JCJ & RPIII

So....something else happened last weekend when R was visiting his family....

Mrs. MHJ and Senior R

RPIII had a question for JCJ....

And she said Yes

It was a cold day, but a marvelously happy day at the beach. 

The white sand.

The cross on the beach - where JCJ had always wanted to be proposed to.

R is a good photographer.

And the most important picture: 

W O W

Christmas Eve Photos

Late January seems like the perfect time to post pictures from Christmas Eve.

Let's pretend L is standing to the left of H. Poor L was home sick.

Granny and our host Aunt J

Squirms had a difficult time sitting still - so many cousins to play with!

Our favorite Tennessee relatives.

This isn't how to use a pretend hair straightener?

Barbie-Hair-Styling fun. Poor OKC couldn't fully enjoy her new toy because Squirms was very interested in it as well.

Granny read the Advent Calendar.

Granny with the Adorable great-grandkids. They were all really excited about a group picture.

Sure, this is a nice picture of Grandpa and the Great, but check out AMC's beard.

The grandkids can be still for a picture.

My two handsome men!

It's also the 9th anniversary of when R sent me on a scavenger hunt around Auburn so I could find him in a field at sunset for a marriage proposal. Nine years, and I'm still very glad I said yes.

Ten Things

1. The Winter of Sickness. That is what we are calling December and January this year. Among the four of us we've had pneumonia, bronchitis, multiple ear infections, the common cold, and everyone's favorite, the stomach bug. This week marks the first time in a month that no one is taking antibiotics - Hooray!  

2. Bobbi Brown foundation, long lasting wear. H did my make-up for events surrounding Christmas, because a) she is much better at appropriately applying make-up than me, and b) "with skin like your's you have to wear foundation" is what she said. She's right of course, and she let me use her Bobbi Brown foundation while we were in Alabama. It's actually quite amazing - I've been impressed with how well it blends and seems to disappear when applying, and most impressed with how fresh it looks after a nap (usually any make-up I'm wearing looks old and needs help after an attempt at a nap). On the day of the Great's adoption I was up at 4:30 AM, applied the foundation around 7 AM (in the car), took a nap around 1 PM, and didn't need to reapply anything but lip gloss before our party guests arrived at 7 PM. Removal of make-up was around 11 PM that night.
I think I'm giving such a glowing recommendation because I have previously hated wearing foundation and I really like how easy this is one is, and I actually feel much better about how my skin looks (my face has been broken-out since the 5th grade). Thankfully, I have honest sisters whose advice is worth following (also, L - my most recent hair trim did make it mostly one length so you won't be bothered by those three long curls in the back).
And I learned you are supposed to moisturize before applying make-up - I started using Cetaphil's face lotion for people with troublesome skin. I feel like a grown-up using a moisturizer with SPF.

3. Mary Poppins. The Squirms is obsessed. Actually, obsessed is an understatement. Mrs. MHJ bought her this movie for Christmas and they watched it together while I was in California. Squirms LOVES Mary Poppins, Bert, Michael, and Jane. She sings, she dances, she stares at the TV in a trance. When she had the stomach bug we watched Mary Poppins four times in one day. I've completely given in to the fact that Mary Poppins is now a part of our life and am at least trying to use it to help her vocabulary - she can say Michael is riding a blue horse.

4. In other Squirm News: she goes down the slide by herself, puts on her shoes (usually on the correct foot), and has been putting her baby doll in the Great's swing and turning on motion and sound for her baby.

5. Senior R's 60th birthday was last week (this sentence, during the first draft, used to say "is this week") and R was able to travel to spend the weekend with his family. Sadly, the petri dishes - oh, I mean children - and I were not able to travel due to the aforementioned recent illnesses. While I am slightly - oh, I mean incredibly - bitter that I missed a five course dinner conducted by a chef for Senior R's closest friends and family at their favorite local bed and breakfast, I am happy that R was able to attend and spend lots of time with family this weekend. R said they started with a venison pâté and that one of the courses was the best deviled egg he's ever tasted (and R loves deviled eggs). Oh, and another event occurred this weekend - speaking of family - but more on that later. Did I mention that everyone stayed in a condo on the beach? The Squirms and I got to see their beautiful balcony view over FaceTime. Did I also mention that I spent a significant part of my weekend disinfecting Legos with large batches of vinegar and hot water?

6. Cuban espresso. H gets double mention in this post. H gave me a bright yellow kettle-thing and a bag of cuban espresso for Christmas. I'm still perfecting how to use it (the first time I tried, I didn't understand what she had given me and I made and then drank six shots of espresso as if they were one large cup of coffee) but H, who has traveled to Cuba, said to pour it over a bit of brown sugar and drink it while it's very hot. This is my new favorite drink. And, if you want to treat it like dessert, I've learned to pour a bit of Squirm's whole milk into the cup as well. Delicious.

7. At the Great's adoption celebration one of the families in attendance - that are in our church Life Group! - wore FSU gear. Even their three week old! Can you believe this?
Also, one of my former coworkers that is one of R's current coworkers gave the Great a FSU onsie that states "My First Championship". Sigh.

8. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson is a very good book. I read this during my airplane time to the West Coast and back. Larson writes non-fiction like fiction. A book that is historical, scientific, romantic, and a crime novel! The truth as he presents it is better than fiction. This is the third book I've read by Larson and he has jumped to being one of my favorite authors.

