Cora Bouncing and Evan Singing Videos

Boy are these kids talented or what!? ;)

*these were recorded earlier this month but couldn't be posted till now*

Yes, I am 'that' mom...

That let her kid go play in the freezing cold rain. He was begging and he's so cute... I couldn't say no. If it makes you feel better, I made sure he took a really good warm bath after coming in. He LOVED it! Only when I told him he could have a sucker, did he come in the house. It's my first use of bribary to get him to do something. So far, he's only had about 5 in his life and I hope not too many more in excess.

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Neeeeew Birthday bike...

This is a video of Evan on his new Schwinn Roadster Trike that Mom and Dad and Grandma Putsie (I'm playing with grandma names for my mom, she was called Putsie growing up by her parents. I like it) and Grandpa Allan bought together for him. I finally put it together today and Evan (and I) love it!! Here is a snipet from what I took from my phone today. There is more to the story but it wouldn't let me post that much from my phone. :( He can't pedal yet but he's having a fun time pushing it and being pushed. Plus: it has a super cool bell on it. I'll take better pictures later.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Our Son is 2

Dear Evan,

You are such a JOY to us! Although yes there are many grumblings about how active a BOY you are, that doesn't mean we don't appreciate and love all the other things you do and say. Here are just 'a few'. ;)

"I seeee you... chips/cira (cora)/mommy/car/"

"Who IS it?" (when there's a knock at the door)

When we say it's time for family prayer, you yell "PRAYER!" then run to Cora's room and leap to the floor on your knees while simultaneously folding your arms. :) he he he

When we say your personal prayer (that you repeat) at night and the words aren't exactly as we said them to you and it's hard for mom and dad to stay reverent at that point.

You love going outside, backyard especially, and either being pulled in the wagon or pull it yourself all over the yard.-

That you love popcorn! (and sit still while eating it)

You know your ABC's, upper and lower case, numbers 1-9 by site but recite numbers up to 13 I think. You also spout off any letter or number you see in public or bold on the T.V.

You spell your name like this: "E -V-A-N... Evan!" :)

You often sing the primary song "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam", jumping at the appropriate moments and also the ABC song.

You help me throw things away in the Yucky Trash and Yucky laundry.

I could stop your recent tantrums with the mention of one of the following: Popsicle, popcorn, play, outside, hug, help me or "hurt?".

You have a beautiful smile that you give very readily during mommy's many photo shoots.

You wake us up in the morning by yelling "I see you" (to your baby monitor) or if you hear me walking around but not ready to rescue you from your bed, you say "Mama?", breaks my heart every time!

You love your cars right now but not as much as your cousin Liam does.

You hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop everywhere and all the time.

You now LLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE your baby sister and will do anything to help her or make her smile.

Of course there are many more things that make us smile but you are so sweet to our family. We want to be better parents because you are such a gift to us. We are so glad you are talking more and more so we can know your needs. We cannot wait to see who you choose to be and we can only hope we helped you along the way to be a great young man.

Love, Mom and Daddy

here are a few of our favorite moments...

Just because video

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

It IS fall!

Jenalyn... Are you jealous? :)

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Hello?

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So sweet

I just realized today that her giraff's head slowly moves while it plays the Lullabye. Look how sweet this little video is. :) night night...

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

It's about love... For corn.

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-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

TRAINS!

TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS

So my friend Michelle told me they got their son (same age as Evan) his first train set. I was totally excited but then I realized I have still not given Evan the train set I bought him for his birthday and saved till Christmas only to still never give it to him cause he was chewing on everything still. So... Michelle inspired me to break it open and as you can see, he LOVES it! Thanks Michelle for the reminder his gift was collecting dust. lol. :) CHOO CHOO!

First video...

and second video wouldn't load :( boooo....

IT'S BEEN SO HOT!!!

Evan's found a way to beat the heat. ;) I enjoy just being outside with him, watching him run and dive into the pools. A child's pure joy, nothing better.

The best video ever, ok, one of the best. Evan diving. lol.

Cora video 8 weeks old today :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

YAY!

So one of my 'stresses' has been that I wasn't able to give C.G. a room preplanned and executed. It is still a work in progress but so much closer since this weekend! I will send my visuals to you. This week I dug my heals in and after much consideration on what to do about the blah wall color I just painted a few weeks ago. I choose an accent color, Brown. I was really trying to stay away from the predictable by choosing brown since the blah color is Malted Milk (pale pink) but I really had no choice and needed to choose what would look best as a back drop to the bumper I'm having a friend make from scratch with a really cute and unique fabric I chose at Hobby Lobby. Anyway, after choosing the paint (at Wal Mart and I DO NOT recommend their home Colorplace i think - paint. It is watery and peels easily=no worth the few dollars you save) for the accent wall behind C.G's bed (which will house a vinyl saying: "Love, is spoken here") I knew something kinda big needed to go opposite on the wall now that we've moved her shelving next to her bed. (thanks for trying to help me brainstorm Godby's! lol). I choose to paint a tree 'mural' if you will. I searched online and decided I could do a sort of Cherry Blossom tree. "Cherry blossom is an omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, affection and represents spring." Somewhere I read how it is common to sit benieth these trees in particular to eat and visit. I thought nothing could be better since the rocker I want from IKEA is to go right benieth it (let me know if anyone's going to atlanta and wants to bring it back for me :) he he). So... here you go...

