You are my sunshine

My only sunshine...(x5)

You make me happy,

When skies are gray... (or snowy)

You'll never know dear,

How much I love you...Please don't take my sunshine away!

I can't get enough of her buns. LOVE.THESE.LEGS!!! Blake says she's gonna kill me for this pic one day. But I just don't ever want to forget how fabulous they are.

Finding Happiness

When my mom and dad came to Aspen, I found these pictures on my mom's camera. Oh how it makes my heart ache to see my sisters and their families.

Laura came to hang out with us just a few days before we moved, and boy did it fill my heart. Can you tell in the pic below we couldn't hold back the tears when she had to leave?It's amazing how blessed we are to live sooo close to our families that we cry to think of going 11 weeks without seeing them. How do missionaries do this? Or military families?

Not that I have to be, but I haven't been giving details on here of how hard this time in Aspen has been. Don't get me wrong...it's been really good too. And I am the type to not want to talk about the poo and just focus on the positive. But in that sometimes we don't talk about what God is doing.

We were super excited to come here. We needed a break from all the hubbub of life, and Blake's crazy job. We needed time alone. And then BOOM. We got here only to find the unexpected. Smaller apartment + bigger family = stepping on each other. The kids sleeping schedules are all out of whack, so no one naps at the same time= mama doesn't get a break (was not the case last year). Then there's the, "We cannot run and jump and scream. We live in an apartment now." Try telling that to 4 kids 5 and under. Right-o. Not.getting.through.

I am not sure if this is harder because I know Atlanta is following where we will be away from our family for even longer? Or that dressing 4 kids in coats, hats, gloves, boots and snow bibs everyday and buckling them in the car to go somewhere is a bit much?

Regardless of why, I know there is a reason. I don't want to be one of those moms that just prays to get through the day. I don't want to be a nagging mom either. I HATE having to constantly tell them to "turn it down a notch". I want to LOVE each day and live it to it's fullest. But there are many days I am breathing deep and praying that God give me patience for these tender hearts. I know God is teaching me great things and Blake and I are constantly choosing to focus on the sweet blessings of being here. So many times in a day we just look at each other and laugh. We've had some pretty crazy moments.

Finding these pictures reminded me of how hard it was to leave even though we were so excited and had no idea of the challenges ahead. Sorry for the heavy post...but WAY too many people have commented on my attitude. I cannot lie and say this has been easy. But I know that I have the choice of making it wonderful. So I am choosing to focus on the blessings of this time.

(If I keep saying that over and over again in my head I will get it...right?) Three sleepies til Gigi gets here.

Help this mama out!

This is so exciting and I need lots of help with this post.

For any of you that have adopted or fostered transracially, please give your input too!

TargetShopper commented and needs help with what would be good to have for a one year old African American girl. They have been fostering and are pursuing adoption for this little one and her friends are giving her a shower!

Congrats TargetShopper on your newest addition. Here are some of the things I thought of:

• Tangle Teezer
  
• Comb Set (you can find these at WalMart)
  
• Styling brush


• Aquafor


• Barrettes, beads, bands.
  
• Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
  
• Hair Lotion (I like Just for Me because it's cheap at Walmart & Target)
  
  
• Leave In Conditioner & Styling Gel- what I have found is that there is nothing magical, it's just what works for you and your child. This might be fun for your friends to just start a collection for you to try. I would recommend smaller bottles so that you can try them out.


• Aveeno lotion (gobs and gobs of this)


• Kids satin sleep cap



• Satin crib sheets (I had someone make them on Etsy)
  
• Books with black children/families in them (The Colors of Us, God's Dream, Brown Like Me, I love My Hair, Please Baby Please, We're Different We're the Same, What I like About Me, I love you More than Rainbows, Beautiful)
  
  
• Ethnic Decor and Christmas decor (pictures, nativity, angels, santa, ornaments-find lots online) We use pictures of our kids and their birth family, but some may not have that.
  


• Childrens adoption books (Forever Fingerprints, Families are Different, How I Was Adopted, When God Found Us You)
  
• Life Box-not necessarily an AA thing, just a great adoption gift. Some type of box to keep all her private adoption stuff in: pics of birthparents, any letters/cards or keepsakes from birth parents, finalization stuff, etc. We got ours at Things Remembered
  
• Reading for Mama: Twenty Things by Sherrie Eldridge, I'm Chocolate You're Vanilla, Black Baby White Hands, The Connected Child
  
• Resources for Mama: Ethnic restaurants, transracial playgroups, transracial workshops in the area, support groups for families of adoption, multicultural events in town. Someone could put together a list of these things for you.
  
• Dolls- We can find black baby dolls in most Targets and some Walmarts, but also check out DollsLikeMe.com (they also have biracial baby dolls)

The ultimate gift of love was made by a friend. She bought us the black and white versions of the book I Love You So Much. Then she cut and pasted them to make us a book that matched our transracial family!

