Christmas Pics!

Hummer#1 Thanks Aunt Lindi!
Sofia's First Christmas, she just wanted the bows and wrapping!
Grampy Wrestling with Zeke and his cousins, Zeke constantly says "Grampy wets wrestle" Scarlet of course needed to get in on some of the action!

it's been awhile

Since we have been misplaced for about a month now it has been really hard for me to blog! We have no routine or sense of normalcy so my time just does not go to bloggin!
Since Dan has been back we have been so busy with sickness and family get togethers and trying to wrap up all the details of life in Riverside. Our Christmas was great, this was the first Christmas where Zeke anticipated the day and what it would bring. Sadly he knew presents were coming and for about a week before he would ask if it was Christmas yet and if Santa was going to bring him a Christmas hummer. And yes Santa brought 2 of them! Anyway our families blessed us so much, and we are grateful for our time with them.
The time is coming closer when we will be leaving for our trek up to Redding and it is starting to set in. I got sad when we were at my parents house during Christmas just realizing I won't see my mom and dad every week and I won't just go hang out at my parents house whenever I want to. My sister and I won't live around the corner from each other anymore & Zeke won't be able to hang out with his cousins ever week. Little things like that are starting to set in and they are things I have not thought about until the past few days.
So it is with mixed emotions that we wait to leave, we are anxious to start new and get into life in Redding but we are so sad to leave our families and friends and a life that has been everything we've known for so so long.
Hope your Christmas was a great time with family! Happy Birthday Jesus!

sick baby

It has been awhile since I have had a sick baby and I forget how much attention and care is needed when your little one is not up to par. Sofia has had a fever and sore throat for about 3 or 4 days now. It is so sad when they are in such pain, she was not eating or even wanting to drink her bottle for almost a day because it hurt her so bad to swallow. Her fever finally went down yesterday and we seem to be on the mend, thank goodness!
I have a blog friend Amanda who has been caring for her daughter who had a huge surgery and they were in the hospital for weeks and now home care for weeks, I do not know how she does it all, I am so amazed by her great attitude and the love this family has given to their new daughter. Thank the lord that they brought her into their family and have gone through so much pain and effort to help their daughter heal!
I am so thankful to be at my parents house because they are helping me so much, my mom after a long day at work comes home and instantly helps me take care of the kids. Sofia just loves my mom and my mom is spoiling her with rocking and holding time! So this is why my blog has gone so long without posts. By the time the kids are in bed and asleep I end up falling asleep on the couch watching a Christmas movie with my parents, (who also fall asleep nightly on the couch!)
Anyway this has been my life this last week so nothing else has been accomplished! I think it is ok sometimes to not get things done, only sometimes!

lights and MORE lights

Last night we drove around Riverside to pass some time in the evening. Evenings are hard, the kids get restless and poor Sofia's gums are killing her, she had a fever yesterday and is just restless and hurting, so we went for a drive. I am not sure if any of you knew but Zeke LOVES lights! We drove through our old neighborhood and there are a ton of lights around there, it was so pretty and Zeke was so excited! His excitement did not waver from the first lights we saw to the last ones as we drove back into the driveway. He was so cute, he would describe each house we past. "Did you see those mama, look at those green, red, candy canes, snowflakes, flashing ones, santa, etc etc. Each time he would shout there is more, and there is more, MORE and MORE!! It was so sweet the way his amazement did not end after the first 10 houses! I was just so blessed by his love and wonder of lights. Something so simple fills him with joy and excitement, it made me cry a little, just because I do that, and it is Christmas and things are changing and hard. But it was a good cry because there was so much joy in the car! Sofia didn't cry until the end when she was so tired and feverish, but the whole time I think she just watched Zeke! Yay for simple pleasures like Christmas lights!

does zeke need new socks!

Zeke does not have one pair of socks without holes in it! I have been holding out for Christmas stocking stuffers! I know I am cheap, but when I know he will get some soon it is hard to go spend money!
Well today was finally a good day! We had an awful day yesterday and I didn't know if I was going to make it the whole 16 days without Dan, but today Zeke had a much better day. We are working so hard on obedience and speaking kindly to one another. He just struggles so much with things changing and Daddy not being here. The thing I need the most with him is patience and that is what I am lacking in the most! I am so grateful for family, they are so encouraging and positive. Thank goodness because I need it right now. Thanks mom and Dad for letting us take over your house, leave messes, be way too noisy, and eat all your food. It feels really nice to be home with my family during this season. Now I just need Dan here!

two days down 16 more to go!

So dan left yesterday morning at 3:45am with our massive Uhaul truck and the car attached to the back! He actually made great time and the drive he was dreading was not too bad. Thank you Jesus! I was so worried about him all morning but it went so well.
Myself and the kids are staying with my parents and it is so nice to not be alone and to have people to help. It is only day 2 and we are having a hard time, so much change has been really hard on Zeke and he has a hard time whenever Dan is gone. Plus Sofia just got another tooth and has been in so much pain today, it is so sad to see her uncomfortable all day long!
I spent about 2 and 1/2 hours cleaning our empty house yesterday and it was kind of sad and lonely to be there with every sound echoing. It felt good to be done with that and such a relief to be on to the next phase. Now I just have to get through 16 more days without my husband!
For all of you waiting to hear from Dan I am sure he will write in a day or two, he has been a busy bee setting up our new home, how lucky am I to skip this part!

