Journey with Two

Spring Time!

2010-05-06T14:41:00.001-07:00

A few pictures of spring. We've been lucky to have a longer spring than normal. Usually- it's two weeks of sixties and seventies then jumps to the nineties by the first of May. Don't get me wrong though, I'll take it over the poor Minnesotans who will be getting snow this weekend!

Wilmington & Nana and Grandpa visit

2010-02-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

Catalina and Maverick are blessed with having great grandparents on both sides, who spoil them to death, just as it should be. TJ's mom and dad spoil us too. Every so often the kids go up and visit TJ's parent's in Richmond for a couple of days. This last time, they went up for a whole week! The kids didn't stop talking about for days after coming back...riding the choo-choo train (Amtrak), making cookies and going to the park.

Mommy and Daddy were thrilled to! We took the opportunity for a weekend away and went to Wilmington, NC for the weekend. It's a big film town, college town and historic town. We stayed in a great b&b (Verandahs) and got to sleep past 7:00AM!!! Also, I got to read a book..For.A.Whole.Hour! We also did our requisite Segway tour. Ok, don't laugh, they're REALLY fun. Stop laughing! Ahhh...time away...there's nothing like it. It makes it all that much sweeter when the kids come home.

New Year!

2010-02-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all. We haven't made any resolutions in our house. We think it's bad luck. But, we did start the year off with a bang. Just like last year, we rented a cabin in the mountains near Asheville for a few days. This time, we took my parents. Unfortunately, it was too cold to do much...seriously, zero degrees. That is NOT why I live in NC. If I wanted that kind of weather, I'd move back to Kansas. My poor delicate Southern skin just can't handle it anymore. Give me 96 degrees any day. We had a good time anyway. We toured the Biltmore's gingerbread house competition and decorated trees. And, went to the kids' museum there which I think TJ and I like more than the kids.

Oh yes, and of course, we ate. And ate. Thank goodness I won a Nintendo Wii Fit from work before the holidays or I'd have gained 20 lbs. over the holidays. The Wii has provided us and the kids with lots of entertainment through the bad weather we've been having. They love to 'do jogging' and 'play yoga'. What's sad is they actually beat my dad on the the jogging game...that would be my dad the triathlete. It's hilarious. We've also found the boxing game to be a new key to marital happiness. Angry? Just beat the living hell out of each other in Wii boxing and all is well.

Christmas!

2010-02-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Finally, an update. Christmas has come and gone, but some of you haven't seen pictures. We did have a great holiday. The kids' favorite gifts were the letter peg board from Tia and Tio (Briana and Damian), the workbench from Grandma and Grandpa, the watches from Nana and Grandpa and the handmade blankets from Mommy. As usual they were completely spoiled. Next Christmas...only College fund donations!

We spent Christmas eve, as tradition with my parents, Briana and her husband Damian...they've been married since June but it's still weird to see my sister married. And then Christmas morning, we did stockings with them and ate homemade donuts. Then, we went and saw Sherlock Holmes...it was AWESOME! I love Sir AC anyway but then to put in Jude Law and Rober D Jr was magic.

Halloween!

2009-11-22T06:40:00.001-08:00

Halloween is so much more fun this year because the kids kind of got what was going on. The knew they would dress up and get candy- but really, what else do you need to know about Halloween? That morning, we went for a hike- it was incredibly beautiful weather- 70 degrees where the kids got filthy playing around the lake. We love going on hikes b/c it provides so many opportunities for them to learn observation, search and problem solving skills. We always ask them to find things along the trail like "find the pink mushroom" or " How many black rocks are there?".

Then we went home and got ready for trick or treating. I made the kids pirate costumes and TJ converted their wagon into a pirate ship. They really did like trick or treating except for going past the really 'done up' house in the neighborhood. Maverick took one look and started screaming. Catalina on the other hand LOVED it, even the man in the massacre mask. She is truly my daughter. I try not to fantasize about my kids' lives to come as I don't want to have any expectations of them other than to do their best and be good citizens. However, now I have these images of her and I going to scary movies and haunted houses together *sigh*. After trick or treating we came back and I made dinner for us and my folks- I love doing a Haloween dinner. The picture up there is of my 'pumpkin puke' dip. Really 7-layer dip. I just can't wait until next year.

The Fair and Pumpkins

2009-11-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

October is our FAVORITE month. We have the State Fair, nice hiking weather and Halloween- what could be better? We braved the fair this year even with the H1N1 threat. To be a little safer we went early on Sunday morning and it was pretty empty. We only went on one ride- the Ferris Wheel only b/c the rides are such a rip off. We generally like doing other stuff like seeing the freakish vegetables, the animals and crafts and such. Then we went to our local Farmer's Market and picked out pumpkins for Halloween. As you can see, M&C had theirs all picked out but Mommy's back and wallet directed them to ones a bit smaller. When we carved the pumpkins Mav absolutely hated getting the squishy innards out so Lina had to help out in that department.

Last camping trip of the year

2009-11-22T06:12:00.001-08:00

It's getting cold now so that ends our camping season, especially after this one. The forecast was to be cool but OK- cool to us Southerners is 50 degrees at night, 60 during the day. So, we pack up the tent and other odds and ends and head to a town about an hour from the house. Packing for car camping with two toddlers isn't exactly a light job even for us- the people who brought a total of two pilot cases to the week long pick up trip to Guatemala.

We spent the rest of the day at the campground- playing on their playground, walking around their pond and drinking hot chocolate. Then, time to go to bed...holy crap, it got COLD! We ended up sleeping in our clothes with coats on- the kids even had an extra layer on top of that. It was ok as long as we didn't move. If we moved, the cold air would seep in and we'd automatically wake up. The kids didn't wake up at all- but TJ and I were awfully tired the next day- I'd brought some oatmeal to make for breakfast, but NO WAY I was cooking outside- so we got in the car and headed over to IHOP to eat inside! The radio said it was 34 degrees- it felt like 20. Anyway, once we warmed up we were ready to tackle the zoo. We LOVE going to the zoo when it's colde. In fact, that's the only time we go. There's nobody there, it's not sweltering and the animals are way more active in the fall/winter. Just think- if you were a 250 lb. lion with a fur coat on, or a polar bear, would you be up and around in July? I don't think so. My favorite is the polar bear, the kids favorite is the zebras/giraffes and TJ's fav is the otter. Luckily, we were able to see all of them up and busy.

A weekend jaunt!

2009-10-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

In honor of our 15th anniversary (yes, we're those weird people who still celebrate our dating anniversary)- I surprised TJ w/ a weekend trip to Key West. Such a good time- but VERY hot- and that's coming from North Carolinian! I highly recommend our B&B- The Tropical Inn on Duval St. Mostly we just walked around but Saturday afternoon we went on a sail, snorkel & kayak trip which was very cool. TJ helped hoist the sails, we had a couple of dolphin tracking the boat and saw a bunch of osprey when kayaking. Best of all we got to sleep in past 7:00am!!! Yay!

More Colorado pictures

2009-10-14T15:31:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our Colorado trip that I just got around to downloading.

Go West Young Guatemalans, Go West!

2009-09-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

We've just returned from our actual, honest, to goodness vacation (not just a couple days here and there like usual). We were gone for a whole week with no laptop, no work calls, no "can you do just one more thing today before you leave" drama. While TJ and I love our jobs in general- both of us have had some really tough deadlines lately, not to mention the fact that my request to get another staff member has been denied...again...but no reduction in workload. Anyway.

We braved a total of 6 hrs of flying time to get to Denver- but it was SO worth it. And, as a bonus, the kids SLEPT!!! Between an hour nap and the Dora video on our laptop, it was almost pleasant! Note: that was almost pleasant. On the ATL to Denver leg, Catalina decided to test out kicking the seat in front. I did what I could given that I didn't have duct tape or insane asylum restraints for her legs. The woman in front of us said "excuse me, your daughter is kicking my seat" (add accusatory glare here). I said, "I know, I'm sorry, I'm doing my best to keep her from doing it." Then the chick next to her says "Hey! She's getting her back kicked- control you child!" OK- that did it! What the hell?! I've apologized and promised to do what I can to stop this from happening. So, instead of letting lose the stream of profanity that she deserved, I said: "so, exactly what would you like me to do?" Luckily (for her), she decided to turn around and keep her trap shut. People like that just get me for some reason.

