Someone posted a question about our kids, asking if they were adopted or foster…they are all adopted (through the foster care system) and we still do foster care of newborns!
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Monthly Archives: October 2007
Foster Parenting? Is it for you?
We get lots of questions about foster parenting….some people ask how we do it, some ask why we do it, some ask how they can get involved. We are serious advocates for fostering and know that it’s not for everyone, but that there are always ways to help out.
If you are interested in foster parenting it’s easy to get started. First, there are different kinds of foster parents. Respite care providers give short term care to children already in foster care, to give the foster parent a break or if they get called out of town and can’t care for the child. Receiving care providers (what we do for newborns still) are 30 day or less placements are for a child just coming into care so the state has time to figure out if the child will return home, go to a relative or move to a long term foster home. The long term foster home, is where a child could be with you any amount of time. The state’s main goal is to have the children return home if it can be a safe place for them to be but sometimes that takes quite awhile to make happen. Last is foster to adopt, and that speaks for itself. It’s the most risky placement because sometimes the kids do return home but you have to be ready for that. Just know that the child/children who are meant to stay with you, will stay with you. There were many times that we were crushed when a child left but if they had stayed we wouldn’t have the family we have now. It all works out the way it’s supposed to work out.
So none of those sound like anything you would want to do? Still want to help out? We are always taking in donations of baby items (clothes for the most part) that we use for our newborns and then send with them when they go, or kids items that we can take to our foster parent meetings once a month for other foster parents to use for their foster kids. I’m also trying to do the small photo/scrapbooks for kids in care, but that project hasn’t gone anywhere so far and I’m the only one who’s made any! So, if you want to donate anything…infant/kids clothing, baby blankets or anything feel free to talk to me and they will get to where they need to go.
Ok, I’m stepping off my soapbox here….I’m all for this cause and all for the kids so feel free to chat at me more about it if you are interested.
Pumpkin Pie Fudge
Just a couple pictures from this morning. Levi took the bus to school, Carlos was having some drama about the bus so I took him to school. It all worked out, we got to have coffee with Dee and check out the new candy store downtown, Bon Bon. Expensive but amazing stuff. They have some old candies that I hadn’t seen forever, and some truffles and all that were beautiful. Got to sample the Pumpkin Pie fudge and holy cow it was to die for. The lady working there was one of the volunteers at the Parent and Child Center when we did playgroup and she was amazed at how big Trey has grown. We went back later with Carlos and Levi, since Carlos was one of her special little guys and Dee and I each got a chocolate and the boys get Ratatouille pez.
Volleyball tonight, hoping not to get our butts kicked but we have had some really close matches and even won a few. Always have fun playing, though and going out for a drink afterwards. Grown up time….ahhhhh.
Looking for Christmas ideas? How about Jones Soda Seahawks flavor special edition pop? Here’s the link https://ssl.jonessodastore.com/seahawkspack/code/?
Surround Sound Anyone?
If you came into our living room you would think that we had surround sound and all but you would be wrong. Looks are decieving. Our speakers are up but they haven’t worked for, well, ever. Things change and I was lucky enough to be the first to respond to a freecycle posting for a DVD home theater system…for free! We couldn’t be more excited. Someone’s generousity is going to make seeing Aladdin for the 900th time more bearable. Thank you!
Also, if you are curious about what McDonalds pieces we need, here’s the list (I’m sure it’s the same list that everyone has): Boardwalk, Pennsylvania Ave, Ventnor Ave, Kentucky Ave, Tennessee Ave, Virginia Ave, Vermont Ave, Short Line Railroad and Mediterranean Ave. If you have one of these and want to collaborate, we could split the cash!
My Feelings on McDonalds Monopoly
So we’ve entered 47 McDonalds Monopoly stickers in the online game….no, we don’t eat at the “Health Food Store” all that often but we have a couple of sources that have given us some game pieces. So, in all of those we have only won an Egg McMuffin and a online game download. Seems a little lame. I am not expecting to win the million dollars but you would think we would win a little more than we have with the number of game pieces played, both online AND with the little game board. We’re all about the game, so if you have pieces you aren’t playing and want to donate to our addiction….send em over!
The boys have been hyped up playing with some cool new toys that Joy brought over. The best part about them were that they belonged to her sons when they were younger. The kids are HUGE into Legos especially and I was at Toys R Us yesterday and saw a Lego ship on clearance and got it. Built it yesterday and by first thing this morning, the boys had torn it apart. Glad I took a picture!
