Year 2008

Year 2008...what an exciting and strange year. Where's a bullet list of everything that happened in the year 2008. Definitely a year which changed our lives forever and definitely a year the Lord shaped for us.

January:

• Student teaching/Internship at Diamond Fork Junior High School
• Trip to Fertility Specialist to learn that it is not impossible for us to have children... but very difficult.
• Offered an Adoption (Prior to my cousin calling us, she didn't know we had fertility struggles-in her words she prayed about the little girl and was answered, "Call Amy and Andrew.)

February/March/April/May:

• Busy with student teaching/Interning
• Traveling to California during all breaks/holidays-to see our daughter
• Trip to Disneyland!
• Graduation from Brigham Young University
• Trip through Zion National Park
• Attending the funeral of my sweet niece Kate
• Rew receiving a promotion at work
• Becoming certified/licensed foster parents
• Finally completing the Teacher's Work Sample! yes!

June/July/August:

• Driving to Salt Lake City Area everyday (almost) to visit with our daughter.
• Reading books, books, books
• Kicked out of Wymount/Moved to South Provo
• Completed Home Study for Adoption
• Saying farewell to our wonderful friends Patience and Dallan
• Suddenly having excuses to go to the ZOO, park, Aviary, playgrounds

September/October/November:

• My best friend delivering her first child
• Our daughter's half brother being born
• Thanksgiving activities
• Rew being laid-off from work the day our daughter was permanently placed in our home
• Learning to be a mommy
• Rew learning to be a daddy
• Being told that adoption will be completed in March!
• Learning to truly use my food storage

December:

• Christmas Activities/Family activities almost every night
• Discovering the joys of teething
• Having our car break down
• Rew's brother helping us get a new car... while unemployed (thankyou Bryan)

Moon Sand

Yesterday our daughter's cousins come over to play. Five (Six including mine) little girls all marched into the house and immediately asked, "Amy, Do we really get to play with Moon Sand?" "Yes." I said.

Amanda: "Really!? I've never ever gotten to touch it before."

Jessica: "Is it really sand?"

Lindsey: "Where is the Moon Sand?"

Moon Sand is a supposed rival to playdough. I really like it! Unlike playdough, Moon Sand is easily vacuumed up and the colors don't stain your fingers. It feels like a mildly wet sand you may get a little sandy feeling on your hands but it brushes off immediately. It's a little bit harder to mold into small shapes, but it comes with neat molds for making people/animals etc. depending on the set you buy.

I placed a tablecloth on my kitchen table and let the girls go crazy with Moon Sand, in the end the kitchen looked, as my sister said "a horrid mess." However... all I had to do was lift the corners of the table cloth have the sand pool to the middle, squish it into a ball and put it away.

I imagine that if I was using playdough that I would have had pieces stuck and squished into the tablecloth and the floor would have needed to be scrubbed with a wet rag to get all the little pieces. INSTEAD... my tablecloth was clean--no stuck on pieces, no dyed spots. Any moon sand on the floor could be vacuumed or swept up with a broom-try that with playdough.

What is she saying?

Most parents start with a little bundle of joy and automatically learn their child's every cry and whimper and pretty much know exactly what the baby wants. This is harder starting with a toddler, since some words are known and others are not... it has taken us a little time to figure out what our daughter is asking for.

Some words have suddenly gotten very clear.

"What would you like for lunch?"

"CHEESE!!!" (she says this while signing "please"... I guess to her they sound the same. So occasionally she'll only give the sign... this means she want's cheese.)

"Drink." (again easy to understand)

But she has two words that until today we had not figured out...

"adandanadnaduyyadaynyayaydy" (talk given in desperation when she needs attention RIGHT NOW.)

also...

"meimeimemimemeimeimeimei" (talk given just to show you something.)

and...

"honyhonyonhyonoyehonyehoyn" (talk given when she is patiently waiting for something, and is just letting you know, 'I'm waiting.")

WE FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!!

See... when I call for Andrew I usually say, "Honey?" (this is usually in a calm voice, no rush.)

but if I need something immediately I call "Andrew!"

when Andrew calls me it's "Amy." (usually to show me something on the computer or in a book.)

So... "adandanadnaduyyadaynyayaydy" is "Andrew! Andrew! Andrew!!"

and... "honyhonyonhyonoyehonyehoyn" is "honey? honey? honey?"

also...."meimeimemimemeimeimeimei" is "Amy. Amy. Amy."

Is this a good thing? Having your child use your spouses pet names too?

