2017

 

This morning begins a new adventure in our lives. I so enjoyed this beautiful sunrise as I contemplated the new changes laid before my family. 2016 was a year that was rough at times and quite challenging. We had a lot of transitions, changes, and hard knocks, it is so nice to be ending the year with a whole new chapter in our lives. 

The greatest things that happened this last year:

Selena started public school 

We made the decision at the end of last year's school year, to begin the transition into public school. The decision to put her in school was based on the fact that she was struggling within the homeschool setting becoming very frustrated and beginning to not like homeschool. She had needs that I just wasn't able to meet, such as her writing or lack of writing. We moved forward to testing for an IEP. Selena at first tried to refuse going to school, that slowly turned around to her wanting to try 4th grade. The first Semester in school has been challenging but she loves it! 

Car accident 

Papa and Selena were involved in an auto accident in August. They were rear ended on the highway. Our van was totaled. Injuries were not as bad as they could have been thankfully! Selena was sore and still suffers at times from from post concussion, basically a lot of headaches at times. Papa however took the blunt of the impact. He suffered for months in pain from a very bad whiplash, injured back, and post concussion too. He's getting better but we can't say 100% better. With the loss of our van, dealing with the insurance company, which still is ongoing, loss of pay, and medical appointments, we all were becoming pretty drained. Like I said it's not over yet, bringing on an Attorney it has relieved us from all the stress. I feel Papa began to have more energy to move forward in his healing after we hired the Attorney.

Retirement

Papa began talking about retiring more and more during 2016. After the accident the subject became more serious. We began to set possible dates, and began making lists of the things we needed or wanted to accomplish before he actually retired. We figured if he worked until May we would have everything set and ready. The beginning of December we were yet again faced with uncertainties about Papa's empowerment, not that he would lose his job but a change of employers. Neither of us had the desire to ride through the transition, we felt it would just be a hassle especially with a pending retirement date for May. The wheels were put in gear and I am pleased to say we pulled it off, everything on our to do list was accomplished, everything fell into place and December 29th was Papa's last day of work!

Of course we had good times through the year as well! We were thrilled that TJ and family were able to visit a couple times and celebrate an early Thanksgiving with us. Selena turned 10 this year and has grown so much. Through all the trials we have grown stronger in our relationships with each other, as a family, and within our community. 

We look forward to 2017! We are excited for this new chapter in our lives and while we know the transition period will be challenging at times we are ready to embrace it. We wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Same Interest Importance

My husband and I were talking last night about how important it is for both of us to have something that we do with Selena that is fun and interesting that just involves just her and a parent. I never in my wildest dream thought I would be riding a horse again. Though I have always loved horses, I just never gave much thought to riding with Selena. It's been really fun though.

I feel it is very important that we find same interests with our children, I am not talking about family interests, which are important too, but the one on one time doing something that both the child and the parent enjoy. We spend so much time being our child's parent, we are the one in charge, and spend time and energy just on that aspect. For some of us we spend a lot of time being a soccer mom, driving our children from one activity to another activity, they participate, perform, make sure we are watching (WATCHING from the side lines where we might be visiting with other parents or as I have observed busy on our electronics), but is that really spending time with our child?

I don't care if it is getting out and taking walks, riding bikes, playing ball, just get out there and find something you and your child enjoys together. Sure Selena and I do a lot together, but something about having one or two activities that we do together, just the two of us, promotes more free communication. We are having so much fun, laughing, trying new things, exploring how to listen to each other, work together, and have fun with each other.

This quality time with our child builds a relationship that will go with them the rest of their lives. We are unplugged and are in the moment. We often comment that we are our child's first friend and teacher but do we continue to be that part through out their lives? When I think of it in this manner I think to the time I have to connect and spend time with just my husband or with that girl friend I have, I love those times and truly need them! My child is just as important to me as they are, I have two choices with my child, I can sit on the side line and watch her run around and have fun or I can find a common ground interest, jump in with both feet and spend that quality time with her. I can be a part of building lasting memories and a strong relationship between us.

