Journey To Josie

She's Finally Five

2012-02-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

Josie's been waiting on this day for a year and a half.

She's finally reached the age that holds so much magic and wonder for her.

FIVE.

Oh my.

As much as she wanted to skip four and just be five last year, I have to say, four was pretty good to Josie.

It was a good year.

She learned to play soccer, went on seven vacations, and donned more costumes then I can count.

Her imagination grew leaps and bounds and she learned to write her name and lost her first teeth.

And while she may not have changed as much as Gabe did in the past year, I can't help but notice how stinking happy she was all year.

She makes me so very proud.

This was the first birthday that I was sure I'd have a hard time with.

Five seems so much like a big girl.

Out of my comfort zone.

Entering that strange land of Not A Baby, But Still A Baby.

But as I looked through these pictures, I noticed that she's turning into this super cool, amazing, funny, little lady.

And really, five doesn't seem that scary anymore.

In fact, I think this year may be her best one yet.

Happy 5th Birthday My Sweet Josie Kat.

I hope it's all that you've thought it would be!

Under The Sea - Week 1

2012-02-10T07:38:00.000-05:00

Our February theme is Under The Sea.

And what better way to start off a theme then to experience it first hand?!?!

Granted we were at the Golf and not the sea, we will let it slide for Kindergarten.

We spent the past week in Ft. Myers Beach. We went down to the water everyday and Josie got some awesome hands on learning done.

We'll be back at home next week and put all these experiences to work on our school work!

It's True.

2012-02-09T07:40:00.004-05:00

Disney really is The Happiest Place On Earth.

WIWW

2012-02-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

This week seems to be brought to you by Target.

Seriously Nicole, SHOP SOMEWHERE NEW!

Some Random Sunday - Church

top - Forever21; cardigan - Target; belt - Thrifted; leggings - Target; boots - Belk; camera strap - Mev[V]

Dinner With Friends
sparkle sweatshirt, long white tank, skinny jeans, floral scarf - all target

Hair Day w/ Ambo
skinny jeans, white 3/4 length t, scarf - all target (again!)

Bible Study & Lunch With The Ladies
black cardigan, grey tank, and skinnies - target; plaid button down - dillards; necklace - franchescas

Home Day (and I need a full length mirror)
teal shirt & grey tank - target; jeans - ann taylor loft

Keeping It Real - Laundry, School, Pack, Pack, Pack
leggings, purple tank, tan shirt - all target (again)

Day Full of Appointments
Shamefully, once again, all target

Linked To The Pleated Poppy

Be Mine

2012-02-07T11:06:00.022-05:00

We are living it up at Disney World!
Lots of pictures sure to follow, but in the mean time here's our favorite way to make Valentines!

We made these back when Josie was 3.

There are still my favorite Valentine we've ever done.

Super easy, you just need red and pink paint, white paper, and a midget's hands.

Paint their hands, press them on the paper to make a heart, add some lovey words, and send them off.

Cute, cute, cute!

And a big hit with grandparents!

Heart Pops

2012-02-06T08:45:00.017-05:00

We are living it up at Disney! Lots of pictures sure to follow.

Here is a repost, while we ride The Teacups for the billionth time!

We don't do much to celebrate Valentines Day.

It's hits way to close the Gabe and Josie's birthdays for me to put any energy into it.

We did make these lollipops a couple years ago that were a big hit with all Josie's friends.

Here's the low down...

Supplies:

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Arrange your mini candy canes in a heart shape on top of the wax paper.

Be sure to leave a little space at the bottom for your stick.

Bake at a 225 degrees for about 10 minutes.

We had to check ours a lot and keep baking them. You want to catch theme between not melty at all and a big gooey mess.

Once they are pliable, take them out and squeeze the bottom around a lollipop stick.

Then drop the melted chocolate in the center and load those babies up with sprinkles.

Which are optional, unless you live with Josie.

Then sprinkles are never optional.

Ta-Da!

A Sweet Little Valentine Treat!

Serious Happy

2012-02-04T14:13:00.018-05:00

My hero leaving the hospital after his great news.

As if I haven't been experiencing enough happy lately, I got uncontainable happy news on Wednesday.

My brother had his post radiation MRI scans done exactly 3 months to the day after his tumor was found.

And the scans were clear!

"They couldn't have looked better. And this is as excited as I get." - Dr. Monotone

A big, huge thank you to all of you who have emailed asking how he is doing. He will get scans done every couple of months and continue with the year of chemo as planned just to kick it even farther into oblivion.

And now, we celebrate in Disney!

University Disney!

2012-02-03T07:21:00.002-05:00

We are waking up bright and early tomorrow to head to The Happiest Place On Earth!

I'm so, so, so excited!

Josie was a little excited, but she honestly didn't really know what Disney was.

She's never been to an amusement park and, until this past year, she didn't even know who the princesses were.

I wanted to get her as hyped up as possible for our trip so I declared this past week "Disney University" at Pope Academy!

We watched a different Disney movie every night (a big treat around here!) and did lots of fun projects that gave her a little glimpse of what she had to look forward to.

Here's what we did.

Kelly's Kindergarden had quite a few Disney themed sight word games. We did the Cinderella's Ball Game and the Princess Sight Word Memory Game. Both were a huge hit.

I found us doing lots of "Night School" again. Sorry for the dark pics

We played the Disney Matching Game that Aunt Suzy got for Josie in December.

My Dad sent us a huge map of Disney that the kids spent quite a bit of time pouring over.

We also did a mini unit on Florida.

I went to the library and brought home a few books on the state and we did a few coloring sheets to reinforce the little facts we learned.

And Josie's Favorite goes to the estimation game we did.

She guessed how many cups of water she thought would fit in different tupperware bowls and then we counted as we filled them up.

First Day - February

2012-02-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

Happy? Happy.

2012-02-01T07:53:00.057-05:00

Anytime we are in the car Gabe says, "Mama happy?"

And I can't think of a better way to describe my life right now then with a simple Happy.

It just feels like the good keeps getting better and even our not so happy days are quickly replaced with more happy.

We had a house full of happy this past weekend.

My Mom, Bill, my brother, and my new Nora all flew in to celebrate this little man's 2nd birthday.

He wasn't too sure about us all singing to him.

We didn't do anything big. Just a few of the family over for pizza and cake and baby boy spoiling.

I pray Gabriel never sees the pictures from Josie's second birthday. I swear I don't love him any less, I've just calmed my Over The Top Kid Birthday Party ways.

We only had one full day with Aaron and Nora here and we filled it to the brim.

Flea markets with Griffin's finest, Braves wear shopping, burgers, yogurt, and lots of Uncle Adoration.

Josie loves her Uncle Aaron something fierce.

After they flew back to the Frozen Tundra, we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out and enjoying each other.

All our guest are gone now, but there's still a lot of happy in my heart.

Happy that we're spending more time at home.

Happy that we are eating healthy again.

Happy to find little army men hiding around my house.

Happy that the sun has been shining.

Happy for my curly haired babes.

Happy that my boy is taking up a love for cars (although he still prefers Josie's heart boots).

