Circus fun and craziness

Creed was apparently trying his hand as the ring master in this pose right as the circus began. I really think this photo just sums Creed up in one photo.A little date with mommy and the big kids....

Daddy stayed home and took a nap with Ju Ju and he did great. I kept asking Jude if he had cried the whole time and missed mommy and honestly, he kind of told me (secretly, in his own language) that he did, indeed miss me terribly but didn't want to make daddy feel bad so he held it in until I got home. He did request me to hold him right when I walked in, I should probably point out. I was gone for a few hours (most of which he was sleeping) but I told Micah I felt like I was "missing everything" and that "he was probably growing up while I was gone." I think I am pretty nutso over this boy....what do you think?
We met up with the cuz's at the circus...fun times. Nice blue tongue, Max.
When asked what their favorite part of the circus was Rinny said the elephants and Creed said "all the sugar we got to eat!!!"
Have I mentioned that Rinny loses all sanity and simblance of self control when she seems a clown or any one in costume. It's CRAZY, psycho, and she HAS to hug every single one that she sees...it's like she cannot control it, even if she tries. 


The elephant ride for $10 per child for aprox. a 30 second ride....they had a blast though and they will remember it forever. Creed will talk about it forever and Rinn just wanted to pet the elephants ear.

My best buds....

So, tonight us girls got to finally do a late night get together to celebrate my birthday, like we always do- SUSHI! I really do love my sisters and momma....we have so much fun together. (I promise that I am going to try really hard to get a picture of my other sis, Kels (I like to call her my other long-legged skinny sister....how this happened to me I have no idea---WAH!!!!) Here are the things we all discussed,figured out, and how we fixed the world tonight....

1. How it is hilarious that old people (like my mom) are on facebook and are requesting to be friends with people. Also, along those same lines we discussed how Damien (Mika's hubby) will never accept or request my mom as a friend...apparently he says it is is just too weird. Also, we had the discussion as to why I still do not have a facebook and will not be getting one. 

2. How Mika's heartbroken and worried that her dog needs a psychotherapist and anger management classes, or something like that. Ha, I totally remember what it is like to treat and feel about your dogs the way you someday will feel about your children. 

3. How Sky's hair has turned totally black (chemo, I guess) and how she and Jude's hair matches. 

4. Girl stuff....can't discuss here but I am just so happy that I have my sisters and mom to talk to this stuff about. Well, take that back....I have my mom to talk to about "girl things". Generally, Sky is laughing and Mika is plugging her ears and grossing out. 

5. My mom's hair....it's always really cute

6. Mom's taekwondo, concealed and carry license, and jewelry making class (all started in the last three months)....we all call it her "midlife" crisis that she is going on.

7. Sky's purse that she ordered (see photo above). It is hilarious. So, my mom is a little obsessed about ordering in the "black market" for designer purses. She has a cliental.....I am serious. So, she makes these massive orders from her "contact" in NYC. So, all her "clients" have to do is send her the number off of the purse they want after she has sent pictures of the available purses. I may or may not be one of her "clients" but if I was (hypothetically) I would have ordered the cutest little blue coach purse for my birthday. So, on to Sky's....apparently mom had mixed up some numbers and Sky ended up with a Juicy Couture purse that is, well...let's say it's just not "Sky-ish". I think we nearly peed our pants laughing so hard (this may or may not be some of the stuff mentioned above that we discussed in point 4).

8. Something we are finally laughing about.....how Sky acted shortly after her surgery (note: This is in no way funny but it is actually good to finally be able to find humor in it). Anyway, we were discussing how sweet it was when one night she was singing a lullaby to her babies and we happen to hear and be watching her. Well, what am I saying?....we were there 24/7...she couldn't be left alone so we all basically lived over there. Okay, so anyway, we will never forget her singing, slurring her speech, and not being able to control her saliva. It was the sweetest thing ever and tonight we were talking about how sweet it was and we were really, really laughing about it. 

Oh, side note...we also always end up diagnosing somebody in the family with some sort of syndrome, disorder, something....tonight it is Jeff, we've decided he is diabetic...we are sure of it. Of course, our accuracy rating on this is about 15% accuracy (actually, that's pretty good, don't you think?)

9. Lots of conversations about the babies, how smart Max is (it's really kind of like freakishly smart, really), how sweet it is that Campbell calls her speech therapy "peach therapy", how Landry (somehow...we really cannot believe it) is the quiet one in her class, how Jonesy is about the lovey-inist kid we've ever known (that baby boy is SWEET) even when he is so sick and seeing a bijillion doctors, How Rinny is so pumped and sweet about ballet and her new phrase is "are you a big fan of _______(fill in the blank)?, how Creed really is growing up, and how JuJu is adjusting so well. 