Sometimes it gives us a chance to just drop all our worries at home or work and just be a kid ourselves again. For me I truly want my children to think back and not only remember me for the parent I was, but to cherish the things we enjoyed, the times we were able to escape and be one on one in bliss just truly enjoying each other. Our children deserve to have our time, they deserve to get to know us as a person, not just as their mom or dad. It is easy to think that the time we spend driving them to from point A to point B is quality time in the car, but is it? Sure we might play a game in the car, or talk, and laugh, but are we really connected? Not really we can become disconnected because we still have to focus on our driving. I say find something that you do with your child that is just pure fun, no distractions, talk, listen, play, just let go and connect on a deep level. Your child will appreciate that in the future.

October Fun!

Last weekend we drove to Spokane with one purpose, to take Selena out to Greenbluff to see a large Orchard. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We headed out to Greenbluff on Saturday morning and arrived at the Orchard at 10:00 that morning. It is really fun this time of year, they have so much for the kids to do. We took a tractor pulled wagon ride around the Orchard and was able to see the apples hanging on the trees. We really were not suppose to be on this ride, as we found out towards the end, as it was to take those out who were going to pick apples. With a quick apology the tractor driver assured us it was OK and took us back with him. Hey it was an honest mistake, there wasn't any signs that said it was only for pickers, all we could see was people loading on for a ride. 

They had a kid friendly area with slides, a pea box, (like a huge sandbox, but full of dried peas) a kid friendly maze made from pallets, and sheep to feed. We spent quite a bit of time in this area and believe me we brought home plenty of peas in our clothes, hair and shoes. 

One of the other reason for this visit was for Selena to spend time with her brothers. We had one excited little girl when I said they had pulled in. She was so excited, that to just stand there and wait was so not happening. We decided to walk out to the parking lot to meet them. As soon as she laid eyes on them she was off running, she couldn't get to them fast enough.

I was greeted by the cutest little Grandson with a huge smile on his face, holding this dog he made for me. With hugs, and hellos, Selena and her brother took off hand in hand back to the Orchard. We took turns holding the youngest Grandson, until he finally fell asleep. Selena and Charlie had so much fun and it took quite awhile before they let go of each other's hands.

It was a very fun day, and we are so glad that we were able to drive over just for this. Hopefully next year my son will be there with his little guy, then all the Grandchildren will be together.

On another note, we surprised Selena with a package today.

She starts lessons next Thursday. Stay tuned as to how well she enjoys the lessons. We are great full for a homeschool Dad who agreed to teach her to play.

Family Pictures

We didn't do Christmas cards this year, we chose to wait and send out New Years cards to celebrate the adoption. We are still waiting for the adoption to be finalized there was a mix up with the paper work, which has now been resolved so we are looking at probably a couple weeks out. We had a friend meet us at the courthouse to have a fun picture session. It was nice not going to an expensive photographer who would be set on a time limit, try to pose us in poses that would not seem natural to us. We really had a very relaxed, fun photo session. First I will post a few of the fun poses before I show you the ones we chose.

   

  

There were quite a few more which were very adorable and so much fun! Now for the pictures we chose.

Family 2014 Card

2014

View the entire collection of cards.

Here is the card we designed to announce our Adoption when it is finally finalized. Tomorrow we will share more about the adoption process, and more about the photo session we had so stay tuned!

Happy Happy Sunshine Day

We woke up Saturday morning to the Sunshine. I thought a picnic was in order. What would a picnic be without cake for desert. Selena helped me mix the cake batter. My mixer is a very heavy mixer, so she had a little problems holding it. In fact I have a hard time holding it at times. For her first time mixing with the mixer she did very well, and enjoyed it. I also asked her what she thought would happen to this mixture in the oven? Selena looked at me funny, and waited patiently until I pulled the cake out of the oven.

Selena calls this her “Birthday Cake to the Sun!” I guess we need some candles but hey I don’t think we could fit enough on here for the actual age of the Sun, maybe just enough to count the number of days we have had GREAT sunny days this year…ummm 3 maybe 4!?

What would cake decorating be without a quick little taste? I went to grab the camera, and my last words were, “Selena keep your fingers out of the cake!” This is what I found when I came back out.

Well, atleast the frosting got Selena’s taste of approval! What did we do after this? Well of course we headed out side, and played in the sun, and had a wonderful picnic dinner!

Then we changed into some cooler clothes and headed out side. Selena had to make a musical instrument out of rocks and an empty water bottle. The bottle wasn’t empty until she dumped the water out to put rocks in it.