And happy to have one less tooth to brush.

Yup. I think it's safe to say that Mama is definitely "Happy."

Kindergarten Curriculum

2012-01-31T07:51:00.000-05:00

I went back and forth for a long time about whether or not I would use a curriculum for Kindergarten.

I'm a fan of parts of so many different schools to thought regarding homeschooling styles.

I like letting Josie's interests guide our studies like in Unschooling.

I like the memorization and living books from Charlotte Mason.

I like themes, I like hands on, I like the arts.

I love planning out our fun extras and thinking up creative ways to show Josie about the World.

So picking a certain packaged curriculum just didn't seem like the best option for us.

On the other hand, I am also not sure how to be sure we are covering all that we need to. I know Josie is at least on target with other kids her age, if not a bit ahead.

And I want it to stay that way.

So for this year, we are going to try a hybrid.

I'm using a curriculum for, what I consider to be, the four main subjects. Then we are picking a different theme every month that we will learn about during our Extras.

I had a great time researching different curriculums and finally settled on what we will be using.

For math, we are using Math-U-See.

For reading, we settled on Explode The Code.

For Bible/character, we just started We Choose Virtues.

For writing we are going to continue rotating memory verse copy work and pen pal letters.

I did pick a science curriculum, but decided to wait to start that until next Fall.

We will work art into our extra themes every week too.

I am really excited about how much of my time this frees up.

For the next 6 months, these are our themes:

February - Under The Sea
March - My Body & My 5 Senses
April - A Bugs Life
May - Flowers, Plants, Trees
June - Food Groups
July - George Washington

We are officially starting Kindergarten March 1st. I'm spending February laying it all out and planning our monthly themes for the rest of the year.

Oh, and taking the babies to Disney World!

It's Out!

2012-01-28T10:09:00.003-05:00

Josie finally lost that tooth.

The little bugger held on for almost a month.

I was so sick of watching her play with it with her tongue that I couldn't take anymore. So I yanked it.

First REALLY Big Girl Milestone under the bridge!

Next up, turning 5!

Spaced Out - Wrap Up

2012-01-27T07:48:00.000-05:00

We spent the past couple weeks wrapping up our solar system theme.

We had a weird week last week where school just didn't fit in it's normal schedule. We did a lot of night school, car school, and in between chores school.

But we got it done so that works for me.

Here's a peek at what we did.
Josie is now doing curriculum to cover reading, math, and writing. These posts only cover the extra theme work we are doing.

Moon Surface

We looked at some pictures of the moon's surface and talked about how meteors run into the moon and give it a bumpy surface. To illustrate, she dropped marshmallows (meteors) into a bowl of flour (our moon) to see what would happen.

Marshmallow Moon Phases

Josie remembered this from last year but she's always up for a lesson that involves eating marshmallows! We looked at some examples of the different moon phases and then I gave her 3 marshmallows and told her to make them look like the different phases.

Reflection Experiment

I told her how the moon looks like it has it's own light but that it really just reflects the sun's light. To illustrate, we headed into the bathroom and shut off the light. Then Josie shined her flashlight onto the mirror. We talked about how the mirror didn't have a light at all but that her flashlight made it look like it did.

Full Moon Observation

Pretty self explanatory. We went outside and observed the moon. Josie thought she was super special since she got to stay up "really late" to see the moon.

It was only 7:15.

God bless you early sunset!

Rotation Illustration

To illustrate the way the Earth orbits the sun we did a little rotation illustration. We used a marble as our Earth and sent it spinning around a pie tin.

Planet Line Up

We colored some planets, cut them out, then glued them in order for a little art project. Josie's coloring and scissor skills have improved dramatically in the past month.

Create A Planet

Our big art project was Josie's favorite for this theme. We made a paper mache planet and then filled out a story book about her new planet.

To See our first two weeks of the Solar System check out Spaced Out - Week 1

For links to these projects and the ones we just didn't get to check out my Solar System PinBoard.

It was bad.

2012-01-26T07:40:00.020-05:00

Tuesday things got ugly around here.

Really ugly.

The day started with waking Gabe up early for his monthly Synergist shots and went down hill from there.

Crabby kids, crabby mom.

An impossibly long to do list and fringed nerves.

We had a big check from DFCS delayed...AGAIN.

I worked all day but seemed to get nothing done.

Gabriel refused to nap.

I yelled.

A lot.

No really, A LOT.

And every time I yelled I thought, "Oh sweet Lord. I'm scarring my kids for life."

But then one would sass or dump an entire bottle of baby powder on the freshly vacuumed floor and I'd lose my ever loving mind again.

I even attempted to put myself in time out back in my room but the children did not heed my warnings to please give Mommy some space.

I went to bed feeling like a contender for The Worst Mom In The World prize.

That's when I decided that Wednesday would belong to them.

No chores, no emails.

And since Gabriel is too young to state his opinion in any understandable fashion, I looked to Josie for the days plan.

It was glorious. Perfect. Needed.

Really needed.

I think I redeemed myself and have been eliminated from that Worst Mom In The World competition.

round and round

2012-01-25T07:47:00.001-05:00

We are in our last week of learning about the Solar System.

We, as in, I'm learning just as much as Josie.

This has been one of those topics that I could recite facts on but didn't actually understand. It's been awesome to get a bit of a grasp on it.

Josie was having a hard time understanding that the Earth spins full circle every day and at the same time is circling the sun every year.

So I went to my trusty Pinboard and found this little gem.

A pie tin and a marble are the only things you need. We added a sun in the middle as a helpful visual.

I had her pretend the marble was the Earth and our tin was the orbital path around the sun.

Then I tipped the tin side to side and we watched the marble spin.

Not sure if she totally got it, but I did and they were both momentarily mesmerized so it's another winner.

Then we had our very own Space Cowboy show up!

Check back Friday for our final Solar System wrap up.

Scrap That!

2012-01-24T08:13:00.003-05:00

I had last week's agenda all planned out.

We were going to have another awesome week covering the solar system and getting things done around the house.

Then my mom called to say she had a long layover on Tuesday, could we come hang out?

Sure! Plans can get pushed back.

Then Tiffany invited us to spend a day at the zoo with her and her little men.

Hmm, can we push plans two days?

Can the laundry go another day in the basket?

Can school go undone again?

Can we push back naps and dinner and dusting?

I thought about it for 2 seconds and decided they could.

What's the fun in homeschooling if you can't pack up at a moments notice for a day of exploring and learning at a near empty zoo?!?!

I am SO glad we were flexible.

The weather was absolutely perfect, the kids were so well behaved, and the animals were, well, pretty lively!

This tiger spotted the kids and came right over.

He actually played with the kids! It was the coolest thing ever!

Josie's expressions were worth a million missed lesson plans.

And so was the huge lion that stood on top of a rock and roared for a looonngg time!

SO NEAT!

I've honestly never been to the zoo and seen the animals so active.

It had to have been the cooler but still warm weather.

Plus we were one of about 3 families there. Every exhibit had zookeepers that were more then happy to answer the kids countless, and often strange, questions.

Gabe was obsessed with the "Mincos."

