Matthew attempts to make sense of my strange, wonderful family

So anyone who knows me well knows my family definitely is not average! While my immediate family is fairly traditional, my extended family on my dad's side can resemble the United Nations. My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dan had three biological children, then decided to open their home and their family to six adopted children. Laura is Ecuadorian, Peter is South Korean, and Emma, Eli, Sam, and Katy are all African American. Now, my cousin Penny and her husband Len have followed suit. They have two and a half year old twins, Joshua and Joelle, and this January adopted a brother and sister named Faith and John from Ethiopia. We were able to meet the newest members of the family when we were up in Indiana earlier this month. They were also able to spend some time with Matthew and Nathan one evening. They seemed to get along well, so I didn't think anything more about it. But, apparently, Matthew's been trying to process all of this. Yesterday, he notices that I have Len and Penny's family picture up on the refrigerator, and he comes to me and asks if Faith and John are their kids. I told him they were. He thinks for a minute (you can see where this is going, can't you?), and then asks how they can be part of their family if they're not the same color. I told him that you don't need to be the same color to be part of the same family. I tried to make it easier for him and said, "Sam, Eli, Katy, and Emma aren't the same color as you, and they're part of your family." He looks at me for a second and says, "They are??" I about fell over. I said, "Of course they are." He says, "Well, they're my friends!" I guess you can't be friends with your family members in his eyes!

Ah, the innocence of youth.

Updates from the Last Week

It's been a busy week for us. Last Monday, Matthew's baseball team won their division tournament! It was such an exciting game. Matthew had two RBI's and scored one run. The final score was 16 - 15. (There's not a whole lot of defense in T-ball. The scores would be a lot higher if they didn't have the rule that you can only score four runs per inning.) I think the parents were more excited about it than the kids. When the game was over, their coach had to tell them they had won the tournament. It was great to watch. It was, however, very late when we got home. We stopped at Bruster's, a local ice cream shop, for ice cream sundaes as a celebration. Plus, Nathan had decided that making dirt angels in Georgia's red clay was a good idea and Matthew was digging in the dirt as well, so baths were in order when we got home as well. I'm not missing baseball season at all right now.

Then, Wednesday was the last day of school. Matthew had a picnic at school, and Jeremy went and ate lunch with him. Since he didn't want to take Andrew outside in the sun, he got to come and hang out with me and the 2nd graders while we watched "Cars". Of course, one of my lovely friends, who has been my most difficult student all year, decided he needed to tell me exactly what I needed to do when Andrew starting fussing. Yes, thank you.

So, since I posted pictures of Matthew and Nathan before school on the first day of school, I'd thought I'd post pictures of them at dinner on the last day of school. (It's really because I forgot to take any pictures of them before school, but don't tell them!)

Finally, even Andrew had some excitement. He got to start solid food on Saturday. OK, so it's not as exciting as winning a tournament or finishing the school year, but it's still exciting. Besides, it's something we all have to achieve. Of course, I had to take pictures of him!

Well, that's about all for the last week. This week, I have absolutely nothing planned except for Nathan's team party. Other than that, I plan to stay home and be a bum. I know it's lazy, but my summer will be busy enough, so I'm calling this my week of vacation.

Don't Watch This if You Don't Want to Cry

This is Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Cinderella" which always makes me tear up even though I don't have any girls. But with the tragic death of his youngest daughter, Maria, yesterday, it even makes it more poignant. She was only a month older than Nathan. After the song he tells about what inspired it.

I have been a huge Steven Curtis Chapman fan for years. I even bought "The Great Adventure" album as soon as it came out with the tape and video. (Yes, I am both old and lame.) I can't imagine the pain they are suffering right now losing a child. My heart and prayers go out to them.

It's the Last Day of School!

And even though it's 11:30pm, I'm still doing a happy dance around my house. (OK, maybe it's only happening in my head, but you get what I mean!)

Wow, has it really been that long?

I was just looking at my blog, and it has actually been almost two months since I posted? Yikes! I guess I need to update everyone.

First of all, as most of you know, Andrew had his surgery on April 8th, and he came through with flying colors!! The doctor was very happy with how everything turned out, and at our post-op visit on the 30th, he said we don't need to come back for another four months! Yeah!! Plus, we got all of our insurance back, and all together we will be paying about $1000 for everything. While that is a lot of money, the insurance company paid alot more. Like close to $20,000 more. So, I can't complain. Plus, George W. Bush came through for me, and we got our stimulus check last Friday just before the bills started rolling in. I was able to use a little bit of it to buy a new camera (And, yes, Mr. President, I am expecting a personal thank you note from you for stimulating the economy at Best Buy). The camera was a floor model, and I'm sure the guy at Best Buy thought I was the dumbest person in the store. I had no idea what I wanted. The first camera I picked was a 10 megapixel camera with a 5x optical zoom. Unfortunately, the only way I could get that one was by ordering online. Now, if I wanted to order online, do you think I'd go out on a rainy Saturday in our crappy traffic just to choose a camera? No, I'd stay in my nice, dry house and click and buy. Anyway, after spending another 20 minutes looking at all of the other cameras and trying to decide how much I could spend without Jeremy having a heart attack, I settled on an Olympus Stylus. It's got the 5x zoom, but it's only got 8 megapixels. The guy at Best Buy told me I'd be OK with that though unless I wanted my pictures to be 16 inches by 24 inches. So, I got my camera. I have to go back, though, and get the charger for the battery since he forgot to give that to me. He would have forgotten to give me anything if I hadn't asked about an instruction manual.

