Mae's Heritage Trip to China

Just typing the title of this post has me giddy. And suddenly tired. Because there is so much to say.

There was no question that Mae and I would return to China for a Heritage Tour at some point in her life. Prior to the government funding, this was a serious financial occasion and we lumped it somewhere with the "Israel Study Tour when the kids are in high school" trip. In other words, don't panic - it's not for a long time.

Then word got out last year that the Chinese government was offering a Heritage tour at no cost to the adoptee and at a great price for the parent. International airfare was not included but in-China flights, hotels, meals, tours, tour guides, and an orphanage visit (!!!!) etc. were included.

Last year I watched with joy as friends took their girls back for the first time. Conventional wisdom suggests taking a child back to her birth country as a child (so she is blind to the bad and only sees the good, coming home with love and pride for her country) and again as a young adult (to confront the bad and learn to deal with it while appreciating, at a deeper level, the beauty and history of her country).

I thought that would be wonderful but didn't see it in our future, unless I went back to work. Then this Thanksgiving, talk of our trip to Disneyland with the aunts shifted to talk of China! And when I really looked into it, it looked do-able! It's not cheap, which is why we've launched the fund-raising blog, but it is possible!

After crunching numbers and tallying my various singing gigs, we were about 2K short. The fundraising blog has been a beautiful way to share our excitement and the response has been heart-warming. When I deposit my own earnings at the beginning of each new month, I look forward to watching our "% Raised" creep up and up hand-in-hand with the generosity and love of friends and family.

This trip is tentatively scheduled for July 14-24. Here is a sample itinerary.


CCCWA/BLAS‐CCAI
Sample Itinerary: Heritage Tour July 14‐July 24, 2013

July 14 Sun Depart for Beijing.
July 15 Mon Arrive in Beijing.
Welcome by BLAS guide at the airport and transfer to
Metropark Lido Hotel (4*) (lunch and dinner on own)
Evening Optional: Acrobat show

July 16 Tue Morning Visit the Tian’anmen Square and Forbidden City
Take Hutong tour by rickshaw
(lunch at a local family house in Hutong)
Afternoon Visit CCCWA and Welcome Party

July 17 Wed Morning Visit Great Wall and a Closinne Factory
(group lunch at a friendship restaurant)
Afternoon Free option: Temple of Heaven

July 18 Thurs Morning Depart for Xi’an via flight.
Afternoon Visit Terra Cotta Soldiers (group lunch)
Check into Grand New World Hotel (4*)
Evening Enjoy Tang Dynasty Show with Dumpling banquet

July 19 Fri Morning Ride bicycle at Ancient Wall
Depart for Chengdu via flight
Welcome by local guide and check into Tianfu Sunshine Hotel (4*) 
(lunch on the plane or on your own)
Afternoon Take a rest at the hotel
Evening Enjoy the local mask‐changing show
(taste some typical Sichuan food for dinner)

July 20 Sat Morning Visit famous Panda Reserve 
(By paying an additional fee you can hold a toddler panda and take pictures)
(group lunch)
Afternoon Take a rest at the hotel (dinner on own)

July 21Sun Morning Depart for Guilin via flight *we will probably fly to Changsha here*
July 22 Mon
July 23Tues

July 24 Wed Fly to Guangzhou to catch international flight home

 You can also substitute a 2-3 day orphanage tour by skipping the Guilin portion of the tour. 


We will skip the Guilin part of the tour to visit Mae's orphanage in HuaiHua and spend some time in the city. Because it is a military city, we will have limited access to everything, but just SEEING the place will be wonderful. I'm sure we'll spend more time in Changsha and I hope to reunite with Daphne, our guide, again.

I remember the director and the assistant director well and look forward to seeing them again. I've heard from those who went to HuaiHua last year that the orphanage tour is a bit disappointing. It's a new building (which is great!) but guests are only allowed in the main foyer and can't visit with the babies or children in the orphanage. There will be an opportunity to take the Director out to lunch to chat, which is exciting, and we will be able to see Mae's orphanage file (though we have copies of everything here, it will still be neat for Mae to see her pictures in a Chinese file!) We can also drive to the old orphanage (which is now used as a home for the elderly) but again can't go in (all because HuaiHua is a military city and foreigners are worrisome, I guess!)

