Thursday, November 14, 2013

Last time I blogged I was not feeling so well. I felt better on Monday but by Tuesday my throat started hurting so bad and I knew that I was going to need some medicine. Well, I know I am not supposed to do this, but I found some unfinished antibiotic from the last time I had strep and I started to take it to see if it helped. By Wednesday afternoon I felt so much better! We finished up the week and got ready for the weekend. Emma had a friend from our school last year over on Saturday for a play date. This is actually the first time we have had the kids friends over to play. I guess I am so hesitant about my kids playing at their friends house that I assume most parents have the same hesitancy. We actually invited the whole family to stay if they wanted to and they did :) Their family is from Thailand and they have very broken English, but it was nice to visit with them and get to know them a little bit better. We found out that they own and run a Thai restaurant right by our school, so we look forward to checking it out some time. They stayed a few hours and we were thankful for the stronger relationship that was built.

Sunday was the BIG day for our sweet Emma. My "baby" girl turned 7 years old on Sunday and I am still having a hard time processing that fact! It was also a special day for her because she was baptized at church Sunday morning. Emma gave her heart to Jesus a few years ago but was not ready to be baptized. We would mention it every once in a while but no pressure from us. A few months ago she told Jeremy that she was ready to be baptized. She said, "I have been practicing holding my breath!" :) We saw that her birthday fell on a Sunday so we decided to wait until her birthday. It was an extra special treat that my mom and dad were able to join us for this special day. After church we went to a local restaurant called Mr. Pollo. It is a Latin American place and it is so yummy! It is also not noisy and busy like most chain restaurants so it's nice to enjoy great food and be able to visit with those we are eating with. After lunch we came back to our house and opened presents, the girls and my dad :), took a nap, and then we had dessert. We have been having more adoption talks with Samuel this week and I have to admit it has been a little emotional for me. One day last week he says at supper, "I am the only one adopted in my class." Jeremy and I both freeze and then start to ask him the usual questions, "How does that make you feel?" "Is there anything you want to know?", ect. Samuel doesn't' seem upset by the conversation just being matter-of-fact about it. Sunday at lunch he says to my mom, "Grandma did you know that I am adopted?!" My mom of course says "yes" and the usual conversation about "that make you special", "God chose you for our family", and ect. Well, I am trying not to be upset in the restaurant. It just hurts my heart. Not because I doubt his love for us or anything, it is just a reminder that he has a story that biological kids in a family never have to work through. We leave the restaurant and stop for gas. I don't want to make a big deal of it but I figured since he has mentioned this again I better talk to him. So I call him up front with me and ask him if every thing was okay and if he wanted to talk to mom and dad about being adopted. I told him that I appreciate him talking to us and not to be afraid to ask us anything about his adoption. He said it came up with some of his friends in class. I asked him if anyone said anything to him. He said that one kid asked who were his real mom and dad. GASP... holding my breath I asked Sam what he said to the kid. His response, "I told him you and dad were my real mom and dad." Lord help this momma's heart when these hard questions come up!

Monday was Veterans Day so we all had the day off of school. It was nice to sleep in a little bit and was able to get the laundry done without being rushed. Samuel invited a friend over to play and he was supposed to come at 11:00. At 12:00 he had not shown up so Sam called and found out his friend was still asleep. This absolutely blew Samuel's mind that someone could sleep in that late :). The friend came over later that afternoon and had a great time. We also got some snow on Monday and it was so hard not to drag out the Christmas decorations!

Tuesday was Parent/Teacher Conferences so the kids did not have school and since I do not do conferences I was also off of school. I had the kids conferences starting at 2:00 Tuesday. I got good reports on Sam and Emma. Both are doing well in their classwork, socially, and behavior. Well, Emma needs to work on her talking (but I already knew that)! Chloe's report was okay. I just get so emotional every time I have to sit and listen to all the bad choices she is making in class. I just have to sit their and keep saying, "I know. We are working on it. We are/have tried everything." Chloe made all "B"'s and I am proud of her for that it's making better choices about her behavior that needs major improvement. The hope came when the teacher and I both agreed that she was doing better than the beginning of the year. After conferences we went to the mall for the kids to use their birthday and allowance money. We then went to the grocery store for a few things and headed home.

My mini-vacation continued yesterday as I took off work to go on a field trip with Samuel's class. We went to the Field Museum and had a wonderful time. It was an interesting day with four 4th grade boys! They were good kids and it was nice to see Sam interact with other kids his age. I used to go to the Field Museum on field trips when I was a kid and it was just neat to remember my memories as a kid and watch my son make some of those same memories. Today was back to reality and back to work. I got lots of big hugs from my preschoolers and it was nice to see how much they missed me. Tomorrow is Friday so this week so far has been pretty awesome!

OKAY, Picture overload! :)