EnerGY!!!

This picture can't even capture Zeke and his energy today! He is shaking his head and yelling aaahahhahhhahhh!!
Today we had a goodbye Lunch at the Grove Grill with the staff at church, it was really nice to just fellowship with friends. But something happened that made our afternoon and evening quite crazy. Nana (Dan's mom) gave Zeke a huge, HUGE cookie after he ate his lunch. Well who knew that the result of that would be a ridiculously crazy 6 hours! I am not exaggerating when I say Zeke was wired for 6 hours! He was excited and jumping and wrestling, and laughing and yelling, and running, and did not stop all night long. It was so wild to watch him never slow down. Even when we put him to bed he was jumping on his bed and trying to wrestle with Scarlet.
I can't even put into words how much energy Zeke had. I might have to put myself to bed early tonight because I am tired from just watching him and his energy! Thanks Carol for the cookie!

packing sucks

The kids actually took a nap today and I have been wandering around trying to figure out what to pack next. I pick a room and then realize I still have over a week and I will need those items I was going to pack! I packed some more books today worked on adoption stuff, but it doesn't look like I have done a darn thing. Since I have been married we have moved I think 6 times. Not fun, I am tired of it and so unmotivated! I am not a procrastinator but I am totally acting like one right now!
Let's hope I can pull this off, and get it all done!

redding trip

The last few days were spent in Redding looking for a place for us to live when we move. It was such an awesome trip, God provided for us in so many ways! The first day we went to two place and the second one was love at first sight! We had heard about this town home and I had high hopes for it and it far exceded what I expected! It is so beautiful and we are getting an amazing deal from a guy that Nate knows from Risen King ( the church we went to while living in Redding). We are so grateful, we feel like it is the perfect fit for our family. THe pre-school we want Zeke to go to was so great, they were so friendly and willing to work with us financially, which was a huge concern for us!
A few days before we left I hurt my neck really badly and sleeping on the hotel pillow made it 100 times worse. I woke up Thursday morning and literally could not get out of bed. Nate called a friend from the Stirring who is a Chiropractor and he got us in right away. HE took x -rays, adjusted me and did not charge us. Today my neck is fianlly moving and the inflmation is going down. It was just amazing how everyone took care of us and was so willing to help meet our needs.
It was exciting driving around planning for our family but also felt lonely and overwhelming. I know God is calling us to go to Redding and that is a comfort to know we are doing what he asks. But that doesn't make it easy to leave. I need to start packing my house up and that freaks me out.
Thansk for praying for us as we were in Redding, God overwhelmed us with his provision for us.

reading is sexy

I have been slowly thinking of all the things I will miss when we move, the list is quite extensive! I am having such a hard time leaving our families and even more so Zeke not having his Grammy and Grampy and Nana and Papa. I get emotional so often when I think about how hard it will be for him. But I know he will be ok, so will I!
But I have been thinking so often of my book club, oh how I love my book club! We started I think about 2 years ago and there are only 3 original members from when we started. Jenn, Karen and I. There have been many added and there is a steady group of about 5 of us. I love this group because we read fun books, have great discussions about these books and we laugh a ton. What I love most is that we talk about the book for like 15 minutes and we talk about life the other hour and a half! We always seem to get on subjects I really can't blog about! I am so grateful I have had this outlet where I can go and talk about our lives, how we want to change, our struggles, and other crazy subjects! Thanks Jenn, Karen, Kari and Shari for sharing and listening I am going to miss you all so much. Maybe I can still read along with you!
Jenn came up with our motto so long ago, Reading is sexy! Thanks Jenn, maybe we should get T-shirts made with our motto on it!

forts, churches and sidewalks

(I don't know how to turn my picture, our mac is in the shop and I already forget how to use a PC!)

Lately Zeke has been making forts, churches and "sidewalks" everyday. He takes all of the cushions and pillows off of our couch and chaise lounge and makes things. He does it every morning while Sofia is sleeping and he and I lay under the fort and read books, or chase Scarlet on the sidewalk he makes. It is fun and he always comes up with something different we need to do. TOday we made a place for the Little Einsteins to play and rocket to park. It is so fun to see his imagination take off and he is so creative!

It is good for me to learn to be ok with a constant messy house as well. I have just accepted that our house will always be out of control for like 5 years. I have relaxed a lot about it and I am proud of myself for it!

THe other picture is of Zeke's room, instead of going to sleep last night he took out every toy he has and stuck 3 pages of stickers all over the wood floors, good times!

some funny happenings

The last few days some really funny things have happened, all of them with Zeke. At least I think they are funny. THese are the random stories that fill our days!
The first was yesterday evening, we told Zeke he needed to go sit on the potty, yes he needs a reminder most days to poop! Anyway he is supposed to be on the potty and Dan walks by the bathroom and sees Zeke with his pants down and he is using my towel to scratch his butt cheeks! Now if you know me you know I am really weird about my towels and pillow, do not under any circumstance use them and defintely do not scratch your butt with them! I was so grossed out and even more so this morning as I was drying my face off after the shower! I completely forgot to change it last night and did not remember until it was on my face! nasty.

