The Burrito was Fantastic.

I ate it in the dugout at the Softball fields while Sophie was charming us all at the Opening Day festivities. It was 88 degrees.  Life is Good. 

A Big Step.

I put all of our adoption paperwork away today. Way up high in my closet on a shelf where I cannot even reach it unless I stand on a chair.  For me, this is an admission of defeat.  I was so sad.   My big accordion file stuffed with dossier documents has been proudly sitting at the side of my desk downstairs. It has been there for 3 years just gathering dust. Sitting there waiting so everything would be easier for me to find when I started adoption number two.  All of the important stuff that is needed for a dossier is in that file.  Putting this file box away was not an easy thing for me to do at all.  I felt resentment and anger doing this.  I feel like a door has been slammed in my face. 

Down, but not defeated entirely, though.  Lent this year for me is going to be a season of gratefulness for what I have now, not about the child I cannot bring home.  Thankfulness and gratitude for the life and family I have.  For now, I will focus on those things.  (No one can stop me from looking at the cuties on Reece's Rainbow though, no matter what)  Those kids are never far from my thoughts.  Wish me luck, it may be a tough road ahead. Old habits are hard to break.   

Just to make me feel better, I am going to eat a huge carne asada burrito this weekend--South Beach Diet-- be darned!!  I can't wait!

One Week!!

Nicholas had one great week at school.  No issues.  His teacher was even out on 2 of the days.  He did have a few minor meltdowns at home but nothing too serious.  We are working on it.  It is pouring down rain here today.  I have one sick kid and probably a few more by the end of the weekend. Nasty Virus going around the big kids' school.  Tony is not going to be able to play basketball this weekend--bummer.  We are staying home for Valentine's Day this year!  We figured out that we will save so much money by doing this. We probably will have a much happier family, too!! In years past... we hire a babysitter, order pizza for the kids while we are gone, go to an overpriced hurried dinner, then sit and talk about the kids and miss them. We'll save close to $200 by changing things up a bit.  This year, we will make heart-shaped pizzas ourselves and have a family movie night.  We even borrowed some movies from the neighbors!! This saving money thing is actually quite challenging and I am doing pretty well, except for the small fact that I really want to buy the above item. I am smitten with these sunglasses.  the ones i want are actually in black, but I put up the wrong picture.  Am I crazy??  I think not!  I will try to find them at a good price!  I do have a birthday coming up and I have been known to buy my own gift, wrap it and say it is from my silly husband who is thankful he did not have to shop.  

This Morning,

I have done 3 loads of laundry, had a discussion about possibly selling our house and moving to a cheaper one, emptied the dishwasher, made 4 lunches, supervised 4 breakfasts, fed 2 dogs, mopped muddy footprints off of the kitchen floor-- twice, administered first-aid to a wound,  returned 3 e-mails, given a spelling test, reviewed the systems of the human body, signed 2 homework papers, filled out a reading log, had 3 cups of coffee, found a missing pair of glasses, decided what I was making for dinner, dropped off 3 kids at school, put 4 yr old in front of Spongebob, wrote this blog entry, looked at crackbook, I mean Facebook, commented on Zoey's blog.... all before 8 o'clock.  Happy Friday to me, hopefully Nick can make it through the day without some interesting behavioral issues. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Yesterday he told me "You are ruining my life." What 4 year old says that?  He cracks me up!!

A Busy Weekend!

Sophie made this Caprese Salad for us on Saturday Night.  It was fantastic!!  

We had our first meet at our new gym.  It was out of season for Claire and the last time that she will compete at level 5.   We are movin' on up.  She did great, 3rd place All Around and best of all..... she finally got a First Place in Vault!!!  We really like our new head coach.  He seems to be what Claire needs to move her ahead, especially in vault and bars!!  Woo Hoo!!  Our Team also got First Place.  YAY GIRLS!!!