The Tooth Fairy Sucks!

Truth be told, I suck. See, when your kid loses a tooth, then puts said tooth under his pillow, even if they're the smartest kid in the world, they believe wholeheartedly that the Tooth Fairy does exist and will indeed come and magically change said tooth into $$. The problem arises when mommy forgets to "tell the Tooth Fairy" there's a pick-up and said child accidentally brushes the tooth out form under his pillow in the middle of the night, never to be found. Now, said child thinks the Tooth Fairy jipped him and proceeded to write the following letter:

Yup, that's definitely my kid! Not gonna be taken advantage of....gettin' to the bottom of injustice and makin darn sure he can be contacted in the event of the Tooth Fairy owning up to her mistake!~ Gotta admire his forthrightness!

Cinematic Warm Fuzzies

There are 2 movies coming that I simply cannot wait for. One, was a fave childhood book of both myself and Jeremy and the trailer makes the movie, as another blogger blogger put it, "look like how a warm Krispy Kreme tastes." The music alone is enough to induce warm fuzzies. Please to enjoy, Where the Wil Things Are.


The second is just so stunningly beautiful, it makes my warm fuzzies tingle. Melt into a blissful puddle of cinematic beauty: Astro Boy.

cai-ism for today

cai: comes out long after he should be in bed for the night. "guys, i have a situation with my breath" (pause for dramatic effect) "it's hot when i doos this" (blows on finger)

mommy & daddy: roll on the floor and laugh hysterically

Some more Floridian Winter for ya...

Have I mentioned how much we love the beach and how I didn't really think I'd miss it this much once we moved further inland? We LOVE the beach! I mean, how could you not when there are super cute old people just laying around, soakin it up and giving in? How cute is he? (No we're not related - he was just some random old dude.)

Cate, if you blow this pic up and look closely, you can see some really nice twist dreads forming quite nicely! Of course I had just done them the day before! Silly me! (I will post better pics of his hair once I get my new beeswax on Thursday - this stuff is CRAZY awesome and works like nothing else!)

Anyone wanna guess how long it took me to get all that sand outta his velcro hair? That was NOT fun!

Cai was practicing being at one with the sand. He stayed in this position for an extraordinary amount of time.

Then decided he would rinse off, but you know how that goes.

Too much sun and fun...

Cai lurvs to throw sand, but Papa reprimanded him for it after he repeatedly hit Phoenix in the back of the head. Phoenix feigned insult and well.....

This pathetic little picture of defeat is what transpired.

SIckle Cell Info

I know that some of my readers have questioned a statement made in my previous post about Sickle Cell being a curable disease here in the States. I should have clarified that statement in that post. I will do so now.

We did not step into this endeavor blindly or going on "my cousin's mother's 3rd aunt's boyfriend has it....." kind of info. We researched extensively: medical journals, consultations with doctors, etc. and found the same information. Sickle Cell is absolutely curable and there are 2 avenues that can be explored. Let me quote directly from the University of Maryland Medical Center: "the only true cure for sickle cell disease is bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The bone marrow nurtures stem cells, which are early cells that mature into red and white blood cells and platelets. By destroying the sickle cell patient's diseased bone marrow and stem cells and transplanting healthy bone marrow from a genetically-matched donor, normal hemoglobin may be produced."

Now, a stem cell blood transfusion is obviously the more difficult option to work out. Though we don't have her stem cells or even a siblings, there is the possibility to find a close enough match from donated stem cells. This would obviously be the less painful route as this can be handled through a transfusion. The bone marrow transplant, on the other hand, can be quite risky because intense chemotherapy has to be done prior in order to facilitate the acceptance of the bone marrow. There is a new procedure however, that delivers a much less harsh, lower dose of chemo and is a lot less risky to the recipient. You can read about it here.

Once Saraphina comes to the States and can be evaluated by a doctor here, we will be able to come to a better conclusion about the severity of her particular case and whether or not these would be viable options for her. If you or a loved one has Sickle Cell, please research the options. Get educated. This disease does not have to cut lives short or painfully destroy each day you have. There are options and new treatments.

more cai-isms

overheard at the lunch table:

"my boogers are punching me in the nose!"

cai-isms

Poor Cai,

He tries so hard, but he trips himself up more often than not. His best quality is often his greatest downfall - his passion.

Today, he made an impassioned plea to be let off computer restriction.

"Everything to me is bad and good. My brain just won't listen to me." (Punches himself in the head a couple times out of frustration).