Anyway, it's all terribly exciting. My passport is still valid but Mae needs a new one, so we will get on that next week. I am holding my breath with hope that both aunts, Jayne and Nancy, will join us. We will miss Ayi SuSu but we'll hold out hope for her to accompany us when Mae is a teen! I'll need her experience with young adults at that point! 

So, in closing, we are over-the-moon with excitement and ever so grateful to the folks who are helping us close the gap in the funding! Thank you all!! And, just in case you missed it, here is the link! It's also on the sidebar. We are asking family to consider making a donation rather than sending us a holiday gift this year (though we do love that smoked salmon, Rod ... mmmm...)

Of course I will blog while in China and can't wait to share our adventures with you all here on the blog! Xie xie!!

Tournament

Ted, Mae and I had a TKD adventure this weekend. We drove to Littleton Friday afternoon for some black-belt only competition, and to watch our instructors mid-term. Then we spent the night at a hotel, with the fun swimming, breakfast and TV that my children l.o.v.e.

Saturday Mae competed as a Tiny Tiger while Ted helped out by time-keeping in the rings. We got lunch around 2pm and Ted's ring finally got going around 3:30. Of course, as luck would have it, MY ring was staged while Ted's was on deck.

That was stressful, but the worst was that my ring actually got going right when Ted had won one round of sparring and was about to do another round! He eventually took 3rd place in Sparring, which, with three State Champions in his ring, was quite a feat.

I was bummed to miss his second round, but had fun competing myself. I did my form as best as I could, but didn't place. I did get 3rd in Sparring (ha!) but there were only four of us sparring (out of the seven in the ring) so it's not quite as impressive as Ted's win. I did see that none of the ladies competed in Weapons, so I might as well do that next time! Automatic first place!

All in all, a great experience. This was Mae's second tournament and she did great. Ted is completely jazzed now and wants to compete at Fall Nationals in Orlando, FL. Not sure I can pull that off, but we're going to try. There are three more regional tournaments, and the four medals link together to make the Songham Star. Very cool.

The school's (new) main instructor, Mr. O, wants Ted to start schlepping to Fort Collins on Saturdays. There are three classes he can do, with other black belts his age. He could do a Black Belt class, an XMA class, and a Sparring class. He is very excited about that, though a little nervous too.

His dear friend Pete lives in Fort Collins, so perhaps we can tie a visit with Pete into the day. We're thinking to go twice a month, although if he actually is going to get really serious (you just never know - tournaments get Ted very excited) we may go more often.

Mae's soccer season starts up next week! Saturdays are going to be divide and conquer days! Bring it!

Sibling Rivalry

In any family with more than one child, there will be some degree of sibling rivalry. With an adopted child in the mix with biological children, the dynamic can be even more painful.

"Fairness" always seems to top the list of disputes among siblings. "His glass has more milk in it!" one child will cry, sure now that his sibling holds the place of esteem in the household. While this is exhausting, it provides numerous opportunities for children to learn about their place in the family, as well as how Mom and Dad deal with these situations. Let's take a peek into my living room on a recent week night.

The boys are wrestling with Daddy while I pet the cat on my lap and cheer at appropriate times. Mae desperately wants in on the wrestling action, though my husband reminds her that she tends to get hurt during their rough play. She joins in anyway and is kicked in the face almost instantly. While she sobs on my lap, my oldest hurts his back and wants his turn to be comforted by me. Chaos ensues.

From "Daddy doesn't love me; he never plays with me" to "It's not fair that Mae has been in your lap for so long; it's my turn," all play stops as we take the time to re-explain what "fair" is.

The way we've been handling these frequent fairness issues is by sitting the kids down and talking through exactly what is going on in the moment. It seems, for my children, that generalization does not work in this situation. We reassure Mae that her boo-boo is OK but ask her if she wants an icepack. This validates her injury but also takes the burden of "fixing it" off of me and on to her.

After she is set up next to me on the couch with ice and her blanket, we turn to Ted. A brief back rub and a talk about how, in minute-by-minute detail, his back got hurt are all he needs, and he is on his way again. All of that took about three minutes, at which point Sam is ready for a snuggle, just because. I indulge him, and we all agree that it's time to move into our bedtime routine.