The rest of our trip was beautiful. Denver is a great, family-friendly city. I highly recommend seeing their zoo and lovely parks. The kids got to see their first theatre movie too- we saw an IMAX movie- they LOVED it. Of course it was all about undersea animals which was a sure-fire way to keep their attention. The kids museum is fantastic- I think TJ and I had more fun than the kids. They had a whole 'construction' section where the kids could build walls, make circuit boards, paint walls and do 'plumbing' with PVC pipes that were rigged to blow air through them.

One thing we did differently on this trip is we got the kids their own digital camera (you know, one of the $20 ones) so they could take their own pictures. They had such a good time w/ it that Catalina wanted to get a picture of me taking a picture of her. The actual pictures were hilarious. Not one came out- but they had fun and they'll get it eventually.

Then we headed spent a day in Boulder visiting a high school friend we haven't seen in forever- it was so great to catch up.

Finally, we ended up in Rocky Mountain Ntl. Park. Had a blast and the kids hiked every hike on their own. Of course, we kept things to no more than a mile, but they did it! Catalina is extremely observant and usually was the one to spot animals before we did. We saw an amazing variety and since it was elk rutting season- we encountered probably over a hundred elk- some a little more closely than I would have liked. We also introduced the kids to kayaking and even let them 'help' paddle- which of course meant that all of us were completely soaked by the end. I'm so glad we're able to share our love for the outdoors and animals with the kids. It seems they're catching on and enjoying it too. So...when can we go on vacation again????

Tree-huggin' kids

2009-08-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

TJ and I must have done a good job in transferring our super liberal, hippie, tree-huggin, animal lovin' values to the kids. One of our favorite things to do is to go on nature walks on local trails and talk about what we see. It's amazing to see things through kids eyes, they pick up on sights and sounds that we've seen so much that we now kind of block it out. One this particular trip, Catalina saw a tree oozing sap and asked what it was. We told her it was the tree's blood. Her eyes got wide and the exclaimed- "Tree has a boo-boo" then proceeded to give it a hug and insist that it needed a band-aid. Well, the tree got the hug and Catalina put a leaf on it for a band-aid. We caught the hug here.

catch up for July

2009-08-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from July- our trip to Williamsburg for the 4th- it was fabulous! Definitely made this social skeptic feel patriotic.

Briana Gets Married!

2009-06-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

My sister was married on June 2nd- this last Tuesday to her partner Damian. Damian is a funny, sensitive, brilliant Spaniard and loves Bri to death which of course is the ultimate qualification.

True to their laid-back style, they went to the courthouse- had only 4 guests and just had a simple lunch afterward at one of my favorite restaurants downtown. Ironically, it's the same place that TJ and I had our rehearsal dinner. Another irony is they're thinking of taking a 'honeymoon' to Mexico- also where TJ and I went although they'd be going to a different area of the Yucatan peninsula. Here are some pics for the day (mom and I were the official photographers)

Beach Week!

2009-06-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, the beach...we spent 7 wonderful days in Nags Head, NC on the Outer Banks during the last week of July. While my heart will always belong to the mountains, the beach is certainly a welcome sight. My parents plus TJ and the kids and I rented a house across the street from the beach for a well deserved relaxed vacation. Well...I supposed 'relaxed' is a relative term for the family who hikes, camps, kayaks, hanglides, swims and are museum/nature junkies.

For those with young children, I highly recommend Nags Head. We have been there several times before and specifically chose it because of it's proximity to Kitty Hawk, Corolla (pronounced Ca-rawl-a for non-North Carolinians) and Roanoke Island (site of the lost colony). The kids have only ever been to the ocean once, so we didn't know if they'd enjoy playing in the sand or putting their feet in the water. FYI, it's way to cold to swim until about mid-June, unless you're from Canada and have a really whacked out notion of 'warm'. In the end the kids both really liked the sand and luckily we're over the novelty of eating it. And...they liked the water. TJ and I would take them out into the waves (ok we're a little crazy). We'd squat down with them in our arms until a big wave was about 1 foot from our heads then we'd stand up. They laughed and laughed! To our horror, Catalina cackled like a mad woman during the most suicidal waves that I was even a little scared of (over the head kind).

Here are some of the other things we did on vaca:
1. Roanoke Island aquarium- kids LOVED the alligators
2. Hangliding- ok, that was just TJ and I, awesome! It's nice to get a little adrenaline going every once in a while.
3. Jockeys Ridge state park- a 100 ft. migrating sand dune. Hiking it is fantastic- you feel like you're in the desert except you can see the ocean and the sound.
4. Corolla lighthouse- the closest one to Nags Head that you can climb. Bodie Island lighthouse (pronounced Body- like dead body) is closer but you can't climb it. On a side note it's called Body (Bodie) Island b/c in the 1700's the currents would wash all the shipwrecked dead bodies up there...and apparently not many people could spell back then.
5. Elizabethan Gardens- for anyone that likes gardening, this is HEAVEN!
6. Festival Island- they have a recreation of 1500's settlements and a full-sized working replica of the Elizabeth II that brought settlers over during that time.

All in all a great trip, and we could have used another week.
5.

TJ's Birthday!

2009-05-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

TJ's birthday was this week so we had a party for him. Nothing big, just some of my family over for dinner (real Mexican enchiladas & rice) and dessert (chocolate pecan pie). He got a good haul this year, Hurricane's playoff tickets (what kind of wonderful wife could be so thoughtful??), comedy club tickets + babysitting, gift certificate to a restaurant, a cool CD made by my sister's boyfriend, The new Quantum of Solace DVD and a couple of new books to read when we go to the beach at the end of the month. Can't wait 'til then when I can actually have time and perhaps stay awake long enough to read something that is NOT work related.

We ended the night by playing one of TJ's favorite games, Alhambra. A picture of this cut throat game (well, it is if you play with my family) is above. We had a tournament and the winners (everyone) took home prizes. A good day, but I'll tell ya- I'm not cooking tonight.

Swim Time

2009-05-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

The kids were driving us crazy Saturday afternoon (they usually are by 4:00), so we decided to pull out the toddler paddle pool and give it a try. This would be the same pool from last year...you know the one where they screamed and writhed as if they were being water-boarded when we took them anywhere near it. Luckily, this year was MUCH better.

We put their baby slide right up to the pool so they could splash down into the water (getting them ready for bigger kid water slides). Catalina wasn't sure the first time she landed in the pool, but we made such a fuss that she decided it must be cool and did it about 50 more times (literally). Maverick was content to play in the pool and watch- he did finally go down the slide while I was holding his hand.

True to form, he is the cautious one. I'm grateful for this b/c I know we'll have to take Catalina's car away many times when she's a teen, for things like speeding, racing, doing Dukes of Hazard jumps off of dirt piles and through the empty car of a train...stuff like that. Luckily, she'll be able to get a ride to school from Maverick, who will still have his car b/c he'll be the safe, "get a discount on insurance" type of driver.

Strawberry Season

2009-05-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

The kids had their first strawberry picking of the year! It went well (mostly). Other than keeping Maverick from poking his finger in every strawberry he saw and keeping Catalina from eating the smushed ones out of the dirt, they did well with 'helping'. Now, I use that term fairly loosely. But in the end we had 2.5 lbs of yummy red goodness. So, like any good mommy (and sugar addict) I went straight home and made stewed berries w/ ice cream. Here's the recipe for all other strawberry pickers. The best part? It only takes about 8 min after you quarter the strawberries.

1 pint strawberries, quartered (really any berry...strawberries + blueberries are my favorite.) If you're using any other berry, keep them whole.
2 tbsp sugar or 1.5 tbsp Splenda
1 scoop creamy vanilla ice cream (we like the no sugar added Blue Bunny Vanilla)

In a medium saucepan, dump all the berries and heat on low (around #3) until you start getting juice. Stir a bit during this time.

Once you start seeing juice, add the sugar, and cook until you see the bottom covered w/ the syrup- stirring occasionally helps.

Put a couple of spoonfuls of the berry mixture in a bowl and top with a scoop of ice cream...mmm....

Holidays

2009-04-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

Our kids are going to LOVE living in a religiously mixed house. They get to celebrate Baha'i holidays AND Christian holidays. This season they got to do both.