Okay, a few more pics ( I cannot get out of here without a little bit about the babes)

The mean things that brothers do to their sisters when they fall asleep on the couch....it was really humorous (and a little mean). BTW: Yes, she does wear this outfit at some point throughout the day, EVERY day. 

Since Rinny is 3 1/2 now, we told her she could try chewing gum again (the first attempt at age 3 was not successful)....The attempt today was a raving success and she was so proud of herself....it was honestly like an hour of entertainment watching her today.
School stuff....Creed not so much into eating celery
Rinn kinda is a "big fan" of celery now.

Rinny-isms and Favorite things

Today right before school

It really is nearly impossible to get her to look at the camera when her black haired brother is around....

Full Disclosure:I am stealing the title "Rinny-isms" from my friends who used the terms "Caroline-isms" and "Norah-isms"...

So, here are some funny things Rinny says....

A few weeks back Rinn was being particularly sweet and I was just loving on her. I said "Rinny, I love you so much, I'm so glad God gave you to me." Her response "I love you, mommy, and I am so glad God gave you to me.".....Heart be still, I love that girl. So, then (jokingly) I said "Rinny, what do you want? You can have absolutely anything you want...just tell me." She said "mommy, I don't want anything, I just love you."

Her new phrases "Awesome" (you really need to hear the inflection on this one" and "Of course"

When she asks a question and ends it with "Is I?"  For example...."I'm a good mommy, Is I?" .... or, "I'm good at cooking, is I?" or, "I'm the best big sister, is I?"

After reading a princess story I say "Rinn, I think you are the most beautiful princess in the whole world." She looks at me with sheer disgust "Well, that's not very nice!" My response "Rinn, yes, it is really nice, I said you are the most beautiful princess, it's true." She says "Well, it's not very nice to Belle." 

You get the picture...she is adorable.....on to Jude....

Jude's favorite things to play with (notice I said "favorite things" not toys...oh no, not toys. Jude is apparently just like my other two children in that toys are not particularly interesting to him)

The baby gates, swinging on them in particular

The TV stand that the top hits right about the top of his head (you see the problem, right?)

The hand held vacuum

The regular vacuum (the topsy tervy one)

His sister's red hair (when I say play, I really mean pull as hard as you possibly can on this one)

The dishwasher (specifically the silverware container...you know, the ones with the sharp utensils)

The toilet (let's just say I don't generally clean it everyday but have been more diligent about that lately)

Any little tiny bity (unseen to the normal naked eye) piece of something on the floor (by play, I mean put in my mouth and see if there is any possible way I can totally freak my mom out)

Creed's stairs to his top bunk

The white kids chairs that love to fall over as he pulls up on them

And, one last story about Creed.... 

He is a really thoughtful kind of kiddo when he wants to be. Especially at church when it comes to prizes, gifts, stickers, popcorn, etc. 

He always wants to get something for Roosers. Last night, he showed up with a cute little white stuffed bear for her. After about 5 minutes he decided he did, in fact, get it for both of them, and not just for her as he had earlier stated. Ha, gotta love it. 

The things we do...

Just so you know, some posts are for others and some posts are for me to remember stuff (and you can read it if you wanna). This is one of those for me....

Seriously, could this little girl be any cuter. This is when we walked down to the corner store (on our daily walk) and got a big chocolate coin for Rinny. Heaven.

In school today we made bubbles from our pop bottle science experiments. Fun times once we got the correct amount of soap.

Rinny really just wanted to use the regular bubbles, thank you very much. 
The look of pure success when she got a huge bubble.
Okay, maybe I'll try the pop bottle kind real quick.
Yesterday when I was making lunch Creed was the substitute teacher and was teaching Rinn to write her name. He kept saying "Go swoop, down like this"...it was really cute. 
Yet another pop bottle science experiment...this is both of their favorite part of school...science (just like momma...)

Jude enjoying carrots for a snack...yes, carrots for a snack. This boy eats anything and I just know he will have gained at least a pound after being home for 4 weeks. I can see the chunk in his face. He eats an amazing amount of food (again, just like his momma :)
Rinn practicing her mean hand-writing skills...

Happy Half Birthday and First day back to school

Happy Half-Birthday, Roosers! You know, half birthdays are a big deal, especially when you are three and a half! 

Here she is about to open her little mini-present. Cinnamon rolls with a candle for breakfast

Today was "Back to School" day in our household. Here is Creed reciting a verse in Bible. 
And Rinn reciting a verse as well..
Science-Will it Float? Here Creed is really excited because the sugar cube did in fact sink. Mommy had guessed that it would float, so Creed got a point up on mommy. 

