Toothless Wonder

So, in the 6 weeks Jasmine's been here, she's had 2 teeth knocked out.  Yes, knocked out.  Granted they were loose to begin with, but only slightly loose.  The first was the week she arrived and it was Logan's foot to her mouth.  Then, last night, a very excited puppy jumped up and clobbered Jazz in the mouth with her head.  Out popped the tooth and down flowed the blood.  Mmmmm, blood.  I mean, really....

Soccer Camp - Day Two

Bruises, Bad Days and Brits

Day 2 was hotter than day 1 by far. Mostly overcast, but still enough sun to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Ridiculous! I arrived, as usual, about 15 minutes early to watch the kids play their "World Cup match." At kickoff, Logan faced off with a much bigger boy and promptly received a kiss from the soccerball square on his cheek. The kid was much bigger and I could feel the impact from where I was standing. Luckily, Logan did not see me, or it would have been all tears, but he sucked it up and tried to continue until the coach told him to go sit on the bench and chill. That's when the tears came, but in a markedly lighter rain than had I been present. Jasmine woke up today and was playin like she meant it. All in all, a good day of scrimmage.

Soccer Camp - Day One

So, Jazz & Logan are enrolled in this British Soccer Camp.  Kinda cool - they fly in british soccer players to coach the kids & teach them about their culture and the proper way to play football.  The kids had a great time, but were FRIED because the camp is from 9-12 - a HORRIBLE time of day for Florida.  Look for more pics in the days to come!

4th=Fun!

This is effectively our last weekend with Jazzy, so we tried to make it as fun as possible. The 4th was filled with playing at the pool, arts & crafts, movies (introduced to my childhood FAVE Princess Bride for the first time!) and outside our front door, fireworks at night.

Saturday, we took off early in the morning and drove over to Mill Dam Lake. It's a bit of a change, for native Southern Floridians to make the trade - beach for lake, but it was nice. Tons of shady oak trees, dripping with Spanish Moss, a white sand beach, beautiful clear, blue, fresh water and about 18 signs warning us of the presence and danger of black bears! Like I said - different, but nice. Trading sharks, man-o-war, sea lice and sand lice for black bears and alligators. Did I say alligators? No! Never in fresh water lakes of inland Florida! ;0) We had so much fun swimming and building sand castles, grilling and just being together.

Sunday, we awoke to please of Cuck E. Cheese and succumbed to the visceral whines. After a morning spent within the 4th dimension of hell (cheesy, disposable toys included), we made a quick stop at McD's for happy meals. More crafts, video games and fun throughout the afternoon and a beautiful dinner made by Jeremy to round out the evening.

Tomorrow is the beginning of soccer camp and nearly 2 hours of roundtrip driving per day for me. Kill me now. I have become what I dreaded most. I am. A Soccer mom.

Our boys are coming HOME!

We just got the phone call last night that told us the exciting news that our Haitian boys finally received their passports! This is HUGE as it means they will be coming home with our friend in 3 weeks! 3 WEEKS!

Though we've been working through this process for 2 years now, the reality of their impending homecoming is increasingly hard to wrap our brains around. 4 boys. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?

To friends and family: thanks for praying, listening, crying, laughing and supporting this insane journey. We really couldn't have made it through with some of you!

Now a request. We still need a little help! We have prepared, but things have happened to cause some of that prep to go out the window - like rats eating a huge hole through the mattress we had bought and were storing for one of the boys. Point is, though we prepared, we still need a few things. If anyone has any of the following items laying around that they're not using, we would really appreciate the help! We need:

1. A twin mattress
2. A toddler car seat or booster seat
3. 2 wooden dining room chairs or folding chairs (we had a couple disasters with dining chairs recently and are now short for our new family of 6)

Additionally, if any of you feels compelled to donate, we still need to purchase the third row seat for our SUV so we can have a car that actually fits our whole family. There's this great company that makes 3rd row seats for SUVs and that's about the only alternative we have right now. So please, if you feel so led, hit that donate button on the right hand sidebar.

This has been an incredible journey and we love and appreciate everyone who has been there for us and helped us along the way. You guys ROCK!

Kids Cook!

Please to enjoy our first installment of Kids Cook. Logan & Jasmine now have their own website in which they will share recipes and how-to videos for kids. Topics will range from the simple: how to make your own sandwich, to the more complex: meatloaf and mashed potatoes, to the totally fun: PIZZA! Check them out at Kids Cook Ocala

Luv them pool days!

Bein' a mom is EXHAUSTING

"Mom, mom, mom - pay attention to me, no me - I'm boooooored - What are we gonna do now? Can I have another snack (#26 this morning alone)? Can I play more video games (Hour 20 coming up)? I'm boooooored. What is there to do? What are we doing next? What are we doing tomorrow? Why's it gotta rain EVERY DAY? Did I mention I'm booooooored?"

All this after I meticulously planned an activity PACKED "summer camp" for my 2 sons and niece for 5 straight weeks. THIS is day 5. Oh joy.

We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the movie theater today. FREE family film fest at Regal and all. So, the morning went like this. "I have to pee." (Of course you do, we just sat down and if we get up an entire summer camp full of children will steal our seats). Then Logan unwittingly rested his hand in the cup holder and pulled back a hand full of ABC gum, which he proceeded to get EVERYWHERE in an attempt to get it off. Then Cai had to pee. Pull down the pants, sit him back far enough on the potty - wasn't expecting the full force jet stream to come shooting out and completely SOAK his underwear. SO, off the underwear come and Cai goes commando for the rest of the film. "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I finished off everything within the first 30 seconds of the movie, can I have more now?" Kid next to me jumping all over his chair and later, me. Wanted to STRANGLE said kid, almost did.

Let's see...pool, playground, craft time, video game time, cartoons, cooking class (check out the AWESOME homemade pizza!), dancing lessons, reading time.....and they're still boooooored.


Now, those who know me KNOW I am by NO MEANS a crafty mom. But, you gotta admit, these are pretty darn cool! The kids were so obsessed with Kung Fu Panda that we made our craft day all about the Panda. Paper bag and construction paper puppets...Po, Tai Lung and Tigress to start. Tomorrow they're gonna try to recreate Viper, Master Monkey and Mantis.


Okay, off to make Blueberry Pork Chops.....don't ask.