Someone didn't believe that Mya was my daughter.
We were at one of the water parks and as usual, Mya was throwing a fit that we were leaving. She was trailing a few feet behind me while I pushed the stroller and she was sobbing. It's hard to leave a fun waterpark to go take a nap...
A lifeguard came up to her and asked her where her mommy was and if he could help her find her family. I quickly rushed to her and explained that I was her mom and she was just upset that we were leaving. He looked at me, and looked at her. He stood for a minute and I again explained that she was mine and was just upset about not getting to swim more at the moment.
At that point, another person using the waterpark pointed to our other children (walking ahead of us) and said something about what a beautiful family and how hard it is to leave when you're having so much fun. At that point, the lifeguard let go of Mya's hand and watched us closely as we walked away.
It's been a fear of mine. My kids don't look like me. We keep adoption paperwork in the car just in case. My kids are getting older now and the fear has lessened. They're old enough to say "that's my mom".
Each child has moments where you have to drag them out of somewhere kicking and screaming because they were having fun and the fun had to end. Anna has these moments regularly. Each time, we hold our breath as we wait for someone to rush to her aid as she says "Don't take me! Put me down!"
I'm sure this won't be the last instance. And on one hand, I'm glad for the lifeguard's caution. I don't want my kids walking off with someone else! I can't blame them for thinking that. On the other hand, it's a little frustrating to have to try to prove that I'm their mother. It's just one of those challenges that comes with transracial adoption.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Vacation
The lack of posting is for a lot of reasons. We were supposed to take a family vacation over Labor Day. However, Agnes ended up very sick with asthma issues, walking pneumonia, and what I believe was that entereovirus 68 that's been going around.
Shortly after her troubles stopped, mine started. I had serious trouble breathing, I couldn't take a deep breath at all. No other symptoms. My oxygen levels were fine, so after an ER visit, they told me it was anxiety. But the meds they gave me did nothing to help with any of that... I'm pretty sure it was just asthma (I'm allergic to corn pollen, it's bad this year!).
Anyway, we moved our vacation and it fell over my birthday instead :-)!
We had an absolute blast as a family. It was so nice to get away, have time with just the six of us, and enjoy a relaxing weekend together. We went to the Wisconsin Dells to a big indoor waterpark. We had a big 2 bedroom condo and it was awesome. We spent the three days swimming, playing, resting, watching movies, eating yummy food, and smiling. The kids keep asking when we're going on "bacation" again. Anthony requests swimming about 10 times a day now...
Here are some of our favorite pictures from the weekend!
It was so very fun to celebrate our family of 6. This was our first family vacation since having kids and it was definitely very memorable. I look forward to many family vacations in our future!
Shortly after her troubles stopped, mine started. I had serious trouble breathing, I couldn't take a deep breath at all. No other symptoms. My oxygen levels were fine, so after an ER visit, they told me it was anxiety. But the meds they gave me did nothing to help with any of that... I'm pretty sure it was just asthma (I'm allergic to corn pollen, it's bad this year!).
Anyway, we moved our vacation and it fell over my birthday instead :-)!
We had an absolute blast as a family. It was so nice to get away, have time with just the six of us, and enjoy a relaxing weekend together. We went to the Wisconsin Dells to a big indoor waterpark. We had a big 2 bedroom condo and it was awesome. We spent the three days swimming, playing, resting, watching movies, eating yummy food, and smiling. The kids keep asking when we're going on "bacation" again. Anthony requests swimming about 10 times a day now...
Here are some of our favorite pictures from the weekend!
