty likes too. Wait, no the BEST part is we get to walk away from it all and not have a mess in our house. Jim is right - write the check!


Last weekend my brother and his 3 children drove up and spent the night at my mother's in Grand Rapids. So Sunday, I took the kids down and we spent the day with them. (Jim stayed home and put the lights up in the basement. We are almost ready to drywall. A little more wiring and then good to go.) Anyways, the older cousins played just beautifully with baby Ty and Marie. I was so touched. From the moment we got there, Syd and Shelby took over Ty and Lukie and Marie went off to do whatever it is they do. Marie even went upstairs to play with Luke and she rarely will go to a different part of the house without me. Only for Lukie! Ty loved knocking down the towers that Shelby built for him and was thrilled with the game of "Pile On." The older kids would lie down on the rug and Ty would charge them and throw his body on top of theirs, laughing and drooling and screaming. Like I said, they were great with him. The above picts are from our walk. In the top picture, all 5 cousins are in it with the older two supervising the younger 3. In the bottom picture, you can see the 3 youngest. Ty had to hold everyone's hand at some point. He would alternate who was in his non-Marie hand but, of course, had to have Marie with him at all times. He does love her best!

I just love this! My Mom was given a singing card and she saved it for Ty. He was charmed! Thanks, Mom! You know him well! He did remember her and was thrilled to see his peeps.

One more...it was dinner time but Ty needed to go out and burn some energy. Jim, however, was lacking a little energy and didn't want to bend down to help Ty scoot along our unpaved drive. So, in true Jim form, he fashioned this device to satisfy both of their current physical needs.

Which highlights the mood here right now. Jim and I are tired! I have spent the fall thinking, "Oh, next week things will settle down." It's Thanksgiving and that has yet to happen. I was feeling quite down on myself, couldn't figure out why things were so difficult. And then I realized, this is the first time I have worked with TWO children. Two YOUNG children. I didn't realize that when I went back to work this September that I would be coming home to two children under 4. This sounds so naive but it took me a while to realize things were different so naturally, life was going to be a bit more hectic. The past few weeks I have started to plan dinner menus on Sunday for the week, noting what I must get ready the night prior so I didn't have to do too much cooking with my 18 month old clinging to my ankles. I have been better about my lesson planning, trying to do as much ahead of time as I can. And I have made sure to set aside time to go to the gym and read - two ways to get some ME time in. So while things have indeed been frazzled and may remain so for a while, some subtle shifts are happening.

Saturdays at the Y

First, these are the kids making "touchdown"arms today. They should've also made "extra point" arms too, evidently. But I digress...as my friend said, "Now I know how Sparty fans feel."

For those of you still reading, here is the fun way we get to spend our Saturdays now - gymnastics at the YMCA. We just spent 6 Saturdays in the beginning class. ALL OF US! The class runs 45 minutes and a parent needs to be with each child for the entire class. They play on gymnastics equipment that is their size and have a blast. There are some other pretty cool toys there too - bounce-house, super inflated slide/climbing wall, pit of foam you jump in and the awesome Tumble Track. I suggested to the person in charge that they open it up to adults as a Friday Happy Hour but she didn't think that was as brilliant an idea as it obviously is.
After the first 6wk session, the instructor decided that Marie was ready to go sans parent. Today was her first day flying solo. They did allow me to sneak in briefly from the waiting area to take a few quick photos of her. Here they ran (sort-of), jumped on the mini-trampoline and got on the vault. Then they jumped into the foam pit which Jim and I call "the pit of despair" as it is difficult to climb out of. Two instructors for 6 kids so I was thrilled with that ratio. They also did a number of other pseudo-gymnastics activities like go on the low uneven bar, do the tumble track and balance beam. She was nervous but decided that she loved it.



Ty gets to go too! This is perfect for him. It is safe, fun and there are lots of ways for him to crash, smash and fall with all the equipment and mats. He has no fear and it is all Jim can do to keep up with him.

How do they get the kiddos off the equipment at the end? Here the YMCA shows it's brilliance. At the end, each kid gets a freezy-pop. They run to get in line for their treat and, voila, they exit the mats to the waiting area.

So we will continue spending our Saturday mornings this way until the snow sets in and then we will subject Marie to ski school and move gymnastics to a weeknight. Fun stuff though!

Why I Envy My Brother Today...

Here

There

And, yes, we were out enjoying it today. Jim chopped up a tree that fell a few weeks ago in a massive wind storm and got the leaves off the lawn. Marie and I planted bulbs and transferred some potted mums into the ground. Still....I could take a nice beach day instead!