WIWW

By the time this posts, I'll be somewhere over Illinois.

We are headed up to Minnesota to watch my big brother get hitched!

To say I'm excited would be a huge understatement.  

His Soon To Be Wife is the coolest chick ever.  

I'm so so so so happy to get to call her my sister!

What I'm not SO SO SO SO happy about is the 25 degree HIGH I am about to encounter.  

Next weeks What I Wore is sure to include earmuffs and long johns.

In the meantime, here is a thrown together compilation of things I wore in November.  

Tan Jacket - Gap

Brown Floral Shirt - NY&Co

White Tank - Target

Jeans - Ann Taylor Loft

Girl In Footie Jammies at 3PM - Mine, All Mine!

This was the day after my brother's surgery and like day 4 of no sleep.  I was exhausted and stressed.  Andrew and I went to a movie and I was SO happy to be comfy!

Sweater - JCPenneys

Leggings - Urban Outfitters

Boots - Belk

Necklace - JCPenneys

Some Random Sunday

Sweater - Gap

White Long & Lean Tank - Target

Jeans - Forever21

Boots - Belk

Purse - Target

This day, I wore two of Amber's favorite things, an "almost too short to wear with leggings" tee shirt and my UGGS!

I was home all day and unbelievably comfortable so we'll go with it.

I also discovered how to Sock Roll my hair so I wake up with loose curls without any work!  You can't see it in this picture, but I love it.  I'm sure Andrew's less then thrilled since it means I wear my hair in a very librarian looking bun to bed, but the rocking hair is worth it.

Striped Cardi - Franchesca's

Red Shirt - Thread 4 Thought

Leggings - Urban Outfitters

UGGS - My Mama's cast offs

And I tried Boot Socks...

I liked them Ok.  I think I need some big chunky cable knit ones to make up for my bird legs.

Here we are at the Best Dessert Atlanta event to benefit 

Adoption Discovery.

Nude Shirt - Target

Black Dress Pants - SOOOO Old

Heels - Consignment

Hair Piece - Mattie Fran Designs

(Amy's whole shebang was from Marshall's)

Jean Jacket - Gap

Pink Shirt - Target

Skirt - Urban Outfitters

Boots - Belk

Trying layers on for size...

Grey/Silver Shirt, Blue Tank, & Green Cardi - Ann Taylor Loft

Jeans - Banana Republic

Scarf - Charlotte Russe

Shoes - Target

Striped Shirt & Skinnys - Forever21

White Tank & Necklace - Target

Boots - Belk

Josie's Dress - Simply Southern

Josie's Boots - Walmart

And that's about it!

Come back next week to see what I wear when I'm freezing in a Minnesota Winter!

Adoption Guest Post - The Crow's

One last adoption story to share for Adoption Awareness Month.

I meet Hannah through our local MOPS group and instantly liked her.  She is funny and loving and just fun to be around.  When I meet her she had just begun the process of bringing Shelby home.  Of course, we bonded over what a miracle adoption was for each of our families.

It's been so amazing to watch this story unfold.

God's hand was at work here and this gorgeous 12 year old girl is going to move mountains!

Here's Hannah's story:

We started out as an extraordinary family to begin with.  Nothing was out of the norm for us.

I met my husband when my son was 2 1/2 years old. 18 months later we married and David was an instant awesome stepdad (most people don't even know he's not his real dad).  We had a our daughter less than 18 months later and then our second son almost 3 years later.

So six years into our marriage we had a family of five and I was already trying to convince my husband it was time for number 4.  He wasn't buying into that.  He was loving the older stage as we were approaching the non-diaper stage (at this point we had Heath (10), Mallory (5),  and Brady (almost 3).

And that's when it all began...

My sister is a school teacher who told us a story of 2 sisters who had been brought into foster care and had been placed several times in 2 years seperately but for all inconsistant reasons of people not ready to truly adopt they kept getting moved.

At this point one of the sisters was coming back into care and at that moment my heart sank and I was just compelled to say to my husband, "I could take her in a heartbeat!"

Amazingly, my husband was on board!

This was a miracle!  My husband, who was finished with having any more kids, was totally saying, "what do we need to do to get this little girl?" and that was all he had to say.

We decided to start praying from that moment on (May 2011) and believe that whatever happened was God's will.

We had a picture of her from the very beginning that my sister who had taught at her school gave me and we posted it on our refrigerator.  We prayed, along with our children, for her every night that no matter what God would find a good home for Shelby whether it be us or not.