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| Rolling their suitcases in! They were sooooo excited! |
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| He was about as cute as can be... |
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| They'd been talking about playing on the "willy pads" for weeks! |
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| So much fun on the slides! |
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| Daddy and his littles! |
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| We celebrated Anna's Adoption Day while we were there. She celebrated by being adventurous and not posing for pictures :-) |
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| Four kids, Four lil pads! |
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| Taking some time out of the water to color pictures. Daddy was the genius behind bringing the entertainment! |
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| Checking out another water park! |
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| These two were totally pooped by the end of the day. |
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| Riding the shuttle was definitely Anthony's favorite part of the trip. He charmed each and every bus driver. |
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| Waking up to presents and homemade cards on my birthday! |
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| The girls thought "Disney Princess Pop Up Castle Game" was a good present for me at 29 years old... They whooped me at it. |
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| Four story indoor play park. It was awesome. |
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| The view of the lake that we had from our condo! |
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| Waiting for the shuttle on my birthday. |
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| The big girls' favorite part was definitely the wave pool. Anna is still talking about it. |
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Open Adoption Q&A
We've had an open relationship with Anthony's birthmom from the beginning. We met her two weeks prior to his due date and we met with her probably 3-4 times before he was born. We spent the entire 72 hours in the hospital with her and Anthony. We got to know her well.
She knew that placing him for adoption would be very hard. She also know that it would be much easier for her if she had further contact. She wanted to be a part of his life but knew that she could not be his parent.
We, also, wanted an open relationship. Not having one with Anna's birthmom was very hard for us and we hoped that for #2, we would be able to have further contact. So we were delighted when J wanted to see us regularly.
Open adoption can seem very scary at first. It's fairly "new" in that most agencies are only working in open relationships unless birth parents request it to be closed. So people naturally have a lot of questions. We answer them as honestly as we can. We believe that having an open relationship is such a positive thing for Anthony. Some of these questions are ones we get asked regularly and others are ones people asked when I mentioned doing this post. I hope you learn something and some fears can be eased!
Is it awkward when you have visits?
In all honesty, it used to be. Just as when you begin getting to know anyone new, there was an adjustment period. In this case, we weren't just getting to know her, we were joining our families through one very special little guy. She gave my son life and I never forget that fact. However, there are times when awkard things may be said for sure. And at first, my own pride got in the way of me enjoying each visit a I worried about whether he liked her better or she wouldn't like my parenting choices. All of those worries are gone now as I've realized that was me, and my own pride!!
Are you ever worried she's going to want him back?
In short, no. She knew that she couldn't parent him. It was never really an option for her. Does she love him? Absolutely! Does she want to see him as much as possible? Yes. But I also know that she wants what's best for him. She made a very selfless decision and while she certainly had a lot of grief to work through, she knows that he's where he needs to be.
She did say once, "I could just take him home with me." I knew she was kidding (a lot of people say silly things like that). However, in this case, I quickly asked her not to say things like that. Mostly for Anna's sake, as I didn't need her to ever worry about anyone taking her brother away. Thankfully, she understood where I was coming from and has really been careful not to say things that could be interpreted differently by the kids anymore.
What does he call her?
We call her by her name. If he wants to call her something different down the road, that's fine with us. He knows she's his birthmom and he knows her name. I do know that this was a challenge for her at first. As she wanted him to call her a certain thing. However, Jeremy and I talked and really decided it was best for him to make that decision down the road. We explained this to her and while I do think it hurt her feelings, she really did understand where we were coming from. That was probably the most challenging moment of our open relationship. That was hard for her and it was certainly hard for us to speak up about it. But in the end, it's been for the best and she is just delighted when she comes over and he goes running up to her, calling her by name.
Has your relationship with the birthmom changed over time?
It has certainly changed. I think this is an important point. Just as all relationships grow and change, open adoption relationships certainly do. In our case, we agreed to see J very often at first. We called her once a week and saw her once every other week for a few months. She really needed that in her grieving process. And since he was a newborn, he didn't care. I know, for me, that was really hard. It was very often and I was working through my own emotions with adding a kid to the family and he was a super fussy baby and not spending enough time with Anna, etc... In the end, we did it for J. She needed that and we were willing and able to help her out in that way.