Then when Dan was helping Zeke brush his teeth Zeke said Daddy do not shake the toothbrush because if you get splashes on the mirror mama will be soooo mad at you! What a bummer, my neat freakness is obvious to my 4 year old!

Today I fell into my addiction with Bakers, I stopped by to get myself a burrito after running errands with the kids. They had already eaten and as I was ordering Zeke Yells loudly from the back seat, "um yea I'll have the kids chicken nuggets please! They don't even have nuggets at Bakers, but it was hilarious to me.
THis afternoon Zeke took something out of Sofia's hands for the 1000th time and I sent him to his room where he screamed out "I am so mad at you" and slammed his door twice, he opened it and slammed it again just to make sure I heard it. I was just thinking to myself really we are already slamming doors at hating me, isn't that supposed to be like 10 years from now, when he is 14!
He certainly keeps things lively around here!

halloween pics

I know everyone who is on top of things posted their pics last week, but better late than never!
The first is Zeke and his cousins, and then sofia as a lion, yay we reused Zeke's baby costume, and then Dan looking so cute in his new cowboy hat!

so much to do , so little time

I must admit my blogging has been sparse lately, I know you all depend on my wit and intelligent thoughts to get you through the day. I will try harder!
Actually things have been so crazy busy lately when I do have a free moment I just read a few blogs and that is all I have time for. We are trying to prepare to move and wrap things up that we have put off for so long. I have been trying to finish up the adoption stuff as well. Some of you may remember my rant a month ago about possibly having to re-adopt Sofia. It is looking like that is not the case yay! But things are still unresolved. I went to the court to file my petition but they still didn't know what any of my paper work was all about and the lady that possibly knew a little bit could not be found. So I left my paper work and still have not heard back. It is hard to have so many things unresolved, at least it is for me, I like things to be wrapped up nice and pretty so I can be done worrying about them!
It is just crazy because in a month we need to have our house rented and packed up and everything ready to go, it feels impossible. I know it will come together it always does, but the craziness that comes before that is what scares me! I have been putting off the sadness and goodbyes because there is so many other things to do. I don't even want to begin to think of the actual day we leave, lets just pretend it is still a long way off!

sweet time with my little man

Lately Zeke has been having a hard time, we attribute it to us moving. IF you don't know we are moving to Redding CA in January. We are excited, sad, stressed, anxious and more. We told Zeke about a month ago and he was actually really excited, he wanted to know if we would drive on the 60 freeway to get there! And he wanted to know if he would be close to Ava and aidia, NAte and erica and Trisha. He knows they live there and I think it helped to have familiar friends already there. But in this last month we have had many, many many ups and downs and I think he grasps small pieces of our life changing.
But yesterday and today we had two distinct moments together that I loved. Yesterday we were at his nana and papa's waiting for Sofia to wake up from a morning nap and it was just he and I. We layed on the couch together facing each other and just talked for like 10 minutes. We talked about school, and dressing up for Halloween, how the colors of our eyes were different and he said mine were green and orange and brown so so pretty. THen a minute later he asked if my teeth were gray! You gotta love the honesty of kids, Dan says it is just because in the Lorax they talk about the Onclers teeth being gray. I am going to go with!
THen today he crawled into bed with me and whispered "mama it's your birthday today you are 30 years old" It was so sweet and he just layed beside me and asked me how I slept and if I was doing ok, it was so so sweet and I cherish these times that seem so few lately. It makes me tired and sad to think about the months ahead and how hard they might be for him, he is so sweet and sensative I am just praying for a smooth transition for him!

Best husband ever!

This weekend my husband surprised me with flying my best friend Annette down for the weekend, for my birthday! It was so amazing, they kept it a secret and I was so excited when she came to the door! We had a party on Saturday with tons of friends and Sangria! Thanks everyone for celebrating with me! It was funny because I kept giving Dan a hard time for not taking me to see Wicked which I had been wanting to see forever! But of course I felt like a jerk later because he had already planned for Annette and I to go! He planned it with my great friend Andrea who hooked us up with 4th row seats!! It was hands down the best musical I have ever seen, can't say enough great things about it!
It was a great birthday and Dan went all out in planning it and giving me everything I wanted for my 30th! He went to so much trouble to think of all the details and plan everything out, I am so so so so so lucky! He is exhausted from weeks of going non-stop, work and planning a party and surprises, watching the kids a ton so I could gallivant around town with my best friend. Thanks babe I love you!

taking things for granted

It is funny the things you take for granted until they are missing and can't be used! I woke up today to the normal sounds of my daughter chattering in her room at around 6:50am, but to my surprise my alarm clock was blank! My very first thought was how am I going to feed my baby? She is very very picky and will only eat her cereal hot and her bottle hot, not warm, hot. So I hopped in the car in search of somewhere with power to fill my thermos with hot water. No such luck, I began to call family and friends to use their hot water and realized all of Riverside was out of power. I came back home and thought the water heater has to have some hot water stored up. It did and it got hot enough to get us through our morning feeding. Then I wondered what am I going to do all day without power? Luckily it was only 3 hours without, not bad at all considering all of Riverside was without it. But I began to think about the chaos and stress of a mother in New Orleans, during Katrina. How excruciating to not be able to provide your child with food, or a clean diaper. They had nothing to give and nothing for themselves, I cannot imagine the pain that those parents must have felt as they searched and tried to provide for their children.
It made me want to stock pile my house with supplies, and I think it is good to be prepared but at the same time we can' t get crazy. I have that tendency!
It just made my heart ache again for the people of Louisiana and Mississippi. How many people are still suffering there, 2 years later, way too many. It is so easy to be selfish and forget others in need. I do not want to be that person and I don't want my kids to be those people.

