That I got over my fear of making sugar cookies.

That we trekked out on a snowy day to cut down our own Christmas tree.

That we made most of our Christmas ornaments (many with applesauce & cinnamon).

That both kids really like playing the snow, wherever we were.

That MaM was geeked to help with stamping the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. She also got into hiding gifts for her dad and brother. “They’re in my dresser drawer, Mommy, because they won’t look there.”

This was the year…

That MaM explained Christmas to Junior through song, quoting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” almost daily as Christmas approached.

That Junior became obsessed with The Grinch, and “his green hands!”

That we watched The Wizard of Oz together during a cold snowy night during the week before Christmas.

That I showed MaM what my Little People Dollhouse looked like when I was a girl, via gingerbread (part of this year’s display at Conner Prairie).

That we played in Jolly Days, and Celebration Crossing.

That MaM discovered Cole Porter during her “Mom and Dad” day during the week before Christmas.

That MaM got dressed up as an angel for the 4:30 Children’s Mass.

That the four of us took a second to take a family photo (we don’t do that often enough….perhaps a goal for 2011 in the making…).

Ah, it’s been a good long run, this Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas (a few days late) and Happy New Year,  Friends!

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We had two of our five days of fall break disrupted by vomit, but overall, we were able to have a lot of fall fun these past few days. Wednesday we visited the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, including Skeletown, their haunted house (during friendly ,lights-on hours), which the kids loved. Actually, Junior was excited to “see halloween!”, MaM was more confused as to why we’d want to see all of the skeletons and gore and what not. But they gave out just enough candy that she stopped asking questions and rolled with it.

Thursday was disrupted by Junior having a mild stomach bug. Bah.

Friday we packed up and heading down to Brown County State Park for a day of outdoor fun. We had a great family day of hiking and exploring and just being together. To mix it up, instead of coming home, we spent the night a few miles down the road. I’m pretty sure the hotel lost money on us — the kids watched all kinds of cable tv, we visited the breakfast buffet multiple times, the kids had multiple baths, and we went swimming and tubbing all between the hours of about 6:30am and 11:30am Saturday morning.

We then packed up and headed to Columbus, Indiana, home to Kids Commons, a fun hands-on museum for kids. There are three levels of fun for kids of all ages. The four of us played for three hours — climbing, exploring, rolling balls, shooting baskets, playing with the interactive light board and, get this –rock climbing. MaM was geeked to try the climbing wall and she climbed up the wall and rang the bell at the top THREE times. It was awesome to watch her be so confident and excited in herself.

The kids (and grownups) were exhausted, and our ride home was a quiet one. It was funny to think that we were only about 70 miles away from home. It was a great escape.

Today is the last day of MaM’s official fall break, but she’s getting a “bonus” day — it’s her turn for the stomach virus. She’s finally keeping food down, but wasn’t earlier today, so she’s taking her first sick day of the year. She’s bummed about being sick — she’s missing a birthday party, and a trunk or treat event today. And, as she pointed out, her school friends will now have to wait until Tuesday to see……..that she got glasses over fall break!

Climbing the Fire Tower

He actually sat still for a few portraits!

Here she is....five going on fifteen.

P.S. There’s still time to enter my 1800Flowers giveaway — see the previous post to enter!

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1. Happy Fall (or Autumnal Equinox)

A few minutes later thought,  my boy made a real  leap — he commented on something his smelled, rather than saw. We were driving by the water treatment plant and he said, ” Smells like poop, Mommy!”

Why yes, yes it does, little boy. What an observation…..

Are your kids saying anything cute lately? MaM was whispering “Liar liar, touch your tire” tonight, which made me smile.

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1. Announcing: Family Fun in the City.com!

Even when the sun isn’t out, there is a terrific glare off the snow. I’m counting that as sunlight for my sanity.

So it’s only natural that summer dreams have been developing this week. Remember summer? Remember warm? Remember sunshine?

The gals at Grown in My Heart have made a plan for summer–we are going to BlogHer ’10 in NYC. We’d like to get a slot in the Room of Their Own program–where we’d be the panel and discuss the delicate nature of sharing your family life and reproductive challenges on the Internet.

If you have two seconds, please click through here, and vote for our proposal: http://www.blogher.com/room-of-your-own-10

You do need a BlogHer account, and once you’ve signed in, please vote for us. We’d appreciate it…..and if you’re going to BlogHer ’10, give a shout out!

Here are few flashbacks to a warmer, gentler time:

It was sooo hot the day we saw Niagra Falls, the plastic ponchos were a bit much!

The water was so warm in the Atlantic this was a sunset splash. SO WARM OUTSIDE!

Look! The Fox is wearing a romper. Not pants. He's wearing sunscreen. He's sitting on this stuff called grass. Haven't seen grass since January...

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1. Staged
2. It’s Been a Decade (full of cake, laughs, and love)
3. Contain Indy

“We are thankful for the food before us,

We are thankful for the friends beside us,

We are thankful for the love among us,

We are thankful.”

My list is a long one. As I sit here in a warm house, cozy on the couch, typing on my laptop with two sweet babies asleep upstairs, it’s hard to know how to begin.

Since this post is for Grown in My Heart, a community I wouldn’t be a part of if it weren’t for the adoption of my children, I feel like I should start there.

I am thankful that we made the decision to adopt when we did–in the fall of 2004. I am thankful that all of our paper work came together (in hindsight) smoothly and quickly, for as we were becoming home-study approved, J was thinking about placing MaM for adoption when she was born. If we had been delayed, our profile book may not have been available that day in July when J went to consider prospective adoptive parents.

