a happy (early) mother's day!

every day is mother's day to me! my children give me gifts daily of innocent smiles, belly laughs, for-no-reason hugs, and so much more. today i received a sweet gift in the mail which i will treasure always. thanks to my sweet friend for touching my heart!

wyatt's words for wednesday

Journal Entry Jan. 16, 2009
"Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us to be kind. He was famous for his 'I had a Dream' speech. He thinks that blacks and whites should be equal. did you know that people are building a memorial in his honor?"

when i grow up

today wyatt is having a poetry slam at school...so cool!! here is the poem he will be reciting (so him)!!

when i grow up
by william wise

when i grow up
i think i'll be
a detective
with a skeleton key.

i could be a soldier
and a sailor too;
i'd like to be a keeper
at the public zoo.

i'll own a trumpet
and i'll play a tune;
i'll keep a space ship
to explore the moon.

i'll be a cowboy
and live i the saddle
i'll be a guide
with canoe and a paddle.

i'd like to be the driver
of a diesel train'
and it must be fun
to run a building crane.

i'll live in a lighthouse
and guard the shore;
and i know i'll want to be
a dozen things more.

for the more a boy lives
the more a boy learns-
i think i'll be all of them
by taking turns.

SERIOUSLY!

well, after many long weeks of waiting, we received notice of refusal to pay ANYTHING for our water/mold damage in our kitchen. get this, they said unless the water damage was caused by one of the following 11 reasons they would not cover it:

1. fire

2. hail

3. explosion

4. riot or civil commotion

5. aircraft, missiles, or spacecraft

6. vehicles (not owned by resident)

7. smoke (but not from fireplace)

8. vandalism or malicious mischief

9. theft

10. volcanic eruption

11. sinkhole collapse

so in other words, the fact that our refrigerator accidentally was left open and the icemaker leaked all night is absurd, however if a volcano decided to pop up in central florida or a u.f.o. landed on our roof, they would be more than happy to help us. todd is saying that we purchased a $5200 piece of paper instead of an insurance policy. oh and the topper is that they will not cover the mold remediation or loss of use (note that we paid extra to have better coverage on mold and loss of use) as it is due to water. of course, then i ask, "what else causes mold other than water?" and they have no answer. so i guess this scenario would have been covered:

"good morning, thank you for calling our claims department. can you describe your claim?"

"yes, good morning," i say as calmly as possible in light of the situation.

"i am calling from florida. i know this sounds completely NUTS however, last night we woke up and discovered that a u.f.o. had flown through our neighborhood and caused civil commotion and rioting. apparently, it used hail as weapons which caused a large explosion in my kitchen area. "

"yes, ma'am. i am getting all of this. keep going."

"at that point, a vehicle (not owned by me, i think it belonged to one of the aliens), crashed directly into the kitchen and destroyed the cabinets. this of course caused smoke which i think it of course the cause of the mold we had to have removed (now that is totally clear to me as of course mold is from smoke---everyone knows that!)."

"yes, that makes total sense to me as well."

"okay, i know that all so far seems to be logical, but this next part is a little crazy. at that point, a large, well, actually, gigantic volcano arose in our backyard. well, i guess that is not that crazy now that i am saying it out loud. but anyway, it erupted of course. that part was kind of neat since as we do live in florida my kids have never seen a volcano erupt. i am SO glad we had that covered on our policy. i truly never knew it was a covered peril, but boy am i glad it was. well the lava came into our kitchen too and seeped under our house and caused a sinkhole."

"wow, all that must cause you loss of use that you paid extra to have coverage for. "

"yes, you are correct. we did pay extra for that."

"well, the good news is that you are completely covered for everything you have experienced."

"oh, thank you. also, in the midst of all this commotion, we then notice that overnight our refrigerator was left open water leaked out."

"okay, ma'am. we appreciate you calling. in light of all that has happened to you overnight, we would have been willing to cover everything entirely, but with the water damage that we do not cover we are denying your claim. you see the water caused all of the loss. the aliens in your neighborhood feed on the water from your ice maker, therefore calling them, causing the hail damage, civil commotion and rioting, explosion, car crash, smoke damage, mold, volcanic eruption, sinkhole, and loss of use. we are more than happy to upgrade your current coverage in case a situation of this nature happens again. if not is there anything else we can do for you today?"