After two or so months of that, we started to spread visits out. I'd add a few days each time. We go into each visit with the next date on a post-it note. I text her a few days before letting her know where we'll visit. This works for us, as her schedule is pretty flexible and open. Since ours isn't, this works out great. Eventually, we were meeting once a month and making sure to hit major holidays/events (Christmas, his birthday, her birthday, etc...). In the last 6 months or so, it's really become about every other month. We're busy people, with four kids and activities. And she's worked through a lot of grief and is totally different now than she was 2 1/2 years ago. So it seems about right now. We plan on continuing every other month and making sure to have visits around those major holidays or birthdays.
At first, it was a little awkward. I mean, she gave us a child. Then it became a little bit of a challenge, as we felt as though we were seeing them all the time, even more than other family members. Now that things have settled into what I think will be a long-term relationship, we enjoy seeing them and look forward to visits. J and her mom usually meet with us for about an hour and that's just enough time for now. We meet at parks, the zoo, the museum, or sometimes at our house.
In the future, as he gets older and has more of an opinion, it will really become his responsibility to tell us what he's comfortable with as far as visits go. It's important for us that we have that long-term relationship with her, but we also want to respect his wishes in the future. We're here because of him.
How did you define the relationship in the beginning?
I think this is one of the most important things you can do in an open relationship. We really did set strict boundaries at first. She was a allowed to call once a week, we would set up visit dates, etc... We were told by our case worker and J's mom that this would be the best way to do it with her. She lacks some of the social skills to understand boundaries sometimes. So we are very blunt with her. We have given her very specific boundaries and it has been great. It's allowed all of us to feel comfortable. And it's allowed her to trust us. She was concerned at first that we wouldn't hold up our end of the relationship. he didn't know if she could trust us or not. We've never cancelled a visit and we've always given her CDs with pictures and things on it. We want her to be involved in his life. She knows that now, and I really feel that setting those boundaries with her at the beginning allowed for a much more relaxed relationship.
How do you explain the relationship to Anthony and your other children?
As our kids are still very young, we haven't done a whole lot of explaining. We talk about the kids' birthmoms. We also have adoption books for them that they read and have information in them about their birthmoms. It's a little tricky since Anthony is our only child who has an open relationship. None of the girls do. Anna's birthmom expressed that she may want to someday. I don't know if that day will ever come. And the other girls' birthmom will not be a part of their life for safety reasons. For now, proximity helps. Anthony's birthmom lives in our town. The girls' do not. We will have to have an entirely different conversation with A&M about their birthmom when we feel they're ready.
For now, we just explain that they grew in their birthmom's tummy (and use examples, like my sister who is pregnant or other pregnant ladies we know). We tell them that they couldn't take care of them, so they chose us to be their mommy and daddy. We remind them how much their birthparents love them and how they wanted what was best for them. That's enough for now, with 2, 3, and 4 year olds. We will add more details to the story as they get older.
I will say, Agnes has some challenging behaviors after we visit with Anthony's birthmom. She's old enough to remember her birthmom and I know there are some negative emotions there. She has a hard time understanding why we get to see his birthmom and not hers. We try to explain it as simply as possible for now, but I know, as time goes on, those big feelings will lessen.
What's your plan if she oversteps boundaries in some way? (Ex: shows up at school, calls his doctor, tells him he doesn't have to listen to you)
This was a major concern of ours initially, before having an open adoption. Our case worker did a great job at explaining it and she was right.
In the case of a domestic infant adoption (I'm not talking about foster care adoptions, definitely different here), the birthparents are choosing adoption as the best plan for the child. They want what is best for the child, just a we do.
Having said that, I don't worry about J doing any of those things. She WANTS visits with him. And she knows that if she oversteps her boundaries and makes us uncomfortable, it is our right, as his parents, to keep him safe. If that means lessening or stopping visits, that's what we would have to do. I don't say that like we're "blackmailing" anyone into doing what we say. I just mean that she knows that we have his best interests at heart. If she wants more visits, she will ask (in her case, I don't doubt it!). If she would like to come to a basketball game or something down the road, she would ask. And we would assess it at the time. She would understand and respect our decision. For his sake.
