16 March 2011

Japan

There is nothing I can say about Japan that someone else hasn't already said. Much more eloquently than I could.

I just saw on msnbc that the official death toll is now 11,000. Eleven. Thousand. I cannot wrap my head around it. Eleven thousand people who were here last week are not.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the survivors. And especially to those brave individuals working at the nuclear power plants. God bless you.

15 March 2011

my birthday

So I am a little behind on blogging. My birthday was last month. I turned 36, in case you are wondering. Feeling very old, but I'll get into that some other time. Old, but happy. For now, pictures!

My birthday was the Friday before the Lion's birthday, so I brought Spider-Man cupcakes to his preschool. They were red velvet cupcakes. They turned all of the kids' teeth purple.


Since it was my birthday, Miss Heather whipped out their cardboard birthday cake and the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was very cute. Then we all sang to the Lion. And ate Spider-Man cupcakes.


That night we went to dinner at the Wazee Supper Club in Denver and had my favorite pizza. Jonathan's sister, Mary, and his mom were visiting, and I think Susan and I got a little tipsy over a pitcher of beer. She'll deny it, but I was there. I saw her rosy cheeks. I'm just telling it like it was.

Jonathan made me a tres leches cake. Here he is topping it with fresh raspberries:


Here's Lion admiring the raspberries:


And then, possibly my favorite part of the day. Sitting with Jonathan, sipping coffee, painfully full of delicious pizza and cake, feeling utterly happy and loved:


That was my birthday. I had a great day. So far, 36 is feeling pretty good!

14 March 2011

visitors

Jonathan's mom (aka Susan) (aka Grammy) was here for two weeks.


We had a lovely visit with her. She got to volunteer at Lion's preschool several times. She went to Blue's Valentine's Day party and had lunch with her at school one day.


She was here for my birthday and Lion's birthday and even got to be here when one of Blue's teeth fell out! It is very hard being so far away from our family. I have lots of guilt over our decision to move here and take the children so far away from everyone. Visits like that help.

My mom comes out next. She'll be here next weekend. I can't wait to see her!

13 March 2011

babies

I have been busy this weekend. Painting and cleaning and organizing. Maybe it is Spring cleaning. Maybe I am nesting. Little dude should be coming home in a few months now. We are getting his room ready and the rest of the house as well.

I went shopping while Susan was here and put together a little package to go over for his birthday. In exactly one month he will be one year old. It kills me that we won't be with him, giving him a taste of birthday cake, singing "Happy Birthday" and taking tons of pictures. I know he is being very well cared for by his foster mother, but it is still hard to wait. We sent him a birthday card, a little toy giraffe and a shirt that says "Little Brother" on it.

We still haven't chosen a name yet. There is one we both like and we are testing it out, saying it out loud, trying to decide if it is the one. We study his picture and try to see if the name suits him.

He is such a serious little guy. But we were watching old videos recently, and Blue was a very serious baby, too. I had forgotten that. She rarely smiled and only Jonathan could make her laugh out loud. She didn't want to be held much. She would squirm and try to get out of your arms. And she hated having her hands held! I do remember that! Little old ladies would try to touch her little hands and she would pull them away. She has always been so independent! I wonder what his personality will be like...

A friend of ours had her baby this week. A little baby boy named Davis. Davis has a congenital heart defect. He is doing really well, but it is still such a scary situation. I told Lion the baby was born and he said, "Well, I guess we can stop praying now!" like he was sick and tired of praying or something! But I told him the baby still needs lots of prayers. If you are reading this, could you spare a few prayers for Davis and his parents? They started a blog. Here's the link: Davis' Journey.