Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!! We celebrated Eliana's first Thanksgiving today with some very gracious friends. Thanks to the Starr family... you rock. We had a wonderful dinner... Eliana loved feeding herself the mashed potatoes and then she loved stealing bites of my dessert even more. She was interested in eating and then just hanging out watching her big brothers play. There was much to watch as their activity level was amped up about three extra notches... apologies now to the that same VERY gracious Starr family. Anyway, it is always nice to be with good friends when you can't be with family. So, now that it is time to tear down my very few fall decorations and begin my annual "Cover every square inch of the house with Christmas trees and decorations" routine, I will have to decide exactly how much Eliana is really crawling. I will need to calculate her maximum speed taking into account wind velocity, diaper-drag, slippage due to clothing, hip-droppage and doggie interference in order to decide how low on the trees I can put decorations as well as how many things need better anchoring. Working out the formula may take some time. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving and try not to let your feelings of thankfulness be overrun by the need to master the After-Thanksgiving-Day sales in search of all that stuff that you don't have.

I Just Love My Little Monkeys!

I thought I would post a few pictures from today. My three kiddos are all so precious. Elijah read to Eliana this morning while I made breakfast. He is so cute. Lately, he is taking the initiative to find ways to help me when Eliana is fussing- which is pretty much most of the time when I am not holding her. She really enjoyed his reading though. It was just so sweet... and he is becoming such a great little reader. Maybe there is something to this homeschooling thing after all.

Noah, my oldest, has been just adorable lately as well. He is so into football. He just runs through the house running plays on his own... rushing for unbelievable yardage and thwarting defenders left and right. I have to look both ways before crossing the kitchen from the sink to the refrigerator. He is posing in a picture here with his favorite nerf football.

Eliana loves rocking out on her rocking horse. Of course, when I ask her if she is rocking, she starts playing rock, paper scissors. She gets the "rock" part and goes with it. I snapped some pictures of her today in her new outfit from Aunt Kathy... Thank you, Kathy. It is just too cute. The fact that it is the "Snow Princess" line is too perfect. We are expecting snow later this week and she is definitely our little princess.

New Album 11/20/07 10:23 PM

Well, not much excitement around here today other than the fact that I adore my babies. I am really a blessed Mommy, in spite of the fatigue and intermitant frustrations of parenthood... God has been very good to me.

Starlighting

Tonight was Eliana's first Starlighting here in Castle Rock. She pretty much slept though much of it, but she did catch the fireworks in the end. It is nice to live in a small town where there is such a sense of community at these types of events. We are always sure to bump into friends that we haven't seen in a while and it is good to catch up. My only complaint is that it seemed that there wasn't as much to do downtown with the kids as in the past. Maybe I am wrong, but all the lines to do anything were so long, it certainly seemed that way with three kiddos in tow. The star does look great as ever, Crowfoot Coffee always hits the spot and the fireworks are a favorite with the kids. Eliana took them in with quiet curiosity- as she does all of her first-time experiences. I hope that our kids look back on these little family traditions someday fondly. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures this year. I was too concerned about keeping my 2 eyes on 3 kids. Next time, I will have to make Milan the official photographer. While it seems a bit weird to be celebrating Starlighting here when Thanksgiving has yet to come and pass, I enjoyed kicking off the Christmas season.

Attachment... not just a techno- buzz-word

Well, My Leah has come and gone and I can't believe how quickly the time past. It was a joy to have her here and I look forward to our next visit... I refuse to wait another 2 years before that happens.

On the home front, we are continuing to work with our "Velcro Baby" as our agency has dubbed her. She is becoming more demanding as far as how much she wants to be carried and how little space I am allowed to give her. I really want to do all I can to help her to be secure in her attachment to me, but I could really use a good back massage about now. She has such a sweet little smile and it breaks my heart to think about the fears and insecurities that still lurk behind it. Milan is hanging in there, but it is tough for him not to be able to be really close to her yet. She will play games and smile with him as long as I am holding her, but she is still really giving him a hard time if he tries to hold her. He is such an amazing father to our boys and I know that she will figure out what a good thing she has going sooner or later. In the meantime, we covet your prayers for all of us for perseverance, patience and wisdom to help Eliana (and all of us) through this time.
Anyone else out there (maybe one of my RQ buddies) have a velcro baby? We would love any advice on resources, etc. that might be helpful.
Until next time...

My Leah is Coming!!

Tomorrow is the day!! "My Leah" is coming to visit from Michigan. Why do I say "My Leah?" Well, that is the question my boys asked recently. My first response was because... because... she's mine... allll mine and NOBODy else can share her!! The real reason she is "My Leah" is because she is my dear friend and my encourager and my "talk me down" sister. She is an amazing woman and I can't wait for her to meet little Eliana as well as for Eliana to get to know her. It has been three years since the boys have had an in person visit and they are excited as well. We will, however, be hoping to spend some serious girl time in the next few days. You know... Jane Austen... chocolate... late nights and good coffee. It should balance out the "boy stuff" that Elijah says he and Noah have been doing with Daddy lately. Tonight, they went on a night hike nearby wearing all of their spy-gear. Of course, Daddy took along the hot chocolate and Marshwiggles (Chronicles of Narnia reference). "Boy stuff" is pretty cool around here and I doubt if I will be missed around the Foos ball table.
I am posting a few recent pictures. The boys love their Mei Mei and she loves both of her ge ge. Noah took the picture of me with Eliana. Not too bad for a seven year old, if I do say so myself!

Beautiful Babies!

So today was the day. I got them all dressed up and took them out for some pictures. I am so pleased. Many of them turned out really well, unfortunately none of the pictures of all 5 of us. I really wanted to avoid the studio backdrop type pictures this year and I think we have done it. It really can"t be too hard when you have such beautiful children to photograph. Anyway, I have posted a few of my favorites. Dont worry Nana, you will be getting some really soon!

To clean or not to clean? That is the question...

So yesterday, a shamefully overdue house cleaning took place. I think about that family in the midwest somewhere with 16+ children and I don't know how their home hasn't been condemned. I am not quite sure how I am going to keep house around here between homeschooling the boys and taking care of my little "Cling-on." Not that she has been watching much Star Trek or anything, but she has become more needy of late. That is code for "I want Mommy NOW!" Short of hiring a house-keeper (which is about as likely as me voting for Hillary Clinton for President), I am not sure what to do about keeping our crib clean. Putting cleaning agents into the hands of young boys sounds like a ticket to the eye doctor for a thorough flushing and they don't seem to understand that the bottom of the vacuum needs to actually run flat to the floor. They prefer to drive it around in "wheelie" mode. It is faster, I admit. Yesterday, Milan took the boys to music classes for me so I could clean while Eliana napped. That lasted about 45 minutes and then the next several hours were spent dusting and vacuuming one-handed. Oy Vay! My back is not my friend today, but at least my daughter is.
So, I am open for comments, suggestions, etc. from any of you neat-nicks out there with a house full of kiddos and barely enough spare time in your life to microwave dinner, let alone clean out the inside of that horrible little nuclear reactor. Until next time...