This is a typical day with Cai. Sometimes, he's so trapped inside himself and some days he's absolutely bonkers! He loves so deeply and so openly, and when the pendulum swings the other way,he has zero impulse control and that passion turns to angry outbursts.

Still trying to figure out how to best help him. For now, it gives way to priceless "cai-isms."

Hot Winter!

I know many of you who read this blog are shivering in your long johns right now and for that, I am sorry. Hopefully, pictures of our weekend at the beach, in near 90 degree weather will warm you up! Here's the scene: Jensen Beach, Florida. Ocean inlet with a park and fishing pier. Low tide. Early morning. Fiddler and horseshoe crabs. Dolphins. Yes, I said dolphins - playing and chasing their breakfast not too far off the end of the pier. Bar-B-Q. Afternoon fishing. Boys caught enough fish for dinner! Hazaa!

Our little girl....

Yeah, that's right, I said it. Let me tell you a story.

There is a little girl. A sweet little girl who desperately needs help. (And I'm such a sucker for situations that need fixing!) Her name is Saraphina and she has been in the same Haitian orpahange we adopted our 2 boys from, for 2 years now. Some of you may know, some of you may not know, but she was in the process of being adopted. That was until recently.

Recently, it was found out that she has Sickle Cell Anemia. For those of you unfamiliar, I will give a brief synopsis. Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease in which, basically, your blood cells are misshapen. While normal blood cells are round, squishy little things, Sickle Cell blood cells are shaped like crescents. This makes for very painful passage through the blood cells, bouts of "pain episodes" and a shortened life expectancy (about 40-50 years). Now, in America, this is both a very treatable and in fact, CURABLE, illness. In Haiti however, this can be quite fatal. Blood type/availability is not certain, nor is the affordability/availability of transportation to where blood is for a transfusion should a "pain episode" occur.

Long story short, she desperately needs to come to the States on a medical visa. Here she can get the treatment she needs and a chance to not only survive, but be cured. Here's where we come ito the story. Because of our involvement with her previous adoption process and many other issues that I won't get into here, we feel it our duty to step up and take responsibility for this little cast away. God has not yet said no and plans have been set in motion to get her here. We will be her host family while she is receiving treatment and she is likely to be here around the end of March if all goes well.

Honestly, after much deliberation and prayer, we've realized that it will likely be very hard to give her up to another family, both on us and her. So, we will likely begin the process of adopting her a few months after she gets here.

We don't even have a car that fits our whole family at this moment. Our truck got totaled and our awesomeness of a pastor is loaning us his station wagon. We don't have anything for a girl.....don't even know what to do with one of those! Point is, this is what we have been called to do. To obey - to step out - blerg, to leap out! And that's what we're doing. God will take care of the rest.

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up so that when you start seeing random pics of a little girl in our house in a couple months, you won't be all like wtfrak? what just happened?

Cai-ism of the day

Cai blurts out randomness so often that its hard to catch or feature just one and I've been remiss. Lately, these random phrases have been captured on photo and I will share these with you now. If you've been following my 365 projeckt, these will be duplicates, but CaiCai nonetheless.

Today's Cai-ism, during his morning snuggle-cuddle: "Mommy, you're my best chef ever!" Who needs to compete in Top Chef? I just got the best accolades ever!



The other day, Cai came over with a heart magnet he got off the fridge, put it up to his eye and tapped it. "Mommy, I want love"
"I love Elijah milk!" For thos eof you who know, Cai had a friend named Elijah who drank Very Vanilla Silk. Every time they were over at our house, Cai would beg Aunt Dian for some of Elijah's milk. This turned into it forever being called "Elijah Milk."


No words needed. Enough said!

Bad Juju

Seriously, my juju must be off. In the last 2 weeks, I have broken my nose, gotten a really bad cold and burned the inside of my entire forearm. WTH? I mean, for reals? Now that all the swelling has gone down in my nose, you can feel a definite chip or dent on the right side of my upper bridge. Having a head cold has not helped the healing process as every time I have to blow my nose it feels like it rebreaks. There's a crunchy piece, near the dent that occasionally fills the dent and it still hurts like blerg whenever I touch that area.

