This picture cracked me up! It was taken by Alice’s grandpa when Dominic was over for a playdate last weekend. These two are so close, they are basically brother and sister. It’s great for Dominic to have such a close friend as Alice.

Well, the planning has started for the boy’s birthday party. Since Dominic’s birthday is on Monday, then Trey’s adoption on the 9th, then Carlos’ birthday on the 14th, May’s going to be a very busy month for us. We’re planning the birthday/adoption party for May 13th and we’re hoping the weather will hold and we can have cake and ice cream at our place. If not, we’ll pack up and party at the Liberty Ridge party room. I was planning on making invitations and even have the paper cut for some, but what was I thinking? We bought invitations yesterday and now the challenge will be getting them out.

We just got home from playgroup, fed the babies and now they are napping so it’s time for me to get some stuff done! Looking at the 3 baskets full of laundry waiting to be folded right now…I’m the queen of procrastination.

Yet another charming family photo…the boys surely do love to pose for the camera. Oh well, every so often we get a good pic of all three of them.

Last night we had a dinner out at Campamas with our foster parent group. It was nice, pretty mellow and fun to see everyone.

Tonight we went to a foster parent meeting with the big group, I’m SO not a fan of those meetings but we get a credit for training that we needed so it wasn’t too tough to go.

I think we got our DSL issues set, too so it’s nice to be back online agian and not having to try to check email at the library with three kids acting up. Oh, and we are finally getting our new computers. YIPPEE! Tax refunds are so great, finally we are going to get new computers (that don’t blue screen every two weeks). Now I’ll be able to do all our family pics on my laptop and Dee can have hers strictly for business. Now, if they would just hurry up and get here!

Another interesting thing, we were contacted by Joel Sackett (he’s a local photographer that does great pictures) and he is doing some work for Helpline House, a local resource that offers many things to many people. We have taken advantage of the Parent and Child Center, that’s where we go to playgroup, and they are hoping to do some new profiles of families and we are the first one they picked! So, we’ll most likely get some local media or something and maybe be a part of their ads or something. At the least, we’ll get a kick ass professional portrait taken of the family, so that will be amazing. Should be an adventure if nothing else! We’ll keep you all posted.

Trey is standing up on his own! It’s the big news here at our place…he’s very proud of himself, too. Most the times he’ll stand and then be smiling so big he’ll throw his head back and laugh and fall over. It’s hilarious. He’s such a happy baby, it’s pretty incredible. He wakes up each morning at 6:30am sharp and squeals and laughs until we get up.

We were all set to have his adoption on April 25th, but apparently there is some judicial conference so there are no judges on that day. Anyhow, we’re all set now for May 9th. It’ll be a happy, happy day to have it all be official.

Carlos has had a rough couple of days…he’s been really clingy and upset and when he started to pull on his ears I knew it was another ear infection. Since our clinic isn’t open on Wednesdays, I took him into the ER to be seen (with the medical coupon that’s the closest place that will see him, LAME!). They confirmed the ear infections and now that he’s on meds he’s doing better.

Hoping the weather reports are right and that this weekend will be amazing with sunshine. Dee’s going to make another raised bed for me for my herb garden. I can’t wait to get that planted too. So far we’ve got spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, strawberries and raspberries all growing! Hoping our peas, beans and cucumbers will come up soon. This should be a great year for the garden. Now we just need to learn how to can so all the fruits and veggies don’t go to waste.

Ok, so the Wiggles concert
wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Dominic REALLY had a great time, his sensory issues kicked in a little and he wasn’t wanting to get down and dance, but he was smiling. We moved from our seats in the beginning of the concert and went down next to the stage (we were maybe 15 feet from the Wiggles) so the kids could dance and just stayed there until the concert was over. At one point, Dominic was looking at Greg (the yellow Wiggle) and Greg was to the side of the stage not involved in the song/dance that was going on and he actually looked out and waved at Dominic. It was cool, and Dominic was all smiles. Speaking of Greg, we were quite taken aback to see how plump he has become! You would think with all that singing and dancing around he’d be slim like on tv but that wasn’t the case. Anyhow, his voice was still the same and he was entertaining! All in all, a good day….