Sorry mom!

So you may have already seen these on Dan's blog this morning, but I wanted to show them off as well. We went to Sid's tattoo parlor yesterday to get them done. I have wanted an anchor tattoo for about 4 years and never knew where I wanted it. After we got Sofia I thought I need 2 anchors to represent the hope God has given me, and the gift of our kids. So I went for the shoulders. I am not gonna lie it hurt like the dickens, but I did so much better than I thought I would! I told Dan not to be surprised if I cried but I didn't, I just took it like a true sailor! They took about 2.5 hours and toward the end it got really hard!
Anyway my mom is not happy about it, sorry mom.
But I am so excited with how they turned out, they are more beautiful than I thought they would be! If you need a tattoo Sid is your man!

4th times a charm!

So I had posted about Zeke's first real haircut a couple of weeks ago at Fantastic Sam's, but they did not really do anything at all. So a week ago Dan's mom cut a lot off of the back and made it kind of even all the way around, but there were some parts left over because Zeke turns to look at you while you are trimming. So then a few days ago i trimmed it more and made it even finally. But after this we realized we don't like it as much as when it was really long so we had it cut for the 4th time! Heather Weppler came over and gave both Zeke and I awesome cuts. She did a great faux hawk for Zeke and he looks so different now and we love it! Thanks Heather it only took a month of cutting his hair to get it how we wanted. I am actually really impressed that he sat still for her to give him a hairstyle! We probably sound kind of vain to work this much on his hair, but in his lifetime we have only cut it 2 other times! We grow it out all year and cut it in the summer, we were just a little late this year!

family pics

Today we went to the botanical gardens to take family photos with the Lance family. Dan's parents and Mike & Becky. Of course we pick a day when they are having a sale at the botanicals gardens, so there is no parking and like 50 people lined up waiting to get in. The morning went not as planned so when we got there I was a little stressed. We needed to leave at 8:40am and I was up at 6:45 feeding Sofia, so you would think 2 hours would be plenty of time to get a family of 4 ready, not true. In our case anyway, there were a few tantrums, poopy diapers, can't find my shoes etc. My favorite was Zeke in the bathroom crying just because, we asked him to go potty so we could go he says in a whiny crying voice, "mama I can't I am far too busy to go potty!" Wow and so the whole first 20 minutes of our hike through the botanical gardens was on eggshells as to not disturb the monster that was lurking inside Zeke.
The pictures actually went great once we got warmed up, Jon and Kathy took the pics, Jon took them Kat was the assistant. Thanks guys!
I am looking forward to seeing the finished product especially the ones where Mike and Becky were climbing in the tree, there were some interesting situations in getting up to the limbs!

I love Jimmy

Don't worry I still love my husband most of all, I was speaking of the band Jimmy eat world!! If you read my husbands blog you know we went to go see them last night at the Wiltern in LA. First of all the Wiltern is so beautiful and cool. It was built in 1932 and it has all of this cool filigree (Karen how do you spell that?) all over the place. Anyway I was very impressed usually we see a show at a ghetto location with a dirty building, this was a pleasant surprise! And we had cool comfortable seats, yes I am old, I like to have the option to sit while at a concert. I am way past the age where it is fun to stand squished on the floor next to 21 year old boys and girls who can finally order a beer at a show and thrash around uncontrollably! Don't get me wrong I will absolutely subject myself to that, but for only a select few bands, U2 always and forever, Jimmy eat World, The Killers, and Death Cab. There may be a few others you could talk me into.
Anyway Jimmy is so amazing, they sounded great and just put on a darn good show! My favorite of the evening was 23 off of the Futures album. They played some from the Clarity album like, crush, Blister, and For me this is heaven (can you still feel the butterflies is what I call it).
And I have to give love to Karen and Steve I can't think of anyone I would rather see Jimmy or U2 with than you guys. We love you.
Even though I am getting older and more cranky about shows, I still love to go and feel the energy in the place and how the music moves you to get up and dance. We were in the balcony and you could feel the whole floor bend and move with everyone as we danced! I love that music can do that for you, it has been a while, thanks Jimmy.

It's not easy being green

So today all of blogdom is supposed to blog about being green and saving our planet. Thanks Patti for the reminder!
So I thought I would just tell a little bit about what the Lance family does to be as green as we can. As you have all read about my cloth diaper complaints, you know we are not adding to the 2 million diapers thrown away daily in the U.S. (disposable diapers take 500 years to break down) YIKES! We use g diapers with a cloth inside during the day and the g diaper flushable at night.
WE have always been recyclers but my dear friend Karen inspired me to be a crazy recycler about a year or two ago. SO now we rinse out anything and everything that can be reused and recycled.