In late February, we celebrated Ayyam-i-ha (see earlier post for what this is) where they got to open a present every night for five nights. By the fourth night they started saying "present! present!". See pictures of them opening their gifts and of us dancing to the Latin kid tunes CD.

Then this past weekend they got their Easter baskets, they were really spoiled since my mom brought over some baskets and TJ's aunt Marianne sent them gifts too (they love the chalk Marianne!). Their favorite gift? Their very own individual lip balm! See Catalina w/ her bunny ears and Maverick and my mom with his new pinwheel.

The next holiday will be the Festival of Ridvan (pronounced Riz-van)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridv%C3%A1n, which is a 12 day festival- the most important for Bahai's. Thank goodness it's not a gift-giving holiday. But, we'll be spending loads of time in the yard and garden as gardens are a major theme in the baha'i faith- so look for some cute 'flower child pics'.

Farm Days

2009-04-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

The first warm day of spring happened to be the day of the Inn at Celebrity Dairy's open barn day. It's a working farm and a b&b- pretty nice if you're every going through Siler City, NC. They open their barn and let the kids see (and pet) their dairy goats, pigs and chickens. They also sell their goat cheese and eggs- at least you know it's fresh! The kids loved it. The goats had just given birth the day before- so we were able to see one day old kids wobbling around. The kids did such a great job about being gentle and not running after the animals. Catalina being the incredibly bossy girl she is even reprimanded two other kids who were chasing chickens by yelling "No!" "Gennl" (gentle). It's hard to tell her not to yell at other kids when I wanted to do the same thing.

The little things

2009-03-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. We've had a busy couple of weeks in our house and have been dealing with some drama. Anyone who has friends or family that cause drama (as almost all of them do from time to time) know how energy sucking it can be. That coupled with the fact that TJ and I are both under the gun at work (working 50+ hrs/wk), signing a contract to put an addition on our house (yay!) and trying to actually do a good job of raising two 2-year olds- it's amazing that neither of us are in the loony bin right now. However, during stressful times, I find it's helpful to focus on little things that make me happy. Here is my list- please post a couple of yours so I know I'm not alone in liking the little things...

1. Listening to Harry Potter books on CD during my commute (Listening to Goblet of Fire for the 50th time)
2. Reading a good book for a few minutes before bed
3. Bigelow Orange Spice herbal tea- even in the summer
4. Sleeping with the windows open
5. Going for a trail walk
6. Spotting red tailed hawks and great blue herons in the lake I pass on the way to work
7. Netflix
8. Hearing my little ones say "Mama!" when I walk in the house.
9. Browsing the library- seriously, I could spend an hour in there an not notice

Even just writing those things made me feel better.

Meatout- upcoming event

2009-03-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of my rare political posts. March 20th is International Meat Out day. It's a day designed to help increase awareness about how the over-consumption of meat affects our health and the environment. For vegetarians/ vegans, this is a way of life. For all you omnivores, I say, just try it for a day, and take in the message. I'm not trying to 'convert' anyone- my husband is as carnivore as you can get, but I think we are all (including me!) guilty of doing things without understanding the local/global consequences. This is a day to educate ourselves about the consequences of one choice we make on a daily basis "what am I going to eat?"

"Kicking the meat habit" holds lasting benefits for consumer health, world hunger, resource conservation, environmental quality, and animal protection.

- Reduces our risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other chronic diseases that cripple and kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually.

- Decreases our exposure to infectious pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter, which kill several thousand Americans annually and sicken millions more.

- Raises our energy level, lowers our food budget, and simplifies food preparation and cleanup.

- Frees up grains and other foods that can be used to feed the world's hungry. Animals are extremely inefficient "protein converters;" it can take up to 16 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of beef.

- Preserves our topsoil, water, and other food production resources vital to the survival of our children and their children.

- Protects our forests, grasslands, and other wildlife habitats from encroachment by cattle ranchers while reducing the polluting effects of methane, soil particles, manure, and pesticides on our air and water.

- Saves animals from caging, crowding, deprivation, drugging, mutilation, manhandling, and agonizing slaughter. Each person who adopts a plant-based diet saves over 80 innocent, sentient animals each year. Over a lifetime, an individual can save more than 6,000 animals just by going vegan.

If you want more info, you can go to www.meatout.org.

birthday pictures

2009-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some pictures from Maverick and Catalina's birthday at Marbles Kid's museum. We had both sets of grandparents and my sister and her boyfriend.
You can see that they had a great time playing blocks, coloring, trying on silly hats. After cake, Maverick had a fun time on their new tricycle (though neither have really gotten what their supposed to do yet) that Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Ron got them and the Michigan t-shirt his great-aunt sent. Grandpa Tom (being having gone to Michigan) insisted Maverick put on the shirt immediately, ha ha. To all my Kansas relatives..send KU stuff! We can't have people thinking we're one school household.

Ecuador Trip

2009-02-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

TJ and I just returned from a weeklong vaca in Ecuador! While the kids were being spoiled rotten by my parents, we went to the Galapagos islands which were absolutely amazing. If you ever have the chance to go..take it! Here are some photos along with the Top 10 experiences from Ecuador:

1. Ecuadorian spanish is SO much easier to understand than Mexico or Carribean. I'm fluent and can only catch 1 out of 10 words when a Dominican is talking to me.

2. Swimming with penguins

3. Being on Floreana island which is all lava rock and completely barren- it's like being on the moon.

4. Having a sea lion scare me to death by playing with my snorkeling flipper

5. Watching baby sea lions run and play

6. Actually finishing a book in less than 2 months

7. Hiking!

8. Fresh grown fruit that only has to be shipped 10 miles instead of 1000

9. Experiencing the stuff that until now, we've just seen on National Geographic

10. Having time alone with my husband

Happy Ayyam-i-ha!

2009-02-26T04:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Ayyam-i-ha and Naw Ruz (New Year)! Our house will be a bustle of activity this week with the holiday. For those that don't know Ayyam-i-ha is the Baha'i celebration of the 5 intercalary days. These days are preparation for the fast (March 2-20) followed by the Naw Ruz on 3/21. During this week, we do special acts of service, social gatherings and the kids get presents! Last night was the first night of Ayyam-i-ha and we took the kids out to dinner. They were supposed to open one gift each too, but they were so tired, we had to put them to bed. So, that means there will be two presents each tonight! I'm so excited, this is their first Ayyam-i-ha at home. I've kept it simple this year with just some small gifts and a dinner out, but next year, when the 'get it' I'll do some decoration to the house and we'll have some folks over for Ayyam-i-ha dinner.

What a week!

2009-02-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

This week has been one of the longest ever. Not in a bad way, just that it was very stressful. TJ and I both have huge projects going on at work with dealines looming- which under normal circumstances isn't so bad. But...we are leaving for a couples vacation to Ecuador on Monday, so everything has to get wrapped up at work, we have to get packed, and get all the info together for my parents (God bless their brave souls) to take the kids for 7 days.

Add to that- that we have been trying to decide between putting a small addition onto the house or just moving. Well, this week we found a house that we really liked. It's a pre-forclosure 2900 sqft. for $200,000 and NO damage!! An amazing deal. We really agonized the last couple of days, going so far as to get our house looked at and getting loan pre-approval. But, in the end, we just don't need that much space and it seems crazy to go through all that stress for something we don't really need. We really only need one more room on our 1700sqft house. Plus, I can't imagine keeping the house "show ready" while it's on the market with 2 two-year olds spilling food on the floor every 10 seconds.

Plus----it's Catalina's birthday and Valentines Day this week. I've decided I won't feel guilty about this trip b/c boy do we need it!

Happy Friday the 13th!

2009-02-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

You all probably saw my post from last year about how much I love Friday the 13th. It's the day my husband and I started dating, the day we got engaged and the day of our rehearsal dinner (wedding on the 14th). Now, I have a new reason to love it- it's my baby girl's birthday! Happy 2nd Birthday Catalina!! She started the day by sleeping in until 7:20 (wow!) and Daddy cooked birthday breakfast which was pancakes with brownie bits in them and eggs on the side. We had the kids birthday party on the 31st (Maverick's 2nd birthday) so I'll post pics of that asap.

