Siblings

Growing up it was just my brother Robby and I.  We have tons of cousins and extended family, but there is still that special bond between siblings that is different from any other bond with anybody else. It wasn't until I was older, probably in my 20's, when I had an Ah-ha moment about my brother. He was the only one in the world who grew up the exact same way as I did. We have many of the same memories.  I can say to him, "Remember that house we lived in (insert city) when (whatever) happened?"  And he remembers it too. Or, "Rember when (insert family member) came to visit (or in some cases, came to live with us)?"  Or even, "Remember (insert name of teacher) at (insert name of school)?" Even though it was just the two of us and we were 4 years apart I think we still managed to have a bond and a closeness that is important for siblings to have.  This bond my brother and I have is one of the biggest reasons that I really wanted Travis to have a sibling too.  Although we don't talk every day, or even every week, we do manage to catch each other on the phone often enough that we know what is going on with the other one.  It is a good feeling to know he is always there if I need him and vice versa.  It is hard being that we are in Arizona and he is in Washington State.    Here is Robby (or Rob as he likes to be called now) when he was 5.  In my mind, I still think of him like this sometimes!

 Anyway, fast forward to this past Thursday morning. I was with Connor at PCH getting ready for another laser treatment when my cell phone rang.  This was about 7 in the morning and I could see it was from Rob. The nurse was in the room so I quickly muted the phone and finished up with the nurse. After she left I quickly texted my brother to ask what he needed. His question was, "What did it feel like when you had appendicitis??"  Uh-oh. That did not sound good!  After texting for a few hours the end result was that he had gone to the closest emergency room.  They admitted him and started ruling everything out.  He was funny though. One text said, "Well, they have my blood, they have my urine, now I just sit and wait."  Followed closely by, "Great, they just did an ultrasound. Good news is I am NOT pregnant!!"  Good grief!  At least I could tell he was in good spirits.  By that evening he was having his appendix taken out.  We were worried because the doctors weren't positive it was the appendix and were going in for exploratory surgery.  Good news is that once they got in there it was the appendix so no need to explore any further.  I know from experience that it is no fun being sick with that!  Lucky for him he has a wonderful support group of friends that have been there to help him out.  They are actually more like family to him, they all have been close since their college days.  Yesterday he got to go home and he is resting and taking it easy.  I am sure he is going to make a full and speedy recovery.

Get well soon "little brother"!  We love you and hope to get to see you again sometime soon. 

Rest up!

 

Is it just me... or is it kinda wierd that we both had our appendix taken out... and it happend to each of us in August??  Hmmm... lol

Unexpected E-mail

While we were anxiously awaiting Travis to come home I had subscribed to the magazine Adoptive Families. Over the years I have sometimes renewed my subscription and sometimes I have not. A few years ago I found that they have an online community so that is where I have been reading articles and looking at pictures.  Also, they are always having photo contests. I have entered a few pictures but never has anything come of it.  Well, that changed just two weeks ago. I got an email from somebody at the magazine asking to use one of my pictures of the boys for an upcoming issue of their magazine!  Wow!  The funny part is that the picture was from last year. (Oh well! Who cares? My boys are going to be in a magazine!!)  It is for their back to school issue coming out in September. So, if you subscribe to the magazine and see this picture in there that would be my boys!  (Not like I am proud or anything... haha!!)

The funny part is that when I look at this I can really see how much they grew in just one year! I sure wish time would stand still sometimes!

Another Gotcha Day?!

I can hardly believe that August 2004 was 8 entire years ago. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago.  In other ways it seems like yesterday. Then I look at Travis today and realize just how far he has come. And I realize how much farther he still has to go! 

Here we are in Blago, the first day we actually met him and got to hold him.  Can you believe we didn't even have a digital camera in "those days"? Hard to believe, I know.

I still love this one of Travis and Daryle. I just love how they are looking at each other.

Fast forward to 2012. Is this really the same child?!  He is 9 years old.  He is in Third Grade.  He plays any sport, but is passionate about both baseball and soccer.  He is funny, silly, crazy, athletic, loving, generous and an all around great little boy who is turning into a young man before our very eyes.  He is starting to become "fashion conscious".  He likes to pick out his clothing, and pays special attention to the accessories.  He really enjoys styling his hair every morning. He really likes using hair gel.  And LOTS of it.  He now clears the dinner table every night. He takes the plates, rinses them off and promptly puts them in the dishwasher.  Without being asked.  Wow!  He is also a wonderful big brother to Connor.  Don't get me wrong. I have plenty of days where I want to tear my hair out.  But, in the end I couldn't have asked for a more perfect child for our family.  Tonight we finally went out for our Gotcha Day Dinner with the grandparents.  Thursday was his "real" Gotcha Day but he was sick (as usual) and it would have been just too rushed for a school night.  We went out tonight and then even had time for ice cream afterwards.  It was much more relaxed this way. 

Of course Grammy and Grandpa were there ....

... along with Red Truck Grandpa.

And of course Connor was there too!  We were a little squished at our table, which made it hard for a family photo.