The fabric scene is a childrens 'carnival. I liked it cause it feels classic like toile but it's whimsicle for a child. Plus I've never seen it before. I really love it and can't wait for my friend to finish making it. The pink fabric on the bottom right is kind of a satin and has a puckering. That will be the bed skirt to hide all the junk I have no where to put. Ha ha ha. Eek! I can't wait!

I love this rocker! It's low profile so WHEN my children crawl all over it, they don't have far to fall. he he he. I told my mom in law today that I didn't think it had a back cushion. My bad! Bonus! I'm so excited, now if I could click my heels to IKEA and get it! :( Anyway, it's going under the mural with comfy blankets draped over it.

First I freehand penciled the mural design on the wall...

Next I started with the base color with the left over accent wall color and layered it with a deep brown toll paint and a black toll paint. At last night at the last minute I decided to tackle the blossoms and got a second wind. I was so impressed with myself and even Michael said how impressed he was, even asking why we don't have a tree in our bedroom? LOL (thanks honey). :)

In the process of painting, Mike took Evan outside in our back yard to blow off some 21 month old energy (plus Evan's been a little under the weather so he's been in isolation). I had just finished all the wood parts when I heard the boys come in early and subsequent hand washing ensued. Turns out, Evan found and touched a baby bird that had fallen from it's nest about a 10+ foot drop. It was still alive so I went outside to see if it could be put back in the nest. It seemed fine, even opening it's mouth for me to feed it! so cute! I picked it up with a plastic bag to limit my scent, just in case, while MDS got a ladder. Not only was I able to put the birdie back with it's sibling that probably kicked it out, the nest was totally tilted and the 2nd birdie would have fallen soon too so I did my best to support the nest better with a bunch of twigs and stuff. WHY do I share this touching birdie story among my mural/baby room story?? because I was inspired and went right in the house and painted not just one but TWO nests in the tree! I love them so much. I don't feel talented enough to draw or paint birds but I would if I could! :)

Close up of the blossoms.

Michael's idea when I was done, "ooo, you should have 'carved' her name in the trunk." So you know I di-id! It says: "MDS + LAS, CORA, grace, S., '10". Then I added the little worm to make myself happy. :) he he he.

And the accent wall that will say "Love is spoken here" but the vinyl lettering I bought didn't have the word "Love" in it! rrrrrrr! I also still have drape panels from IKEA to put up that I think will do really nicely with the rest of the decor. I can't wait to see it all come together finally! :)

I am so relieved that so much is finished and that I finally got to personalize her room (as if I had actually had time to consider she was coming! lol). It gives me a lot of peace honestly and I feel more ready to settle in better.

Here is a video of what the room looked like 'before'. When it's entirely finished, I'll take a new video. For now, enjoy our messy catch all room. :)

Happy Birthday dear Uncle Wade...

Happy birthday to you! We love you uncle wade, hope you are having a great day today! :) (cora's dreaming about singing to you or she would have been playing too). Xoxo

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

pieces of me...

Here is my family so far. wink. I have so many thoughts about my husband Michael, our first child Evan and newest addition, Cora Grace. I can't stop thinking about how grateful I feel to the mercies of our Heavenly Father that he will give you the righteous desires of your heart (in his time), if you continue to trust him and have faith in him and serve him. I hope I don't sound like a broken record but I dreamed, prayed, fasted and hoped to be a mother for so long, many many years. Here I was enjoying being married to Michael, I felt fortunate to have nabbed him up when I did because he is so caring, a very good listener, funny, smart, smart, Smart!, talented, loyal, strong in our faith and deserving of the priesthood power he holds. I wouldn't have thought I 'deserved' someone like him but I did hope to have someone like him and worked hard to make myself worthy of the idea of him so it was a pleasant surprise that when we met, we melted together as if we were never apart. Still, after a few years of marriage, the desire to have children and the disappointment of infertility was so strong, it was not the life I wanted so instead of just asking for my children to come in my prayers, I began to tell my Heavenly Father that this isn't the life I want with Michael, without children laughing and playing, growing into successful adults (hopefully) and plead with him about that. Finally we were given Evan. What a gift! I experienced a whole new level of JOY that I didn't know existed in my heart yet it was so natural and all the years of bareness disappeared bit by bit. I knew before Evan came he wouldn't be our only child so I was carefully to "treat him like he is our third". smile. That meant I would push myself to let him cry more than I wanted or get a bruise and scrape. I'm not a parent who jumps to his falls or even gives him much attention after he does cause my parents let us learn to soothe ourselves and I liked that. Doing even those little things, I think prepared us for the call about Cora and do we want her, 'she was born this morning'. I was able to realize, this is how Heavenly Father is answering my prayers (For the month before this, I had been praying for H.F. to be preparing our birth mother for us. I am not kidding. I prayed for that with Evan too). I knew I needed to be able to make a decision quickly cause she needed to be with the family she was meant for and I needed to concentrate on my child if it wasn't her but it was. It couldn't have been made more clear than when I held her the next night for the first time. She was crying before being handed to me and as soon as her body touched my fingertips as she was handed to me, she was silent and suddenly very alert and aware of a change. We knew each other immediately and it helped me feel a bigger confirmation that she is my daughter and Evan's baby sister.