With all my children, snuggle time is the most valuable way to fill up their "love tanks," if you will. Whether it's just a snuggle on the couch, a treasured lap seat during a story, a before-bed massage or a bath time chat, that one-on-one time is key to my children's sense of fairness and well being. As you can imagine, Mae has always needed more - more touch, more hugs, more kisses, more reassurance. As long as I am careful to include what the boys need too, all three of them can end the day feeling like it's been a fair one. And sometimes, that is all they need.

Please chime in! How do you navigate sibling rivalry in your home? Share your tips or stories in the comments section.

Family Time: new bike!

Creating a content-rich blog has proved to be an intriguing, fulfilling, and interesting process. Check back on Monday for my post on Sibling Rivalry!

In the meantime, a quick snapshot of our Friday will be the topic today. This morning started early at 5:45am. Ted bounded into the room, crushed that the Tooth Fairy hadn't left him any money (oops.) Unable to face two hours of over-tired children, we spent a lazy hour in bed cuddling before having breakfast at our favorite coffee shop, Ozo.

After school, Mae and I brought the boys' bikes to the bike store to be tuned up for the season. Mae, who has been knocking her knees on the handlebars of her 16" bike for a while now, test-drove a few different models of 20" bikes. She chose a purple Specialized bike with one hand brake and the foot brakes. This is the same type of bike Sam has and she's ridden his with ease.

I am glad she didn't choose the one with gears and only hand breaks. I made that mistake with tiny five-year-old Ted and he was a timid biker for a long time, before he grew into his bike. It's funny how eager I seem to be to push Ted along to the next milestone while dragging my feet with Sam and Mae.

She was so excited that we decided to drop the boys' bikes off at school, drive home, then bike back to pick them up (they elected to stay in After-Care with their buddies rather than accompany us to the bike store). I thought Ole deserved a walk and the sun was out (finally!). It seemed like such a perfect day.

Did you hear the music of doom in that last sentence? As soon as the boys hopped on their bikes to join us on the return trip, the heavens opened. It rained. It poured. It hailed. (Yes, really). It thundered. There was much lightening. There were many, many tears.

We eventually made it home and after toweling off, snuggled together in bed lamenting our poor choice of timing. After a time, everyone recovered and we were off to TKD and dinner at Red Robin with our neighbors. Whew. That was an epic ride I won't soon forget!

Why did we adopt?

My passion for the topic of adoption-related issues began before my children were even born. My husband and I married young; he was twenty-nine and I was twenty-five. We had dated for five years and we both knew early on that we were meant to be together.

We were married in 1998 and promptly moved to another state and both started new jobs. We were eager to start a family but it didn’t come easily for my fickle ovaries. After three years of trying, we sought help and were able to conceive using Clomid. At the time, I was so glad the waiting was over. Little did I realize how important those frustrating three years would be to our family!

During those years, we had many open and honest discussions about what we could and couldn’t afford regarding fertility treatments. We knew Clomid was it for us (I was a doctoral student at the time and any extra money Paul brought in was quickly handed over to the university). Adoption came into the discussion and we both agreed it would be a wonderful way to create a family.

Years later, when I was pregnant with our second, we decided that if he was a boy, we would adopt a daughter. I have a great relationship with my mother, as she did with her mother, and I wanted a daughter too. We joked that Sam was the middle child before he was even born. We were at a “meet the baby” party two months later when I met Elyana, my friend’s daughter from China. Elyana was a few months older than Sam and as I nursed my fussy baby, I gazed at the little girl, overcome with emotion.

I went home that afternoon and reminded Paul that we needed to talk again about adopting our daughter. Since Ted and Sam were so close in age (only eighteen months apart), we decided to start work on our adoption so the three children could all play together. Eighteen months later, my daughter was handed to me in China, nine months old and amazing.

After a blissful honeymoon period in China, I brought my daughter home and our lives began as a family of five. It was not easy. Mae had serious sleep problems and severe attachment issues. Luckily, she adored her big brothers and they accepted her into their world rather easily, at least when she was younger.

As she grew older, we began reaching out for help, chatting with other parents of adopted children, meeting with a therapist once a week, and having many phone consultations with the adoption specialist at our wonderful agency, CCAI. My oldest son, Ted, was going through his own set of problems, both physical (sensory) and emotional (fear of me leaving him). Sam had been a difficult and fussy baby from day one but around three years old, he seemed to relax and be more at peace with himself. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Our whole family was stressed, sleep-deprived and weepy. It was only with help that we learned how to calm and comfort our daughter, as well as how to help Ted with his needs.