Then, last night, well, let's just say, as a rule and warning, one should never cook whilst on cold medicine. I was making a delightful winter vegetable bisque to warm us on this blustery, wintery day. I transferred the soup to the blender, locked the lid down good and tight and pressed the low button. Except my drugged up fingers slipped off the low and pushed in the HIGH. Because I was holding the lid on, the scalding soup didn't shoot straight up, it shot straight out, onto my chest and the forearm of the arm holding the lid. Sunova OW! I ran it under cool water, for a couple minutes, but that wasn't working. Since Jeremy was still like an hour and a half from coming home and I was too nauseus form pain to drag myself and 4 children to the drugstore, I had to alternate between running it under cool water and holding cool, wet compresses on it. Finally, Jeremy came home with supplies and lemme tell you - BurnJel is the bomb! Numbed my arm to the point where it feels like how your lip feels when you get Novocaine! Awesome! It's still red and a little swollen this morning, but mch, much better.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get my juju back, I would really appreciate suggestions. Between broken noses and scalding soup (which turned out incredible, by the way), I don't know how much more I can take!

An open letter to Steak 'n Shake

First off, let me say that this is not a regular "Pihl Pastures" kind of post and that I may or may not say things that may or may not offend my typical readers. However, since I am a fairly rational, intelligent adult, I will try to refrain from at least excessive use of ignorant words.

We have a Steak and Shake across the street from us, here in Ocala. Usually, the parking lot is quite sparse, as are most restaurants around here lately. The economic downturn forces the majority of us to stay home and cook. A few weeks ago, we noticed a sign that had been put up on Steak and Shake's roof: "Kids eat free all weekend long!" WOW! Okay, so this is great! We can have a special treat on the weekend for the kids and eat out and it will only cost us for our meals. Oh, the naivety! To think that a business would actually conduct themselves in an ethical manner and use truth in advertising! This is where the utter frustration, betrayal and disgust comes in.

The first time we tried to go was at lunch. Because of the sign posted on the building advertising free kids meals, the parking lot was so packed that people were waiting outside in the cold in a 30 minute line. We chose not to wait and to come back later in the day. But, those poor people, those people that chose to wait, in the cold of the day with small children in excess of 30 minutes for a table were lied to, just as we were lied to. These people waited for that long and were never given the opportunity to learn the truth until after they had already been seated. After they had been roped in. After they were so hungry that going anywhere else would have been an endeavor in futility. And I say, how dare you Steak and Shake?

Here's the run down. Once you walk in, you wait and wait and wait to be seated. Why? Because this is a glorified McDonald's pretending to be something it's not - a real restaurant. So, you wait to be seated by a server who eventually serves you a burger patty so thin, it would actually take 3 patties stacked together to make the thickness of a McDonald's patty. But, I digress. While standing and waiting to be seated, One looks around and finds no written advertising regarding the Kids Meals and their freeness. So, one has to wait to actually be seated before one can ask their server about said offer. It is then, and only then, one learns that to get a single free kids meal (valued at $2.50 - because drinks are EXTRA and don't come with the kid's meal like most other fast food establishments), one must spend $9 per adult for one kid's meal. Now realize this: that's not even possible at Steak and Shake! For instance, Jeremy ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, which was the Steak and Shake meal consisting of a burger, 2 sides and a shake for $7.99. Yup - just under $9. So, for us to even earn 1 free kids meal, we either have to order more than we would otherwise eat, or get one free kids meal for every 2 adults.

Listen, I can understand that nothing is free. I could understand the offer being one free kids meal for every adult meal purchased. That would have at least been fair and in the general realm of truth in advertising. But there is not an ounce of truth in their advertising. Had Jeremy walked in there with even just one of our children, he would not have been able to take advantage of the free kids meal because what he ordered would not have equaled $9. So, in truth, there are very few families, very few people, that would qualify for this "Kids eat free all weekend" offer.

Lies! Complete and utter false advertising. And I say, how dare you Steak and Shake? Yes, I know I already said, it, but I say it again. How dare you flat out lie and take advantage of people during this economic time of uncertainty. People whom you know would not otherwise choose to eat out, save your ridiculous offer of lies? There is no asterisk on the signage. No fine print. How do you get away with this? Is there no code of ethics at all? My husband is an IT consultant. Let's say he offers a free iMac with every service. The catch is, your service has to equal $5000 before you qualify for that offer, but that detail is nowhere in writing, nor does he offer that information before he starts your service. You could then, sue him for false advertising. Explain to me the difference between this and that. You, Steak and Shake, are no less robbing people, no less stealing form them their hard earned money that you know they otherwise never would have spent at your establishment.

So, for all the people who read this blog, for all the people who see the Facebook post or the tweet on Twitter, I say boycott. Sure, one person's indignation does not amount to much. But a state, a region, a country of people standing up, speaking out against establishments that choose to lie to us and steal from us and take advantage of us during such a time as this, will surely do something. Leave a comment to this post, pledging your commitment to change - your commitment to stand up to those taking advantage. Join the Facebook group boycotting Steak and Shake. This is about truth, about justice, about ethics and most importantly, about change.

