Cross-Dressing Doggie

Since we have got our kids I have dressed/pick out their clothes every day- Malachi tried ONCE a few weeks ago and it was a disaster....SO in order to help him be a better Daddy and more competent I have tried to step back a little bit (on Sunday mornings) and help to instruct- and explain my system (like wear the smallest things first, even though 24 month, 2t and 3t might kinda all fit, use the 24 month stuff first, so that the other stuff doesn't get warn out) ....So while I was bathing Her, Malachi was picking out her outfit.... and apparently decided to try it out on BRUCE- Poor doggie! The funniest part is that he didn't mind the skirt and shirt- just the hair bow bugged him!!

Featherstone

So at his school they had a free movie night last night (sponsored by the PTA) and they were showing Gnomeo and Juliet- it was a pretty good movie....I do wish people would try to keep their kids quiet and away from the power cord, but hey it was FREE....Anyways...

So at the movie night there was a raffle and you will never guess what we wonOkay maybe you will---- NOW we have a PINK flamingo in our front yard to help complete our white-trash look!!

Life's a beach!

Last week it was SUPER NICE, like 70 degrees! so we spent a LOT of time at parks and walking outside and on Friday (because there is no preschool) we woke up early and went to Owen's BEACH!! It was really fun! We watched all the boats and we saw a few sea lions/seals comming up out of the water! I am excited for more nice days to play outside!

So Friday night He and Malachi went on a father-son campout with a bunch of other Fathers and sons from our ward! They had a really good time! And we had a "girls night" we ate pizza and watch Cinderella and then met up with all the other wifes who's husbands had gone camping... Then Saturday while they were gone we had TWO baby showers to go too...Talk about a Girl party!!

Congrats Malachi

Malachi has been doing GREAT at work! He has been working really hard to become a valuable employee- these days that's important if you want to keep your job! So he is a maintenance tech and got this plaque for the highest maintenance plans sold!! He also has been going in for extra (unpaid) training and they wanted to move him into a new van with more service parts so he can help fix stuff too! This means more hours and more skills!

So for FHE on Monday we spent an hour cleaning out his old van!! We are really excited that he is able to progress in his chosen field!

If you live by me....

I am creating a new blog for the mothers in my ward. We are going to use this to share all the free/ cheap kid friendly activities/ events in our area. There are lots of Museums that have "kids get in free" days and lots of street fairs and farmers markets with free concerts in the summertime.....This will MOSTLY be for the ladies in my ward- however if you are looking for free/ cheap things to do- feel free to bookmark it and check it out!

CLICK HERE

Not much to report....

So our lives have been pretty normal this last week....one of our missionaries (that lived with us) came back into our area so it has been fun to catch up with him...We cleaned out our deep freezer and found TONS of treasures,(steaks, ground beef, Pork roasts) things we didn't know we had, but are really grateful that we bought once upon a time.....I had a REALLY frustrating Friday- So I bought a ZOO pass and I thought it was good for NW trek also (because my sister has one too) but the one I bought was NOT for both, so we spent a long time (and gas) driving up there, waiting for it to open, just to drive home.... Saturday was great we went to a few Garage sales- which is more fun when you have children to buy for! Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's 60th anniversary Party!! Oh my heck, can you believe she put up with him for 60 years??? Congratulations!!
Besides that we don't really have much going on here----

Happy Mothers Day! (late)

My Mothers day-

I had the MOST wonderful 1st Mothers day EVER!!! It was full of hand-made cards and fresh picked flowers, a special breakfast and LOTS of time with my kids. We read books about mothers and talked about Mommy, sang about mommy, it was great! Malachi gave me the most thoughtful and wonderful present...he took a video camera and went around to Lots of our kids, friends and family (thank you for all those who participated) and ask them- What do you think about Layne? How is she doing as a Mother? Do you have any advice? ...It was wonderful to hear all the lovely things that people said! It made me feel overwhelmed with gratitude for this role that I finally get to play...I AM a Mother!