It was awesome.

And super educational!

Great day with my babies.

SO glad we ditched the preplanned schedule and had a week full of memories.

Technically His First

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today is Gabey Baby's Second Birthday.

Although, technically, it's his very first birthday ever as Gabriel Pope!

Kind of a 2 for 1 deal.

It's been a big year for my little man.

He learned to walk, started talking, developed an intense love for balloons.

Oh, and became a Pope forever and ever, amen!

Wanna take a peek at just how much he's changed this past year?

Just be warned, it's almost unbelievable how much of a baby he was a year ago.

It's enough to make this Mama cry.

Can that first picture seriously be the same kid?!?!

As much as I miss that little toothless monster grin, I have to admit, I'm pretty smitten with the awesome, very toothy, lover boy he is now.

Oh Gabey Baby, please don't ever lose those wonky toes or dimpled hands!

Happy Birthday to the little man that holds my heart.

I love you more then I ever thought could be humanly possible. You lighten me up and make me smile and just bring joy in general to everyone you're around. You make me laugh a thousand times a day and I couldn't imagine a sweeter spirit in all the world.

Two is gonna ROCK!

A Quickie

2012-01-20T15:19:00.000-05:00

Hey there buddies!

The new design is obviously up and running and I am loving it!

Hannah designed it from top to bottom and put up with my idiosyncrasies without flinching.

A few quick notes for those less technically savvy:

The buttons across the top bar will link you to each of the kids stories, our past foster placements, all of my homeschooling posts, and tracks Gabe's progress with his heart condition.

That's a fast way for you to check out those big parts of our life.

If you can't find what you need there, type whatever it is in my new search box (above my profile pic) or choose from the categories drop down box.

And what I'm really excited about is the new subscribe by email box.

Now all of my family without a Blogger account can get a pretty little email that links to the post on days that there's something new to check out!

I hope this makes it a little bit easier for you to follow along with me and all my crazies!

It's a big birthday weekend around here for a certain monster face baby!

Driver's Ed

2012-01-20T08:17:00.000-05:00

I've heard it said that the world is our classroom.

And I'm learning that is true.

You don't need to be sitting at a desk to learn math.

Science doesn't have to happen in a lab.

And a chalkboard may look cute, but it's totally unnecessary for reading lessons.

We've had a busy couple of weeks.

Oh, who am I kidding?

Our life is busy.

If I wait until we have a calm week at home, we'll never get school done.

It would have been easy for me to skip school on the days we had to be running around.

But I'm determined to make homeschooling work for our family.

So we've done math at the grocery store, science at the soccer fields, and lots and lots of reading lessons in the car.

The car has turned into our schoolroom away from home.

I gave Josie a notebook for the car where she practices letters.

She picks a word and we sound it out together and she writes the letters as we go.

Sometimes you just have to make it work!

Mae Mae

2012-01-19T07:15:00.002-05:00

This week I'm handing over Embrace The Camera to my mom.

I hate living far away from her but love that her job brings her to Atlanta so much.

I loaded up the babes on Tuesday to "go run errands" which was code for surprise the mess out of Josie.

She thought we were waiting in the lobby for a very important meeting that she needed to be very quiet for.

It was hilarious when she saw my mom and just stared like, "I think I know that lady, but we are here for a meeting not to see Mae Mae."

Then it clicked that I tricked her and she started talking at an unrecordable speed.

I love surprises.

For other people. Hate them for me!

The Blooper:

And The Keeper:

Linking up with Embrace The Camera.

It's Not A Need

2012-01-18T08:14:00.000-05:00

Four days after Christmas, Josie said something that made my blood boil.

She says it a lot, but I could not fathom her sincerity a mere 96 hours after getting every toy her little heart desired.

"Mom! I'm BOOOORREEDDD!"

My first reaction was to send her to a third world country and show her a thing or two about being bored.

My second reaction was to scold her and demand that she go play with all her new swag.

It was my third reaction that got me thinking.

Where is this spirit of discontentment coming from?

I felt an answer in my heart two seconds after the question popped in my head, but I tried, oh how I tried, to find fault in anything else.

Commercials, her friends, just a part of a child's make up.

But at the end of the day, my initial gut check answer was the winner.

She gets it from me.

I honestly think that I am at a spot in life where I am happier, more fulfilled, and more content then I've ever been.

But I'm doing a sucky job of displaying it.

"There's nothing to eat."

"I've got nothing to wear."

A boring day results in a trip to Target which results in more material things coming home with us.

Seeing a friends new something or other causes an intense desire to have the same.

I get sick of my furniture. Sick of the paint. Sick of the same old.

I have no doubt that the words, "I need to..." escape my lips at least 20 times a day.

And not about good things like, "I need to fit in some Bible time" or "I need to spend some quality time with my kids."

Silly stuff.

Unneeded stuff.

Stuff that results in my four year old learning that it's boring to use what you have. It's better to replace the old. It's more fun be mindless then to live on purpose.

So I'm working on being as content outwardly and with my words as I am in my heart.

So thankful for all I've been blessed with.

We are staying home more and when boredom strikes, we are going to the park or building a fort or playing tag.

We are inviting friends over to play.

We are, slowly but surely, learning that we have all that we need.

Right here.

Josie's Planet

2012-01-17T07:40:00.000-05:00

When I was planning our solar system lessons, I had the bright idea of making a planet out of paper mache.

I was not aware of how insanely messy it would be!

But Josie really had fun dipping the papers and covering the balloon and our planet turned out pretty cute so I'm calling this one a success.

We did this project after Gabe went to bed one night last week so our pictures are a bit dark and grainy.

Making a paper mache planet is super simple, albeit pretty messy.

You need a balloon, newspaper, and paper mache paste. We made our paste by mixing one part water to two parts flour. I ended up adding more water to get the right consistency. You want it runnier then paste but not too watery either.

Just blow up your balloon, rip the newspaper into strips, then dip them in the paste and cover the balloon.

Make sure the whole balloon is covered with at least a few layers of paper.

Once it's all covered, you have to let it dry.

Josie was an overzealous dipper so ours took about 36 hours to be completely dry.

When it's dry you pop the balloon and have a hard shell. Or planet in our case!

Then we busted out the paints and made Planet Satinern.

Which is just Saturn said in Josie words. She wasn't feeling very creative with naming her planet that day.

I found this little book on Deceptively Educational.

We filled Josie's in while her planet dried.

Well There Ya Go.

2012-01-16T08:10:00.001-05:00

Hi.

I didn't really intend to take a week off from the old blog, but it sure did fit nicely with my last post about unplugging.

Happy accident.

Really we've just been busy.

End of year accounting for Adoption Discovery, playing catch up with school, and opening a new pizza place.

Little Nicci's (after moi) opened in Griffin last week and we've been taste testing lots of pizza.

So much so that I've banned it from my house for at least a week.

Or until I'm too sleepy to cook. Which ever comes first.

We aren't really the ones opening it. Andrew's good friend is. But when they were needing someone to create the technology side and handle some administrative things they asked Andrew. Then he went and did such an awesome job that they made him a partner.