Now, that is an entirely different scenario with our two from foster care. Their birthmom will purposely not know where we live or where they go to school. We don't live in the same area as her and she doesn't know that. If she were to find out any of that information and overstep her boundaries, we would get agency and authority involvement for the kids' protection. And if J ever did anything like that, we would do the same, but again, that is not even a remote concern of mine.
I'm thankful for J and for everything she does for Anthony. She shows all of my children how much their birthmoms love them. She definitely respects us and thanks us for being his parents on a regular basis. She loves that he has all these siblings (although, she would also love him to have a brother. Her mom, quickly told her that was not her job...). She loves seeing him grow and develop and learn. She brings the kids gifts for their birthdays (all of them!) and they each get a gift from her for Christmas. She has really taken them all in as her family and we are so grateful for that. Our kids love visiting her and her mom. I wish we could have this relationship with all of our kids' birth families. But that's just not the case. I wish that every child who is adopted could see how much love and support come from their birthparents. I wish they all understood how much love went into the decisions they made. I'm thankful that Anthony (and my girls) will be able to see it and understand it.
She knew that placing him for adoption would be very hard. She also know that it would be much easier for her if she had further contact. She wanted to be a part of his life but knew that she could not be his parent.
We, also, wanted an open relationship. Not having one with Anna's birthmom was very hard for us and we hoped that for #2, we would be able to have further contact. So we were delighted when J wanted to see us regularly.
Open adoption can seem very scary at first. It's fairly "new" in that most agencies are only working in open relationships unless birth parents request it to be closed. So people naturally have a lot of questions. We answer them as honestly as we can. We believe that having an open relationship is such a positive thing for Anthony. Some of these questions are ones we get asked regularly and others are ones people asked when I mentioned doing this post. I hope you learn something and some fears can be eased!
Is it awkward when you have visits?
In all honesty, it used to be. Just as when you begin getting to know anyone new, there was an adjustment period. In this case, we weren't just getting to know her, we were joining our families through one very special little guy. She gave my son life and I never forget that fact. However, there are times when awkard things may be said for sure. And at first, my own pride got in the way of me enjoying each visit a I worried about whether he liked her better or she wouldn't like my parenting choices. All of those worries are gone now as I've realized that was me, and my own pride!!
Are you ever worried she's going to want him back?
In short, no. She knew that she couldn't parent him. It was never really an option for her. Does she love him? Absolutely! Does she want to see him as much as possible? Yes. But I also know that she wants what's best for him. She made a very selfless decision and while she certainly had a lot of grief to work through, she knows that he's where he needs to be.
She did say once, "I could just take him home with me." I knew she was kidding (a lot of people say silly things like that). However, in this case, I quickly asked her not to say things like that. Mostly for Anna's sake, as I didn't need her to ever worry about anyone taking her brother away. Thankfully, she understood where I was coming from and has really been careful not to say things that could be interpreted differently by the kids anymore.
What does he call her?
We call her by her name. If he wants to call her something different down the road, that's fine with us. He knows she's his birthmom and he knows her name. I do know that this was a challenge for her at first. As she wanted him to call her a certain thing. However, Jeremy and I talked and really decided it was best for him to make that decision down the road. We explained this to her and while I do think it hurt her feelings, she really did understand where we were coming from. That was probably the most challenging moment of our open relationship. That was hard for her and it was certainly hard for us to speak up about it. But in the end, it's been for the best and she is just delighted when she comes over and he goes running up to her, calling her by name.
Has your relationship with the birthmom changed over time?