Malachi was so great- he knew this Mother's day meant a lot to me and he really did all he could to make it wonderful, which is pretty impressive considering that he has very little $ to spend- he had to make "the best Mothers day ever" out of nothing! - I guess I should start preparing now for father's day...

My Mother-
I also wanted to pay tribute to the most amazing woman in the world...my mother!

My Mother is my best friend. She knows how crazy, over-analytical, and stressed out I get- and she loves me anyway! She is always there to support, to help and to balance me out! I call her (at least) once a day! I love going shopping or garage sailing with her, we always have so much fun! I cannot imagine living far aways from her. Now that I am a mother, especially to foster children, I have gained a whole new appreciation for how wonderful my own mother is, and how much she has grown and how strong she has been. She has taught me (almost) everything I know about being a good mother, and I hope that I can be as Wise as she is One day!

My favorite things about Motherhood-

• I love to watch them grow and progress. They are not even the same kids from when we first got them. When something we have been working on, clicks!! It makes it seem like those 5oo times we talked about the yellow school bus was worth it because they recognise the color yellow!!


• Cuddling- I love to cuddle with my children! I always feel like I am protecting them from the scary world (the world that they were in) and when I have my arms wrapped around them I feel like I can keep them safe!


• Its so fun when they know out routine "We are going home, going to get Pj's on, then bush teeth, read two books and say prayer- then go to sleep" Yep!!


• In Lots of ways they are SO the same as Malachi and I! I know it was meant to be because they have SO many of our qualities!! But they are so different too! HE is SO athletic (already) and you know he didn't get that from us!! I love to see those similarities and differences come out!!


• I LOVE teaching them the Gospel- they were not going to church, they did not know who Jesus Christ was! Now they know that Jesus loves them and they can pray to him always!


• I love going on outings- to the zoo, to the park! Simple things are SO fun when you are a kid- they make me enjoy life!


• I love what it has done to my relationship with Malachi- I always knew he would be a good dad. Now I get to see all those qualities bloom, and fall in love with him all over again!


• I feel fulfilled! I have stepped into this role and I feel complete- anything else I do is icing on the cake!!

Some of the HARD things-

• I Always have a hard time going potty in public- it's just hard to coordinate! I don't feel comfortable sending him into the potty by himself so he comes in with us- but then if I have to go too I have then stand by the stall, but if its a family bathroom- it's just hard!


• There are no Sick days when your a mom. There was One weekend when we were ALL SICK!!! I could not get out of bed, but I had to change their sheets and blankets, and try to get them to eat something. When everyone is throwing up and has diarrhea- that sucks!


• In my world everything gets repeated at LEAST 8 times-(I'm purple, He's blue, shes pink) "Mommy is that a truck?" "yep that's a truck" "oh, its a truck" "Yep its a truck." ...."Mommy is that a truck?" "yep, its a truck!" "oh, its a truck" "Yeah its a truck!"SHHHHHHHH- Do you know how many trucks we pass on the freeway??? OVER AND OVER AGAIN.......


• I think the thing I struggle with most is that I DON'T know there history...So I don't know if they have always had food- so I struggle with strict "no more snacks" rules. They act like normal kids, but they have a history of neglect- so I want to find a balance that meets their need, but doesn't spoil them.....and that is HARD!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Happy Birth-mothers day!

So, tomorrow will by my FIRST Mothers day ever...Expect a very LONG post- however, first I want to take a moment to recognize the woman who made that possible- our Birth-mother!
Did You know that today is Birth-mothers day? Often in the adoption world this is a day of celebration towards the Birth-mothers (often teenage girls) who made the ultimate sacrifice to give their children a better home and life. These women are celebrated for their maturity and selflessness! For choosing to give their baby a stable home! I cheer for them, my heart is overwhelmed with LOVE for them! I can not imagine how hard it must be for them to make that choice...but I am SO GLAD that they are strong enough to do it!!