The reason I started this blog was to document our lives, especially leading up to and during my time in China. Both my parents and Paul’s family live far away, and this was a way they could stay updated. I tried my hand at blogging and fell in love with it. Through tagging posts, I found that my adoption posts spoke to people in similar situations.

I am re-dedicating this blog to speak to the challenges I have faced, and still face. We are a family with two biological sons, one adopted daughter and two loving parents. We have laughed during the moments of joy and wept during the moments of pain, but we have come out of it stronger for it, and closer as a family.

I invite any and all visitors to leave feedback and/or their own stories in the Comments section. Let us all support one another in this adventure of parenting!

Welcome to my NEW & IMPROVED Adoption blog!

The Daily Grind has served as my own personal calendar, diary, photo album and sounding board while our family learned how to become a family of five. Back in August of 2005 (the very month our daughter was born halfway across the world), I launched The Daily Grind to document our adoption. Interspersed with adoption-related musings, I also kept my friends and family (and my memory) abreast of the boys’ antics. As the years wore on, I was able to express the joys and woes of parenting while also making time to talk about my goals and plans. It’s been a wonderful home for my thoughts, and I’ve loved sharing them with you!

Recently, I’ve had more frequent traffic to my adoption links, with personal and heartfelt emails thanking me for posting and asking me further questions about certain issues. I decided to try “going pro” with this little blog, and seeing if I can help more people in the complex yet rich task of raising our adopted children.

I hope to identify some common issues we all face as adoptive parents and answer some questions about how my family has fared in these areas. I am very excited to review adoption-related resources as well as share some family rituals, house rules and the adoption-friendly language we use in our home. I hope to publish twice a week for the first month. Mondays and Thursdays will be content days and I plan to address feedback and questions on the other days, as well as continue to blog about our family life.

I invite you to subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me, or bookmark the blog, so you don’t ever miss a post!

Join me on Twitter (handle: ellensgrind) or on Facebook (Ellen Kessie Moeller).

I heartily and enthusiastically welcome your feedback, and count on it to keep the topics relevant and tailored to what you need! I am but five years into my journey with my beautiful daughter, and feel as though I’ve learned more in these five years than in my previous thirty-plus! Welcome!

Happy 5th Mae Day!

Today was Mae's 5th Mae Day! 5 years ago today, I spent the day getting to know my little girl. You can take the trip down memory lane with me by reading the post HERE and/or watching the video HERE. I can't believe it's only been 5 years. Truth be told, I can't believe that she is only 5 years old. She is wise beyond her years in so many ways. We spent time watching any and all videos of Mae, eating a delicious array of Chinese food and celebrating with a DQ cake with our friends. Mae especially loves THIS VIDEO (only watch the 1st 5 minutes for in-China footage) where she's all cute and giggly. She is a toughie, there's no doubt about it, but what a joy and a treasure to have her in our lives. We wouldn't have it any other way. Happy Mae Day, Mae-Mae!

Even Mae...

Glasses! She needs them for exactly the same reason Ted did - convergence. Both her eyes dart off to the side when she tries to focus her eyes. She'll do vision therapy like Ted did. I know alot of people think it's whooey, but it worked for Ted, and I'm a believer! I bet the people who say it didn't work didn't keep up with the "homework" that you're supposed to do. Anyway, she is pleased as punch with her glasses and is happy to wear them (just for up close stuff).

a very mature 5

Mae is five and a half. In February, we had a little 5.5 bday celebration for her at Kindergarten. It was my first experience with it for Mae and I was a little nervous. You tell a highlight story from each year and show a picture. My mommy guilt inspired me to make her a poster (I'll take a pic and put it up tomorrow) with about 10 pictures on it. We went through each year and its highlight. What was most interesting to me was how eager Mae was to share her "special book." She is fine with talking about the fact that she was adopted and sharing with her little friends that she has two mommies and two daddies. Noah, whose sister Elyana is from China, sang Happy Birthday to her in Mandarin (!) and everyone seemed more interested in the cookies than the details. In other words, everything I hoped for came true: Mae is comfortable talking about being adopted. And just as beautiful - her friends were very into when she walked and talked and stopped wearing diapers. Kids are amazing, aren't they? They found what was similar, while as adults we tend to notice what is different. Mae had a very happy day. And I relaxed a little inside. It's going to be OK. It's not going to be perfect, but it's OK. This is her reality, and we've been as open about it as possible, and now she is choosing to share it with her friends. Exhale. Repeat.