School was fantastic today. I was so worried about how it would go with Ju Ju. We started while Jude was still awake and it was hilarious. I was laughing out loud (literally) because he is such a little part of our family and so much like his big brother. He sat in the middle of the floor and sang at the top of his longs the books of the bible song as we sang it along with him. I think his must have either been in baby-ease or Korean, but he was sure confident with it. 

Then, he took a nap and we got some more serious work done. Naps today were fantastic-the last couple of days he has been fighting them less and less. Night time the last two nights have also been wonderful- waking only one time but I am not holding my breath that this is going to continue because you just never know. 

And, something else has changed. We are officially early risers (gasp, I know). This is a little change that the little black haired boy has brought. As many of you know, we are not early risers along this house hold. Every day the last three weeks we have been up by at least 7am-usually about 6 am. Yikers. I am so impressed with how much more we can get done though. Amazing. 

Randomness and JuJu update

It happened!!!! Here it is....One of our many daily walks...notice, I have been working on training the little one to wear a hat. (with little success, I might add!)
On our sugar shack day, KK and Will enjoyed a long walk with us. (side note: what is it about boys not being able to handle the sun in their eyes..urgh!)
Have I mentioned how much like me Rinn is in the area of sweets? We are addicted. I could probably count on two hands the amount of fits Rinn has thrown in her life. At least 7 would be about sweets (the others would be about me not letting her wear a dress). 

So, Rinn got a hold of our icing containers and had a ball.
Another walk day....We are trying to do a walk everyday that is nice enough. It is a nice little part of our new schedule.
Our first time out. I took myself and the kids to Panera to celebrate my birthday. I really needed a spinach and artichoke souffle and part of a cinnamon crunch bagel...I really, really needed it. The venture out with just me and the babies went very well, it took a very long time but went very well none the less. 

Also for my bday, Micah, Jude, and I went on a date (compliments of my buddy Kristi watching the other babies). Our date consisted of some very yummy food brought to us by our friends Vivi and David and a short trip to Target. Jude was mesmorized by Target as he sat attached to me in his carrier. He was a little lover and observer while we were there. I have to admit, I get a little glassed over when I walk into Target too..it's a bit like heaven, I think.
I just now brought myself to taking down the sign...it just brought joy to my heart everytime I saw it. I love our small group.
Rinn enjoying another of her favorite activities after one of our walks (blowing bubbles). 
Big Bro/Lil' bro...

On one of our walks, the big babies got to drive the car. Rinny is really, really dangerous when she drives b/c she gets distracted looking at things but forgets to take her foot off the gas. Watch out!
Jude Update:

Jude seems to fit perfectly with us. He is such a part of our family. Micah has been back to work about 2 weeks now and so we are starting to feel more normal although we have continued our vacation from school (back to school tomorrow though!)

Ju Ju is the sweetest, happiest little guy during the awake times but we are definately still working on nighttimes although he is still happy when he is awake at night for the most part. Still experiencing sadness at night and mostly just very fidgety. We are feeling a little sleep deprived although the last two days we have gotten naps and Jude had a fabulous night last night. 

I figured that the first week would be the hardest on adjustment, but I have found for us, it really was not. I was still on an adrenaline rush and Micah was still at home and we really stayed home 24/7 with no obligations/errands, etc. I have found that as the one month home is approaching (this is when I thought we would be back in the "world"), he is still adjusting (of course) and is not ready to really be out and about, running around yet. 

We have gone a few places and I have really, really found it makes a HUGE difference in his demeanor when we get him off his little schedule and take away the tiny little world of our house. I have never been a huge "scheduler" with my other babies but have found that Jude REALLY needs the same thing day after day after day. Especially during the afternoon and evening hours. we have kept his world so small, even now, but he needs it super small...as in our family and at home. We haven't been back to church yet (I miss it badly) or many places with lots of people, only a few times. When we have been to places like that, he usually does fantastic at the time but STRUGGLES that evening and especially at sleep time. 

I used to be out and about running around like crazy EVERY day with the other babies but I have found that those ways have probably changed for awhile. I think it is God's way of saying "slow down, my friend...take some deep breaths and enjoy your time at home."

I have many friends who are waiting to get referrals and waiting for their babies to come home and I hope that they soon will get to experience the tremendous joy (sleep deprivation and all) that we are experiencing now! Our little guy is asleep and as he was falling asleep and rubbing my arm and cuddlying as I fed him my heart melts (like it does every night) and I am so thankful to God for putting just the right little man into our family, what an honor. I'll stay home in my little house for the next 18 years if need be :)