Park Party!

Later on the 26th we had a little party for miss L in the party near Uncle K and Aunt L's house. In keeping with a long standing tradition there was a pinata! Woohoo! There were even friends! Double Woohoo! We made burritos in the park for dinner! Triple Woohoo!

Everyone had a go at the pinata before we finally pulled the ribbons out of the bottom to release the goods.

 

We also got to play with this awesome stomp rocket. That thing has some RANGE! One of my favorite parts was watching mister W do his jump wind up. He'd swing his arms really quickly, then stop and then jump. It was super cute!

 

Miss L and her buddy E had an awesome time running after the rockets when they'd been launched. I'm telling you. Those rockets went FAR.

 

Sweet little man isn't much for stomp rockets, but he had fun playing with pinata prizes.

 

Even Uncle K stomped a bit. I don't remember how far it went, but it had to be super far cause it was a great jump!

 

We spent some good time at the playground after dinner. Mister W enjoyed being pushed in the swing by his big sister. After that it was back to the house and off to bed. What a huge day! I can't imagine a better way to turn 5!

Children's Museum

On the 26th of August we made our way to the Children's Museum near Aunt L and Uncle K's house. It was amazing. The museum isn't in its final place. They are still raising funds to build their final home, but if this was the temporary location then I can't wait to see the end product!

The museum is on two levels and when you walk in you are immediately greeted by an open space with oversized building blocks. Mister W likes to build towers to knock down and miss L likes to build structures to pretend in and both were able to do their own thing.

Mister W found this piece of an old VW bus to drive.

 

Miss L got to work building a house.

 

There are two little rooms off of the main one. In one there is the most magnificent farm set. It's a quilt really, but it has fabric dirt, water and even rows for corn to actually stick in. It's all surrounded by fences, barns and animals (of course). All three kids enjoyed it. Mister W, of course, LOVES anything farm related and sweet little man loves taking things apart. :o)

 

Here is more from the main building room.

 

In the other little room (opposite the farm) there was a music room. There were Orff instruments to explore along with lots of others and even an upright piano with the back panel removed.

 

The pictures are here in chronological order as I shot them. I should perhaps have rearranged them so it's a bit less discombobulating. Three kids in three rooms with me traveling between makes for lots of photos of different places all at once. :o)

Here's mister W back with his farm.

 

While miss L builds on her house.

 

...and then eventually joins in the farming.

 

Of course, mister W did eventually want to knock over her structure. What are little brothers for?

 

In the large open space by the entrance there was also an area for arts and crafts and water play. Mister W found this water table to explore.

 

...and a table nearby filled with water beads. I have seen these all over the interwebs but have never actually gotten to hold them. They are a really interesting sensory experience!

 

There was also a couple of logs with nails to hammer. So much fun!

 

Eventually we made our way downstairs where there was even MORE fun. Along the wall at the bottom of the stairs is a big structure for some great engineering play. There are pulley systems and buckets, large tubing and gutter pieces. All of this is for moving the heavy sand in the base of the structure. It really captivated miss L for a long time as she filled her buckets and then tried to devise different ways for it to reach the bottom again.

 

Just down the hall from the sand was a pizza restaurant, a vet clinic and a full store! Mister W sort of flitted back and forth between them and miss L seemed to concentrate her time in the store. Here she is picking out some produce.

 

...and mister W is brushing his dog.

 

Eventually though, miss L needed to pay for all of those groceries and mister W was there to ring her up and put her groceries in bags for her to take home.

 

Our final stop was in this water room. There's some kind of a pump on one end (with decking and a little pool) and then the water comes out at a point uphill and flows downward. We spent most of our time at the bottom playing in the water in the pool and getting wet. What an awesome museum! Uncle K and Aunt L always have the best stuff for us to do when we visit them and I can't wait to come back here again!

Uncle K and Aunt L

The time came for us to continue our roadtrip and this time we had decided to head north before coming home. On Friday morning we loaded up our car and drove north to visit some friends from college. We'd had seven kids between us since the last time we saw one another (and I am not going to even guess how many residences, etc) so it was really time for a visit. At the time of our visit we had kids aged 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and under 1 so it was definitely a full (and loud) house. The night was so perfect though. How lovely it is to be able to stay with old friends and for our kids to be able to make some for themselves! I can't wait to do this again.

After a night's stay we headed even farther north to visit Uncle K and Aunt L. Uncle K and Aunt L always manage to spoil our kids. The very first day we went to this wonderful park complete with farm animals and a farm themed playground. Mister W (who is a bit obsessed with farms) was in complete heaven. What a wonderful day!

Cousins and the Merry Go Round

The very best part of visiting home is playing with cousins. My kids love their cousins and that is always the focus of our conversations leading up to a visit. They want to see their cousins and play with them. In fact, nearly as soon as we arrive miss L is usually already talking about scheduling a playdate with miss H. How wonderful to have a girl playmate just your age IN YOUR FAMILY! Woohoo! Miss L is also very fortunate to have mister K who is almost her age as well. We always have to figure out time to see him too and when we leave we talk about our adventures with miss H and mister K and how much fun it was.

On this particular day miss H and mister K were both able to come over for some fun. They spent the morning in the backyard, running around and having fun (and having popsicles!) but after lunch we needed some new scenery. The little brothers settled in for a nap and so the three big kids decided to head over to a local park. We played on the swings. We took turns on the teeter totter. We even braved the giant metal slide BUT miss L's favorite thing at the park (and probably as anyone with a kid with SPD would understand) is the merry go round. She loves spinning on it. She loves pushing it with everyone on it. She wants to go fast and furious and I am shocked at how this 40 pound string bean can get the merry go round going so very fast.

