Callie's 8 Years Old

 Before I catch up on Christmas, let's take some time to acknowledge the fact that Callie turned EIGHT years old! She's an old woman now! I'm among that group of moms who always say absurd things like, "How is that possible? How are you a year older already?!" We know the answer: time is constantly moving forward. But it still tears at my heart a little. She's no longer any part baby...all little, maturing, fabulous little girl.

Admittedly, Callie's birthday stunk this year. During Christmas everyone in our extended family seemed to take turns getting sick. Not us. We were strong and untouchable...until Monday when school and work started again. Callie went to school on Monday, threw up, and stayed home the next day...on her birthday...curled up in a blanket watching too much tv. But the thing is, once she threw up, she seemed to be fine. But she couldn't go back to school less than 24 hours later. So on her birthday, I took her out and we painted at this ceramics store. She also picked out a bracelet and necklace she wanted. Then I got the phone call to come pick up Sammy from school because she had a fever. (sigh). So on Callie's birthday, we rushed out to get her sick sister. Things just weren't working for the girl. We had had big plans including Chuck E. Cheese (which, let's be honest, I wasn't sad about having to miss) and family party. But all that got tossed out when window. So, on her actual birthday...celebration #1...we spent some quality Mommy/Callie time together and she got to watch tv the rest of the day.

A couple days later everyone seemed to be healthy. So as a little family, we did the birthday thing. She picked out dinner...noodles (no sauce), peas. And she opened presents.

She was pretty excited. The biggest gift will come in a couple weeks when my parents come out. Grandpa is going to paint her room and build her a bed. She's so excited!

And, call me a negligent mom, and I'll understand...but there were no candles. I was so consumed with taking care of everyone and still trying to make her birthday special, that I forgot to make sure we had candles. Luckily, Callie didn't care at all. She has strong opinions on how things should go, so I was very happy that she really didn't care. But, she did ask for a strawberry cake...and I delivered. I had never done a strawberry cake before, but thanks to Pinterest, I found a great frosting. I decided to just do a white cake and then this amazing frosting. We all loved it! I'm NOT a frosting person. I like just a thin layer. But this was heavenly. Whoever discovered this recipe, I bow down. It was light, fluffy, creamy, strawberry perfection. I will do this again.

The last celebration...yes, we are on #3...happened on Sunday with the rest of the family. This was the classic one. Candles, singing, eating cake. We had done all the presents and had the glorious cake...but a birthday just isn't a birthday unless we celebrate it at Grammy's with everyone at Sunday dinner.

So yes, Callie's actual 8th birthDAY stunk...but all in all...she kind of scored.

When I look back at the past couple years, Callie has had a lot of challenges. I'm so proud of how much she has grown, how she has overcome some of those, how she is working on them. She is so full of faith, and love. She is becoming this beautiful young lady who is learning to put her trust in the Lord and in those who love her. She is naturally curious and is finding more confidence in taking chances and risks -- the ones that help us grow and develop, that make us go out of our comfort zone.

The evening of her birthday, Callie asked me to read her "her" story. It's a small scrapbook of pictures from the first days of her life with excerpts from this blog...thoughts and feelings I had when she was placed in our home and the events that led up to it. I cried as I read. She looked up and said, "Mom, are you crying?" "Yes. I just love you so much." She smiled and cuddled in closer. My heart would be incomplete with her. I love Callie so much and loved having 3 celebrations of her birth!!!

2015 Christmas Family Movie

Year after year we make our Christmas family movie. Sometimes -- often -- it can be stressful. But when it's all done, the kids love it and watch it over and over and over and over again. So...it's worth it. THIS year we had some lighting issues and some of our cast members weren't as compliant, but the movie got done and we have loved it!

Merry Christmas

and a most Happy Holidays

When In Utah

Things I do in Utah that I don't do at home in California

Run in the rain 

(except I hear there was quite a bit back home yesterday! Yay!)

Run in rain that turns into snowflakes as my elevation increases

Flush the toilet every single time I use it 

(sounds gross, but I'm hard core in protecting the little water we have left in CA)

Shower for a REALLY REALLY long time

Give the kids a warm bath every single day 

(this drought has really messed up my life!)

Take a morning nap when my dad wakes up and says, 

"I'll watch the kids, why don't you go back to bed"

FREEZE daily. It's so cold here. I've become so wimpy

Snuggle with Sammy more often. I've had so much time to just be with her. I love it

Miss Callie and Marcus. I really miss them

Hang out with Bryan and Analisa regularly. That has been really fun for me

Get some of the best therapy for Sammy at Now I Can

I'm listening to happy squeals from Sammy. She's on her break and ready for a snack. I feel so blessed that we are here.

Getting her morning stretch on

Now I Can update

We're here at Now I Can and Sammy's been a really trooper. I'm so impressed with her. She is in the worst physical shape she's been in ... ever... and she's pushing through and working so hard. Our goal for this session of intensive therapy out here in good 'ole Utah is to avoid surgery. I'm not sure if that will happen. But I have faith and believe in miracles. Will she need surgery? Maybe one day. But we are taking this one day at a time and seeing if we can stretch out her muscles instead of having to cut them. It makes me sad to think about.