Cai's Best Friend

His name was Jiminy. He was just waking up from his winter sleep and was sunning himself on the sidewalk. In true Cai Cai fashion, he walked right up to him, said "Hello, friend," put his hand down, and Jiminy crawled right on. He and Cai hung out for about a half hour before Jiminy crawled up to Cai's shoulder, flicked his wings and flew away. Cai was devastated. He had lost his best friend. Ice cream was in order.

Best. Present. Ever.

Today, the mail lady brought what has to be the best. present. EVER. Our friend, affectionately known and heretofore referred to as "the Dood," had purchased this for us for Christmas. It's called the "Yacker Tracker." For those of you that grew up in the 80's with me, this may bring a bit of silly nostalgia. Crushing on Ricky Schroeder in Silver Spoons, I always wanted a real working stop light in my room. Now, I have one with a purpose!

This beauty is a noise level detection and deterrent system! That's right! Just plug this bad boy in, set it to the acceptable decibel level and let the quiet times roll! Those who know me know that I, in futility, utter the phrases, "Quiet down," "Settle down," and "Shush, shush please" (think the scene in Encino Man where the douche jock is hanging the sweet nerd from his undies on the wall of the cafeteria). I'm not thick, I know the futility of my attempts with 4 boys in the house. But this, this is my hope, my audio savior.


I set mine to decibel level 60. This seems acceptable for now. When all is good and the noise level is acceptable, the light remains green. When the noise level creeps to 15 decibels above what has been set, the light flashes yellow. Once it reaches 30 decibels above what has been set, the red light flashes and a siren briefly sounds. Now, with a noise monitor, one would question the decision of making a loud siren go off once the noise has already reached epic proportions, but I can appreciate the idea. It lets the kids know, without me saying anything, to settle down or the pain is coming!

To put this in perspective, normal conversation flows at around 40 decibels. A restaurant during rush hour, hits levels of around 80 decibels and roadside construction hits around 110. That's right, the noise in my house at any given time is between rush hour at a restaurant and roadside construction. But, not any more!

So, thank you to "the Dood!" A brilliant, funny friend who truly cares for our family, and my sanity! If you want to get one for your family (a Yacker Tracker, not "the Dood"), hit up Amazon.

Teach a boy to fish....

and one day, maybe he'll catch something instead of his mom having to draw imaginary fish hanging from his imaginary line!! See what happens when I get bored? Bored, you say? With 4 BOYS? Yes, bored.....it was VERY cold today and I made my son pose outside, BAREFOOT, for this pic in 45 degrees.....Yeah - I'm a good mom!

Brotherly Lurv

Trying...not.....to....cry.

They get it. The bonding has begun.

Our standing arrangement is that if the boys behave well all day, they get to play Rock Band with mommy and daddy before bed. Moise was good today. Logan however was quite disrespectful, mouthy and all together argumentative. After he completely ignored 4 separate requests I made of him after dinner tonight, Daddy made the decision that Logan would not be allowed to play. Then something spectacular happened. Moise, realizing he would not be playing with his brother and that his brother would miss out on the fun, interceded on his brother's behalf! That's right...INTERCEDED! He told Logan, "You must say you're sorry! Mean it!" Then Moise turned to Daddy and pleaded for a commutation of Logan's sentence. He insisted that Logan was sorry and would apologize."

It was beautiful. It was sincere. It was a moment. Much like the stirring moments earlier i the day...moments of change, so brief, so small but so significant. They have become brothers.

A Moment in History

Sitting down in front of the computer, explaining what Inauguration Day represented, what it meant and why this particular one is so very important, I didn't expect the tears that came. The more I told my natural born son and my Haitian son, who has just become a citizen of this wonderful country, about the great importance of this moment, the more choked up I became. To realize that for hundreds of years, black people of all nationalities have been disrespected, mistreated, made to live in a manner less than worthy....to witness this moment when equality has truly come. When a black man, has risen above, to now sit in the highest office in the land....That stirs emotions. It doesn't matter if you agree with his politics, or even if you personally like him. That one fact, the historicity of it all, is enough. As a mother now of black children, immigrated and now citizens, it is powerful. We watched the inauguration together, and though I doubt that either of them really "got" it, they will. Soon they will understand. Soon they will know that they lived in a time of change. They witnessed a historical turning point in our nation - one that will hopefully, prayerfully, bring about change for the good.

