Hovering...

I had seriously considered homeschooling the boys after they completed their time in preschool. But after the very difficult summer I/we had, I now know that homeschooling is not in the immidiate future for us.

At the start of this summer, when the difficulties began, I had attributed it to the boys being creatures of habit...the lack of a strict daily routine...not as much active play...and not as much social interaction with their friends. But now, I wonder how much of it was me...

It took me a couple of months to realize that when the boys are in school, I'm a pretty different person. I eat better (usually a salad for lunch versus, during the summer, nothing at all or their lunch leftovers). I get 9 hours during the school week by myself (versus none during the summer). And I get way more adult conversation with other moms of preschoolers (as I work at their school 2 days a week with other moms and several of us stay on the playground every day afterschool with our kids).

Because their preschool is a co-op (with lots of parent participation) and because I'm the type of mama to consider homeschooling, it seems natural for me to want to be very involved in the boys elementary school.

At first I thought this made me a helicopter mom, hovering around my kiddos. Then I remembered that I was doing it for selfish reasons.

So now, I'm on the hunt for alternative elementary schools...ones that want (and even need) lots of parent particpation. I'm not interested in being on the PTA or fundraising but being in the classroom and knowing the other kids and parents.

Sorry boys! Expect to see me hovering for the next couple of years...

Oh yeah, and...only 13 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds until school starts...but who's counting, right?

Calling all cooks!

HELP!

I'm a vegetarian. The rest of my family...not so much, though Jack has had an aversion to hamburgers for awhile.

I'm the primary cook in the house but I won't cook meat. (Ocassionally Scott will cook meat but for the most part it's what Scott and Logan order when we go out.)

My question it this...do you know of any substitues for meat? I'm not talkng about tofu hot dogs or other products that pretend to look and taste like meat. (I love a good veggie burger but only the ones with black beans and real veggies...ones that no one could ever mistake for meat.)

I like watching a Food Network cooking shows...Rachael Ray, Melissa d'Arabian...but frequently their recipe calls for ground beef or turkey. Is there someway to make my own non-meat version? Maybe ground chickpeas or another bean? Does anyone have any experience with this?

I appreciate the help...Thanks!

Random Tip #39

While running out the door I noticed that I had a strange looking bleach stain on my black yoga-style pants (which is really strange because I don't use bleach and furthermore, I don't do yoga). I didn't have time to change (heck I barely had time to put on the unattractive outfit I was already wearing) so...

I used a black permanent marker to color over the unsightly stain making it look like a much more acceptable wet spot.

50 Rocks

A year has come and gone since we began the wait for our daughter.

When we sent our dossier (a 3 inch stack of papers that took us a year to compile) to China, the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) logged it in as recieved on August 13, 2008. Adoptions in China are primarily handled first-come/first-serve based on a family's log in date (LID).

On our actual LID the CCAA had matched perspective adoptive families who had LIDs before January 31, 2006 to their children. Yep, that’s right...the CCAA had a backlog of 2 ½ years. 925 days to be exact.

The boys are too young to understand any of this now but I wanted to have a visual to get the kids excited when we finally (one day far, far in the future) would get close to recieving our referral. I decided to fill a vase with 925 rocks. Every month as the CCAA would match families and children I would take out the number of rocks for the number of LIDs they had gotten through. The boys would be able to see the level of rocks drop and drop each month as we got closer to being matched to our daughter.

This is what 925 rocks looks like.

In the past 365 days, the CCAA has only gotten through 50 LIDs. This is what the vase looks like with 50 rocks removed.

Notice the difference? Yeah, I didn't think so. ;)

The CCAA might have only gotten through 50 LIDs in the past year. But our family has gone on living life and so far while waiting for our daughter:

• Jack turned 4
• Logan turned 3
• Scott and I both got...older
• I started a blog
• The boys visited Disneyland for the first (and last?) time
• Logan started preschool
• We went to Monterey three times
• Jack finally let us cut his hair (yea!)
• Scott & I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary
• I ditched my diaper bag (woohoo!)
• The boys tried ice skating for the first (and last?) time
• We spent a lot of family time at the beach
• The boys went fishing for their first and second (and not last) time

I can only imagine what milestones our family will encounter before we meet our daughter in 5? / 7? / 10? years.