So now we are part owners of a pizza place.

A pretty stinking good pizza place if I don't say so myself.

Or is it, if I do say so myself.

Either way, it's good.

We've had play dates and birthday parties and gone on a marathon grocery day where we went to Whole Foods then Trader Joes then Sam's Club.

That was a serious run on sentence.

Our car was so full Josie couldn't hardly see out the window.

Now we are fully stocked and ready for some visitor next weekend. I'm trying desperately to keep Andrew and Gabe from eating all the things I had tried to put up for them.

I sense that there will be a restocking day before our guests arrive.

Other then that, nothing is new.

Just plugging away at all we have going on.

And loving life and living life and just feeling pretty darn grateful.

How about you?

Anything new and exciting going on?

Unplugged

2012-01-11T09:31:00.071-05:00

So I've been having a bit of an inner conflict for a few weeks now that I think I'm ready to take action on.

Like most everyone in our generation, I love social media.

I obviously love blogging.

I love reading people's Facebook statuses.

I've finally joined Twitter and Instagram and recently learned about a little gem called Path.

All these ways to keep up with what everyone I've ever met (and some that I haven't!) is doing.

Which in and of itself isn't really a bad thing.

But about a month ago we were having dinner with some friends and I happened to glance around the table and notice that we were all looking at our phones.

Checking to see what was going on with the people who weren't there.

Seeing if we were missing out on something else.

We all tried to make eye contact with whoever was talking every few minutes so we wouldn't look rude.

But, my Lord, did we look rude.

Why is it so hard to just be with the people you are with?!?!

What is it about Facebook that draws us to check our phones every 5 minutes?!?!

I used to get on to Andrew all the time for being on his phone all the time.

Then I got an iPhone and, while I'm not quite as addicted as he is, I'm a close runner up.

I can't count how many times I've told the kids to hold on while I check my emails for the billionth time in a day.

What must that look like to my 4 year old?!?!

She must have some huge illusions about what important news I must be reading that is worth pushing playing with her to the side.

I've noticed a spirit of jealousy trying to sneak it's way in too lately.

I read what other people are doing and think that I deserve to do that too.

I judge people on what they say.

People I know in real everyday life get the worst of my judgement.

A happy status while other details are left out results in an eye roll and exasperated sigh.

As if I have all the facts.

I've never been good at displaying compassion, but these judgements have made it near impossible for me to attempt to be better.

And the last straw came just last Friday.

A very good friend, one that's been there for me in some of my most trying times, had a birthday.

And for some impossibly immature reasoning, I felt a Facebook shout out and a text sufficed as a good way to wish her a good year.

Seriously?!?!

I didn't even pick up the phone to call her.

Didn't feel the need to send a card or try to get together, gasp, in person to celebrate.

And when the weight of what a lazy friend I've become hit me I felt awful.

How can I accept a status update, written for the masses to see, as an accurate description of what's happening in some one's life?

It makes me feel yucky.

Addicted.

Enslaved to a screen instead of making real life connections.

Now don't get me wrong.

I'm not declaring that I'm deleting my account or ending my blog.

I fully believe that there is a happy balance between social media and real life connections.

And I'm determined to find that balance.

For me, it'll start with me not carrying my phone with me all day long.

There are no updates that are more important then time with my family.

And you know what I realized? Those updates will be there, frozen in the world wide web, when I get a free minute.

I've got to do better.

God's called me to be better.

A better wife, a better mother, a better friend.

Becoming more Unplugged fits really nicely with my 2012 Mantra to be Present.

So what about you?

Do you make real life connections? How do you limit your Social Media?

Grandpa & Grandma

2012-01-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

The kids and I just got back from a weekend down in Florida with my Dad and Patricia.

My poor step mom had to have surgery on Friday and wasn't feeling well at all. The kids took lots of trips back to visit Grandma in her room and made her enough cards to wallpaper the house!

This trip down was SO relaxing and low key.

Lots of cooking and games and trips to the park up the street.

We head back down in a few weeks to take the kids to Disney for the first time!

I think I'm more excited then Josie is!

Good Things Come

2012-01-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

in small packages.

Spaced Out

2012-01-06T08:01:00.001-05:00

Pope Academy is easing back into lessons after a long month off.

We are gearing up to start our first real curriculum and getting pretty excited. I had hoped it would all be delivered in time to start right at the first of the year, but we are waiting on the math program.

Since reading, writing, and math are going to be all laid out for me, we are going to add in more fun stuff with our themes.

This month, Josie and I are learning about the Solar System.

Yup, I'm learning right along with her. Prior to this week, I could only name 4 of the 8 planets.

Forget about putting them in order.

I found so many fun activities for the Solar System! It's going to be a great month!

Our Memory Verse for the first two weeks is Psalm 147:4

"He counts the stars and knows them by name."

Andrew was off in the middle of the week (we've decided his off days will be our school weekend too) and we are going to Florida this weekend so our school week was short.

Here's a few of the crafts we did this past week.

We started out by going over the planets and then making a tiny solar system out of play-doh.

We had such a great time with this!

Josie was way into it and wanted the planets to match our reference book.

It's hard for me to sit down with her and do these open ended projects that tend to go on for quite awhile. I sit and think of all the things I could be getting done while she is entertained. But part of my new years goal is to be present with her, so I made myself sit there during our art time. It took me actually forcing myself to stay seated at first, but half way through the project, I was having just as much fun as she was. So glad I did it!

The next day we read about what it is like to be in space and then did an art project.

We colored our picture with crayons.

Then painted over it with black water colors.

This subject was easy to find videos and books on at the library. We spent a lot of time snuggled on the couch reading together.

Next week we are picking back up with the Sun and the Moon!

Well Loved - December

2012-01-04T09:31:00.000-05:00

My buddy Ambo did a post on some of her favorite things a few weeks ago.

As a true stalker, I liked getting to see what she was loving at the moment.

So I'm joining in.

Here's a list of some of my favorite things from December.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

These babies are my FAVORITE Christmas treat.

I'd appreciate you not asking how many I ate in the week between when we made them and when I banished them from my house.

It was ugly.

My TOMS

I've wanted TOMS for about a year now.

I kept hemming and hawing over the price. Then some friends said they were ugly and I got all nervous about wearing them and decided not to get them.

Then I realized that I liked them and didn't really need anyone else to like them.

Yea to becoming my own person!

Turns out I more then like them, I love them.

Comfy and, while not all will agree, cute.

I like them as an alternative to ballet flats. I hate tennis shoes so these are a happy medium.

Gabe is next on the TOMS list.

What's In The Bible? DVDs

I've mentioned this series before and it is still at the tip top of my list. We bought 4-6 for the kids for Christmas and have been loving them.

Apologetics for kids.

And for Moms that didn't ever learn it.

The details are awesome and the puppets are so funny. It has been awesome watching Josie actually learn and retain what she watches in these videos. I cannot wait to own the whole series!

PS - To the parents that have asked me how we deal with the Santa Issue since we don't actually do Santa, the Why Do We Call It Christmas? Video that came out this year handles it very well. I was impressed.