Michael was either born much more logically than me or his parents raised him this way but 'walking by faith' isn't his strong suit ( i also recognize this as a male trait). He wanted a big family when we were first married and trying but when it took us 9 years! to get Evan... he would have been happy with just him I'm pretty sure. Now that Cora is here and real he would probably eat those thoughts cause he's loving her more and more each day. I hope he will let me have all the babies I want, even if his logic doesn't see how it can be afforded. ;) (love you honey). I am so grateful I get to change these diapers, wash all the laundry, pick up the bedrooms, read the books, feed the food, play 'where is Evan', watch yo gabba gabba, have playtime with cousins, watch them learn and get smarter... You want to know why some woman can have 'so many children'. I expect that they were just made to handle the chaos that ensues but still are able to get the joy out of the little things. Today I am grateful that my family is healthy and happy (which I pray for every night and day and in between). I am grateful that my children are relatively good-wink (though Evan is a gigantic handful these days with his intellect and energy!). My daughter is taking after Evan: now a month + old, she is sleeping through the night, usually 9 hours, 530a-6a eats, burps and goes back to sleep for 3-4 hours. Cora is so content, only crying when she wakes up because she is starving! or if you are playing with her too long and she wants to go to sleep (to the untrained eye, this can also look like she's hungry but she isn't). She let's me give her Mohawks and dress her in all the thousands of clothes I keep getting. lol. She is still little though, wearing newborn diapers and clothes but drinking 4 and 5 ounces. She is getting more and more beautiful and her faces are so cute when she's just waking up or rooting around for a bottle. She tolerates Evan when he climbs into her crib to play with the cool toys she's got from the gift cards she's received (thank you!). The other day I laid her down with her mobile going and left the room to 'clean' probably. Evan had been running around the house like the banshee that he is when I realized it was quiet. I quickly searched the house, listening for his 'noises' and when I finally found him he was in Cora's crib, laying his head on her chest/chin (as she grunted for him to get off! lol) because he wanted to watch the mobile like her too! LOL. :) Thankfully neither child was hurt in this story cause it was just too cute of what he was trying to do, to punish him. I'd like to just put a video camera up all day to capture some of these many daily occurrences to remember them forever but that is why I take time for my blog. Again, I am grateful to have been given these children. They were born for me and for Michael, born for us and I know it everyday. Adoption has inspired me to educate other what it means and that these are no 'second hand' children. Not only do they feel like they were born to us, they are loved by their birth parents, no matter the circumstances and placed in our home so we can be their Parents. I suppose I am opinionated on most subjects I know anything about but that is how God made me so I find joy in that trait of mine. I want my children to always know how special they are and what a gift they are to us (and all of you). One day, if they are at all like me, I'm sure they will tell me. ha ha ha. I can't wait.

So... This is my journal and my documentation of my family, my feelings about them and my life. I hope to print it one day and hope my children appreciate that I described how they made me feel each day. Entertaining everyone else reading is only a biproduct of my families documentated antics. I appreciate the comments and feedback. As a reward, here are some of my favorite pictures from the last week. :)

and the cutest of cuteness...

and video from July 1, 2010...

Awww

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Isn't it though? :) I would extend this topic to "Parenthood" but Mothers especially do play a unique role in raising children. I hope all the mom's reading this do feel their divine worth and I hope those of you yearning to be mothers can know you can be preparing now to be the parent (and spouse to your husband) your children deserve. God Bless.

Saying goodbye to the 'compound' for now.

We're packing up and heading out. My parents home is fondly referred to as 'the compound' as it is large & raised 11 children & hosts their families often. We have enjoyed getting to show and share our newborn baby with our Sacramento and Camarillo families & friends but we are soo ready to be in our own home. See you later California... We love you...

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

'I'm excited'

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