It has certainly changed. I think this is an important point. Just as all relationships grow and change, open adoption relationships certainly do. In our case, we agreed to see J very often at first. We called her once a week and saw her once every other week for a few months. She really needed that in her grieving process. And since he was a newborn, he didn't care. I know, for me, that was really hard. It was very often and I was working through my own emotions with adding a kid to the family and he was a super fussy baby and not spending enough time with Anna, etc... In the end, we did it for J. She needed that and we were willing and able to help her out in that way.
After two or so months of that, we started to spread visits out. I'd add a few days each time. We go into each visit with the next date on a post-it note. I text her a few days before letting her know where we'll visit. This works for us, as her schedule is pretty flexible and open. Since ours isn't, this works out great. Eventually, we were meeting once a month and making sure to hit major holidays/events (Christmas, his birthday, her birthday, etc...). In the last 6 months or so, it's really become about every other month. We're busy people, with four kids and activities. And she's worked through a lot of grief and is totally different now than she was 2 1/2 years ago. So it seems about right now. We plan on continuing every other month and making sure to have visits around those major holidays or birthdays.
At first, it was a little awkward. I mean, she gave us a child. Then it became a little bit of a challenge, as we felt as though we were seeing them all the time, even more than other family members. Now that things have settled into what I think will be a long-term relationship, we enjoy seeing them and look forward to visits. J and her mom usually meet with us for about an hour and that's just enough time for now. We meet at parks, the zoo, the museum, or sometimes at our house.
In the future, as he gets older and has more of an opinion, it will really become his responsibility to tell us what he's comfortable with as far as visits go. It's important for us that we have that long-term relationship with her, but we also want to respect his wishes in the future. We're here because of him.
How did you define the relationship in the beginning?
I think this is one of the most important things you can do in an open relationship. We really did set strict boundaries at first. She was a allowed to call once a week, we would set up visit dates, etc... We were told by our case worker and J's mom that this would be the best way to do it with her. She lacks some of the social skills to understand boundaries sometimes. So we are very blunt with her. We have given her very specific boundaries and it has been great. It's allowed all of us to feel comfortable. And it's allowed her to trust us. She was concerned at first that we wouldn't hold up our end of the relationship. he didn't know if she could trust us or not. We've never cancelled a visit and we've always given her CDs with pictures and things on it. We want her to be involved in his life. She knows that now, and I really feel that setting those boundaries with her at the beginning allowed for a much more relaxed relationship.
How do you explain the relationship to Anthony and your other children?
As our kids are still very young, we haven't done a whole lot of explaining. We talk about the kids' birthmoms. We also have adoption books for them that they read and have information in them about their birthmoms. It's a little tricky since Anthony is our only child who has an open relationship. None of the girls do. Anna's birthmom expressed that she may want to someday. I don't know if that day will ever come. And the other girls' birthmom will not be a part of their life for safety reasons. For now, proximity helps. Anthony's birthmom lives in our town. The girls' do not. We will have to have an entirely different conversation with A&M about their birthmom when we feel they're ready.
For now, we just explain that they grew in their birthmom's tummy (and use examples, like my sister who is pregnant or other pregnant ladies we know). We tell them that they couldn't take care of them, so they chose us to be their mommy and daddy. We remind them how much their birthparents love them and how they wanted what was best for them. That's enough for now, with 2, 3, and 4 year olds. We will add more details to the story as they get older.
I will say, Agnes has some challenging behaviors after we visit with Anthony's birthmom. She's old enough to remember her birthmom and I know there are some negative emotions there. She has a hard time understanding why we get to see his birthmom and not hers. We try to explain it as simply as possible for now, but I know, as time goes on, those big feelings will lessen.
What's your plan if she oversteps boundaries in some way? (Ex: shows up at school, calls his doctor, tells him he doesn't have to listen to you)
This was a major concern of ours initially, before having an open adoption. Our case worker did a great job at explaining it and she was right.
