Wordless Wednesday

HOO is 2? Andrew

Well, our baby boy is 2 today!

WOW! Hard to believe we have been waiting

exactly 10 months and 2 days

since we saw his picture for the 1st time.

So many emotions surround his birthday.

I received a call from our local floral shop on Friday that they had a delivery for me.

So, I was not going to be home so they asked if I wanted to pick it up when I came into town.

I said, "Sure".

When I went in and gave the lady my name she couldn't find it

and asked if it could be under anyone else's name.

I was clueless.

She came back out with a huge balloon bouquet and as I studied the balloons,

on the tip top Happy Feet balloon it had Andrew's name under the words Happy Birthday.

I started crying!

I was totally touched by someone's true thoughtfulness.

I was a blubber mouth at that point.

I said,"How do I know who they are from?"

Duh Becky...she probably thought.

"It says on the card" she said.

When I saw the card I really cried.

The fact that it was on someone else's heart that even though

he is not here it is important to celebrate really spoke to Steve and I.

When I called her to say thank you she told me that he will ask one day how we celebrated or what we did each day before he came home, and how important it will be for him to really know that a day did not pass when we didn't think about him.

YES!

I love it when someone totally gets adoption and how we feel as parents to this little guy across the country that didn't grow inside me but in my heart.

I am sure it is a day that will forever be remembered by his birth mom.

She was so selfless to give him life and want him to have a forever family.

Some say, "Well, she may be selfless but maybe selfish."

I find that to be the farthest from the truth.

When a mom chooses to give life and not abort and then takes it one step further and decides that the best for her child is to give him up for adoption...

That is selfless!

Then I think about the foster family that is giving Andrew everything he needs until we can become his forever family.

His foster family has 3 children under the age of 3 that they are caring for until their forever families come.

The love and attention

that he is receiving is so awesome.

The day the foster mom places him in my arms will be so great yet a loss for her too.

She knows that it will happen but the fact that she has been his omma since June 2009 will be hard. Since the EP situation has gotten longer these foster families are providing care longer than they ever did before. It used to be 4- 5 months and maybe even 8 months but now it is longer.....it will almost be 2 years that she has had Andrew.

I so love this sweet lady and I haven't even met her yet!

I see her picture and I have such admiration, respect and true love for her.

Finally us.

We are celebrating just as if he were home.

We want him to know that even though he wasn't here physically,

he was in our hearts and minds throughout the day.

So that is just what we did!

I baked a cake and I let my two middles...Meredith and Caroline decorate it.

Let me tell ya, that was a little hard to relinquish that control..(I am a tad bit of a perfectionist) and let them do what I had envisioned.

They were awesome!

Since we are decorating his room in owls that is what I wanted on his cake.

Meredith put the owl on and the border to the cake.

Is it adorable or what??

Caroline wrote

"HOO is 2?

Andrew."

We are singing, "Happy Birthday", blowing out candles,

and opening a gift wrapped just for him.

Yes, of course we are videoing it too.

I think about holding him and walking into his room with his birthday gift early in the morning and singing,"Happy Birthday" just like we do each year for the girls.

I think about how he will be ripping wrapping paper off of gifts.

I think about all the family that will be here next year to help us celebrate.

Next year it will happen!

Oh what a day it will be!

Snow days and winter memories

When the phone rang Sunday night and I saw the number was from our school district I put it on speaker. I knew it was the call all of us had anticipated all day but were unsure if it would come true. As the girls listened intently they heard the words we all love......NO SCHOOL!!!!

That meant that no early bedtime!!!!

Steve and Lydia enjoyed a book by the fire.

The older girls and I love BOGGLE, so that was in the works.

We decided to mix up a batch of cinnamon rolls after the girls had watched Man vs. Food on Netflix earlier in the day. They were determined that the rolls we were going to roll out were going to be monsters. Well, they weren't as big as on the show but we did only get 6 out of that batch. We let them rise once, then punched them down and put them in the refrigerator to let them rise the last time so they would be ready in the morning.

When we were finally up on Monday.....SNOW DAY..., we all rolled them out and baked them. It truly was a family affair, minus Steve of course because he had to go to work. Sad he couldn't stay home with us for the day.

Oh they were yummy!

Why is it when there is no school, cooking and baking are always something on our mind to do?

Not sure but I do know it is fun.

To Melt A Mama's Heart

So Lydia had her Christmas program on Thursday night.

She has been anticipating it for weeks.

Why?

Because she was chosen to be one of the reindeer.

Comet to be exact.

She has been saying her lines and actually every other person's too.

She literally had the entire play memorized.

She has the sweetest teacher ever!

Her teacher replaced her 1st name labeled on her desk with Comet and every other reindeer's name as well.

It was adorable! Little Miss was so expressive and totally had the stage presence going on.

I see her following in her sister's footsteps with musicals.

She had been telling us she had a present for us but wasn't giving any hints.

Oh my goodness!

When I walked in and saw all the precious snowman plates that these

kiddos had been working on so hard, I was in awe!

So much detail and time went into them.

Her teacher is absolutely just amazing.

These took a lot of time and energy on her part.

This is a plate that I will display every year forever!

It means so much and Miss Lydia knows her mama loves polka dots

SO......the scarf is decked out with them.

Absolutely melted this mama's heart.