gag Brushing yuck Teeth gross

Kyler
has been known to
throw his cereal bowl in the garbage,
napkins in the sink,
head to clear the table and make it halfway up the stairs
before realizing the kitchen table is actually located downstairs
in the room he started in,
and lose his socks in the drawer under the oven.
I'm sure he just has a lot of important, deep thoughts
swimming through his mind.
Though this morning,
He wasn't so thrilled about the consequence
of not paying attention.
He went in the bathroom to brush his teeth.
A few minutes later,
we all hear
gag gag yuck splicht gag gross
He had squirted the hand soap onto his toothbrush
instead of squeezing the toothpaste.

Adopting Again

We are so excited
to finally be re-licensed
as adoptive parents
through
LDS Family Services!!
It feels good to have all of our paperwork done
and our file complete.
Now we are ready
to wait. :)
We know that the adoption journey can take
a REALLY long time.
So as we wait
we plan on advocating for adoption and becoming involved in our local
FSA (Families Supporting Adoption).
We have our profile available to view
HERE on itsaboutlove.org.
And we just started our
Adoption Blog
which is linked to our profile
and a lot like this one, only a little more adoption specific.
To be completely honest,
it is totally embarassing for us
to have our pictures and lives out there
for the whole world to see
and compare against many other beautiful, adoptive couples
but we are keeping every window and door open
and feel like this is the direction we need to go right now.
We'd love to hear from anyone with questions or comments:
eric.laura.us@gmail.com
And maybe,
if you wouldn't mind,
keep us in your thoughts
and spread the word about
the awesomeness
of adoption
through LDS Family Services
(and us). :)

Realized

Kacin's teacher
passed out a classroom newsletter today.
The last item was about a timeline to be displayed on the wall,
It was a request
for
each child to bring in
a
baby picture.

I've always known,
but today I realized,
and it made me so so so very sad,
that
we
don't
have
any
baby pictures.

I hope it doesn't ever trouble my boys too much.
I hope they don't feel sad
when they see pictures of their friends as babies
or are asked to do projects
and all we can tell them about is how cute
we have imagined their little baby selves to be.
How we're sure
Kacin was the deliciously chubby baby
who laughed, smiled, and then screamed through the night
and
Kyler was born with patches of hair that would never lay flat,
and big, searching, thoughtful eyes,
a baby who cooed and babbled at the world around him.

I hope it doesn't bother them
that we can't prove it.

I'm glad that after chatting with Kacin's sweet teacher
she decided to shift the focus
from baby picture
to when-you-were-little picture.

And maybe my currently overloaded
digital camera is making up for something.

Dull?

Not here.

Even on a rainy day.
There's singing and dancing (in the rain),

puppet shows,

*sad note: Kyler also did an awesome puppet show, but I think because it was so long, it wouldn't upload here.

brownies gone cupcake,

and lettuce to be gathered from the garden.

Oh, and right now there's some arguing

going something like this.

Ka: I want to play in there, too.

Ky: I just want some privacy.

Ka: You can't shut the door!

Ky: Yes, I can. I am. It's my room.

Ka: No, it's not! Mom and dad bought it!

blah blah blah on and on

Let's call this afternoon
entertainment at its finest.

Hiking for Blackberries

That's what it ended up to be.
We had a few hours in the afternoon
and decided to take a hike.
We pulled out our local hiking guide
to try our third hike out of the twenty-five nearby.
We picked a 2.5 mile trail,
nice and flat.
It was perfect weather--
sun shining, blue skies, puffy white clouds.

We went over many little bridges and saw ducks, birds, insects,
and a little snake that scared me to death
when I almost stepped on it.

The favorite though
was the sweet, ripe blackberries lining the trail.
The boys and their tummies
thought they were quite yummy.

It was a happy time.
Hence the happy, waving shadows.

22 more hikes for us to explore . . .

New Specs

Doesn't he look good?
He had a lot of fun picking out
these new brown glasses.

Day One

Welcome day one of school!

Day one of First grade . . .

At 6 years old,

Kyler's favorites:

colors: green and red

food: fruits and vegetables, like grapes

friends: Jack and Bettiann

place to go: bookstore

book: Geronimo Stilton series

thing to do: read

toy: legos

movie: Star Wars

thing he did on the first day of school: math game

Day one of Kindergarten . . .

At 5 years old,

Kacin's favorites:

color: blue

food: chicken nuggets

friends: Jack, Ethan, and Owen

place to go: the store

toy: cars

thing to do: play outside

book: all sorts

movie: Cars

thing he did on the first day of school: ABC work

Labor Day

On this Labor Day
2010,
we took a break from our
typical labors
and became
turtles.