She discovered that she could see her reflection in the back of my car. So she had to show off her musical skills. She also took this time to inform Papa and I that the clouds were playing Hide and Seek.

It was getting pretty hot so we had to change into our shorts before riding the bike. She got so hot with the helmet on that I had to take it off and pour cold water over her head.

Then of course we had to finish our day off with a little water fun. It was pretty cold, the water that is, so this fun didn’t last long, but she had so much fun. It was a good day as a family on our home style picnic. We didn’t go any place fancy, we just stayed home, but it was one of the best picnics we’ve had.

We had a lot of science going on around here. Pop on over to Ticia’s at Adventures in Mommydom to see what others explored.

Wow! A New Year! and Postcard Exchange

 

I have sat here today and enjoyed Michael and Selena’s company. Selena is really getting independent here on the home front and is asking so many wonderful questions. I look forward to really digging in deep this next year of her growth and getting all her little questions answered.

She seems like she went to bed one night and woke up to be this big girl. We finally achieved total potty training! Well, she still wears a pull up at night, but wow what a difference it makes now that she actually goes in and doesn’t need a bit of help from us. It is so nice now to not have to worry what time of day we will have to wear a pull up as she didn’t want to do the messy job in the toilet. Now to just get the outings down and everything will be perfect.

I know I still owe a few of you postcards and those will get sent out this week. I had not forgot a single person I promised a postcard to, and should have had them out before now, but hey we got so wrapped up with Selena’s birthday and Christmas, they just got sat off to the side.  So look for them to be arriving, and thank you for your patience!

I am going to be blogging once a week on something we have learned from the postcards we have received. Some of the things we will be looking at is, a map to see where the cards came from, your blog, so Selena can see who they came from, as well as her most important curiosity at the time is the make up of a family.

I encourage you to share with us what you are learning. Yes, I will be hosting yet another blog carnival, but I feel this one will be very fun and interesting for our children. Look for our first post to be probably Thursday. You can link up anytime you are ready.

Also if you still would like to be apart of this, please let me know and Selena and I would love to exchange postcards with you. For a reference to how this looks check out my post here.

Busy Sunday

Sunday was the Church Picnic at Friend's Landing, down on the Chehalis River, here I am in my car seat enjoying the view as we drive out there. The first thing we did when we got there was eat hamburgers and yummy pasta salads. Then it was time to have FUN!!

This tube looks interesting, but I wasn't sure what to do. Grandpa was telling me to go through and find Grandma, but I didn't see her so I thought he was crazy. He kept telling me to go through though, and I could hear Grandma.

Oh there you are Grandma! I actually made it clear through to Grandma on the other end. It was fun but I didn't want to do it again. A little scary for me...maybe next time.

Now to tackle the slide, I think I can have just as much fun climbing up the slide as I do coming down it. Chase is looking on but telling me I am going the wrong way. By the way it was Chase's birthday so we had fun in Sunday School giving him a birthday party!

There with a little help from Grandpa I made it to the top!! Chase ran up the stairs and met me at the top. Hey I was pretty proud of myself though as I did make it clear up to the top of the slide!

Then I had fun as Chase and I came back down the slide together! I do love to slide and will do it all day if you let me!

Later that evening my two Uncles and Aunts called and we drove to Aberdeen to visit with them. I was one pretty tired girl, but I still had so much fun!

My Aunt Linda and I

Uncle Bill is giving me one huge hug!

Uncle Ken is truly a big cuddly teady bear!

I kind of hogged the picture of my other Aunt Linda and myself.

I ended up not getting to bed until after 10:00 P.M. and I went out like a log. I slept until Grandma finally woke me up at 10:00 A.M. Hey it was a busy day for me, but I had a lot of fun and would do it again!

They came by the house on their way to Seattle on Monday morning. They brought me all sorts of goodies. A small back pack full of markers, stampers (markers that make all sorts of shapes like Grandma's rubber stamps, crayons, sidewalk chalk, and paper! I will have lots of fun using these in school and play! I have the greatest Aunts and Uncles around!!