The other side of the camera - Lazy day

I'm participating in what I think is a really smart weekly challenge hosted by Carin at Forever in Blue Jeans. It seems like mamas spend an awful lot of time behind the camera. The idea of this challenge is for mamas to get on the other side of the camera in at least one photo a week.

When my boys grow up they'll inherit hundreds of thousands of photos taken from their childhood, but how many of those will show their mama? At least for this year I can answer 52!

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It is extremely rare for the boys and I to stay home all day. For whatever reason, they are usually much better behaved out in public than in the house. So every morning, I come up with something for us to do out of the house.

But today, I woke with a migraine and really needed a lazy morning. And luckily, the boys played really well together and separately all morning long at home...though they probably watched a bit to much TV. Okay, well, a lot too much TV.

This picture was taken at about 1PM. The boys are both still in their pjs and I've got wet hair and no makeup because I'd just gotten out of the shower. Definately a much needed lazy day...

Who's who?

Which little monkey:

• Replied "yes" when Scott asked if he wanted to have one of his mini burgers. Once it was placed before him he scooted back in his seat, made a scared face and cried, "But I'm a vegetarian!" which was a surprize to us...
  
• When asked by a cousin to pose for a photo, he did a yoga pose
• Said, "Mama, because it's your birthday, I'm not going to throw anything at you."

Which little love bug:

• Came into the room wearing a baseball hat and annouced that he had "apples in his hat." Um, excuse me? He had placed his apple slices on his head and put a hat on so he wouldn't lose his snack...
• Wakes up often in the middle of the night begging for apple juice and string cheese but was consoled last night with my singing of The Slumber Boat while rubbing his belly
• Said to his brother, "You are my pit crew and best friend."

While I was away...

I wish I could say that my month absence from blogging was due to a fabulous trip around the world or even something scandulous yet interesting like a stint in the state penn. But no...I was just living life...putting one foot in front of the other and trying to survive one day at a time.

Because my blog serves as a record for my family (and because I have a horrible, horrible memory) this post will be a photographic record of the past month. But don't worry...in addition to not blogging I barely took any photos over the past month.

Jack insisted on making "chicken soup" based on a recipe he invented. He listed out all the ingredients for me to write down: peppers, carrotts, zuchini, broccoli, corn and peas. You'll notice that the title ingredient is missing. Apparently in Jack's Chicken Soup there is no chicken. Go figure...

The boys had fun cutting up the veggies...

And using the mini processor.

We took a trip to visit my parents in Monterey. It's a full family affair...dog and all. Here are the boys and Marley on the road trip north...
Once there we rode the narrow gauge railway through the beautiful pine forest.

Scott and the boys...

My dad (AKA Granddad) and Logan...

Scott, Jack and my dad...
We also took a trip to a nearby farm where we got to sample some watermelon and take a hayride through the fields.

Jack, my mom (AKA Nana), and Logan...

We also spent a lot of time just relaxing at Nana and Granddad's house...

I even managed to get a half-way decent pic of the boys with my parents...
After heading home we needed some unique ideas to fill those long summer days. One day the boys spent time playing and lunching in their own private hideaway...a tent in our backyard. (Thanks for the idea Ryan Ashley!)

They even watched a movie in their pjs out there before coming in to sleep in their comfy beds.

Then it was out of town again. This time to the mountains with all of Scott's family...all 25 of us!
Logan converses with the koi...

Jack goofin' off...

We also went to a local butterfly festival and took a nature walk...




The boys tried their hand at fishing again...this time with their very own poles...
And that's about it folks. Nothing too exciting...just life.