Cat's out of the bag!

We're adopting! Sandman spilled the beans so eloquently via facebook (ha!) so it's time to go public. We've decided that our third child will make his or her way into our family through adoption. And we've decided to adopt our child from Ethiopia. We're so excited to share this info with you after months of research (and really years of preparation). I've started an adoption blog, and the link should be somewhere here. I'm still new to blogging and really bad at the tech side of things, so bear with me. I think it's currently set to private, so email me or FB me to ask about it. Nothing's really there right now... I just want a separate place to follow the process and make updates when needed.

Keep us in your prayers: it's gonna be a long, wild ride!

Turtle Sandbox

We've decided to get a sandbox for the boys. They already play with the 'sand pit' that was left behind by the previous owners when they removed the above-ground pool (and yes, we wish we still had it some days, but with two little kids, we didn't want the danger...) They love the sand, which is awesome because Buddy was afraid of it when we lived in Florida.

Today I decided that we'd look for one and surprise them with it next Friday in the middle of the craziness we'll be dealing with at church (lots of late rehearsals and performances.) They will be tired and cranky, so I thought the new sandbox would be a wonderful diversion...and we could just live outside all day.

This afternoon, I somehow missed the exit for Buddy's school, so I went down to the next exit, turned around, and as I did, I glanced at a kids' consignment store that had a TURTLE SANDBOX sitting out front! I was just floored! So we went and picked up Buddy from school and headed over to Green Baby (great little store, by the way!).

We got out of the car, and the sandbox wasn't out front. I started thinking I must be nuts, but I went in and asked about it, and sure enough, in the 20 minutes it took me to go back and get Buddy, someone had already bought it. I really liked the idea of getting a used one...it's cheaper,too, so I guess I'll get back to Craig's List and Freecycle. I hope I can find one before next Friday!

okay.....scratch that....

I should have consulted the hubby before making up a pseudonym for him. Joey isn't a made-up name, but he doesn't like the story behind it, so he'd rather me use something else. From now on, M my husband will be known as Sandman.

See, I thought he'd think Sandman was cheesy (there is a story behind it), and I figured Joey was a regular name, and therefore easier to use. Whatever.

We're going to be making a big announcement soon. I'm wondering if all 3 of you that read this blog will be around to "hear" it! We're actually going to start a separate blog about the announcement and reserve this one for general family stuff.

And no, I'm not pregnant. HA!

psuedonyms

I'm going to start using psuedonyms after a friend recommended it. And I don't really like using initials all that much. I think the inner grammar snob thinks it looks wrong to just use a letter. Anyway, from now on, we'll still be the W. family, but I will use these names:

my husband M = Joey
eldest son B = Buddy
youngest son J = Chicken Nugget...or just Nugget
the mom- me- KJ = I'll still be KJ.

I don't feel like giving myself a name at this point, but I'll welcome suggestions if you've got 'em.

Spring Trip and the Winter Olympics in 2026

B will be 20 years old, and from what we saw last week, he's right on schedule to make it to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

We all went to Colorado for a week to do some relaxing and some skiing. M is a decent skiier and pretty confident in his abilities. We brought my mom along to help with the kids, and back in the day, she was really good, too. She had no trouble getting right back at it. I'm a beginner...I went 10 years ago, and oh gosh, I was so rusty. It was diffcult for me, especially since I am scaredy-cat and don't like to go too fast. It's still something I want to keep trying, but I'm content knowing I'm not very good at it now!

But back to B. We got him on some of the tiniest skiis in the world and he had no fear. He amazed us! He kept telling us, "I want to go FAST!" which is exactly the opposite of what his mommy was trying to do. Ha. Outskiied by my 3 year old!

We'd like to take a trip next year, but we will definitely avoid Spring Break. We caught a little bit of the Spring Break crowd (it was unavoidable due to M's work schedule and responsibilities), and we'd prefer to go when the slopes are less crowded. We'll probably put B in ski school, and I could probably benefit from some lessons, too. And J should be big enough then for us to get him in some skiis.

We haved enjoyed taking trips with our boys. We haven't traveled the world. We've seen a lot of the country while on our drum corps tours. But we've never done a lot of traveling. Now that we have kids, we love making new memories together. We don't feel like we missed out by not traveling more as a childless couple. Experiencing new things as a family means so much more. And sure, the boys won't remember a whole lot from some of these trips, but we sure will. Our next trip isn't a vacation, but we're going to hit the beaches of Northwest Florida at some point and spend some time with old friends both in Florida and Alabama. Looking forward to it and all the chaos of traveling with a toddler and a preschooler.

keep on truckin'

two months later, and i still suck at blogging. i'm still determined to make this work!

i'm branching out and trying some new things. found this layout and thought immediately of my boys. after all, this blog is mostly going to be about them, maybe, so here you go, fellas! they love trucks and planes and trains and cars and anything that goes. the garbage and recycling trucks are celebrities that pass by our house every tuesday and friday around 10am.

so we're moving back to florida. have i mentioned that here? probably not. haven't mentioned much of anything. i have mixed feelings- we started our family in that part of the country, and we still have friends there. the beaches are amazing, and the pace of life is comfortably slow. but. my family is here in texas. our roots are here, and we didn't realize how much we'd miss this big ol' state until we moved. and we've made some wonderful friends here and it's going to be hard to leave them. as much as we like the 'country,' we really are city people, so i'll miss the opportunities a larger, urban area provides. oh, and the hurricanes. florida's due, in my opinion, so maybe we'll miss some this summer and arrive for the last few weeks of hurricane season. that's not something i miss.

but M has already promised to take us all to see the mouse at some point, so i guess i can handle moving back!

new year's resolution #1

BLOG. at least try to keep this thing updated. maybe put some pictures of the boys up. once a week, even.

it's been over a month, so here's hoping. i think i'm just suffering from intimidation. i've been reading some awesome blogs lately, and honestly, my writing just isn't up to snuff. and i still don't think anyone will be impressed- which isn't the point, but i'm sort of a perfectionist when it comes to creativity.

i'll start off by saying that our holidays were wonderful. full of family and lots of joy. i'll be back later. :)