I called DFACS first thing Monday morning.  All I had was a name.  I said, "I am calling to see what I need to do to see about adopting a little girl named Shelby.  I don't know anything about her or where she's at at the moment but I believe she is coming back into your care and I believe this is what the Lord has called our family to."

After leaving several messages with every agent and DFACS case worker I could leave a message with I finally got the right person to call me back...her exact case worker!

As God always has a perfect plan, our case worker was a Christian also!  How awesome at that!?!?

After telling her why we wanted to do this and that we felt this was totally the Lord's will she told us to get signed up for IMPACT classes  and call her back when we were done.  That usually takes several weeks (3 months) but I was so eager that I called every surrounding county to see who had the next class available asap.  Unbelievably, I found one that was offering a 1 week only class (not normal).  All 20 hours in that week!

So my husband just needed to take off work that week so we could attend.  That was the end of June.  Time couldn't go any slower for us, although after talking to everyone else, our process was pretty speedy.

We finished, we got qualified, had our home study in August, and had our first visitation with Shelby in September.

She moved in October 6, 2011.

Our story is a little different than most.  Most adopting families have little ones that hardly ever know the difference and don't have to work at growing the relationships  but we got an instant preteen!

And a beautiful one at that!

I know in months to come the unity will continue to grow and the blending of our already diversified family will become even greater.  She is a wonderful girl with wonderful potential and I can't wait to one day look back and see where time has taken us from this point in time.

She is very talented, invovled in chorus, drama and so excited to try Upward basketball for the first time this winter.

My prayer is that God will just use our family to His glory through all this and to  show Shelby as much love as possible and that her heavenly Father's love is the ultimate love that will carry her through life!

I want to encourage others who have thought of adopting a child and thought about the possibility of an older child to jump on board!  The number of children over the age of 5 is overwhelming and they need love just as much as the little ones and are so ready to give it back to you!

Thank you so much Hannah for sharing your amazing story!  

It's incredible to think that adoption wasn't even on your radar 12 months ago!  And look at your beautiful family now!

If you're interested in learning more about adoption, please feel free to contact me anytime!  I had a blast sharing these stories with you all.  I'm hoping next November we will have enough adoption stories to fill the whole month!

Geronimo!

I paid .50 cents for these parachute men and they have kept Josie laughing and entertained for days.

And this, my friends, is why it's pointless to by my kids fancy toys.

Science Sunday - Leaves!

We have had some gorgeous Fall weather here in Georgia the past couple weeks!

Sure it's a bit chilly in the mornings, but by 11 it's perfect for a crisp walk through the woods.

We've started just about every school day this week with a Nature Walk.  It's been a great way to get focused and get some extra energy out.  Not to mention I know this weather is short lived, so we'd better enjoy it while we can!

And there's nothing sweeter then holding hands with a mini man in the woods.  It's soothing to the soul.

Josie loves to take a bag out with her and collect things.  

The first couple days we collected trash along the path and the road in front of our house.  Once that was done we moved on to collecting leaves.

I currently have 2 Target bags FULL of leaves in my dining room.  So when I came across this Leaf Graphing Sheet on Pinterest, I knew it was right up our alley!

We sorted the leaves by color and then graphed them.

Oh, how I love things sorted by color!

And to make this count as a math activity AND a science one, I told her about why the leaves change color.  

Do you know why?

I didn't until I looked it up that day!

It has to do with the days getting shorter and the trees knowing it's time to get ready for winter.  Chlorophyll production stops which makes them quit being so green.  The red leaves happen when the cold air turns the glucose trapped in the leaf after photosynthesis stops for the Winter.  Brown leaves are brown because of the waste trapped in the leaf.  The other colors are a mix between the two.  All those colors were there all Summer long but the green was so much brighter you couldn't see them!

Interesting, huh?!?!

Click Here to read the more official answer!

Decked

Yesterday I shared about the hunt for our first real Christmas tree.

It was an adventure.

But the adventure didn't end there.  

You see, fake trees come with lights already on them and a stand to make it look perfectly straight.

Which is important to a girl with OCD tendencies such as myself.

Real trees require you to spend 30 minutes trying to get the perfect angle in the stand and another 30 minutes trying to evenly distribute lights, all the while listening to an almost 5 year old ask if she can start putting decorations on yet.

"Not until Mommy get's every. single. light. spaced juuussstt right baby."

Andrew and I worked hard for that hour getting the tree just so.

