To cut, or not to cut?

Colin has the best hair. It’s thick and wavy. I thought it would look cute a little longer, so I’ve been letting it grow. Lately, though, I’m wondering if he’s starting to look too much like Rod Blagojevich.
  
Should we get it cut, or wait it out?

Why we are moving (an open letter on diversity)

This is going to be a long one, so grab your coffee (or a glass of wine) and settle in.
I know many people who read my blog are from the adoption community, and may have multiracial, multicultural families. These readers probably understand why Christian and I believe that it is best for our family to [...]

We think we found a house

We think we found a house. Strangely, I found it on Facebook. If that isn’t a sign of the times, I don’t know what is. I posted: “Tracy needs to find a house. STAT.” A friend from high school messaged me that he had a for-sale-by-owner four-bedroom with a basement in the township where we [...]

I tend to back into things when I am stressed, so don’t park in my driveway for a few months

I backed into my mother-in-law’s car today. Luckily I didn’t hit it hard and there was no damage. However, backing into things when I am stressed out has become a bit of a habit for me. After Noah was born and I was ex.hau.sted, I backed into my cousin Shannon’s car. Again, there was no [...]

We are homeless

Well, not really, but we will be soon. We are supposed to close on our house November 23rd, and we have possession for 30 additional days. That means we have to be out by Christmas. Crap. Like there’s not enough to do around Christmas…
Ideally, we would close on a new house at the end of [...]

Out of the Mouths – Country Music

I loathe country music. Unfortunately, my parents love it, and my children are exposed to it when they are with Grandma and Grandpa.
And the kids are paying attention to the lyrics. Last night Noah said, “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.”

Sold

We listed our house Thursday afternoon and started getting showings within 24 hours. At 5pm today, we got an offer for list price. Now we have to move, which means we have to pack all of our crap, and find a house to which to move. I’m either going to throw up or sh*t my pants. I [...]

Out of the Mouths – Wedgies

Grandma and Grandpa taught the kids about wedgies last week. Sweet.
 
Noah: “Mommy, you would be mad if I gave you a wedgie, right?”
Me: “Yes, Honey, you’re right. I wouldn’t like that.”
Noah: “OK. I’ll wait until Daddy gets home.”

Miscellaneous Monday

I have a lot going on right now and don’t have the brainpower to write about any of it in detail, so I just thought I would share some miscellaneous stuff.
Moving:

We are considering moving, just a few miles south of where we are now. We are looking at houses that might have a little more space [...]

Out of the mouths: “I’m gonna wear a really big one”

Zoe has had an obsession with bras lately. She was at my parents house the other day and she put one of my mom’s bras on over her clothes.  She said to my mom, “It doesn’t fit!”
Then she said, “Grandma, I’m gonna wear a bra when I get big.”
My mom said, “Yes, you will.”
Zoe said, “I’m [...]

Favorite Photo Friday – Florida Photos: Babies and Beer

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I love photos of Babies and Beer*. I’ve posted them here, here, here, here, and here. So what would my set of 10 million Florida photos be without some Babies and Beer pictures like these from our dolphin cruise?

 
And this one isn’t from Florida, [...]

One year ago today…

One year ago today, we finalized Colin’s adoption. I remember how overwhelmed I was a year ago, after Colin came home so suddenly. We were thrilled, but overwhelmed.
Having three kids three-and-under is still overwhelming sometimes (OK, a lot of the time), but I can’t imagine it any other way. I love my family.

And Here’s Another One (or My Third Corruption Post in Two Days)

I think I’m going to go crawl under a rock now (or at least abstain from reading more of these articles for the rest of the week).
 
Watch this video about adoption in Ethiopia, called Fly Away Children.
A summary:
Some adopting parents suspect or discover the new child they’ve taken in is not an orphan as they’d [...]

Remember when I said I read articles about corruption in international adoption all the time now?

Just yesterday, I posted that I read articles about corruption in international adoption all the time, now that I know where to look. Unfortunately, I read another today.
Some may not know that I am a contributing editor for Voices for Vietnam Adoption Integrity. Along with providing opinion pieces, we also monitor the news for stories [...]

What No One Told Me About Adoption

I am late to the party, but there is a blog carnival at Grown in my Heart where bloggers are invited to write on the topic “What No One Told Me About Adoption.”
There are plenty of things about adoption that I have discovered since I became an adoptive parent, but one of the most crushing has [...]

A Soccer Mom in her Rockin’ Minivan

I am officially a soccer mom. My rockin’ minivan drives Noah and Zoe to soccer lessons on Saturday mornings. They started last week. Since they are only ten months apart, I had been waiting until their ages were right for them to be in the same class. As another mom with three kids close together once pointed out, “Mommy [...]

Florida Photos – Hanging Out at the Condo

Favorite Photo Friday – For Those About to Rock

I don’t know what it is, but I just love this photo. I loved it before editing, but I love it even more now.
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

 
(here’s the “before” photo) 

Florida Photos – More Family

One of the reasons we chose to go to Florida for vacation was to visit family. My uncle Scott and Aunt Wanda live there with two of their teenaged kids, Scotty and Kristina. My Aunt Dean and Uncle Bill live there, as does their youngest son Steve, his wife Jennifer, and their daughters,  Sarah (8) and [...]

Florida Photos – Our Family

The problem with my new photography hobby is that I am not in any of the pictures (not that I particularly liked being in them in the first place). My mom happened to catch all five us in the pool at the same time and took these with her point-and-shoot (which is actually a really [...]