I have been so incredibly busy at school. The last day is Wednesday, and a couple of weeks ago, we got a three page checklist of everything we need to do before we can check out on the 23rd (the last teacher day). So far, I've gotten everything done. It hasn't happened all on time, but it's getting done. I was supposed to export my grades for report cards on Wednesday, but they didn't actually get done until this afternoon. I had a good excuse though. I wasn't really expecting a four day trip to Indiana last weekend. While it wasn't a happy reason for going, it was good to see my whole family. I wasn't able to see them in November since we weren't able to go up there for Grandma's funeral. We have decided that we are going to come up with a happy reason, any happy reason to get our families together. Having three funerals in thirteen months stinks. There really isn't any other way to put it. We really need a wedding or a graduation. I'd say a baby, but I already took one for the team there, and it still didn't work out since Grandma died the same day. Thankfully, she at least knew she had a new great-grandson. Grandpa never got to see him face to face, but I know that he heard a lot about him! Especially since Andrew has decided that he wants to make sure he's the topic of every conversation with all of his medical issues.

Speaking of Andrew, I took him the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago, and two very funny things happened. First, he had exactly doubled his birth weight. He was 7 lbs 7 oz at birth, and at the visit he was 14 lbs 14 oz. I'm probably the only person in the whole world who finds that interesting. Then, when the doctor was doing his examination, he checked for the soft spots on the top of Andrew's head. I wanted to say, "Sir, the boy doesn't have your average soft spots anymore!" He had already asked me about the surgery, plus, you can't really miss the scar, so I think it was just habit. Beyond that, he is your average five month old. I'm planning on starting solid food next weekend, so I'll be sure and get pictures up!

Matthew and Nathan are still playing baseball. Matthew's team is playing in their tournament right now. This year, they divided the T-Ball league into two tournaments. The top 8 teams are in Division 1 and the bottom 8 teams are in Division 2. Matthew's team was seeded 9th, so they're the top team in Division 2. Better to be the best of the worst than the worst of the best I guess. It's double elimination, and they've won their first two games, so they'll at least play a couple of more games. Nathan's team doesn't have a tournament. He's still in the league where they don't keep score. Tomorrow is his last game, then we'll have a team party sometime after Memorial Day. While I sad to see the season end, it will be nice to have our Saturdays back. Two Saturdays ago, we were at the park for about six hours. It was a good thing I had brought two bottles for Andrew.

Hopefully, it won't be another two months! Yikes, that would put me at the end of the summer already. Yuck.

Spring Updates

I need a new camera. This is the best picture I got of Matthew at his Awana awards tonight. Yes, he's the one with his back to the camera.

The problem I have is my camera only has a digital zoom, so I can't zoom in on anything without losing sharpness. If the hospital bill for Andrew's surgery is not astronomical, I may do just what our President is asking and spend money to buy a new camera.

Matthew had a great year at Awana. He got an award for finishing his book, and then a patch for reviewing it which means he pretty much did the whole thing again. His leader loved having him, and wants him in her group next year.

Nathan is all done with Cubbies too, and he's very excited about being a Spark next year. I was able to get a better picture of him at his awards ceremony on Sunday. While he struggled with his behavior Wednesday evemings, he really loved coming. His troubles come when the time is unstructured. He just has a hard time understanding how his actions affect other people. He also gets really tired in the evenings, and those are the times when he has a tendency to lose it as well.

They are also both playing baseball. Nathan is in the Rookie league again this year. They don't keep scores, and everyone gets to bat every inning. He's playing on the Red Sox. Matthew's in T-ball again this year. He's getting a lot better at hitting the pitches from his coach. He's also doing better at actually running the bases. Last year, he liked to prance down the bases rather than run. Here are some pictures of them playing.

Nathan getting ready to bat.

Matthew getting a hit.

And no post would be complete without the requisite Easter picture. It's not great, because Matthew likes to squeeze more Andrew more than actually hold him. But, I was able to take one outside in our beautiful weather. (Yes, I'm rubbing it in for those of you up north.)

Making Easter baskets

Happy Easter!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I feel like I have been so busy over the last couple of weeks. I'm not really sure why. The last two weeks were both four day weeks, which were nice, because they were, you know, four day weeks. But I feel like I have to get just as much accomplished in a four day week as I do a five day week, so it seems a lot busier. Plus, Matthew's started baseball, so we have one game during the week and one on Saturday. Nathan's playing too, but his games are just on Saturdays. Needless to say, that makes our Saturdays really busy. I have been lucky, though. Jeremy has had the last two weekends off. This weekend, he has Saturday off, and he has to work on Sunday. I think that's why my weeks have seemed busier as well. When he has the weekend off, obviously, he works all five weekdays. So I can't get as much accomplished after school since I have all three with me all of the time.

Awana is over for the year. Nathan's award ceremony is Sunday, and Matthew's is next Wednesday. While I have loved helping out in Awana, it will be nice to have our Wednesday nights back again. Plus, I'll enjoy not eating supper in the car every Wednesday. Since Andrew arrived, there is no time to even make mac & cheese on Wednesdays, so we go through the drive thru at either Wendy's or McDonald's and eat in the car. AND, I won't miss driving on Five Forks at rush hour. For those of you not familiar with the lovely county I live in, Five Forks is one of the major arteries that runs through southern Gwinnett County. Unfortunately, it's only a two lane road. Plus, it's gotten a lot busier in the last month as the state starts a MAJOR widening project to US 78 which has sent a lot of traffic over to Five Forks. It is a major pain, and I avoid it during rush hour (which lasts from 3:30 until 7:30 around here) at all costs.

I'll get pictures posted soon of Matthew's birthday and of Easter. I loaded them up on my laptop at school, but didn't bring my card reader home to put them on the computer here.