Sunday Snapshot: {Say Cheese (Touch)}

I have spent the entire week of vacation trying to get a decent shot of all three kids.

You know. One where their eyes are open.

Or where they aren't yawning.

Or moving.

Or just being plain silly.

One where everyone is looking at the camera.

And this is what I came up with.

And I had to say, "Cheese touch," to get it. (If you don't know what that means, ask your nearest Wimpy Kid fan.)

I don't know how you photographers out there do it. I'm exhausted.

Grandpa

This is Tim's grandpa.
Is this not the cutest man you've ever seen?

He's so sweet and kind, too, that he has set the bar high for his sons and grandsons.

Last week we got to spend a couple of days with him. (I'm too embarrassed to tell you how long it had been since we had made the trek to northern Ohio.) And Grandpa suggested we take the kids to the park. Despite the fact that he is 96, he likes to make sure everyone is having a good time.

(And they had one of those vomit inducing, death machines that I loved when I was a kid. It's hard to find those anymore.)

We had a really good time:) We love you, Great Pa-Pa!

One of the reasons I love summer...

Everything in this bowl came out of my garden. Strawberries, lettuce, and zucchini. I love it:)

Crazy

"Crazy" is Kate's current favorite word. She uses it all the time, to describe herself, her family, whatever. She likes to run around the house yelling, "Crazy lady!" and sometimes when she prays she says, "Thank you for being crazy." I think she is thanking God that she can be crazy and have fun, but I am really not positive.

A month or two ago I went and got a haircut. I had around 6 or 8 inches taken off, so it looked really different. Plus, my hair has a lot of wave and body to it. The kind that has a mind of its own, and no matter how often you tell it what to do, it just never listens. I would show you pictures, but it just isn't pretty. When it is long, the weight pulls it down, but when it's short it goes a little nuts. In my family we call it Pa-Pa hair because my grandfather had thick, wavy hair that was a little nuts, sticking out everywhere, when he woke up in the morning.

When Kate first saw me with the new 'do, I asked her if she liked it. Her response? "Don't you kiss me with that crazy hair."

The other day she told me, "I like your hair, but it is still crazy." And later, "Your hair looks like Mimi's. She has crazy hair too." Sorry, Mimi, but you know you have Pa-Pa hair too:)

"But I loved first grade!"

Ben finished school on Wednesday. I met Ben as he came off the bus with the words, "How is my favorite 2nd grader today?"

At which point Ben burst into tears. "But I loved first grade!" he cried. I held him and cuddled with him for a few minutes. His first grade year really has been wonderful. He made lots of good friends, took his reading and writing to the next level, and suddenly became a big kid right before my eyes.

I have mentioned his teacher before, but I feel the need to mention her again. She has repeatedly gone the extra mile for her students, making sure they were all challenged. Inspired, even. She encouraged all of Ben's crazy questions, his creativity, and even his comic book, entitled, Captain Poopypants. (What can I say? He's seven.)

She is one of the those teachers. You know the second you meet her that she cares so, so much about her students. We went to the end-of-the-year awards for his class. She had an award for every student that was unique and special. (Ben got the Growing Author award.) A couple of times she teared up as she talked about her students' accomplishments. She not only cared about their minds, but she also cared about their hearts.

Mrs. H, we love you, and will miss you terribly.

Any chance you would teach second grade next year?

Ear tubes? No problem.

It's early, Mama. It's still dark.

And I'm really not sure I like this hat. Or the idea of going with these people.

Maybe Daddy and I could play a funny game while we wait.

Yep, that Daddy always cheers me up.

But when it's all over, I want Mama to hold me. And then I will just sleep all the way home.

Once I am home, I am sure I will feel much better. Maybe I will watch TV or play with my brothers.

Yep, it's gonna be fine. These ear tubes are a breeze. I feel better already!

I won!

I am soooo excited:) I keep saying that over and over again, but it's true.

I just won a giveaway that I didn't even know I had entered.



A few weeks ago, Tonggumomma posted this beautiful Chinese lullaby, which my kids and I completely love. {Thanks, TM!} Then she asked for other songs that reminded us of adoption. I posted this song (it's the first one that plays), which Will and I listened to a lot as we waited to bring home our third tomato. (As an aside, we don't have a clue who sings this or what the title is. If you know, please let me know.) As we would listen, we would have all these conversations about whether tomato #3 was a boy or girl, how old, which province, and all of that.

By the way, it's not that we were leaving Ben out of the conversation, he just didn't really like that song and was always frustrated that I didn't play Istanbul instead. And, lest you think I didn't talk about this stuff with Ben, know that anytime I was frustrated with waiting and ready to give up on adoption, I was reminded by Ben to pray for our tomato #3. Every. Single. Night. Seriously.

(Is that a convoluted intro or what?)

Anyway, apparently my comment was an entry to a CD giveaway, and I won! See? I'm so excited:) It's also apparent that I ramble when excited...


**On another note, Kate NaNa (aka, Tomato #3) will be having her ear tube surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30. Say a prayer, if you don't mind:)