I have to laugh. According to Travis the new way to wear your hat is with a "flat bill" as opposed to a "curved bill" on your baseball hat.  This is evidenced by the hats I see in the stores. This flat bill thing drives Grandpa nuts.  Here he is making his hat into a flat bill hat... Travis was cracking up!!

After dinner we went out for some ice cream.  Where did that tongue come from??  (Can you tell that *someone* wants to be like his big brother and also is wearing hats now?)

This picture just cracks me up. I don't know what is funnier, the look on Travis face with his ears sticking out or my mom eating her ice cream. (I hope she doesn't kill me for posting this picture!)

My boys.  I love this picture. I think it might be one of my new favs.

And there you have it.  Tonight we also watched Travis' Russia video.  It starts with Daryle and I in Moscow, then we are in Blago meeting him, and finally we are back in Moscow with Travis. Then almost every year after that we have video of Travis talking.  He sure is growing up. Not that I needed a video to tell me that, I can see it on a daily basis!  Watching a few minutes of each year right in a row like that really seems to speed the whole thing up!

Sometimes I just sit back and look at my family in awe. I think. I reflect. It always comes back to this basic thought.

Adoption is a  pretty amazing gift. 

Families are also an amazing gift.   

I am so happy that my family was made through adoption.

I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Happy 8th Gotcha Day Travis!  

We love you so very, very much.

XOXOXOXO

What Is Going On At Our House?

After much thought and consideration we decided to sign both boys up for fall baseball. We had considered doing soccer but when we found out Connor could play T-ball we decided on baseball.  Connor is SOOOO excited! He has been walking around the house carrying this bat (of course he always has his batting gloves on AND his cleats!) and saying, "Dad, I am ready to play baseball!!"

I told Daryle he has created a little monster!  Yesterday Connor got a new bat just for him as well as his very own baseball bag. He carries it around talking about how he is ready to play ball. I can hear him talking about all of the home runs he is going to hit and how he has big plans to "hit the ball out of the park." He is quite the little character!  For the past two weeks Daryle has been taking the boys down to our local school to practice on the ball fields after dinner. Daryle took these the other night when they went out to play.

I love this picture and decided I need to have Daryle take more pictures around here.

 Here is Connor's "baseball stare". Would you want to him to pitch you a ball??

 Daryle sometimes has Travis hit off the tee to work on leveling out his swing. 

 Connor is preparing for his home run derby....

Sometimes it is so hot we need to end our evenings with a little ice cream sundae! 

The rest of our time is spent at work and at school. So far so good. Travis is enjoying Third Grade. Connor loves his school and has even made a few new friends.  I am happy because we hired another teacher so by Friday I will go from having 31 kiddos to 23 kiddos.  Phew!  We will be able to get so much more done.  I am thrilled!

Friday night was horrible though. Around 9 pm we realized our air was not working.  I hardly slept a wink.  I actually slept with ice cold gel packs on me!!  Finally it was fixed by noon the next day. Our house got up to 88 degrees inside. That is awful! We usually keep it at 78, so you can only imagine how stifling it was in here!  The good part is that whatever it was that broke was still covered by warranty so it only cost us $100 to fix.  Thank goodness for that!

I can hardly believe August has arrived. It  is already going to be a busy month.  The good part is that we are that much closer to our cooler weather!

Change

There have been some changes around here in the last week or two.  One thing has to do with Mr. Connor and his hair.  It was time for a cut... he kept reminding me day after day... so when I took him in we decided to try out a new hair cut.  I told the girl we would go for a "little boy haircut".  Of course she styled it and gave him some spikes.  I can't believe how grown up Connor looks in this picture. Unbelievable. My little baby is growing up.  As always, that is so bittersweet!

 Here is a view of the side and back. He looks so different! I do like how it turned out he just looks, sounds, and walks a little differently now! I guess he has a little pep in his step these days. 

 Poor Petey. While I was trying to get Connor to cooperate this little guy just wanted his picture taken too. He is getting big, we love him lots!

 Monday evening we had Meet the Teacher Night at school.  Travis has a teacher that is new to our school this year. I am super excited for him to be in this class.  I must say, this new teacher's classroom looks like it could be in a magazine!  I  have never actually seen a real live classroom that looked like this before. Also, I have been really impressed with the things I have seen coming home.  He is already doing some cool math and science activities. He is in heaven with that.  If only I could get him excited about reading we will be on to something.  Anyway, that night he was given a homework assignment to bring in the first day of school. His teacher gave him a bag and said to put some things in it that tell about yourself.  I was cracking up because I saw Travis out back trying to take a picture of himself with Petey.  Actually, it turned out pretty good!

 I took another one for him so he could see all of Petey.  Travis just LOVES this puppy. They have that true boy/dog love relationship.  Every morning when Petey hears Travis' voice his tail goes crazy and he gets super excited. He loves Connor too, but I think Travis and Petey have a special bond between the two of them.