"seriously?"

on sale!

i have been watching this bed for grace for years now at pottery barn kids. well recently it went on sale, almost half price! it is so beautiful! i need to call the store today to see if they carry it--if not the shipping prices are so outrageous bringing the total back up to almost the original price. let's keep our fingers crossed!

wyatt's words for wednesday

Journal Entry Jan. 15, 2009
"My favorite month is March because my birthday is on the 23. Last year, Easter was in March and it was on my birthday! This is the abbreviation for March.....Mar.. I love March so much!!!!!!"

book of 1000 days

one of wyatt's closest friends, olivia, is an avid reader. it is one of the many, many things that ties them together. she, though, is a very fast reader, often finishing a long novel in a day. she will then lend the favored books to wyatt so he can enjoy them (it often takes him a few weeks to her day). olivia's mother (my close friend caprice), shares her daughter's passion for reading. she recently read "book of 1000 days" one day on spring break and loaned it to me to read. well, it took me a little longer to find moments to read and took me a few weeks (similar to my son), but it was so worth it. i would recommend this wonderful story to all young adult and adult readers. it was captivating! thanks caprice!

walk for friends

sometimes days are just nearly perfect. when things just come together, when children smile and laugh and colors swirl like a rainbow in motion. one of favorite days of each year is the walk for friends at the kids school. it is magical. each class has colored shirts and cheer on their fellow students with waves of spirited pom-poms. children can run, walk, skip, or dance their way around, all walking to help the foster children of the sallie house. this year was different. this year, the children of the sallie house came to be with us, walking with colors of their own. this day they were able to be just like our kids. with friends cheering them on, horses running along side of them nearby, and parents catching them if they fell or carrying them when their legs grew tired, they were able to have a normal day. they were able to play with farm animals and sand boxes...they did not want to leave. one little boy, age 4, who never has spoke a clear sentence, approached the gates surrounding the pasture and said "come here please horse" and she came. they left with bags of oranges, pom-poms, and memories of friends. sometimes days are good!

series of a laugh

grace is always giggling. she is the essence of a "giggly little girl!" the other evening, i told her she was going to visit maggie in he morning and she got all dressed up. just had to put on her "giggle" and she was ready to go!

best friends

the other day, while we were on a bike ride, grace and i were trailing behind the boys, which is typical. we often will stop and pick some flowers or take a break to pick up some rocks. this particular evening,we just were trailing as we had been chatting. then, we seemed to notice we needed to catch up and got back to our walk. just as we began (grace pedaling her bike and me picking up my pace walking), grace says to me " mommy, you are my best friend." at that moment, my heart melted, possibly more than it ever has.

wyatt's words for wednesday

Journal Entry Jan. 14, 2009
"My favorite day of the week is Friday because we get free choice. My second favorite day of the week is Wednesday because it is pizza day. Friday is the best day ever! Wednesday is the second best day of the week!"

pigtails and pastels

my dad's easter egg hunts are typically challenging and tricky. this year, he went easy on the kids (no teenagers this year) and the hunt was over in a matter of moments. baskets were full of wonderful gifts...seems like easter bunny grandma's had a little to do with that! hoppy spring!

gotta love that easter bunny!

the boys were armed with their daddy and uncle jody's old easter baskets and grace with her dainty white and pink basket. luckily the easter bunny made the smart decision this year to have THREE golden eggs...one for each so there were not hurt feelings! well, marlo seemed a little miffed, but found comfort in an empty basket filled with grass.

not in pieces

so i have been trying to convince laura to make the switch over from 2 piece bathing suits to a nice, mature (yet still fun) one-piece suit. i personally think that bikinis are ridiculous. what an unreasonable expectation to put on women especially moms that need to move, bend, jump, run-to-the-water to "rescue" their child from the waves, run-the-other-direction to get the other child that has sand in their eye, to name a few. this one may be my top choice if i do make the switch. recently i heard that women of a certain religion wear their body-covering dresses for swimming---a little far off for me, but a one-piece may be in my near future.

splashes of color

...but, luckily it only was splashed on the eggs. love these little easter cuties!