Hope this helps! This might be a great way to share ideas if anyone has things they've found that they want to share!

More adventures with Noonie and Papa Max

Notice how into this story I am? It's one of my favorites: When God Found Us You. I didn't prepare my mom for what a sweet tale it is of a parent awaiting a child in adoption. *tears*

Movie time! Notice Emery at the bottom of the pic. Our TVs DVD player is not working, so we have to use a computer. We're flexible!

Get this peeps...they took me to TARGET!!! Woot woot! For a girl that adores that store, and not having been in a month I was oober thrilled when they found a Target in Glenwood Springs! These pics of the kids dancing are outside of the shopping center we found. Blake and my dad took the boys so that my mom and I could browse. Be still my heart, it was goooood!

Notice the massive mountain behind them? They are beyond gorgeous!

Emery cracks us up with the funny noises she makes and the way she moves her tongue. I happened to get a shot of it. And we have been dying for Emme to say a real word. It finally happened yesterday, March 2nd and it was Dada. P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S She could tell we were all thrilled and yes, Blake was there!

Oh man, I never get tired of that smile!!

On Saturday my mom played with the girls so that I could go skiing with the guys. Look at this view from the top of the mountain!!!Even more exciting...my daddy took the boys skiing so Blake and I could have a day together! Did you get that? He wanted to ski with his boys so that we could have a date! It was precious because it's not easy to ski with these two. One is amazing and the other feels a bit defeated by his brother's skill. Then it becomes emotional. Poor guy. But my dad handled it so well and they all had fun!

This pic makes me laugh my head off. There was a time when I cared what I looked like when I was skiing. And now, it's totally about being warm. Can ya tell? Oh Lord help me, that is one hilarious pic. Poor Blake having to ski with me looking like that.

Even more awesome. I bit it so hard on one of our first runs. Good part is I didn't hurt a thing, I mean it hurt, but I didn't hurt any body parts. I reminded Blake that you don't fall like that when you are skiing with caution. I was so sure of myself, which made it funnier. I hope you're getting a good laugh out of it. It.was.good. I lost both poles and one ski, things were a flyin'! Blake said all he saw was one arm fly in the air and then a pole go the opposite direction. Pretty sure I went head over heels. HILARIOUS. Now it is at least. I left a pretty good butt mark in the snow.

Look at my lil skier! We met up for lunch and to warm up and then the boys went out again with my dad for another 4 runs. Funniest thing ever was said when I asked the boys at lunch how the day went. Cooper said, "It was great. I just pulled on Papa's yanker all day." It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. He meant he held onto Papa's pole and he pulled him.

Beyond thankful for these two

I have known for years that I've been blessed with the most incredible parents...pretty much known that my whole life. I am constantly given glimpses of this unconditional love they give me, but for the last week I have been overcome with it. I've just soaked it up. Everyday they woke up early, came to our apartment and said, "What is something we can do today that you've wanted to do here that you can't." They've had no agenda but to come hang out and bless us.

So we FINALLY got to the ARC-Aspen Recreation Center. Everyone has raved about it, and for a million reasons (mostly donning a bathing suit in February) we haven't made it. But they got us here. And Miss Emme experienced the pool for the first time.
I told my mom if she was going to have the camera while I was in a swim suit, she had to be kind. Why do I care? No one is looking at me anyway when I am with these cutie patooties.

Is this place not amazing? Yep, 5 minutes from our apartment. I think we'll be going there regularly!

They stayed in this TINY cabin (which made our apartment look big) and paid an arm and a leg per night. It was really cute, but whoa. And they never complained...just giggled about it.

They bought us malts with cherries on top and ice cream and cookies. I hardly cooked and didn't clean a single dish. They made Blake and I sit and talk while they cleaned our dishes when we did eat here.

They took us to see Gnomeo and Juliet! So cute!

They hung out with us at our place and took lots of pictures that I was in!!! Papa Max took the boys to climb the mountain and explore every afternoon.

We enjoyed many trips to Starbucks and my daddy played with the kids in the streets of Aspen so my mom and I could shop!

I do feel a bit spoiled because it's not often in a family our size that I get this kind of one on one time with my parents. Blake just happened to have Thurs/Friday off last week, so we all had 4 days together!

Another dinner at another favorite spot here!

Wow do they look happy! Owen told me with tear filled eyes this morning that he didn't want his Noonie and Papa to leave. I had to choke back my own tears bud. What fun we've had!

Reading bedtime stories. Oh how we already miss you two!

Love you mom and dad..."thank you" will always be inadequate, but THANK YOU! Please be careful driving and I pray you know what you've done for all of us. I will add more pics of our adventures later in the week.