Our Photo Shoot

I finally got out from behind the camara! Grandpa took these photos, as you can see he's still learning the camara. I really don't know what happened in the first two photos, I think grandpa was playing too many games with Selena, saying "Smile" and "Cheese". I finally told him to shut up and just take the picture. Selena is growing up so fast and I really do not have many pictures of her and I. She is looking more and more like I did as a child that it is unreal other then believe it or not my hair was lighter back then. Selena is definately my pride and joy...not that I couldn't say the same thing about my children as they both are still my pride and joy, but there is something so special about a grandchild.

These pictures were taken on Sunday morning as we were waiting to leave for church. I just love the little dress Selena has on, though it reminds me more of a design for a birthday party, it has to be one of the mose adorable dresses she owns. I just wish she would let me put her hair up in pony tails, but for one she doesn't like a lot of fussing with her hair, and another reason her hair is so thin that it is hard to keep any type of tie in her hair and believe me I have tried them all. I wish I had the beautiful curls that she has though...you can't see them in this picture but believe me the back of her hair is the most adorable ringlets all the time.

Happy Birthday!

My Baby

24 years ago I was in the hospital delivering this handsome man. It is hard at times to believe it was truly that long ago, that God blessed me with this bundle of joy. Looking back over those years, I miss his loving heart and generosity that he always showed to others. His creativity, his desire to learn everything about the world around him. He definitely was a mommy's boy until he was about 7 years old, and another kid made fun of him for wanting a hug from mommy when he fell off his bike, even with that said, he still in private wanted to remain that mommy's boy.

I think back to a conversation we had one time in the car, TJ was about 9 at the time it went like this:

TJ: When I grow up I am going to have 10 kids.

Me: How are you going to support 10 kids?

TJ: I am going to be a fireman, a policeman, and the list went on.

Me: If you are working all those jobs when will you have time for your kids?

TJ: Don't worry I will make the time.

I guess in a way he has everything he wants, minus the wife and the kids oh and all the careers, but he makes a mean cook in a restaraunt doing exactly what he has always loved to do, cook and eat!

I feel very blessed to have him as my son and am very proud of him! He still has a heart of gold, and still has that same compassion and generosity for those around him.

Now don't tell Selena that this is my baby as today she informed me when I said her Uncle TJ was my baby, "NO I am your baby mama!" Truly she is my baby, but TJ will always be MY baby! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kiddo!!

Happy Father's Day

Selena just adores her Grandpa!
So much she adorned him with hearts, nose hearts!

Selena gave her Grandpa a mug for Father's Day! He just loves his mugs and it was time for him to get a new one. The mug is gray and has white writing that says:

To My

Grandpa

I love you....

For all the times you were there

with undersanding to show you care

I love you....

For always knowing what to do

You are who I look up to

I love you....

For the strength of our family

Thank you for all you've given me

I will always love you!

This cup holds so much truth, especially for Selena. Grandpa had never been a father to a small child before, so for him to step up and take her in and desire to raise her at this point in our lives makes him a very special Grandpa. He adores Selena as much as she adores him. They laugh, talk, play, and do so much together especially watch baseball together. She is constantly repeating everything he says even when he says "Oh mama"! They truly have a special bond.

We went to church this morning and Selena made Grandpa a Father's Day card in Sunday School. With some extra stickers she created a second picture, (of course when we got home she pealed off the heart stickers and had to stick them all over herself and Grandpa). While we were in church my son called and wished Michael a Happy Father's Day, his sentiments were so heart felt, too bad we missed the call. (tomorrow is my son's birthday so we will talk to him then)

After Church Selena and I took Grandpa out to the Red Lobster for Lunch/Dinner. We all enjoyed our food and the company, and I enjoyed not having to cook. Michael is a very special man, husband, Dad, Stepdad, Grandpa, he deserves the best. I love him more and more with every passing year. He shows such strength in faith, wears his heart on his shirt sleeve so we always know just how he feels towards each of us.

Michael you are the BEST husband a wife could ask for! You are also the BEST grandpa a granddaughter could wish to have! We love you! God has truly blessed our lives through you!

Time Flies

Wow! It has been so long since I made a post here. So much has happened on this end since I last posted, I don't even know where to start catching up. We had a great summer, the weather couldn't have been better. In June we found a wonderful Church home. How great it is to be serving the Lord with a wonderful extended family. In July we spent a weekend at the beach and had a blast. The weather was great, Selena went on her first carasel ride and she absolutely loved digging in the sand at the beach.

