Egg Dying

Zeek asked me a very serious question while the eggs were boiling...

he asked if I would be dying easter eggs if I didn't have him.

"No, my one and only little one -

there are a lot of things I would be missing out on

if it weren't for you."

And I'll never forget how blessed we are to have you.

Cereal

He loves his cereal. He usually has one bowl a day. Even if he's already had breakfast. I think he gets that from my and my mom. We're the same. Love that cereal! 

Apple Snap & Magni-Foo

Regal. Stately. Family. Love. My babies. 

quiet and familiar @ home

The farm bench in the entrance - Zeek's lego storage wall on the bridge - the world map at the bottom of the stairs in the hallway - spring tulips - a mantle i have not neglected yet this year and am letting be more me than "just right" - my kitchen sink view - the scene from my dinning room perch - and Fifty, patiently waiting for the invite to bed down in my lap for a cuddle and nap.

Zeek's Room

He's planned his room from the start. The colors on the walls, the designs, decor, hangings, couch, shelves, bedding, everything. If he's gotten "silly" about it, we just let him save up his allowance and foot the bill. He doesn't mind. He keeps his room "cleaned" the way he likes it. There's still a Christmas tree up in April, because he refuses to let us take it down, yet. There's a pile of his stuffed cats and dogs in a wall net. He keeps most of his own reading books and his guitar and amp in his room too. He only lets his best friend Jaymee into his room to play with him. It is his space, and he loves it. 

The Joy Project

This week I read about the joy project -

a collaboration of photographs by one mom

capturing the memories of her home, family, and life

just as it is.

It really moved me and opened my eyes.

Her photographs are inspiring.

Years ago I stopped taking so many photos at home.

I decided I'd rather have a mental memory of the real thing

than regretful memories of missing out to "set the stage" for taking pictures of our fun.

Ginger, of the joy project shows things differently.

She capitalizes in leaving things just so, 

taking incredible photographs, proving that true can be messy

and messy is worth savoring.

Thanks to all of this I'm giving it another shot. 

(Some mornings, he stays in his room and plays the guitar his Dad gave him. Plugged into the little amplifier he strums the strings and experiments with the sounds he can make. Coming from rock bands ourselves, we both love the sounds of this coming from overhead.)

Family Adventure - Madison WI

This weekend we went on another family adventure - a mini vacation to Madison.
We stayed in a sweet little suite at a Hotel in Middleton.

We LOVED our little home away from home.

Of course, we ate at Ian's. 

We met the Samson family there for our first meal in town. They returned with us to our hotel so the boys could all swim together while the adults visited. 

After they went home for bed, we stayed up, swam some more, hot tubbed til we were toasty warm, and turned in much later than usual. 

Saturday morning we woke up after 8AM!!! Also, much later than usual for us. 

We had continental breakfast, which really wasn't very good. 

But we didn't care because we had us. 

Then we went out on the town. Driving, viewing, walking, window shopping. 

We ate at AJ Bomber's. It was Greg's first time.

We returned "home" for Zeek to swim some more. 

We decided to skip our movie theater plans and just go to a close by diner for dinner. 

Hubbard Avenue Diner - delish! 

We drove back to our sweet little place with cookies, cake and ice-cream in toe. We climbed into our king family bed, rented some movies on through Amazon on our Roku, watched, ate, snuggled and fell asleep late again. 

Sunday, we went back to Hubbard's for breakfast. I had pie. The guys had their favorite- Egg's Benedict. 

Back at the Hotel, Zeek swam, and Greg and I played Phase 10 by the poolside.

We packed up our room, checked out of our hotel and headed to the Children's museum. 

We played there until we were so hungry. 

Then we went to Ian's for our last meal out before departure.  

We got home around 5:30 last night, with a grocery bag of fresh dinner from Festival. We are looking forward to a week of healthy, homemade foods. 
The whole house was nice and clean from our Home Study on Friday morning before we left. It felt like we were unpacking into our full time resort.  

It was a really nice weekend. A needed getaway with friends. exploring and blessings all around. 

Lately

Last night Zeek made dinner for the first time - Tater Tot Casserole. He did a great job, and we are looking forward to him cooking more meals. 

School has been going so very well. The wall chart system of checking off classes as they are done has been working best for us.

We're doing even more extra reading - Poems, an excellent Easter Advent story, Usborn Educational books, and a story about a knight name Sir Farts A Lot who's trying to defeat a booger. That's what I've heard anyway - Greg is reading that one to him.

We found a Language Arts program that we really like. While we've cooled off a bit with Institute for Excellence in Writing - just for the purpose of slowing down and not being so intense about 2nd/3rd  grade - it's been harder supplementing daily lessons off the internet and of our own random materials. It's nice to have direction and see some good solid learning and progression at an age appropriate level. 

We also recently ordered the Science program from the same company. Although, we own at least four different Science curriculums right now, none of them quite hit the nail on the head for our learning or life style and preference. Hopefully, this new program will be as fulfilling as the LA. 

Right now, we are loving school like never before. I am actually disappointed we don't do it on the weekends, and I am not looking forward to not having a full school day in the summer. We didn't even take a Spring Break week.

We did have a Spring Break Day, in which Jaymee (who was on her real Spring Break from school) joined us early on a Friday. We went to TL for breakfast. Then we went to the Muppet Show Movie. Then we went to Sir Bounce A lots. And finally, Smart Cow for ice cream. 

It was a super fun day, but I sadly noted that these "kids" aren't loving the Auntie/Mom escort to a day of fun the same way they have in past years. I'm now the nerdy parent who shouldn't talk or make any sudden movements around them. They don't want anyone to know they're with me. They roll their eyes and look sideways at me. Soon, I will be escorting them to the front doors of their fun days out, allowed only to pick them up and drop them off at their next destination. 

It's Crazy how grown they are and how they don't want or like me to be in the picture one single bit. 

Well, maybe a tiny bit, still.

We had R&E's new puppy, Duke, for the past week while they were on vacation. 

It was a lot having four dogs, although, he is very sweet and nice to have. After I brought him back to their house last night Frank seemed really sad. Poor guy. He really liked having a pup around. 

I'll have to make up for it with LOTS and LOTS of snuggle time. Don't mind if I do! 

Yuki finally had surgery on her teeth a week ago. She's doing SO well. She had three extractions and a full cleaning done. 

Now, she lays around with the other dogs on floors rather than curling up (no doubt to protect her hurting mouth) on the couches and beds. She's initiating wrestling matches, playing and having fun on her own throughout the days. She's much more comfortable. It's kind of sad that we didn't even know she was in so much pain all the time. We're very glad she's not anymore.

There are more things going on. Like a leak in the foundation of the house, all thanks to this terribly record-cold winter. And Ralph the Mouse's incredible miracle story. And Zeek's writing and lego building. And all our camping preparation and excitement. And the video game we're creating with Tony. And of course, more on our adoption journey progress. 

But I'll have to use that list to compile more posts in the future. For now I'm off to work out and read before everyone wakes up for the day. More coming soon.