9. We visited the library the Friday before last and had a lovely time playing in the kids area. I also had my first experience of watching another child be intentionally mean to Squirms for no logical reason. I didn't know how to handle the situation and just watched to see what the Squirms did. The little girl ran Squirms out of the play area, telling her to "go away" while she chased Squirms. I think Squirms thought the little girl was trying to play a game at first, then she was just confused and tried to run back to the toys. The little girl's mother was telling her to be nice, but she just kept following Squirms around, taking toys and telling her to go away. Another mom looked at me with a puzzled expression, like this is weird, I don't know what you should do either. I intervened when the little girl hit Squirms on the head with a toy; then Squirms and I went across the room to do puzzles. Thankfully the little girl soon left and Squirms was able to play freely again.
The highlight of our library time was hanging out with ALM and her two boys.

10. The Great is turning into quite the talker. He loves to carry on conversation and share facial expressions. We've had so much fun over the past month watching his personality beginning to develop. He is also wearing six month old sleepers! Ah! I wasn't ready for this, he is only three months old.

Photos - the Great's birthday

Happy Weekend. In honor of the Great's three month anniversary and adoption finalization here are some photos from his birthday and our time in the hospital.

Under the warmer.

This is the point at which he was named.

Day Two

Day Three - Signing Day! He's coming home with us!

Adoption Day!!!!

Wednesday morning we traveled to Orlando, to the very tall county courthouse. 

We had not been early for the Squirm's finalization and the security line plus elevator system made us quite determined to be early for the Great's hearing. If you're not present when the judge calls you in, you've missed your chance that day. 

We arrived an hour early to the parking deck....and then discovered the noise we had heard several minutes before was more involved than we had originally thought. The Great had decided that he didn't like the clothes we had dressed him in and that he wanted to have a bath-by-wipes in the front seat of the truck before trying to enter the courthouse. 

Waiting....We did have a nice view from the 16th floor.

The security ladies had a lovely time searching our stroller and I even got extra special wand treatment....sometimes I wonder if my teeth implants cause issues, but at least they didn't pat down my hair (reference our local airport procedures). 

The Orange County courthouse is serious about security. Their list of prohibited items is far more in depth than the TSA, including a rat tail comb (we had to google this because at first I thought maybe this was actually a comb for people who have a rat-tail hair cut).   

Our caring social worker and organized lawyer.

Our social worker was early and played with the Squirms while we waited. I've grown to really appreciate our social worker during the Great's adoption. Each time I learn something new about her, I'm impressed and have even more respect for her. She believes in adoption so much that she works this 24/7 job for part time salary and works another full time job; and she is a mother. 

We have been very blessed by our social workers and lawyer - they are all so excited about adoption. It is encouraging that people who are familiar with process, paperwork, fees, and obscure details of the adoption journey can be so happy and so firm in their belief that adoption is beautiful and should be celebrated.    

First "official" family photo, with our judge.

We did end up having a long wait to see the judge. 

We waited over an hour past our scheduled time (and we had been early) so understandably the Squirms was not in a great mood by the time she saw the inside of the courtroom. 

We answered questions about our marriage, our love for the Great, and pledged to commit for life. Really, these questions can be quite emotionally moving if you don't have a restless and incredibly tired 23 month old in your lap. Movie on the ipad, sitting in mom's lap, her Little People farmer, and she had gotten up that morning at 4:30 AM. R then read our statement to the court about why we were adopting the Great. And, here is also where the Squirms threw her tantrum. 

The important thing, no matter the noise coming from our adorable toddler while her little brother sat quietly in R's lap, is that He Is Ours. No more custody papers in the diaper bag, paperwork for the doctor to fill out, home study reports, or court appointments. 

Forever Ours. And, We Are Forever His.  

Looking so handsome and adorable and cuddly and smart and content and beautiful.

 Then, it was picture and apply for birth certificate time! 

We also saw a couple taking wedding photos - so nice to see such happiness in the courthouse.

Our beautiful social worker and I like green.

Later that evening lots of friends stopped by to share cake with us and celebrate. 

We are so thankful for friends who pray for us, who understand how wonderful Adoption Day is, and want to celebrate with us! Our house had a hard time holding everyone who was happy about the Great's big day!  

I might have choked up a bit on the phone when ordering a Happy Adoption Day cake....

Rboy1 had been feeding the Squirms cake....then she took the plate and fork from him.

It's lovely to celebrate with people we've known since our first week here; or their first week here.

I don't know what those kids have done to this room!

The Squrims aka Social Butterfly was a great hostess.

This guy's stories put me to sleep. 

Cake? Want me to help?

The cleaning crew.

Whew. Long day. Lovely Day.

Catching Up I

I have a revision to my last blog post: Yesterday was 81 degrees....in January....I broke a sweat putting my children into their car seats....I have changed my mind, I am not okay with living in central Florida.

To celebrate mid-January, here are some photos from the first stop of our Tour de Families in December:

Meeting Papa

Ready to Party! I'm obsessed with this dress.

The best picture of our attempt to take a sibling photo.
She wanted to make sure we knew he had a "Treeeee" on his chest.

Christmas trees are her favorite. 

Squirms gave up on a group picture to investigate all those bags and boxes.

Her grandparents gave her the Elf ornaments so she might sit still....
Lovely, fun picture.....
Before she pulled the Elf's head off.
The Great seems to already be worried for the Elf.

Presents!

Checking out downtown.

We had a lovely, relaxing time with R's parents. We spent time exploring downtown and visiting their favorite places. The Great got to meet Papa, and the Squirms was mesmerized by their Christmas tree (don't worry, I was able to put the Elf's head back on). We also got a visit from Aunt C (or great-aunt C, if referring to the Squirms and the Great).

One of my favorite things about visiting my in-laws is our bed in the guest room. It is the best bed in the world. I was able to keep driving at 2 AM because I knew that bed was waiting for me. It's sumptuous. Also, my mother-in-law has such grown up things like real boxes of kleenexes around the house - lovely.