I have now made up with the friend in my last post. I am so happy too as she truly is a very good person and one I missed very much. I will try to do better at keeping up with my Blog this time and try to get some new pictures posted of Selena.

Promise, Oregon revisited

Now if this doesn't prove that we really do live in a small world, I don't know what does. After my previous post about Promise Oregon, I found a post from someone who had family that had homesteaded in Promise Oregon also. We emailed each other and she gave me her family's names...which I will omit for now as I do not post anything without someone's permission. I thought the names sounded familiar but just how they fit in I didn't actually know. Well, my guess was right the one family had married into my Grandmother's family. As for the other side of her family they actually owned the property where my Grandparents lived. It still amazes me that whenever I post information somewhere here on the Internet about Promise Oregon, the number of people that will contact me concerning their families homesteading up there.

This makes me really want to attend one of the reunions they have up there every year on July 4th. I guess I am just going to have to make it a point one year to go! I say if you know anything about your family and the adventures they took to get here to where you now call home, don't hesitate in getting the information out there somehow, who knows you too might just find more interesting information. It is fun and exciting to discover new facts all the time.

Promise, Oregon

A few years ago my family decided to get together and travel to Promise, Oregon to see if we could locate the family homestead where our Great Grandmother, from Sweeden and Great Grandfather had decided to make their home. The story has it that my Great Grandmother chose this piece of property as it reminded her of her home in Sweeden. The lilac bush that stands alone now actually stood at the back corner of the house, where my Dad was born, and when you walk down to the lilac bush you can actually still see the corner stone of the foundation. The view all the way around from the front of the house over looks a beautiful field that just disapears on the edge of the Mountains, but yet overlooks the Blue Mountains in every direction.


This is what was left from some farming equipment and wagon that my Great Grandfather and Grandfather used to work the land. My Great Grandfather was better known for his farming, and has his picture along with many of my Dad's siblings, pictures hanging in the museum in Willowa, Oregon. My Grandmather met my Grandfather while she was teaching at the school which is up the road from the homestead. Her family homesteaded somewhere near there, but no one is actually sure where.


Though the house is not standing today, this is the original barn that my Great Grandfather built. Every year they have a reunion for the families of the homesteaders there in Promise Oregon. They have now turned the old Grange Hall into a museum with furnishings and household things they have been able to find out of the old homesteads. They even put out a calendar every year that has pictures of what every original homestead looks like. When I had my website I actually was contacted by someone who had been to this reunion. She said it was a lot of fun and that someone was asking about my family. Some year I would love to go to one of these reunions. Who knows it might just happen yet. My Great Grandmother has been laid to rest in the nearby cemetary near the place she chose to call home.

Obsessions

Sometimes I just become obsessed with something that I just can not shake. Well, the last couple of days after finding my family tree that my Aunt and Uncle made, I discovered that they had my Great Grandmother's Birthdate listed at 1855 while my Great Grandfather's was listed as 1862, something just did not seem right to me. I spent hours and hours searching different sites to try to find the correct information. I was really beginning to pull my hair out as I just did not feel that this date was correct but I could not find a single thing. I did however find my Great Great Grandparents names Yippee!!

Finally it hit me like a rock, when we visited the homestead in Promise, Oregon where my Great Grandparents had homesteaded when they moved to Oregon, we visited the cemetary where she is buried. I remembered taking pictures of her head stone, figuring I would probably never get back to Promise Oregon again in my life time. No, I don't go around taking pictures of headstones! Now, what in the world did I do with these pictures? Well needless to say I found them nestled inside our family scrapbook and guess what according to the headstone she was born in 1869, or that is what I believe it to say. It is going to be hard to really know for sure since she was born in Sweden. Maybe I will start a search of Sweden....is that even possible? I guess I will have to see if by chance they have such registries as we do.

Anyway my point is I just hate it when something so silly obsesses me. Who really cares when my Great Grandmother was born? Or this obsession just another sign of my compulsion for having everything just perfect? Yes, that is right I am a perfectionist in many areas of my life...especially for some reason where my family history goes. Now that probably sounds strange, but I can't help it I love dreaming about my family history, what my family lived like, who they were, and where they came from. Now this is all another story in itself, but for now I can only say I do believe I am closer to being able to put this obsession to rest, and just head off to bed. So with that said goodnight and who knows what other obsession will arise tomorrow.