 Wednesday was our first day of school.  Connor is still going to the same place. He is counting down the days until he gets to go to "Mommy's school".  I told him he needed to go back one more year to teach the 3 year olds about preschool. He was ok with that. He takes these things very seriously!  I still can't get over how big he got this summer.

 You can see this guy is growing up! Look at that pose!  This year he chose a backpack with one strap.  It sure was heavy that first day with all of his supplies but he made it. The sun was bothering him, that is why he looks as if  he is still sleeping.

 My boys, first day of school.

I am thankful that things are pretty calm with the boys this year. No major changes for Connor.  A new grade and new teacher for Travis. I only see positive things there.  As for me, I have a lot of changes at work.  We are implementing the new Common Core Standards which means we will be teaching the standards differently. I am excited about it but at the same time I am nervous because things are a lot different.  The good part of my week is that our principal was given permission to hire a new teacher in our grade since we all had 31 kids in our class. That is a LOT of second graders. I feel some relief that I only have another week or so and then the numbers will be more manageable. I really like all of the kids in my class, it will be hard to see some of them go.  However, I will be a much happier and more productive teacher if I have fewer students in my classroom.  Well, I guess this school year is off and running.  Hang on tight, 'cuz here we goooooo!!!!

Soccer Camp

Last week the boys both got to participate in a local soccer camp that was run by some soccer players from England.  They had a great time! It was Connor's first time playing any type of organized sport. It seems like most everything around here starts at age 4. He is now that magic age where he gets to play on "his own team". He has watched Travis for long enough, time for him to get started! Here they were Monday morning, ready to hit the field!

 Lucky for us the camp was held at an indoor soccer field. Even better was that it is about 3 minutes down the road from our house.  And that is only if the stop light turns red on you first!  Travis went for 3 hours while Connor went for 1 hour.  Here is Connor hanging out waiting for Travis to finish.  The two of us would go home for a bit before coming back to pick up Travis.

 The boys heading out to the field at the beginning of camp.

 You can see Connor LOVED his coach!

 He even found time to make a little friend. She was such a cutie! Too bad they are moving to Australia. 

 Every day they would play a game kind of like a flag football thing where they had to grab a shirt off of somebody.  Travis kept chasing this one kid, here he finally got the shirt.

 Mission accomplished!!  Look how he just tosses it aside.... ready to get another one!

Although it was inside, it was still warm and sweaty in there.  Swamp coolers don't work as well during our Monsoon season.  It was also 114 degrees out last week.  Ick.  Travis found a cool spot during his water break though.

Here is Connor's group on the last day. They were all so cute!

The older group had a "World Cup" ceremony. It was funny!

 I was impressed that each one of the kids got a hand written progress report from their coach.  (There must have been about 40 kids for the whole camp.)  Their words were full of praise and encouragement.  Here is Travis reading his after Coach Harry handed him his paper.

 Travis' coach signed the back of his camp shirt.

Overall this was one of my favorite camps the boys did this summer.  They both got to participate, it was super organized, they learned new things, they HAD FUN, and most of all it was inside.  The bonus was it WORE.THEM.OUT.!!  That is a plus in my book any day!

Ooops..

Oh goodness. I forgot about my second camera in my purse! I almost forgot about what we have been up to this summer.  The camera I throw in my purse is not the best, especially the zoom, but who really cares. All I want are pictures of my kids! We started out the summer with swimming lessons.  Gosh, it already seems like that was so long ago!

 Then Connor went in for another laser treatment on his eye. Poor guy had to do this the day before his birthday.  Here he is in the lobby.  It was super early in the morning, but he was still smiling and ready to go.

 I had to do some serious bribing to get him into the hospital gown.  That boy is STUBBORN I tell you!  We had fun playing with some cars while we waited.

 I believe Connor thinks he is a  rock star!

 This season we had another upgrade of seats to a baseball game.  We didn't realize how nice the seats were until we got there. Otherwise we probably wouldn't have taken the kids.  We were right behind home plate.  At least we were able to stay there for about half of the game.  The boys really wanted to go upstairs and play whiffle ball and do the batting cages.  But not before eating hotdogs and checking things out before the game.

 Of course we got there early for autographs...

 ...and able to get high 5's from the legends before the game.

 See, I even went and was decked out in all of my team attire!

 Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I took a few pictures of the boys on the airplane on our way to California.

 Look who slept almost the entire time!

 How could I forget about my two Power Rangers??  You should see them in action, it is quite a sight! I have that on video on my iTouch... it is being saved for the dating years! ha!

Well, I have to return to work on Friday. The boys start the following Wednesday which will be July 25.  In some ways I think, "already??" and then I look at these pictures and I realize we have been off for seven weeks already. We have been so busy, but not too busy that we haven't had time to relax a bit too.  Both boys have grown in many ways and had such fun this summer.  It really has been one of my all time favorite summers so far as a mom.  The boys are playing together, they can do a lot of the same activities and we no longer have to think about nap time. I can hardly believe Travis will be in Third grade and Connor has one more year of preschool. Where does the time go??  At least I know we are having fun and making lots of memories to cherish!