Museum of Art trip

2009-01-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

It was nice out for the first time in several weeks, which is pretty unusual for our state. The days don't usually get below about 50 for most of the winter here- so over a month of 28-35 degree highs is getting REALLY old. So, to take advantage of the weather and get us out of the house, we went over to the museum of art because it's free...I mean, educational. The kids actually were pretty absorbed and we spent an hour talking about colors shapes and asking questions like "where's the doggie in this picture, where's the man's foot on this statue". Then we went outside on the greenway that goes around the museum. All told, they probably walked two miles which tuckered this poor guy out. He's looking a bit droopy here. Even our little crazy woman wanted to be carried to the car. I'm filing this place away for when there's extra energy that needs to be burned.

SNOW!

2009-01-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

Last week we had about 7 inches of snow--BIG deal for us Southerners. I took the kids out but because it was so deep, they could barely walk, so they ended up playing most of the time in the garage and watching me shovel the driveway. I realized that we are totally unprepared for this kind of weather, it took me half an hour to find my really warm gloves, hat and scarf- usually a coat and knit gloves are fine. Luckily, we bought snow gear for the kids when we went to the mountains so they were all set. They especially liked when we went inside and had hot cocoa! I love their car picture- I half expected them to look at me and say "so...this has four wheel drive, right Mommy?"

What Have I Done?

2009-01-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

I saw this on another blog and wanted to play too! Copy this list to your blog (or email) and then highlight the things you have already done. Mine are in BOLD.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (being a vegetarian, this will never happen)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

CONGRATULATIONS TO ERIN AND JOHN!

2009-01-16T04:57:00.001-08:00

Erin and John have finally brought home their daughter Azucena! It has been a huge stuggle with Erin living in Guatemala away from John for over a year and a half to foster her little girl.

Need some positive thoughts...new wrinkle in the adoption process!

2009-01-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sure many of you thought...but I thought the process was over, there home now! Ha ha ha. My poor naiive friends. No way. We were in the process of doing the kids' readoption in North Carolina. This means at the end, we will have an NC birth certificate. THEN...we get to apply for their Certificate of Citizenship (CoC) which makes the kids US citizens and gets them a SS #. This whole thing takes about 1.5 -2 years, goodie.

Now, we submitted the NC paperwork in early September to our county. But apparently, they contacted our agency to let them know that they missed out a page (nobody told us) and the agency never gave them this info. So our file has been sitting there for almost 5 months for nothing. Meanwhile, our agency went out of business! Ugh! Can't we catch a break?! Our files were transferred to an agency based about 65 miles away. The good news is they've been very nice, but can only be so helpful given that they're not familiar with the case. Hopefully, this form is one that we already have and can just send over. We just need some good thoughts right now to get through this tough process.

New Year Trip pictures

2009-01-05T19:57:00.001-08:00

New Year

2009-01-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

We rang in the New Year through our eyelids once again this year- but this time it was on purpose. Neither of us has ever been much into the party scene so we usually fall asleep around 10 on New Years, but this year we really had to get our rest because on New Year's day we loaded up and made the trip up to the mountains! We try to go a couple of times a year b/c we love it so much. I'm telling you- if I worked from home like TJ, we'd live in Asheville. It was a big trip because we wanted to take the kids to see their first snow. In the South, the mountains are the best bet for that kind of thing.

We stayed at the KOA up there (by the way, we love staying at KOAs, cheap, kid-friendly, and we don't have to worry about them breaking anything). We were a little disappointed b/c the town itself didn't have snow- but they'd just had a warm spell so no real surprise. On Sat. we took the kids snow tubing at Wolf Laurel. Around 4000 feet there was some natural snow, but the conditions were good for snow making, around 33 degrees. Unfortunatley, it was also raining a bit. But that didn't deter us- we forged ahead. It was SO much fun. The kids had a blast, we did too but with the addition of VERY sore arms from hauling them and the tubes back up the hill. There were giggles all the way down. They even tried to walk in the deep snow. Catalina did pretty well, but poor Maverick still has chubby, stubby legs and fell down on just about every step. They lasted about an hour before getting too cold and/or wet so we headed to the lodge for lunch and a warm up near the two fires- very cozy.

That afternoon after their nap, we went over to a nice warm indoor activity- the Health Adventure. This place is so much fun. As a matter of fact, I think we had more fun than the kids. They have a section that teaches kids about vacums and airflow. The kids can assemble PVC pipes into a vacum tunnel that snakes all around the room- then you put a ball in and watch it get sucked through the tube and spit out into a bucket. Mav and Lina were bored after about 10 min, but TJ and I made them stay for another 10 min while we played.

On Sat, we went to the WNC Wildlife center that rescues an houses native animals- the kids surprised me by not chasing or yelling at any of the animals. They were perfect. The center has a peacock and peahen that roam around. Maverick and Catalina just walked (didn't run) within about 4 feet and just stopped and said "Hi bedee (birdy)" Wow- calmness from an almost-two year old...I'm writing that one in my diary. That afternoon, we did a hike at Max Patch a short but VERY steep hike to a bald. This is a Maria Von Trapp kind of bald where you want to spin with your arms out. We had planned to have the kids walk for about a 1/2 mile, but poor stubby couldn't do it. He gave up after about 100 yards, damn it. That meant mommy had to lug 30lbs. of flailing toddler for the next 2 miles. Let me say, 30 lbs. isn't SO heavy but when its jumping up and down, rocking from side to side making you continuously lose your balance, it feels more like 80 lbs. Advil was my best friend that day. TJ, the luck SOB got happy-go-lucky Catalina who loves to walk and stays still in the backpack. Ugh.

However, we were having such a good time we stayed an additional day- and took the kids to the Grove Park Inn on Sunday morning to see the Gingerbread house competition and their 40 themed Christmas trees. Hmm, cookies, trees and lights...a hit? I think so. Anyway- we came home exhausted but with some great memories. We never seem to get the whole 'relax' thing when it comes to vaca.

Christmas

2009-01-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. We were so excited about the kids' first Christmas home. They were in awe of the "yites" (lights) and the "tee" (tree). Maverick would cry if TJ didn't turn on the tree every morning before breakfast.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with TJ's parents and step brother in Richmond. Unfortunately, I was really sick with a cold. I haven't had on this bad in YEARs, seriously, it was epic. But through the medicine and mucus induced haze I still managed to enjoy myself and enjoy the kids.

They still don't quite 'get' opening gifts and such- it was a bit boring but they love their new stuff. While they were very spoiled and got WAY too much stuff from the grandparents, great grandparents and my sister, here is a list of their favorites:
1. The new play kitchen (that was mommy and daddy's present)- we've gotten such a kick out of watching them wash their hands in the play sink and use the oven as a dish washer. I guess we've been doing a good job with instilling some sense of hygiene and responsibility.

2. The wagon that Tia (my sister) got them. It's awesome and has some massive all terrain tires, perfect for CPT. They love to pull their stuffed animals around in it.

3. Maverick LOVES his new stuffed kitty from great grandma and grandpa P. They're usually not keen on stuffed animals, but we've already had to wash the kitty b/c he carries it around everywhere- this includes the car. He likes to feed it and give the kitty drinks from the new play kitchen. Apparently, Kitty especially enjoys orange juice as this is the only thing we see him giving it- no colds for Kitty this year with that much vitamin C.

4. At a tie is the Sesame Street pop-up singing toy from TJ's parents (they play with this for at least a half hour everyday) and the books from my parents. I now know every word of the Farm Book and Elmo book. Backwards and forwards. With my eyes closed.

We also tried to do several Christmas activities. Their favorites were:
1. Turning on our tiny 3' tree every morning

2. Seeing the neighbors go WAY overboard with their lights (this was mommy's favorite too)

3. Hearing the Raleigh Bell Ringers at the State Capitol open house and the Civil War encampment reinactment- they show what Christmas was like for the confederate soliders. Let me say- not fun- a thin wool blanket and the nice hard ground...maybe some bread and drippings, no thanks.

CPT visit

2008-12-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

We visted CPT again last week with the kids. We have taught the kids
what a tiger says...Roar! Maverick did it for us when we were out there. Also, there's a video of our favorite Tiger, Raj. He just loves running around scaring everyone. The last picture is of Mona, one of the new tigers rescued from Missouri. Isn't she gorgeous? Although that look she has is NOT good. She charged right after I snapped the photo.
Thank goodness there's a nice sturdy fence!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

We took it easy this holiday. Just dinner at my parent's and TJs parents drove down on Sat to spend the day. The highlight was this cute outfit for Catalina- she looks like a little pilgrim in that bonnet!