Tampa Zoo

Today was our first trip to the Tampa Zoo and Moise and phoenix's first time to any zoo - EVER. It was a GREAT time and Moise especially was overjoyed to be so close to the animals and able to touch them! I've been to MetroZoo and the Palm Beach Zoo and the Tampa Zoo is by far the BEST ZOO EVER! The weather was perfect, everyone had fun and we can't wait to go back! I'll be uploading more pic sinto a slideshow tomorrow, so check back for that.

My perfect nose

I have a complex about my nose. When I was growing up, everyone admired my "perfect Precious Moments" nose. It was the perfect shape, slope, slant and size. When I was 13 (or 11 or somewhere around there), my head collided with someone else's at a pool party and my perfect nose ended up on the other side of my face. It was shattered so completely that the x-ray at the ER showed it as a whole and complete, unbroken nose. Never mind that anyone with 2 working eyes could see that it was swollen, in 2 pieces and on the other side of my face. Anyway, 3 days later at the doctor, they determined that yes, it was broken, but had begun healing back together. This was BAD. So, now reconstructive surgery was needed. I now have my perfect nose back and yes, I suppose you could say that I've had plastic surgery. Long story short: lightning struck again. I mean, HOW RANDOM IS THAT?

I was putting Phoenix down for a nap today. He had already been outta bed once and was not happy that I was putting him back in bed. (This was out of character for him, but this is how it went down. He's been "off" the last 2 days. We won't even mention the bruised bite mark on my hand courtesy of his little vampire teeth. That's a different story.) Anyway, I was readjusting his narrow little behind to put the covers on him. While doing so, he decided to rear up and clobber me with his giant cranium right on the perfectly reconstructed bone part of my perfect nose.

I fought blacking out, shed a few tears and fought the nausea all the way to my room. No blood, which was good. I think the swelling is only as minimal as it is because hubby rushed home form work with one of those old-fashioned ice bags and took care of me. It's broken, broken, broken! Though hubby begged me to go to the hospital, I didn't. I mean, seriously - it's in one piece, it's straight and it's still where it should be on my face. All the hospital will do is take an x-ray to confirm what I already know ( we know how well the x-ray turned out the last time!), give me pain meds and tell me to keep ice on it. See, I just saved us $3000!

Out of respect, let's have a moment of silence for my dearly departed and heretofor no longer, perfect nose.

Unicef Photo of 2008

The beauty in the juxtaposition of this photo is truly breath taking and so close to my heart as the adoptive mom of two kids from Haiti. This photo won first place as the Unicef photo of 2008 taken by 21-year-old Belgian photographer Alice Smeets, the youngest person ever to win the competition. The place: Cite Soliel, Haiti.If this image encourages you to get involved and help in relief efforts or even goes so far as to make you think about adoption, please visit For HIS Glory's website. They are a non-profit organization that has an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and also helps fund and provide relief efforts for the surrounding area. If you have any questions about adoption, they currently have available children and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

An anti-climatic Flip Experience

I ordered the Flip HD Cam for Christmas, courtesy of my in-laws (Thank you very much!) and it just came today. It took a little while longer than normal because with the Flip, you can have them customized for your personal tastes. This is ours:
I was SOOOOO excited for this thing, until I realized I hadn't researched as well as I normally do and found out that Kodak makes a far superior "Flip killer" for nearly 1/2 the price. Plus, unlike the Flip, Kodak's comes with recahrgebale, replaceable batteries and an expansion slot for SDHC cards. So, I will be rigorously testing out the Flip during my 90 day return window, but will probably exchange it for the Kodak - which, oh by the way, is weather resistant too! Just smarter all the way around. I got suckered by the customization option of the Flip. Truly. I mean, how COULD one resist the panda? It really is the perfect size, but already I'm seeing that the back is a definite fingerprint magnet!
Below are 2 completely non-sense 30 second videos I took today to test the resolution in bright and low light situations. Both of these are indoor as I have yet to test outdoor. If you have either the Kodak version or the new FlipHD, chime in and let me know what you think of yours.

Food Pron

Yes, the title is a typo. But seriously, nothing gets more more excited than food and beautiful pictures of food. No one does beautiful food pictures like Kayotic Kitchen, but I digress. I made buffalo hot wings with ranch dressing, bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers, roasted garlic bread and Tequiza to wash it down with. Mmmmmm - New Year's food. We watched Tropic Thunder (most retarded movie EVER, but very funny watching Robert Downey Jr. trying to play a black man), watched the ball drop and a very anti-climatic volcano jump by Robbie Knieval. A subdued, but delicious New Year's Eve!