In the Middle of the Night

       About a week or two ago, Kacin was outside playing with one of his favorite friends, Jack. When it was time to come in for the day, I saw Kacin whispering something to Kyler and I overheard him telling him it was a secret. But this is Kacin. So, about one minute later, he was telling me that he and Jack had plans to meet really early in the morning and ride their bikes together. I casually reminded him that in our family if anyone needs to leave the house they need to wake mommy or daddy up and let them know where they'll be. Someone always needs to know where you are to keep you safe. The next day he explained to me that he woke up, but decided to go back to sleep because he was too tired. A few days after this, Kacin told me that he and Jack were going to spy on people in the middle of the night. When Eric tucked him in that night, Kacin told his daddy he might wake him up in the middle of the night. He slept soundly that night. Since we just got back from a six day visit to Arizona, the boys were super excited to play with Jack again yesterday. I gave Kacin a ten-minutes-until-the-end-of-playtime warning. A few minutes later, he runs inside searching and yelling for a piece of paper. He hurried back outside and then reappeared a few minutes later smiling and hiding something behind his back. It took him a little longer this time to reveal all of his plans and secrets, but it all came out while I was cooking dinner. He was so excited about it he couldn't stop jumping and smiling. They exchanged phone numbers and decided that tonight was the night they would really meet outside. I asked Kacin what they would do outside and he reassured me that if they cross the street they would look both ways. We discussed how happy I was that he was telling me so I could make sure he was safe, but how would Jack's mom feel if she didn't know where Jack was. Sometime during our conversation he told me I could even come along when he left the house. He managed to keep his plans a secret from Kyler and daddy. At 1:45am, I awake to little Kacin standing by my bed and explaining to his dad that he needs to talk to mommy. Eric asks if he had an accident. He said no. Eric asks what he needs. He said he needs to talk to mommy. Eric is confused. I open my eyes and he says "Mommy, remember?" So I throw my warm blanket to the side and we hold hands as we stumble down the stairs and out the front door. We don't even bother to put our shoes on. We make it to the driveway and stop. We look over at a silent and dark Jack's house. We look up at the bright stars. I look down at Kacin and ask if he's ready. He exclaims "Yes! It's cold!". We turn around, walk back upstairs, and I tuck him into bed. **Oh, will he always tell me, and invite me along, when he wants to sneak out of the house?**

       Kyler was up last night, too. At 10:45pm, I was just about to go to sleep when I heard a lot of noise coming from Kyler's room. When I went in to check on him, I found a huge pile of random toys on his bed and under his blankets. I asked what he was doing. No response. He looked at me and I asked him again. He said he didn't know. Funny thing is I don't think he did know. I took all of the toys out of his bed and he immediately fell back asleep. I guess he was sleep playing.

1 Nephew

Happy 1st birthday, little Bryce man!

I'm so glad we got to celebrate

early

with you.

We love having this cute little nephew

and cousin.

Marjorie Belle Stapley Allen

She's beautiful.
Time made her even more so.

About a year ago,
I didn't understand why we moved to Arizona
but only got to stay for 5 months.
I know now that our family needed to get to Washington,
and those 5 months were just
a gift.
A few months to hold her hand
see her strength
smile, tease, and laugh
watch her play with and love on my boys . . .

I don't ever want to lose the memories
but already I feel them fading.
Pushing her in the wheelchair around the temple Christmas lights as she hugged my boys on her lap, whispering with her on the couch, reminding her who I was each morning I came to see her, playing dominoes, teasing my boys with kisses, sewing for us and with us, tasting her chocolate cream torte, playing war,
I don't want to forget it.
When I close my eyes, I want to relive it all.
It's comforting to remember though that
every day she proved that even when the words and memories drift away
you can not forget the feelings.

It was said at her funeral that she never was a model of success
by the world's standards,
no awards, no degrees, not a doctor, actress, scientist, or author.
No, she was greater than that.
She radiated love.
She had a sweet sense of humor
and an abounding amount of patience.

After 86 years,
mothering 4 boys
and grandmothering 12 grand kids,
loving her husband,
sewing and baking,
drinking rootbeer,
and enduring alzeimer's
she has finished
her time on this earth.

9 of the 12 grandkids after the funeral

Her favorite color--purple

Another Trip to Arizona

I hope someday soon we'll be visiting

for a happier reason,

but we're glad

we got to spend a few days there.

On our way . . .

we are becoming experts at airports and on planes.

Kyler and Grandpa loved spending time with each other.

Grandpa told Eric that Kyler was a real thinker

and he knew he would grow up to be a really good boy.

Torture . . .

or was he begging to hang upside down on the inversion table

Saguaro Lake . . .