Category Archives: Foster

A little dance recital

We got to go and see Vivi and her big sister’s winter dance recital.
IMG_3065 IMG_3066We got to love on our Monkey Girl for an hour! She happily bounced back and forth between all of our laps.IMG_3072 IMG_3074 IMG_3167These two sisters are so amazingly adorable.IMG_3175

And RJ willingly and happily came and cuddled with me! Poor kid was SO tired.IMG_3180

After the performance we braved the mad house and tried to get a few pictures with the kids.IMG_3184 IMG_3187

RJ’s face looking at Regan cracks me up!IMG_3188 IMG_3189 IMG_3190Six cute kids. Two very tired babies. Picture taking craziness.

So grateful we got to spend some time with this sweet family and snuggle with pieces of our hearts for a bit today. All the love!

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Ward Christmas Party 2015

Our ward Christmas party was laid back and fun. We had a couple of cute visitors (first time doing respite for foster) this weekend as well. It was fun to take them out to dinner and to see Santa.
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The kids had fun drawing all over the paper covered tables.DSC00929 DSC00930 DSC00931

Jon had the nice camera to take family photos. So I got to use the other camera…DSC00932ย  DSC00935Waiting in line to see Santa with four kids…. Pretty much not my favorite. Kaylee didn’t even want to go talk to him this year. WHAT?!

IMG_9190 IMG_9192 IMG_9194 IMG_9195Thankfully when she found out that our sweet Sister Missionaries where helping Santa out she changed her mind. I mean really! She’s not even eight yet. Slow down on growing up kid!!!!

Boy’s room

It took me a few years. Yes, YEARS. But I finally remembered to take a picture of the boy’s room after a cleaning. Because in real life our rooms get used and lived in so they are real life messy.

Also I cannot for the life of me find a before photo of this room. ๐Ÿ™ But let me assure you that it’s much better now post blue animal bathroom carpet removal. Holy EEWWWWWW! Serious cement cleaning and kilz ceiling to floor.

***HEY!!! I found a picture of the master bedroom carpet. So you can see the ewww. Cats and dogs doing the business inside all over all the floors. Still have no clue where the before of this room is. But it was in the same condition, just a different shape.***

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IMG_1121 New flooring, paint, and fan.ย  IMG_1124

He wanted a hero themed bedroom. We (I) went with scripture heros. I got these scripture hero cards and we read all the stories and talked about all sorts of real life heros. THEN I let him pick out his three favorite heros to get giant posters of.IMG_1125Jon and Josh built safety rails for the bottom bed for use when we have tiny sleepers. They were a life saver when we had R this last year. The rails are awesome. One goes the entire length of the bed, and the other has a gap for easy access into and out of bed. R used the bottom drawer as a step and could get himself in and out of bed from day one (14 mo), but never accidentally fell out of bed. Basically the rails turned the bottom bunk into a giant easy access crib. I love having handy men in my life. ๐Ÿ™‚

IMG_8546He was so little! Little R. I am surprised by how much I really do miss him, even with our fire and ice relationship. He really is SUCH a great kid and I am SO happy he has a Mom he likes and loves ALL the time now. ๐Ÿ™‚

I modge podged the small Hero cards onto painted boards to add more color to his room. He also wanted a world map. So that’s over his bed. He’s getting really good at placing countries. We hear lots of “_____ is next to ______ in South America. But we live in North America, and Babushka is from Central America.” He got super into Europe earlier this year when I was gearing up for travel. Lots of “London Baby!”IMG_1126I LOVE that he chose Hannah as one of his heros. We talk a lot about birth moms and how strong they are and how much trust and faith they have. I think Hannah’s story really resonated with him because of years of placement talk. He put it together himself that she did a REALLY hard thing, and that the right thing is not always the easy thing. He wanted her poster to be the first one he saw when entering his room.ย  IMG_1127Our best friends gave us a very cool Captain America canvas print that is now in the boy’s room. IMG_1128Things I love about this room: The colors. Regan picked it all and it’s awesome. The spiritual lift I get when I have a second to spare while in there and I read some scripture passages that are all over his walls. His personal artwork that his pre-school self did just for this space. The bedding that he picked out. Because, “orange is theย  best, but not too much okay?” The rugs he picked because they had all the “right” colors.