First Zoo Trip

2008-12-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo for the first time. They had a blast! Our zoo is laid out to be very natural and the best habitat possible for the animals. What that means for people is that you're walking about 4 miles round trip. So, we did not do the whole zoo, but about half. Catalina's favorite animals were the meerkats and the giant tortise. Maverick's were the seals. Below is a picture of Mav waving to the seals as they swim past the glass. As always we had to make a stop at TJ's favorite- the otters, and my fav, the polar bear. We had the kids walk most of the time which meant we had to actively keep them awake for lunch as their eyelids started drooping before we were even out of the parking lot!

Need some party suggestions!

2008-11-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm throwing my first Cookie Exchange party in a couple of weeks. If you're not familiar with this type of party- the attendees bring about 6 dozen home-baked holiday cookies. Then, we have snacks chat, etc. Then the exchange starts- you go around the table and collect one cookie from each person's tray until all the cookies are gone- so you have a wide variety of cookies (6 dozen) to share at home. Here's the thing...I have no idea what kind of cookie to make. Help me out by putting your suggestions in the comment area! We're having adults and kids, so it should be family friendly. THANKS!

Dinner Club

2008-11-10T04:34:00.001-08:00

In our neighborhood we have some older friends who we regularly get together with for dinners. Since the kids have been home they've joined us b/c now really it's Maverick and Catalina that are invited, not us. Our friends love them and their parent's from Germany adore them. There is a couple from the next town over the joins us and they have recently adopted their little girl from China, Naomi Grace- they brought her home in June. Here are some pictures from this weekend's dinner. They all had the best time playing with everyone's car keys. Of course that meant that we routinely had to turn off car alarms and close car trunks b/c they kept pushing the button on the car remotes. Also, as you see, Maverick LOVED using this mixing bowl as a hat for himself and Naomi Grace's dad.

Guatoberfest- Last day

2008-10-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had one last really good breakfast at the Marriott buffet and headed to Brookgreen gardens. Again, if you're in the Myrtle Beach/ Murrell's Inlet area, definitely check it out. For the adults it is an amazing garden and is accented by several sculptures. For the kids they have a zoo-like feature with an aviary, domestic animal section and foxes. Plus the kids got to run around and put their hands in the fountains, really, it was a win/win. They did have several rescued owls and the kids learned how to say owl (pronounced "ow) and that and owl says "hoot hoot" (pronounced "oo oo").

Guatoberfest Day 3

2008-10-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took the morning to go to the beach. No, we didn't go to church- I haven't been to church since I was 7 and got kicked out of Sunday school for asking too many questions. Maybe that's why I'm an educator now...but I digress...

So- the beach was beautiful! After two days of rainy, windy weather, the sun finally came out and the temp hovered around 70-75 degrees all day- perfect! We met a bunch of our new friends at the beach. Down here you'll see Sergio and Lilly. Luckily, Lilli's mama, the brilliant woman she is, brought a bunch of beach toys that they shared. Of course there were times where we had to remind the kids that a shovel was not the same thing as a spoon (but we could see how they'd be confused) and sand was not just a grainy oatmeal (even though that's how it looked). It's a good thing we had a lot of time until our outing to feed the GIANT carp at Barefoot Landing, because the sand stuck on the kids in places I didn't even know they had. Seriously- when bathtime was finished after the beach, we could have had some major sandcastle fun just from what came off of them.

Now, feeding the fish at Barefoot Landing- yes, that's why we went, no shopping or anything, just fish. Let me explain. Imagine a carp- looks a bit like a Koi except on fishy steriods. Close your eyes, see that cute little fish swishing around in your mind? OK, now blow it up to the size of a dolphin while it tries to take bites out of the ducks who are desperately fighting for the food you're throwing while making valiant, though vain attempts to keep their feet out of the fishes mouths. So now you see why feeding the fish is the main attraction. It's like watching American Gladiators only in a pond. I'm just sad I couldn't capture the scale in these pics.

Sunday night we were able to hang out with the group again. The picture below does a better job of showing the level of activity than I could. I had about 25 pictures of the scene in the ballroom and not ONE came out in focus. I blame it on the beach balls. We received a wonderful welcome gift- a sandpail with snacks, water, stickers, and a blow up beach ball. There must have been 50 whizzing around. Every once in a while, my conversation would be interuppted b/c a beach ball came pelting at me from a two year old bent on mayhem. It was great.

Guatoberfest day 2

2008-10-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was free at the Marriott Grand Dunes. If you're looking for a place to stay in Myrtle Beach, I HIGHLY recommend it. We got a $99.00 group rate- I don't know what their normal rate is. They have a great outdoor pool, it's right on the beach and they have a really cool playground (but that's really for kids over 3).

Saturday afternoon, the whole gang went to the Ripley's Aquarium which the kids really enjoyed, which is good b/c TJ and I LOVE aquariums and they would have had to suffer through even if they hadn't liked it. I have some pics below.

Now, going to bed was tricky. These aren't suites, so we were all in one room, with two cribs. We ended up just toning everything down at around 8:00 (they usually go to bed at 7:30) and putting the hotel curtains over the cribs so it would be darker and they couldn't see us. Then TJ and I would do crosswords or read which was actually kind of relaxing.

The pics below are: All of us in the 'tube' where the fish are all around you- cool! Maverick with his new friend Sergio (who is SO precious) playing with the pumpking the ripped off of the hotel autumn display and finally, of Maverick pressing his face to the glass in order to, I can only assume, see the fish better.

1st day of Guatoberfest

2008-10-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Guatoberfest was AWESOME! I can't believe that many families were able to make it. The organizers certainly knew what they were doing- there were some organized activities, but also some time to hang out at the beach and in our ballroom. God bless that ball room- there really weren't any hazards in there, so we could just close the doors and let them run!

The kids did fine on the way down- we only had to stop once. Part of that was good planning. We picked the kids up at 11:30 on Friday which is when they go down for nap. So, they were down for a good hour and half in the car. The trip took about 3.5 hours, so they were asleep for almost half of it. Now, for me, 3.5 hours with kids is LONG (without kids I could go cross country no problem)- however, my hat is off to the families who DROVE from Missouri and Flew from Washington state--whew- now that's a trip.

The first day was just getting acclimated and hanging out- we went to the beach even though it was a bit chilly and windy. I was shocked when both of them liked the ocean. Well, I wasn't so much surprised that Catalina liked it. She's a dare devil and is afraid of NOTHING...well...except the vacuum. Maverick on the other hand- he had to go to the pool 6 times before he'd go in without screaming. But- he just ran towards the water. Here are some pics from our first day:

Guatoberfest 2008!

2008-10-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we're headed out to Myrtle Beach for Guatoberfest. If you've clicked on the link over on the left you know that this is a BIG deal! This event brings together families from all over the US who have adopted from Guatemala. At this event, there will be somewhere around 75 families and over 100 kids under 2 years old. While that's great for us, I really feel sorry for the other people staying in the hotel. Hopefully, there are no business people who have to get up and go to work. On the other hand, I won't feel bad at all if M & C wake up during the night, I have a feeling we won't be the only ones.

The group who puts this on is the Guatemala Orphan Team who strives to provide financial and material assistance to orphaned children in Guatemala. Check out their site if you're interested in learning more. The link for Guatoberfest over on the left will get you there.

The things we're most excited about are: meeting new Guateparents, the Aquarium- that's mainly for TJ and I as we're animal freaks, introducing the kids to the beach and going to Brookgreen Gardens. The things we're most anxious about are: how to put the kids to bed at 7:30 with a tiny hotel room and how to not overpack we're bringing 2 pack and plays and the kids booster seats. We figure with that many toddlers, there's no way the Marriott will have enough. Plus, we're driving and want to leave the cribs and boosters for those who are flying and can't bring them.

Can't wait to post pictures for you all!

Pumpkin Time!

2008-09-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

October is our favorite month of the year! The weather is wonderful, Halloween is almost here and the leaves are turning! Usually, this would be the month that TJ and I take off to the mountains for a vacation, but not this year. We'll still have plenty to report though. All of us are going to Myrtle Beach in a couple weeks for Guatoberfest, then to TJ's mom and dad's for a small family reunion, then I'm going to Atlanta for work. Finally- then there's the kids first Halloween at home! We'll be busy but thrilled.