Soccer Season!

This past Saturday Mae had her very first soccer game. The Ice Cream Cupcake Soccer Queens had practices last Fall and this Spring are playing a game every Saturday in addition to their Thursday practices. They were really good! I usually drop Mae at practice and run Sam to get his shot so I don't see much of what is going on. There are a few girls who are really good at handling the ball, but the whole team is pretty focused and excited about it. It's so adorable. We had an amazing 80 degree day on Saturday, which is unusual for spring soccer, so it was extra fun to hang out watching and cheering on our cuties. Hooray!

Sick little girl

Mae is not worse today, but still sick. Her fever remains high, but not as high as yesterday. She has a very painful cough and not much of an appetite, but did take a nap this morning and seemed pretty energetic today. We'll get the results of her strep test tomorrow afternoon. I woke up this morning feeling terrible. I only have a mild fever, 99.9, but our thermometer is a bit wonky, so I'm going more by the sore throat, body aches and headache. I sang this am but canceled my lessons for the day. Tomorrow I'm supposed to sub, so I plan to wake up at the normal time and shower and see how I feel. I hope I can go in. Blah.

Paul put pics up of Ted's crazy bday party! Click here. Fun times. There are 2 very short videos on Facebook if you go to my profile.

5 years ago

What a day this was, 5 years ago! February 28 was such a good day for a referral, because it's such a unique date! Click here to read the referral page, or refer to March of 2006 (to the right under Archives) to get the full story of that special day!

Cutie

Mae finally agreed to a haircut! Hooray!

Mae's Birthday

Busy weekend!

Mae's birthday was on Thursday. We went to Build-A-Bear and had Chinese noodles for dinner. We ended up playing tennis and lobbing a ball into the pool, which led to swimming in underwear for the kids. Much fun was had, but it was a late night, so we had the DQ ice cream cake on Friday morning for breakfast.

Her party was Saturday at the pool. She invited 5 little friends and their families and we had a mellow time, soaking up the sun and catching up. It was a great day! Happy 5th birthday, Mae Mae!!

Excellent read re Chinese adoptions

People are shocked that the wait time is so long for Chinese girls now. Here is a great summary of a talk given at a Chinese Heritage Camp:

http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/amy-eldridge-of-lwb-speaks.html

Worth a read.

Vedauwoo

Paul took Sam and Mae camping this weekend. It was Mae's first time and she loved it! They were even dirtier than Ted, so they had a good time! Hopefully we will all go as a family next time. Though I am not a very enthusiastic camper, I am willing to try.

Mae's Pre-K Graduation

Mae graduated today. She was very shy and obviously uncomfortable on the stage, but she stuck it out, sang the songs and even smiled a few times. We are so proud of you, Mae-Mae, and can't wait to see you blossom in Kindergarten!

BIG day tomorrow

Ted and Sam had their last day of school today. Ted is off to Moab for 4 nights with his friend Ben. Tomorrow is Mae's Pre-K graduation. We also close on both houses tomorow afternoon. Saturday we pack up the house and move on Sunday. Amazing. We are alternatively excited and terrified. I will try and get a quick video up of Mae's graduation, but there will be some silence online as we settle in to our new digs. Thanks to everyone for all their support and encouragement!

Kindness

Kindness is a trait I seldom see in Ted - not that he's a mean person, but he seldom goes out of his way to help his siblings. One Friday afternoon the kids were exploring a rocky, muddy area near Paul's office with a storm drain that went under the street. Ted wanted someone to come with him into the drain and Mae agreed. It was a tricky climb to get to the drain and the care and gentleness he showed her warmed my heart. He guided her step by step and at the end, when there was a "hop down" required, he put his arms out and said, "I'll catch you," and she jumped. And he caught her. Moments like these are so precious. They do love each other. They do know how to be kind to each other. I am verklempt!

hellooooo.....

Sorry for the long absence, but I wanted my CF plea post to remain up for as long as possible (i.e., until my mother demanded an update! :-)

It's still a month away, so if you can, please donate to our team. I'll be doing the bike ride in September too, so if the time isn't right, I'll be sure to beg you in the Fall as well. :-)

Training has been going well. I fully admit that I was a complete, yet very happy, slug this winter. I was sick a LOT and when I wasn't sick I was cooking. While I did run, swim and do spin classes, it wasn't with any regularity and I was worried I'd really be suffering when these first few weeks of training kicked in. But I've been fine. And I am so shocked by how fine I am that I can only wonder if it's the iron.