OK, so it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged…sorry about that. Had the laptop go t.u. yet again and had to reformat. I HATE THAT! Anyhow, I think Dee and I are both getting computers once tax money comes in. That’ll be nice..new laptop. If anyone has recommendations, PLEASE feel free to pass them along. It’s been awhile since I bought a new computer so I don’t know what I need here.

Here are some pictures from last weekend when we met Linda, Scott and the girls up at the Airport Cafe in Bremerton for lunch. It was great, and after lunch the kids loved watching the planes taking off and landing. Leila is getting so grown up and Emma is only 2 months younger than Trey, but she’s still a baby. We missed that stage with Trey! Sorry they are cell phone pics, that’s what we’ve got until the new computers come and we can download the ones from our camera. But, they are pictures from my new RAZR phone that Dee got me, I know I’m spoiled! 🙂

Today’s the big day! I’m taking Dominic to the Wiggles concert. Good heavens, I still can’t believe it. He is going to go nuts, but hopefully his sensory issues won’t take hold and we have to leave. You just never know. The lady I bought the tickets from said that people bring a rose for “Dorothy the Dinosaur” and she comes through the audience and picks them up. So I’m thinking…what kid isn’t going to get completely freaked out to see this huge living character coming at them? Needlesstosay, we aren’t bringing a rose!

We’re also all packed up for going to Whidbey Island this weekend for the Burr family Easter Reunion. Should be great, my aunt Debbie and Uncle Randy are coming in from Montana and it’s been awhile since we’ve seen them. Can’t wait! The house we’re renting is right on the beach and the whole family’s together for the whole weekend and it’s so much better than our usual Easter brunch that’s so hectic you barely get to see everyone.

I’m off to put the baby to bed and finish packing! I’ll let you know how the Wiggles goes…wish me luck!

Good news…Carlos’ blood work all came back normal! WHEW!!! We were stressing about that big time, knew we’d deal with whatever came up but hoping nothing was wrong. We still have the issue of him losing weight and are trying to come up with any ideas on high calories non-dairy foods for him to eat to put on some pounds. Any ideas welcome! We are limiting his liquid intake, as he drinks a ton and that could be a big part of him not eating, but he’s also turned picky so it’s tough to find what will work.

Just talked to Trey’s worker yesterday and she thinks his adoption will be in the next couple weeks! We couldn’t be more excited by this news. The boy’s birthdays are coming up and with the adoption I think we’ll be throwing a big birthday/adoption bash! Now for the theme…Dominic wants “Dora the Explorer” but all their stuff is pretty girly, Carlos wants “Elmo” and Trey will just be happy to eat cake. So that’s where we’re at!

I can’t believe it’s April already! We’ve been out enjoying the sunshine with the boys, they are loving being able to run around and burn off all their energy.

Spring cleaning is starting to happen here…we’re trying to get rid of our clutter and get back to basics. We are getting rid of the changing table in the living room, so that’ll be nice. I’m sure the kids are wondering what’s gotten into their mamas!

It’s been a tad stressful lately with Carlos, he had a fever over the weekend and just hasn’t been himself for a little while, could be nothing and hopefully that’s the case but we had to take him in to get blood drawn to be sure there isn’t a problem. We are still waiting to hear, that’s stressful for sure.

Good news on Trey’s adoption, though. Should be happening REALLY soon…like within the next couple of weeks. The adoption support paperwork is done and now we just have to meet with the lawyer and then get our court date. We just can’t wait for it all to be official!

Dominic’s case has moved to the adoption unit now as well, although the appeal is still out there and we have to wait until that’s over to actually adopt him. It’sl looking really good, though and that’s exciting.

OH…and big news, too….I am taking Dominic to see the Wiggles! How excited he will be to see those guys live. I seriously can’t believe I’ll be seeing a Wiggles concert. Mary and Alice are going to go with us so that should be fun.