Yesterday we went to a local farm to let the kids pick out pumpkins. They have hayrides, a giant 80 foot slide (which they loved!) and goats and chickens you can feed. All in all a good day.

Parenting and politics are NOT the same thing

2008-09-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

Generally, I avoid posting anything political on this blog since this blog is mainly intended to share our family's journey with relatives and friends. However, recently on an adoption discussion board, there was a very lengthy (and heated) discussion about the two presidential/ vice-presidential candidates. What worried me about this discussion was that it seemed people were basing their voting decision on the question "how good a mother is Pallin?" and "how good of a father is Obama?" Also, several people mentioned the fact that John McCain as an adoptive father lends sway to their decision. My question is: Who cares?!

If McCain/Pallin are elected, she won't be my mother and if elected, Obama will not be my father, they would be my Representative to the world at large. We should be concerned about their positions on issues and past actions, not whether someone spent their elementry school years abroad or if somone was born on a naval base. Who in the world can choose where they go to elementary school or where they're born anyway? Past actions predict future behavior, this is a very basic fact in human behavior. This is what we should be focusing on, not how someone has chosen to grow their family.

Growing and talking!

2008-09-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

We just went for the kids' 18month appointment yesterday and all is well with both kids. Maverick is up to 26 lbs. and Catalina finally broke the 20lb mark and is now 20.5 lbs. This is still pretty well below American standards but not too far off from Guat. standards.

We're also getting the kids' speech assessed this month through our early intervention office. We're not too worried about it since they've only been hearing English for about 6 months, but we just want to get tips on how to help them catch up. Here's what they can say so far:

Maverick: Bubbles (pronounced bubows), waffle (prounounce wafo), daddy, hi, bye bye, night night, banana, shoes, up, down & all done.

Catalina: banana, daddy, hi, bye-bye, night night, book, up, down, kitty, all done, all gone, let's go, thank you and jump (pronounced um)

Also- both kids can now eat with a spoon and drink from a regular cup, though we haven't tried using non-sippy cups away from home yet. They're both coming along with drinking properly though we still have one big spill a day-all I can say is thank goodness for buying paper towels in bulk!

Brand New Car!

2008-08-25T17:09:00.001-07:00

No, not for us, for the kids. My mom's co-worker gave us a little tykes car (thanks Alena!) and the kids have gone crazy with it, especially Maverick. Catalina's not so keen on driving it but loves to push Maverick in the car.

"Damn it Maverick, I thought I told you to put gas in the car!"

"Hey baby, want a ride?"

Last Days of Summer

2008-08-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

On her last day of freedom before starting law school, my sister met us at the Farmer's Market as it's bursting with good 'ol NC produce. I love shopping there b/c you actually get to meet the people who grow the stuff rather than having it randomly show up at the grocery store- no way to tell how long it's been sitting on the truck. Anyway, while we were there I tried to take the kids' pictures next to a bunch of cut sunflowers, but being toddlers, they wouldn't stay still for anything. The guy selling them was SO nice and gave us a sunflower for free so that we could hold them and take pics. Sometimes, people show the kind of kindness that could persuade me that people actually don't suck. Here are the pics.: in the picture, Maverick isn't smelling the flower, he's actually trying to lick it, blech. I love the last picture- isn't that better than the grocery store?

horses and bubbles

2008-08-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks we've been enjoying both the outdoors and indoors. Here it gets to 98 degrees and 98% humidity by noon so outside is out of the question some days. So, we got the kids a rocking horse. Maverick isn't so interested but Catalina LOVES it- at least that's one thing they won't constantly fight over. Here's a pic of her with her horsey. Outside, both the kids love bubbles and Maverick will run and squeal 'bubows! bubows!' Here are some pics from last week of them with their bubbles. I hope everyone's enjoying the last few weeks of summer.

Kids and Kitties

2008-08-01T06:37:00.001-07:00

We took the kids out to CPT again, we're determined that they will like, nay, LOVE animals the way we do. So, we trekked out to the tiger rescue where we volutneer to visit. The kids loved the tigers and in turn the tigers loved them, though not quite in the same way. In fact, Kaela, a 4 year old female, pounced to the front of her cage to get at Catalina. This was expected as she does it with almost all small kids- (ps: this is exactly why tigers should not be pets!!). Catalina just laughed and waved at Kaela. The girl has NO fear. You can see more about CPT at http://www.cptigers.org/.

Raja lounging on top of his house.

Me & Catalina posing with Kaela before her pounce.

Catalina chillin' in the backseat on the way to CPT.

Friends and Butterflies

2008-08-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last week we met up with some friends who also adopted two children from Guatemala-a boy and a girl too! We had lots of fun at the Museum of Life and Science:

Everyone in the butterfly house (not a great pic of me, but everyone else looks great)

Left to right: TJ, Catalina, Eduardo, Jana, Maria, Matt, Amber & Maverick

Maverick and Maria playing...I thought to myself after this picture "do I really want them learning how to undo locks?"

My pretty girl taking a rest

Happy 18 months Maverick!

2008-08-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is 18 months! Today is also our 6 month anniversary home with the kids. Whew! Has life changed in six months. Here are a few pics of the birthday boy. Maverick is also walking, finally! He sure did take his sweet time about it. Below is a video taken last week- about 2 weeks after he started walking. Boy- is it nice having both kids mobile.

First Post-kid couple's vacation!

2008-07-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Cabin sweet cabin on the beach at Cinnamon Bay Overlook from our hike

We have just arrived back home from our first couple's vacation after bringing the kids home, aside from a few snags went wonderfully! We vacationed for 3 days at Maho Bay tent camps in St. John USVI, an eco-resort we've been to a few times before. This is the real kind of eco-resort, low environmental impact, raised walkways, hotter than hades, haul your own water, geckos in your tent kind of place...we LOVE it! My sister watched the kids (for a fee, hey she's a broke student again, she needs it), they had a great time and Bri is so good with them. Here are a few pictures of our vaca.

The only problem came as we were coming home on Sunday. Our flight from the VI to Atlanta was delayed by about an hour and a half due to bad weather in Atlanta. What they didn't tell us is that bad weather caused the airport to be shut down for about 4 hours. So, of course when we arrived in Atlanta, we had missed our connection and found that other flights home were cancelled....along with 10,000 other people!

I've never seen the likes of this kind of chaos and I've travelled ALOT. By the time we arrived, there were NO flights, our earliest booking to anywhere w/in 300 miles of home would be on Wednesday- unacceptable! Of course, as we later found out, there were NO hotels, NO cars and No train tickets. My mom was able to help us find a rental car place in a random part of Atlanta that still had 3 cars left. So, we got to sleep on the floor of the Atlanta terminal with about 1,500 other people (no exaggeration)- seriously, as TJ put it, it looked like a refugee camp, bodies lined up end to end on the floor.

After a refreshing 1.5 hour of sleep, we got up at 5:00 on Monday and booked it over to get the car and made the 7 hour drive home. I have to say though, we were lucky, even though we'd only had 1.5 hour of sleep in the last 35 hours, another couple at the rental car place had just flown in from China and had their flight cancelled and slept on the floor at the airport! Not only that, they were making the drive to Connecticut! Whew! I need a vacation from my vacation.

Welcome Back Aunt Briana!

2008-07-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to have my sister back home. Having lived in other states for the last six years, she's now returned to our home state to go to Law School, yikes! The kids were so happy to see her and we're looking forward to having many more playground moments.

Pool Time!

2008-06-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, TJ and I broke down and joined a family gym. Our community center doesn't have a pool so we joined a gym in a neighboring town to get a pool. Ugh! $82.00 a month. I know this isn't much compared to some, but we were only paying $100/ year with our community center gym. Anyway- we want to get the kids used to water and to the point where they enjoy it because TJ and I love swimming and the beach! The first time swimming was disasterous and they still don't like their kiddie pool (sorry Marianne!) but have gotten accustomed to the larger pools and baby pool at the gym (we'll try the kiddie pool again). In preparation for this step, we were SO thankful to receive a HUGE Land's end canvas bag from TJ's aunt Marilyn and uncle Jerry! It is enormous and absolutely perfect!! I can hold 4 towels, sunscreen, shoes, swim diapers, a camera and snacks! It's like M&J are psychic! Here are some pics from a recent visit to the pool.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

2008-06-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip up to Richmond to visit TJ's parents. The kids had such a great time (as did we) at the Lewis Ginter gardens, especially the children's gardens that had splash fountains! They even did pretty well with the 3 hour drive.