My New Lens

Here's another little gem that I debated on for well over a year.

Tate told me that this lens would be perfect for my low light house and she was 150% right.

I'm waving goodbye to having to lighten every single picture I post.

Some people said the fixed lens was an issue with them but so far I like it. Pretty sure this will be attached to my camera for a very long time.

The Park In Winter

We had an unusually warm week at the end of December and we took full advantage of it.

I am quick to put off trips to the park, but every time we go I love it.

New goal for 2012: More trips to the park!

Reading

Am I allowed to have an activity on my favorite things list?

I read A Stolen Life back in September and HATED it.

When I read a book I don't like it takes me a long time to want to read again.

I finally picked up the December Book Club Pick (The Christmas Train) and it was a good and easy way to ease back into reading.

I picked up Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children after and I devoured it.

LOVED IT!

Then I read The Kitchen House and again, couldn't put it down.

I think I finished that one in record time.

I met my 2011 goal of reading 24 books and have raised it to 30 for 2012. So send me your suggestions.

So that's my December List.

What things are you loving these days??

First Day - January 2012

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Be There

2012-01-02T07:51:00.033-05:00

I've spent the past week the same way as most of the country.

Evaluating the past year, grading myself, and planning for my future.

Each year I try to come up with a word that will help me focus on what I want to accomplish in the next year.

In 2010 my word was Prioritize.

I'd spent 2009 rushing from thing to thing, trying to make 30 hours of stuff fit in the 24 I was given.

I knew that I needed a change, so I woke up each morning in 2010 and told myself to Prioritize. There were days that I failed to keep the main thing the main thing, but for the most part my daily mantra worked.

So I decided to make it a yearly thing.

2011 was Illuminate.

I wanted to lighten up and have more fun. I wanted to shine God's light brighter and lead the way through the darkness. I struggled all year with the whole lighten up thing, but think I made some good progress by the end of the year.

The latter part of 2011 has been trying for me.

The Unexpected was hitting me from all sides and for an avid planner such as myself, the Unexpected is scary.

Like, really scary.

I like to live my life a few days ahead of Now.

I prepare, plan, organize.

Which can be a good thing.

But it can also mean I completely miss out on Today.

I convince myself if I can check off my to do list today, then tomorrow there will be time to play, to laugh, to enjoy.

My brother's recent scare has snapped something inside of me that desperately needed to be snapped.

With one phone call I suddenly realized that Tomorrow didn't matter nearly as much as Today.

So 2012's word was easy and desperately needed.

ATTEND.

This year I will attend each and every day, hour, minute, second I am given.

Whoever I'm with will get my attention.

Whatever I'm doing will be done intentionally.

I am going to be present when Josie wants to play.

I'll show up when Gabe needs to be held. For an hour. When the laundry is piled high.

I'm going to learn to make eye contact if it kills me.

This year I am going to teach myself that time keeps on rolling and if I don't want it to pass me by, I need to attend.

I'm excited to embrace this new lifestyle.

It's a big change for me.

I'm excited to travel and explore and learn new things without having to have every detail lined up.

Yes, 2012 is going to be a great year to be present for.

2011 Reads

2012-01-01T08:42:00.081-05:00

I love to get lost in a good book.

When I start a book, I usually feel like I'm entering a new world. The characters become my friends.

It's not uncommon for me to feel a little depressed after a good book. I want to keep reading about my new buddies.

I set the goal to read 24 books in 2011.

And I actually met my goal!

My favorite reads of the year?

I know without a doubt that The Hunger Games Series was my top pick followed really closely by Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Both were SO good.

And both are about to be movies! Yippee!

Least favorites?

The Stolen Life and Eat Cake.

The rest fall somewhere in between.

I'm raising my goal to 30 books for 2012.

Here's the list of what I read in 2011:

Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray
Homeschooling For The Rest Of Us by Sonya Haskins
The Well Adjusted Child by Racheal Gathercole
The Omnivores Dilema by Micheal Pollan
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Mennonite In A Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
Half Broken Horses by Jennette Walls
Don't Make Me Count To Three by Ginger Plowman
Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
The Sane Womans Guide To Raising A Large Family by Mary Ostyn
Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok
The Hunger Games by Susan Collins
Girl On Fire by Susan Collins
Mockingjay by Susan Collins
A Stolen Life by Jacee Duggard
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
Miss Peregrines's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Any good book suggestions???

Wiggle It...

2011-12-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

My baby is about to lose her first tooth.

Make that her first TWO teeth.

We were brushing her teeth the other night and I noticed something white behind her bottom teeth.

I was sure it was some foreign food object stuck back there.

No way it could be any sort of tooth.

The girl isn't even 5 yet! Kids don't lose teeth this early!

But sure enough, a panicked inspection revealed Josie has not one, but two loose teeth.

One of them has a grown up tooth popping through behind it.

Which apparently is kind of common and is called "shark teeth."

I called the dentist this morning after spending the night convinced that her teeth would be forever jacked up if I didn't tug out the baby tooth. They told me to chill out. If it doesn't come out in the next two weeks they will bring her in to check it out.

That's right.

Only two more weeks of all baby teeth.

I've handled all Josie's milestones like a trooper.

Proud of how she's growing up.

But this one has me in a tizzy.

Something about losing teeth seems like such a big girl thing to do.

As if turning five wasn't going to be hard enough on me.

So here's what could be the last picture of Josie Girl with all her baby teeth...

She is so excited.

You'd think losing teeth was like winning a shopping spree.

She's been wiggling and wiggling and wiggling.

I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a big year for Josie.

Cleaning House

2011-12-29T20:10:00.002-05:00

I love the last week of the year.

I get hit with an insane burst of energy.

After living in a house filled with Christmas decorations for a month and a half, I'm always ready to pack it up, declutter, and clean house.

We've spent the week packing up Christmas and throwing away all the extra that we accumulate throughout the year.

I love cleaning house.

And I love clean babies.

I'm lame and don't really have a Christmas post.

We did the whole putting presents out at night and surprising the kids in the morning thing this year.

Of course we did it four days before the rest of the Country so that Andrew could be here.

It was insanely fun and I'm sold on doing it that way from now on.

We don't do Santa and have always told Josie the gifts are from us and that Santa is a character like Dora, but this year she wasn't buying it.

She was convinced Santa was coming.

I was a bit nervous and even considered throwing the old man's name on a gift or two so she wouldn't be disappointed, but before I shut her light off on our Christmas Eve she winked at me and said, "goodnight Santa!"

Little Stinker.

I'm cleaning house here at Journey To Josie too.

As much as I've loved documenting Josie's journey, it isn't just her's anymore.

The new design will be more appropriate to our whole journey and I can't wait to go live with it.

Last year I threw a major fit at Pottery Barn.

I love their stockings, but they all depicted little white girls with blonde hair.

Not one brown princess to be found.

I even wrote letters.

Yup, it was serious.

So I am taking full credit for this year's stocking designs...

I was too cheap to pay full price for one so Andrew and I drove up a couple days after Christmas to snag one for next year.

Josie loved it.

Now I need them to roll out a brown boy design.

Better write another letter ;)

These two have suddenly become best friends.