And then we stepped back to observe our handy work.

Ahhhhh, not exactly what I envisioned...

Throw in another 30 minutes and a couple extra helpers and we got that baby straight.

While I redistributed lights, Josie and Andrew proceeded with their favorite part of Tree Day...

Cookie Making!

Andrew is the Toll House Nazi.

He insists on following the directions on the bag EXACTLY.  

It's humorous to watch, but they honestly are the most awesome tasting cookies in the world.

I may or may not have eaten 10 spoonfuls of dough.

Decorating the tree was extra awesome this year.

Josie was a huge helper and Gabriel pretty much left the tree alone, which was a Christmas Miracle of it's own.

Of course our angel had to put the star on the tree.

And NOW the Holly Jolly can really begin!

The Hunt

I grew up with a real Christmas tree.

Every winter we would bundle up in long johns and hats and gloves and snowsuit and brave the Minnesota Wind Chills to find the perfect tree.

Naturally, I expected this tradition to seamlessly carry itself into my married life.

Unfortunately, Andrew was a little less of a stickler for traditions and after procrastinating the first 24 days of our first married December, he waltz through the door on Christmas Eve with the most Charlie Brown looking tree I've ever seen.

Crooked, brown, barely any branches.

I cried a lot that night.  Partly out of sadness that we didn't have an amazing tree, partly because I was laughing so hard at how pitiful the ugly thing was.

The next year, we got ourselves a fake tree.

And I liked it.

The day after Thanksgiving became our tree day.  No need to bundle up and go out to find a tree.  Just pop up to the attic and bring that baby down.

But last year when we hauled the 5 sections down from the attic, Josie asked Andrew (with big tear-filled eyes), "Daddy, that's not a tree.  Where's our real tree?"

So I wasn't all that surprised when he announced that this year, we are going all natural.

The Brown's Tree Farm doesn't open until next weekend, but Farmer Brown understood the need of squeezing in some extra holiday cheer and let us have first pick.

Watching Josie run through the trees was one of those awesome mom moments.

"Here is ours!"  

"Ohhhh, this is THE one!"

I'm not sure what it was about this one, but it was THE one.

Awkward Family Picture:

Moving right along...

We have never done this before and that was painfully obvious as we stared at each other and asked how to cut it down and get it home.

I'm sure Farmer Brown was laughing out his window!

We figured it out and drove home very slowly, cause you know we didn't bring any string to tie this baby down.

And just like that, a new Pope Family Tradition was born.

Let the Holly Jolly begin!

Stop, Drop, & Roll

We are learning about Community Workers this month.

Last week was the Post Office and this week was Firemen.

We had a lot of fun with this one and really learned a lot.  We didn't do much outside of our theme work.  I'm in the process of finalizing our actual subject work for the new year.  I decided to stick with making our own themes but sourcing out our main subjects.  We will be using Math-U-See, Explode The Code, and A Reason For Handwriting.  She'll start those curriculums after her birthday.

For now though, we are enjoying our fun themes and working in the reading, writing, and math as we go.

Here's what we did this past week...

Fireman Worksheets from Homeschool Creations

We printed out a few from the Kindergarden Pack and Josie breezed through them.  I introduced more than, less than, and equals and Josie loved it.  We played with that sheet everyday.  She also got to use a ruler to measure the fireman tools and and do a few mazes.  She loved that too.

The reading sheets were not fun for her so I left them off.  I've pretty much decided to wait until we do Explode The Code instead of randomly doing reading work.  We'll stick to our Word Family games for now.

Five Little Fireman Song & Art

Painted hands?  Glitter?  Fingers turned into people?

Yup, this one was a hit!

Nature Walks

This one doesn't have anything to do with firemen, but it was SO gorgeous out all week that we went on quite a few morning hikes in the woods.  We brought along our collecting bags and loaded up on leaves and pine cones!

Science Experiment

For science this week, we talked about what a fire needs to burn (fuel, heat, and oxygen).  Then we took each of those things away and observed what happened.

This was a lot of fun and so easy to understand.  It's a great experiment. 

STOP, DROP, & ROLL

Of course we had to practice stop, drop, and roll.  Although I pray we never have to use it!

Field Trip

We ended our unit with a field trip!  Most of Josie's little friends have been to the fire station lots of times, but this was our first trip.  It was SO interesting and our guide was the nicest man.  The kids had a blast and learned a ton!

And I think Gabe may have "Be A Firetruck Driver" on his life list.  The kid did not want to get out!