They have several picture frames mounted that make for great pics

TJ and Tom with the kids in the kids garden

Well, I guess it's too much to expect everyone to be looking at the camera

Lotus flower in the Asian garden

Update

2008-06-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update for our long-distance family & friends. The kids had their checkup last week and are doing well. Catalina clocked in at 18.6lbs- she's still a little peanut...in the 5th percentile for height and weight (by Amercian standards). We're going to be taking her to a pediatric dentist though because she still only has 2 bottom teeth and just now is getting 2 more. When she came home, she showed signs of mal-nuritrition and was in the beginning stages of rickets. So, we are going to make sure all of her baby teeth have actually formed. Keep your fingers crossed. Her language skills have also grown. She has added "all done", "thank you" and "let's go" she also signs for milk, all done, food and drink. Her receptive language (what she understands) is amazing and she constantly points to things and asks "that?"; you can tell she's just a little sponge.

Maverick has grown to 24.8lbs. and is a little lop-sided being 45percentile for weight but only 25th for height. Yes, he looks like a roly poly- maybe that's what is throwing off his balance for walking. He seems to be closer to walking as he's only using one hand for support now, but hasn't taken the leap to walk on his own yet. He was evaluated by a physical therapist and she said that he's doing everything right, he just doesn't have the confidence yet. Let's hope that happens soon because having one child running and the other not yet walking is VERY challenging from a logistical standpoint. He continues to work with a developmental therapist getting him up to speed on social and self-help skills (like coordination, some language/ signs, using a spoon and playing along side other kids) and seems to be making some progress. His therapist is a great person and the therapy is free through our state program. If anyone out there is hesitating to get your toddler evaluated, do it! We've been very pleased with the program and staff in our state.

Here are some pictures:

Lucky Friday 13th

2008-06-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

So, for most people Friday the 13th is a day to be avoided, to keep your head down to avoid bad luck. However, for us, it's a VERY lucky day! TJ and I had our first date on Friday, Oct. 13- got engaged on Friday, March 13th and had our rehersal dinner on Friday April 13 (we wanted to get married on Friday the 13th, but family couldn't make it into town- so we settled for the14th. Luck is what you make it and the love of my life has made me remember how lucky I am every time this day pops up on the calendar!

TJ and I on our luckiest day!

Uh-oh!

2008-05-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is Catalina's new word. She just picked up saying "uh-oh" a couple of days ago and now that' all she says. She'll inentionally drop food on the floor at meals then look over the side of her high chair so that she can say "Uh-oh!". Hilarious but I think it's gonna get old.

Lots of little milestones

2008-05-27T05:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend we had lots of little milestones at our house. These are things that I think don't sound very big, but they let us know the kids are progressing. I'll post some pictures this evening when I (finally) have a chance to download them from our digital camera.

The kids have been VERY interested in all of our electronics, cordless phone, remote control, computer keyboard and some low tech items, the vacuum, the broom etc. They already are allowed to play with some of our old remotes and Catalina now points it at the TV and pushes buttons. I'll try to get a pic of this soon. But on Saturday, thanks to TJ's Aunt Audrey and the great Target gift card we received, we went to get the kids a phone to play with. I'm a big believer that it's better to get them the 'real' thing vs. toy imitations (when $ allow) so we purchased a cordless phone for them to play with. It looks like ours and makes the cool beeping noises---they LOVE it! They both 'talk' on the phone but Catalina has picked it up a bit faster. From the word go, she's held it properly and babbled into it. When she picks it up she says "hi". Yesterday I asked who was on the phone and she said "kitty"! She just started saying 'kitty' on Sunday. So, we also have some new words. Her repetoire now includes "DaDa", "Kitty", "Hi" and "Uh-oh". She can also now identify several things if we ask her 'where is..." She knows, car, house, kitty, Mama, Dada, Grandma/pa, ball and toothbrush. We've had a couple other new twists physcially with our little daredevil. She wants to go down ALL the slides at the park including the 'big kid' slides. She would not allow me to hold her hand to get up the stairs. Now, do you think she was crawling up the stairs? NOPE! She wanted to walk up but isn't quite big enough to get her legs that high so mommy did alot of 'catching'. The craziest thing is, when she falls it doesn't phase her a bit- she just laughs and tries it again.

Maverick also enjoys the phone and pushing buttons, but doesn't talk on it much. However, to go along with his new forward-facing (big-boy) car seat status, we got him a toy steering wheel (many of you know about his wheel obsession). He LOVES to play with it. The horn beeps, he has a turn signal and a mirror--all of which he makes full use of. I think we have a future NASCAR driver on our hands.

First Family Trip

2008-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

For TJ's 30th birthday, we all piled in the car and went to the mountains for the weekend. This is an area where TJ and I try to go every year, but it's the first time w/ kids. We were a little worried, especially w/ Maverick's health issues and the 4 hour drive! But all turned out pretty well, they even did well in the car.

We stayed at a KOA campground because they always have great playgrounds and other family friendly facilties. Also, I can't say enough good things about our GPS system. We were able to program in where parks and rest areas were while driving. The kids got really cranky about 1/3 of the way home and we searched out a park that turned out to be really nice, they had a toddler climbing wall that both the kids liked.

We ended up taking 2 hikes and Catalina especially loved it. She walked everywhere she could - uphill, downhill, didn't matter and as a result, she zonked out in the car as soon as her rear touched the seat- we had to wake her up for lunch on Saturday. Here are some pics.

Eating croissants at Dunkin Donuts before hitting the road

At the top of Devil's Courthouse overlook- this hike is short but steep and Maverick is HEAVY!

Daddy and Catalina at the wildlife center going to meet the baby goat.

Taking a rest at the Arboretum

Catalina's first rock climbing experience at a park- she needed very little help getting up the 8ft wall- wooohoo, go little monkey go. Her nickname at home is actually mini mono (mono= monkey in Spanish).

Fun Foto Friday

2008-05-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm posting the next batch of fun photos. It's been hard getting shots b/c Maverick has been in and out of the doctor all week. He got kicked out of daycare b/c of a rash on his legs, which, even after 4 doctors examined him; we still have no idea what it was though I'm convinced it's kerartosis pillaris, because I have it and the rash looks exactly like my bumps (non-painful little red bumps on arms or legs caused by a build up of keratin in the skin) Then, he started having athsma flare ups again, and a pretty good ear and chest infection going. Oh yeah, did I mention the yeast infection and ring worm? I keep looking for the warranty on this kid but I can't find it. Poor guy! Anyway, Catalina on the other hand is happy as a clam though getting over a cold. She's everyone's favorite at daycare. The director even said that all of the floating staff asks to work in her classroom b/c they love playing with her!

Catalina and Grandpa at the park...she loves to slide!

Maverick lookin' cool in Mommy's sunglasses

Looking cute at the park

Mommy, how much did I cost?

2008-04-29T04:52:00.001-07:00

I saw a great post on someone's blog about her daughter (adopted from China) asking this question at the dinner table. Who knows where she got it, but it got some of us thinking about that question....not in terms of money mind you, but in terms of life in general. Here are my thoughts:

Maverick and Catalina, here is how much you cost:

You cost our unfailing knowledge that we make the 'right' decisions. Bringing you home was rather like jumping off a skyscraper without knowing why we jumped or how we would land safely.

You cost our CD collections which now consist of Wheels on the Bus and Barco Pequeno rather than Disturbed and Godsmack.

You cost our life in the fast lane- always going, doing, seeing. Now, we still go, do and see but now we go to the park, do 'waterplay' and see how you react to things like tree bark and teeter totters.

You cost us the feeling in our legs when we brought you home and lost all feeling from the waist down because we didn't move for 5 hours because we were so afraid you'd wake up if we moved.

You cost us our knees from us crawling down the stairs so you wouldn't see us from you crib and start screaming (again).