I hoped the day would come and it magically did the week we got home from Minnesota.

Josie comes up with all sorts of crazy games for them to play and Gabe is happy to do whatever she tells him to.

Listening to them laughing together is the sweetest sound in the World.

Josie is a great big sister.

And that about catches us up.

I hope you all had a magical Christmas and are excited about the new year!

I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for our family!

Marshmallow Art

2011-12-27T09:00:00.019-05:00

It's hard to believe the Christmas Crazies are over already.

December seema to have flown by especially fast this year. And the 70 degree weather we're having in Georgia didn't help.

I'm taking time this week to regroup on lesson planning. We are starting actual curriculum this year so instead of coming up with math and writing and reading lessons, I can spend my planning time thinking up creative art and craft activities!

We tried one out last week and it was a big hit.

Marshmallow Painting!

It's as simple as it sounds.

Paint, paper, marshmallows.

Endless fun.

Gabe's going to be joining us for school time more this year too.

But I didn't let him Marshmallow Paint.

I knew where the marshmallows would end up if I did!

Holly Jolly Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T21:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Christmas from my family to yours!

Gingerbread 101

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I had a temporary lapse of sanity and planned a gingerbread decorating party for Josie and about 20 of her little friends.

The candy coated, frosting laden party ended up being a huge success and a ton of fun. Which of course means we decided to make it a yearly event.

The past two weeks have been nutso around here, but that didn't stop me from breaking out my glue gun and whipping up 25 graham cracker houses.

Yup, I hot glued those bad boys together.

Last year I was all fancy and melted sugar to use as our glue. It worked OK, but was a pain in the butt and didn't hold up very well.

This year I decided to just tell the little elves to not eat the house and do it with hot glue. I also glued them down to the cardboard to help keep them from sliding around. It worked perfect.

I was SO glad my Mom was here to help with our little Rudolf who wasn't feeling totally back to normal from his procedure.

I had each mom bring either a candy to share or a can of frosting.

We ended up with enough candy to cover next year's party but almost didn't have enough frosting. If you have one of these shindigs, double up on frosting and slow your roll on the candy.

I made goody bags filled with leftover Halloween candy.

I figured kids don't care if candy is old and I had to get the junk out of my house!

We put out cookies, peppermint brownies, chocolate covered marshmallows, and cupcakes.

Oh, and chips to counteract all the sugar.

The head elf was really excited!

Gabe was certain all the candy was set out for him!

This party really is so simple.

The only prep work is making the houses and laying out table clothes and candy.

Once everyone was here, we handed out the houses and the kids got to work.

Each mom helps there own kids and even though the potential for insane messes is very present, they don't happen.

When the houses are done, we set them up to dry and let the kids run off some of the sugar overdose.

Cleaning up is as simple as rolling up the table clothes to throw away and sweeping the floor!

Christmas Math

2011-12-22T08:02:00.001-05:00

We haven't done much schooling in December.

There are just too many crafts and fun things to go out and do to spend much time lesson planning.

This week we made salt dough ornaments and read a million Christmas books.

I did manage to squeeze in a little math and Josie absolutely loved it.

She asked to do it every morning.

It's super easy, can be adapted to any theme, and was cheap.

In fact, we had all the supplies in our closet, so it was free!

I cut a wonky tree out of felt, used buttons for ornaments, and wrote numbers on some star cutouts.

Josie has 1-10 down and has no problem with them. 10-20 still trip her up a little bit so this was great practice for her.

These trays are from Target and I wish I'd bought a set just for school. They are perfect for this type of game.

She picked a star then added that number of ornaments. Then she'd count them back to me, that way if she'd made a mistake she could hear it and correct it.

Next month we are learning about stars and I think this will work great with that theme too!

Center of Puppetry Arts

2011-12-21T08:07:00.000-05:00

I've lived in Atlanta for almost 11 years now and there are still a ton of fun places in the city that I've never been to.

The Center of Puppetry Arts is one of them.

I've talked about taking Josie a bunch of times but thought it would probably be kind of lame.

I mean, come on, how cool could puppets be?!?!

I was SO wrong!

We went for the Rudolf Puppet Workshop and Puppet Show and it was by far the best field trip we've done.

The museum is in a cool old building, the workshop was led by an energetic puppeteer, and the puppet show was over an hour long and held all the kids interest the whole time.

Even Gabriel and there are few things that he will sit still through.

The kids made shadow puppets in the workshop.

There's Josie in her Twinkle Toe Light Up Shoes and Glitter Dress circa 1989.

I was a good girl and followed the No Pictures Rule while we were in the show.

If you live near Atlanta, I highly recommend visiting The Center of Puppetry Arts. We are already making plans to go back!

An Adoption Day In Pictures

2011-12-20T07:40:00.002-05:00

heart caths, balloons, and other words that don't belong

2011-12-19T08:34:00.097-05:00

Little Gabriel has had an adventurous weekend.

He woke up Thursday as a long term tenant at The Pope House and went to bed as an official, lifelong member.

We celebrated all day.

And then we tucked our new son into his bed nice and early. We knew Friday would be a rough day for him.

Up at 4 in the morning and off to Egelston Children's Hospital for a heart cath.

His 2 chamber heart just wasn't squeezing like it should. Add that to the poor blood pressure and there we were in the Cardiac Unit in a little purple dinosaur gown taking "Goofy Juice."

Gabe was, as usual, a trooper.

Charming the nurses and pulling every cord he could get his hands on.

Doctors, nurses, anathesialogists paraded in to tell me the ins and out, risks and plans for Gabe's tiny heart.

All while my brand new Gabriel stared up at me with his big brown sleepy eyes.

The plan was to sedate him, preform a heart cath, and get a good look at what was causing the poor pressures.

Talk of using a balloon or a stint to expand the narrowed arch or upping medicines.

All I could thing was that Gabe was just too little for all this junk.

And then it was time for him to go back.

Wanna guess how tiny he looked getting wheeled out on the big hospital bed?

I'd show you, but I was too busy trying not to cry to snap a picture.

He looked tiny.

Fragile.

Nervous.

Well maybe that last one was me since Gabe's Goofy Juice was doing it's job and he was pretty drunk.

Darlene and I settled in for the four hour wait.

Then 60 minutes later, the Doctor walked in.

"We're all done. Gabe's pressures are outstanding. If it weren't for the last ECHO, we would say his heart is working perfectly."

And that, my friends, is how a Pope kid shows Doctors Who is boss.

It seems Gabriel's heart has compensated for the poor squeezing and adjusted the pressures accordingly.

The human body is so very amazing.

And so is the Creator of the human body.

I was so, so excited and proud of my boy's little half heart that I forgot to prepare myself for the hurting little baby that was about to be rolled back in.

He was pitiful.

Hoarse little, "Mommy"s over and over again.

He had to be incubated during the procedure so his throat was very sore and he was exhausted.

He couldn't move his leg for an hour.

Have you ever tried to hold a sad, hurting toddler while he's hooked up to a million wires all without moving his leg?

It's as impossible as it sounds.