blue ribbon gala

the sallie house is a place so very close to my heat...maybe a little too close. last night was the "blue ribbon gala" charity event to raise money for the sallie's angels organization. the keynote speaker was a former foster child now in her early 20's and is now a mother herself. she spoke of her journey through 28 foster homes, separation from her two older siblings, and abuse and misdirection. she made a choice at 16 that she was going to overcome and she did. her story is not in the majority. it hurts me most to know that their is no one is this world that loves my three children as much as i do. thoughts of them consume me. they are always and will forever be the first thing on my mind. these foster children do not have that...someone that loves them above all. the speaker last night spoke that she once went to a house and saw that the family's children had put their handprints in the cement driveway. she ached that she did not ever have a home to put her handprints...a place and family to call home. i came home and kissed my kids, hoping one day all the children of the world will have mommys that kiss them the same way.

it worked

sometimes you just get good news. so often, i feel lately, it just is not good, but yesterday it was different...finally good news. my grandmother has just finished 3 rounds of chemo for the cancer that returned after a year and a half. hope seemed faded in my grandmothers mind, however she continued to fight. the fight paid off. yesterday, the results from the testing showed that the chemo had shrunk the cancer they had seen months ago and no new disease had spread. we cannot imagine days where our grandmother is not in them. hope has returned.

demolition

here is the scoop: a few weeks ago, someone in our household left open the refrigerator over night and when we came out in the morning, half the floor in the kitchen was flooded. the door icemaker apparently continued to make ice that would melt and then remake ice that in turn would also melt. a few days later, the pergo that lined our floors covering the original wood with a layer of old tile in between, was bulging and oozing with mold. we contacted an emergency remediation company and also our insurance. the emergency crew came in like the ghostbusters on speed; "sign here", "pack everything up", and started tearing the flooring and cabinets apart. apparently, the water damage went into the walls, but i stopped them before they got too carried away and told them we would handle that part. so we have not heard a response from the insurance company, but we are going ahead with complete demolition and in the words of the emergency crew "taking a leap of faith." let's hope this leap brings us to a new kitchen and not to a lifetime of debt. til then (and probably for at least 6 months), we our enjoying our "makeshift" kitchen housed in our dining room.

grand prix

todd and the boys love their annual race day. it is just in their blood i guess. they all bring their cameras and pick their favorite car of the race. typically in their minds, it is ferrari against porshe. todd worked on a car for one of the driver's a few weeks ago, so that was also a big highlight!!

sweet sadie

this past week, we got to babysit my parent's dogs. their new puppy sadie is a sweetheart and had so much fun with mabel.

wyatt's words for wednesday

Journal entry Jan. 13, 2009
"It is improtant to be kind because it is nice. It is kind when you say good morning. Being a kind kid will make you a kind adult. If you are kind you make lots of friends."

shake your booty

grace was giggling (as usual---and for the record she calls it "diddling" --at night says "mommy, let's diddle!" and then we proceed to laugh endlessly). so back to the other day-- "please mommy, take a picture of me shakin' my booty!" then more "diddling!" so here are the booty shots that gave us a good laugh!

bounce around

thanks to averi and amanda for inviting us to play over spring break! i just love seeing all the kids laughing and running and loving being young!

fresh and new

oh, how i love fresh and new (and organized, clean, sparse, homey, vintage, purposeful, natural). my fabulous husband dropped everything and drove about an hour away to get me this new rug...just because i asked him to :) our couches, as long as we have lived in this house for 5 years now, have always been in an "L" shape that forced you to walk into the love seat as you entered the house. we never liked the setup. so while my mom and i were cleaning, we thought, let's try turning the love seat to sit next to the door---whala! all we needed was a rug to tie the room together and a great hubby to pick it up. fresh and new-love it!

spring parties

this past week were the spring parties for the boys classes at school. for wyatt's we had a basketball/cheerleader party at the rec center and for owen'swe did a bike/scooter party at the park! they both had a great time!

beach babies

it has been SO wonderful being able to have the kids home for spring break. it just gets me asking for MORE!! i cannot wait until summer to have them longer. it seems as if before i can even realize they are here, it is time to go back to school. we spent monday going all around town, spending wyatt's birthday giftcards, and then to the park for a picnic with laura and her kids. tuesday was our beach day. when we arrived, a man had been sculpting a sand sea turtle. it turned out beautifully and was inspiration for wyatt and owen to build their own fort, complete with a flag and moat, and then a battle! luckily, we brought along a kiddie pool for grace and trevan to play in since there was a string ray a few feet off shore. a nice walk on the beach, fun with friends, and keeping snacks hidden from pesky seagulls---great way to spend a morning.