Coming from California, we didn't have "warm" clothes for November in Utah. I had to go out to Walmart and buy some clothes because we were all freezing. Sweats are working well for her.

Really working on getting that foot down.

Sammy is an angel. But something I learned last night is that angels apparently require no sleep. At all! She woke up at 1am and fell back asleep at 5am. This wasn't fun. Luckily my saintly parents are here and when my dad woke up proclaiming how he slept so well and then asked about me, he immediately told me to go back to bed and he'd take care of it all. Phew. I anticipated Sammy being a wreck today, but she's been doing so well. Hopefully she sleeps through the night and is ready for a weekend to recover before hitting it hard again on Monday.

Smiling but looking sleepy

Alone and Afraid

Who knew the San Jose Airport had this nifty contraption? We watched the balls go up, down, and around for 20 minutes before we boarded the plane. Pretty cool.

I have been not-so-eagerly anticipating flying alone with Sammy and Micah. Today was the day. In my gut I knew it'd be fine, but I still wasn't looking forward to it. Flying alone with kids isn't the problem...it's getting on the plane, off the plane, the suitcases....walking. Walking alone with kids in an airport...that's the challenge. You'd think throwing another kid in the mix would be difficult, but for many reasons I so wished Callie was with me. That girl is amazing and I didn't fully realize how helpful she is until I didn't have her as my bud on this trip. I credit modern technology and Halloween candy for our survival on the plane. Last minute I grabbed Sammy's Halloween bag...and the entire flight all she did was nibble on candy. She was happy.

Modern technology lulling my child into a deep trance-like state.

But we are here, safe, and the kids are asleep. Sammy did great on the flight but when we got out of the car to get into the house, she lost it. She cried, and cried (sugar withdrawals?)...which is not normal for her. And it was heartbreaking. Micah had fun but was confused as to why we had a new house. 

Halloween candy kept Sammy happy.

At 8pm, Micah was hungry (after refusing to eat dinner that Irene cooked...and was delicious by the way), so I cooked the frozen pizza Bryan picked up for us. Sammy and Micah ate pizza at 8:00. They should have both been in bed by 7:30. Oh well.

I had decided that Micah would sleep in a separate room...the room my parents will be staying in. My hope was that for just a couple nights that both he and Sammy would sleep well. Sammy wakes up early and I don't want her waking Micah up at 6am. And Micah has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and coming to sleep in our room. I don't want him waking Sammy up at midnight. But at 10pm, after he was still not asleep, he told me he didn't want to be alone. I wish he had told me that about an hour earlier, but ok. So we snuck into Sammy's room and he laid down on a really squeaky bed. Sammy squirmed but stayed asleep. We'll see how this goes.

It was fun seeing Bryan, Irene, Analisa, Alex, and James. Micah loves James. He kept talking about seeing Jamesy tomorrow. 

I'm not sure why, but it feels strange to be here. I've done this trip for Sammy a few times, but being here feels odd. Perhaps because it all came about so quickly. Or that Callie's not with me this time. I'm not sure what it is, but being here feels a little surreal, like I can't fully believe I'm here. I think ak part of me always wanted to come back to Now I Can, but also believed that chapter had ended. That due to the difficulty of actually coming out here for 3-4 weeks...we were done. And yet, this is what we feel is best. It's weird to be here. But I am here. And we are doing this for the next 3 weeks.

Love is Spoken Here

Micah is a singer. He loves singing and being sung to. Each night, I sing songs to him, and then always have to sing just one more before he'll let me leave the room. His new favorite is the Primary song Love is Spoken Here. It's one of my favorites as well so I am happy to indulge his requests. Tonight, we said prayers, we sang, I kissed him goodnight, and left the room.

Marcus then went in to say goodnight to his boy, then came out and said, "Jenny. Come here. Quick." When I got to the room, Micah was laying down, smiling, and proceeded to sing to me. He was so proud of himself and it was adorable. I went and got my camera and asked him to do it again.

Boy does he make my heart melt.

Visiting Cousins

A few weeks ago we went and visited my brother and his family. The kids always look forward to seeing their cousins, and this time...even more so. Yes, they got a pool and I decided to load up the kids and go for a 3 hour trip to try out their new pool. Mama and her kids...hittin' the road!

 Sammy was already a little frazzled thinking about how hectic this would be for her. Trips to visit her cousins usually involve a lot of no sleep. This trip would mean nearly no sleep at all. Bummer for her and Mommy.

 Micah isn't the fish that Callie and Sammy are. He's much for cautious. I was impressed, however, that this time he let go of me and explored a little more. 

 Callie and Jackson are pretty inseparable, except at this moment when I took the picture.

Callie had so much fun jumping off the diving board, over and over and over and over and over again

And who doesn't like a little water in your face and up your nose?

Oh cousin love. Micah was totally into Hayley and was all about holding her, bringing her books, trying to make her laugh, etc. It was awesome.

Rough weekend.

Even Sammy gave up and decided to doze off for about 45 minutes. It pained me to see her in this position but was grateful she got a small nap after such a fun weekend.