We went to a preschool concert, the boys liked it but I’m glad it was only an hour, they were toast. Stopped off at Safeway to grab some noodles and meat for lunch and some Starbucks for mamas and ran into “Teacher Caroline”. The boys adore her, and that’s all Levi could talk about the whole ride home. Next stop was Gay and Rob’s house to help put Gay’s hardtop onto her Jeep. Gay had made some cupcakes for the boys to frost and decorate and they thought that was pretty cool. Levi also got lots of kisses from Bosco (the dog).
Still organizing….still getting rid of clutter…still doing laundry. Thinking of becoming nudists at home so we don’t have so much damn laundry all the time.
Trey sings again
A Whole New World….sung by Trey. I tell ya, he sings ALL the time!
Lifelines
So I now go to this mom’s group called MNMs (mothers nurturing mothers) and I am LOVING it. It meets twice a month and I find myself truly looking forward to it and missing it on weeks there isn’t MNMs. There are so many great things about it. First, it’s some “me” time where the kids are playing for an hour and I get to have adult discussion time with other moms who “get” what I’m going through. Second, it’s really neat that the people who run it (Bev and her daughter Angela) are people I have known since I was young, and Bev is good friends with my parents. Makes it all the more special to me and it’s a neat friendship that has been rekindled.
We are talking about lifelines at MNMs and it really gets me to thinking about who is important and how they are important in my life. Dee, the kids, my parents, my brother, Dee’s family…of course….and friends play a huge role in our lives and just make me lucky to have them. So I just want to say thank you to my family and friends, thank you for being there and supporting me and the family and for all that you do for us. You all will never know just how much you mean to me.
This picture I just thought was funny….
Time to get the boys to bed, rough day with getting flu shots. 😦
Happy Birthday Mama Dee
Happy birthday Mama Dee! We had Mary and Alice for dinner to celebrate and then got Carolyn to watch the kids so we could go out and have a drink. We got home around 11pm, way later than we ever thought, and Carolyn and the kids were all crashed out. But what a fun evening we had, it was great to see friends and hang out and chat with no kids climbing on us or begging to leave.
Tonight we go to Nana/Papa’s house for noodles and meat from Sawatdy to celebrate with the family. The big boys got picked up from school by Nana yesterday so they could go to decorate Nana/Papa’s house as a surprise to Mama Dee. She’ll be surprised, that’s for sure.
Gotta jet, time for speech for Carlos with Linda Raquer.
The Great Pumpkin
We finally made it back to church today. It was good to get back for sure, much needed. Poor Dee had to leave because of her cough. I held Trey most the time and it was so funny, at every hymn he would belt out his own no-word, kinda humming it version of the hymn.
Came home and Dee and the boys napped a little while I went and did some errands. Came home, got the crew up and ready to go to the pumpkin patch. Nana and Papa came, too and the boys LOVED it there. Levi tried to pick up every pumpkin he saw, we got to go on a tractor ride (Papa’s first ever!) and ended up leaving with 2 big pumpkins for Mamas to carve and the boys each picked out a little pumpkin for them to carve.
We got to have a quick visit with Patti and Jeanie when we dropped somethings off to them. Found 3 caterpillars there that Patti made a little home for so the boys now have them as pets. Levi was shocked that we wouldn’t let them sleep in the house saying “um, they can’t sleep outside, it’s too cold out there and they need blankets!” Obviously a pet lover, our Levi.
We were invited over (probably for the last time!) to Alisa and Holly’s for dinner to celebrate Dee’s birthday. Holly has been perfecting her pizza recipe and it’s amazing. I’m hoping she will teach Dee her secrets, that was some amazing pizza. The boys did well for the most part, but the evening ended with Levi knocking over a lamp and breaking it. We feel horrible. They won’t take money for it and played it off as no big deal, but we’re trying to come up with some way to pay them back. It was an accident, but damn. It’s hard to take the boys into other people’s homes sometimes, it’s just tense since we’re trying to keep them under control.
Time for bed here, I’m beat….
Trey Sings!
Trey sings all the time, and I mean ALL the time….just caught him on video with this little part of a song in a movie. it’s funny.
Three Scurvy Dogs a Wee Lass (and their Mamas) 