You almost cost an assult and battery charge when we almost beat the med. tech. to death after she stuck you with the blood-draw needle three times and still couldn't hit the vein.

You cost us a clean house (because who has time now?)

But, for all that, there's nothing we would change and we'd gladly give more for you.

Fun Foto Friday

2008-04-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

This week was the kids' first full week of daycare and they took to it as well as can be expected. They cry when TJ drops them off in the morning but they settle down soon enough and give us big smiles when I go pick them up in the afternoon. The only bad part is that they only nap for about 45 min, even at home, but at the daycare nap time is 11:20-2:00...yeah, right! If they can get our busy girl to sleep for that long I'll buy them all dinner!

Here are a few photos from our fun at the park. You can see Maverick has been showing a bit more interest in walking now...thank goodness. It's been logistically tough having only one walking. Hopefully, he'll be on his own in the next couple of months.

mmmm....fig newtons....mmmmm

Mommy...stop taking photos and let's go swing!

Not sure if I like this walking thing yet...

Fun Foto Friday...well, more like Thursday

2008-04-17T10:34:00.001-07:00

Sorry to miss posting on Friday, so these will have to do for last Friday and this Friday. I'm SO glad the weather is getting warmer here so the kids can go out a bit more and it avoids us getting cabin fever.

It's warm enough for water play!

Grandma and our first strawberries at the Farmer's Market

Grandpa going expressly against mommy and giving us whipped cream!

Mmmmm......strawberries from the Farmer's Market...mmmmm

Our first family illness and...the kids first visit to daycare

2008-04-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

How funny that illness and daycare often end up in the same sentence! So, we all have horrible colds. Well, TJ's not so bad and Catalina looks like she takes after him in that it would be them and the roaches left if there were another plague outbreak. Maverick and I on the other hand would go down in the first two days if the plague showed up. Poor guy, at least I can take nose spray and really strong cold medicine. He on the other hand wakes up with mucus all over his face, bed, jammies and any other surface in contact with his face during the night. Little guy couldn't sleep at all last night and consequently, mommy didn't sleep either. But all I can say is thank goodness for nasal aspirators (after I figured out how to use it without sucking his brains out) and Little Noses Saline drops. Unfortunately with all the warnings now about cold medicines not being safe for kids under 2, he doesn't have the advantage of a decongestant.

Also, the kids start daycare next week and so TJ's taking them to visit a few days this week and get them used to the teachers, kids and routine. I was terrified yesterday and was worried all day until TJ called me to tell me how they did. I thought for sure they'd hate it or that they'd somehow behave so badly that we'd get kicked out (hey after all the crap over the last 20 months, you can't blame me for a little pessimism). Luckily, they both did pretty well.

The kids did fine, though they had some new experiences. First, the teachers serve lunch on paper plates- my kids have never eaten off of plates so of course, those (and the food on them) were across the room in about 30 seconds, they use sippy cups at daycare, but not the kind with handles so Mav had a tough time figuring out how he was supposed to drink the milk. And, apparently the kids nap on small cots so I have no idea if our busy girl will be still long enough to lay down and fall asleep...though I'd lay 10-1 odds that she gets up constantly and drives the teachers crazy. TJ said the kids' teachers are really nice, patient and do a good job of keeping up w/ the kids. I have no idea how daycare workers do it. There are 12 one-year olds in their class with 2-3 teachers so you know they are CONSTANTLY changing diapers, yuck! All I can say is I think I'll be getting them a nice Teacher's Day gift when the time comes.

Lastly, a funny story that shows I have good mommy intuition. Apparently, there are two kids in their class who are vegetarian. I am vegetarian and considered raising the kids that way. However, something told me that they'd be fed meat at some point (other kids' houses, day care etc.) so I'd better just let them eat it for the time being. In case you don't know...if you cease eating meat for 8 weeks, your body stops producing a certain enzyme to break down animal-based protein so if you eat meat (even just a little) then you'd better be really close to the bathroom for about 4 hours. Lo and behold, TJ said that at lunch yesterday, the vegetarian kids were stealing Beef-a-Roni off of the others' plates and scarfing it down. Well, really everyone was eating off of everyone elses plates, but can you imagine the diapers for the next few hours! Ewwww!

Family visits

2008-04-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

(Grandpa and Catalina opening her present)

(Tia Havila pulling Maverick in his toy bucket)

Yesterday we had TJ's folks down and Maverick and Catalina got to meet their Tia Havila and Tio Steven for the first time. Of course, they loved that 6 peope, rather than just 2 were at their beck and call! Maverick and Catalina would like Tia Havila and Tio Steven to know that they are really enjoying their new ride-on toy! And, they can't wait to try out their bubble makers when it gets sunny!

Go JAYHAWKS!

2008-04-05T07:15:00.001-07:00

Everyone in my house will be watching the game tonight! Here's Maverick supporting the team! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Fun Foto Friday

2008-04-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

These are pics from this week. Mostly bathtime. I've decided that these are the pictures that I'll show to their dates in high school (insert mad cackle here).

Things I never thought I would say and Things I'm proud of

2008-03-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

There are things that one never imagine one will say....until they have children that is. Here are the things I've found myself saying in the last few weeks that I hope nobody overhears out of context:

"Stop licking your brother's face"

"No licking the floor"...said to Catalina who was licking the spilled baby food off the floor after lunch.

"We don't put litter in our mouths"

"Honey, can you get the poop that rolled across the floor" (said to TJ when Maverick was particularly wiggly and kicked the diaper off the changing table)

"Let's go to dinner at 5:00" - I feel old saying that, but the kids go to bed at 6pm and service is quicker at restaurants before 5:30.

On to things that I'm proud of. I have to toot our horn because there are somethings we've been able to accomplish that I didn't think would be possible only 5 weeks after coming home.

1. We're able to get everyone dressed, fed and ready for an outing by 9:00am! With the wiggly ones this is truly an accomplishment.

2. Because neither TJ or I are homebodys in the least, our kids won't be either. They have already been to 4 parks, 3 malls, countless Targets, the pool and CPT to visit the tigers.

3. We have concocted an ingeneous scheme for each of us to get 8 hrs of sleep per night on at 3 nights. We switch off night duty. When the kids wake up during the night (usually 2 times for diaper changes), we switch who gets up. This prevents games of 'midnight chicken' where each of us sees who can pretend to be asleep the longest before getting up.

4. Through a good bit of teamwork and planning, we've never eaten a cold meal, even when going out

5. We have only resorted to having the kids watch TV twice since being home. However, this is helped by the fact that they have little to no interest in TV whatsoever, so we can't really take the credit for this one. However, LeapFrog tables have been our dear friend since being home.

6. We have not become paranoid parents as we feared we would. Don't get me wrong, we care about their health and safety but, so what, they occasionally lick the floor (see above comment) and put other babies' body parts in their mouth....well...that should help build up their immunity right?

So- this list probably sounds like bragging. But considering that I had no idea what we'd do with two toddlers, I really feel proud of this list. It gets me through those moments when I'm questioning my own sanity. I think psychologists call it 'positive self talk'.

Study in Chocolate

2008-03-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

OK so one day I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the kids to chocolate pudding. The doctor had said to maximize their caloric intake b/c they are so small (Catalina's still in 3-6 month old clothing). So- I mixed the pudding w/ banana and let them have at it just to see what kind of mess they'd make. Well, here it is. Luckily, the booster seats are all plastic and I was smart enough to feed them in only a diaper.

Our first few weeks

2008-03-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well after a tough trip and a rough first few weeks, things seem to be getting in some kind of rhythm. I have returned to work this week but TJ's taking his month home with the kids now. We've made some catch-up progress so far. Catalina's able to walk about 5 feet by herself and Maverick's pulling up and cruising now. This is a BIG difference as when we met them, Maverick was barely crawling and Catalina couldn't walk at all on her own. Here are some pictures from our first few weeks.

New Blog!

2008-02-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hello all! We've created this new blog as a symbolic 'new page' in our lives with Maverick and Catalina. Many of you have been keeping track of our journey to adopt on another site and this one will be dedicated to our lives at home. Though, be prepared, I'm sure I will have much less time to post now with two toddlers!

We leave for our pick up trip on 2/23 and will return late on 2/24 so for our friends and family who are picture fiends, I'll post pics as soon as possible after we get back. Must go and pack now...