One of the hardest things for me has been giving up paper towels, you don't realize how much you use them until they are gone. So we use some towel type cloths from Traders for spills on floors and what not.
Dan went on a crazy rampage and replaced every light bulb in our house, I was kind of annoyed by it, I wanted to wait until the light bulbs burnt out then replace them. He did not agree.

We unplug everything when not in use, even just plugged in things take up a lot energy. Especially cell phone chargers, things with clocks, like coffee makers etc.

We educate our kids, Zeke knows what things to recycle and we read books to learn more and instill the green thinking in our everyday lives. We are still trying to change his mind about hummers but to no avail. Dan's mom said don't worry about it remember Mike (dan's brother) loved (really loved)wrestling and the wrestler figurines, but he got over it. So we will hope this obsession with Hummers will pass!

Using canvas bags at the grocery store and target. People still look at me funny at Target and try to ring up my own bags from home, asking do you know how much this was? I have to say beforehand these are my bags can you please put my items in there instead of plastic bags? It is getting better!
We started composting also this summer, I have to admit we have slacked lately with it, but someday I will make some soil and put it on my flowers!

We hardly water our lawn, it looks really brown all summer but come fall it starts to green up and the neighbors forget that we were the ghetto lawn on the block!

We try to do all laundry and dishwasher running during the evening or morning, not peak hours.

This one might be kind of gross but we have the "if it is yellow let it mello, if it is brown flush it down" motto. You waste less water by not constantly flushing, maybe that is too much information!
So these are just some of our everyday things we do to be green, it is a learning process and a sacrifice but so worth it when you read about water bottles taking 1000 years to break down! Use a nalgene bottle!
Happy green day!

Back seat driver

(This picture has nothing to do with the post, these are just my signature post pictures because they are stinking hilarious!)

So I guess I am getting a taste of my own medicine. I admit up until about a year ago I was a horrible back seat (passenger seat) driver. I would always and still do tell Dan to slow down or watch out. I would grab the dashboard for dear life like my mom and sister do in an anxious fashion. So it is coming back to haunt me through my son. If you know Zeke he talks a lot!!! He always has an opinion and lets you know if you are doing something wrong. He tells me to go faster, to slow down, to go the speed limit, don't drive on the dirt, watch out for the curb, don't run the yellow light, your sposed to slow down on yellow! Then he goes into the rules of driving, Mama remember green you go, yellow you slow down, and red you stop ok mama. Other rules include, going fast on the bump (speed bumps), use your windshield wipers, honk your horn if someone is going to slow, did you get on the grass a little bit mama? Our driveway curves and I admit sometimes the tires brushed some grass, and each time Zeke knows and points it out. It is funny most of the time, but there are times when I get tired of being bossed around. I admit I pay attention to driving a lot more because I know I am going to get a comment about it if I slip up! He keeps me on my toes that is for sure! He also knows his way around town better than I do, if he knows where we are going and I go a different way he will let me know I am wrong and off path. Good times.

I love Fall

I love fall because it means you start eating things like Pumpkin butter, it is from my favorite place Trader Joes or as Dan calls is Teeggg! If you love apple butter as I do and if you like pumpkin flavor you will loveeeee this spread! I have been eating it in the morning on toast or a bagel, it is so good. And does everyone else agree it looks cute with my halloween nails! My mom took my sis and I out last night to get mani and pedi's as part of our birthday gifts. I think I got one pedicure last year, and in the last 2 months I have gotten 2! What a treat, thanks mom!
My sister and I have our birthdays a week a part (3 years and a week) so we always celebrate together, fun now but when we were young my sister was always mad she had to wait to celebrate with me. Hers is a week before mine and we would celebrate right in the middle of them, what a good sister to share with me! By the way I am turning 25 this year! That is unfortunately not true Dan informed Zeke I was turning 30 and he periodically reminds me throughout the weeks, my birthday is still like more than 2 weeks away. I feel pretty good about turning 30 so far, I guess we will see when it gets closer, for now I am holding on to still being in my 20's!!!

The gray pride parade

So Dan and I looked at each other this morning and cracked up because we were both wearing all gray! Dan is always wearing these gray basketball shorts and I love my gray sweats, but we didn't intend to match it with gray shirts! I have to give props to Dan because he came up with the title, he is so funny! Anyway we had a little photo shoot to try to capture our hip outfits and we fell a few times and the first pic looks as if I am holding him, I am not.
While at home comfort is our name hopefully we won't ever think it is ok to head out of the house in these cool threads! Whats funny is I just looked at Zeke and he is wearing dark gray pajamas with guitars all over them, I guess it is a family thing, I am sure people are always commenting on how stylish those Lances are!

quiet house

This morning I am enjoying a quiet house. I can't remember the last time I have had that. Zeke goes to school MWF and Sofia sleeps in the morning. But I don't usually enjoy these quiet times. Mondays I work, Wednesdays I usually skip her nap to go to playgroup, and Friday Dan has the day off so we work on the house, run errands etc. So today we stayed home, and I basked in the quiet of my home. I fought the urge to empty the dishwasher, clean the bathroom, make my bed, wash the diapers etc. I sat down with my earl grey tea (with cream and honey) and read my Bible and wrote in my journal, uninterrupted it was great. I have to fight against my nature to get things done and instead do what I really need which is to be quiet. I love the chaos and loudness of life with kids but I also need a balance of time alone. I am lately trying to figure out what I need to be a better mom and wife, and time alone and stillness around me is one of them. It is not always possible but at least I can find snippets of every once in awhile. I think Scarlet needs quiet time too, she has to look over her shoulder all day with the kids around! She is peacefully snoring on the couch also enjoying the quiet!