Last year, if you recall, my friend Wendy encouraged me to have my ferritin levels tested. Being vegetarian, it was possible that low ferritin levels were contributing to my utter and complete exhaustion after a long workout. Sure enough, they were ridiculously low. I had one IV (very painful - don't plan to do that again) and began adding meat back into my diet. I laid off the meat in the winter, since I wasn't training, but re-introduced it in April. Now I bake a (Whole Foods! happy chicken!) fryer once a week and eat chicken with vegetables for lunch. I also make chicken soup from the carcass (Rosa showed me a delicious simple chicken soup recipe that I've been using) and enjoy that for snacks. Once a week I treat myself to a LarkBurger, which is Angus Beef and makes me both incredibly happy and incredibly guilty. I may bump the red meat to twice a week in June. I've had no problem completing workouts. I've not needed a 4+ hour nap after a long workout. I have enough energy to stay up til 10 or 11 at night (I was hitting the hay with the kids last year.) I am so happy!

I rejoined the TriBabes last week (to encourage myself to stay true to the schedule and not skip things.) So far, so good. I feel like my biking is a little weaker than last year, as I have more trouble on the hills, but that might be due to lack of spin classes (the spin classes at FAC are at 6am - maybe when we're in Boulder I can make them.) My swim is as it was and my running seems slower yet easier. Not sure what's up with that but I'm sure Andie's killer track workouts will help, anyway. My first 5K of the year was a dismal 32:50, which leaves plenty of room for improvement! (It was windy. And cold. And at night. And it was my first one of the year. Oh, who am I kidding - I need those track workouts!)

Here is the basic schedule:

Mon: recovery day
Tue: swim/track
Wed:bike
Thu: swim/run
Fri: off or bike/swim
Sat: long run
Sun: Brick

(Saturday and Sunday workouts may flip around. In June, Sylvie and I want to start riding with the group, but at this point don't feel quite up to it.)

We've made great strides ourselves, doing a lovely loop around my neck of the woods. I'm going to try Old Stage this Wednesday and see how that looks. We start swimming in the Rez after Memorial Day (brrr...) and I have to remember to sign up to volunteer at the Summer Open. Watching Wendy complete that last year is what motivated me to sign up. It will be fun to watch again this year and help out. (There is NO WAY I would race this early. Brr!!!)

In kid news, Ted's play is this Wednesday night and we are all very excited about it. He is very in to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series right now and I love-love-love that I have to yell at him nearly every single night to stop reading and go to bed! It's the best. :-)

Sam loves OT and wears his glasses like a champ, when he remembers them. Yesterday he had a little tummy bug but didn't tell us because he wanted to go to Sunday School. He loves Sunday School so much - it is so sweet. Heather was going to bring my kids home and ended up taking them with her, after picking up their bikes, and Sam and Eliot had a great time together, biking from Heather's to the ice cream store and then doing laps around the park. As babies, they spent nearly every day together, so it is very sweet to see them reconnect.

Speaking of bikes, Mae is ready for the next size up. She was whipping around the park yesterday on Sam's bike like a pro. She is also an amazing pumper and can go for a loooong time on the swing. I am very curious to see how it all plays out for her - whether she'll be the athlete or the scholar - the artist or the actor - etc. She is getting ready to give up her bedroom for our beloved babysitter/good friend Heather for May & June. She'll room with the boys - she is so excited about that! She's signed up for summer camp with her little friend Zoey at the YMCA in Boulder and I think they are starting preparations for Graduation at preschool. She is very excited and ready to be in Kindergarten. While it will be a rough transition for her, I think she'll love "being one of the big kids." As of now, I plan to keep her in half day as I've done with Sam. Sam loves school but also loves our one-on-one time together when I pick him up at 12:15. Mae already talks about her mommy day (no school on Fridays for K's) so I think I can handle one more year of half days. Everyone in one school - priceless!!!

All 3 kids are doing TKD and seemingly having lots of fun. I'll have to get a picture of them with their doboks on.

Well, that is our update. We are loving spring and hoping the house sells soon - showings continue so we are just cleaning and hoping - hoping and cleaning... :-)