They gave him lots of pain meds to try to get him to go back to sleep in hopes that he would wake up a second time feeling much better.

But being the stinker he is, he just refused to fall asleep.

Two hours later he got some lunch and started to perk up a little bit.

We were discharged around noon and headed home.

Gabe seemed pretty relaxed on the ride:

He fell asleep the second his little head hit his pillow and slept straight through the night.

It was a big day and he was plum tuckered out.

So was I.

The emotional drain of having your baby in the hospital for any reason is heavy.

I can't imagine what his actual surgery will be like.

But all that matters today is that our little man with half a heart seems to have doubled up on Will and Strength and Determination and Soul.

I'm amazed at his little self.

Introducing...

2011-12-16T08:23:00.006-05:00

Gabriel

Gordon

Pope

for real, for real.

It's official.

He's ours.

All the papers are signed, all the petitions are filed.

A new start.

Born again on my birthday!

I asked Gabe if he was happy to be a real Pope and I'm not sure, but I think this means yes!

Today is his big heart procedure, but after that is behind us we are going to spend some time celebrating our new boy!

Three cheers to another happy ending!

Be back next week with all the Adoption Day fun!

Picking A Name

2011-12-15T07:27:00.005-05:00

Today is a big day for The Pope Family.

ADOPTION DAY!

This past 18 months since we meet our baby boy have been a roller coaster.

It seems like he just got here yesterday and that he's been here forever all at the same time.

And even though I've know he was mine forever for awhile now, I'm still ready to see my name on that birth certificate.

So while we spend the day celebrating and smiling and exhaling, here's the short story behind his name.

It's a weighty job, picking a child's name.

Your decision will forever mold how they are viewed, if they will be teased, what their nickname will forever be.

The name you pick will be said billions of times in reference to your sweet little nugget.

When Andrew and I first started talking about having kids, we had no problem coming up with girl names.

Andrew had always wanted a Josie.

I kinda liked it, but had a laundry list of names that I had dreamed of naming my daughter too.

But when Josie pulled into our driveway and I peeked in the car window for my first glimpse of her, I knew the second I looked at her.

That was our Josie.

With Gabriel, we had zero name ideas.

Everything we came up with just didn't fit.

Then one Sunday our Bishop started talking about Gabriel.

The angel that foretold Christ's coming.

He interpreted visions.

When God had something to say, he used Gabriel.

The Mouthpiece of God.

As Gabe started talking and squealing we joked that we should have named him something that meant Quiet As A Mouse!

Gabriel in Hebrew means strong man of God, Hero of God, God is my strength and courage, devoted to God.

And if I'm going to raise a son, these are all the things I hope he becomes.

His middle name was easy.

Picked to represent three of the strongest men I know.

Gordon Rouillard

Gordon Purmort

And my Dad, Mark Gordon Purmort

My Grandfathers and my Dad.

Three men that have led lives that have invaluable lessons for little Gabe.

Big names to live up to, but I'm confident he will.

Up until today it's been a fake name.

But today we will make it official and add a Pope to the end of it!

Happy Adoption Day!

9th Annual Sister's Brunch

2011-12-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

There are two things that I love about the start of the Christmas Season.

The first is the soft glow of Christmas lights in the living room at night and the second is the Annual Sister's Brunch.

Deborah has been doing this brunch for nine years now!

I only got in on it for the past four years, but I look forward to it all year long.

She can nail out a theme like nobody's business.

Last year was Merry & Bright and it was wonderfully executed.

This year we walked in and were surrounded by reindeer!

My personal favorite - The Rein-Beers!

The little girls are old enough now to get to do a craft and there are two teenaged girls that were there to help them! It was so great!

While the little girls crafted, the older girls played Hot Rudolf (or something like that!).

It was SO much fun!

It's so fun for me to see these next pictures and watch Josie grow!

She's definitely lost all the baby look this past year. And she hated the antlers, hence the crazy face.

Thank you again Ms. Deborah! Can't wait for next year's 10th Brunch!

Whole Hearted

2011-12-12T09:08:00.001-05:00

I'm a curious person.

I like to research and hunt and learn about things that I don't understand.

And while I should probably use authenticated books and seek out experts, I don't.

Wanna know my number one research method?

Blogs.

When we were starting the adoption process, I didn't read lots of books or check out agency sites. I searched for blogs of people who were on the same path but farther along then us.

The official, 10 syllable definitions of things just don't mean much to me.

I don't care about statistics or numbers or odds.

I want to know what the nitty gritty, day to day details of what it means to live something out.

And since I wasn't able to find many blogs documenting what is on our horizon, I thought, "maybe I should blog about it."

See, our big bellied, cheesy grin faced boy who is addicted to apples and balloons and appears to be perfectly healthy is actually walking around with only half a heart.

The technical name for what he has is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Which boils down to him missing the left side of his heart.

The left ventricle usually carries the blood away from the heart to the body.

Babies who go undiagnosed don't survive more then a few hours after birth. Gabriel was lucky and his was discovered before he was born.

He had his first open heart surgery, called the Norway Operation, right after birth and a second, the Glenn Shunt, at 3 months old.

There is a third surgery called the Fontan Procedure that completes the series. The condition isn't curable without a total heart transplant, but the series of surgeries eases the burden on the heart and prolongs that big of a surgery.

Gabriel has had some issues with blood flowing the wrong way (back flow) so currently, he isn't a candidate for that third surgery. We are waiting to see if the back flow corrects itself or if we will have to go another route.

It's a good thing chicks dig scars, cause dudes got some serious ones.

We got Gabe after he had healed up from the second surgery.

Since then, we have gone every 3 months to the cardiologist and kept up with a heart medication regimen.

When he first came home, he was grey and underweight.

Since then he's turned a lovely shade of brown and, as you can see, is no longer underweight.

He tires faster then most kids his age and he breathes heavy all the time, but other then that you'd never know that he is missing half of a vital organ.

While his clinicals have been great, for the past year now he's had wonky blood pressure.

His arm gives a great reading, but his lower extremities are barely readable.

The doctor has been watching it with ECHOs every 3 months.

The last two ECHOs have not shown a cause for the weird blood pressure and the one he just had done last week brought up a new concern.

When your heart pumps, it's supposed to squeeze all the blood out. Gabe's heart barely squeezes. So in order to get enough blood to his body, his heart beats triple time to keep up.

The doctor called us last week and told us she has decided it's time to go in for a better look.

The Cardiologist is worried that the shunt, she called it an arch, is narrowing on one side and making his heart work triple time to get blood to his body.

Which wears the whole thing out.

So this Friday, little man will go in and have a heart catheterization. He will be under anesthesia while they stick a tube up through a vein in his leg into his heart to get a better look.

If the arch has narrowed, they will inflate a tiny balloon to expand it.

If it hasn't narrowed, we will have to look at other options to give his little heart muscle a break.

I'm a little nervous, but I totally trust his cardiologist.

This is a procedure that he would have to have done before the third surgery, it's just a little earlier then we had planned.

I'll be honest, most days I completely forget he has a serious heart condition.

So hearing the doctor telling me all of this caught me a bit off guard.