I’m thankful that J felt some sort of connection to us via said profile book. That there was some instant level of comfort between us. I”m thankful that she invited us to the hospital for the birth of both of the children. I am so incredibly thankful that both children were born perfect and healthy in every way.

I’m thankful that open adoption has worked out so well for our children–that they know J and they know Z. I am thankful that they are loved and accepted by their bio family and their adoptive family.

I’m thankful that I’m sharing this parenting ride with @bgKahuna, the world’s most enthusiastic dad.

I’m thankful that because of the internet, I’m connect to so many more adoptive families than I would be if the internet wasn’t what it is today.

I am thankful.

Want to link up? Join the carnival at Grown in My Heart!

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Last month I wrote the ABC’s of Me as an introduction. You can read it and find out what size shoe I wear.

This month, well, this past week, anyway, mostly has been spent getting back into the swing of the school year. Classes start Monday, and this past week I’ve been setting up my classroom, trying to get the kids out the door on time as practice, and refreshing my memory on such skills as packing lunches, daycare bags and setting alarm clocks.

Also? I’ve been watching as my 14 month old son cuts FOUR GIANT TEETH at one time.

Thanks for visiting and any teething tips are greatly appreciated!! (we use Motrin, Tylenol, Hyland’s teething tablets, and are looking for more creative helpers!)

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A  Apples. I love to eat apples. Not so much a fan of the “apple theme” that seems to go along with being a teacher. No, really.
B Boy,I am mom to one boy, and boy is he different from my girl! The obsession with wheels and things that go seemed to happen shortly after he arrived home.
C Cake. Cookies. Candy. Chocolate.
D Domain name! I own my own domain! It’s all of about 1 month old, and only about two weeks live on the internet.
E Elephant, I was one for my tap-dance recital in kindergarten. I can still sing the song.
F Feet, size 10 feet, or small canoes, really.
G Gotchababy was actually a name generated by Blogger way back. I liked it, and it stuck.
H Hope. Is there anything without it?
I Ice cream, sweet, delicious ice cream.
J Jail, I’ve toured a few, but always as a visitor, never a resident.
K Kieran, That’s my hubby’s middle name. I LOVE that name.
L Little feet, we have two pairs of little feet running around our house. Man, can they run (well, one crawls, but he is fast)!
M is my absolute favorite letter of the alphabet. It was even before my initials were 3M.
N No, I feel like I say this constantly to the boy. He doesn’t seem to mind though–he just smiles and continues to go about his business!
O Octopus, sometimes I think I’d get more done with more arms.
P Pizza, hot, cheesy, melty thin-crust pizza.
Q Quiet. My house is hardly ever quiet. I relish it when it is…at least the first 30 minutes or so.
R Rice Milk, is my daughter’s drink of choice. I buy it a case at a time from Trader Joe’s.
S School is starting in one short month.
T Teacher. I am going to start my 13th year of teaching in one month. HOW did that happen?
U Upside. There’s an upside to just about everything. I work really hard to find it.
V Very. Very hungry, very busy, very tired, very content, very.
W Wings. A new game with my daughter, she likes to pretend she has them.
X Xrays.It seems like one of us is always getting x-rayed for something. Most recently, a chest x-ray for the boy’s cough.
Y Yellow. I love it when kids say, Lell-yow instead. I may have pronounced it that way so MAM would. No one can prove it though.
Z Zoo. I feel like my life is a zoo sometimes. A lot of it is of my own making.

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Junior has just celebrated his first birthday, and his palate is *slowly* expanding. I don’t remember introducing solids as being a big deal with MAM, but for Junior, it’s becoming a tedious process. He’s particular about texture (he prefers no texture really), he’s particular about taste, and he makes fantastic faces to let me know how he feels about a menu item.

When Stonyfield Farms contacted me about reviewing Yo Baby yogurt, I was happy to, for YoBaby was already on Junior’s daily approved menu. He’s a big fan of the YoBaby yogurt with fruit and cereal, and when I can’t find that, YoBaby yogurt with just fruit will do. We took the free coupons they sent and went right to the store!

This yogurt, I must say, is probably on his short list of self-approved foods–he is happy to eat spoonful after spoonful. After this pictured feeding, he actually picked up the yogurt cup and started licking it.

I am happy to feed him spoonful after spoonful because of how good it is for him (yes, he is one, and content to be spoon fed for the most part). For starters, it’s organic, whole-milk yogurt (My word, have you tasted whole-milk yogurt? So smooth, so creamy, it’s almost like dessert!). Secondly, when I read the label, I can actually read the label. I am able to identify the ingredients, and find many in my own pantry.

If you already serve YoBaby to your little ones, you may have noticed the new packaging. The new look goes together with their new BIG campaign– to promote Brain development by making the yogurt with whole milk, Immune system support by including zinc, and Growth by including vitamin D. The new packaging is also more environmentally friendly, saving tons of packaging from land fills each year.

**THE GIVEAWAY**
Stonyfield Farm has put together a fun prize pack for one lucky reader. It includes 5 coupons for free YoBaby yogurt, a bowl with lid, and an organic bib for the YoBaby in your life. Isn’t it cute??

**TO ENTER**
Simply leave me a comment–this time, tell me your favorite food of summer. Is it strawberries? Blueberries? Corn on the cob?? Do tell!

For extra entries, tweet about this giveaway, and tell me in a separate comment.

For another entry, subscribe to my blog (button to do so is on the right), and tell me you’ve done so in a separate comment.

Winner will be chosen on Saturday, June 27, sometime in the afternoon. Good luck!

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(and yes, he and Grandma often color coordinate)

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