Christmas 2008

Christmas

~Christmas 2008~

Since our daughter is a Foster child she received presents from Giving Tree/Sub for Santa. It's becoming a tradition for Andrew and I to pick ornaments from the giving tree. Basically you pick the ornament and on the back it has an age and wish from a child~you can usually find a 'Giving Tree' in the basement of the JFSB on BYU campus. (Last year I received Boy: 14 Wish: Art Supplies. I had a lot of fun picking out colored pencils, paint and art paper! Andrew picked a little girl and picked out a dolly.) It was very interesting being on the receiving end of Giving Tree.

Giving Tree asked us for 3 wishes. For wishes we sent: Doll, Books and Blocks. (Basically her three favorite things in the world.) Andrew went to pick up the "THREE" gifts and instead returned with an entire sack full of presents! shirts, pants, purple pajamas with little cows on them, 2 dollies, Christmas ornaments, several books, underwear, toy phones, an airplane, blocks, candy etc... Andrew and I were shocked! (Naw... she wasn't spoiled or anything!) ;)

Grandma & Grandpa T bought her a tricycle. She woke up Christmas morning (we dressed her first) she ran into the living room and let out "OH! OOooo!"

Grandma & Grandpa R came over to see her open the rest of the Christmas gifts. Here they are reading a new story.

Grandma H came the day before and gave our daughter a new dress and Moonsand!

Opening the present!

Andrew and I found these adorable bright red overalls (with a little Dalmatian doggie in the pocket).

Playing with the light switches!

We went to Toys-R-us to find her a doll, however she found a cell phone instead and refused to put it down, so we switched gifts. Her two favorite toys at the end of the day! (Cell phone and Tricycle.)

She wore her bright red overalls for all of Christmas. We went to a party at Andrew's parents house and my parent's house. (yes...she was spoiled even more at them too! All the nieces and nephews wanted to give her a Christmas gift!)

At the end of the day the bright red overalls ended up missing! and we still haven't found them! So... if you happen to see a pair of bright red overalls with a little Dalmatian doggie in the pocket...size 24 months, it's probably the lost pair!

Fluffy White Stickers

FLUFFY WHITE STICKERS

I love Children Books.

Quite often I'll cuddle up to a children book aisle in the Library and read. This habit began in Elementary School and follows me even today.

One fine day while reading in the Children section (I had been there quite awhile). I could hear two young girls, probably 6 and 8 years old, in the next row begging their mother for quarters.

The Library sells pencils for .25 cents and notebooks for .50 cents.

"Mom!" They begged, "please! can i have a quarter!"

The mother not paying much attention handed them each two quarters.

With all the glee a young child can muster they disappeared around the corner; each with their quarters held tightly in their hands.

At that moment I needed to use the bathroom. Why would I be telling you this? Just keep reading.

I went to the bathroom. Nothing abnormal about it: stalls, sinks, paper towels....and .... two young children trying to use the tampon machine...

"What is it?" I could hear them whispering to each other.

"I don't know, let's open it!"

"OH! It's a sticker!"

"Fluffy White Stickers!"

Realizing with horror that the young girls had each purchased a tampon pad with their quarters I tried to warn them. "Um, those aren't stickers."

Both turned around the fluffy white stickers stuck to their T-shirts! They ran from the bathroom and I cackled in laughter.

I exited the bathroom to find the mother (still not paying attention) as the girls danced around her singing, "Fluffy White Stickers! Fluffy White Stickers!"

Then the mother noticed... They lost their Fluffy White Stickers very quickly.

Sand

Early in my quest to become a teacher I saw Mr. Ty Robinson (Provo High School) complete a lab which included sand. The students study the various sand through microscopes and determine if they have been altered by wind or water.

Friends from my major will note that I collected sand on all geology trips. Yes... my backpack got very heavy... but it me it was worth it. I have now collected sand from several places in Utah, California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, England, New Zealand, Hawa

ii, etc, etc...basically anywhere that my family and friends have traveled and I've been able to convince them to bring back sand.

(Just so you know, it is legal to bring back sand into the United States, but not soil.)

As I was perusing my various sand samples the other day finishing up a lesson plan, I discovered that I am missing my sand from Hawaii and New Zealand!!!! AHH!!!! :(

So.... If you by chance happen to travel to either, would you please bring me back some sand?

Twilight Spoof

THIS IS SO FUNNY!!!!! it's a twilight spoof. HAHAHAHA!! (you should probably know that I don't like the Twilight series...)

http://www.take180.com/s/ep5l7