our evenings

This last week we have spent our early evenings in this way. We wait out front for Daddy to get home from work. Zeke asks everyday "can I ride my bike out the front". So we ride the bike, sit in the grass, play and wait for daddy. Usually Dan pulls up on his Vespa and races Zeke down the street. It always helps to get outside and changes the pace because evenings seem to get long. Sofia is getting teeth and is fussy all afternoon and for some reason going outside causes us to all calm down. Even though I want cold fall weather I love that it is beautiful out in the evening for us to enjoy!

I had fun at work!

On Mondays I work at River Springs charter school as a teacher of Photography and Painting/sculpting. I have been with River Springs for over 5 years now and I feel blessed to have such a flexible job that lets me be home the rest of the week. I always seem to have to slap myself back into shape because I always end up complaining about having to work. I know I work one half day how annoying of me to complain. But a lot more goes into the classes and preparing than one day. Anyway today in my photo class we were working on our shutter speed and capturing action shots. So we went up to this field to mess around and take pictures of each other, and I actually really enjoyed my day of teaching! Lately it has been hard because I put a lot of time into the classes, but they are supplemental and the students could do nothing and have no consequences. So it is often hard to get them motivated to do anything at home, and how can they learn if they don't practice and explore their surroundings and their cameras! So today the kids played volleyball and did funny dance and jump moves in order to take shots of each other. It was so fun and we were cracking up at each other and just having fun. It was so fun to watch them feel so comfortable with each other and do weird things in order to get a good shot. By the way I teach jr. high, a grade I never thought I would love, but I do. I love that you can talk to them and that they 70% of the time want to learn new things from you! Anyway just had a good day at work and they have felt few and far between lately so I thought I would share.

Lazy Saturday

I love days when you have nothing planned, it seems in this crazy life those days are few, but this year we have really tried to keep a sabbath as many of you know from Dan's weekly update! So I won't spoil all the exciting things we did. But it was so nice because I kind of got to sleep in today! At least I was in bed until 8am!!!! I was not sleeping because the kids (Zeke) is very loud, but at least I was warm and snuggly in bed! Then we drank coffee, wrestled, built forts and just hung out together. Sofia had her morning nap and Dan suggested we watch a fun movie with Zeke. For your information the only movie Zeke likes is Cars. So we said any movie except that one, he chose Beauty and the Beast, I love this movie! It was my favorite movie in 6th grade and I know all the songs, Dan loved this since of course I sang along! Zeke actually enjoyed it until the end when he thought the Beast was dead and he started getting the quivering lip and began to cry a little, it was so sweet and I just held him and told him that the spell was broken and the beast is ok! Sorry if you have not seen it and I ruined it for you! Anyway it was so nice to relax. Then we began going through Zeke's old clothes because we know two people who are having boys in a couple of months and we wanted to hand them Zeke's clothes. This was so sad for me, looking through Zeke's tiny preemie outfits and blankets, made me miss those crazy exhausting times! Anyway it was good but so emotional for me. We figured people gave us so much when he was a baby we should pass on the love. I kept about three little outfits just to have, I feel good about the process. Dan is always wanting to clean sweep me and my things, and we often go toe to toe on quite a few things. But this was a good thing and I am so pleased to help someone else because lets face it, kids clothes are expensive! So this was our non planned Saturday, yay for time at home together!

Oh the frustration of paperwork

This morning after my dentist appointment I got to work on more paper work for Sofia's adoption. You might ask "Alyssa isn't she already adopted?" The answer is yes but there is so much more to do, it overwhelmes me just thinking about it! Since her birth certificate is in Kyrgyz we cannot read it nor can anyone else who is not Russian or Kyrgyz! So when she has to go to school or many other things you need a birth certificate for, it will be a problem. So we have to call and get paperwork, fill it out, file it with the court, get a court date, go get her name changed, do some more paperwork, send it off and then get her new birth certificate in English. This is only one of the things, there is her passport that needs changing, we have to apply for her Social security and more. With each process there are so many papers to fill out as well. So when I called to find out where to file our petition, no one, and I mean no one knew what I was talking about. I was on the phone for over an hour and I talked to, no lie, 8 people. I finally found someone who informed me that this is not what I need, but instead I have to re-adopt Sofia and do another home study, more paperwork, pay more money, and get a lawyer to do this. I am freaking out!!!! I have a call in to my agency so I am hoping and praying this is not true. I am so frustrated! Don't get me wrong, I would do this all day everyday for my baby, but it is hard, especially when Zeke is yelling in one ear about finding his hummer and getting him more cheerios, and Sofia is pulling my hair on the other side! Being on the phone for an hour is not an option with kids around. To be continued...

time flies

It is crazy to me that we have been home only 2 and a half months with Sofia. It feels like she has always been here, that she has been apart of us from the beginning. I love that.
Time goes by so fast she is almost crawling, she pulls herself along army style all over the house. When she is on the wood floor which is 3/4 of our house she just slides everywhere. She already looks so different from when we picked her up. For one she is chubby McJunkins right now! Her cheeks and thighs are so cute, I tried to put her in a pair of 9month jeans and she couldn't bend her legs, it was awesome she was already sporting the skinny jean, so in style! Also she is so active now, she doesn't want to sit still she wants to move all the time! And her hair is finally coming in, Yay!
Anyway just amazed that I have a daughter who is changing daily and is the sweetest thing. The pics are of her when we first met her in Kyrgyzstan, her cruising on our floor and Scarlet licking up her spit up, hey less for me to do right!