In open adoptions this holiday is treated similarly to Mothers day- there are Birth-mother cards and pictures are often sent to show the birth mom that she is very much appreciated and loved! I love that idea of celebrating your birth-mother, but I had not decided what we should do....


For several months now I have been thinking about our own Birth-mother! We are a slightly different situation. She did not plan to give her children a better life- they where taken from her! She was not selfless- but rather selfish. Some would think that I should despise her for how terribly she treated my children, that I should bad mouth her and tell them all sorts of horrible things about her....but that is NOT how I feel!
I feel nothing towards her but eternal gratitude. This woman has done something for me that I have NOT been able to do for myself- give birth. The more I learned about fertility and the more doctors I went to visit, the more I realized that the ability of giving birth is a divine ability! I have not been given that ability and I am SO GRATEFUL that she could do this for our family- to bring these two WONDERFUL SWEET SPIRITS into this world. Without her I would not have my amazing children. I feel unconditional love and appreciation for her!
When we found out that her parental rights were severed- I was OVERJOYED for us, but part of my heart ached for her. No matter what mistakes she has made, there must be a part of her that weeps for loosing her children.

I will probably never meet her in this life- but I think about her often. I tell my children that their birth-mom loved them VERY much and that even though she wanted to she just COULDN'T take care of them, so Heavenly Father sent them to our house so that they could have an Eternal Family. I hope that one day when we are on the other side of the Vail that we will be able to meet her- embrace her and share with her our love and appreciation for her contribution to our family!

So today I want to start a new tradition for myself and our family- I want to pray for our birth-mother! Pray that she finds Peace. Pray that she knows she is loved. Pray that she can have strength to overcome her personal struggles and Pray that one day she will be able to see that she is a divine daughter of our Heavenly Father who loves her very much!

Happy Birth-mothers day!

Budgeting

So for the past few months we have been adjusting to a new budget! Our income went WAY down and our expenses went WAY up! So we have been trying to find a way to live spend only as much as we make-instead of eating into our extra. This is hard because for 4 years (with both of us working) we have been making more than enough to pay our bills and we have been able to CHOOSE what to do with the excess...now with 2 kids there is NO NO NO extra and hardly enough to cover all our bills-
Thus the need for STRICT budgeting.... So you saw my posts in March about keeping our grocery budget down- and in April doing crazy stuff for cheap gas- well May brings you good news!

Last month our Electricity bill was $122.67- we made a great effort all month to lower our bill and when it arrived this month we were please to see that the amount due was $74.00!! That is a savings of over 48 dollars!! So we tried everything, so here are some of the things we tried (I am not sure what worked) So you can try if you too need to lower your monthly bills.....

• We were very conscious about only having lights on if we NEEDED them- turn the light off when you leave the room (basic stuff) and with summer coming using natural light.


• We limited our TV. and computer time - often I would leave the TV on as back round noise and I was surprised to calculate it was on over 5 hours a day!!


• We went around the house and Unplugged everything we were not using- there is NO reason my kitchen-aid needs to sit on the counter plugged in! Did you know your TV and computer suck energy even when they are turned off!


• We lowered our water heater- If we ran our water long enough we could practicaly get boiling water....but there is no reason to keep you water that HOT and lowering it a few degrees you can still run a nice warm bath- and it saves you energy.


• I started using the "normal" cycle in my dishwasher and washing machine- I was running cereal bowls and water glasses in the "Pots and Pans" mode- less time in the dishwasher and just as clean!


• Malachi is a HVAC guy and we already have a really energy efficient heating and air conditioning, but he reset the temperatures a few degrees lower so the system didn't kick on as much-we can put on a sweater instead of pushing the button on the wall!

Good luck- if you think of any other way to lower your monthly bills let me know---Anyone know where to find Cheap gas???