In the case of a domestic infant adoption (I'm not talking about foster care adoptions, definitely different here), the birthparents are choosing adoption as the best plan for the child. They want what is best for the child, just a we do.
Having said that, I don't worry about J doing any of those things. She WANTS visits with him. And she knows that if she oversteps her boundaries and makes us uncomfortable, it is our right, as his parents, to keep him safe. If that means lessening or stopping visits, that's what we would have to do. I don't say that like we're "blackmailing" anyone into doing what we say. I just mean that she knows that we have his best interests at heart. If she wants more visits, she will ask (in her case, I don't doubt it!). If she would like to come to a basketball game or something down the road, she would ask. And we would assess it at the time. She would understand and respect our decision. For his sake.
Now, that is an entirely different scenario with our two from foster care. Their birthmom will purposely not know where we live or where they go to school. We don't live in the same area as her and she doesn't know that. If she were to find out any of that information and overstep her boundaries, we would get agency and authority involvement for the kids' protection. And if J ever did anything like that, we would do the same, but again, that is not even a remote concern of mine.
I'm thankful for J and for everything she does for Anthony. She shows all of my children how much their birthmoms love them. She definitely respects us and thanks us for being his parents on a regular basis. She loves that he has all these siblings (although, she would also love him to have a brother. Her mom, quickly told her that was not her job...). She loves seeing him grow and develop and learn. She brings the kids gifts for their birthdays (all of them!) and they each get a gift from her for Christmas. She has really taken them all in as her family and we are so grateful for that. Our kids love visiting her and her mom. I wish we could have this relationship with all of our kids' birth families. But that's just not the case. I wish that every child who is adopted could see how much love and support come from their birthparents. I wish they all understood how much love went into the decisions they made. I'm thankful that Anthony (and my girls) will be able to see it and understand it.
Friday, August 29, 2014
In the works
I'm working on an open adoption Q&A. While I'm no expert, I do have experience in this realm and I receive lots of questions about it. If you have any open adoption questions, please let me know. You can comment or email me, k.smallthingswithgreatlove@gmail.com!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Quick Takes (68)
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I find it fascinating to see which of my kids get along super well and just mesh well with each other. For instance, Anthony and Agnes get along really well and are always looking out for each other. Agnes has been calling him "buddy" lately and it is so very sweet. She likes to save him spots on the couch for movies or get his very favorite toys out for him. She also shares her special baby doll with him, since he's currently obsessed with babies.
And on the other hand, Anna thinks that's it is her sole responsibility to look out for Mya. She always wants to do things with Mya and she holds Mya's hand and helps her do things (Mya doesn't usually need the help and gets annoyed, but it's sweet anyway).
And Anthony's been calling Anna "Anna Girl" lately which has always been Jeremy's nickname for her. It's way too sweet.
My beautiful Agnes turns 4 next week. I can hardly believe it. And yet, she looks like she's about 6. I can't wait for her well-check appt to see how tall she actually is. It's crazy! We had to buy her size 13 shoes for preschool!!
My parents took her on her birthday date yesterday and her pictures turned out stunning. She asked for a Rapunzel dress and it looked beautiful on her. She really has turned into quite the special young lady. I'll try to do a bigger update about the kids later this week. They grow and change so quickly!
I took all 4 kids to the Assumption Mass by myself today (Jeremy had to go later, due to a review seminar he was taking). I was a little scared about how it would go. I'm shocked to say they were perfect angels through the whole thing. We got multiple compliments afterwards on how well behaved they were and people asked me how I get them to behave so well. I just had to laugh. It was a complete fluke, Mass with 4 kids under 4 is crazy. And while they're good for their ages, our standards are low.... I'm so proud of them today!
All 4 kids have become quite the little fish this summer. We've spent a lot of time in pools and their water skills are impressing me! Agnes and Anna are fearless and are passing swim lesson levels very quickly. Anna, in particular, picks it up super fast. Mya's totally fearless and scares us a little bit with the things she's willing to try! Anthony's a little less on the wild side, but he's definitely a fish lately!