Things Zeke loves!

I was just thinking of the things we seem to do daily, actually more like constantly, and I thought I would compile a little list of Zeke's favorite things!
1. Unfortunately his hummer
He has loved this ridiculous thing for a year, we are very anti hummers, but he insists on constantly playing with it. We saw a huge one in Toys R us and he literally threw his in the back of the cart and said he needed that one his was old and too small. Talk about consumerism, how embarrassing!
2. The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, our great friends Steve and Karen gave us this book for Zeke's 4th b-day. It is all about taking care of our Earth and what happens when factories take over. It is so cool, we read it not kidding 10 times a day, and it is not a short book. There are all kinds of fun things like Bar ba loots, and swomme swans. And he uses phrases like schloppity schlopp, and gluppity glupp. I highly recommend it! We have caught Zeke reading it to Sofia, so sweet!
3. Speaking to us in quotes from Cars the movie. He says things like "hey stickers you got me out here now what are we gonna do?", or "I am so not taking you to dinner mama." It cracks us up.
4. Playing pretend, it is mainly him acting like he is Lightning McQueen driving his dump truck around the yard.
5. His huge dump truck, from aunt Lindi, he absolutely loves this thing, he plays with it everyday all day. He wants us to yell out on your mark get set go and he takes off through the yard.
6. water: now that it is not as hot we don't fill up the water table everyday anymore, but he asks us to. He lives outside and wants to play in the water constantly. The bath is the same thing, he stays in as long as possible, until the water is cold and his feet are prunes.
7.Wrestling with Daddy, they do all kinds of real wrestle moves that he is not allowed to do on Mama, because I literally can't handle it. They do the full nelson and body slams, many others I do not know the names of but Zeke does and asks Dan to perform on him. Zeke needs at least 1 hour daily of wrestle time with daddy.

These are in no particular order, just some things that fill up our days here at the Lance home.

The first real haircut

Before
During
After

So Zeke and I went to good ole Fantastic Sam's today for the first haircut. Usually every summer we shave his hair into some short of stylish mo-hawk or fo-hawk, this summer we let it go! So as you can see from the before and after pictures his hair needed a trim. We actually wanted it cut a lot more than that, but what are you gonna do it is Fantastic Sam's. Zeke has been wanting his hair cut for awhile, he says like Daddy's but we are not ready to let go of his beautiful hair yet! (we live vicariously through his hair). When I explained to the girl what I wanted she described back some type of bowl cut which was not ok. We went into the hair cut with a lot of bribes riding on the outcome, chocolates, a long ride on the Vespa with daddy, and lots of praise about what a big boy he is. He did awesome except for when the hair dresser snipped his ear! There was a scream and "hey you hurt me" extremely loud! But he calmed down enough to finish. So when she did finish and it was not what I wanted I had to let it go so we could finish the first hair cut on a good note. We ended up trimming his bangs when we got home because I don't think she even touched them with her scissors! I was very proud of him, those of you who know him, know what a big step this is!

How did I get poop on my knee?????

What an afternoon! So lately Sofia has made eating time unbearable, she has always sucked her thumb while eating her afternoon veggies and her cereal. But now along with the thumb sucking she uses her free hand to grab the spoon and push it away, thush causing food to be even more places than before. Her bottle time after that has always been a clam time which I love. We sit in the rocking chair and watch Zeke play in the backyard. But now she is constantly sitting up pushing the bottle away, grabbing it, throwing herself back into me. It is no longer calm and peaceful. Well today as we were lurching back and forth Zeke came running inside yelling"watch out mama I gotta poop!" He ran into the bathroom only to return very shortly half naked and say "I got poop on my knee" I think my reply was "what the heck, how did that happen" He of course did not know. So Sofia and I walk in, (I am still feeding her at this point) and investigate the situation. From the evidence left in the bathroom I can only conclude that Zeke kind of made it to the toilet, kind of didn't. So somewhere in that chaos, poop ended up on the knee and many other fun places I got to clean! Oh the joys of being a mom, why couldn't this have happened just a few short hours later when Dan was home! I guess it will be another fun story to add to his journal that he can read years from now!

The Office YAY!!!!

Is anyone else so excited about The Office tonight!!!!!! It is the season premiere and I can't wait! That show is so stinkin hilarious, even when we watch re-runs and know what happens we still crack up laughing and sometimes pee our pants. Not really, but it is a possibility!
Anyway really no point to this blog except to say that I am excited and can't wait to laugh really hard!