The little guy is a trooper and I know he will be fine, but it is still hard to digest.

I kept looking from her to him and thinking, "is she really talking about this hunk of love on the table here?!?!"

But she was. He's got a special heart.

So there you have it.

Our next adventure.

Learning to live whole heartedly, with only half a heart.

Insta-Friday - 3

2011-12-09T06:11:00.024-05:00

Minnesota Bound, Uke, Uncle Love, SNOW!

morning interlude, Uncle Aaron's toy box, Eskimo, Tupperware Sledding

Hollidazzle Parade, Santa!, Puzzle Nightcap, ahhhhhh!

wedding prep, anxiously waiting..., Mr. & Mrs. Purmort, PARTY!

wedding hangover, well balanced card food, me & my babes, favorite peeps

Mall of America parking, Lego Land, Christmas Love, Twinkle Toes

a new sister

2011-12-08T08:13:00.045-05:00

(my new little sister Nora Purmort!!! Epp!)

My brother has had a pretty intense month.

What started out as a normal Halloween, ended with a paradigm shift for our entire family.

All of our perception of normal changed that day and while it's scary and uncertain and we all have every right to freak out, we've decided collectively that this new normal won't be the end of any of us.

We've rallied together and put on our game faces.

And some of us got married.

My brother has always been the most interesting person in my life.

The kind of guy everyone wants to be friends with and fun just seems to happen anytime you're with him.

So the fact that his wedding was hands down the most fun night ever isn't really a shocker.

It was held in the art gallery that the two of them first meet at a little over a year ago.

The "small affair" had over 150 guests crammed into the space.

Not a dry eye in the place.

Yup, not even this Bonafide Non-Cryer could hold it together during the unbelievable speeches that all their friends gave.

The room was full of a crazy amount of love and support. Everyone was so genuinely happy for Aaron and Nora that it just radiated throughout the place.

Snow came down during the entire ceremony. Everything was just magical.

Just like their story.

Nora is an amazing, no seriously, amazing writer. She wrote about the day that changed her life forever earlier this week and as I sat and read it, then reread it, I felt the magic stirring.

(Do yourself a favor and read her article. She's crazy good with words.)

No doubt the night was going to be incredible.

And it was.

I stood there in awe the whole night of how our universe molds and shapes and brings us to where we are meant to be.

So much love in that room.

And the HUGE Twitter Board displayed on the wall showed how these two were inspiring people way beyond the 4 walls of the gallery.

It was crazy awesome.

Just like the two of them.

To see my brother with Nora is like a breath of fresh air.

They seem invincible.

Nothing, including a brain tumor, can stop them.

The wedding was amazing. You can watch the ceremony and hear a few of the so Aaron and Nora speeches on their website:

PURMINERNY

You may even catch a glimpse of Josie and her new friends who spent the entire wedding like this:

Best night ever.

Welcome to the family Nora! I love you like crazy!

(And here's the news clip done on them.)

Holidazzle Parade

2011-12-07T07:14:00.042-05:00

When my brother made his announcement that he was getting married this December I was so excited.

Not only because I love, love, love his choice of bride, but because I had been wanting to take Josie to the Hollidazzle Parade!

The Hollidazzle Parade was a staple when I was growing up. And seeing my kids do things I did growing up makes me really happy.

I knew Josie would love it, but visiting Minnesota in the Winter just isn't high on my list of fun.

With Aaron and Nora's wedding though, I had no excuses to not take her.

I almost chickened out when I was reminded how cold December nights in Minnesota are, but we ended up going and it was awesome!

All the floats and people are covered in Christmas lights!

It's really neat.

We got there right as it was starting and found the perfect spot.

When the parade is over, everyone files up to the 8th floor of Macy's to go through the Christmas Display and see the Jolly Old Elf.

This year's theme was "A Day In The Life of An Elf." It was super cute.

And for the first time in Josie History, she sat AND talked to Santa!

We actually don't "do" Santa at our house. She knows all the gifts are from us.

But in true 4 year old fashion, she still believes.

And we have decided to let her.

She told me that even though we put the presents out for Christmas she had to tell Santa she wants the Toy Story Toys just to be sure he knew.

Seeing her whisper and laugh with Santa was adorable and I was so proud of how much she has grown up this past year.

So confident. So sure of herself.

And now I need to go find all the Toy Story toys for my little elf...

Minne-Snowta

2011-12-06T07:51:00.000-05:00

The day we got to Minnesota it was crazy warm.

Well, crazy warm for Minnesota in December.

We didn't even have to wear jackets.

Josie was pretty sad that there wasn't any snow. She had her heart set on making a snowman with her Uncle Aaron.

Someone must have heard her pleas for snow because on the drive home from dinner she spotted her first flurries of her beloved snow.

josie and uncle aaron in the snow. this picture is magical to me.

It started out light, but kept coming down through the night and we woke up to a more Wintery looking Minnesota.

Wanna guess how many times I heard, "can we go build a snowman?" before 9AM?!?!

Josie loved it.

Gabe, not so much.

He stood there with his arms straight out in his marshmallow coat and cried until I brought him inside to warm up.

Josie had to be drug off her "sleigh." She was sopping wet and froze to the bone, but happy as happy can be.

She kept saying, "I just can't believe it isn't melting yet!"

You aren't in Georgia anymore baby!

And now for a plethora of pictures of my babies in the snow:

Wet Hair, No Coat. Mother Of The Year right here...

Added a sweatshirt. Close, but still a far cry from good parenting...

First Day - December

2011-12-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

The Royal Wedding

2011-12-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

My brother is getting married in 6 hours.

Their story is getting lots of press and after watching them retell their story on the news last night, I am even more convinced this match was weaved together in Heaven.

Wanna see how cute they are?!?!

HERE IS THE NEWS CLIP FROM LAST NIGHT

And if you're free at 4PM (Minnesota Time), check out their website to watch the whole thing streamed live!

PURMINERNEY

Watch for me. I'm the pretty groomsman!

Insta-Friday - 2

2011-12-02T07:07:00.001-05:00

We are in full on Wedding Mode today!

Nails, hair, dresses, rehearsals!

First Day will be up Monday, but here's some Instagram Fun for you until then.

Are you addicted to Instagram yet???

Lord knows I am! Just another Social Media Addiction I owe to my NEW SISTER!

BOGO Holiday Starbuck = happy me, Christmas Tree hunt,

Christmas Cookie Night, Tree Fairy

Cheap Fun, My "I'm Going To Minnesota" Face,

Andrew's 30th Birthday Date (overnight date!), My Favorite Elf

Happy Girl, 2AM Black Friday

Rearranging My World, Nutcracker Date with Josie Girl

Reindeer Games, Bathtime,

Stuck In A Couch, Gabey Baby

Cheese!

2011-12-01T08:25:00.000-05:00

Welcome Super Cheesey Face Stage!

I've been expecting you!

WIWW

2011-11-30T03:01:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-29T07:05:00.085-05:00

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!

2011-11-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-11-27T08:15:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-24T09:07:00.039-05:00

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

2011-11-23T07:55:00.065-05:00

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!