The girls jumped off the diving board for the first time and are now regular pros. 3 years old and running off the diving board. I'm shocked. Considering Agnes and Mya were scared of the water two short months ago, I'd say they've come a long way!
Please pray for my brother-in-law. He's been in and out of the hospital for weeks now with lots of fluid on his lung and a bad infection. They've been pumping his lung, doing IV antibiotics, and contemplated surgery. While I'm not totally up on the most current news today, I know he could still use your prayers. They have a long road ahead of them with this crazy lung challenge and the upcoming birth of their second daughter.
My beautiful niece turned 2 today! She's got a pretty sweet feast day to share her birthday with! She absolutely loves playing with her cousins and I can't wait to see how she is as a big sister in just two months!
Last but certainly not least, keep a potential foster situation in your prayers for us, will you? Without going into detail (which we don't know much of)... A&M's birthmom is expecting again. There's a good possibility the baby will go into care. If so, we were asked to take the baby (foster placement, not adoptive). So in two(ish) months, our family may be growing!
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Friday, August 1, 2014
Quick Takes (67)
It's been a crazy few weeks, hence the lack of blogging. Let's start with the big wedding!!!
Jeremy's brother got married this past weekend. It was lots of fun and a very beautiful wedding on a very awesome feast day (Sts Anne and Joachim). Our entire family was in the wedding. Jeremy was a groomsman, Anthony was the ring bearer, Mya was a flower girl, Anna and Agnes carried a "Here comes the bride/Just Married" sign in and out, and Jeremy and I were "padrinos" or sponsors (it's a super near Mexican tradition). Here are a few pictures I got from Jeremy's family. I didn't get a chance to take any...
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| Getting read to do her job |
While we were away for the wedding, we had a little fun too. We went to Grant's Farm. The kids were terrified of feeding the goats, but loved the carousel, tram ride, and snow cones!
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| On the tram! |
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| Anna was pretty terrified. But she overcame her fear and ended up feeding the goats a few times. |
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| Mya loved it. The goats were all over her and she thought it was great. |
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| I had bad memories of feeding the goats here... As a child I was petrified. I've obviously overcome my fear. It wasn't too scary :-) |
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| Anna and Agnes on the carousel |
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| Anthony and Mya on the carousel. Anthony practiced his princess wave and enjoyed saying "hi" to everyone. |
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| Enjoying snow cones as a family! |
We also visited the big children's museum. With our foster care license, our family gets in for free. So we went twice! The kids loved it. Anthony loved the train exhibit. Anna loved the climbing area. Agnes loved pretty much everything. And Mya enjoyed the "hospital nursery" exhibit.
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| Anna climbing all the way up |
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| Enjoying the construction area. |
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| The kid sized courtroom. Agnes was granting adoptions. It was super sweet! |
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| I present your new presidents! Anna and Agnes! |
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| The model train exhibit. |
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| Mya doing what she does best... getting in to trouble by climbing... |
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| Putting on a show! |
This week's been equally as crazy. My brother in law (my sister's husband) has been in the hospital for fluid on his lungs/infection. They've been pumping all kinds of loveliness from his lungs and he'll need surgery to take out a part of his lung when they get the infection/fluid under control. Please pray for their family.
So we've been watching my niece all week (she's almost 2). It's been busy, and I'm completely exhausted. But they've had lots of fun and it's been like a vacation for her!
St. Louis is celebrating it's 250th birthday. So to celebrate, they have 250 birthday cakes displayed at prominent/historical locations around St. Louis. My sister lives there and has made it a goal to see all 250 while they're displayed. We happened upon 4 during our visit and my kids thought it was awesome!
We definitely enjoyed some pool time at the hotel!
My big girls start preschool this month! I can hardly believe they're old enough for that! We sorted uniform stuff tonight and they're going to be so darn cute!
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
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