Just call me America's Next top Model (p.s I love that show!)

Recently I have been trying to wear make-up again. I took a short haitus from it with a new baby and all. ( not that I wore it that often before Sofia) But my friend Trish was here last weekend and I said can you teach me to put it on right??? THis morning as I was trying to remember her tips as I applied my eye shadow I thought back to my first meeting with make-up. I think I was in 8th grade and I wanted to wear make-up so bad, so my mom ordered me this Jafra eye shadow compact, the colors were all purples, not kidding. Anyway she showed me how to put it on and I think I wore it for a week and thought it was too much work. I still had that eyeshadow when I graduated high school. I just relied on my sister to do my make-up for mid-winters and Proms! Anyway then about 6 years ago my best friend Annette was making tons of money doing Mary Kay :) and so she taught me again how to apply the make-up. Now this time it stuck I was 23 at the time, and I began wearing make-up almost everyday!
Fast forward to today when I wear make-up for church and work. But I have to admit when I know I will be staying at home or only running out to Trader Joes for some fruit and hummus, the idea of apply three different colors of eye shadow and curling my lashes sounds ridiculous! BUt since last weekend I wore make-up 4 days this week. ( Trish I have been using my brushes!) Of course I am still using my revlon eyeshadow from CHristmas, it was in my stocking, but I say hey work with what ya got right. Anyway here I am almost 30 and I am still learning to wear make-up! Good thing Dan loves me al natural! Just some random thoughts today about how in style and hip I am. Am I too old to apply for America's Next Top Model?

Sofia's first trip to D-land

So we went to disneyland today on a whim. It was supposed to rain so we didn't think it would work out but the weather cleared and it was a beautiful day! We only went for about 4 hours, but with 2 kids it was long enough. We actually stayed in California Adventure for the whole visit. We went on the huge Ferris Wheel, which I did not enjoy at all. It swings back and forth and we were so high, I was freaking out but pretending to enjoy it for Zeke's sake. He for the most part does not enjoy Disneyland until about the end of the trip. I think it is overwhelming and scary for him but he did great. We ran into friends, the Quesada gang and had fun cruising around the park together. We did the carousel, and Monster Inc, the boys did Tower of Terror.
Sofia did great, but both kids were so tired after the day was over.
Yay for living in So Cal so we can get passes, because I could not hack it if we had to stay all day!

Life lessons with Zeke

This might be a monthly installment since I am always learning things from him! He is 4 years old and so bright and hilarious! A couple of days ago Dan was gone all day and evening at Smashing Pumpkins, it made for a very long day with no adults to speak with and no relief from constant chaos. Anyhoo we decided to head out for a walk to break up the evening. As I was pushing our massive double stroller around our neighborhood, I realized that to be on the side walk and go up and down the drive way dips was ridiculously hard! The stroller is so heavy and it felt like it was going to tip over. I assume I was making a dramatic statement about how hard it was when Zeke said (in a soothing tone) "relax mama, your ok". I had to chuckle because he is always repeating me and it is just funny when your 4 year old can calm you and make you see how dramatic you might sound!
Anyway I can't keep track of how many times a day he cracks us up. Just this morning as we were taking care of business in the bathroom I said why is your poop green Zeke, he calmly replys "oh I was eating grass" Then cracks up at himself! Fun times and life lessons!

stinky pee

I just wanted to complain about washing cloth diapers for a moment. By the time I got around to this last batch of dirty diapers it had been too long. I keep a pail outside the laundry room door and it smells so bad!!! The smell is an overwhelming nose piercing pee and poop smell, but added to that is two weeks of stewing together in a warm pail. At least it has not been hot the last 2 weeks, oh wait... Anyway my laundry room reeks (sp?) now and it is nasty.
I know it is worth it, but on mornings like today when I was gagging I did wonder.

The girls are back in town!

That title should be sung in your head as if you are singing that song, "the boys are back in town"
Two of my girls from college came for a visit this weekend and we had such a blast. I met Trisha and Leslie about 9 years ago, and actually became close with them after we were out of school and livin' la vida loca in Redding!
We had a great time getting our nails done, eating yummy food together, and cracking up at memories we have of ridiculous things we did in college. I just love these friendships because even though we have not seen each other for 2 or 3 years we can just pick up right where we left off. It is so cool to see where we are now, in such different places but still linked together and able to share our lives with one another. Thanks girls for a great time! I will always remember hot doggy dog!

ahh a clean house

Is there anything better than a clean house? I just love going to bed with clean sheets, and knowing my house is clean. And I mean really clean! Tonight I went to help Dan with his Anthem show for a couple of hours, picked up the kids, put them to bed and got to work! I turned on some Killers (sam's town album) I love to rock out while cleaning! I cleaned the whole house more than I have in months. I mopped the floors on my hands and knees, cleaned the bathroom, did the laundry, and the dishes and I feel so great! Yay for a clean house and it will last more than 10 minutes because the kids are in bed. I am going to savor this because tomorrow morning by 7:30 it will be dirty, after the dog comes in from outside and Zeke heads out to cover himself in dirt and sweat. But that is the joy of kids and pets!
Right now I have a cleansing face mask on, I am going to jump in the shower and I just might treat myself to a no pudge brownie from Trader Joes!