girls?????

just had to share a little of the cuteness. did you know that in that extra 21st chromosome is where extreme cuteness is found?

okay, so I never really shared the news that I promised. We have another little 3 year old boy in our home that we hope to be adopting soon! I can't post pics or his name yet, so I'll call him N. He is adorable and fits right in around here. there is about a 7 month difference between him and Luke. He goes to preschool, although on a different schedule than Luke. That's good and bad. good that I get some one-on-one time with each boy, bad that I have to keep up with 2 different pre-school schedules. He's doing so well. We had a rough patch earlier this month, but it was short lived, and honestly not that bad. His adjustment has been amazing.

Now on to girls. We are foster parents. N is a private adoptive placement, not associated with foster care at all, so we had no current foster placements. My licensing worker keeps telling me how badly they need homes right now due to recent influx of children in care :o(

We felt good about opening up one of our beds for placement, as N's adjustment has gone well, and we certainly have the space. I wanted a child 6 yrs old or older. so they called us about a 6 yr old girl - with a little sister. a 4 month old little sister. Well, the reason we licensed for 2 beds in the first place is to try to help keep siblings together. So we just couldn't say no. I like things to be busy around here anyway. So, the tally for anyone keeping track - we currently have in our home: 2- 6 yr olds, 2- 3yr olds, a 13 month old, and a 4 month old. I don't think the girls will be here very long. but while they are, I will refer the the 6 yr old as A, and the baby as Stix. Why Stix? I love the movie Willow, and the little red headed baby there is nicknamed Stix by Val Kilmer's character. The little one we have is a red head-- so cute. So, stix. there you have it. The life and times of the Spencer clan.

Year of the....COW???

When we were in IL to bring home our little man, we were having dinner with the birth family (open adoption) at grandma Sveta and grandpa Felix's house. They gave us some gifts-- okay, they gave us many gifts, and one of them was this cute little pig keychain. They told me that according to the chinese zodiac, Dylan was born in the year of the pig. Okay. cute. I don't put much stock in any zodiac, Chinese or otherwise, but it didn't bother me in the least that they kept track of that. It's just sort of a fun thing for them, I think. fast forward to October, when Sveta and Felix came for a visit. They once more came bearing MANY gifts. For all the kids, plus Scott and I. They truly spoil us. One of the things in my stash was a cow keychain, and it had a button to push that made it moo, and a little light in the mouth come on. Sveta told me that it was to represent my Chinese zodiac sign. I said, Oh, I was born in the year of the cow? The very sentence made me crack up. How appropriate. I was born in the year of the cow. I went to Wikipedia, and it turns out, it is actually an Ox. Ox sounds infinitely better than cow. Probably why the Chinese chose it. Smart Chinese. The pig is also technically a boar. so now I know. Turns out Luke was born in the year of the monkey... how appropriate is that? certainly fits him. Anyway, beginning on the 26th of Jan, we once more enter into the year of the... Ox. Scott is also an Ox. maybe good things will be in store for us this year??

Funny Landon moments

today after school I was working with Landon on his homework. Then I signed a paper that had to go back to school. He looked at it and said "is that your initials?" I told him no, it was my name. He looked at my signature with a very confused look and said "that says 'Mom'?" it was so funny. I love it when kids think your whole name is mom. I remember discovering my mom had a name.
And the other moment was one he shared with daddy, and Scott told it to me. With me being a Beatles fan, my kids tend to pick up Beatles songs quite young. One I sing a lot is "Dear Prudence". but instead of the part where it actually says Dear Prudence, I subsitute the name of whichever son I'm singing to. This is one of Luke's favorites. He even sings it back to me quite often, with the chorus of Dear Mommy, won't you come out to play?... but I digress. Landon is not a morning person so much. I am not either. Which is why Scott is in charge of getting Landon up in the mornings. He was having a hard time getting Landon out of bed the other day, so he started singing "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you, Dear Landon, won't you come out to play". Landon lifted his head, looked over at his window, and said quite groggily "Dad, the sun is NOT up." and promptly laid his head back down and shut his eyes. That made me laugh. I can't blame him. I though having kids would "cure" me and I would do morning better, but no such luck. There are just 2 kinds of people in this world, and I am NOT of the morning variety. apparently i'm a bad influence on my children as well. Oh, well. They'll survive it.

Sweet bonding moments

So Luke came in and crawled in bed with me this morning and I was snuggling him. He was facing me, and I was rubbing his sweet little face, thinking how much I loved him. here is our conversation.

me: Luke, do you know what my favorite thing is?
Luke: what, mama?
me: snuggling with my Luke

he smiles so sweetly at me .

Luke: Mama, do you know what my favorite thing is?

I smile to myself, thinking I know what he will say

me: What is your favorite thing, baby?

Luke: ....Playing with toys.

HAHAHA!! I love how honest kids are.