It was a wonderful afternoon that ended when a trip to the bathroom was required. It's funny. I grew up near this park. Now, to be fair, I didn't live there as a young child and didn't visit it very often, but we love going to this park when we are close to home. The kids love it. The equipment is VERY vintage, and there's usually plenty of shade (and you KNOW that in the hot windy summer on the plains that shade is VERY nice). I feel such a connection to my hometown when we play here. I can't wait for our next visit.

Popsicles

August 22, 2012

We don't really have a backyard. I mean, we have a yard. In fact, if we count the "common area" behind our home we have quite a bit of green space. For some reason, though, it just isn't the sort of backyard I grew up with. There is no fence in our yard and I wouldn't dream of sending my kids out into it unattended. We certainly don't have a "park" (swingset) back there. (that's not to say that we don't live in a fantastic place with so much around that we aren't just BEYOND blessed) So when it gets hot I start to think about my childhood summers and I long to be at my parents where my kids can take a couple of weeks to soak in the heat and the dirt and just be kids without a plan. They can go into the backyard and swing or slide. They can pretend a multitude of things. They can invite cousins over to play, or just play on their own. They can strip down to their undies and have a popsicle after lunch. I love those summer days and I look forward to them each year. As we go about our planned and regimented lives I can look at this sweet photo of my son enjoying the summer just like I remember it.

Birthday Number FIVE!

I can't believe that it happened. I can't believe that it was five whole years ago that we traveled to pick up this beautiful girl and became a family. I certainly can't.

It's hard to imagine how miss L might have felt that day. She'd been safe and warm, hearing voices that she was familiar with, hearing a heartbeat that gave her comfort. Then all of a sudden brought into a world and probably seeking those voices and seeking that heartbeat without being able to find it.  Who knows what a newborn thinks or feels, but I have to think that she missed her birthmama just as much as I know her birthmama was torn up and missing her.

I remember so vividly feeling so nervous. I wanted so desperately to do everything RIGHT (I realize that we are not unique in that feeling since first time moms just seem to ooze that feeling). I wanted to honor miss L's story from the first day. At that point in time I spent a lot of time thinking about adoption and about how to raise miss L with the good of adoption (we're a family) and the bad of adoption (she lost her first family). I wanted to use the best language I could. I wanted to be open. I wanted to help her to heal any wounds from that loss and help her feel confident and whole in this family. Then there was also the every two hour feedings and diaper changing...

Some experts advise letting a child's adoption story be their own story to tell or not to tell. That's just not an option for us. When we go out in public everyone knows miss L's adopted. They may not know her story and in fact they probably make a lot of assumptions that are untrue, but they all know that she was adopted. I don't know what questions miss L gets asked when she's away from me, but I've seen plenty of children question her about her origins. "Why is your mommy white and you aren't?" She usually just says, "I don't know," since saying, "I'm adopted," seems to lead to more personal questions (and I suppose because those who are asking don't understand the concept of adoption anyway?). Miss L doesn't want to be a poster child for adoption. She doesn't want to be the person who has to explain what it means or "where she comes from." She really shouldn't have to either. My heart aches when I see her struggle with the kid who won't let it go. I know as she grows that she'll have more strategies for dealing with these situations. I just pray I'm doing good modeling when total strangers come up and ask idiotic questions about her right in front of her (seriously.).

I still do think about adoption and how best to help miss L feel confident and loved. She knows that her birth family loves her a great deal. She wants to hear the story of the day she was born. She wants to know all the details. Where we were when we got "the call," where she was during the entire time, what we felt when we first saw her. She wants to hear how when we walked in the nursery she had a dirty diaper and daddy changed it and it was his very first diaper change ever. She loves the story. It's hers. She always has a lot of questions about it. I hope we're doing a good job of answering them.

Adoption is a part of miss L's life. We're all a product of our experiences and that's one of hers. That day we brought her home and I so desperately wanted to get it right, adoption was in the forefront of my mind. Now it's definitely something we think about but five years later miss L's story is so much more complex. At five years old she loves gymnastics, playing outside with her friends from the neighborhood, going to her grandparents' houses, and princesses (or as a friend calls them, little girl crack). She loves church and singing. She's got a huge heart, big enough to love everyone she meets, and she loves animals. She's a wonderful big sister and she never forgets sweet Ben, immediately telling anyone who I tell, "I have three kids" that in fact, there are four kids in our family, it's just that one is in Heaven. I loved her that day that we brought her home and my heart was filled with both anxiety about "doing it right" and sheer bliss at the sight of her. I just never could have even imagined how much more love would fill my heart every day since then. I never could have fathomed the way that I feel about that girl. She is the one who made me a mother. She's the one who reminds me what is really important. She tells me the best stories and uses the most adorable hand gestures. She's a blessing to everyone who meets her. She's miss L.

For the last year Miss L has been planning a birthday party with a bouncy house at her mawmaw and pawpaw's house with her cousins. When July came around August seemed like the perfect time for a roadtrip and so we went for it. Daddy had to work (of course) but he had miles saved from business travel and he was able to meet us for the party.

 

By the time we'd booked the bouncy house they didn't have the basic model available but only had one with an awesome slide attached. They gave us a great deal so we could hardly say no. They set it up a few hours early so miss L and mister W were able to enjoy it for a long long long time!

 

We had a pinata. Miss L loves a pinata!

 

Cousins got to give it a try.

 

Brothers too.

 

...and everyone enjoyed it. I spent more time enjoying the party than snapping photos of it, so I didn't get many really good ones. Miss L proclaimed it the best birthday ever and it really was just loads of fun. I have no idea what we'll ever do to top this next year!

 

Miss L spent the whole night playing away with the lovely gifts that people brought. What fun!